UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:UFO Detection

2007-11-26T05:25:28Z

Sfnhltb: fixed table issue messing up the page

Removed sentance 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)

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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)

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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)

==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)

==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)

==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)

==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)

Talk:UFO Flight Patterns

2007-03-19T20:08:16Z

Sfnhltb:

When I was watching a Interceptor chase after a UFO I noticed it seemed to adjust its path every 5 minutes. If this is the case (didnt spend any time testing it to be sure), maybe the UFOs correct/alter their path on a similar schedule (if they don't reach their waypoint during that time). --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 13:08, 19 March 2007 (PDT)

Talk:Research

2007-03-11T00:55:39Z

Sfnhltb: /* Tables */

I'd like to see 'optimal research trees' being discussed, with the obvious endpoints of 1) Avenger (which includes Firestorm), 2) Flying Suit, 3) Heavy Plasma/Clip, 4) Plasma Beam, 5) Psi Lab/Psi-Amp. Working in the advancing profitability of Motion Scanner, etc., ultimately to Laser Cannon. Surely there are opportunities for overlap and optimization, depending on one's goals (quick victory, best Avenger/Psi fighting force)... discussion / new wiki topic? I'm new to wikis - pardons if questions aren't usually asked this way?

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Good job on the re-write, Ethereal. It was another eclectic collection page that you've made much more neat and informative.

I see you hacked RESEARCH.DAT - excellent work! We really needed those. Was there only the project name and research times in RESEARCH?

Now that I know all the projects are there, maybe I'll revisit those total research time findings. If you want the spreadsheet I used, you're welcome to it. Ultimately though it's more a factoid than anything important.

Were those Notes in the Research Trees fixed correctly? (Notes 1 & 2 were incorrect and meant the same thing?) Also the current lone note is slightly hard to find... Maybe the "notes" should simply be noted in italic, right at the point where they apply?

FWIW the Discussion note (above this) is one of the very first things I ever put on the wiki. I didn't know how to sign then.

---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 18:17, 22 May 2006 (PDT)
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Thanks. No project names in research.dat -- but the order of projects on the Research screen matches the order in research.dat. Combined with the known values (mostly derived from the .cfg file included with xcomutil, I think), it wasn't that hard to figure out what everything was. The missing stuff was mostly research times for individual aliens, and I was able to run filecompare (fc.exe) before and after starting research projects on them to see which entries they corresponded to. Bytes 0x01 and 0x02 (zero-indexed) seem to match the values in astore.dat: 01 01 is a Sectoid Commander, 01 02 Sectoid Leader, etc.

I didn't try to figure out what all the bytes are, but if I remember correctly, some corresponded to whether the topic was available to study, whether the item/alien was in Stores... I seem to remember research time left (in hours) was stored in projects.dat.

The number of aliens you need to research to fill out the entire UFOPaedia is a little variable -- you can study aliens that give nothing, and early on, some will give two entries. I believe 11 corpses (180 ea.) + 9 live aliens (192 ea) (2 of which are Medics for live Sectopod and Cyberdisc) + 8 Navigators (192) + 8 Engineers (192) is a good approximation. This assumes none of the "9 live" are engineers or navigators, but also that there's a leader and commander in there: no efficiencies, but no redundancies either.

Your total time graph is useful (and it'd be nice to see it for w/ and w/o all the alien projects) -- the efficiencies part is esoteric, especially taken out to 10 labs, but to see 12 mos vs. 6 vs. 4 for 1 / 2 / 3 labs is quite informative.

Hmm, I should fix the note on the hovertanks a little, just got lazy on that point.

I'm still not sure how best to structure the Popular Sequences section.

--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 19:58, 22 May 2006 (PDT)

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Ah, now I see... the old Notes 1 & 2 were confusing... all that they were saying is you also need Fighter Craft tech to build Hovertanks, period.

It sounds like you know your game files. To whatever extent you get the time, if the wiki doesn't have some of this stuff you've figured out, stick it in there. Even partial notes are better than none.

I had been thinking about ''optimal'' research sequences, although "popular" is also something to do. "Optimal" as in, what research route(s) gets you important goodies (psi, plasma, hyperwave) and good manufacturing a.s.a.p.

I'll see if I can't find that old total time thing and crank it out again.

---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:42, 22 May 2006 (PDT)

EC, I found my old total time spreadsheet. I can include those alien estimates (11x180 + 25x192, right)? I can also do variations, as you ask... maybe a "minimal three" path, the middle road you suggest, and "everything possible", and thus have three different total-time breakouts? What do you think. But if I do these, can you remind me / specify a little more what would be the differences inc. total aliens... I'm kinda rusty these days.

---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 11:50, 23 May 2006 (PDT)

I think there's only two sets of numbers that are particularly interesting: all useful technologies, and all UFOPaedia entries. Useful technologies is every research topic except Alien Entertainment, Food, Reproduction, Surgery, Examination Room, Corpses, and all the live aliens (except 3*192). All entries is everything except Reproduction plus 11*180 + 25*192 for aliens.

Run it for, say, 1-5 labs as well as 1 scientist and 10 scientists (the initial allotment).

--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 14:56, 23 May 2006 (PDT)

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Now I see what you mean by Popular Sequences. Of course. Quite well done, thanks!

I can do both of the research total times you recommend. For a minimalist vet though, many things don't matter... superfluous aliens, plasma rifle/pistol & clips, etc. I guess I'll take a shot at defining minimalist and post the results.

Good idea to include 10 scientists; it's important in the early days - the most important part of the game. However, given the way columns can be easily packed into the wiki and that the spreadsheet's already constructed, there's no reason not to also paste columns with high numbers of scientists. It's not extra work for me. Hopefully nobody will ever make that many labs... the numbers make patently clear why they shouldn't.

I've put Civ4 down for the moment and am playing XCOM again. FWIW everything I wrote on the wiki was based on one game that I played last fall after having not played XCOM since what, 1995? (Not counting TFTD etc. after that.) As I neared the end of the game I started wondering about a number of things and hooked into the wiki and forums; the rest is history. I'm now on my second game in the last ten years. ;)

---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:01, 26 May 2006 (PDT)

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<h3>Research Abuse</h3>

I disbelieve the "truncation" comments. But the following behavior would emulate it.

This game, I come into Jan 23, 1999 with the following from [[PROJECT.DAT]]:
<table align="center">
<tr><td align="center">Item</td><td>Man-Days</td><td>Scientists</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medikit</td><td align="center">30h</td><td align="center">4h</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td align="center">B7h</td><td align="center">2Dh</td></tr>
</table>
So...throw 30h/48 scientists at the Medikit to get it on Jan 24. Reallocate research to 45 Heavy Laser, 4 Sectoid Navigator on the theory that Hyperwave decoders don't do me any good without money. [I'm putting cashflow ahead of armor this game.] And Heavy Laser now is....
<table align="center">
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td align="center">8Ah</td><td align="center">2Dh</td></tr>
</table>
45 scientist-days deducted, not one.

So (tentatively) the game [XCOM CE with XCOMUtil] does two passes, if not a loop. It first checks for research completion, then reallocates research, then applies the research. The question is what happens when the new projects include one whose scientist-hours are less than the number of scientists assigned...does research completion kick in immediately, forcing yet another assignment stage?

---[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 14:19, 19 July 2006 (CDT)

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Sometimes quick projects assigned lots of scientists ''do'' complete immediately, followed by another assignment stage.

--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 14:48, 20 July 2006 (PDT)

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Zaimoni, pardon my ignorance, but I'm not following well. Would you be so kind as to repeat what you said, but only use decimal numbers for ease of comprehension, and also say the exact times...

Did you re-assign a few minutes after midnight at the beginning of Jan 23, then viewed it a few minutes after the start of Jan 24? If you re-assigned 45 scientists at the beginning of Jan 23 and saw 45 sci-days deducted at the same time next day, I don't see a problem. But this is too simple; you wouldn't have a problem with that - did you save immediately, early Jan 23, and saw that? Or - did you do this re-assignment as of the moment you passed into Jan 23 (with X-COM having stopped the game there)?... if so, it suggests that ... anyway. If you could please supply a little more detail. :)

Also I don't know what the structure of RESEARCH.DAT is, and haven't tried to decipher it. The truncation effect detailed on the main page comes from actual observation of the game (samples) done by Zombie, not from reading RESEARCH.DAT (correct me if wrong, Z... I think more details are in old versions of the page or Discussion). Which brings into question what is RESEARCH.DAT showing... hours left, even for projects not yet started? (Does that mean they all get their ave/2 to ave*3/4 roll at the start of a game??)

If anybody can fill in more details for RESEARCH.DAT, that'd be great

---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 19:14, 21 July 2006 (PDT)

P.S. There's been a lot going on at work for me, but it's good to talk with folks here. I'm just curious about details on Research and how things work, Zaimoni! By the way we might get a good graphics app at work that will do 3D topo maps... but it will be weeks before it shows u, and it's not clear that we'll get it.

-----

In decimal, the starting numbers (what I changed from on Jan 23) were:
<table align="center">
<tr><td align="center">Item</td><td>Man-Days</td><td>Scientists</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medikit</td><td align="center">48</td><td align="center">4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td align="center">183</td><td align="center">45</td></tr>
</table>Ending numbers on Jan 24, six minutes after midnight, were:<table align="center">
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td align="center">138</td><td align="center">45</td></tr>
</table>Reassignment was indeed early on Jan. 23. The completion of the Medikit was on Jan 24/midnight, with counter changeover then.

This is probably an exploit, because 44 scientists were double-counted (first for completing the Medikit, then against the Heavy Laser). [This is XCOM CE w/XCOMUtil.]

[[PROJECT.DAT]] only shows scientist-days remaining for projects that have been started. I haven't bothered to decipher the exact layout; suffice it to say that everything is in the same order as in the research allocation screen. All of the time remaining entries come first (2 bytes each); all of the scientist allocations come next, in the same order, 1 byte each. I presume this is repeated for each base, but haven't checked that.

If you only research one project at a time, and fully reallocate at each project completion, truncation is emulated for all research projects except the first. And usually that pack of scientists coming in 72 hours after game start renders that exception moot.

<b>EDIT</b>: Oops, read [[PROJECT.DAT]] everywhere in my thread; I have fixed my comments. [[RESEARCH.DAT]] has been documented.

---[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 21:58, 21 July 2006 (CDT)

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Thanks Zaimoni, that's making things clearer. I guess RESEARCH.DAT is a fixed look-up. Any details anyone knows for that or PROJECT.DAT, I hope they'll post to the wiki to help us all.

So the re-assignment happened on Jan. 23 right at the stroke of midnight, when a previous research assignment was up... And that's what you and Ethereal are going back and forth on - that X-COM may have programmed research completion in a poor way so that they might loop etc., eh? We've all seen examples of where they didn't quite get it right with other fine points, like [[Night_Missions#Personal_lighting|personal lighting after Mind Control]] and extra [[User_talk:MikeTheRed#Tips_on_Increasing_Skills|reaction counts]] (see the second point # 3). These are clearly improper sequencing of events (but have little impact, or they would have been fixed).

If PROJECT shows the time remaining, it would probably make an easy way to sample how research works, by reading savegames. Like I said though, AFAIK Zombie was only playing "in game", neither editing nor viewing any savegame files when he made conclusions about truncation. It could be influenced by this new wrinkle you bring up... It's entirely possible he did them one at a time, and could have missed something like this.

I have recently realized I made a vacuous statement about how often names are duplicated in [[Soldier_Name_Stats]]. What I actually did was I started with a particular savegame, ordered batches of 100 soldiers, and saved these 100 to a dataset immediately on arrival. I repeatedly used the one savegame, and never ran one batch into the other. Thus, although it was easy to collect the data into a database, I ran rough over the fact that the game might not have duplicated names '''''if''''' I had not started with the exact same savegame, recruited exactly 100, etc. In other words, it might not have duplicated them if I, instead, compared one batch of 100 against a second batch recruited after those first 100 arrived.

Testing can be tricky, eh? I'm sure Zombie can say whether or not this issue might affect his results. Somebody page our favorite tester, eh?

---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 21:00, 21 July 2006 (PDT)

[so-called vacuous statement]
I'm not too concerned about that.

The savegames do <b>not</b> save the random number generator state. Otherwise, you'd get exactly the same results from the same reload, which would be <b>very</b> abusable.

The usual way of initializing a C library psuedorandom number generator in DOS and Windows, is from something derived from the system time. [*NIX probably would use <code>dev/random</code> or similar.] As long as your batches were started at different times, the correlation from starting "close" in time should be nothing compared to internal weaknesses in the programming library's algorithm.

Said weaknesses were exposed in your experience testing.

---[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 2:34, 22 July 2006 (CDT)

----
MTR, Zaimoni: Indeed, I only tested one research project at a time. Why? To eliminate variables. (And for those of you who know me, eliminating variables is my middle name while testing). Looks like multiple projects is a variable (or perhaps exploit) after all. And if this is the case, then yes, it will affect my results as I only took one project into consideration at a time. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:14, 23 July 2006 (PDT)

----
Zombie,

I did validate the scientist-day numbers you measured, for projects that were not started at the midnight another project was completed. The complicating factor appears to be starting a research project exactly at midnight, which is very hard to do without completing a project. Automatic application of effort doesn't happen if the project is started at another time. [Hmm...what if a project is started exactly at midnight without completing another project?]

---[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 23:57, 23 July 2006 (CDT)

== Scientist Double-Counting ==

Finally got in some more experimentation...turns out there is only one iteration of the research loop at midnight, in "increasing order".

That is: <b>if</b> a topic completes, reassigning scientists to a topic earlier in the enumeration does not cause double-counting. (If you reallocate scientists from ahead of the completed topic to behind the completed topic, you've just shafted yourself -- you will get no research from those scientists.) Only reassigning scientists to later in the enumeration from earlier than, or the completed topic itself, allows double-counting of scientists.

Of course, there was an ego trip from completing seven topics at midnight....

---[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 14:30, 13 Sept 2006 (CDT)

:Just wondering about the way the double counting works - is pretty much everyone who plays the game using this bug some of the time anyway? Basically any time you go into research after a completion (which I assume most everyone would do anyway), if you reassign those scientists to a new (or existing) project, if its lower in the enumeration than the project time update has got to so far it would get a bonus round added into it during that same update, which would explain people without even knowing about this feature and deliberately running multiple projects to abuse it also getting instant wins for short projects that are reasonably far down the research list. As far as I can see the way it looks intended to work, instant project completion must mean this bug has been triggered, but also it was a project with a total time left <= your number of assigned scientists.

:--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 00:21, 27 February 2007 (PST)

Yes, everyone who behaves normally will sometimes use this bug. Just to be clear, it's if the reassigned project is <b>higher</b> in the order than the completed project. This happens to be true for all research prerequisites. So, for instance, if you start researching Laser Pistols when completing Laser Weapons, then you're using this bug.

And yes, instant project completion means exactly what you stated.

---[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 09:59, 27 Feb 2007 (CDT)
----

:By higher in the order, I guess you mean higher in terms of the offset in research files and such, which equates to lower down the on screen research list?

:--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 10:50, 27 February 2007 (PST)

:Note of course when you mention research prerequisites will always get this bug, this is true for technology prereq's, but as all the alien interrogation techs are at the bottom of the list, whenever you get new techs from them, you wont get the double counting if you immediately then start on the topic unlocked (Alien Origins, Hyperwave, Martian Solution, etc). The only things you can reassign to after an interrogation is another interrogation that happens to be lower down the table.
:--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 18:31, 27 February 2007 (PST)

This sounds interesting, but I'm not sure I'm following. Zai, do you have to have more than one project running? I always work only on one project at a time. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 15:18, 27 February 2007 (PST)

No, you dont need to be doing multiple projects, basically what is happening is that at midnight it (among other things) updates all research progress. Ignoring multiple science bases (which I am not sure how it handles) it goes through each of the projects in order, starting with Laser Weapons if you have any scientists working on that project, it takes that many off the number of days of Laser Weapons research you have remaining. If that is now zero or below, it completes the project and shows you the reassignment page. Once you have finished reassigning, starting new projects, or whatever and press okay, it goes back to updating research status on the next project in the order, which would be the Motion Detector. So if you moved the scientists who just completed Laser Weapons onto the Motion Detector project, they will now also help out on the project, whether it has only just been started or was already in progress (with or without other scientists working on it).

Conversely if you completed Motion Detectors, and in the reassignment immediately after that you moved them onto Laser Weapons, then they wouldnt get this bonus scientific production, because by the time it does Motion Detectors (research item 2) it has already updated Laser Weapons (research item 1). They are potentially 94 or something other projects (some cant be researched without hacking, if then, though) that you can reassign the scientists completing Motion Detectors though, such as Medikits (research item 3) or Reaper Terrorist (research item 96). The Reaper, being last, cant ever cause any double counting [edit: when you complete it and reassign after, that is], everything else can with at least one other project (the Reaper), although its unlikely you can do absolutely everything in this order (or would want to for some projects).

Note that once the clock has passed midnight and you have gained the bonus research, there is nothing stopping you then reassigning all the scientists to something else (in some cases you might have nothing you particularly want right now that was beneath the item you just researched, so you might just take the double counting and score it against some low priority project, so that when you get around to it, it will take one less day to research (well not always, if you hire more scientists before finally doing the project you double counted against it may or may not save a day).

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 17:41, 27 February 2007 (PST)

Ah cool, now I see. Thanks for the good explanation - why not put it on the Research page? It, too, is useful stuff to know. (Somehow I missed or forgot about these entries last summer, Zai.) One final question, just to be clear - when these scientists are re-assigned to a higher-sequence project, do they take ALL their Man Days from the project they just finished, or only the MDs from the day that just ended? Thanks! - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 18:07, 27 February 2007 (PST)

Well that dont 'take' the Man Days, as the project still completes, and you only get one extra man day per scientist out of it. Well thats per completion reassignment, in theory the same scientist could be reassigned 20+ times in one night if you happened to have enough projects lined up on the verge of completion, as long as you do the reassignments in the right order. Essentially if you assign to a project that is checked later, it treats it as if he had spent the entire day working on that project as well, whereas if you assign him to a project that has already been checked for this day, he wont do any more work until the next days research update.

If you dont want to use this bug, all you have to do is never reassign when you complete projects, and just go in any time in the next day and reassign them at that point - as scientists can go on a round the world trip from immediately after midnight, spend 22hrs in transit to another base and back, sit in the coffee room for 1hr59, then get assigned a new piece of work, and the scientist will still manage to put in a full days work. I think we might be overpaying them at 30k a month, considering that.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 18:27, 27 February 2007 (PST)

MikeTheRed: I normally have more than one project running, when inspecting [[PROJECT.DAT]]. It changes the game dramatically to routinely have complete information on the status of research. Sfnhltb's restatement is correct.

Sfnhltb: Research is already known not to be cumulative across bases, so I haven't tested the research order between bases; it's simplest just to use Base #1 for all research. I believe the bases are "processed in order", as manufacturing is updated in increasing order.

--[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 9:49, 28 February 2007 (CST)

Yes, I agree, if you can instantly interrogate a save to see that there are 84 MDs remaining on a project, so you reassign 34 for the first night (and have the other 16 do something else), then 50 the next day so they can complete it an then all double up on something else for each completion it can quite noticeably boost your progress (hardly surprisingly).

I might set up a test case to see what happens with the multiple science bases in a few different scenarios at some point, but I guess it isnt much of a priority as its rare to have more than one team as it just adds hassle and potential wasteage, usually my first base is the science base and I never build any in the new bases at all.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 09:25, 28 February 2007 (PST)

Thanks for the clarification Sf. I'm just wondering if all this work (progress bar, double-counting) can be used by the savvy player who isn't actually looking under the hood. Aside from the idea to work up through the research records, is there anything else that can be done with it? A couple more thoughts/questions:
*The number of "cheesy free" MDs will always be equal to the number of scientists that just completed the project, right? BTW, I think somebody called them "lost" if you went to a lower-number project. But to me it sounds more like they're treated normally, i.e. not abused, instead of lost. I didn't miss anything, did I?
*Question: Let's say you just completed Project #20. Now you start #21, and see Unknown. Can you cancel it and try it again, to see if you don't get Unknown? Or cancel it, try #22, then try #21 again? Or is the next research roll fixed, no matter what you do that particular midnight? (I haven't been playing lately... does Cancel drop you totally out of that night's Research?)
[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]]

Sure, some of it. Progress bar - only the unknown bit helps here, if its unknown it is between 2/3rds of the average to 150% to go, if you have a rating then it is down to 2/3rds or less to go. So you have that to give you a vague idea of how long is left, assuming you know how big the project is (eg Heavy Plasma is 800, 2/3rds of that is 533, so if you have 100 scientists on it you can tell on the day it switches to average instead of unknown that you have 5-6 days left before completion (10-11 for 50, which would read poor not average). This could help you plan for saving up for production/facility build cash/requirements and the like.

The actual rating once seen is fixed by project average/scientists, one of which you can look up on this site, the other you know, so it isnt particularly useful except as a reminder of the scale of the project you are working on without having to go to an external reference.

The free MDs are created by the fact you reassign the scientists that were working on project A to Project B before B is checked, so assuming you actually put them all on the new project, then they all double count. If you only assign half to a project, and leave the other half unassigned at that point, only half will be double counted. And yes they arent "lost", they are just single counted (well, in fact if you dont know the time remaining on a project, on average half of them are never counted against any project, as they are overrun on the initial project).

Im not sure I would say they are treated normally though - someone who has no knowledge of this bug probably uses it 60-80% of the time anyway, because the vast amount of people will reassign immediately when the window comes up, and more often than not, the next project is going to be lower in the list (partly because of pre-req's).

You cant cancel a project in the interface (you can hack it out of the save file of course, by zeroing the time remaining), so the only way you could do this is have science labs in multiple bases so each one could try a project, and if one gets a non Unknown, then that one does that particular project, I guess you could try 8 times against each project if you build labs in every base with 1 scientist each (to do the poor/unknown check), and then fly the bulk of your scientists over to whichever lab turns it in 'cheap' mode (1 in 6 chance, with 8 attempts, will get most projects in cheap mode). Flying them takes at most 16 hours i think, so you wont lose any research time from travel.

If you cancel out of reassignment (either on the first screen, or by exiting the research screen before moving some/all your scientists then the count as unassigned and wont count towards any further projects that night, or in fact ever, until you go in and reassign them. If you somehow happened to complete another project as well that midnight you would probably get another chance to reassign (and potentially double count) with them again, but I havent tested completing multiple projects in a single night yet, so cant say for sure.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 17:35, 28 February 2007 (PST)

== Progress Indicator work ==

Added some detail about the way Progress works on the current research screen as no one seemed to have nailed it down before.

