UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Known Bugs

2008-03-21T20:02:56Z

Sharpy: /* Base Disjoint Bug */

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

Xcomutil works around this problem by stripping out the walls entirely in all the base modules.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
THis bug has been listed as a MINOR bug in exploits page. Please place it into the "Minor Bugs" section page.

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

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

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

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

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

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

=== The trouble with Mines (general) ===
The armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in savegames. More information to come.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft.

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

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

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

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

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

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

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

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

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

=== Overcrowded Engineers (And Scientists?) ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 256th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug probably also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

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

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

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

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

''In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution the game uses) and the text colour is based off the changes to the pallete that the game made. The game sometimes continues with the next part of the game. The game is made of two different programs, [[Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape]], so when one part of it crashes, the other one will not have registered that anything has gone wrong and will attempt to soldier on.''
''In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] ''

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Stun Rod

2008-03-21T19:31:28Z

Sharpy: /* Usage Notes */

To use a '''stun rod''' the soldier wielding it has to be adjacent to the alien and facing the target. It's very dangerous to use early in the game when you have low TU soldiers with bad armor. But it's the only practical means to capture an alien Navigator or Sectoid Leader/Commander as early as possible, so it is an important piece of equipment to find a way to get the best out of.

== Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS26.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 65 Stun
*Size: 3 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 6
*TUs:
**Stun: 30% (Accuracy 100%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $1,260
*Sell Price: $945</td></tr></table>

While technically a two handed weapon, the stun rod is guaranteed to hit your target regardless as to whether the other hand is free - So long as you are standing directly beside your enemy, and facing them.

== Usage Notes ==
Remember aliens you [[stun]] for research purposes will die unless brought back to an [[Alien Containment]] facility (and you won't get score for 'aliens killed' and 'alien corpses recovered' for them neither!)

A Stun Rod will not work on X-COM-controlled units, so you cannot use them against soldiers which have gone berserk, alas. They will also not work on aliens presently under X-COM [[Mind Control]] -- though they will work against X-COM soldiers under alien Mind Control.

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

* Stun: 3 zaps, 10% Remaining TUs

===Tips===
Early in the game, put this weapon on your more expendable soldiers - there's a good chance they will die! It's a good idea to carry a pistol in the other hand as a backup. The pistol can also be used to slightly damage a unit before/after a capture attempt or if they're suffering from smoke inhalation (to push them over the [[unconscious|consciousness]] edge).

You can also use stun rod as a support weapon for stronger soldiers who use HE ammo (with heavy cannon/auto cannon) - if you stumble upon an alien a square away while opening a door or falling down a hole, you'd likely get yourself caught in splash damage of your explosive ammo if you shoot. Taking them out with the stun rod is way safer and thanks to minimal TU cost it's often preferred to all other weapons including pistols. (then you can kill the unconscious alien from a safe distance shooting at the ground.)

The easiest place to get a [[Navigator]] before you can use a [[Mind Probe]] is inside a [[Large Scout]]. Usually 1 or 2 hang around inside near the [[UFO Navigation]], and it's comparatively safe to go through a door and stun one. The alien inside the central room is normally an [[Engineer]] and carries a [[Small Launcher]] on higher difficulties / mid-game; this can be used to your advantage.

Setting an alien on fire can make capturing it much easier. It lowers their [[health]] and [[Firing Accuracy|firing accuracy]] each turn they BBQ, making them safer to approach and easier to stun. Plus it doesn't give wounds which could kill them while unconscious. Finally, they tend to waste all their TUs running away from the fire. I'm not 100% certain, but I think when a unit goes unconscious they stop burning as well.

''[[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]] : I think so too regarding the burning. Also, early in the game, stun rods might be best used in swarms. I.e. get 2-3 men to dogpile a target alien with stun rods. Always try to approach from BEHIND aliens so as to avoid reaction fire. ALSO, I normally would NOT use the pistols. If I'm not mistaken, shooting an alien who has full TUs can cause him to spin around and shoot you back. Stun rods, for some reason, do not seem to activate reaction fire under certain conditions. (Do they activate reaction fire at all?) So, it's safer to whack em from behind 2-3 times with a stun rod than to shoot once then stun.''

Also, be very wary concerning stun rods and ELEVATION.

