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Murphy's Laws (X-COM)

2021-02-05T11:19:56Z

SpeedofDeath118:

==[[Battlescape|Battlescape (UFO Defense)]]==
===[[Soldiers]]===
*If a soldier can miss, he will.
**If the soldier can't miss, the shot won't kill the alien.
**If a soldier can hit another soldier while missing, he will.
*If a soldier has a high explosive, then he will have to commit suicide for the group to win.
*If a soldier can panic, he will.
**If he is holding a primed [[Proximity Grenade]], he will drop it and start running.
**If he is holding any other primed explosive, he will drop it and stay right there.
**If he is holding something else, he will drop it and run right next to an alien.
*The probability of a soldier getting MCed is proportional to the lethality of the weapons he is carrying.
*The probability of a soldier going berserk is proportional to the number of friendly units he can hit from where he's standing.
*Your troops invariably display better accuracy and reactions when mind controlled than they do under your own orders.
**The opposite is true when you mind control an alien.
*The soldier you gave your shiny new heavy weapon to will turn out to have shitty Psi Strength and/or Morale. You will discover this the hard way.
*If a soldier has a [[Rocket Launcher]], he will get MCed while still in the craft.
*Your first unit out is always shot down.
**Your first unit out is always your commander.
*A wounded soldier will always die just before you find the last alien.
*As soon as you get better armor, the aliens get better weapons.
*[[Electroflare|Flares]] will always land where they cannot be picked up.
*If your base is attacked, you will always get [[Electroflare|flares]] instead of [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]].
*You will always end up short 1 TU for the action you wanted to do.
*If there is a single square where an alien grenade can hit all your soldiers at once, that is the square it will land in.
*The soldiers with the worst stats will always be the first to get promoted.
**When you build the [[Psi Lab]], you will always discover that your highly-trained officers are psi weaklings.
*On [[Ethereal]] [[Terror_Mission|Terror Missions]], you will always get the maximum number of [[Sectopod|Sectopods]] possible.
*When you have finally perfected the art of UFO assaults - [[Initial_Deployment|safe initial deployment]], proper [[Scouting|scout]] and [[Sweeping_the_Battlescape|sweep]] tactics, [[UFO_Ground_Assault#Breaching_UFOs|correct breaching methods]] - that will be the mission an enemy commander shows up with a [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launcher]] and nukes your entire team while it's still on the [[Skyranger]]
*The only thing your soldiers are good for is warning each other about the Blaster Launching-wielding alien right around the corner.
**Considering the laws above, it's pretty easy to guess exactly how they warn the rest of your squad about said Blaster Launcher.
***They warn your squad with an explosion, followed by a scream.
*If a proximity grenade can land on a soldier, it will.
*A soldier with pockets full of pre-primed grenades will fall unconscious right next to your Commander.
*That point-blank reaction shot can be guaranteed by giving the guy a Rocket Launcher.
*The chance of soldiers panicking and running out of the access lift on Cydonia is relative to the amount of soldiers in the access lift.
**And into direct fire from a cyberdisc.

===[[Civilian|Civilians]]===
*If a civilian sees a fire, he will run into it.
*If a civilian sees an alien, he will move right next to it.
*If a civilian can block your line of fire on an alien, he will do so.
*Civilians are attracted by armed proximity grenades.
*Civilians inevitably block the doorway you need to use right before you get there.
**Stunning that civilian to get past it and through the doorway will reveal an alien right behind it.
*If a civilian is near an alien, any attempt to save him by shooting the alien will hit the civilian instead.
*Civilians will go out of their way to get shot in a Terror Mission.

===[[Alien Life Forms|Aliens]]===
*If an alien can hit, it will.
*If an alien tries to MC you, it will always succeed.
*Alien commanders will always kill themselves (with their [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launchers]]) when you're on track to capture them .
*If there are [[Chryssalid|Chryssalids]], you will get at least one zombified soldier.
**You never want to know the answer to "Why did the Chryssalid cross the road?".
*If a dying [[Cyberdisc]] can blow up one of your men, it will.
*Unconscious aliens with melee attacks will wake up when you least expect them to.
*If you open a door and turn left, the aliens will all be on the right.
*Aliens are smarter than they look.
*This one is universal for all of the series:
**"Gaahh! Come back here and let me stun/melee you, you little shit!"
*Aliens can smell proximity grenades.

==[[Geoscape|Geoscape (UFO Defense)]]==
*When you need money the most, your funders will sign treaties with the aliens.
**The first country to drop funding is always the one that gave the most money.
*As soon as you get a new base built, it will be attacked.
**As soon as you get a new base fully equipped and operational, UFO activity in that area will drop to zero.
*If your fully developed base with 12 [[Missile_Defences|Missile Defences]] is successfully weathering a [[Alien_Retaliation|retaliation mission]] every couple days, the 1-in-30 battleship that makes it through will inevitably do so when all your experienced soldiers are out on missions.
*The more money you've saved, the higher the chance the aliens will do something that forces you to waste it.
**The amount of money you lose is proportional to how badly you need whatever you were saving up for.
*[[Alien Terror|Terror sites]] always appear at night.
**Or at noon, located conveniently so that night falls the second you arrive.
*If there is one tiny lake in the middle of 100 km of dry land, your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]] will inevitably shoot the UFO down over that exact spot.
*The chance that a crashed UFO's [[Elerium]] survived is proportional to how much you already have stockpiled.
*Landed UFO's will always take off before you can get to them.
**Unless they're filled with a species of alien you aren't equipped to deal with, in which case they will stick around forever.
***And when you finally get the equipment to deal with them, they fly away, never to be seen again.
****Until you have none of that equipment left to deal with them, because the base closest to them was destroyed.
*UFO's will always arrive while your [[Skyranger]] is refueling from a two day patrol.
*If you have forgotten to save the game for at least 3 missions, the game will crash.
**The game will always crash when it is the least convenient.
*If your craft is carrying no [[Electroflare|flares]] whatsoever, it will inevitably arrive five minutes after nightfall.
**If you've wasted half your [[Managing_the_Item_Limit|80-item limit]] on [[Electroflare|flares]] and incendiary ammo, you will arrive at high noon.
*[[Small Scout|Alien UFO scouts]] will always outrun your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]].
*Building a new base where there is heavy UFO activity? Seems like a good time for the Aliens to stop all activity in that area, and move it to a new area.
**That new area consists of the highest-funding countries.
*It's always exciting downing a UFO on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Too bad it's always an Ethereal-filled Battleship.