Removed the following discussion from the above section as it was redundant now:

:However, these other ratings have not been quantified. Furthermore, Unknown seems to be the most common initial status. The upshot is that you get a little lucky sometimes.
:<small>Further testing suggests that the "Poor" to "Excellent" ratings might be considered a "Progress Bar" relative to the time that the project will complete. It is possible for a project to complete at midnight on a day where it was Excellent, but you stole away just enough engineers to make progress be Good instead of Excellent - but this is for very short manhour projects. For long duration projects relative to your # of scientists, it is more likely that you will have to go to Excellent to complete. This might or might not be able to be turned into something usable by players; I think there are two variables at work here. More observations requested - [[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]] ''Hey NKF, I like the "small" font. Remind me how to indent a paragraph like this relative to the bullets around it? BTW I think I misspoke a week ago - it's you that did the melee testing, not Zombie, right? Apologies for my poor memory... I was working with Z so much back then.</small>

For MikeTheRed, to indent a paragraph start it with a colon, or more than one for extra layers of indenting (probably found this out a long time ago no doubt, but others might not know).

Note I did all the experimenting on getting the breakpoints by changing the values with a hex editor, so there is a chance that when these are changed naturally by the program some other values (maybe in RESEARCH.DAT) change as well, so you might see variation from what I observed doing it this way, but I dont imagine this is the case (and it all fits in with my experience playing the game, i.e. things like you only get a higher ranking with more scientists assigned, how long they work on the project getting it closer to completion is irrelevant.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 14:24, 26 February 2007 (PST)

---

Great stuff, S. I always wondered how that worked. I stuck in an example for that one place - I had to think about it a minute, so I figured others might, too. Hope you don't mind.

Everything you've posted sound consistent with my experience. It's good to know how it works - '''and''' get a tip on how to know if you just got lucky, hehe - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 16:16, 26 February 2007 (PST)

Yeah, I was thinking as I was previewing it to check it all that I probably wasnt being as clear as I could be in places, but then thats the beauty of Wiki, as long as a few people can understand what you have written they can add a different take, or adjust it, and this can be repeated until it becomes clear to as many people as possible. In theory.

I guess the other thing that could be added is working out how long (as a fraction/percentage) a project will normally be in Unknown, given starting from a random roll (and assuming the same amount of engineers on it the entire time of course).

Lets see, 16.66*% of projects will be 0% of the time, then it ramps up to a 150% project needing to take off 83.33*% of the average project time before it gets a status, or 55.5*% of the total duration of the project. It isnt a linear function though, as for example at 100% a project spends a third of its time as Unknown. I imagine theres probably a way of working out the average, not sure it would be too useful anyway though.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 16:48, 26 February 2007 (PST)

==Page split==

I think this page needs to be split, probably into at least three sections. May reread through it soon and try and come up with a reasonable way of splitting. I am thinking initially that the list of research times should go to a seperate page first, including the comments about how to use them at least, and maybe including some of the analysis as well. Another page with the research trees could work as well I think, with the idea here being to leave this page as an overall Research page that then drills down to these subtopics, maybe with a brief paragraph left to summarise key points about the subpage.

:The page might just need a reorganization, not a split. We could do a better job of presenting the need-to-know info at the top, then break it out into more granular detail section-by-section. My initial suggestion would be to group "Popular sequences" and the research trees together. Maybe even overlay the total-time figures onto the existing trees... although that might make things harder to read, unless it was done just right. The "Research time" charts should probably be grouped in with these as well.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:34, 27 February 2007 (PST)

Well one thing to consider - we have an area on the first page with Data Tables, so an entry there with Research Times would seem to make sense, and then those two tables could be moved out - and of course linked numerous times from within this article.

Does this sound reasonable?

Obviously the main issue in any wiki is if you split the pages without clear delineation between what the content of each will be, and ensure they heavily interlink, you rapidly get much duplication between the two pages (well rapidly in comparision to the amount of edits anyway) as people see something 'missing'.

The problem I see is that the idea of hypertext/wikilinks, is that you provide core information about the topic/subject on the top page, and then for those interested more detail can be found on subpages that are linked to, which you can make as many as you like of. This allows you to cater for people that want to know everything; they can just follow every link until they have exhausted all the knowledge/information available, but also the casual read that wants to know the basics then doesnt have to scroll through 27 pages of screens and try to pick out the key information from the more detailed stuff.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 10:16, 28 February 2007 (PST)

I'm glad to see you two working on this. I think it could use some re-organization, but agree as I think you two do, that it needs to be done carefully to avoid duplication. Fortunately it does seem a bit more granular than e.g. the very long Explosions page. But the Explosions page has less granularity/more overlap. (It could definitely use some condensing though; it suffers a lot from "learning as we went".)

I do think there are some good pointers up above that could use being on the page, such as scientist double-counting.

Anyway. Somebody's mission, should they decide to accept it, is to artfully re-organize the Research page(s), LOL - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 15:58, 28 February 2007 (PST)

:I've been pondering exactly how to approach this for a few days. I'm okay with moving out any "under the hood"-type info, only that stuff is pretty small -- parts of '''Total Research Time''' and '''Research Progress'''. Everything else in the article strikes me as being immediately practical, and would be less so if it was cut into two pages just on the basis of length. I don't like the idea of putting the Research Time tables on a separate page, for instance -- on some level it's the ''most'' practical part of the entire page.

:I'm starting to see that the page could be split into reference and analysis/tips sections. But I still think it'd be more practical if both were on the same page. I agree with the wiki "subarticle" style but not with a "coarticle" approach, which I fear is what we're facing here. Raw data begs for a "what do I do with this info?" and tips need to start with the data as a foundation.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 03:11, 1 March 2007 (PST)

I guess my main concern is casual readers are not going to read this due to length, firstly a full page and more of contents is going to put many off, and then because the key/basic information of the page is split through the rest of the other 27 or so screen heights, its going to put off all but the most dedicated that are willing to pretty much read through it all to get all the salient points out.

What I would suggest is that all the top level sections that already exist need to stay, so we would have a research times section still, but it would describe the basic elements - that they are fixed once you start a project, they vary randomly based on an average, and so on. This section would also clearly include a link to the full lists of times as a seperate page, moving the detail away unless it is required, then it is only a click away at the point it is likely to be foremost in the readers mind, if they are inclined to find out that sort of thing. Repeat this for the popular sequences - have a description of how certain technologies group together, maybe list the main groups, mention how some of these group overlap, etc., then point to an article describing all the groupings in detail that we have now. Take away the section I added on research progress as well as another article, and add a one or two sentance description and a link to it (in the research times subtopic on this page I would think is most natural place). Move the sections on total research times and scientist efficiency and the like to the research times page as well I would say, but that might need some consideration, for me its too low level/detailed for a top level article of this type (and length), but I am not sure the best place to put it, leave it to the end maybe.

Split off sequences as well, and then add a section back with a description and a link. Seperate out the researching aliens details, and put back a section that is to the point - describes the process in general, picks up the key points (navigator, psionic capable) and leaves the rest to the more specific article. Combine The Minimum Three and Capturing Live Aliens into that one article maybe, as that is all interrelated. Maybe not though, would have to reread in detail to be sure.

The main thing would be to be left with a much more tightly focused main article - to highlight all the basics, and the key information about research, and then link in to all the other stuff that is more specific.

For me a resource like this is likely to attract two types of player - one group will just want to play, but want to pick up some tips where they got stuck maybe, or get an introduction and starting point in what is a fairly deep strategy game, the other group (most of the people that are updating it, I would guess), want to tear the game to pieces and work out every detail to the nth degree. Because of this its best if you can create a 'seam' between these two groups of information that gets accumulated. For short articles/topics, the introduction and maybe the first couple of paragraphs should explain all that is needed, and then it can go into the more detailed items in the rest of the article. For more complex topics, like research, there is certainly a full article there just to cover all the basics properly, so then the detail needs to be hived off to avoid diluting the key points.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 04:05, 1 March 2007 (PST)

: I agree with you there on our two main target audiences. Often I feel some of what we put in here may be a tad too much for your casual player. Unfortunately, for me at least, it's hard to write from a laymans' perspective - I mean it's difficult to remember what it was like to be new at this game considering all the knowledge that has been picked up over time. I suppose some sort of executive summary at the very beginning of most of the more detailed sections would certainly help clarify the topics.

: By the way folks, for the discussion pages, could I ask if everyone please make judicious use of indenting paragraphs (multi-indent if you have to) and white space. It's hard to tell where some of the intertwining discussion threads begin and end at times.- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

::Executive summary... now that sounds like a good idea. It's a moderately big rewrite we're facing here, but I want to tackle it (and steal Sf's thunder, heh). In the near future, I intend to attempt it, using the following structure:
::*Executive summary
::*All the really practical advice
::*The gory details in full

::I think this is what Sf's been driving at. I agree with a resectioning like this, just not, like I've been saying, two or more articles. Properly restructured, I think a single page can best serve both newbies and hardcore players.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 22:51, 1 March 2007 (PST)

:::I lean a lot toward what you're saying, Eth. I quite dislike it if there's overlap and duplication. Thanks for accepting Mission Impossible, smile. But you've always had a gift for wording and re-organization. I love what you did to the Main Page, even though I doubted it until you did it.

::: FWIW I just happened across a Civilization 4 wiki (which I've resurrected and am playing now). Take a look at the [http://civ4wiki.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page interestingly concise] way they organized it. However - and I'm just getting back into Civ 4 - I think they haven't really dived deep, like we have.

::: NKF, re: indentation, extra line spacing, etc.: I am often not sure when a new topic is ending or beginning, in Discussion. And it seems a touch lame to always go one more indent to the right. In theory these many Talk pages with 100 lines should be far off to the right, hehe. Come back? - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:04, 1 March 2007 (PST)

:::: If you look at "the way it's done on Wikipedia" you'll see it works reasonably well. If things get way too indented, somebody does a "resetting indent" and the conversation continues. The biggest thing is that they use headers for each topic (and people reorganize ongoing discussions if they start getting too convoluted). The style that was adopted here early on -- a line between each post, no indentation, no headers -- has its shortcomings.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 01:29, 2 March 2007 (PST)

:::::Cool, let's give it a go. BTW I'm still sitting on a ton of [[Firing_Accuracy_Testing#Notes|Firing Accuracy]] data, using [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=5805&st=40# BombBloke's automator] - I won't be able to get to it any time soon, but it's several weeks worth of data. If anybody wants it, just say the word. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 09:00, 2 March 2007 (PST)

== Restructuring attempt one ==

Feedback plz.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 00:02, 3 March 2007 (PST)

Its already a lot better like this. The one thing I would say, even if we want to keep all of the detail of the tech trees and such, can we get them to not appear in the toc as it is excessively long imo.

Another possibility would be to combine the information in the tech trees and the popular sequences together, so the trees had the times to research from scratch all the way down, and put the most important items as highlighted in the popular sequences in bold (or with a note, as bold links might be a bit odd looking) and add the comments from popular sequences about those important items under the trees.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 14:02, 3 March 2007 (PST)

[[User_talk:Sfnhltb|This]] is what I mean, roughly.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 14:23, 3 March 2007 (PST)

:Yeah, I suggested that at first myself. But ultimately I think I prefer the semi-redundant solution of separate "popular sequences" and "complete trees". Otherwise you have to pack too much info into the diagrams, making them do two jobs more poorly than the separated lists do.

:I replaced the L3 headers with "big" font to remove them from the TOC. Looks perfect on Firefox, acceptable on IE. There are certain aspects of HTML (like tables) that truly, truly suck.

:What else needs doing?--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 17:21, 3 March 2007 (PST)

::Much better, how about combining "Capturing Live Aliens" and "The Minimum Three" into one topic, its almost in reverse order at the moment. I guess the general flow I would think best would be: Why you capture Live Aliens, how to do it, the key three you need, and then details on what the rest can add to the UFOpedia --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 17:33, 3 March 2007 (PST)

::Regarding the last point, I mean the general types of information they can add, and then maybe also include a link to the point to later in the page where the exact list is details for each type of info. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 17:35, 3 March 2007 (PST)

:I started in on that (and tweaked a lot of other parts too), but I found that the "why" was best answered by the info in The Minimum Three, so I left that in front, and changed "Capturing live aliens" to "How to capture live aliens". I also added a sentence to the end of The Minimum Three noting the other benefits of alien research with a pointer to Researching Aliens later in the page. Anything left?--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 22:50, 3 March 2007 (PST)

::I wonder if it will be better if we can have a section on researching aliens, and instead of Minimum Three, call it something more obvious like Priority Targets or something, it can still go first if desired. The problem if this is done is I think a number of places sublink to that particular section name so the are going to break and theres no easy way of locating them (except by memory or brute force of checking every link to this page). For most articles that wouldnt be so important, but theres so much content here that being left at the top of the article is going to be problematic for people new to the subject matter. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 18:51, 7 March 2007 (PST)

:Go ahead and change it according to your tastes, but give me a chance to look at it before you change other pages to match it.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 01:57, 8 March 2007 (PST)

== Tables ==

I converted the research lists to tables, cant really do the same to the popular project sequences as easily because of the alternates at the bottom of some dont fit into a neat table structure so would have to mess around manually with it most likely, and not sure it will look much better with merged cells like that anyway. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 18:54, 7 March 2007 (PST)

:I can't help but feel that the blockquote tables were more readable than these html ones...--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:11, 8 March 2007 (PST)

I never particularly liked wiki tables. Look at all the horizontal eye movement needed relative to the wide columns. Any fix for that? Hey the page looks fine - thanks for all the work! - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 21:31, 9 March 2007 (PST)

----
Simple. Don't define the table width. This fits the data to the cell with no extra space. I normally don't do this as each table in a page is a different size. Depending on the amount of data, I usually stick to 25, 50, 75 and 100% of the relative width of the table to the page. If the table falls nearly on one of these breakpoints, I round up to the next size. This way there is still some space between columns and the table isn't cramped. Of course, width sometimes depends on the overall look of the table. If it looks bad, fiddle with the size until it does. Also, centering a table is kind of unnecessary. Either justify it left or right (left is better) and leave it be. (Another reason why I don't like to center things is because the center tag is deprecated in HTML and not even supported in strict XHTML. Not that this matters much in wiki coding but it is something to consider). My 2 cents. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 22:27, 9 March 2007 (PST)

----

Sounds like it could use a little padding, and otherwise let itself be as small as it might, relative to the padding. Like, a couple of spaces on each side of the widest datum in the column. But then, one might want to shrink the column heading (to wrap it a few lines) if the data itself is stricly, e.g., "1" "2" or "3", but the column header is wide. How can this be done?

Like I say, I never liked wiki tables. Happy to have someone show me how to do this. And then after that, show me a site that lets me dump MS Office data into it, and convert it to be a nice tight table. After all these years, ASCII skills still seem to be useful, hehe - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:55, 9 March 2007 (PST)

----
Part one: If the data isn't as wide as the the heading you could do a few things. 1: Abbreviate the table header which is too wide. 2: If the table header cell contains multiple words, lower the width of the column/table until it wraps to a second line. 3: Don't define the width of the table and let the column be as small as possible.

Part two: There is no way to export data (from an Excel spreadsheet, say) into a nice html format. Well, that's not entirely true. You can export the data into some form where you can replace parts of the format in notepad (say a comma between cells into /td td and a line break as /td /tr. Or as I read one time, replace each line break as /td /tr tr td> then split off the opening tr and td tags and dump them on the next line to start off a new row). Sound complex? It is. I find it much easier to just code it manually. Importing web tables into Excel is actually really easy so that's why I prefer creating a table in html first and then importing it to Excel. ;)--[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 23:17, 9 March 2007 (PST)

----

Thanks, Z. There are websites out there which will convert various things. But as you've said, it's easy to go from html to Excel, but what I want here is, the other way. One thing to point out is that I have Office v. 2k; perhaps 2k3 or later versions will be better; xml isn't even an export format in v. 2k. But I know it is in 2k3 (although I have that at work, not home). So maybe things will get better, if I ugrade to 2k3 or later.

In the meantime - as I think we've agreed if you've seen tight tables - wiki tables can't be made tight, but are a decent quick and dirty way to present info. Unless someone with more wiki tips knows more? - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:29, 9 March 2007 (PST)

----

Technically, these aren't wiki tables but plain old HTML tables. The wiki table markup <nowiki> {|, ||, |} etc. </nowiki> just converts stuff into <nowiki> <table> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> </table> etc. </nowiki> And on this page, Sf has mostly used non-wiki HTML table code anyway.

HTML tables fucking suck. You've got to stand on your head and know a million different little tricks to get them to look right. One of my biggest annoyances is you can't specify properties at the column level (like right/left/decimal alignment, etc.) unless, again, you stand on your head.

Regarding spacing, two tricks I've learned are adding ''style="padding-right: 50px;"'' to the TD in order to add a little whitespace if it looks too compressed; another trick is to add <nowiki><br></nowiki> to long entries (like headings) to narrow them without having to manually set widths.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 00:31, 10 March 2007 (PST)
----
I use Excel to make these tables, not via any export function, but just by creating a function that concatenates the various tags needed on each row around the content, this way its easy to play with until you get something that looks okay without having to manually make a change to every line for each change you think might help. Problem is with most of it is that it can look fine on one screen width/font size, and turn into a complete mess or have large gaps on others, but thats the limitations of html unless you take the time to mess around with it for some time and test on various systems/setups/browsers. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 11:25, 10 March 2007 (PST)
----
I tend to use python scripts myself. Just copy-paste the data into a normal text file. Usually I grab it from the wiki source because there are nice separators to split. Other times if I don't have access to a wiki-source I put it in Excel and save as CSV, then parse with python (I guess I could have python parse the HTML, but too much work).

From there I just arrays and whatnot, play with the data as I need it and then write a loop and concatenate the needed mark-up. (Pretty much what Sfn does, but I like the power of a python interpreter). Also makes it easy to add in ''style="..."'' in. Also it's how I split long lists into multiple columns by using more code. If all else fails you can make some regex's to do whatever needs to be done, but I haven't needed that yet.<br/>--[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 12:31, 10 March 2007 (PST)

Well I went ahead and converted Sfn's table to the Wiki markup. I think it looks better and easier to read in the wiki-source than tons of <code><tr>,<td>,<td align="left">,<th></code> tags floating around. If you don't like it you can revert, but ITT it's better with the columns lining up in the wiki-source. One thing I don't like about this mark up is you have to end <nowiki>|-</nowiki> tags with a new line and then put in the cell content, thus there's always an extra line between rows making the table long in the source.

BTW The meta wiki has a good page on table formatting http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Table <br/> --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 15:48, 10 March 2007 (PST)

----
Sure, I read raw html so often I dont think twice about it, but it works either way for me. I also agree on the extra line required offsetting some of the advantage of the wiki variant. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 16:55, 10 March 2007 (PST)

Battleship

2007-03-10T22:01:52Z

Sfnhltb: /* Mission Spoils */ change wording, no battleship involved in alien base assault missions, assume means creation (could mean base defense though?)

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

==Additional Information==
Great care should be taken while engaging one - be it a ground assault or recovery, or aerial interception. Battleships always show up as Very Large on a radar profile, and often maintain very high cruising speeds.

===TFTD Note===
[[TFTD]] also has Battleship. However in there it's not the strongest. The TFTD version of the Battleship is...the [[Dreadnought]].

===Statistics===
*Radar Profile: Very Large
*Maximum Speed: 5000 knots
*Damage Capacity: 3000 units
*Weapon Power: 140 units
*Weapon Range: 65 km
*Missions used in: Base, Infiltration, Retaliation, Harvest, Abduction

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

===Alien Base===
The construction of [[Alien Base Assault|alien bases]] are marked by heavy UFO activity in rural areas. In addition to the scouts and Supply Ships sent by the aliens to survey the potential base site, a Battleship is sent to construct the base after the new site has been determined, and also to transport the valuable alien commander. It is possible to capture the Battleship's commander at this time, while it is vulnerable.
Construction of the base will not stop even if the Battleship and its commander are captured. <br>
<br>
''[Alitorious: I've heard both that it works and doesn't work, so I'm not sure if you can interrogate these commanders or not. Maybe it depends on the version of the game?]''<br>
<br>
''[ [[user:NKF|NKF]]: Oh yes they will. A commander's a commander's a commander. The game doesn't distinguish. The problem only arises if you don't have the right prerequisites for the tech you want the commender to unlock.]''<br>
<br>
At any rate, it is much easier to find the commander on the bridge of a Battleship than inside the maze of an Alien Base.
If a Battleship lands in a rural area as part of a large force, then it is likely to be on an Alien Base mission. If all ships of an Alien Base construction force are shot down or assaulted, then the Alien Base has no chance to be built.<br>
<br>
''[Alitorious: I might be wrong about that, actually.]''<br>
''[ [[user:NKF|NKF]]: Well, it's only the battleship that matters. You should be able to stop base construction if the battleship is shot down before it lands.]''

''[ [[user:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]]: Shooting down a battleship en route for base construction does not prevent the base from being constructed. However, other ships may be sent out to scout the area prior to construction, and shooting these down will delay or prevent the construction ship being sent out. The battleship can be sent out on either, or both, missions, so it's difficult or impossible to distinguish a scouting battleship from a constructing battleship. ]''

===Alien Infiltration===
Two Battleships are always the primary component in the final phase of an infiltration. The Battleships are part of a large force of five ships sent, much like in Alien Base missions. However, ships involved in an Alien Infiltration mission will instead land in urban locations. Battleships contain the alien "diplomats" who will attempt to persuade one of Earth's countries to cease funding X-COM, and form a [[pact]] with the aliens. The alien "diplomats" leave the ship immediately after landing, however, and continue their goal of signing a pact with one of Earth's countries regardless of what happens to their base ship. This means that a ground assault on the UFO will not always prevent the aliens from accomplishing their mission. The only possible way to prevent a pact-signing would be to shoot down the Battleships before they can reach their target city.<br>
<br>
Battleships are most often seen on this type of mission. When two Battleships, and usually a force of smaller craft, are in the same region, then it is most likely on an Alien Infiltration mission. This can be confirmed when the craft land near or in the cities and no [[Terror Mission]] begins.

===Alien Retaliation===
Alien Retaliation missions have two main components: Search, and Destroy. The Battleship quite often fulfills the "destroy" component for obvious reasons - it's the troop carrier. The heavy firepower of a Battleship is required to breach any barricaded underground [[Hangar]]s or [[Access Lift]]s, and they contain the troops, weapons, and terror units for the subsequent assault on any [[Base Defense|X-COM Base]] itself.<br>
<br>
After unloading its troops, a Battleship on a retaliatory mission will return to space immediately. It is thus impossible to assault the Battleship itself after the base has been defended.<br>
<br>
Any Battleship that is going to attack your base will head on a direct path for the base at near-maximum speed. It is thus impossible to shoot down the Battleship except with the Avenger, or with base defenses. Even then, I sadly bemoaned once as an Avenger tried a close tail chase to stop one attacking a base. And failed. Intercept them from the front. If a Very Large craft is detected on a direct course for one of your bases, then start [[Base Defense|base defense]] preparations immediately. <br><br>
<br>
If [[Craft|X-COM craft]] are successful at downing all alien scout craft on a retaliatory operation, then the Battleship itself must search for your base. Despite the Battleship's formidable strength, one thing it does seem to lack is scanning and sensing equipment. It is rare that a Battleship searching for your base will ever find it, so these Battleships can be safely ignored.<br>
<br>
''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Not battleships. Other scouts are dispatched to scout. It is possible to mislead for a short time by shooting down the scouts further and further away from your base. I wouldn't count on it though. Also, not to forget, there will be a ceaseless stream of Battleships until one manages to break in.]''