''[[User:NKF | NKF]] : Jasonred, a stun rod attack will indeed attract a reaction shot - and the fact you have to spend TUs walking up to the alien increases the chance of the alien reacting as soon as it is made aware that a soldier tried to attack it. See more on [[Reactions]]. ''

user: reaction shot for alien triggered only if the stun-rod soldier moves one step, if another comes up from behind the alien and tries to stun, but failed, reaction 'focus' of alien moves to this soldier. the first soldier can now move away without trigger alien fire. This above, is only if alien is facing away from soldiers

''[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]]: My testing shows that using a Stun Rod will only trigger "delayed" reaction shots -- that is, it behaves exactly as "user" described. See [[reaction fire triggers]].''

Terror missions: Civilians stunned by use of the stun rod(or any method, actually) do not cause a plus OR minus to points at the end of the mission. If they wake up, they will [[Why civilians go rogue|appear as aliens]], but civilians have a victory point value of 0. This is especially useful in Snakeman terror missions, because every stunned Civilian is one less potential Chryssalid.

===Activating Melee Attacks For Other Items===
Every item in the game has a melee weapon rating, however the melee attack command has been disabled for all items but the stun rod. One unusual work-around is to stack the stun rod on top of another item in one of your hand slots. This has the effect of displaying the stun rod as the active weapon and hiding the ammo counter. However, when the attack menu is brought up, the stun command will now show that it requires 50% of your [[TU]]s to use and you will also get the firing commands for the stacked weapon.

Do not be fooled however by the now more expensive stun command as this new attack is deadly and will kill its target. The strength of the attack differs based on different objects, so you will have to experiment to find a good combination, as not all weapons have the same melee strength. Some do nothing, while others will kill a healthy [[superhuman]] [[sectopod]] in one hit. Try guns, grenades and even corpses if you're desparate.<br>

See [[Item Stacking Bug]] for instructions on item stacking.

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

Squad Composition and Tactics

2008-03-18T19:59:59Z

Sharpy: flying suit + rocket launcher

Soldiers in X-COM are flexible generic soldiers with no pre-assigned role or duties attached to them. Despite this, they will eventually fall into a variety of roles depending on tactical needs.

Until soldiers hit super-soldier status where they can do anything, they will generally fall into particular roles specializing in scouting, sniping, heavy weapons, psionic support, rear commander, etc. There is a lot of overlap between many of these roles, so there's a great degree of flexibility available to you.

The choice of role will largely be dependent on the soldiers' initial stats. However, a soldier's role can change and may change several times in the course of a single battle.

== Assigning Roles ==

The following sections describe some common roles that your soldiers will fall under, along with some scenarios and tips for these roles.

=== Scouts ===

After securing the landing zone during deployment (making sure all nearby aliens are killed, and establishing a front line), you should expand the secured zone using scouts (see [[Sweeping the Battlescape]]). Some commanders prefer using trained scouts (high [[Reactions]] and [[TU]]s); others prefer cannon fodder (poor stats). Aliens will often shoot from unseen locations, making high stats irrelevant, and even a soldier with terrible stats can take advantage of the [[Reaction fire triggers#mutual_surprise|mutual surprise rule]].

[[Heavy_Weapons_Platforms|Tanks]] make excellent scouts due to their high mobility (70 or 100 TUs, depending on the type) and relative hardiness. They are also easily replaced, unlike veteran troops. However, in the early part of the game, funds are very limited, and replacing a few rookies is far less expensive than replacing a tank.

In terms of equipment, the key is to keep the scout light but functional, so weapons such as Laser Pistol may come in useful for rapidly clearing terrain on most levels either so the scout can move through it, or check there is nothing behind a wall or hedge. HE and Smoke Grenades also tend to be useful, along with Motion Detectors, but items like heavy weapons and First Aid kits are best left to the troops following up where needed.

The soldiers at the front of the transport must perform scout duties during deployment, which is probably the highest-risk stage of combat. Throwing a [[Smoke Grenade]] at the base of the ramp before deploying helps to reduce this risk (do not deploy until Turn 2, after the grenade has detonated). For soldiers with flight capability, it may be also a good idea to deploy a second smoke grenade on the equipment pile to provide a screen if they don't intend to deploy at ramp level.

If alien(s) are visible from the front of the transport, they should be killed immediately.

The order on the Soldier screen back at base determines the order of troop placement in the transport. It is unfortunate to have a highly-skilled veteran at the front of the craft, where they are most likely to get killed. One strategy to prevent this is to reserve the first 6-8 soldiers on the list for base defense duty. As your front-most troops gain experience, you can assign these reserves to the transport; they will be placed up front.

[[XcomUtil]] can be used to rearrange the order of your troops.

=== Spotters ===

Ideally a role already covered by Scouts, a Spotter is any unit on the front-line that braves the unknown to locate enemy targets. They are primarily used in observational roles, and never engage the enemy unless they really have to.