==[[Cityscape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If you're almost broke after buying a new flagship for your fleet, it will be destroyed in the next UFO incursion.
*The pride of your fleet is always stuck in alien dimension when you get attacked by a Mothership.
*UFOs carrying infiltrators always spawn at the gate you don't have covered.
*Griffon AFV is tough. The road under it is not. The tracks are just for show.
*There are only two types of vehicles that are always in abundance on the market: Blazer bikes and Stormdogs.
*While en route to a building, your craft will shoot at a Cult civilian car and demolish half of the city trying to hit it. However, the car will survive.
*Megapol is useless.
**Transtellar is annoying.
***Everyone else is both annoying and useless.
*Government's weekly paycheck will buy you a Lawpistol clip. Maybe two.
*If your base is in a slum, a single stray shot from a light disruptor will destroy it all.
**If your base is in a warehouse, said stray shot will still hit the tile with your agents.
*A hoverbike swarm is a good idea. Too bad they'll all get shot down anyway because of sheer dumb luck on the aliens' part.
*Research will always be completed right after when you needed it the most.
*After a firefight in the city, the only one to be blamed for the devastation will be you, even if it was an Overspawn that did it.
*The Overspawn will coincidentally be dropped right at your doorstep.
*The Overspawn will never, ''ever'' get hurt from falling debris. Unless you drop the said debris and level half of the city with it.
*People Tubes can collapse from an angry glare.
*You're the only one who has a problem with the aliens. Every other corp gets along with them fine.
**Transtellar in particular will always be dying for a chance to jump in bed with the aliens.
*Subversion attacks ''will'' succeed, 100%.
*Your carefully built Dimension Probe will be welcomed by a volley of Heavy Disruptor Guns.
*Your very first invasion of the Alien Dimension will require an hour's savescumming to get it right without being reduced to scrap metal.
*You ''will'' forget to not to move the X-COM craft when you succeed in destroying an alien building, killing everyone in the process.
* The alien Infiltration site will always be Hard to remember.