''[Alitorious: Well, of course they send scouts in first. I've just noticed that if you keep downing all the scouts, then eventually they send the Battleship in anyways. This Battleship doesn't attack your base, though, and seems to be searching for your base just like the scouts.]''

''[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]]: Battleships will be sent on scouting missions if you shoot down the smaller scouting craft. I'm pretty sure this is a game-wide pattern-- when smaller ships are interdicted, a battleship will be sent to do their job.''

<br>

Battleship movement on an Alien Retaliation mission is characterized by either a fast, direct course for one of your bases, or a repeated "weaving" pattern around where many UFOs have been downed recently. They will only land to attack your base. A Battleship searching for your base will soon give up and head for space.

<br>

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

===Alien Harvest===
It seems that if X-COM forces are successful in downing or assaulting many [[Harvester]]s, then the aliens will send their glorious Battleships to do the dirty work in the hopes that X-COM does not have the resources to attack them. Or maybe they hope you just won't want to waste the effort.<br>
<br>
Battleships on harvest missions will fly and land in rural areas. Sometimes they work in pairs.<br>
<br>
''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: To top it off, harvest missions are harmless in comparison to retaliation and infiltration missions.]''<br>

===Alien Abduction===
The Battleship will sometimes participate in Alien Abduction missions. Like its participation in Harvest missions, this occurs only when X-Com has already been successful in preventing lesser craft from doing the job.

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

===Weapons===
When X-COM forces have engaged a Battleship, the commander and pilots must be extra cautious. The battleship's primary weapons have a range of sixty-five kilometres - greater than that of long-range [[Avalanche]]s or [[Plasma Beam]]s.<br>
<br>
Do not send [[Interceptor]]s to attack a Battleship or heavy losses will be expected. A direct hit from a Battleship's primary weapons are enough to incinerate an Interceptor in one or two hits. Even the very durable [[Skyranger]] will only survive a few hits. It is recommended that commanders only intercept Battleships using Alien-Terran Hybrid craft.<br>
<br>
''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Or short of that, have interceptors attack in groups. This'll cut the Battleship rate of fire to 1/n-th its normal speed as it fires sequentially on each ship in range.'']<br>
''[ [[User:JellyfishGreen|JFG]]: It's possible. Have multiple fighters at standoff, then send in the Skyranger first as a damage soak, and follow him with Interceptors to dump their ordnance. (This is a surprisingly similar method to using a Journeyman and Berserkers to beat the final boss in Myth II.) I prefer the ground assault, though. ]''<br>

===Armour===
A Battleship is also incredibly well armoured. Native terran technology - [[Cannon]], [[Stingray]]s, and [[Avalanche]]s - have little chance of downing a battleship unless used in high quantity. Anything less than an [[Avenger]] with twin [[Plasma Beam]]s is not recommended, and even an Avenger will sustain moderate damage when intercepting a Battleship. [[Fusion Ball Launcher]]s may be effective, but only when intercepting with three or more craft.<Br>
<br>
''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: If you've gone absolutely mad, consider twin [[Cannon]]s on an Avenger!]''<br><br>
''[ [[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]]: ... Next, tell us: how many Cannon Avengers does it take to down a battleship? ;)] ''<br><br>
''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Two - minimum. A single avenger will be down by 1/4th of its armour before it even gets its cannons in range.'']

===General Conclusion===
Although it may be possible to eventually design a hybrid craft that can go toe-to-toe with a Battleship, it is recommended that any aerial assault be undertaken with multiple craft , and with maximum available firepower.<br>
<br>
''Addendum: The Alien-Terran Hybrid craft class [[Avenger]] is capable of one-on-one engagement with a Battleship. However, very heavy damage will be inflicted on the Avenger, which must be repaired prior to further flights. Considering the complexity of the craft, however, repair times are extensive and border on the time taken to manufacture a new Avenger. Multiple Avengers, with [[Firestorm]]s or [[Lightning]]s as support if avaliable, are still recommended in order to assault a Battleship.''

''Alternate opinion: There is a lot to be said for the "gang up on the Battleship" theory, but I prefer single-Avenger assaults. If there are multiple Avengers available, I use only one to intercept, and suck up the long repair time. Rotate the damaged Avenger out of the high-activity regions, and rotate a fresh Avenger in. I find this preferable to having multiple avengers knocked out for a shorter period of time, since if another Battleship comes along quickly, you'll have two or three Avengers out of commission, instead of just one.'' --[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]] 13:19, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)

'''In conclusion''', choosing aerial engagement of an alien battleship is a very high-risk. If a commander does not have sufficient or well-equipped craft to deal with this threat, it is recommended that he or she instead wait until the Battleship lands and assault it with ground forces if possible. The weapons systems of a Battleship are not activated while it is not in flight, so the transport faces little threat of return fire.

== Assaulting/Recovering Battleships ==
===Mission Spoils===
Assaulting a landed or downed Battleship with ground forces is a dangerous operation. However, a success is well worth it. A Battleship has four [[UFO Power Source|power sources]], and two hundred units of [[Elerium-115]]. On top of that, Battleships carry many [[Alien Entertainment]] and [[UFO Navigation]] units, and vast quantities of [[Alien Alloys]]. Because the crew size is so large, one can find large amounts of alien [[Weapons|weapons]] and ammo, including deadly [[Blaster Bomb]]s. In addition, every rank of alien can be found on a Battleship, including commanders if the Battleship is on an [[Alien Base]] creation mission.

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

===Battleship Layout===
The Battleship itself consists of three levels. The ground level has five "legs," one on each corner and one in the center. The corner legs cannot be entered from the outside, as they house the valuable elerium power sources. The center leg has two doors that give accesss to a wide central lift. The doors are large enough to allow passage of [[Cyberdisc]]s, [[Reaper]]s, and [[Sectopod]]s, so they can also be used to allow [[Heavy Weapons Platforms]] access to the UFO. This pair of doors is the only access point in or out of the Battleship, therefore a siege is very effective here. However, a siege may attract hostile blaster bombs, so use the tactic with discretion. Alien Engineers can sometimes be found taking care of the power sources in one of the outer legs.<br>
<br>
The second level has four major hallways (or two, if you look at it that way). Each leads to a small lift that accesses the four outer pods holding the Power Sources. There are three main rooms, two of which seem to be used for storage. One is filled with the red spheres and cylinders on blue support legs that we have not yet identified. The fourth room contains an alien entertainment complex.<br>
<br>
The central lift also extends to the third and topmost level of the Battleship. Unlike the level below it, the lift on this level is in a small room. This level of the UFO has lots of smaller rooms and tight corridors, making it very dangerous. There are two rooms which appear to be the navigation room, and bridge. Both rooms have the distinctive blue chairs, yet only one has any navigation modules. For some reason, the two rooms are on opposite sides of the ship. The third level is also where X-COM forces are most likely to find any Alien Navigators or Alien Leaders, or possibly even the commander if present.

===Entry===
Heavy Weapons Platforms can enter the central lift and navigate much of the second floor, however the lift on the third floor is closed off via small doorways. HWPs are very useful for opening the main doors on the bottom level and allowing soldiers to fire at any aliens inside, or to send a blaster bomb up into the interior of the UFO.<br>
<br>
Forced entry using a Blaster Bomb is often used, as it also reduces the risk of succumbing to an alien ambush on the second or third floors. The four corner legs can be one entry point, although elerium may be damaged from such an entry. If [[Flying Suit]]s are avaliable, then an entry from the third level is also an effective tactic that also minimizes the risk of damaging elerium. Entering via the top floor also gives a good chance of surprising and capturing alien officers. A pincer movement, with two or more fireteams working from multiple entry points, is a very effective tactic while storming a Battleship.<br>
<br>
==Recoverable Components==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Item</th>
<th>Sell Price</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Power Source</td><td>$250,000</td><td>4</td><td>$1,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Navigation</td><td>$80,000</td><td>4</td><td>$320,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Food</td><td>$5,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Surgery</td><td>$38,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Entertainment</td><td>$20,000</td><td>24</td><td>$480,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Examination Room</td><td>$9,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Alloys</td><td>$6,500</td><td>231</td><td>$1,501,500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Elerium-115</td><td>$5,000</td><td>200</td><td>$1,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan="3">Totals</th><td>$4,301,500</td></tr>
</table><br />
Also see [[UFO Recovery Values#Battleship|UFO Recovery Values]].

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

==Floor Plans==
'''2nd Floor:'''<br>
[[Image:Battleship_2.gif]]

'''1st Floor:'''<br>
[[Image:Battleship_1.gif]]

'''Ground Floor:'''<br>
[[Image:Battleship_0.gif]]

==Terrain Maps==
[[Image:UFO_160MAP-L1.JPG|Level 1|thumb|left]][[Image:UFO_160MAP-L2.JPG|Level 2|thumb|left]][[Image:UFO_160MAP-L3.JPG|Level 3|thumb|left]][[Image:UFO_160MAP.JPG|Level 4|thumb|left]]

<br clear="all">

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

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

Talk:Exploits

2007-03-10T20:35:45Z

Sfnhltb: sp

==Extra Ammo Exploit==

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

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

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

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

Thanks Boba, I believe the wiki crew has generally been calling the Gold version, the CE (Collector's Edition) version (someone correct me if wrong). And as shown under Known Bugs (link above), I could swear someone (NKF? Zombie?) insisted that loaded, full clips in ''alien'' guns were lost in CE... IOW, you should unload full clips before ending combat. But only for CE (i.e., Gold). (Partial clips are always lost, regardless of any state.) I hope whomever said that will step up (NKF?). I agree that loaded, full clips are not lost in DOS 1.4; that's what I've mostly played with. BTW you can autmatically sign your posts by using three tildes (<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>), or four for signature and timestamp. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 14:05, 9 February 2007 (PST)

:Mike, we (meaning, you and I) worked on this one Sunday a long time ago. The tests I ran did indeed show that full unloaded alien clips were lost (CE, Gold, whatever). However, I just ran some quite extensive tests on this right now and it showed no difference between loaded/unloaded status with a full clip. Might have been a bug, or I might have been only looking at the end-of-mission report.

:The end-of-mission report doesn't take into account clip usage - it counts what was there in the beginning, subtracts anything which was destroyed during the mission and supplies that as the number of artifacts recovered. Each pod of Elerium-115 is also considered an "artifact" (as long as it wasn't researched), so that could have compounded the problem if a comperhensive list was not created. It's possible I was only looking at the EOM report and neglected to visit the stores, but by golly, I could have sworn I did. I'll run some more tests this weekend sometime, but as it stands right now all full clips are recovered no matter what. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 15:36, 9 February 2007 (PST)

:That sounds great, Zombie. And Boba, I apologize if I've got it wrong. Maybe what we're seeing is that the EOM report is wrong (or confusing?), and that caused both the Extra Ammo and Disappearing Ammo blurbs on the wiki. If I'm understanding this right. If so, we'd want to correct both of these so as to say "some folks think that {blah blah), but actually this is only due (blah blah)", or whatever. I do remember that I myself checked the stores back at base when I reviewed it for DOS 1.4. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:18, 9 February 2007 (PST)

::So what's the status of this exploit? It sounds to me like full clip, loaded or unloaded = recovered -- partial clip, loaded or unloaded = lost -- is the most up-to-date picture of it. (And consistent across all versions.) Is this definitely correct, definitely incorrect, or somewhere in between?--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 19:20, 2 March 2007 (PST)

:::I wonder if it was just confusion because you could easily see a loaded weapon counting as one artifact for the EOM, but if you take the ammo out it reports both seperately so it looks like you get more back (and you would get slightly more points?), but that the ammo might get separated back at base even if you leave it in. Clearly partial clips always go, alien or human, as thats the way you get through so much of every type of ammo short of explosives/rockets. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 19:48, 2 March 2007 (PST)

::::Just my 2 cents, I could have sworn that after reading this and always unloading clips (even from dead aliens) that I started getting too many Heavy Plasma clips... Perhaps we need to just test this out once and for all. Count how many clips you have, go to a site, shoot one off, dust off, check stores. Test 2 reload and do the samething only unload a partial and a full and see what happens.

:::::Ah, heck I have both versions I'll do it myself here. Be back with the results and hopefully wrap this up. --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 11:10, 3 March 2007 (PST)

:::::Ok, per my tests using DOS (ver 1.4 I believe, how do you check??) and Windows CE (even using the same save games between the two). I tested these with a Heavy Cannon, and an Auto Cannon (and a rocket launcher but never fired it, and never lost any rockets), unless alien weapons work differently they should do the same. I have concluded the following:
:::::* Full ammo clips (loaded and unloaded) are always kept
:::::* Partial ammo clips loaded in a weapon are never kept
:::::* Partial ammo clips unloaded are kept ONLY in the DOS version
:::::I verified these by looking at the stores in the base afterwards, not the EOM report (which just told me 2 aliens killed from the crashed landing). The only extra thing I can see testing is if two half clips are counted as one, that is if there are 3 round left in two HC-HE, do I lose both of them, or just one? My gut tells me they went the easy way and just discarded any partial clips.
:::::I didn't update any pages with this info yet. If no one says anything in a day or so I'll make the updates. It'd be nice for someone to confirm on this. --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 11:47, 3 March 2007 (PST)

::::::Thanks for doing the testing. Since I play CE exclusively, this makes my life easier: no more of this unload-if-you-think-almost-all-the-aliens-are-dead silliness. Gee, life is so complicated.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 11:58, 3 March 2007 (PST)

Awwww, '''dammit'''. Life ''is'' complicated. Which is to say X-COM. Ahem.

I did a base raid to grab a blaster launcher so I could research it, but only got back to base with the launcher and not the bomb that was loaded in it. So I had to be the latest sucker to run this test:

*Artefact weapon, partial clip, loaded or unloaded: no clip gained
*Artefact weapon, full clip, loaded: '''no clip gained'''
*Artefact weapon, full clip, unloaded: clip gained
*Alien weapon (researched, non-artefact), full clip, loaded: '''no clip gained'''
*Alien weapon, full clip, unloaded: clip gained

These results apply to CE. I assume that in DOS, unloaded partial clips are kept (alien, artefact, X-COM, whatever). Dunno if loaded clips in alien weapons are kept in DOS; they are '''definitely''' lost under CE.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 17:15, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:''(Are we supposed to keep indenting as each comment is made? do we have a rule? anyway,)

:I played DOS 1.4 and didn't think to look at the Score screen; I found that full alien clips are kept, back at base.

:Eth - if you don't mind me asking - how did you test a partial Blaster clip?

: hehe - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 19:33, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:: Just indent sufficiently to break the discussions up so that we know where a new post begins and If we go too far to the right just roll back a few levels and start again. Kind of like a line flush with a typewriter... if anyone remembers these relics of an ancient civilisation.

:: Partial blaster bomb clips - two possibilities. It was edited. The other is a dud clip. Technically that's a partial clip. - [[User:NKF|NKF]]

:I'm waiting for his answer. ;)

:Folks (in general)... can we finally kill the "extra ammo collection" section of this Exploit page, and instead simply have the Glitch that full clips are lost in CE if loaded in alien weapons? Or at least the describe this non-exploit as "versus a glitch, things act regularly in DOS...".

: It's not an extra ammo exploit, it's regular ammo not lost to a glitch. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:35, 9 March 2007 (PST)

::Yeah, regarding the indenting, if you've got a back-and-forth between two users, each should stick to their prior indent level:
::Me
:::You
::Me
:::You
::etc. Otherwise the rule is add an indent level when replying to the prior user's comments.

::It wasn't a dud clip, it was merely a loaded blaster bomb. At mission end, I got the launcher, but not the bomb. (And only one artefact was scored.) Mind you, I ran these tests by grabbing the weapon, walking to the exit point/skyranger, and aborting the mission. Is it different when you end it by killing all the aliens? I'll have to check that next.

::So. Mike, are you saying that in the DOS version, a full clip loaded in an alien weapon is retained? I need to know the answer with 100% certainty before I will edit the article ''for the last time'', dammit. The exact nature of this bug has been up in the air for far too long.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 22:37, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:Ok, Eth. So let me make sure I have it straight: Pick up one Blaster Launcher, with 1 BB in it. Check stores before and after. (Plus look at the Score screen.) Yes? I'm not being obtuse here, I just want to make sure I do it right, because it seems like such a simple thing, to have such confusion over. Thanks - and yes, it's been in the air too long - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:43, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:I think I have an old Battleship game near completion. I'll finish it out, noting carefully all clip counts in all weapons, before and after. I can also send it to you CE users, to see what you get, before and after. Hold on a minute. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:05, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:FWIW, in hunting around old files, [[Media:RunForrestRun.zip|here]] is the one where folks run to the southeast, ''through'' a solid wall of soldiers. As described [[Talk:Bravery|here]]. The very first few will run through solid flanks of soldiers - after that, there are holes in the wall as more panic and often run - is this a DOS 1.4 thing? All soldiers have been set to 0 Morale and will freak when you end the turn. An interesting phenom; see that "as described" Discussion. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:16, 9 March 2007 (PST)

::During my own Bravery testing (under CE), I saw the same exact thing: I piled all the soldiers in a corner, and one or two walked ''through'' everyone to run away.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:59, 10 March 2007 (PST)

:Arg, something is screwy with that savegame - look how the weapons have problems being accessed. This is not to say the phenom of running through soldiers isn't real; I saw it back before this, when nothing was screwy. Something's wrong with how I restored the game, or my X-COM since I last played it. So much for a quick test of counts. I'll do it sometime in the next two weeks though; this has gone on too long. For now it's late, and a busy time for me otherwise. A.k.a. demonstrations never work. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:43, 9 March 2007 (PST)

::''(This is a note to myself to remember which pages get edited after we finally straighten this out: [[Exploits]], [[Known Bugs]], [[Equipment Recovery]], [[UFO Recovery Values]].--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 01:29, 10 March 2007 (PST))''

::I have a big fat '''aha''' now: I finally tested all-aliens-killed, mission ends, vs. grab stuff, abort mission. Difference! When I aborted the mission, I had to unload unused clips first in order to get them, but if it was a "successful" mission, the clips were recovered regardless of loaded/unloaded status. (Loaded-but-unused X-COM ammo was not used up during an abort.)

::Here's the savegame I used: [[Media:Weapon unloading test.zip]]. It's UFO-1, so you don't have to do before/after counts. There's a single sectoid remaining, and the following equipment on the map (9 artefacts total):
::* 1 Heavy Plasma (plus 1 loaded clip)
::* 1 Plasma Pistol (plus 2 clips, 1 loaded)
::* 1 Plasma Rifle (plus 1 partly-used loaded clip and 1 unloaded clip)
::* 1 Elerium

::So, use the save and try this: grab any weapon (say, the pistol at the door of the UFO), run back to the skyranger with it and abort (don't bother getting everyone else back in the ranger and don't kill the sectoid). Do you get 1 artefact (and back at base, have only the pistol, not the clip, in your stores)?--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:59, 10 March 2007 (PST)

==Repairing damaged UFOs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-[[User:NKF|NKF]]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Probably the reason for this dichotomy is people are thinking too advanced - as if the game simulated the explosion while in the air when the UFO was intercepted. What most likely happens is the game spawns all the aliens in their starting points around the map, then fires the explosion. So only the aliens that are in the ship, near the PS, can be damaged or injured, where more realistically you might expect more to be in the vicinity (especially for medium scouts of course). Clearly this means the amount of injured aliens is going to tend to be very low compared to more realistic expectations.

Especially with the smoke of the explosion still around you could interpret this as the power systems have an emergency shut off when they are too damaged, which causes the crash, and the explosion only happens when they try to restart the engines/PS before they are fixed when the detect your team landing in the area, hence the explosion happening in the alien turn before you land. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 10:46, 10 March 2007 (PST)

Talk:Research

2007-03-10T19:25:07Z

Sfnhltb: /* Tables */

Talk:Exploits

2007-03-10T18:46:03Z

Sfnhltb:

==Extra Ammo Exploit==

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

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

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

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

Thanks Boba, I believe the wiki crew has generally been calling the Gold version, the CE (Collector's Edition) version (someone correct me if wrong). And as shown under Known Bugs (link above), I could swear someone (NKF? Zombie?) insisted that loaded, full clips in ''alien'' guns were lost in CE... IOW, you should unload full clips before ending combat. But only for CE (i.e., Gold). (Partial clips are always lost, regardless of any state.) I hope whomever said that will step up (NKF?). I agree that loaded, full clips are not lost in DOS 1.4; that's what I've mostly played with. BTW you can autmatically sign your posts by using three tildes (<nowiki>~~~</nowiki>), or four for signature and timestamp. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 14:05, 9 February 2007 (PST)

:Mike, we (meaning, you and I) worked on this one Sunday a long time ago. The tests I ran did indeed show that full unloaded alien clips were lost (CE, Gold, whatever). However, I just ran some quite extensive tests on this right now and it showed no difference between loaded/unloaded status with a full clip. Might have been a bug, or I might have been only looking at the end-of-mission report.

:The end-of-mission report doesn't take into account clip usage - it counts what was there in the beginning, subtracts anything which was destroyed during the mission and supplies that as the number of artifacts recovered. Each pod of Elerium-115 is also considered an "artifact" (as long as it wasn't researched), so that could have compounded the problem if a comperhensive list was not created. It's possible I was only looking at the EOM report and neglected to visit the stores, but by golly, I could have sworn I did. I'll run some more tests this weekend sometime, but as it stands right now all full clips are recovered no matter what. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 15:36, 9 February 2007 (PST)

:That sounds great, Zombie. And Boba, I apologize if I've got it wrong. Maybe what we're seeing is that the EOM report is wrong (or confusing?), and that caused both the Extra Ammo and Disappearing Ammo blurbs on the wiki. If I'm understanding this right. If so, we'd want to correct both of these so as to say "some folks think that {blah blah), but actually this is only due (blah blah)", or whatever. I do remember that I myself checked the stores back at base when I reviewed it for DOS 1.4. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:18, 9 February 2007 (PST)

::So what's the status of this exploit? It sounds to me like full clip, loaded or unloaded = recovered -- partial clip, loaded or unloaded = lost -- is the most up-to-date picture of it. (And consistent across all versions.) Is this definitely correct, definitely incorrect, or somewhere in between?--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 19:20, 2 March 2007 (PST)

:::I wonder if it was just confusion because you could easily see a loaded weapon counting as one artifact for the EOM, but if you take the ammo out it reports both seperately so it looks like you get more back (and you would get slightly more points?), but that the ammo might get separated back at base even if you leave it in. Clearly partial clips always go, alien or human, as thats the way you get through so much of every type of ammo short of explosives/rockets. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 19:48, 2 March 2007 (PST)

::::Just my 2 cents, I could have sworn that after reading this and always unloading clips (even from dead aliens) that I started getting too many Heavy Plasma clips... Perhaps we need to just test this out once and for all. Count how many clips you have, go to a site, shoot one off, dust off, check stores. Test 2 reload and do the samething only unload a partial and a full and see what happens.