=== Snipers ===

[[Scouting|Scout/Sniper tactics]] are among the most effective tactics in the entire game. Although it is desirable to have snipers with high [[Firing Accuracy]], any soldier which can safely fire upon an alien from beyond visual range is a good sniper.

If your squad has a mix of low- and high-power weapons (generally [[Laser Rifle]]s, [[Heavy Plasma]]s) and [[Rocket Launcher]]s, give the best weapons to the troops with the highest Firing Accuracy.

=== Heavy weapons ===

A heavy weapon's specialist consists of a soldier with high strength levels, allowing the use of heavy weapons like the [[Rocket Launcher]] or throwing [[High Explosive]] packs with ease.

Although you do not need high strength to operate heavy weapons, high strength will help negate [[TU#Encumbrance|encumbrance]] penalties and increase throwing distance.

In the early game, heavy weapons duty should be restricted to soldiers that have 40+ [[Strength]]. A loaded [[Rocket Launcher]] with 3 Heavy Rockets weighs 42 units total (see [[TU#Encumbrance|Encumbrance]] and [[Item Weights]]).

Heavy weapons generally involve damage on a wide area of effect. This makes them good for [[Destroying Terrain|clearing terrain]] and for attacking heavily-armored units such as [[Cyberdisc]]s.

In the later game, your heavy weapons units will probably carry [[Blaster Launcher]]s. [[Rear Commander]]s make effective Blaster troops.

Although not strictly a "heavy weapon", equipping two or more soldiers with a [[Small Launcher]] during the stage of the game when you are trying to capture an alien Navigator, Leader, or Commander is highly recommended (see [[Research#The Minimum Three]]). It can also be used as an incredibly effective anti-large terror unit weapon on the easier difficulty levels.

In open terrain (desert, tundra, not very densely populated rural areas) it may be a good tactic to equip a soldier with a flying suit, rocket launcher and possibly more rockets than they can normally carry. Once the perimeter outside the ship has been secured, the soldier can drop surplus rockets on the ground, then rise to maximum altitude and be used as extremely efficient sniper for even quite long distances - the downward angle causes that most rockets that miss the target hit the ground within a few squares away, catching the enemy in the explosion. Once the soldier runs out of rockets, he can land, resupply and take off again.

=== Mind Probe Operators ===

A support role that is commonly performed by reserve troops that are left in the [[Skyranger]]. Any soldier in the safety of the ship can operate a [[Mind Probe]] to read the vital statistics of any alien spotted in the field.

Probe operators are made redundant when well trained psi-troopers are available.

=== Grenadier ===

A variant of the Heavy Weapon specialist, a grenadier is entrusted a large number of grenades than usual (or as many as the grenadier can carry). This role sets out to exploit the grenade's indirect attack ability to its fullest. Strength is the primary stat to consider, as this controls throwing distance.

This role is very effective when fighting in the open at clearing terrain or attacking groups of enemies. Grenadiers are unfortunately limited in close quarters, but can still be useful for attacking enemies around corners.

In addition to a wide selection of grenades, a grenadier is often armed with a light sidearm like a [[Laser Pistol]] as a fall-back weapon when exhausting all the grenades or for emergencies where a floating enemy cannot be hit by an explosion. Good protection is also recommended to allow for close range detonations.

A support-role variant of the grenadier is the lighting grenadier, where grenades are substituted for light 'grenades' - i.e. [[Electro-flare]]s.

=== Medic ===

A medic is a valuable support role for tending to soldiers that are wounded or unconscious.

A medic is generally and additional role than a role of its own. Any soldier that just so happens to be carrying a [[Medi-Kit]] is a field medic, as soldiers cannot use the kit on themselves.

If a soldier is in a critically wounded state and has fallen unconscious, a medic needs to tend to the soldier immediately. If the medic is too far away, and time is not on your side, the medic can employ a variant of the [[Grenade Relay]] to get the kit into the hands of a soldier that is closer to the patient.

=== Anti-Psionic Soldiers ===

Also commonly known as Psi-Sponges.

Before soldiers can be screened scientifically, they can still be equipped to combat psionics. This applies to soldiers who have not been tested in psionic scenarios or have been shown to be weak against psionic attack. These troops can still be valuable. Anti-psionic soldiers absorb psionic attacks that would otherwise assail stronger minds and eventually panic them, and can even kill the psionic alien themselves if for some reason it loses control over them. This also works best if armor is available for all troops.

If there are '''unarmored soldiers''', only give psi-weak soldiers stun rods and smoke grenades. Alternatively, one or more of these soldiers can operate as a heavy weapons crew, as long as the psi-weak trooper is not holding a weapon with ammo at the end of a turn. Other weapons can be handled in this way, but it reduces squad mobility unless two or more can work together, tossing equipment around to each other.