==[[Battlescape Overview (Apocalypse)|Battlescape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If your base is raided, there will be as few of your agents spawning as possible.
**Said agents will spawn as far away from the access lift as possible.
***Guess where the scientists will appear.
*If you're raiding a building, there will always be a trigger-happy idiot with a heavy launcher.
**Despite your best efforts, he will manage to fire at least one missile.
***And he will do so even if you're breathing in his face.
****There is no way to avoid the missile and injuries or casualties from it.
*****Even if you somehow actually manage to avoid the missile, it'll bring down the building on you.
*Live explosives are seemingly attracted to large concentrations of dead cultist bodies with all the loot you came here for.
*If an agent in a squad gets attacked by a brainsucker, the rest of the squad won't hit it at point blank range.
**Or they'll fire a missile launcher. Guess the results.
*If you turn around the corner where you think that last alien is hiding, it'll turn out to be half a dozen of Anthropods. All armed to the teeth.
*A berserking agent will cause more chaos and destruction than all of your other agents put together. And it won't be directed at the enemy.
*If someone throws a Boomeroid at an agent, he'll try to run away from it.
**Because it will always turn out that you forgot to set him to aggressive mode.
*If you try to capture a Megaspawn, it'll die before you can stun it.
**As will half the agents trying to stun the damn thing in the first place.
*You'd wish you gave that mind controlled agent a Toxigun instead of a Dimension Missile Launcher.
*You'll encounter cloaked and flying Skeletoids much more often than you'd like to.
**Cloaking never works for you. Neither does flying, actually.
*Good stuff always comes too late.
**Personal teleporters do not exist.
*Psi attacks are only successful when they're not necessary.
*Dynamic music always ignores what you're actually doing.
*That agent you sent to scout ahead will always be the one without a motion scanner.
*Every raid is a horrible decision between causing property damage and greed. Either way, you lose.
*The agent with a Mind Bender won't see the enemy <s>until he's standing right next to it</s> at all. Period.
*You will forget to capture a live Micronoid aggregate.
*Toxigun ammo, Vortex mines and Personal Shields come in only two varieties: "not enough" and "none".
*Anthropods, More likely than not, will just spaz out and spew out Brainsuckers if they have brainsucker launchers in turnbased, and, more likely than not, they'll haul brainsucker launchers.
*Nobody expects the alien inquisition
*Whenever there's an explosion, It'll be next to a chain of, like 5 other explosive objects. Good for clearing out enemies, Bad for Xcom insurance rates.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Strategic (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*When you need §§§ the most, the US and Russia (which you have satellite coverage over) will pull out of the XCOM project.
*Your satellites will always be available one day too late to prevent a country from withdrawing.
**Even if it shows up before "Council Report" on the event list.
*When you do have satellites available, you will never have enough Satellite Uplink/Nexus space for them.
*When you do have Satellite Uplink/Nexus, you will never have enough satellites.
*If you have one more satellite to go before getting a continent's bonus, that last country will pull out of the XCOM project.
**The one continent's bonus you don't want to get? The aliens will ignore that continent.
*You will always be at least §1 short of buying the next level of armor/weapons for all your troops.
*If a Colonel can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it.
**If a Rookie can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it either. Sorry 'bout that.
**The sixth soldier to be checked (guaranteed to have the Psi gift) will be the lowest rank possible.
**That soldier will die on the first mission you send them on.
*Your interceptor will always lose contact 0.1 seconds before the enemy UFO is destroyed.
*Your interceptor will blow up one round of fire exchange after you press the Abort button.
*Your interceptor will miss every shot.
**The UFO will have perfect aim and land every single hit.
***After an interceptor lands a few hits on a Supply Barge it's shot down. So you sortie another interceptor and it's shot down/loses contact without hitting the damaged UFO even once.
*Just a bit more than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Just a bit less than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Fast forwarding will result in the Terror Mission succeeding for the aliens before you can react to your Colonel getting out of the medbay.
*Just a bit more than a day before your latest and greatest research completes? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Any other time it's inconvenient? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Followed by abductions less than 24 hours later.
***Followed by a council mission less than 24 hours later.
****Followed by a Battleship coming to destroy your satellite less than 24 hours later.
*****Oh, you recently finished the Hyperwave Uplink? Here, have the Overseer UFO, 12 hours after that battleship.
******On the same continent as your surely-damaged Firestorm.
*******And once you lose ''that''... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Steam vents will be placed in inconvenient locations.
**Second floor steam vents will block your 2x2 Satellite Uplink block.
***The remaining steam vents will be on the 4th floor.
****In the corner.
*****Behind 3 solid squares of rock.
******The vent's spot is also solid rock.
*Research or Foundry upgrades will be completed one day after a critical mission appears.
*The only way you can afford the next item or facility you need, is to sell materials on the grey market.
**Specifically, just enough to not have the materials left to build it.
*When the option to start researching the various Plasma Weapons becomes available, you will not have enough Weapon Fragments.
**Heavy Floaters will also start appearing on your next mission.
**You'll also be trying to research the Firestorm.
*You will forget to equip your shiny new weapon.
**If not, your save (or at least when you last saved) may forget for you.
* .......................... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Oh, three steam vents all set up for awesome adjacency bonus! Too bad that two of them are directly underneath the Satellite Uplink!
*The only time you mis-click when accusing a country of hosting the EXALT Base, is when that country provided the most money.
**It is also the eighth country to leave!
***On Impossible difficulty.
****Ironman Mode was also on.
*****And you decided that right after you destroy the EXALT Base, you would go right on ahead and assault the Temple Ship!
******Not that you would have survived, anyways, everybody was panicking!
*Special: If you're trying to test something for this very 'paedia, the situation you're after will never occur.
**Instead, something else will happen that will give you another idea to test. Guess what will happen then.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Tactical (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*If a soldier's chance to hit is <99%, he will miss.
**Especially if the target is at 1 HP.
***Doubly so if that's your last action for the turn.
****Exponentially so, proportional to how dangerous the target is. Like a Sectopod that's now flanking several soldiers.
*If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, he won't do enough damage to kill the alien.
**If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, the game will glitch and turn that full-face Alloy Cannon blast into a spray of harmless confetti.
*The left mouse button is context sensitive; it will always do exactly what you didn't want it to.
*If a soldier's a heavy, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy.
**The range and blast radius of a heavy's rocket launcher will be a few tiles away from the nearest alien.
***Your heavy will never be in range to fire off a rocket.
*If a soldier's a sniper, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy FOR MOST OF THE GAME.
**A sniper will have squad sight on either a heavily wooded UFO crash/landing sight or a Terror Mission with one or two buildings that cover the entire map.
*If a soldier's an assault, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy EVEN AT POINT BLANK RANGE.
**If you activate Rapid Fire, both shots will miss a point blank Sectopod (who has only eight health bars left) despite the second shot's hit chance being 85%.
*If a soldier's a support, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy WITH ANYTHING BUT A S.C.O.P.E. AND A LIGHT PLASMA RIFLE.
*If an alien's chance to hit is >1%, he will hit.
**If an alien's chance to hit is <1%, he will destroy your full cover.
*If an alien's mind control chance is >1%, it will work.
*When aiming at an Ethereal with the last shot of your turn, it will reflect it.
**''Especially'' if that soldier has only 1 HP.
*If the vehicle that your soldier is dashing to for cover can be set on fire, it will be.
**That is, if the soldier survives the alien Overwatch shot that will set the vehicle on fire.
***If so, then the vehicle's explosion will finish him/her off.
****Not to forget that this specific soldier, was your Colonel who had been with you since the first mission.
*Your soldier will always have the exact amount of health for a vehicle to blow him up.
*You will always reveal new enemies on your last move of the turn.
**Who will then take up flanking positions behind anyone who dashed.
*The more soldiers who perform an Overwatch reaction shot against a single alien, the more likely they will all miss.
**Soldiers who hit the alien will barely kill the alien.
***The alien, in turn, will kill your highest-ranking soldier.
****After killing the highest-ranking soldier, the other aliens will come in and mop everyone else up.
*When you have your whole squad on overwatch they will all shoot one floater.
**And then all die to his Chryssalid buddy.
*Your Revive spec medic will always be the one critically wounded.
*When trying to capture a commander with one stunner, he will be the one MCed,
*Aliens will always hit soldier's hunkering down behind high cover.
**The alien will do just enough damage to not kill him, but to cause him to panic.
***The panicking soldier will kill a soldier and start a panic chain.
*Panicking soldiers will always have 100% to hit.
*Smoke grenades will always improve alien accuracy.
**Mutons and Floaters will always throw grenades into smoke.
*If a soldier can panic, it will.
**Soldiers that panic will aim for the highest ranking officer he can see.
***Even behind high cover, on a higher elevation, and covered by a smoke grenade, a panicking rookie will still be able to kill the "protected" Colonel.
*Rockets will always fly off target.
**ESPECIALLY when you squad is surrounded by explosive vehicles and forklifts.
***At a gas station
****Then everything will explode
***** Then everything will explode and everyone will panic
******Even your SHIVs
*******And they will shoot your highest-ranked soldier
********And he will die
*********He will also have the psionic gift
**********He also has one of the highest starting and leveling Will/Aim scores you ever got, in any playthrough.
***********And he/she will also be named after you.
************And he/she will be carrying your only medkit.
*Aliens will position themselves right outside the radius of a grenade throw.
**If a grenade can clip through and explode harmlessly under ground while you are trying to aim it, it will.
*When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will not be with you.
**When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will miss every shot.
*When it is time to face Muton Elites, your psionics will not be with you.
*Your soldiers are always one grid point away from moving to safely flank an alien.
*When a large UFO lands and you assault with your elite squad you will fight 3 Floaters, 3 Sectoids and a Sectoid Commander.
*When a moderate alien abduction comes up and you assault with a squad comprised of your Col. Sniper, squaddies, and rookies for training purposes, you will fight 9 Mutons (who will each throw their grenades asap), a Cyberdisc, and 2 Drones you just can't seem to hit.