:::::Ah, heck I have both versions I'll do it myself here. Be back with the results and hopefully wrap this up. --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 11:10, 3 March 2007 (PST)

:::::Ok, per my tests using DOS (ver 1.4 I believe, how do you check??) and Windows CE (even using the same save games between the two). I tested these with a Heavy Cannon, and an Auto Cannon (and a rocket launcher but never fired it, and never lost any rockets), unless alien weapons work differently they should do the same. I have concluded the following:
:::::* Full ammo clips (loaded and unloaded) are always kept
:::::* Partial ammo clips loaded in a weapon are never kept
:::::* Partial ammo clips unloaded are kept ONLY in the DOS version
:::::I verified these by looking at the stores in the base afterwards, not the EOM report (which just told me 2 aliens killed from the crashed landing). The only extra thing I can see testing is if two half clips are counted as one, that is if there are 3 round left in two HC-HE, do I lose both of them, or just one? My gut tells me they went the easy way and just discarded any partial clips.
:::::I didn't update any pages with this info yet. If no one says anything in a day or so I'll make the updates. It'd be nice for someone to confirm on this. --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 11:47, 3 March 2007 (PST)

::::::Thanks for doing the testing. Since I play CE exclusively, this makes my life easier: no more of this unload-if-you-think-almost-all-the-aliens-are-dead silliness. Gee, life is so complicated.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 11:58, 3 March 2007 (PST)

Awwww, '''dammit'''. Life ''is'' complicated. Which is to say X-COM. Ahem.

I did a base raid to grab a blaster launcher so I could research it, but only got back to base with the launcher and not the bomb that was loaded in it. So I had to be the latest sucker to run this test:

*Artefact weapon, partial clip, loaded or unloaded: no clip gained
*Artefact weapon, full clip, loaded: '''no clip gained'''
*Artefact weapon, full clip, unloaded: clip gained
*Alien weapon (researched, non-artefact), full clip, loaded: '''no clip gained'''
*Alien weapon, full clip, unloaded: clip gained

These results apply to CE. I assume that in DOS, unloaded partial clips are kept (alien, artefact, X-COM, whatever). Dunno if loaded clips in alien weapons are kept in DOS; they are '''definitely''' lost under CE.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 17:15, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:''(Are we supposed to keep indenting as each comment is made? do we have a rule? anyway,)

:I played DOS 1.4 and didn't think to look at the Score screen; I found that full alien clips are kept, back at base.

:Eth - if you don't mind me asking - how did you test a partial Blaster clip?

: hehe - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 19:33, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:: Just indent sufficiently to break the discussions up so that we know where a new post begins and If we go too far to the right just roll back a few levels and start again. Kind of like a line flush with a typewriter... if anyone remembers these relics of an ancient civilisation.

:: Partial blaster bomb clips - two possibilities. It was edited. The other is a dud clip. Technically that's a partial clip. - [[User:NKF|NKF]]

:I'm waiting for his answer. ;)

:Folks (in general)... can we finally kill the "extra ammo collection" section of this Exploit page, and instead simply have the Glitch that full clips are lost in CE if loaded in alien weapons? Or at least the describe this non-exploit as "versus a glitch, things act regularly in DOS...".

: It's not an extra ammo exploit, it's regular ammo not lost to a glitch. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:35, 9 March 2007 (PST)

::Yeah, regarding the indenting, if you've got a back-and-forth between two users, each should stick to their prior indent level:
::Me
:::You
::Me
:::You
::etc. Otherwise the rule is add an indent level when replying to the prior user's comments.

::It wasn't a dud clip, it was merely a loaded blaster bomb. At mission end, I got the launcher, but not the bomb. (And only one artefact was scored.) Mind you, I ran these tests by grabbing the weapon, walking to the exit point/skyranger, and aborting the mission. Is it different when you end it by killing all the aliens? I'll have to check that next.

::So. Mike, are you saying that in the DOS version, a full clip loaded in an alien weapon is retained? I need to know the answer with 100% certainty before I will edit the article ''for the last time'', dammit. The exact nature of this bug has been up in the air for far too long.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 22:37, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:Ok, Eth. So let me make sure I have it straight: Pick up one Blaster Launcher, with 1 BB in it. Check stores before and after. (Plus look at the Score screen.) Yes? I'm not being obtuse here, I just want to make sure I do it right, because it seems like such a simple thing, to have such confusion over. Thanks - and yes, it's been in the air too long - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:43, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:I think I have an old Battleship game near completion. I'll finish it out, noting carefully all clip counts in all weapons, before and after. I can also send it to you CE users, to see what you get, before and after. Hold on a minute. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:05, 9 March 2007 (PST)

:FWIW, in hunting around old files, [[Media:RunForrestRun.zip|here]] is the one where folks run to the southeast, ''through'' a solid wall of soldiers. As described [[Talk:Bravery|here]]. The very first few will run through solid flanks of soldiers - after that, there are holes in the wall as more panic and often run - is this a DOS 1.4 thing? All soldiers have been set to 0 Morale and will freak when you end the turn. An interesting phenom; see that "as described" Discussion. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:16, 9 March 2007 (PST)

::During my own Bravery testing (under CE), I saw the same exact thing: I piled all the soldiers in a corner, and one or two walked ''through'' everyone to run away.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:59, 10 March 2007 (PST)

:Arg, something is screwy with that savegame - look how the weapons have problems being accessed. This is not to say the phenom of running through soldiers isn't real; I saw it back before this, when nothing was screwy. Something's wrong with how I restored the game, or my X-COM since I last played it. So much for a quick test of counts. I'll do it sometime in the next two weeks though; this has gone on too long. For now it's late, and a busy time for me otherwise. A.k.a. demonstrations never work. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:43, 9 March 2007 (PST)

::''(This is a note to myself to remember which pages get edited after we finally straighten this out: [[Exploits]], [[Known Bugs]], [[Equipment Recovery]], [[UFO Recovery Values]].--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 01:29, 10 March 2007 (PST))''

::I have a big fat '''aha''' now: I finally tested all-aliens-killed, mission ends, vs. grab stuff, abort mission. Difference! When I aborted the mission, I had to unload unused clips first in order to get them, but if it was a "successful" mission, the clips were recovered regardless of loaded/unloaded status. (Loaded-but-unused X-COM ammo was not used up during an abort.)

::Here's the savegame I used: [[Media:Weapon unloading test.zip]]. It's UFO-1, so you don't have to do before/after counts. There's a single sectoid remaining, and the following equipment on the map (9 artefacts total):
::* 1 Heavy Plasma (plus 1 loaded clip)
::* 1 Plasma Pistol (plus 2 clips, 1 loaded)
::* 1 Plasma Rifle (plus 1 partly-used loaded clip and 1 unloaded clip)
::* 1 Elerium

::So, use the save and try this: grab any weapon (say, the pistol at the door of the UFO), run back to the skyranger with it and abort (don't bother getting everyone else back in the ranger and don't kill the sectoid). Do you get 1 artefact (and back at base, have only the pistol, not the clip, in your stores)?--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:59, 10 March 2007 (PST)

==Repairing damaged UFOs==

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

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

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

----

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-[[User:NKF|NKF]]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

----

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Probably the reason for this dichomotomy is people are thinking too advanced - as if the game simulated the explosion while in the air when the UFO was intercepted. What most likely happens is the game spawns all the aliens in their starting points around the map, then fires the explosion. So only the aliens that are in the ship, near the PS, can be damaged or injured, where more realistically you might expect more to be in the vicinity (especially for medium scouts of course). Clearly this means the amount of injured aliens is going to tend to be very low compared to more realistic expectations.

Especially with the smoke of the explosion still around you could interpret this as the power systems have an emergency shut off when they are too damaged, which causes the crash, and the explosion only happens when they try to restart the engines/PS before they are fixed when the detect your team landing in the area, hence the explosion happening in the alien turn before you land. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 10:46, 10 March 2007 (PST)

Country Funding (EU)

2007-03-10T16:50:42Z

Sfnhltb: /* Starting Funding */ add in a starting funding table

The Funding you get from the council of funding nations is at first a critical part in offsetting your maintenance costs.

==Starting Funding==
Each game your starting monthly funding will be roughly $6 million, although the balance of which countries and areas it comes from can change to some extent from game to game. It can be worth checking this out when you start, as although commonly the first two areas to build bases in are Europe and North America, for some games you may find India, China, and Japan are all near their maximum levels and might want to take precedence in getting coverage before North America, especially if the US is contributing close to their minimum.

<center>
<table {{StdDescTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>
<th>'''Country'''</th><th>'''Low Funding*'''</th><th>'''High Funding*'''</th><th>'''Average Funding**'''</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">USA</td><td>600</td><td>1200</td><td>893</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Russia</td><td>230</td><td>460</td><td>338</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UK</td><td>240</td><td>480</td><td>353</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">France</td><td>320</td><td>640</td><td>473</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Germany</td><td>250</td><td>500</td><td>368</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Italy</td><td>160</td><td>320</td><td>233</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Spain</td><td>140</td><td>280</td><td>203</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">China</td><td>245</td><td>490</td><td>360</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Japan</td><td>400</td><td>800</td><td>593</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">India</td><td>150</td><td>300</td><td>218</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Brazil</td><td>300</td><td>600</td><td>443</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Australia</td><td>280</td><td>560</td><td>413</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Nigeria</td><td>180</td><td>360</td><td>263</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">S Africa</td><td>310</td><td>620</td><td>458</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Egypt</td><td>160</td><td>320</td><td>233</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Canada</td><td>110</td><td>220</td><td>158</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
<nowiki>*</nowiki>These are not minimum or maximums, which can be around 100 higher or lower than these values, but the chance of getting values outside the range given grows exponentially<br>
<nowiki>**</nowiki>Note the average is not the midpoint between the high and low funding, partly because of the distribution, and also because values below the low funding value are more common

For further details on how these values are generated see the [http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7424 xcomufo thread discussing it]

==Monthly Funding Change==
Each month the council will demand a progress report from you, and once they have received it they will convene and make a group decision on whether to increase, decrease or hold steady the funding level. This is based on the [[scoring|monthly rating]] which factors in both XCOMs overall mission successes and failures both in the air and on ground assaults, they also count against you overall alien activity that was allowed to proceed, although mere aliens flying around the map will make only very small impacts, one good mission will totally overwhelm it, at least in the early months. Successfully completed alien missions, especially [[Terror Mission]]s, will have much more impact though.

After the council has made its group decision, the majority of countries will follow the councils lead and adjust their funding in line with that. A few countries may consider their situation exceptional, due to either very good or bad localised performance by XCOM, the presence of an [[Alien_Missions#Alien_Base|alien base]] on their territory, a terror mission that succeeded, etc.

It is possible for countries that are seeing particularly high alien activity to sign a pact with the aliens, in which case they will pull out of the council at the end of the month a cease funding you complete. Clearly this is something to be avoided, so it is important to ensure you note any high levels of alien activity in an area and react to it. One of the best things to do is to deliberately try to [[UFO Interception|shoot down UFOs]] inside nearby countries borders, rather than in neutral territory, if possible as both successful interceptions and then any [[UFO Crash Recovery|recovery mission]] will both help placate that countries government.

<center>
<table {{StdDescTable}}>
<tr>
<th {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>'''Country Satisfaction'''</th><th {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>'''Funding Change compared to last month'''</th></tr>
<tr><td>Happy</td><td>+5 to 20%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Satisfied</td><td>No change </td></tr>
<tr><td>Unhappy</td><td> -5 to 20%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sign Pact</td><td>-100%, and will remain at 0 for rest of game </td></tr>
</table>
</center>

==See Also==
[[DIPLOM.DAT]] - Stores the current and past years funding, the monthly change, and other related information

==External Links==
[http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7424 Starting Funding], which contains Zombie's great thread on XcomUfo.

LIGLOB.DAT

2007-03-10T04:16:48Z

Sfnhltb: well your cash changes more than once a month, but the rest is fairly static

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

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

==Structure==

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

(Offsets in decimal)

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

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

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

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

[[Category:Game Files]]

Mission Types

2007-03-09T18:19:23Z

Sfnhltb: change to match title

There are a number of different '''Mission Types''' that can occur during you campaign against the aliens, and while there are a large number of similarities between them in the way they work, each has at least some moderate differences that are likely to require tactical adjustment, and a few require fairly radical changes in the way you go about things.

== Mission Variants ==

* [[UFO Crash Recovery]] - The ol' sweep-and-clear.

:These missions become available whenever you shoot down a UFO over land without destroying it during a [[UFO Interception]].

* [[UFO Ground Assault]] - Getting greedy for elerium.

:You can assault a landed UFO from the ground, as long as you can get your strike team there before it takes off. If it hasn't landed yet, have a [[Skyranger]] tail it so you'll be ready for when it does.

* [[Terror Mission]] - Screaming civilians, house calls, big robots.

:The aliens will regularly attempt these missions in an attempt to pull your teams into a fight where you cannot afford a slow and patient attack plan.

* [[Alien Base Assault]] - Kicking over the nest.

:Occasionally the Aliens will try to set up local bases on Earth, if they do you can opt to go in and flush them out.

* [[Base Defense]] - All hands on deck! Sound the big siren!

:If you are doing well and shooting down lots of UFOs the aliens will come searching for your base every now and then, if they find it you may find you get visitors to your base. And they are a bit more worrying than Jehovah's Witnesses.

* [[Cydonia]] - Here be spoilers.

:Eventually you can [[research]] a way to defeat the alien threat, and go and engage them on their home soil.

== General Tips ==

* [[Night Missions]]
* [[Field Manual: Terrain]]
* [[:Category: Terrain]]
* [[Alien Missions]]
* [[Damage]]
* [[Explosions]]
* [[Experience]]
* [[Experience Training]]

[[Category:Missions]]

Missions

2007-03-09T18:18:34Z

Sfnhltb: Missions moved to Mission Types: Missions is a bit generic of a title given the current content

#redirect [[Mission Types]]

Mission Types

2007-03-09T18:18:34Z

Sfnhltb: Missions moved to Mission Types

There are a number of different types of '''Missions''' that can occur during you campaign against the aliens, and while there are a large number of similarities between them in the way they work, each has at least some moderate differences that are likely to require tactical adjustment, and a few require fairly radical changes in the way you go about things.

== Mission Variants ==

* [[UFO Crash Recovery]] - The ol' sweep-and-clear.

:These missions become available whenever you shoot down a UFO over land without destroying it during a [[UFO Interception]].

* [[UFO Ground Assault]] - Getting greedy for elerium.

:You can assault a landed UFO from the ground, as long as you can get your strike team there before it takes off. If it hasn't landed yet, have a [[Skyranger]] tail it so you'll be ready for when it does.

* [[Terror Mission]] - Screaming civilians, house calls, big robots.

:The aliens will regularly attempt these missions in an attempt to pull your teams into a fight where you cannot afford a slow and patient attack plan.

* [[Alien Base Assault]] - Kicking over the nest.

:Occasionally the Aliens will try to set up local bases on Earth, if they do you can opt to go in and flush them out.

* [[Base Defense]] - All hands on deck! Sound the big siren!

:If you are doing well and shooting down lots of UFOs the aliens will come searching for your base every now and then, if they find it you may find you get visitors to your base. And they are a bit more worrying than Jehovah's Witnesses.

* [[Cydonia]] - Here be spoilers.

:Eventually you can [[research]] a way to defeat the alien threat, and go and engage them on their home soil.

== General Tips ==

* [[Night Missions]]
* [[Field Manual: Terrain]]
* [[:Category: Terrain]]
* [[Alien Missions]]
* [[Damage]]
* [[Explosions]]
* [[Experience]]
* [[Experience Training]]

[[Category:Missions]]

Grenade Relay

2007-03-09T03:49:09Z

Sfnhltb: /* General Warnings */ no comment...

The '''Grenade Relay''' is a tactic that allows a scout or other front line soldier to avoid having to spend a lot of time preparing a [[Grenade|grenade]]. Instead a rearward soldier can prepare one and throw it to him. The scout needs only to have enough time to pick up the grenade and throw it again. Although the grenade is live, the high accuracy of throwing and the reliability of the timing mechanism make this a useful tactic where waiting another turn to throw would allow the enemy to fire. It can also leave the front-line soldier with enough TU's for life-saving reaction fire on the alien turn.

==Advantages==
The priming and throwing action alone costs 75% of your total TUs in addition to the inventory movement costs. This will often mean the death of a front line soldier where keeping a high [[Reactions]] level by way of high [[TU|Time Units]] is paramount for avoiding reaction shots.

By being passed a pre-primed grenade, the scout will only need to pay the 25% total TUs for the throw and the TUs for picking up the grenade. Since this reduces the overall TU usage, the scout has the freedom of taking a few steps back out of the alien's visible range before throwing, or throwing the grenade and then running for cover.

While this strategy uses a lot more time units overall, the TUs are spent across a number of soldiers, keeping the reaction levels of all but the soldier that primed the grenade at a relatively high level. Soldiers at the rear are also less prone to being attacked by reaction shots.

==General Warnings==
Extra soldier time should be reserved for moving to a mis-throw and, if possible, leaving enough time for reaction fire. Note this tactic is much more risky when using primed [[Proximity Grenade]]s - the accuracy has to be perfect as a mis-throw can only be recovered by a vertical insertion with a flying suit - and are not recommended for use with the relay technique. If you must relay a Proximity Grenade, only arm it at the last step in the relay possible, usually the second to last, and if possible to a scout in cover so if the throw misses he isn't stuck motionless in the alien snipers sights.

Pay attention when performing this manoeuvre, throwing a primed grenade to a soldier who then leaves it on the flow and throws an unprimed grenade taken from his belt at the enemy is slightly less useful in its effects.

==Execution==
The grenade relay is best thought of in the same manner as a baton relay race where runners pass a baton to another until the last runner crosses the finish line with it. In the grenade relay, a live grenade is passed between soldiers from one point on the map to another until it reaches its target destination.

{| {{stdTable}} align = "center" width = "80%"
|-
| '''A Short Example'''
|-
| align = "center" valign = "top"| [[image:grelshot1.jpg]] || The soldier at location A starts the turn by spoting an alien at location B . The soldiers at location C cannot see the alien.

The soldier at A has a laser pistol and isn't a particularly good shot with it, so there's no hope of acquiring a reasonable hit from this distance.

A soldier at location C primes and throws a grenade to the soldier at A, who promptly picks it up, throws it to B and then backs up to get out of range.
|}

==Relaying other Equipment==

Note that this strategy is not necessarily limited for the use of grenades. It can also be used to rapidly transfer weapons, ammunition, medikits, or other objects such as flares from one end of the map or to the other.

[[Category: Tactics]]

Grenade Relay

2007-03-09T03:48:51Z

Sfnhltb: /* General Warnings */ no comment...

The '''Grenade Relay''' is a tactic that allows a scout or other front line soldier to avoid having to spend a lot of time preparing a [[Grenade|grenade]]. Instead a rearward soldier can prepare one and throw it to him. The scout needs only to have enough time to pick up the grenade and throw it again. Although the grenade is live, the high accuracy of throwing and the reliability of the timing mechanism make this a useful tactic where waiting another turn to throw would allow the enemy to fire. It can also leave the front-line soldier with enough TU's for life-saving reaction fire on the alien turn.

==Advantages==
The priming and throwing action alone costs 75% of your total TUs in addition to the inventory movement costs. This will often mean the death of a front line soldier where keeping a high [[Reactions]] level by way of high [[TU|Time Units]] is paramount for avoiding reaction shots.

By being passed a pre-primed grenade, the scout will only need to pay the 25% total TUs for the throw and the TUs for picking up the grenade. Since this reduces the overall TU usage, the scout has the freedom of taking a few steps back out of the alien's visible range before throwing, or throwing the grenade and then running for cover.

While this strategy uses a lot more time units overall, the TUs are spent across a number of soldiers, keeping the reaction levels of all but the soldier that primed the grenade at a relatively high level. Soldiers at the rear are also less prone to being attacked by reaction shots.

==General Warnings==
Extra soldier time should be reserved for moving to a mis-throw and, if possible, leaving enough time for reaction fire. Note this tactic is much more risky when using primed [[Proximity Grenade]]s - the accuracy has to be perfect as a mis-throw can only be recovered by a vertical insertion with a flying suit - and are not recommended for use with the relay technique. If you must relay a Proximity Grenade, only arm it at the last step in the relay possible, usually the second to last, and if possible to a scout in cover so if the throw misses he isn't stuck motionless in the alien snipers sights.

Pay attention when performing this manoeuvre, throwing a primed grenade to a soldier who then leaves it on the flow and throws an unprimed grenade taken from his belt at the enemy is slightly less effective in its effects.

==Execution==
The grenade relay is best thought of in the same manner as a baton relay race where runners pass a baton to another until the last runner crosses the finish line with it. In the grenade relay, a live grenade is passed between soldiers from one point on the map to another until it reaches its target destination.

{| {{stdTable}} align = "center" width = "80%"
|-
| '''A Short Example'''
|-
| align = "center" valign = "top"| [[image:grelshot1.jpg]] || The soldier at location A starts the turn by spoting an alien at location B . The soldiers at location C cannot see the alien.

The soldier at A has a laser pistol and isn't a particularly good shot with it, so there's no hope of acquiring a reasonable hit from this distance.

A soldier at location C primes and throws a grenade to the soldier at A, who promptly picks it up, throws it to B and then backs up to get out of range.
|}

==Relaying other Equipment==

Note that this strategy is not necessarily limited for the use of grenades. It can also be used to rapidly transfer weapons, ammunition, medikits, or other objects such as flares from one end of the map or to the other.

[[Category: Tactics]]

Help:Getting Started

2007-03-08T14:50:05Z

Sfnhltb: /* Signing Off */

= Overview =
The getting started page is here to help existing and budding authors get up and running writing wiki articles. For the moment, it'll contain various tips, from general naming convention tips to formatting tips and tricks that new wiki authors may want to have a go at.

-----
See that 'Show preview' button down the bottom of the 'edit' screen? Use it <i>before</i> posting. :)

Do as I say, not as I do...

- Bomb Bloke

-----

=Starting off=

Until a more comprehensive getting started section is up and running, the best way to learn how to start creating wiki articles is to click on the 'edit' button and look at the source of a page. Do this to look up how another author was able to achieve a certain effect that you'd like to duplicate.

The following [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Filling_the_page wikimedia] help page is a wealth of wiki text formatting information.

Also do as [[User:Bomb Bloke | Bomb Bloke]] says, use the preview button. It's a great way of learning how to format a page without doing any damage to existing articles. Still, no worries. The wiki keeps backups of previous edits that you can look up in case you deleted by mistake.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

= Tips =
==HTML and CSS in wiki text==

<table align = "right" style = "background: #F0F0FF; border: 1px #404080 solid; width: 30%; border-style: dashed; margin: 2em 2em 2em 2em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
;Example : Here's an sample of a standard html table with CSS used to supply the aesthetic formatting. If you can't see this text surrounded by a purple right-aligned box, then your browser may not support CSS.
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Wiki text allows some HTML to be used. Not all of it, but enough of the basics. For example, you may want to use a lot of whitespace in your text, but wiki text may eats most of your whitespace. This happens a lot when creating a quick list of items. Without resorting to creating an un-numbered wiki list, you can use a few HTML line break <BR> to force a few carriage returns.