If everyone has ''at least'' '''personal armor''', only give psi-weak soldiers standard pistols or incendiary ammunition. These weapons are effective against Sectoids. Alternatively, heavier weapons can passed around and dropped at the end of each turn.

If all your soldiers have at least '''power suits''', the psi-weak soldiers can use standard rifles, auto-cannons with HE ammo, and standard grenades with minimal or no risk to other agents. These weapons are highly effective against Sectoids, allowing you to screen a squad against psionics on Medium UFO and Supply Ship raids without taking friendly casualties.

'''Flying suits''' reduce the lethality of laser pistols and rocket launchers (especially small rockets). Point blank bursts to the rear or undersides of a flying suit can still be lethal, but these weapons provide more firepower for clearing Sectoid bases and battleships. Careful deployment of troops with these weapons can allow them to be used with minimal risk.

When raiding sites with Cyberdiscs, it is necessary to use HWPs or some heavier troops known to be psi-resistant. These troops can be "discovered" in Sectoid Medium UFO raids using the equipment configurations above. Those UFOs have less firepower than bases and Battleships, and only one or two psionic officers (who can be captured with stun rods).

Ethereal sites should only be assaulted by known psi-resistant troops and heavily armored HWPs. A small element of unarmed psi-weaklings could be taken on smaller raids to train their mental resistances, but only as a peripheral exercise, along with a much more resistant element to ensure mission success.

=== Psi soldiers ===

After [[Psionic Laboratory|Psi-training]], any soldiers with high [[Psi Strength]] (ideally 80+) should be given a [[Psi-Amp]], and kept off the front lines. Other units can be used to spot aliens, and your Psi units can safely attack them from a distance. Once your Psi troops gain high [[Psi Skill]] as well, your squad will become nearly invincible. See [[Psionics]] for more details.

=== Super Soldiers ===

Any unit that stays alive and does consistently well in picking up combat experience in ground missions will eventually peak all of his or her attributes.

With high stats across the board - with the possible exception of [[Bravery]] and [[Throwing Accuracy]] - this soldier can do practically anything and can specialize in any role you think of.

== The difference between Veterans and Rookies ==

The better stats a soldier has, the less danger you will want to expose him or her to. High-ranking soldiers should be left in or near the transport for [[Morale]] reasons (see [[Rear Commander]]). a [[Mind Probe]] or two can be useful in the hands of Rear Commanders. Soldiers with the poorest stats should be given the most dangerous duty: for instance, they should be the first unit sent into a UFO.

== Fireteams ==

There is safety in numbers: soldiers should generally be moved in groups of 2-4. If one soldier spots an alien, the others can act as snipers. Spotting an alien is useless if it kills your scout and you have no troops available to return fire upon the alien.

== Tanks ==

The choice of soldiers vs. HWPs is highly dependent on play style. In the early game, tanks are much more expensive than rookies, and funds are tight. Later on, tanks come into their own as highly-mobile expendable scouts.

If you adopt an all-soldier roster, especially on the [[Avenger]] (26 soldiers!), you will have to work around [[the 80-item limit]]. This will necessitate the use of [[Laser Rifle]]s as your primary squad weapon, as they do not require ammo clips.

== Armor ==

In cases where you do not have enough armor for all of your soldiers, the first soldiers to get armor should be the front-line troops: those at the front of the craft, and all scouts. Additional troops should be armored according to their value in combat. Soldiers with high Reactions are likely to engage in a firefight (particularly if they are used as spotters), and should be armored well.

Although [[Flying Suit]]s have the highest armor values, a soldier in mid-air is an easy target. Flying soldiers will also fail to benefit from ground-level smoke cover, such as at the base of the transport. Flying Suits may be of greatest benefit to scouts, who need the increased mobility. A mix of [[Power Suit]]s and Flying Suits is probably best overall for your squad.

== Soldier naming strategies ==

One useful strategy is to rename all your soldiers alphabetically. This allows you to see which soldiers will be placed at the front of the transport (arm them with smoke grenades; arm the second row with heavy weapons). To rename soldiers, click on their names while viewing them via the Soldier screen on base.

Another naming strategy is to add stats to their names. [[TU]]s, [[Reactions]], [[Firing Accuracy]], [[Strength]], and [[Psi Strength]] are the most useful stats to display in this fashion. Keep in mind that soldiers' names will have to be updated when they gain stats from [[experience]].

[[Category: Soldiers]]
[[Category: Tactics]]