*Even when you use the rookie to scout ahead, he will always stumble on no less than every enemy on the map on a single turn, who will then, with most of the laws stated above, wipe your elite squad before you can say Jenkins.
*You decide to research offensive tech first and the Arc Thrower later only to find that Sectoids have been removed from the alien roster. But after killing 7 Mutons on a map you decide to zap the last two for their weapons only to have the last group be a trio of Sectoids.
*The Overseer will only appear when you have no Firestorms.
**When you build your firestorm with dodge matrix, fusion lance, and uplink targeting, the Overseer will appear in the continent your new Firestorm is NOT stationed in
*Your MCed alien will always run out of usable turns before they can bust the asses off of some of their little alien friends.
**ALWAYS
***Especially on the final mission of the entire game.
*MCed aliens will always activate no less than two squads that were just behind them.
*Your sniper with Snap Shot will never be useful for anything, ever.
*Your sniper with Squadsight will never be in a good position.
**And when he is, a tree will block his line of sight to finish off that one alien flanking your soldiers.
*The alien with a grenade will go first. He will toss the grenade , without moving, negating any troopers on Overwatch, and removing cover from you forward trooper.
**Next alien will kill your now-exposed trooper.
***You will then have to wait 2-3 minutes for the other 9 or so Aliens to take their turn and batter your remaining troops.
****Also, it's been 5 rounds since you last saved.
*The range for a soldier flying with Archangel Armor will always be "One less than it takes to get into cover, or out of range."
*On a Battleship raid, there will always be one alien that runs away, forcing you to have to chase them down.
**Backwards.
***And they're Seekers, so they're invisible too.
*The game has no problem sending and activating every alien squad in an Abductor or Supply Barge at you in 1 turn.
**If not, that's because the high-level alien squad somehow noticed you from the other side of the ship.
*The council mission reward will always be either what you don't need, or not enough of what you do.
*When fighting Thin Men, you will always activate 2 squads at a time.
*When fighting Floaters, they will always Launch to flank just tiles away from your Sniper. No soldier will be close enough to help her.
*When fighting Mutons, you will activate a squad ''after'' you have finished moving at least two soldiers. Who you placed right next to each other.
**If you think two soldiers were just far enough apart to not both be hit by 1 grenade: turns out they weren't.
***Both of their cover is now gone, fyi.
*When fighting Chryssalids, they will always be at least close enough to hit your soldiers from a diagonal tile, if not closer.
*When fighting Cyberdiscs, when they are open, your hardest-hitting soldier will not be able to attack them.
**Because it opened up to kill said soldier in the previous turn.
*When fighting Sectopods, the answer to "Which soldier are they going to fire at?" The answer is always "the one taking cover behind something explosive."
**On the rare chance that it's Chest Cannon misses, the shot will still hit something explosive.
***Specifically, something that another soldier is taking cover behind.
****Whom it will then fire upon.
*When fighting a Sectopod, after your two troops have been battered by both Chest Cannon blasts despite being behind full cover and in the middle of a smoke grenade cloud, one moves and triggers a Reaction Shot.
*When fighting an Ethereal, it will either:
**Be in a different room than usual.
**Become activated when you pass within 10 feet of the door.
**Become activated when your last turn is to MC an Elite Muton or Heavy Floater that would be flanking it's buddies.
***Which it will then immediately kill.
*Your first shot with a shiny new weapon will miss.
*Despite bipods being visible on several weapons, your soldiers do not seem to recognise their existence for steadying and making more accurate shots.
*Your Support with Sprint and a Skeleton Suit or Ghost Armor will always be one movement short of saving a civilian.
*Your soldier will make a crazy-ass, low-percentage, gun-pointing-the-wrong-way-for-some-reason Overwatch shot with your currently-most powerful weapon.... on a wounded Sectoid.
*At the point in the game when you have all continents armed with Firestorms all with Fusion Lances (Highly unlikely, especially considering the laws above) that is the only time when the Aliens give up on sending the big UFOs and start sending small scouts
*On a Battleship raid, you send in a rookie to investigate the main room, thus activating all 20+ Aliens who just "happened" to spawn in there. They will then all hide, and when you think yourself so clever for taking up positions for multi-pronged attack on the main room, it turns out, they were all on Overwatch.
**And yes, each Alien is just so positioned so that each one of your soldiers will have a chance to get shot at.
***This will occur more often on Ironman Mode.
****On Impossible Difficulty.
*****It turns out, this was also supposed to be the day that you got the only Psionic Soldier you ever found got strong enough to become the volunteer.
******Afterwards, the game will glitch so that you will never find another Psionic Soldier in your whole playthrough
*******Not that it matters, your entire elite squad got wiped out, when they had all their fancy armor and weapons.
*"Don't shoot the Elerium, don't shoot the Elerium---- shit."
**"Don't blow up the power source, don't blow up the power source ---- crap."
***"Blow power source! Blow! Blow! ---- come on!"
*Your soldier will miss the alien and shoot the meld instead.
**Especially if you have them flanked.
*When your favorite soldier gets critically injured, you clear out the Muton Elite that hurt him. Too bad there is a group of sectoids all the way across the map.
**It will take a full turn of dashing for your Sprinter support in a Skeleton Suit to reach them.
***They will all proceed to hide behind full cover just out of your sight.
****When you finally see them for your Squadsight Sniper with Double Tap will hit two of them, however, there are three sectoids.
*****Not that it matters, they were all on overwatch, and considering the laws above, they will all get critical shots on your soldier, and kill her
******That is, IF you find them.
*Have Frag Grenades? Any aliens in range will have four HP left.
**Alien Grenades or Mind Fray? Six.
***And it will be your only viable action: any attempts at firing a gun will miss.
****C'mon: it's not even out yet, but you just ''know'' that the only time you'll have the Needle Grenade with you, aliens WILL take cover in such a way that only ONE would be affected by it at any time.
*****That alien will also have four HP left.
*Speaking of Enemy Within: you shall soon become familiar with the sound of exploding Meld canisters.
**Which is Dr. Vahlen's annoying voiceover.
*Two words: naughty tentacles.
*Alien: "You brought a soldier with a Med-kit, I'll just Critically wound him then..."
*"Ooh look, the last meld canister.. and..... that's a group of Muton Elites... And a Cyberdisc... or three"
*Need 5 more Meld? Check out that Heavy Floater with only one health left!
**Looks like it's running away, no biggie, you'll just follow it.
***And activate its Mechtoid Buddies!
*While you are almost finished with Confounding Light, you have one turn left to activate the train, too bad the only soldier that can make it is being Overwatch-camped by that Muton who was just air-dropped.
**Even though that move would have required a dash!
***He was also an assault that was gonna get promoted that mission. Guess which Rank.
*The mission where your Squaddie Sniper levels up is alaways the mission that Sqaud Sight would have been supremely useful for.
*Don't EVER pick favorites, they'll just die anyways
*"Ok, gene mod do-- mission, ok, reload to get my soldier. OK, mission done, now to gene mo-- damnit, 'nother mission... ok, done, finally. Allright---- oh come the fuck on, Council, I'm busy here! Now what do you waaa'''AAAHHFUCKCHRYSSALIDS!!'''"
*Yes, Meld Canisters provide full cover. If you're actually using them for that, you have only yourself to blame.
*Enemy Within. Because Sectopods really needed the ability to outright ignore half of all incoming damage.
**AND be able to freely and deliberatley target your cover: "That'ssssssssssssssssssss a nice wall you got there~!"
*Your Heavy will never be in a good spot to launch a mission/life-saving rocket.
**Eventually, you'll fire it, because "might as well."
***'''Then''', and only then, on the ''next'' turn, will they be in the perfect situation to fire that shot you just wasted.
*Training Roulette:
**You'll either get abilites that're near-useless to that class, or
**You'll get high-tier abilities on the same Ranking, forcing you to choose between them.
***Doubly so if they're abilites that would otherwise work well together.
****The game will also pick the most useless skill for that soldier when he gets promoted to Major, like close combat specialist on your sniper.
*Damage Roulette:
**Any time you need to do ''just enough'' damage to weaken an alien so that you have the maximum capture chance, you'll kill it instead. Maybe even crit it.
**Any time you need to ''very definitely'' kill an alien (like the Chryssalid that wants to eat your Medic) you'll knock it down to 1hp.
***The chance of this occurring increases significantly if this is the last action of your turn.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your soldiers they'll do the maximum possible damage, especially if they're in cover and not flanked.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your SHIVs they'll do the minimum possible damage... unless that SHIV is being used '''as''' cover.
*Hey, see that high-ground, full cover spot right over there? That looks like a ''great'' place to attack those aliens from. Go on over, pal.
**Whoops, now they're out of line-of-sight. Tough break there, buddy.
*If you find yourself needing Revive, you're doing something wrong. Too bad you always need it thanks to all of the laws stated above.
*After spending some 3-5 rounds setting up a nice blitzkrieg for the bridge of a UFO, ''just'' when you're ready to open the door, the alien CO pod will 'teleport' either halfway across the map, or in the perfect spot to counterattack.
**This includes any other escorting pods, after the CO pod takes the Alien turn to open every door, revealing every soldier.
*The soldier with the arc-thrower will always be in the opposite direction that an alien you're trying to capture decides to run in.
**Followed by spending the rest of the mission chasing the alien like the LAPD. Benny Hill theme optional, but recommended.
*The international symbol of the red cross on med kits is apparently the Inter''galatic'' symbol for "Shoot me first."
*Any UFO that crashes into the ocean will be in a heavily forested area.
*The last alien alive will be a cloaked Seeker, that is now panicked and running away, in a large map. Good #&@%ing luck finding it.
**Or hasn't panicked, but it's a Terror Mission and the lone Seeker's AI has decided to kill as many civilians as possible before going after your agents. But if you split the team up to rescue more at once...
*If an alien hides behind something explosive, one of several things will keep you from taking advantage of it:
**Either you don't want to blow up the object,
**Or a soldier is in the blast zone,
***Especially if they're out of move, or there's no other safe place to move to.
**Or you don't want to destroy it's equipment/fragments.
**Or two of the above.
**Or all three.
*The farther and more obtusely placed a Meld canister is, the more likely it is that stray fire will destroy it from the other end of the map.
*Trying to overwatch-spam to let Adaptive Bone Marrow heal non-armor HP? Here, have a crit to the face.
**Courtesy of that wounded Sectoid that either only took 1 step into your POV, or didn't move at all.
*You will have the perfect Overwatch trap set up.
**You will have a pod you didn't know was there walk into it.
***You will batter the approaching aliens to a bloody pulp.
****You will have the game lock up in Alien Activity.
*****You will have your last save be just before this. Any attempt to Overwatch Trap again will result in a lock up, again.
*Your full 6-man team of one specific nationality will be carved up by an Ethereal MCing half of them and deflecting all your plasma shots.