If all else fails, rather than pressing enter once after each list item, press enter twice.

The Wiki also allows Cascading Style Sheet elements to be included into Wiki text for the purpose of formatting.

For a list of references, you can try [http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/references.html WDG's CSS reference].

==Watch those leading spaces==

If you ever place a space at the start of a new line, the following happens:

See this box? This is the result. It contains unformatted wiki text.
You '''can''' include formatting elements in it.
Nothing's terribly wrong With it except that if your screen is too small, it can go off the page if the line of text is too long. See what I mean?
Note, this mimics the HTML <PRE> tag, which works on blocks of text rather than single lines.

(You may need to scroll the page to right to see the rest of the last line)

== Section Headings ==

Section headings divide your articles into, well, sections. To create a section heading, go to a new line and surround the title of your new section with equal signs. Like so:

= <em>section name</em> =

A section heading takes up a whole line, has the title bolded and a horizontal line is created underneath it. Also, all sections on a page are inserted into the current page's table of contents - assuming the table of contents for the page has not been disabled, and there are enough sections to justify a table of contents (basically, four).

Section headings have various levels. The different levels are distinguished by the number of equal signs that you surround the title with. Level one uses one equal sign on either side of the title. Level two uses two equal signs.

Level 1 is treated as the topmost heading. All other headings are treated as sub-headings. Look at the source for this page by clicking on the edit button to see title headings in action.

=== Section headings as bookmarks ===
Section headings can also act like bookmarks, in a way. They allow you to link directly to particular sections in a page from other pages as well. To do this, create a wiki link as usual, but place a sharp/hash after the link name and then followed by the section heading.

For example, to link to the ''Maximum Caps'' section in [[Firing Accuracy]], we'd write:

<nowiki>[[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Firing Accuracy ]]</nowiki>

: [[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Test it!]]

You'll find that going to the page will jump you right to ''Maximum Caps''.

To create internal bookmarks, leave off the name of the page you want to link to. For example, to jump to the Tips section on this page, the following can be used:
<nowiki>[[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]]</nowiki>

One good example of this in action:

<em title = "This is an example of the above code in action"><small>([[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]])</small></em>

Use this feature sparingly - if someone renames the heading on a page not knowing you have linked to it, your link will break and just go to the top of the page as if there was no section bookmark. There is no way to tell when changing a section if there are links to it apart from checking every link to the page in turn, so it reduces maintainability to use these sorts of links too liberally.

==Links - watch those plurals!==

When creating a plural link, watch where your ''s'' goes. It can be a bit confusing and even frustrating at times and can potentially create needless duplication.

Try not to put it inside the link. Instead, have it flush against the link, like so <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol]]s </nowiki>. The wiki knows to make the S part of the link. Or you can use a pipe, like so: <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol | Laser Pistols]] </nowiki> but that's a bit tiresome.

Don't use <nowiki>[[Laser Pistols]]</nowiki> unless the actual title is indeed plural.

Note that you can use this same basic technique for participles and other suffixes as well in some cases, such as [[manufacture]]d (<nowiki>[[manufacture]]d</nowiki>) for past participle, however you wouldnt be able to do the same for the present participle in this case (i.e., manufacturing), because of the vowel switch.

==Stub Pages==

Stub pages are simply placeholder pages that contain little to no information that will later be turned into a full article, or even a redirection page.

For existing authors, try not to litter the wiki with lots of little stub pages that you'll probably abandon through neglect or you've suddenly decided to go for a better document title. Only create stub pages when you know you'll be using them and try not to fill them with unhelpful comments like ''"The banana peel bomb. Uh, yeah. it's really powerful. Blast the aliens to bits tod days beyond tuesday."'' and leave it at that.

<div align = "center">
<table style = "background: #FFFFFF; border: 1px red solid; border-style:dashed; width: 60%; margin: 1em 1em 1em 1em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
; Tip : If you have several unwanted stub pages, one excellent way of making sure that they don't go to waste is to move/rename them into the name of an article that has not yet been created, then fill in the page from there.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br>
===When creating Stub Pages===

If you are creating a stub pages and can't think of anything to say, consider entering the following line:

<pre><nowiki> {{STUB}} </nowiki></pre>

This makes use of mediawiki's fascinating feature called transclusion (fills a page with another page) to insert the following message onto the page:

{{STUB}}

Which is marginally better than leaving it blank. This is a site-wide message.

==Discussion==

First and foremest, the wiki is not designed to be a discussion forum. But where needs arise, some discussion will have to take place on the wiki, as not all visitors will be members of the various forums the regular authors frequent.

There's a discussion link at the top of each page. If you have a comment or are unsure and want to ask a question, the discussion page is the best place to do it. If you find yourself having a frequent or a long discussion with another author in an existing article, consider moving to the discussion page to iron out all the details and then edit the main page to reflect the discussion. It's a lot better that having important ideas being lost in the multitude of text.

Remember to use the + button at the top of the discussion page to add comments rather than using the 'edit' button (unless it's the very first comment). Also remember to enter a brief discussion heading (there'll be a separate text box above the edit box for this) so that your new discussion topic stands out rather than ending up flush against the previous comment.

The discussion pages are like black boards. Remember to wipe them clean after you're done and all the changes are in effect.

===Discussion : Separating ===
In a Talk: page, remember to separate any posts that you make so that your post doesn't end up looking like a continuation from the previous post. You have a wide variety of methods available to separate your posts.

If you use the + button to add your message, entering a title in the title textbox will automatically enter a section heading. See the [[#Section Headings |section heading]] for more information on how to enter section headings manually.

You can also use horizontal lines. To create a horizontal line, enter five dashes (<nowiki>-----</nowiki>). To demonstrate:

-----

Lines are automatically inserted whenever a section heading is created, but sometimes a simple line is all you need.

== Signing Off ==
If you're a registered user of this wiki board, sometimes you will want to leave a link back to your user page - if you have one. The Wiki has a shortcut that allows you to do this without having to type the entire link to your user page manually.

There are two ways of doing this. The first version is done by simply entering <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>. This creates a link directly back to your user page and pipes the link to your user name.

The other version uses four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>). This does exactly the same as the there tilde shortcut, but it also appends the current date and time onto your piped user name. This is great way of time stamping any personal comments or discussions in talk pages, and it makes it much easier to follow a discussion on the talk page if you can tell who is saying what.

This shortcut will only take effect on the articles source when you finally save the document, however you will see the desired effect when previewing.

== Indenting ==
The purpose of this section is to describe indenting. A line of indented text probably doesn't look like much, but it can certainly allow sections of large blocks of text to stand out a bit.

: To indent a line, observe the following line.

<nowiki>: To indent a line, observe the following line.</nowiki>

: Notice how there's a colon at the start of the line. This indents the entire line of text. Note that this only works on the one line.

All text after the carriage return (the invisible character representing the enter/return key) will return to normal. Just like what has happened to this line, if you have a look at the source code. If you want to indent a large document, remember to place a ":" at the beginning of each new paragraph.

: You can have multiple indent levels!
:: Observe.
::: See?
:::: This can be handy for breaking up user discussions into threads
:: It helps break up the large blocks of unweildy text
::::::::::::::::::: <em><small>Fnord!</small></em>
:: How now brown cow? Where is my cow?
::: It has absconded with the kitchen sink
:::: A life on the run for one that befriends a cat with boots is a sad one indeed.
:: Mind you
: This is taking things to the extreme
And is just causing one big horrible mess.
: But it'll hopefully get the point across

Be advised that if you place a semicolon ";" instead of a colon at the start of a new paragraph, it converts the entire paragraph into bold text. This can be a really handy way of making quick minor sub headings. If you place a ":" right after the title, separated by a space, you'll get a heading and an indented pargraph. This is useful for definitions. For example:

<nowiki>; This is the topic being explained : This is the description</nowiki>

Produces:

; This is the topic being explained : This is the description

In this case, only one level of indent seems to work for the description, but you can indeed indent the entire definition, for example,

<pre>::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description</pre>

Would produce:

::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description

Help:Getting Started

2007-03-08T14:25:39Z

Sfnhltb: /* Links - watch those plurals! */ add other uses of same technique

= Overview =
The getting started page is here to help existing and budding authors get up and running writing wiki articles. For the moment, it'll contain various tips, from general naming convention tips to formatting tips and tricks that new wiki authors may want to have a go at.

-----
See that 'Show preview' button down the bottom of the 'edit' screen? Use it <i>before</i> posting. :)

Do as I say, not as I do...

- Bomb Bloke

-----

=Starting off=

Until a more comprehensive getting started section is up and running, the best way to learn how to start creating wiki articles is to click on the 'edit' button and look at the source of a page. Do this to look up how another author was able to achieve a certain effect that you'd like to duplicate.

The following [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Filling_the_page wikimedia] help page is a wealth of wiki text formatting information.

Also do as [[User:Bomb Bloke | Bomb Bloke]] says, use the preview button. It's a great way of learning how to format a page without doing any damage to existing articles. Still, no worries. The wiki keeps backups of previous edits that you can look up in case you deleted by mistake.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

= Tips =
==HTML and CSS in wiki text==

<table align = "right" style = "background: #F0F0FF; border: 1px #404080 solid; width: 30%; border-style: dashed; margin: 2em 2em 2em 2em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
;Example : Here's an sample of a standard html table with CSS used to supply the aesthetic formatting. If you can't see this text surrounded by a purple right-aligned box, then your browser may not support CSS.
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Wiki text allows some HTML to be used. Not all of it, but enough of the basics. For example, you may want to use a lot of whitespace in your text, but wiki text may eats most of your whitespace. This happens a lot when creating a quick list of items. Without resorting to creating an un-numbered wiki list, you can use a few HTML line break <BR> to force a few carriage returns.

If all else fails, rather than pressing enter once after each list item, press enter twice.

The Wiki also allows Cascading Style Sheet elements to be included into Wiki text for the purpose of formatting.

For a list of references, you can try [http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/references.html WDG's CSS reference].

==Watch those leading spaces==

If you ever place a space at the start of a new line, the following happens:

See this box? This is the result. It contains unformatted wiki text.
You '''can''' include formatting elements in it.
Nothing's terribly wrong With it except that if your screen is too small, it can go off the page if the line of text is too long. See what I mean?
Note, this mimics the HTML <PRE> tag, which works on blocks of text rather than single lines.

(You may need to scroll the page to right to see the rest of the last line)

== Section Headings ==

Section headings divide your articles into, well, sections. To create a section heading, go to a new line and surround the title of your new section with equal signs. Like so:

= <em>section name</em> =

A section heading takes up a whole line, has the title bolded and a horizontal line is created underneath it. Also, all sections on a page are inserted into the current page's table of contents - assuming the table of contents for the page has not been disabled, and there are enough sections to justify a table of contents (basically, four).

Section headings have various levels. The different levels are distinguished by the number of equal signs that you surround the title with. Level one uses one equal sign on either side of the title. Level two uses two equal signs.

Level 1 is treated as the topmost heading. All other headings are treated as sub-headings. Look at the source for this page by clicking on the edit button to see title headings in action.

=== Section headings as bookmarks ===
Section headings can also act like bookmarks, in a way. They allow you to link directly to particular sections in a page from other pages as well. To do this, create a wiki link as usual, but place a sharp/hash after the link name and then followed by the section heading.

For example, to link to the ''Maximum Caps'' section in [[Firing Accuracy]], we'd write:

<nowiki>[[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Firing Accuracy ]]</nowiki>

: [[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Test it!]]

You'll find that going to the page will jump you right to ''Maximum Caps''.

To create internal bookmarks, leave off the name of the page you want to link to. For example, to jump to the Tips section on this page, the following can be used:
<nowiki>[[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]]</nowiki>

One good example of this in action:

<em title = "This is an example of the above code in action"><small>([[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]])</small></em>

Use this feature sparingly - if someone renames the heading on a page not knowing you have linked to it, your link will break and just go to the top of the page as if there was no section bookmark. There is no way to tell when changing a section if there are links to it apart from checking every link to the page in turn, so it reduces maintainability to use these sorts of links too liberally.

==Links - watch those plurals!==

When creating a plural link, watch where your ''s'' goes. It can be a bit confusing and even frustrating at times and can potentially create needless duplication.

Try not to put it inside the link. Instead, have it flush against the link, like so <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol]]s </nowiki>. The wiki knows to make the S part of the link. Or you can use a pipe, like so: <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol | Laser Pistols]] </nowiki> but that's a bit tiresome.

Don't use <nowiki>[[Laser Pistols]]</nowiki> unless the actual title is indeed plural.

Note that you can use this same basic technique for participles and other suffixes as well in some cases, such as [[manufacture]]d (<nowiki>[[manufacture]]d</nowiki>) for past participle, however you wouldnt be able to do the same for the present participle in this case (i.e., manufacturing), because of the vowel switch.

==Stub Pages==

Stub pages are simply placeholder pages that contain little to no information that will later be turned into a full article, or even a redirection page.

For existing authors, try not to litter the wiki with lots of little stub pages that you'll probably abandon through neglect or you've suddenly decided to go for a better document title. Only create stub pages when you know you'll be using them and try not to fill them with unhelpful comments like ''"The banana peel bomb. Uh, yeah. it's really powerful. Blast the aliens to bits tod days beyond tuesday."'' and leave it at that.

<div align = "center">
<table style = "background: #FFFFFF; border: 1px red solid; border-style:dashed; width: 60%; margin: 1em 1em 1em 1em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
; Tip : If you have several unwanted stub pages, one excellent way of making sure that they don't go to waste is to move/rename them into the name of an article that has not yet been created, then fill in the page from there.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br>
===When creating Stub Pages===

If you are creating a stub pages and can't think of anything to say, consider entering the following line:

<pre><nowiki> {{STUB}} </nowiki></pre>

This makes use of mediawiki's fascinating feature called transclusion (fills a page with another page) to insert the following message onto the page:

{{STUB}}

Which is marginally better than leaving it blank. This is a site-wide message.

==Discussion==

First and foremest, the wiki is not designed to be a discussion forum. But where needs arise, some discussion will have to take place on the wiki, as not all visitors will be members of the various forums the regular authors frequent.

There's a discussion link at the top of each page. If you have a comment or are unsure and want to ask a question, the discussion page is the best place to do it. If you find yourself having a frequent or a long discussion with another author in an existing article, consider moving to the discussion page to iron out all the details and then edit the main page to reflect the discussion. It's a lot better that having important ideas being lost in the multitude of text.

Remember to use the + button at the top of the discussion page to add comments rather than using the 'edit' button (unless it's the very first comment). Also remember to enter a brief discussion heading (there'll be a separate text box above the edit box for this) so that your new discussion topic stands out rather than ending up flush against the previous comment.

The discussion pages are like black boards. Remember to wipe them clean after you're done and all the changes are in effect.

===Discussion : Separating ===
In a Talk: page, remember to separate any posts that you make so that your post doesn't end up looking like a continuation from the previous post. You have a wide variety of methods available to separate your posts.

If you use the + button to add your message, entering a title in the title textbox will automatically enter a section heading. See the [[#Section Headings |section heading]] for more information on how to enter section headings manually.

You can also use horizontal lines. To create a horizontal line, enter five dashes (<nowiki>-----</nowiki>). To demonstrate:

-----

Lines are automatically inserted whenever a section heading is created, but sometimes a simple line is all you need.

== Signing Off ==
If you're a registered user of this wiki board, sometimes you will want to leave a link back to your user page - if you have one. The Wiki has a shortcut that allows you to do this without having to type the entire link to your user page manually.

There are two ways of doing this. The first version is done by simply entering <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>. This creates a link directly back to your user page and pipes the link to your user name.

The other version uses four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>). This does exactly the same as the there tilde shortcut, but it also appends the current date and time onto your piped user name. This is great way of time stamping any personal comments or discussiosn in talk pages.

This shortcut will only take effect on the articles source when you finally save the document, however you will see the desired effect when previewing.

== Indenting ==
The purpose of this section is to describe indenting. A line of indented text probably doesn't look like much, but it can certainly allow sections of large blocks of text to stand out a bit.

: To indent a line, observe the following line.

<nowiki>: To indent a line, observe the following line.</nowiki>

: Notice how there's a colon at the start of the line. This indents the entire line of text. Note that this only works on the one line.

All text after the carriage return (the invisible character representing the enter/return key) will return to normal. Just like what has happened to this line, if you have a look at the source code. If you want to indent a large document, remember to place a ":" at the beginning of each new paragraph.

: You can have multiple indent levels!
:: Observe.
::: See?
:::: This can be handy for breaking up user discussions into threads
:: It helps break up the large blocks of unweildy text
::::::::::::::::::: <em><small>Fnord!</small></em>
:: How now brown cow? Where is my cow?
::: It has absconded with the kitchen sink
:::: A life on the run for one that befriends a cat with boots is a sad one indeed.
:: Mind you
: This is taking things to the extreme
And is just causing one big horrible mess.
: But it'll hopefully get the point across

Be advised that if you place a semicolon ";" instead of a colon at the start of a new paragraph, it converts the entire paragraph into bold text. This can be a really handy way of making quick minor sub headings. If you place a ":" right after the title, separated by a space, you'll get a heading and an indented pargraph. This is useful for definitions. For example:

<nowiki>; This is the topic being explained : This is the description</nowiki>

Produces:

; This is the topic being explained : This is the description

In this case, only one level of indent seems to work for the description, but you can indeed indent the entire definition, for example,

<pre>::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description</pre>

Would produce:

::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description

Help:Getting Started

2007-03-08T14:15:44Z

Sfnhltb: /* Section headings as bookmarks */

= Overview =
The getting started page is here to help existing and budding authors get up and running writing wiki articles. For the moment, it'll contain various tips, from general naming convention tips to formatting tips and tricks that new wiki authors may want to have a go at.

-----
See that 'Show preview' button down the bottom of the 'edit' screen? Use it <i>before</i> posting. :)

Do as I say, not as I do...

- Bomb Bloke

-----

=Starting off=

Until a more comprehensive getting started section is up and running, the best way to learn how to start creating wiki articles is to click on the 'edit' button and look at the source of a page. Do this to look up how another author was able to achieve a certain effect that you'd like to duplicate.

The following [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Filling_the_page wikimedia] help page is a wealth of wiki text formatting information.

Also do as [[User:Bomb Bloke | Bomb Bloke]] says, use the preview button. It's a great way of learning how to format a page without doing any damage to existing articles. Still, no worries. The wiki keeps backups of previous edits that you can look up in case you deleted by mistake.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

= Tips =
==HTML and CSS in wiki text==

<table align = "right" style = "background: #F0F0FF; border: 1px #404080 solid; width: 30%; border-style: dashed; margin: 2em 2em 2em 2em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
;Example : Here's an sample of a standard html table with CSS used to supply the aesthetic formatting. If you can't see this text surrounded by a purple right-aligned box, then your browser may not support CSS.
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Wiki text allows some HTML to be used. Not all of it, but enough of the basics. For example, you may want to use a lot of whitespace in your text, but wiki text may eats most of your whitespace. This happens a lot when creating a quick list of items. Without resorting to creating an un-numbered wiki list, you can use a few HTML line break <BR> to force a few carriage returns.

If all else fails, rather than pressing enter once after each list item, press enter twice.

The Wiki also allows Cascading Style Sheet elements to be included into Wiki text for the purpose of formatting.

For a list of references, you can try [http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/references.html WDG's CSS reference].

==Watch those leading spaces==

If you ever place a space at the start of a new line, the following happens:

See this box? This is the result. It contains unformatted wiki text.
You '''can''' include formatting elements in it.
Nothing's terribly wrong With it except that if your screen is too small, it can go off the page if the line of text is too long. See what I mean?
Note, this mimics the HTML <PRE> tag, which works on blocks of text rather than single lines.

(You may need to scroll the page to right to see the rest of the last line)

== Section Headings ==

Section headings divide your articles into, well, sections. To create a section heading, go to a new line and surround the title of your new section with equal signs. Like so:

= <em>section name</em> =

A section heading takes up a whole line, has the title bolded and a horizontal line is created underneath it. Also, all sections on a page are inserted into the current page's table of contents - assuming the table of contents for the page has not been disabled, and there are enough sections to justify a table of contents (basically, four).

Section headings have various levels. The different levels are distinguished by the number of equal signs that you surround the title with. Level one uses one equal sign on either side of the title. Level two uses two equal signs.

Level 1 is treated as the topmost heading. All other headings are treated as sub-headings. Look at the source for this page by clicking on the edit button to see title headings in action.

=== Section headings as bookmarks ===
Section headings can also act like bookmarks, in a way. They allow you to link directly to particular sections in a page from other pages as well. To do this, create a wiki link as usual, but place a sharp/hash after the link name and then followed by the section heading.

For example, to link to the ''Maximum Caps'' section in [[Firing Accuracy]], we'd write:

<nowiki>[[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Firing Accuracy ]]</nowiki>

: [[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Test it!]]

You'll find that going to the page will jump you right to ''Maximum Caps''.

To create internal bookmarks, leave off the name of the page you want to link to. For example, to jump to the Tips section on this page, the following can be used:
<nowiki>[[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]]</nowiki>

One good example of this in action:

<em title = "This is an example of the above code in action"><small>([[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]])</small></em>

Use this feature sparingly - if someone renames the heading on a page not knowing you have linked to it, your link will break and just go to the top of the page as if there was no section bookmark. There is no way to tell when changing a section if there are links to it apart from checking every link to the page in turn, so it reduces maintainability to use these sorts of links too liberally.

==Links - watch those plurals!==

When creating a plural link, watch where your ''s'' goes. It can be a bit confusing and even frustrating at times and can potentially create needless duplication.

Try not to put it inside the link. Instead, have it flush against the link, like so <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol]]s </nowiki>. The wiki knows to make the S part of the link. Or you can use a pipe, like so: <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol | Laser Pistols]] </nowiki> but that's a bit tiresome.

Don't use <nowiki>[[Laser Pistols]]</nowiki> unless the actual title is indeed plural.

==Stub Pages==

Stub pages are simply placeholder pages that contain little to no information that will later be turned into a full article, or even a redirection page.

For existing authors, try not to litter the wiki with lots of little stub pages that you'll probably abandon through neglect or you've suddenly decided to go for a better document title. Only create stub pages when you know you'll be using them and try not to fill them with unhelpful comments like ''"The banana peel bomb. Uh, yeah. it's really powerful. Blast the aliens to bits tod days beyond tuesday."'' and leave it at that.

<div align = "center">
<table style = "background: #FFFFFF; border: 1px red solid; border-style:dashed; width: 60%; margin: 1em 1em 1em 1em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
; Tip : If you have several unwanted stub pages, one excellent way of making sure that they don't go to waste is to move/rename them into the name of an article that has not yet been created, then fill in the page from there.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br>
===When creating Stub Pages===

If you are creating a stub pages and can't think of anything to say, consider entering the following line:

<pre><nowiki> {{STUB}} </nowiki></pre>

This makes use of mediawiki's fascinating feature called transclusion (fills a page with another page) to insert the following message onto the page:

{{STUB}}

Which is marginally better than leaving it blank. This is a site-wide message.