==[[Long_War|Long War]]==
*You will always learn the hard way what new perks and Gene Mods the dev team has given the aliens.
**To wit: Jumping Berserkers.
*Even if you did have the muscle to take down Abductors, their flight path will only be long enough to send one interceptor against them.
**If at all.
*If you feel you're doing well: your confidence is ill-deserved.
**The alien pod with two Mechtoids, a Sectopod, several drones, and a Sectoid Commander on the other side of that door will gladly demonstrate this.
***Followed by the mixed Muton pack that just came up behind you.
****And then by those Cyberdiscs that decided to say hi.
*The first two shots in Air Combat will always be critical hits.... on your interceptor.
*There are, essentially, three results to Air Combat: the UFO crash lands, it DOAs, or your interceptor is KIA.
**The result that ''will'' happen will be one of the two that you don't want.
*The first alien base will always appear (and remove a Council country from) the continent who's bonus you were hoping to get next.
*When you need meld the most, the game will glitch out and think you are doing good for some reason... so you will only get 3 meld per canister.

==[[The_Bureau:_XCOM_Declassified|Combat (The Bureau)]]==
*The agent you sent forward to flank one alien will then be fired upon by EVERY alien.
**Any agent sent forward will be flanked. Twice.
*Any attempt to make a Sectopod turn around (so you can hit it's weak point) will fail to make it turn sufficiently, if at all.
*You'll run out of ammuntion at the worst possible time.
**That includes just reloading, and flat-out running out of bullets alltogether.
*Even if you're replaying, you'll fail to notice the new weapon, or ammo sachel, that would have been really useful in the skirmish you just barely won a few seconds ago.
*There are the best kinds of weapon for a job, when entering a new skirmish. You will not be carrying it.
*You forgot to check a side-path, and just passed a checkpoint: and now you can't go back to check for ammo or backpack schematics.
**By the way, you'll need that ammo in about 5 seconds.
*Even though Battle Focus slows down time, and it's just one click, it still won't be enough time to finish hitting Heal and save an agent from dying.
**That goes double if the Agent in question is Carter.
*Like any other XCOM: An alien's location is ''always'' equal to: grenade toss range, plus explosion area, plus "just enough to not get caught in the blast."
**Meanwhile, aliens toss like they pitch for the Dodgers.
*When attepting to interact with something, the θ of the angle that will allow you to do so is inverse to how ugently you need to do it.
*The agent ability you need right now? You still need to wait for it to reload.
**When it does load, the only aliens left on the field are Sectoids and low-level Zudjari.
***When, out of frustration, you use the ability to finish off the weakling: that's when the second wave of aliens shows up.
**** They are led by a Commander, or Muton (Elite), or Sectopod, or Gunship.
*When attempting to snipe, the alien will always move at the last second.
*The distance between an agent and a Muton will aways be less than the length of it's arm.
*Alien shields and heals ''will'' go up in the span of time between firing a kill shot, and when it would've hit.
*God help you if you have a wireless keyboard/mouse, and haven't charged the battery in the last 24 hours.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Strategic)]]==
*Shen's dead, baby. Shen's dead.
*You will get greedy in going for the random supply discoveries, and forget to progress with Resistance activities.
*You will start building your resistance network.... in the wrong direction to the closest Blacksite.
*You will get a priority mission JUST before completing a scan.
*The rare time a soldier gets a cross-class training Perk... it'll be something useless for how you play that soldier.
**And you'll already have six people lined up for retraining.
*A mission will appear when you have just over a day remaining to finish picking up your supply drop.
**This will leave you 1 supply short of being able to buy that fancy weapon/armor upgrade you just finished researching.
***If it doesn't, that's because you don't have enough alloys or elerium anyway.
****Also you don't have enough intel to buy any from the black market.
*****Not that it would matter if you did since the Gone to Ground dark event is active.
*You will get the Resistance Network card just after you finish making contact with all the regions you wanted/needed to.
*If you do not have War of the Chosen, the unknown Dark Event is Signal Jamming.
**If you do have War of the Chosen, the unknown Dark Event is Made Whole.
***Unless the Chosen have useless weaknesses, in which case it will be Left Behind.
*The Chosen who is weak against Templars will be immune to melee attacks.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Tactical)]]==
*DODGE: GRAZED!
*You will be distracted by Snek Tits at inopportune moments.
*Sectopods are basically Metal Gears now. Have fun with that.
**[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrkzIN2eP0U muffled nuclear in background]
*Hours worth of careful sneaking will be ruined by an unfriendly civvie walking around the corner.
*The procedurally generated map for that critical mission will be as follows:
**ADVENT stronghold: a high-terrain fortress with turrets, high cover, and choke points.
**Your cover: cars that explode when hit by anything worse than a mean look.
*If the Sectoid on the map manages to get mind control out of Mindspin with anyone, it will be your Ranger.
**You will always be in slashing distance of this Ranger.
***The Ranger will always be your Blademaster.
*The one time you get 4 damage with a grenade is on the soldier that drops loot
*Your Repeater won't activate on a Berserker but it will sure as hell execute a basic soldier
*You will never get Blacksite Intel drops
**Particularity when the Doom Counter is nearly full.
*** When you do get one: expect the next site to be somewhere you've already made contact with.
* You will learn that the game has chests with random loot in them only after finishing Legendary Ironman run.
*The Alien Leaders will always spawn on a timed escort mission.
**Doubly so if the 'reduce turn limit' Dark Event is active.
*Bringing rookies on a guerilla op? Wouldn't it be fun for the Chosen to arrive?
*if you have multiple people flanking the Chosen assassin, they are all in perfect position to be hit by Harbor wave.
*the shot that would kill the Chosen will never hit.
*if your ranger can kill a muton with a slash, that muton will kill your ranger by deflecting it.
**in the off chance you DO kill the muton, you will activate another pod in the process.
***the pod is more mutons.
*If a hack has < 100% to succeed, it will fail.
**If the hack reward would be something useful (like a permanent hacking stat increase), it will not even be close.
***This will be true even though you're using a Colonel Specialist with a mark 3 GREMLIN and a Skulljack with Skullmining researched.
*On a mission to rescue/kidnap a VIP from an ADVENT vehicle, the enemy pod will always take up positions directly between you and the vehicle. Any attempt to shoot them will miss, blow up the vehicle, and kill the VIP.
**If the pod contains a Purifier, it will use the VIP's vehicle as cover.
*Your grappling hook will let you grapple to every tile EXCEPT the full cover one you want to stand in.
*The first Chosen you encounter will have Low Profile and Kinetic Plating as their strengths. Their weakness will be Groundling. There will be no high ground anywhere near them.
*You will get the Warlock down to 1 HP at the end of your turn. On his turn, he will use Spectral Army.
*Every shot your Shredder spec'd grenadier takes against any target with armor will miss.
*If Whiplash has < 100% to hit, it will miss.
**If it somehow hits anyway, the target will dodge.
*In preparation to fight the Archon King, you set up your Reaper with Banish, Superior Repeater + Superior Expanded Mag + Stock, and Insider Knowledge. You engage the King comfortable in the knowledge that this gives you a 79% chance to insta-kill it. Guess what happens.