==Discussion==

First and foremest, the wiki is not designed to be a discussion forum. But where needs arise, some discussion will have to take place on the wiki, as not all visitors will be members of the various forums the regular authors frequent.

There's a discussion link at the top of each page. If you have a comment or are unsure and want to ask a question, the discussion page is the best place to do it. If you find yourself having a frequent or a long discussion with another author in an existing article, consider moving to the discussion page to iron out all the details and then edit the main page to reflect the discussion. It's a lot better that having important ideas being lost in the multitude of text.

Remember to use the + button at the top of the discussion page to add comments rather than using the 'edit' button (unless it's the very first comment). Also remember to enter a brief discussion heading (there'll be a separate text box above the edit box for this) so that your new discussion topic stands out rather than ending up flush against the previous comment.

The discussion pages are like black boards. Remember to wipe them clean after you're done and all the changes are in effect.

===Discussion : Separating ===
In a Talk: page, remember to separate any posts that you make so that your post doesn't end up looking like a continuation from the previous post. You have a wide variety of methods available to separate your posts.

If you use the + button to add your message, entering a title in the title textbox will automatically enter a section heading. See the [[#Section Headings |section heading]] for more information on how to enter section headings manually.

You can also use horizontal lines. To create a horizontal line, enter five dashes (<nowiki>-----</nowiki>). To demonstrate:

-----

Lines are automatically inserted whenever a section heading is created, but sometimes a simple line is all you need.

== Signing Off ==
If you're a registered user of this wiki board, sometimes you will want to leave a link back to your user page - if you have one. The Wiki has a shortcut that allows you to do this without having to type the entire link to your user page manually.

There are two ways of doing this. The first version is done by simply entering <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>. This creates a link directly back to your user page and pipes the link to your user name.

The other version uses four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>). This does exactly the same as the there tilde shortcut, but it also appends the current date and time onto your piped user name. This is great way of time stamping any personal comments or discussiosn in talk pages.

This shortcut will only take effect on the articles source when you finally save the document, however you will see the desired effect when previewing.

== Indenting ==
The purpose of this section is to describe indenting. A line of indented text probably doesn't look like much, but it can certainly allow sections of large blocks of text to stand out a bit.

: To indent a line, observe the following line.

<nowiki>: To indent a line, observe the following line.</nowiki>

: Notice how there's a colon at the start of the line. This indents the entire line of text. Note that this only works on the one line.

All text after the carriage return (the invisible character representing the enter/return key) will return to normal. Just like what has happened to this line, if you have a look at the source code. If you want to indent a large document, remember to place a ":" at the beginning of each new paragraph.

: You can have multiple indent levels!
:: Observe.
::: See?
:::: This can be handy for breaking up user discussions into threads
:: It helps break up the large blocks of unweildy text
::::::::::::::::::: <em><small>Fnord!</small></em>
:: How now brown cow? Where is my cow?
::: It has absconded with the kitchen sink
:::: A life on the run for one that befriends a cat with boots is a sad one indeed.
:: Mind you
: This is taking things to the extreme
And is just causing one big horrible mess.
: But it'll hopefully get the point across

Be advised that if you place a semicolon ";" instead of a colon at the start of a new paragraph, it converts the entire paragraph into bold text. This can be a really handy way of making quick minor sub headings. If you place a ":" right after the title, separated by a space, you'll get a heading and an indented pargraph. This is useful for definitions. For example:

<nowiki>; This is the topic being explained : This is the description</nowiki>

Produces:

; This is the topic being explained : This is the description

In this case, only one level of indent seems to work for the description, but you can indeed indent the entire definition, for example,

<pre>::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description</pre>

Would produce:

::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description

Help:Getting Started

2007-03-08T14:13:05Z

Sfnhltb: /* Section Headings */

= Overview =
The getting started page is here to help existing and budding authors get up and running writing wiki articles. For the moment, it'll contain various tips, from general naming convention tips to formatting tips and tricks that new wiki authors may want to have a go at.

-----
See that 'Show preview' button down the bottom of the 'edit' screen? Use it <i>before</i> posting. :)

Do as I say, not as I do...

- Bomb Bloke

-----

=Starting off=

Until a more comprehensive getting started section is up and running, the best way to learn how to start creating wiki articles is to click on the 'edit' button and look at the source of a page. Do this to look up how another author was able to achieve a certain effect that you'd like to duplicate.

The following [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Filling_the_page wikimedia] help page is a wealth of wiki text formatting information.

Also do as [[User:Bomb Bloke | Bomb Bloke]] says, use the preview button. It's a great way of learning how to format a page without doing any damage to existing articles. Still, no worries. The wiki keeps backups of previous edits that you can look up in case you deleted by mistake.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

= Tips =
==HTML and CSS in wiki text==

<table align = "right" style = "background: #F0F0FF; border: 1px #404080 solid; width: 30%; border-style: dashed; margin: 2em 2em 2em 2em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
;Example : Here's an sample of a standard html table with CSS used to supply the aesthetic formatting. If you can't see this text surrounded by a purple right-aligned box, then your browser may not support CSS.
</td>
</tr>
</table>

Wiki text allows some HTML to be used. Not all of it, but enough of the basics. For example, you may want to use a lot of whitespace in your text, but wiki text may eats most of your whitespace. This happens a lot when creating a quick list of items. Without resorting to creating an un-numbered wiki list, you can use a few HTML line break <BR> to force a few carriage returns.

If all else fails, rather than pressing enter once after each list item, press enter twice.

The Wiki also allows Cascading Style Sheet elements to be included into Wiki text for the purpose of formatting.

For a list of references, you can try [http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/references.html WDG's CSS reference].

==Watch those leading spaces==

If you ever place a space at the start of a new line, the following happens:

See this box? This is the result. It contains unformatted wiki text.
You '''can''' include formatting elements in it.
Nothing's terribly wrong With it except that if your screen is too small, it can go off the page if the line of text is too long. See what I mean?
Note, this mimics the HTML <PRE> tag, which works on blocks of text rather than single lines.

(You may need to scroll the page to right to see the rest of the last line)

== Section Headings ==

Section headings divide your articles into, well, sections. To create a section heading, go to a new line and surround the title of your new section with equal signs. Like so:

= <em>section name</em> =

A section heading takes up a whole line, has the title bolded and a horizontal line is created underneath it. Also, all sections on a page are inserted into the current page's table of contents - assuming the table of contents for the page has not been disabled, and there are enough sections to justify a table of contents (basically, four).

Section headings have various levels. The different levels are distinguished by the number of equal signs that you surround the title with. Level one uses one equal sign on either side of the title. Level two uses two equal signs.

Level 1 is treated as the topmost heading. All other headings are treated as sub-headings. Look at the source for this page by clicking on the edit button to see title headings in action.

=== Section headings as bookmarks ===
Section headings can also act like bookmarks, in a way. They allow you to link directly to particular sections in a page from other pages as well. To do this, create a wiki link as usual, but place a sharp/hash after the link name and then followed by the section heading.

For example, to link to the ''Maximum Caps'' section in [[Firing Accuracy]], we'd write:

<nowiki>[[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Firing Accuracy ]]</nowiki>

: [[Firing Accuracy#Maximum Caps | Test it!]]

You'll find that going to the page will jump you right to ''Maximum Caps''.

To create internal bookmarks, leave off the name of the page you want to link to. For example, to jump to the Tips section on this page, the following can be used:
<nowiki>[[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]]</nowiki>

One good example of this in action:

<em title = "This is an example of the above code in action"><small>([[#Tips | Jump to the top of this section ]])</small></em>

==Links - watch those plurals!==

When creating a plural link, watch where your ''s'' goes. It can be a bit confusing and even frustrating at times and can potentially create needless duplication.

Try not to put it inside the link. Instead, have it flush against the link, like so <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol]]s </nowiki>. The wiki knows to make the S part of the link. Or you can use a pipe, like so: <nowiki>[[Laser Pistol | Laser Pistols]] </nowiki> but that's a bit tiresome.

Don't use <nowiki>[[Laser Pistols]]</nowiki> unless the actual title is indeed plural.

==Stub Pages==

Stub pages are simply placeholder pages that contain little to no information that will later be turned into a full article, or even a redirection page.

For existing authors, try not to litter the wiki with lots of little stub pages that you'll probably abandon through neglect or you've suddenly decided to go for a better document title. Only create stub pages when you know you'll be using them and try not to fill them with unhelpful comments like ''"The banana peel bomb. Uh, yeah. it's really powerful. Blast the aliens to bits tod days beyond tuesday."'' and leave it at that.

<div align = "center">
<table style = "background: #FFFFFF; border: 1px red solid; border-style:dashed; width: 60%; margin: 1em 1em 1em 1em; padding:4px;">
<tr>
<td>
; Tip : If you have several unwanted stub pages, one excellent way of making sure that they don't go to waste is to move/rename them into the name of an article that has not yet been created, then fill in the page from there.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<br>
===When creating Stub Pages===

If you are creating a stub pages and can't think of anything to say, consider entering the following line:

<pre><nowiki> {{STUB}} </nowiki></pre>

This makes use of mediawiki's fascinating feature called transclusion (fills a page with another page) to insert the following message onto the page:

{{STUB}}

Which is marginally better than leaving it blank. This is a site-wide message.

==Discussion==

First and foremest, the wiki is not designed to be a discussion forum. But where needs arise, some discussion will have to take place on the wiki, as not all visitors will be members of the various forums the regular authors frequent.

There's a discussion link at the top of each page. If you have a comment or are unsure and want to ask a question, the discussion page is the best place to do it. If you find yourself having a frequent or a long discussion with another author in an existing article, consider moving to the discussion page to iron out all the details and then edit the main page to reflect the discussion. It's a lot better that having important ideas being lost in the multitude of text.

Remember to use the + button at the top of the discussion page to add comments rather than using the 'edit' button (unless it's the very first comment). Also remember to enter a brief discussion heading (there'll be a separate text box above the edit box for this) so that your new discussion topic stands out rather than ending up flush against the previous comment.

The discussion pages are like black boards. Remember to wipe them clean after you're done and all the changes are in effect.

===Discussion : Separating ===
In a Talk: page, remember to separate any posts that you make so that your post doesn't end up looking like a continuation from the previous post. You have a wide variety of methods available to separate your posts.

If you use the + button to add your message, entering a title in the title textbox will automatically enter a section heading. See the [[#Section Headings |section heading]] for more information on how to enter section headings manually.

You can also use horizontal lines. To create a horizontal line, enter five dashes (<nowiki>-----</nowiki>). To demonstrate:

-----

Lines are automatically inserted whenever a section heading is created, but sometimes a simple line is all you need.

== Signing Off ==
If you're a registered user of this wiki board, sometimes you will want to leave a link back to your user page - if you have one. The Wiki has a shortcut that allows you to do this without having to type the entire link to your user page manually.

There are two ways of doing this. The first version is done by simply entering <nowiki>~~~</nowiki>. This creates a link directly back to your user page and pipes the link to your user name.

The other version uses four tildes (<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>). This does exactly the same as the there tilde shortcut, but it also appends the current date and time onto your piped user name. This is great way of time stamping any personal comments or discussiosn in talk pages.

This shortcut will only take effect on the articles source when you finally save the document, however you will see the desired effect when previewing.

== Indenting ==
The purpose of this section is to describe indenting. A line of indented text probably doesn't look like much, but it can certainly allow sections of large blocks of text to stand out a bit.

: To indent a line, observe the following line.

<nowiki>: To indent a line, observe the following line.</nowiki>

: Notice how there's a colon at the start of the line. This indents the entire line of text. Note that this only works on the one line.

All text after the carriage return (the invisible character representing the enter/return key) will return to normal. Just like what has happened to this line, if you have a look at the source code. If you want to indent a large document, remember to place a ":" at the beginning of each new paragraph.

: You can have multiple indent levels!
:: Observe.
::: See?
:::: This can be handy for breaking up user discussions into threads
:: It helps break up the large blocks of unweildy text
::::::::::::::::::: <em><small>Fnord!</small></em>
:: How now brown cow? Where is my cow?
::: It has absconded with the kitchen sink
:::: A life on the run for one that befriends a cat with boots is a sad one indeed.
:: Mind you
: This is taking things to the extreme
And is just causing one big horrible mess.
: But it'll hopefully get the point across

Be advised that if you place a semicolon ";" instead of a colon at the start of a new paragraph, it converts the entire paragraph into bold text. This can be a really handy way of making quick minor sub headings. If you place a ":" right after the title, separated by a space, you'll get a heading and an indented pargraph. This is useful for definitions. For example:

<nowiki>; This is the topic being explained : This is the description</nowiki>

Produces:

; This is the topic being explained : This is the description

In this case, only one level of indent seems to work for the description, but you can indeed indent the entire definition, for example,

<pre>::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description</pre>

Would produce:

::; Indented Topic : Indented Topic description

Making the Game Harder

2007-03-08T13:47:05Z

Sfnhltb: grammar

This page is intended for players who finish the game frequently on the highest difficulty and would like to keep the challenge alive.

Naturally it is quite easy to handicap yourself while playing the game: using only conventional weaponry, no armor, fighting only on night missions, etc. However, the idea here is not to go those extremes but to identify a number of exploits/cheats/tactics that make the game easier.

Feel free to try any of these ideas (or all of them!). Some may make the game very hard but not impossible to win.

==Don't use game exploits==

All strategy guides for UFO have plenty of mentions to [[Exploits]]. Their influence on [[Battlescape]]/[[Geoscape]] varies, here's a list of those that you should avoid and their consequences.

===Alien Inventory Screen===

Although you are not supposed to be able to access an alien's inventory screen when you mind control it, there is a [[Exploits#Alien_Inventory_Screen|way]] to do so. This allows for nasty things like priming grenades and dropping them at the feet of the alien.
Another thing to consider is to stop using [[Psionics]] all together (see below).

===Faulty Collision Detection===

A full description can be found on [[Exploits#Faulty Collision Detection|here]]. This exploit allows you to bypass map chokepoints (such as UFO doors) which can be used by the aliens to ambush your soldiers.

===Free Wages/Manufacturing/Fuel===

These exploits are commonly used to prevent your finances from going negative at the end of the month or to keep your planes flying for free. The [[Exploits#Free_Wages|Free Wages]] avoids having to pay your scientists/engineers/soldiers' salaries. Most of your monthly expenses are made of those, so having to pay for your 250 scientists makes financial matters more hard to deal with.

==Excessive Firepower==

===Heavy Plasmas===

Don't equip the majority of your squad with [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]].

===Blaster Launchers===

To put it simply: the weapons are too powerful and thus the temptation to overuse them too great. Completely destroying a map is fun at start but butchering the aliens gets boring after a while. Either do not use the weapons or only bring 1 on each mission.

===Enlarged Squads===

Restrict your squad regarding soldiers and tanks. Never use more than 14 plane slots to bring units into a battlefield (the capacity of a Skyranger).
The logic behind this is that you can easily outnumber the aliens, especially if you are facing small UFOs thus assuring victory.
Also, smaller squads allow for quicker play (you don't have to move 26 units each turn) and they make your soldiers more memorable, since you'll remember more their heroic achievements (or stupid deaths).

==No Psionics==

[[Psi-Amp|Psi-Amps]] completely unbalance the game towards the human player. Even 1 Psi-Amp is bad enough for the aliens, but to bring a squad full of psi-trained soldiers will mean that all the aliens will be mind controlled during the first turn (including even [[Cyberdisc|Cyberdisks]] or [[Sectopod|Sectopods]]. Once you start, the uncertainty and the risk will go down, and so will the fun.

The same applies to [[Mind Probe|Mind Probes]] since those devices can be used to screen aliens for their rank or to check if they will reaction fire.

Finally, the use of [[Psionic Laboratory|Psi Labs]] should be restricted to screening troops but not training them, since they can't use Mind Probes or Psi Amps. A harder setting would be not to use them at all and only find out during a fight who are the psi weaklings.
==XComUtil's Features==

[[XcomUtil]] is a game enhancer that was actually designed to make the game harder, although many of its features can be used the other way around.
There are 2 ways to use XComUtil, both of which can be used to increase the difficulty, the [[XcomUtil#The_XcuSetup_configuration_program|XcuSetup]] installation program and the [[XcomUtil#The_XcomUtil_command|XComUtil]] command.
===XcuSetup configuration===

When you run XcuSetup to install XComUtil a number of queries will be asked regarding which features you'll want to implement.

*''Do you want to use the improved starting base?'' (No)

With the improved starting base you start with an [[Alien Containment]] already built, your radar is upgraded and you'll start with additional scientists and engineers. It will also be designed to maximize defense.

*''Do you want to use the alternate starting base?'' (No)

This retains the optimal defensive layout but doesn't add the extra facilities/personnel.

*''Do you want to use the improved Tanks/Weapons?'' (No to both)

*''Do you want to use the new laser weapons?'' (Yes)

With this option chosen your lasers will require Elerium to be built (supposedly to act as power cells). This also prevents you from building plasma weapons (but not clips), thus preventing you from selling [[Plasma Pistol|Plasma Pistols]] and [[Plasma Rifle|Plasma Rifles]] since the aliens will stop using those.
It also makes [[Laser Cannon|Laser Cannons]] and [[Fusion Ball Launcher|Fusion Launchers]] a lot less attractive to sell because of the time required to build them and the [[Elerium]]/[[Alien Alloys]] necessary for their construction. Be prepared for the blow on your finances...

*''Do you want research help from captured aliens?'' (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

To make the game REALLY hard try this feature.
First, it will increase the research times of most items tenfold or more, especially regarding the alien technologies. Instead of having to wait days or a week for a certain technology the time will increase to months. With a little bad luck you will be stuck to lasers and no armor when the [[Muton|Mutons]] and [[Ethereal|Ethereals]] start showing up.
Second, the only way to speed research (other than having 250 scientists on all bases) is to capture live aliens, forcing you to bring a few [[Stun Rod|Stun Rods]] for all missions. It is not required to have an Alien Containment present to receive the research help but remember it only reduces the time of the research being done at your starting base.

Talk:Alien Containment

2007-03-08T13:00:34Z

Sfnhltb:

How many combinations of Aliens/Ranks are there to store?

Or put another way, how many Alien Containment facilities would I need to build to have enough storage to keep every kind of alien that could be captured?

[[User:Eric|Eric]] 12:42, 29 December 2006 (PST)

----

The file that stores the containment information only has 10 slots in it, so you can only hold 10 unique combinations at any given time. Each combination can have variable quantities. Say you have a Muton Soldier. You can have any number of Muton soldiers, but they will only count as 1 slot in the containment file.

This is also for the entire globe, by the way, and cannot be expanded by building more containment modules.

I know, it's not practical. It's just how the game was built.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

----

It just occured to me that there was a trick to the alien containment that I tried that involved transferring aliens to another base and then dismantling something. Or perhaps an attempt at discovering a trick, but never succeeded. Just keeping this note here as a reminder. -[[User:NKF|NKF]]

: Aha, just found the discussion thread I was thinking about. I'll grab the notes. It was a way to disposing aliens from containment.

: The trick is to build a second containment. Transfer the aliens you want to delete to it and then dismantle the target base's containment module '''while the aliens are still in transit''' (or destroy it in a base battle by bombing the module to bits). This unfortunately doesn't delete the aliens permanently. If you were to build a containment at that base again, they'll show up again. So this works if you don't intend to ever build a containment in this base ever again and are happy to leave these aliens in a state of limbo. Alternately, dismantle the base completely, all the way down to the lift. This certainly wipes out the aliens.

: It's kind of an overly elaborate way to destroy the aliens. The time/cost tradoff involved may be more than just researching the alien and getting over it. Oh well.

: Now that I think about it, does this delete the aliens from the containment file? I'll let someone with more knowledge on this file correct me if I'm mistaken.

: - [[User:NKF|NKF]]

::You would think if they are in the global ASTORE.DAT and that can only have 10 entries, its probably still in there and counting against your 10 types if they can turn back up if you rebuild?

:::''The two robotic units (Sectpods and Cyberdiscs) cannot be captured alive. Therefore, only 27 of the race/rank combos that can be kept in a containment facility. To house all possible alien units in the game, you will need at most three Alien Containment modules. These modules do not need to be at the same base: you can transfer aliens between bases if the Containment at one base is getting full.''

:: The above passage would also seem to be incorrect if what you say about ASTORE.DAT only having 10 spots for everywhere is the limit. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 03:03, 8 March 2007 (PST)

: From tests run by many other players so far, they've only been able to come up with ten unique combinations. As for myself, I'm not sure if you can add to the slots in ASTORE.DAT, although there appears to be room for 50. Hmm. Actually, that does raise a semi-related question. How does the game know how many aliens of a particular type are kept in the various bases, and their quantity? I mean, if they're only one entry in the containment file, but you can transfer the same race/rank combinations to different containments around the globe. How does the game keep track of this?

: I believe the aliens in ASTORE.DAT are cleared in the event of a base being destroyed, so perhaps a dismantled base with aliens in transit may be handled the same way? That's just a wild guess at this point. -[[User:NKF|NKF]]

==Some Tests==
In my old game save I transferred all my aliens to one base, there were 17 different types there already arrived, and it would still let me send the 18th type, so there seems to be no 10 types, either globally or per base - unless it is only enforced when capturing. There is 50 in the ASTORE.DAT as mentioned, and no quantity is stored, so that seems to set a hard cap of 50 individual aliens, with type making no difference, and more bases with Alien Containment just allows you to capture aliens with squads sent out from that base, with no impact on amount of types and individuals you can hold.

Only thing that needs to be checked is whether you can capture a new type when you have 10 types or more already in the base, which is possible I guess, otherwise the 10 is presumably just people thinking the number in the [[UFOpaedia]] had some relevance when in fact it looks completely incorrect. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 05:00, 8 March 2007 (PST)

UFO Detection

2007-03-08T11:12:47Z

Sfnhltb: /* Alien Base Detection */ typo

Alien craft regularly enter and leave the Earth's atmosphere. In order to prevent them from carrying out their missions, you [[UFO Interception|shoot them down]] or [[UFO Ground Assault|assault them while landed]]. However, in order to perform either of these tasks, you must first spot them, which requires some types of '''UFO Detection''' equipment, either in your bases or using your [[craft]] radar.

==Detection Facilities==

Three types of UFO detectors can be built on your bases:

*[[Small Radar]]s have a range of 300 nautical miles (nm) according to the [[UFOpaedia]]. However, this figure is too short by a factor of five. The Official Strategy Guide gives the figure as 1500 nm, which matches what has been obsered in-game.
*[[Large Radar]]s have a detection range of 450 nm according to the UFOpaedia; their actual range is 2250 nm. Large radars cover 225% the total area of small radars (1.5x radius translates into 2.25x area).
*[[Hyper-Wave Decoder]]s do not have a detection range listed in the UFOpaedia, but both the OSG and observation show that they have a range of 2400 nm, slightly larger than that of a Large Radar.
*Additionally, all X-COM craft have an observed detection range of approximately 700 nm (possibly 750 nm).