==[[XCOM Chimera Squad|XCOM Chimera Squad (Strategic)]]==
*Aliens are in your team now. Get used to this.
*Eventually you'll find out that "Geoscape" was turned into "Cityscape". Don't be fooled with that and forget everything you know about Apocalypse.
*Actually, forget most things you know about XCOM. For except of Murphy's Laws.
*You will spent all your Intel to build/upgrade your Field Teams only to realize that Black Market will appear on the next day.
** If you do manage to save some Intel, Black Market will offer you most useless goods they have for that moment.
***If Black Market has something you really want to buy, you will always have 1 less Intel than you need to by that thing.
*Your Payday will always be one day later than you actually need it.
*Your Major Crimes Task Force map ability will always be on the one-day cooldown when you really need this.
**Especially when City 31 is at maximum possible Anarchy.
***And especially when you play Impossible Hardcore Iron Man run.
****Oh, and your Anarchy decreasing spec op will be one day from its completion at that moment.
*****Actually, previous Law can be applied to all City Map abilities.
*Your Agents will always be one day before they complete their activities on Training or Spec Ops when you really need them.
**Not that was a problem since they can be recalled but those Agents certainly won't be happy to be pulled from Scars healing, neither will you after you pull them from Anarchy decreasing.
*Most attractive rewards will always be in the districts with the lowest unrest while alternative missions will be in the district with critical Unrest. Guess what the reward for the latter?

==[[XCOM Chimera Squad|XCOM Chimera Squad (Tactical)]]==
*Your squad will always be 4 sized.
*You will throw Flashbang/Cease Fire grenade in the middle of the battle only to realize that they affect your squad mates as well. Despite that description says otherwise.
*After the Breach your soldiers will always take cover behind/near explosive barrels with acid/poison/fire. Guess which one will get the enemies.
** Yep, smokey ones.
*If you want to kill someone behind the car, that car will always explode by the first shot.
**Double so if there are your squadmates near that car.
***Triple so if there is a civilian near that car.
*Enemies will always be one tile further from each other to be hit by any of your explosives at once.
**If they do, your explosives won't do whatever you want from them.
*Looks like civilians recollected their memories from UFO Defense since they are attracted by any timed explosive on the field again.
**And they love to be between the enemies whenever you want to hit them at once by your grenades.
*Oh, forget to tell you — now ALL enemies have Dodge Stat. Even those fatty Mutons and MECs. (jake fix ur bulшit)
*Enemy will always hit your Agents during the Breach.
**Even if they are Disoriented.
***And Poisoned.
*Game tends to freeze when enemy Reinforcements are coming in. Not that was critical since you can restart the game and continue the mission as usual, but game also tends to disable any reinforcements at this moment.
**Pretty sure that this bug will occur during "survival" mission where you need to survive certain number of enemy waves, effectively softlocking the game.
***Especially when you play Impossible Hardcore Iron Man run.
*Your Agents will always be in perfect position to be hit by enemy's grenades.
**Especially when their turns are much further from the "grenade's" one.
***Oh, and there is a nice explosive barrel between them.
****And someone perfectly parked their car near that spot.
*You will always regret picking ANY alternative abilities for your Agents. No matter the case.
*Verge's Incapacitate effectiveness depends on the enemy position on the Timeline — the closer their turn the bigger chances to 1-turn stun them.
**Don't need to tell you about any worst circumstances you will experience at this moment, right?
*This Law can be applied to Shock Grenades as well.
*Whenever enemy is hit by Verge's Battle Madness they will always shoot at the wrong target.
**If they shoot at the enemy you want dead now, they will miss.
***Guess who will they shoot if there is a civilian nearby?
****If all previous situations are not present, then Battle Madness will simply fail.
*Torque will always stuck in tight spaces after the Breach so you can't make her to Pull'n'Bind most dangerous enemies whenever you need it.
*Torque will always receive full damage from any attacks. Even if you upgrade her Dodge to 95.
*Godmother's Scattershot won't be able to hit all enemies you want.
**If it does, it will miss on every affected enemies.
*Godmother will miss every Close Combat Specialist shots.
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]
[[Category:TFTD]]
[[Category: Apocalypse]]
[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]
[[Category: Bureau (2013)]]

Murphy's Laws (X-COM)

2020-04-23T20:18:19Z

SpeedofDeath118: Oh wait

==[[Battlescape|Battlescape (UFO Defense)]]==
===[[Soldiers]]===
*If a soldier can miss, he will.
**If the soldier can't miss, the shot won't kill the alien.
**If a soldier can hit another soldier while missing, he will.
*If a soldier has a high explosive, then he will have to commit suicide for the group to win.
*If a soldier can panic, he will.
**If he is holding a primed [[Proximity Grenade]], he will drop it and start running.
**If he is holding any other primed explosive, he will drop it and stay right there.
**If he is holding something else, he will drop it and run right next to an alien.
*The probability of a soldier getting MCed is proportional to the lethality of the weapons he is carrying.
*The probability of a soldier going berserk is proportional to the number of friendly units he can hit from where he's standing.
*Your troops invariably display better accuracy and reactions when mind controlled than they do under your own orders.
**The opposite is true when you mind control an alien.
*The soldier you gave your shiny new heavy weapon to will turn out to have shitty Psi Strength and/or Morale. You will discover this the hard way.
*If a soldier has a [[Rocket Launcher]], he will get MCed while still in the craft.
*Your first unit out is always shot down.
**Your first unit out is always your commander.
*A wounded soldier will always die just before you find the last alien.
*As soon as you get better armor, the aliens get better weapons.
*[[Electroflare|Flares]] will always land where they cannot be picked up.
*If your base is attacked, you will always get [[Electroflare|flares]] instead of [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]].
*You will always end up short 1 TU for the action you wanted to do.
*If there is a single square where an alien grenade can hit all your soldiers at once, that is the square it will land in.
*The soldiers with the worst stats will always be the first to get promoted.
**When you build the [[Psi Lab]], you will always discover that your highly-trained officers are psi weaklings.
*On [[Ethereal]] [[Terror_Mission|Terror Missions]], you will always get the maximum number of [[Sectopod|Sectopods]] possible.
*When you have finally perfected the art of UFO assaults - [[Initial_Deployment|safe initial deployment]], proper [[Scouting|scout]] and [[Sweeping_the_Battlescape|sweep]] tactics, [[UFO_Ground_Assault#Breaching_UFOs|correct breaching methods]] - that will be the mission an enemy commander shows up with a [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launcher]] and nukes your entire team while it's still on the [[Skyranger]]
*The only thing your soldiers are good for is warning each other about the Blaster Launching-wielding alien right around the corner.
**Considering the laws above, it's pretty easy to guess exactly how they warn the rest of your squad about said Blaster Launcher.
***They warn your squad with an explosion, followed by a scream.
*If a proximity grenade can land on a soldier, it will.
*A soldier with pockets full of pre-primed grenades will fall unconscious right next to your Commander.
*That point-blank reaction shot can be guaranteed by giving the guy a Rocket Launcher.
*The chance of soldiers panicking and running out of the access lift on Cydonia is relative to the amount of soldiers in the access lift.
**And into direct fire from a cyberdisc.