Your first base starts out with a Small Radar; you can choose to add a Large Radar as well, which will take 24 days to build. Both radar types can also be added to any other base you establish. Hyper-Wave Decoders can only be built after you have captured an alien Navigator. [[Research]]ing the navigator unlocks a "Hyper-Wave Decoder" topic; after it is researched, you can build Hyper-Wave Decoders at any of your bases.

===Detection Ranges===

The following graphic shows the range of each type of radar system:

[[Image:Detection and tracking ranges.png]]
*Yellow = Detection range of X-COM 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)

In practice, alien craft will often travel well within the listed detection ranges before being spotted. Detection "checks" are only performed twice an hour by the game, so fast-moving UFOs may travel quite a distance before the next check is performed; the Small and Large Radars have only a 10-20% chance of detecting UFOs in-range; and UFOs are not seen until they enter the Earth's atmosphere, which can potentially occur right near a base.

Once detected, UFOs remain visible until they leave the Earth's atmosphere or travel outside the detection radius of all available radars. The half-hour check for detection applies to UFO tracking as well, so UFOs may travel far outside your radar coverage before disappearing from the screen. This is especially true for fast-moving UFOs, which can travel as much as 2500 nm between updates. However, a UFO that leaves the atmosphere will disappear immediately.

====Radar Range Overlay====

The following graphic can be used to help decide where you would like to site your bases (and therefore, your radars). Ensure you have centred the globe on where you are considering placing a base, then export a screenshot from within the game (using the F12 key) and copy this image over its center to see which areas are included within each radar's detection radius. (This graphic is calibrated for screenshots which are doubled in size (640x400)):

[[Image:Range overlays.png]]

== How Radars Function ==

Each radar type has a chance to detect any UFO within its range. Detections are performed in the game every 30 minutes exactly on the half hour. (If you are advancing the game an hour or day at a time, you may find the clock jumps forward to exactly a half hour interval whenever it spots a new UFO.)

Small Radars have a 10% chance of detecting UFOs within their range, and Large Radars have a 20% chance. If you have both Small and Large Radars built at the same base, their abilities are added together: you will have a 30% chance of detecting UFOs within 1500 nm and a 20% chance of detecting UFOs from 1500 nm to 2250 nm.

Despite the "Short Range" and "Long Range" detection bars displayed on each base's Information screen, only one radar of each type will be used at each base; building additional radars will have no effect.

Hyper-Wave Decoders have a 100% chance of detecting any UFOs within their range. Given their superior range and detection abilities, Hyper-Wave Decoders make the other radar types unnecessary. If you have Small or Large Radars in a base which also has a decoder, you can dismantle them.

"Normal" radars reveal the approximate size, altitude, heading, and speed of UFOs within range. Hyper-Wave Decoders display the exact craft type, the alien race onboard, what type of mission the UFO is on, and where the mission is to be performed.

== Craft-based UFO Detection ==

All airborne X-COM craft, whether en route or patrolling, can also detect UFOs within a small range, which testing has shown to be 700 to 750 nm. Within this range, craft can detect UFOs 100% of the time. However, given the half-hour detection update intervals and both UFO and craft speed, UFOs can often pass within range of an X-COM craft without being spotted. All types of craft, whether [[Skyranger]]s or [[Avenger]]s, have the same detection radius. Faster craft may sometimes appear to have a shorter detection radius, as they can travel great distances between detection updates, so they often only detect UFOs when right on top of them, or even having passed them already.

If an alien vessel moves out of range of your land-based detection systems, you may be able to resume tracking by sending one of your ships to where you believe the UFO to be (based on its speed and direction).

=== Alien Base Detection ===

All X-COM craft are also capable of detecting [[Alien Base|alien base]]s. In fact, this is the only way to discover alien bases: they will not show up on any base radar, including Hyper-Wave Decoders. (However, "X-COM agents" will sometimes report the discovery of a base during X-COM's Montly Report; see [[Alien Base#Locating an Alien Base|Locating an Alien Base]].) In order to discover an alien base, an X-COM craft must patrol within 1500 nm of the base's location. The nearer the craft, the sooner the base will be discovered. Patrolling immediately above a base will reveal it almost immediately; patrolling 1500 nm away, the base may take one hour to discover, or several hours.

Bases can only be discovered by ''patrolling'' craft. An X-COM craft could fly over an alien base repeatedly and never discover it until it began patrolling in the area.

It is frequently possible to deduce where an alien base is by the pattern of UFO traffic. The primary mission of [[Supply Ship]]s is to supply alien bases; wherever they land, a base is likely to be found. When a base is first being built, four UFOs (a scout, two supply ships, and a battleship) will converge upon the same area and mill around for a while. (UFOs engaged in an [[Alien Missions#Alien Infiltration|Infiltration]] mission will display similar behavior involving five ships.) The alien race found at a base will always be of the same type as the race found on the initial ships (or the supply ships which subsequently show up at regular intervals).

==UFO Activity Graph==

Finally, the UFO activity graphs can act as a sort of "MUFON" (a civilian group dedicated to the observation of UFOs), allowing you to see activity that your radars cannot. The graphs are updated every 30 minutes, on the half hour. You could even check the graphs every so often and build zero radars if you wanted, and if you see a blip, send aircraft. This worldwide coverage can be easily used this way for the first few months. After that, UFO activity becomes too intense and the graphs lose their resolution, but by that time you should aim to have decoders already built, or on the way.

The graph is of particular use for discovering where alien bases have been built; these locations always show a very high degree of alien activity. Note that these graphs are actually showing the [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|aliens' score]]; this is why even later in the game it will be possible to see where the aliens are being able to complete missions, even if individual UFO flight plans will be swamped.

No matter how wide or powerful your radar network eventually becomes, if you ever find yourself going through any quiet lengths of time where little to no UFO activity is picked up, you should make a habit of checking the graphs. Though they will not provide you with exact locations, you will still get a good indication of the region that needs to be patrolled.

Talk:Alien Containment

2007-03-08T11:03:31Z

Sfnhltb:

Talk:Battlescape

2007-03-08T05:44:14Z

Sfnhltb:

It's true, victory is subjective. Just a quick - well, a long-ish word on victory.

Technically speaking, dusting off from a site that's still manned with aliens can also be counted as a success if you were able to get whatever it was in the battle that you came for (be it experience, an abduction of a really difficult alien (such as an Ethereal without the convenience of the Psi Lab), capturing a certain weapon, etc). What you do not win is the loot outside the Skyranger and the UFO Alloys and its remaining components.

A fine example of this is Zombie's patented Smash-And-Grab technique with alien bases, where a base is raided, one alien is left alive and the rest are dealt with. Once cleared, all the equipment (and corpses) are then carted to the entry platforms and all troops head back to the entry points and the dust off command is issued.

The mission will read as a failure, but the score, experience and loot will reflect a successful mission. As it is a base and the victory condition for the base destruction has not yet been met (destruction of the command tables or all aliens), the base will remain on the map.

Other missions types are a lot less permanent and tend to vanish (crash sites/terror sites) or take off (intact UFOs).

So, don't read in too much to the status on the tally screen. Let the score, experience and goods that you were able to come away with tell you whether you've won, or lost.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

----
"<i>What happens if you hit Lift Off with NO units in the dropship? - BB</i>": From article page.

All units are MIA and the craft is lost. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 11:55, 21 January 2007 (PST)
----
What if you mind control an alien, and lift off while only he is in the ship? - BB
----
Nothing, except the craft is lost. (MC'd aliens are not in Soldier.dat and cannot be considered a true X-COM unit). --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 19:49, 21 January 2007 (PST)

----

Just copy and pasted the discussion from main article - plus a thought of my own:

<i>What happens if you hit Lift Off with NO units in the dropship? - BB</i>

:<i>You will end the scenario immediately. Chances are, you will not have killed enough aliens to cover the loss of all the soldiers missing in action. Yeah, you will still have the transport though!--[[User:Vagabond|Vagabond]] 02:40, 7 March 2007 (PST)</i>

::That's basically admitting defeat. Don't forget you lose the ship if you abort an alien base attacks as well with no troops in the exit. By the way, lifting off from a site does not always count as a loss. You may very well have come for what you came for and didn't want to bother cleaning up the rest of the aliens. For example, in a typical smash-and-grab scenario, or if you've stolen some artefact or abduct a specimen from an alien race you're not ready to fight (like the ethereals before you learn your psi strength). The game tells you you've lost, but you've technically won if you've accomplished what you came for. Just pointing out the silver lining. - [[User:NKF|NKF]]

:::Yeah. If I manage to stun a Sectoid Leader in an early mission (especially if it's the first Terror Mission), I'll grab him, pile into the ship, and dust off. Woot, Psi Lab.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 12:10, 7 March 2007 (PST)

----

'''Battlescape Interface'''

To-do list:
1. Inventory screen. (Already uploaded an image, but needs compressing)
2. Motion detector Radar screen.
3. Map screen.

:: Are they necessary? For one thing, I know I am still quite at odds on how to use the motion detector properly (maybe a separate article/tutorial for it?) I am quite sure that there would be others as well. As for the Inventory screen, I think it is a must, and well, the Map screen, we can skip that as I think it is self explanatory... Well, I think that by doing all the screens and explainations, we might get the wiki article a tad too big...
--[[User:Vagabond|Vagabond]] 20:08, 7 March 2007 (PST)

==Playing Piece/Boards?==
I am wondering about this way of naming everything in the article, it means it is inconsistent with pretty much every article it will link too, which I think won't help people understand. Its not too bad when just reading this article itself, but it someone comes into one of the later sections, or is coming in and out of other articles it decreases the clarity I think. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 21:44, 7 March 2007 (PST)

User talk:Sfnhltb

2007-03-08T03:55:24Z

Sfnhltb: /* ToDo */

== Wikiee ==

You're clearly an experienced wiki editor, so out of curiousity, I looked up your username on Wikipedia. I was amused to find we've both edited the ''Phoenix Command'' article (I'm the IP at the top, and in the spirit of full disclosure, Father Goose when logged in).--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 21:10, 3 March 2007 (PST)

:Ah yeah, I still have a complete set of the manuals for that, but havent played in years now. Great game system, we used to have a lot of fun with it. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 21:37, 3 March 2007 (PST)

==Concept for front page rearrangement==

*Move Battlescape to the second column,
*switch all the second column to the first,
*rename Logistics to X-COM and put it above the alien section.
*Add an X-COM Base article to be included in the X-COM section, possibly sit it above soldiers, craft, manufacturing etc
*Create a low level how-to of research, similar to the [[Manufacturing]] topic that covers the basics, maybe steal and/or copy some of the low level stuff from the existing research topic
*Move economics to the first column under X-COM as well
*Maybe cut down the intro text, (move it elsewhere?) so that more of the contents is seen without scrolling down. Besides if the aliens started appearing in 1999, why did they form lots of organisations to fight them in 1998?

Idea behind this being the first two columns explain the two main areas of the game and their subforms at a basic level, the third column is intermediate level in complexity, and the final column is for the deeper stuff. Fairly similar to how it is now, but just making the split between geoscape and battlescape to make for a clearer split.

:All sounds good to me. Research should be moved to under X-COM as well. And I'll fold "Research Tips" into Research in the near future.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 01:04, 5 March 2007 (PST)

::I see no problems with any of the suggested changes. We keep changing the layout from time to time, and if it allows for better organisation, go for it. I've been wondering if something should be done about the title image though. Either scaling it down a bit or perhaps putting up something else.

::As for the intro: I believe it's the other way around. The aliens were known before 1999, X-com itself was only formed in 1999 after several failed attempts by others. Or somesuch. -[[User:NKF|NKF]]

==ToDo==
*Create [[Manufacture]]d Item template, apply it to each item applicable
*Research available from each [[Alien Rank]]
*Check up the entire second ([[Battlescape]]) column articles for standardisation
*Check up the entire third (Strategy) column articles for standardisation
*Check up the entire third (Technical) column articles for standardisation
*Alien stats template (one for terrorists, one for other races maybe?)
*Get each of the icon images on the [[Geoscape]] and add to the specific page to show what they look like on the world view

UFO Interception

2007-03-08T03:53:50Z

Sfnhltb: remove whitespace

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

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

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

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

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

== Interception ==
* [[Craft Armaments|Ship weapons]] will fire continuously at set intervals (based on weapon speed and range) at an enemy target as long as it's within minimum firing range (represented by the range bars) - until it runs out of ammo.

* Multiple ships (up to 4), can join the battle by way of minimising the controls while in stand-off and waiting for extra friendlies to arrive on the scene. This can be key if you only have interceptors when a battleship turns up.
<center>
[[Image:Interception.PNG|300px]]
</center>

* The different firing modes have two effects. Firstly it affects the distance of the interceptor and the [[UFOs|UFO]], and the closer you are, the faster the combat between UFO and interceptor becomes. Note, this controls the exchange of fire between individual interceptors and the UFO only. If you have two ships engaging the UFO at the same time with, the one on cautious will give and receive fire at a slower rate than a ship that's aggressive. The second effect is that it makes it harder to break off, and for the UFO to escape.

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

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

* Also be aware when intercepting using cautious attack that there is a [[Known_Bugs#Interceptions:_Using_Cautious_Attack|bug]] when you fire you final shots that will cause them to always miss.

* Multiple ships take a UFO down faster, and the UFO fires back at all of them that are in range in turn making each of your craft more likely to survive. Try to make it so that all your ships come into firing range at once so you can maximise the advantage of bringing them all together.

==Patrolling==
You can use this command to make ships act as mobile radars, sending them out to areas of suspected alien activity. Particularly when looking for [[Alien Missions#Alien Bases|Alien Bases]] you will need to patrol a suspect area, but your crafts localised but powerful onboard radars can be useful elsewhere, and means they can be sent after a UFO which has left your tracking radius and should be able to reacquire them if you can anticipate the UFOs movement in the interim. Another potential benefit is that [[Interceptor]]s and [[Skyranger]]s will consume less fuel when patrolling than when flying around at top speed, which can make one or two around even in the later game when they are mostly redundant at their original roles.

UFO Interception

2007-03-08T03:53:19Z

Sfnhltb: move movement section above interception as its more logical to have it follow chronologically

Zombie

2007-03-08T03:51:31Z

Sfnhltb: reformat, resection

Once a [[Tentaculat]] or [[Chryssalid]] attacks, the victim will turn into a '''zombie''' that becomes a new Tentaculat/Chryssalid if it's killed. Zombies cannot be stunned or captured.

[[Data corruption]] can provide a zombie research topic which crashes the game however.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 40
'''Health:''' 84
'''Energy:''' 110
'''Reactions:''' 40
'''Strength:''' 84
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Psi Skill:''' 0
'''Psi Strength:''' 80

'''Damage:''' 84*
'''Melee:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Unsubstantiated that damage increases as skill level does. This is true for other melee aliens but the Zombie is a special case.

==Notes==
[[Image:ZOMBIE.jpg|right|Zombie]]
The following are some miscellaneous notes. Zombies:
* Take 0.6x damage from AP ammunition, 0.8x damage from High Explosives and 0.7x damage from Laser and Plasma ammunitions.
* Hit does 1.2x damage to un-armoured soldiers and civilans and 0.9x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Cannot be stunned.
* Have a melee attack equal to its strength.
* Are very slow, so they can be outrun.
* Can be mind-controlled.
* Have constant stats regardless of skill level.
* If the killing shot is of an [[Incendiary]] nature, the chryssalid does not hatch.
* If a zombie is under X-Com mind control and it is killed, the hatched Chryssalid will be considered to be under 'alien' mind control that turn. When the turn ends, you will gain permanent control of the Chryssalid for the rest of the battle.
* Research seems to indicate (in X-COM) that if you ''don't'' shoot the zombies, they will never hatch on their own. This, however, is contrary to many eye-witness accounts.
*When you eventually kill it, make sure to have enough soldiers and TUs to kill the resulting chryssalid too.

==See Also==
*[[Chryssalid]]
*[[Gaining permanent control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat]]
*[[Tentaculat]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Snakeman

2007-03-08T03:50:11Z

Sfnhltb: reformat, move cat, minor rewrite

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==See Also==
*[[Chryssalid]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Silacoid

2007-03-08T03:48:29Z

Sfnhltb: reformat, slim intro

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

The Silacoid's only means of attack is its "hit". No one knows exactly how this little rock hurts your soldiers, but most agree that it has something to do with the heat it's able to generate. The Silacoid is quite possibly the smallest threat to your soldiers of any terror unit being that it's ''very'' slow, has no ranged attack. It's small size and strong armour are really its only defense.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 40-47
'''Health:''' 114
'''Energy:''' 80-93
'''Reactions:''' 40-47
'''Strength:''' 70-82
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 80-93

'''Damage:''' 70-82
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15

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

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

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Silacoid:
* The Silacoid's hit does 1.2x damage to unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s.
* It does 0.9x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* It takes ''no'' damage at all from fire or incendiary weapons.
* It takes 1.3x damage from high explosives.
* Its very small, making for a harder target.
* Its very slow.
* Quite strong armour.
* Good for [[Reaction Training]] if you keep your distance.
* If next to its target, can attack up to 2 or 3 times in one turn.
* It burns the ground when moved by the AI. Watch for tell-tale signs of its movement on the map by the burn trails it leaves behind.

==See Also==
*[[Muton]]
*[[Celatid]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Sectopod

2007-03-08T03:46:44Z

Sfnhltb: resection, reformat

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

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

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

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

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-72
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 64-75
'''Strength:''' 90-105
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 30-70
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 100-116

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

== Autopsy ==
[[Image:sectopodautopsy.png|right|Sectopod, Disassembled]]
The Sectopod appears to be capable of self-sustained propulsion and attack. Its "brain", whilst small compared to modern electronics, is incredibly powerful. It is anywhere from 5 to 10, to even 20 times as powerful as standard Earth processors. This may be a machine, but it is a machine with near sentience although its intelligence is supressed so that it does not start thinking of its own accord.

There are signs of specialised biomechanical components, which may be used to psionically remotely control the Sectopod. Unlike the Sectoid's Cyberdisks, the Sectopod's power module is far more robust and as such, despite our best attempts, the module cannot and will not explode, except where immense amounts of energy are involved.

Whilst it is nearly impervious to most damage types, its "screen" has the "unfortunate" effect of amplifying lasers that strike, making them do considerable amounts of damage to the circuitry and mechanical "brain". The Sectopod is elerium powered.

[Jasonred] : The game explains that its "Sensing circuitry is particularly vulnerable to laser fire".

[--[[User:X-COM:Turcocalypse|X-COM:Turcocalypse]] 14:26, 15 April 2006 (PDT)] : Bad sci-fi idea,I laughed when I saw it first.Laser is after all,radiation stimulated super-dense light.If it's vulnerable to this,how can PLASMA,matter with 15000 Grad Celsius shrugged off?
:I guess that it's armor is thick enough that neither plasma's nor laser's heat would effect it. But spark from laser make it's sensor circuit mess-up and since it's quite powerful, Ethereal program it to shutdown the system once sensor damaged to prevent friendly-fire.

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

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

==See Also==
*[[Ethereal]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Celatid

2007-03-08T03:44:42Z

Sfnhltb: typo

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

The Celatid's only means of attack is its acid spit. This does an exceptional 140HP damage, increased by 60% on unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s (and even 10% on [[Personal Armour]]ed soldiers). Now combine this with a firing accuracy that can reach 116% (on Superhuman difficulty) and the Celatid makes for a rather deadly foe.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 70-82
'''Health:''' 62
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 40-47
'''Strength:''' 70-82
'''Bravery:''' 90
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 50-116
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 60-70

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

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

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

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Celatid:
* We're not sure what the eggheads mean about tracking hidden targets or rapid reproduction cycles, but none of this activity has ever been observed in the field.
* The Celatids acid spit does 1.6x damage to unarmoured soldiers and civilians.
* It does 0.4x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Celatid has a weakness to its own spit!
* Very accurate attack.
* If in range, can attack up to 3 times in one turn.
* It's quite fast.
* It's quite small, making for a harder target.
* It has poor armor. It can fall to conventional weapons, and even a glancing shot from heavy plasma will usually kill it.
* Its acid spit follows a grenade-like trajectory.
* Due to its arcing trajectory, the effective range of the celatid's spit is 7 squares indoors (with a roof immediately overhead), or 16 squares outdoors.
* If aimed at an outer UFO hull (most likely via [[Mind Control]]), Celatid spit is strong enough to penetrate 10% of the time (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). However, it cannot target walls directly -- although it can target (and penetrate) a UFO's roof.

==See Also==
[[Muton]]<br>
[[Silacoid]]<br>

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Celatid

2007-03-08T03:44:26Z

Sfnhltb: slim intro

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

The Celatid's only means of attack is its acid spit. This does an exceptional 140HP damage, increased by 60% on unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s (and even 10% on [[Personal Armour]]ed soldiers). Now combine this with a firing accuracy that can reach 116% (on Superhuman difficulty) and the Celatid makes for a rather deadly foe.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 70-82
'''Health:''' 62
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 40-47
'''Strength:''' 70-82
'''Bravery:''' 90
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 50-116
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 60-70

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

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

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

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Celatid:
* We're not sure what the eggheads mean about tracking hidden targets or rapid reproduction cycles, but none of this activity has ever been observed in the field.
* The Celatids acid spit does 1.6x damage to unarmoured soldiers and civilians.
* It does 0.4x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Celatid has a weakness to its own spit!
* Very accurate attack.
* If in range, can attack up to 3 times in one turn.
* It's quite fast.
* It's quite small, making for a harder target.
* It has poor armor. It can fall to conventional weapons, and even a glancing shot from heavy plasma will usually kill it.
* Its acid spit follows a grenade-like trajectory.
* Due to its arcing trajectory, the effective range of the celatid's spit is 7 squares indoors (with a roof immediately overhead), or 16 squares outdoors.
* If aimed at an outer UFO hull (most likely via [[Mind Control]]), Celatid spit is strong enough to penetrate 10% of the time (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). However, it cannot target walls directly -- although it can target (and penetrate) a UFO's roof.

==See Also==
[[Muton]]<br>
[[Silacoid]]<br>

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Chryssalid

2007-03-08T03:43:08Z

Sfnhltb: resection

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

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

==General Information==
Their lack of ranged attack or flying ability makes them easy meat once you have flying armor. AP works but you may want to skip the rifles and go straight to Autocannons or better.

A HORRIBLE way to meet one is shooting a zombie with reaction fire as it shambles in for melee... then a Chryssalid pops out and SPRINTS at you, turning your squad into more zombies. The only known way to prevent the Chrys hatching is to kill the zombie with [[Incendiary]] rounds.

''[[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]]: Only works if the KILLING BLOW was Incendiary. Good luck hoping your reaction shots used Incendiary ammo. ... In other words, while it's nice knowing about the Incendiaries not birthing Chryssalids, I don't think it's actually all that useful. Chrys are in fact LESS dangerous than most aliens during X-com's turn, since they only have melee and can't reaction fire. If you have enough TU to kill a zombie with Incendiary, it's more practical to auto-shot him with Lasers or Plasma. ... Just don't kill Zombies with Grenades. During Aliens turn, reaction fired Incendiaries aren't a safe technique.''