===[[Civilian|Civilians]]===
*If a civilian sees a fire, he will run into it.
*If a civilian sees an alien, he will move right next to it.
*If a civilian can block your line of fire on an alien, he will do so.
*Civilians are attracted by armed proximity grenades.
*Civilians inevitably block the doorway you need to use right before you get there.
**Stunning that civilian to get past it and through the doorway will reveal an alien right behind it.
*If a civilian is near an alien, any attempt to save him by shooting the alien will hit the civilian instead.
*Civilians will go out of their way to get shot in a Terror Mission.

===[[Alien Life Forms|Aliens]]===
*If an alien can hit, it will.
*If an alien tries to MC you, it will always succeed.
*Alien commanders will always kill themselves (with their [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launchers]]) when you're on track to capture them .
*If there are [[Chryssalid|Chryssalids]], you will get at least one zombified soldier.
**You never want to know the answer to "Why did the Chryssalid cross the road?".
*If a dying [[Cyberdisc]] can blow up one of your men, it will.
*Unconscious aliens with melee attacks will wake up when you least expect them to.
*If you open a door and turn left, the aliens will all be on the right.
*Aliens are smarter than they look.
*This one is universal for all of the series:
**"Gaahh! Come back here and let me stun/melee you, you little shit!"
*Aliens can smell proximity grenades.

==[[Geoscape|Geoscape (UFO Defense)]]==
*When you need money the most, your funders will sign treaties with the aliens.
**The first country to drop funding is always the one that gave the most money.
*As soon as you get a new base built, it will be attacked.
**As soon as you get a new base fully equipped and operational, UFO activity in that area will drop to zero.
*If your fully developed base with 12 [[Missile_Defences|Missile Defences]] is successfully weathering a [[Alien_Retaliation|retaliation mission]] every couple days, the 1-in-30 battleship that makes it through will inevitably do so when all your experienced soldiers are out on missions.
*The more money you've saved, the higher the chance the aliens will do something that forces you to waste it.
**The amount of money you lose is proportional to how badly you need whatever you were saving up for.
*[[Alien Terror|Terror sites]] always appear at night.
**Or at noon, located conveniently so that night falls the second you arrive.
*If there is one tiny lake in the middle of 100 km of dry land, your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]] will inevitably shoot the UFO down over that exact spot.
*The chance that a crashed UFO's [[Elerium]] survived is proportional to how much you already have stockpiled.
*Landed UFO's will always take off before you can get to them.
**Unless they're filled with a species of alien you aren't equipped to deal with, in which case they will stick around forever.
***And when you finally get the equipment to deal with them, they fly away, never to be seen again.
****Until you have none of that equipment left to deal with them, because the base closest to them was destroyed.
*UFO's will always arrive while your [[Skyranger]] is refueling from a two day patrol.
*If you have forgotten to save the game for at least 3 missions, the game will crash.
**The game will always crash when it is the least convenient.
*If your craft is carrying no [[Electroflare|flares]] whatsoever, it will inevitably arrive five minutes after nightfall.
**If you've wasted half your [[Managing_the_Item_Limit|80-item limit]] on [[Electroflare|flares]] and incendiary ammo, you will arrive at high noon.
*[[Small Scout|Alien UFO scouts]] will always outrun your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]].
*Building a new base where there is heavy UFO activity? Seems like a good time for the Aliens to stop all activity in that area, and move it to a new area.
**That new area consists of the highest-funding countries.
*It's always exciting downing a UFO on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Too bad it's always an Ethereal-filled Battleship.

==[[Cityscape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If you're almost broke after buying a new flagship for your fleet, it will be destroyed in the next UFO incursion.
*The pride of your fleet is always stuck in alien dimension when you get attacked by a Mothership.
*UFOs carrying infiltrators always spawn at the gate you don't have covered.
*Griffon AFV is tough. The road under it is not. The tracks are just for show.
*There are only two types of vehicles that are always in abundance on the market: Blazer bikes and Stormdogs.
*While en route to a building, your craft will shoot at a Cult civilian car and demolish half of the city trying to hit it. However, the car will survive.
*Megapol is useless.
**Transtellar is annoying.
***Everyone else is both annoying and useless.
*Government's weekly paycheck will buy you a Lawpistol clip. Maybe two.
*If your base is in a slum, a single stray shot from a light disruptor will destroy it all.
**If your base is in a warehouse, said stray shot will still hit the tile with your agents.
*A hoverbike swarm is a good idea. Too bad they'll all get shot down anyway because of sheer dumb luck on the aliens' part.
*Research will always be completed right after when you needed it the most.
*After a firefight in the city, the only one to be blamed for the devastation will be you, even if it was an Overspawn that did it.
*The Overspawn will coincidentally be dropped right at your doorstep.
*The Overspawn will never, ''ever'' get hurt from falling debris. Unless you drop the said debris and level half of the city with it.
*People Tubes can collapse from an angry glare.
*You're the only one who has a problem with the aliens. Every other corp gets along with them fine.
**Transtellar in particular will always be dying for a chance to jump in bed with the aliens.
*Subversion attacks ''will'' succeed, 100%.
*Your carefully built Dimension Probe will be welcomed by a volley of Heavy Disruptor Guns.
*Your very first invasion of the Alien Dimension will require an hour's savescumming to get it right without being reduced to scrap metal.
*You ''will'' forget to not to move the X-COM craft when you succeed in destroying an alien building, killing everyone in the process.
* The alien Infiltration site will always be Hard to remember.