''[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]]: Jason's got a valid point about the incendiaries, but I disagree with him about the danger of Chryssalids' melee attacks. Due to their freakishly high reactions and hard armor, I've seen them waltz up to one of my troops in full view, suck up a snap shot or two, and still take the troop down. Especially in alien bases, don't get too confident about eliminating Chryssalids with reaction fire.''

'' [ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: I'm of the personal opinion that incendiaries should be used actively to disable chryssalid zombies - not reactively. Waste of time otherwise. Also, reaction shots do have the unusual side effect of detouring charging melee aliens temporarily - until the next reaction shot, in which case they go back to their original target. Then repeat ad nauseum for every reaction shot thereafter. The detour may look like they're running in the other direction, but it can sometimes be a brief switch target if there's a closer target nearby at the time of the opportunity shot.] ''

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 110-124
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 140-163
'''Reactions:''' 70-82
'''Strength:''' 110-128
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-58

'''Damage:''' 110-128
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15

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

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

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

==Notes==
*Beginner level Chryssalids have 110TU, and each melee attack costs 15TU. This means they can be out of visual range at the beginning of the turn and cross the 23 intervening tiles and still attack you in the same turn!
* They can perform 7 attacks per turn max at Beginner difficulty and 8 at Superhuman difficulty.
*Chryssalid Damage Modifiers: Fire 80%, Stun 90%. They aren't particularly susceptible to anything, despite the "vulnerability to explosives" mentioned above. [[Unconscious]] chryssies are as vulnerable to ordinary grenades as any other object.
*Chryssies left on their own with [[civilian]]s in a [[Terror Mission]] can quite quickly raise an army of the undead. This is one of the few tricky situations where you might end up shooting civilians for their own good. And yours, of course.
*As commented under [[Zombie]], zombie research teams under controlled conditions have never seen a spontaneous Chrys hatching while the zombie is still mobile and unharmed. So although the zombie packs a wallop in melee, don't shoot them if you aren't prepared to deal with the Chrys immediately afterwards. Run away!
*If you find yourself in a Chryssalid-infested area without a flying suit, you can try heading upstairs then shooting away the stairs.
*[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s can't be turned into Zombies but a Chryssalid attack can still make a mess of them.

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

==See Also==
*[[Snakeman]]<br>
*[[Zombie]]<br>
*[[Tentaculat]]<br>
*[[Data Canister: Chryssalid]]<br>

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Cyberdisc

2007-03-08T03:42:08Z

Sfnhltb: slim intro

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

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

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-72
'''Health:''' 120
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 64-75
'''Strength:''' 90-105
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 30-70
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' N/A
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 100-116

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

==Live Specimen==
This miniature flying saucer is an automated terror weapon armed with a powerful plasma beam. The anti-grav propulsion gives it a big advantage in difficult terrain. Its primary function is destruction and terror in the service of the [[Sectoid]] race.

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

Note: you may have difficulty getting an intact corpse because of its explosive nature. Shoot the Cyberdisc to kill it when its one level above the ground, it drops down to ground level, hits the ground and becomes a corpse, THEN the explosion goes off where it was just hovering: ie: at one level off the ground. Guaranteed works if corpse falls flat.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Cyberdisc:
* The Cyberdisc takes 0.8x damage from armour-piercing weapons.
* It takes 0.6x damage from high explosives.
* It has a flat profile (smaller than a Sectoid), making for a harder target (per square).
* Takes up 4 squares on the battlescape.
* Has very high health.
* Has very high strength.
* Very high [[Psi Strength]], making it harder to mind-control and/or panic.
* Can attack up to 3 times in one turn. It fires with such frequency that many commanders have mistaken it for an auto-shot.
*On any mission where the Sectoids have their Cyberdisc terror unit, they will also have a Leader capable of [[Psionics]].
**However, not all missions with Sectoid Psionics will have Cyberdiscs.
* Take this hovering manhole cover down with Heavy Rockets, Heavy Cannon, High Explosive packs, or Alien Grenades. Laser Pistols work okay, and Laser Rifles work very well. Forget standard rifles - they're just too tough. If two Cyberdiscs are close together, the self-destruct explosion from one may be enough to bring down the second.

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

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Ethereal

2007-03-08T03:41:01Z

Sfnhltb: resection some stuff

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

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

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

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

Be aware of the fact that ethereals can fly, giving them access to just about anywhere on the map. [[Night Missions]] ARE A PAIN, especially since their nightvision is far superior to humans on the harder difficulties. Plus, flares and incendiaries aren't useful for illuminating empty air.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==See Also==
[[Sectopod]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Muton

2007-03-08T03:39:30Z

Sfnhltb: slim down intro

[[Image:muton.png|right|Muton]]
The '''Muton''' is an intelligent alien, meaning it is evolved enough to utilise tools and weaponry, and has command over lesser beings in the form of [[Terror Units|terror units]]. The Muton race can be accompanied by [[Silacoid]]s and [[Celatid]]s.

Being quite strong, healthy, and less-effected by [[Weapons#Armour-Piercing|AP ammunition]], it can be quite hard for your soldiers to take down a Muton in the early stages of the game. One minor downfall however, is that they are fairly stupid*, in that it will "forget" the whereabouts of your soldiers after only 4 turns.

''*Compared to an Ethereal's 8-turn intelligence.''

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 56-65
'''Health:''' 125
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 60-70
'''Strength:''' 70-82
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 27-63
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 63
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 25-29

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

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

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

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Muton:
* The Muton takes 0.6x damage from armour-piercing weaponry.
* Very high Health. [[High Explosive]] set off next to a Superhuman-grade Muton ''may not kill it.''
* Very high Strength.
* Very high Energy.
* Average Reactions.
* Is fast (high TUs).
* Average Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* Very low Psi Strength.
* Although Mr. Angry Red Suit appears in the opening animation, there are no Muton Leaders or Commanders or even Medics.
* While the troops on the ground can see them just fine, neglectful Commanders might lose track of Mutons in vegetation. Their green armor blends in well with flora.

==See Also==
*[[Celatid]]
*[[Silacoid]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Reaper

2007-03-08T03:38:38Z

Sfnhltb: slim down intro

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

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

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-72
'''Health:''' 148
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 64-75
'''Strength:''' 90-105
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 35-41

'''Damage:''' 90
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15

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

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

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

==See Also==
*[[Floater]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Sectoid

2007-03-08T03:36:52Z

Sfnhltb: reformat

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

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

==General Information==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==See Also==
*[[Cyberdisc]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Reaper

2007-03-08T03:35:52Z

Sfnhltb: reformat

[[Image:reaper.gif|right|Reaper]]
Reapers are an alien [[Terror Units|terror unit]] accompanying [[Floater]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]
The Reaper's only means of attack is its bite. This means that it can't attack unless it's standing right next to its target, so as long as you're more than 12 squares away, it can't hurt you. The Reaper's main defense is that it has the highest health (148HP) of any unit in the game.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-72
'''Health:''' 148
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 64-75
'''Strength:''' 90-105
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 35-41

'''Damage:''' 90
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15

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

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

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

==See Also==
*[[Floater]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Muton

2007-03-08T03:34:53Z

Sfnhltb: reformat

[[Image:muton.png|right|Muton]]
The '''Muton''' is an intelligent alien, meaning it is evolved enough to utilise tools and weaponry, and has command over lesser beings in the form of [[Terror Units|terror units]].

The Muton race control:
* [[Silacoid]]s
* [[Celatid]]s

Being quite strong, healthy, and less-effected by [[Weapons#Armour-Piercing|AP ammunition]], it can be quite hard for your soldiers to take down a Muton in the early stages of the game. One minor downfall however, is that they are fairly stupid*, in that it will "forget" the whereabouts of your soldiers after only 4 turns.

''*Compared to an Ethereal's 8-turn intelligence.''

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 56-65
'''Health:''' 125
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 60-70
'''Strength:''' 70-82
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 27-63
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 63
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 25-29

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

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

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

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Muton:
* The Muton takes 0.6x damage from armour-piercing weaponry.
* Very high Health. [[High Explosive]] set off next to a Superhuman-grade Muton ''may not kill it.''
* Very high Strength.
* Very high Energy.
* Average Reactions.
* Is fast (high TUs).
* Average Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* Very low Psi Strength.
* Although Mr. Angry Red Suit appears in the opening animation, there are no Muton Leaders or Commanders or even Medics.
* While the troops on the ground can see them just fine, neglectful Commanders might lose track of Mutons in vegetation. Their green armor blends in well with flora.

==See Also==
*[[Celatid]]
*[[Silacoid]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Floater

2007-03-08T03:34:02Z

Sfnhltb: reformat

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==See Also==
[[Reaper]]

Cyberdisc

2007-03-08T03:33:16Z

Sfnhltb: reformat

[[Image:cyberdisc.gif|right|Cyberdisc]]
Cyberdiscs are an alien [[Terror Units|terror unit]] accompanying [[Sectoid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]
The Cyberdisc's only means of attack is its plasma beam doing an impressive 130HP damage. The Cyberdisc has another characteristic which makes it rather deadly, and that is, it can explode upon death with an average GZ strength of 120 and damage radius of 7 (d = 15). Upon targeting a Cyberdisc, be wary of this blast radius as your soldiers, or perhaps a wandering [[Civilian]], could find themselves in a world of hurts.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-72
'''Health:''' 120
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 64-75
'''Strength:''' 90-105
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 30-70
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' N/A
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 100-116

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

==Live Specimen==
This miniature flying saucer is an automated terror weapon armed with a powerful plasma beam. The anti-grav propulsion gives it a big advantage in difficult terrain. Its primary function is destruction and terror in the service of the [[Sectoid]] race.

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

Note: you may have difficulty getting an intact corpse because of its explosive nature. Shoot the Cyberdisc to kill it when its one level above the ground, it drops down to ground level, hits the ground and becomes a corpse, THEN the explosion goes off where it was just hovering: ie: at one level off the ground. Guaranteed works if corpse falls flat.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Cyberdisc:
* The Cyberdisc takes 0.8x damage from armour-piercing weapons.
* It takes 0.6x damage from high explosives.
* It has a flat profile (smaller than a Sectoid), making for a harder target (per square).
* Takes up 4 squares on the battlescape.
* Has very high health.
* Has very high strength.
* Very high [[Psi Strength]], making it harder to mind-control and/or panic.
* Can attack up to 3 times in one turn. It fires with such frequency that many commanders have mistaken it for an auto-shot.
*On any mission where the Sectoids have their Cyberdisc terror unit, they will also have a Leader capable of [[Psionics]].
**However, not all missions with Sectoid Psionics will have Cyberdiscs.
* Take this hovering manhole cover down with Heavy Rockets, Heavy Cannon, High Explosive packs, or Alien Grenades. Laser Pistols work okay, and Laser Rifles work very well. Forget standard rifles - they're just too tough. If two Cyberdiscs are close together, the self-destruct explosion from one may be enough to bring down the second.

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

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Chryssalid

2007-03-08T03:27:43Z

Sfnhltb: reformat

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

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

Their lack of ranged attack or flying ability makes them easy meat once you have flying armor. AP works but you may want to skip the rifles and go straight to Autocannons or better.

A HORRIBLE way to meet one is shooting a zombie with reaction fire as it shambles in for melee... then a Chryssalid pops out and SPRINTS at you, turning your squad into more zombies. The only known way to prevent the Chrys hatching is to kill the zombie with [[Incendiary]] rounds.

''[[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]]: Only works if the KILLING BLOW was Incendiary. Good luck hoping your reaction shots used Incendiary ammo. ... In other words, while it's nice knowing about the Incendiaries not birthing Chryssalids, I don't think it's actually all that useful. Chrys are in fact LESS dangerous than most aliens during X-com's turn, since they only have melee and can't reaction fire. If you have enough TU to kill a zombie with Incendiary, it's more practical to auto-shot him with Lasers or Plasma. ... Just don't kill Zombies with Grenades. During Aliens turn, reaction fired Incendiaries aren't a safe technique.''

''[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]]: Jason's got a valid point about the incendiaries, but I disagree with him about the danger of Chryssalids' melee attacks. Due to their freakishly high reactions and hard armor, I've seen them waltz up to one of my troops in full view, suck up a snap shot or two, and still take the troop down. Especially in alien bases, don't get too confident about eliminating Chryssalids with reaction fire.''

'' [ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: I'm of the personal opinion that incendiaries should be used actively to disable chryssalid zombies - not reactively. Waste of time otherwise. Also, reaction shots do have the unusual side effect of detouring charging melee aliens temporarily - until the next reaction shot, in which case they go back to their original target. Then repeat ad nauseum for every reaction shot thereafter. The detour may look like they're running in the other direction, but it can sometimes be a brief switch target if there's a closer target nearby at the time of the opportunity shot.] ''

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 110-124
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 140-163
'''Reactions:''' 70-82
'''Strength:''' 110-128
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-58

'''Damage:''' 110-128
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15

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

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

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

==Notes==
*Beginner level Chryssalids have 110TU, and each melee attack costs 15TU. This means they can be out of visual range at the beginning of the turn and cross the 23 intervening tiles and still attack you in the same turn!
* They can perform 7 attacks per turn max at Beginner difficulty and 8 at Superhuman difficulty.
*Chryssalid Damage Modifiers: Fire 80%, Stun 90%. They aren't particularly susceptible to anything, despite the "vulnerability to explosives" mentioned above. [[Unconscious]] chryssies are as vulnerable to ordinary grenades as any other object.
*Chryssies left on their own with [[civilian]]s in a [[Terror Mission]] can quite quickly raise an army of the undead. This is one of the few tricky situations where you might end up shooting civilians for their own good. And yours, of course.
*As commented under [[Zombie]], zombie research teams under controlled conditions have never seen a spontaneous Chrys hatching while the zombie is still mobile and unharmed. So although the zombie packs a wallop in melee, don't shoot them if you aren't prepared to deal with the Chrys immediately afterwards. Run away!
*If you find yourself in a Chryssalid-infested area without a flying suit, you can try heading upstairs then shooting away the stairs.
*[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s can't be turned into Zombies but a Chryssalid attack can still make a mess of them.

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

==See Also==
*[[Snakeman]]<br>
*[[Zombie]]<br>
*[[Tentaculat]]<br>
*[[Data Canister: Chryssalid]]<br>

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

User talk:Sfnhltb

2007-03-08T03:25:28Z

Sfnhltb: /* ToDo */

Celatid

2007-03-08T03:24:29Z

Sfnhltb: /* See Also */ spacing

[[Image:celatid.gif|right|Celatid]]
'''Celatids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Muton]]s along with [[Silacoid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]
The Celatid's only means of attack is its acid spit. This does an exceptional 140HP damage, increased by 60% on unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s (and even 10% on [[Personal Armour]]ed soldiers). Now combine this with a firing accuracy that can reach 116% (on Superhuman difficulty) and the Celatid makes for a rather deadly foe.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 70-82
'''Health:''' 62
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 40-47
'''Strength:''' 70-82
'''Bravery:''' 90
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 50-116
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 60-70

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

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

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

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Celatid:
* We're not sure what the eggheads mean about tracking hidden targets or rapid reproduction cycles, but none of this activity has ever been observed in the field.
* The Celatids acid spit does 1.6x damage to unarmoured soldiers and civilians.
* It does 0.4x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Celatid has a weakness to its own spit!
* Very accurate attack.
* If in range, can attack up to 3 times in one turn.
* It's quite fast.
* It's quite small, making for a harder target.
* It has poor armor. It can fall to conventional weapons, and even a glancing shot from heavy plasma will usually kill it.
* Its acid spit follows a grenade-like trajectory.
* Due to its arcing trajectory, the effective range of the celatid's spit is 7 squares indoors (with a roof immediately overhead), or 16 squares outdoors.
* If aimed at an outer UFO hull (most likely via [[Mind Control]]), Celatid spit is strong enough to penetrate 10% of the time (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). However, it cannot target walls directly -- although it can target (and penetrate) a UFO's roof.

==See Also==
[[Muton]]<br>
[[Silacoid]]<br>

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Celatid

2007-03-08T03:23:47Z

Sfnhltb: reformatted early section, minor rewrite

[[Image:celatid.gif|right|Celatid]]
'''Celatids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Muton]]s along with [[Silacoid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]
The Celatid's only means of attack is its acid spit. This does an exceptional 140HP damage, increased by 60% on unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s (and even 10% on [[Personal Armour]]ed soldiers). Now combine this with a firing accuracy that can reach 116% (on Superhuman difficulty) and the Celatid makes for a rather deadly foe.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 70-82
'''Health:''' 62
'''Energy:''' 90-105
'''Reactions:''' 40-47
'''Strength:''' 70-82
'''Bravery:''' 90
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 50-116
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 60-70

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

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

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

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Celatid:
* We're not sure what the eggheads mean about tracking hidden targets or rapid reproduction cycles, but none of this activity has ever been observed in the field.
* The Celatids acid spit does 1.6x damage to unarmoured soldiers and civilians.
* It does 0.4x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Celatid has a weakness to its own spit!
* Very accurate attack.
* If in range, can attack up to 3 times in one turn.
* It's quite fast.
* It's quite small, making for a harder target.
* It has poor armor. It can fall to conventional weapons, and even a glancing shot from heavy plasma will usually kill it.
* Its acid spit follows a grenade-like trajectory.
* Due to its arcing trajectory, the effective range of the celatid's spit is 7 squares indoors (with a roof immediately overhead), or 16 squares outdoors.
* If aimed at an outer UFO hull (most likely via [[Mind Control]]), Celatid spit is strong enough to penetrate 10% of the time (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). However, it cannot target walls directly -- although it can target (and penetrate) a UFO's roof.

==See Also==
[[Muton]]
[[Silacoid]]

[[Category:Alien life forms]]

Alien Rank

2007-03-08T03:20:04Z

Sfnhltb: minor rework

There are a number of '''Alien Ranks''' and they define to some extent the behaviour and capabilities of the aliens in combat. They are also important in terms of [[research]], as some of the knowledge that can be extracted from aliens can only be gained from an appropriately ranked alien.

The ranks that are encountered are:

*[[Commander (Alien Rank)|Commander]]
*[[Leader (Alien Rank)|Leader]]
*[[Engineer (Alien Rank)|Engineer]]
*[[Medic (Alien Rank)|Medic]]
*[[Navigator (Alien Rank)|Navigator]]
*[[Soldier (Alien Rank)|Soldier]]
*[[Terrorist (Alien Rank)|Terrorist]]

[[Category:Alien Ranks]]

Terrorist (Alien Rank)

2007-03-08T03:19:19Z

Sfnhltb: /* See Also */ add cat, link

A '''Terrorist''' is not in the normal hierarchy of [[Alien Ranks]], and only present on large [[UFOs]], and at [[Alien Bases]]. Their role is to provide combat support and strike terror into the hearts of civilians that witness their sometimes devestating attacks.

Unlike most Alien Ranks the Terrorists are not of the same race as that performing the mission in question, so they usually differ quite radically in combat abilities from their controllers. Some are fairly simple to deal with, and others are very dangerous indeed.

==Deployment==
<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">UFO Type</th>
<th>Beg./Exp.</th>
<th>Vet./Gen.</th>
<th>Super.</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Small Scout]]</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Medium Scout]]</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Large Scout]]</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Abductor]]</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Harvester]]</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Supply Ship]]</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Terror Ship]]</td><td>2-6</td><td>4-8</td><td>6-10</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Battleship]]</td><td>0-2</td><td>2-4</td><td>4-6</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Alien Base]]</td><td>1-3</td><td>3-5</td><td>5-7</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

==Terrorist Types==
*[[Reaper]] - Accompanies [[Floater]]s and only can attack with melee
*[[Chryssalid]] - Dangerous enemy that accompanies [[Snakemen]] and can make zombies to reproduce
*[[Silacoid]] - Found with [[Muton]]s and not particularly dangerous
*[[Celatid]] - Somewhat dangerous opponent also found with [[Muton]]s
*[[Sectopod]] - Powerful robotic foe that can accompany [[Ethereal]]s
*[[Cyberdisc]] - Dangerous weapons system found with [[Sectoid]]s with a laser and self destruct system

==See Also==
*[[Alien Ranks]]
*[[Alien Stats]]

[[Category:Alien Ranks]]

Soldier (Alien Rank)

2007-03-08T03:18:38Z

Sfnhltb: /* See Also */ add cat

A '''Soldier''' is the lowest [[Alien Ranks]], and is one the most commonly found in all mission profiles. Their role on board is to maintain the keep the [[UFO]] or [[Alien Base|Base]] secure and also to perform any general work they are ordered to do. In most missions they will be the first opponents encountered.

In combat a Soldier is only the equal of other ranks at best, and has the lowest intelligence. In terms of equipment they may have slightly more powerful weapons that some higher ranks such as [[Medic (Alien Rank)|Medics]], but not always. Aside from that they are generally the easiest opponents you will run into on any given mission, although if the mission is with [[Ethereal]]s that isn't much consolation.

==Deployment==
<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">UFO Type</th>
<th>Beg./Exp.</th>
<th>Vet./Gen.</th>
<th>Super.</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Small Scout]]</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Medium Scout]]</td><td>2-4</td><td>3-5</td><td>4-6</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Large Scout]]</td><td>1-6</td><td>2-7</td><td>3-8</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Abductor]]</td><td>3-7</td><td>4-8</td><td>5-9</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Harvester]]</td><td>5-9</td><td>7-11</td><td>9-13</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Supply Ship]]</td><td>5-11</td><td>6-12</td><td>7-13</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Terror Ship]]</td><td>4-5</td><td>5-6</td><td>6-7</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Battleship]]</td><td>4-8</td><td>6-10</td><td>8-12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Alien Base]]</td><td>5-9</td><td>6-10</td><td>7-11</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

==See Also==
*[[Alien Ranks]]
*[[Alien Stats]]

[[Category:Alien Ranks]]

Navigator (Alien Rank)

2007-03-08T03:18:20Z

Sfnhltb: /* See Also */ add cat

A '''Navigator''' is one of the lower [[Alien Ranks]], and is one of the more commonly encountered types in most mission profiles. Their role on board is presumed to be to guide the UFO from the source of the alien attacks to Earth, and then to the particular mission target, freeing up the rest of the crew to other tasks. Navigators are commonly found near the bridge and [[UFO Navigation]], but often move away if they have reason to.

In combat a Navigator is the equal of the [[Soldier (Alien Rank)|soldier]] but no better, except for a slightly increased intelligence. The only exception to this is [[Muton]] Navigators who wear slightly better armour than their lower ranked colleagues.

==Deployment==
<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">UFO Type</th>
<th>Beg./Exp.</th>
<th>Vet./Gen.</th>
<th>Super.</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Small Scout]]</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Medium Scout]]</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</td><td>2-3</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Large Scout]]</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Abductor]]</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Harvester]]</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Supply Ship]]</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Terror Ship]]</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Battleship]]</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Alien Base]]</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

==See Also==
* [[Alien Ranks]]
* [[Alien Stats]]

[[Category:Alien Ranks]]