==[[Battlescape Overview (Apocalypse)|Battlescape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If your base is raided, there will be as few of your agents spawning as possible.
**Said agents will spawn as far away from the access lift as possible.
***Guess where the scientists will appear.
*If you're raiding a building, there will always be a trigger-happy idiot with a heavy launcher.
**Despite your best efforts, he will manage to fire at least one missile.
***And he will do so even if you're breathing in his face.
****There is no way to avoid the missile and injuries or casualties from it.
*****Even if you somehow actually manage to avoid the missile, it'll bring down the building on you.
*Live explosives are seemingly attracted to large concentrations of dead cultist bodies with all the loot you came here for.
*If an agent in a squad gets attacked by a brainsucker, the rest of the squad won't hit it at point blank range.
**Or they'll fire a missile launcher. Guess the results.
*If you turn around the corner where you think that last alien is hiding, it'll turn out to be half a dozen of Anthropods. All armed to the teeth.
*A berserking agent will cause more chaos and destruction than all of your other agents put together. And it won't be directed at the enemy.
*If someone throws a Boomeroid at an agent, he'll try to run away from it.
**Because it will always turn out that you forgot to set him to aggressive mode.
*If you try to capture a Megaspawn, it'll die before you can stun it.
**As will half the agents trying to stun the damn thing in the first place.
*You'd wish you gave that mind controlled agent a Toxigun instead of a Dimension Missile Launcher.
*You'll encounter cloaked and flying Skeletoids much more often than you'd like to.
**Cloaking never works for you. Neither does flying, actually.
*Good stuff always comes too late.
**Personal teleporters do not exist.
*Psi attacks are only successful when they're not necessary.
*Dynamic music always ignores what you're actually doing.
*That agent you sent to scout ahead will always be the one without a motion scanner.
*Every raid is a horrible decision between causing property damage and greed. Either way, you lose.
*The agent with a Mind Bender won't see the enemy <s>until he's standing right next to it</s> at all. Period.
*You will forget to capture a live Micronoid aggregate.
*Toxigun ammo, Vortex mines and Personal Shields come in only two varieties: "not enough" and "none".
*Anthropods, More likely than not, will just spaz out and spew out Brainsuckers if they have brainsucker launchers in turnbased, and, more likely than not, they'll haul brainsucker launchers.
*Nobody expects the alien inquisition
*Whenever there's an explosion, It'll be next to a chain of, like 5 other explosive objects. Good for clearing out enemies, Bad for Xcom insurance rates.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Strategic (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*When you need §§§ the most, the US and Russia (which you have satellite coverage over) will pull out of the XCOM project.
*Your satellites will always be available one day too late to prevent a country from withdrawing.
**Even if it shows up before "Council Report" on the event list.
*When you do have satellites available, you will never have enough Satellite Uplink/Nexus space for them.
*When you do have Satellite Uplink/Nexus, you will never have enough satellites.
*If you have one more satellite to go before getting a continent's bonus, that last country will pull out of the XCOM project.
**The one continent's bonus you don't want to get? The aliens will ignore that continent.
*You will always be at least §1 short of buying the next level of armor/weapons for all your troops.
*If a Colonel can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it.
**If a Rookie can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it either. Sorry 'bout that.
**The sixth soldier to be checked (guaranteed to have the Psi gift) will be the lowest rank possible.
**That soldier will die on the first mission you send them on.
*Your interceptor will always lose contact 0.1 seconds before the enemy UFO is destroyed.
*Your interceptor will blow up one round of fire exchange after you press the Abort button.
*Your interceptor will miss every shot.
**The UFO will have perfect aim and land every single hit.
***After an interceptor lands a few hits on a Supply Barge it's shot down. So you sortie another interceptor and it's shot down/loses contact without hitting the damaged UFO even once.
*Just a bit more than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Just a bit less than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Fast forwarding will result in the Terror Mission succeeding for the aliens before you can react to your Colonel getting out of the medbay.
*Just a bit more than a day before your latest and greatest research completes? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Any other time it's inconvenient? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Followed by abductions less than 24 hours later.
***Followed by a council mission less than 24 hours later.
****Followed by a Battleship coming to destroy your satellite less than 24 hours later.
*****Oh, you recently finished the Hyperwave Uplink? Here, have the Overseer UFO, 12 hours after that battleship.
******On the same continent as your surely-damaged Firestorm.
*******And once you lose ''that''... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Steam vents will be placed in inconvenient locations.
**Second floor steam vents will block your 2x2 Satellite Uplink block.
***The remaining steam vents will be on the 4th floor.
****In the corner.
*****Behind 3 solid squares of rock.
******The vent's spot is also solid rock.
*Research or Foundry upgrades will be completed one day after a critical mission appears.
*The only way you can afford the next item or facility you need, is to sell materials on the grey market.
**Specifically, just enough to not have the materials left to build it.
*When the option to start researching the various Plasma Weapons becomes available, you will not have enough Weapon Fragments.
**Heavy Floaters will also start appearing on your next mission.
**You'll also be trying to research the Firestorm.
*You will forget to equip your shiny new weapon.
**If not, your save (or at least when you last saved) may forget for you.
* .......................... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Oh, three steam vents all set up for awesome adjacency bonus! Too bad that two of them are directly underneath the Satellite Uplink!
*The only time you mis-click when accusing a country of hosting the EXALT Base, is when that country provided the most money.
**It is also the eighth country to leave!
***On Impossible difficulty.
****Ironman Mode was also on.
*****And you decided that right after you destroy the EXALT Base, you would go right on ahead and assault the Temple Ship!
******Not that you would have survived, anyways, everybody was panicking!
*Special: If you're trying to test something for this very 'paedia, the situation you're after will never occur.
**Instead, something else will happen that will give you another idea to test. Guess what will happen then.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Tactical (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*If a soldier's chance to hit is <99%, he will miss.
**Especially if the target is at 1 HP.
***Doubly so if that's your last action for the turn.
****Exponentially so, proportional to how dangerous the target is. Like a Sectopod that's now flanking several soldiers.
*If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, he won't do enough damage to kill the alien.
**If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, the game will glitch and turn that full-face Alloy Cannon blast into a spray of harmless confetti.
*The left mouse button is context sensitive; it will always do exactly what you didn't want it to.
*If a soldier's a heavy, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy.
**The range and blast radius of a heavy's rocket launcher will be a few tiles away from the nearest alien.
***Your heavy will never be in range to fire off a rocket.
*If a soldier's a sniper, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy FOR MOST OF THE GAME.
**A sniper will have squad sight on either a heavily wooded UFO crash/landing sight or a Terror Mission with one or two buildings that cover the entire map.
*If a soldier's an assault, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy EVEN AT POINT BLANK RANGE.
**If you activate Rapid Fire, both shots will miss a point blank Sectopod (who has only eight health bars left) despite the second shot's hit chance being 85%.
*If a soldier's a support, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy WITH ANYTHING BUT A S.C.O.P.E. AND A LIGHT PLASMA RIFLE.
*If an alien's chance to hit is >1%, he will hit.
**If an alien's chance to hit is <1%, he will destroy your full cover.
*If an alien's mind control chance is >1%, it will work.
*When aiming at an Ethereal with the last shot of your turn, it will reflect it.
**''Especially'' if that soldier has only 1 HP.
*If the vehicle that your soldier is dashing to for cover can be set on fire, it will be.
**That is, if the soldier survives the alien Overwatch shot that will set the vehicle on fire.
***If so, then the vehicle's explosion will finish him/her off.
****Not to forget that this specific soldier, was your Colonel who had been with you since the first mission.
*Your soldier will always have the exact amount of health for a vehicle to blow him up.
*You will always reveal new enemies on your last move of the turn.
**Who will then take up flanking positions behind anyone who dashed.
*The more soldiers who perform an Overwatch reaction shot against a single alien, the more likely they will all miss.
**Soldiers who hit the alien will barely kill the alien.
***The alien, in turn, will kill your highest-ranking soldier.
****After killing the highest-ranking soldier, the other aliens will come in and mop everyone else up.
*When you have your whole squad on overwatch they will all shoot one floater.
**And then all die to his Chryssalid buddy.
*Your Revive spec medic will always be the one critically wounded.
*When trying to capture a commander with one stunner, he will be the one MCed,
*Aliens will always hit soldier's hunkering down behind high cover.
**The alien will do just enough damage to not kill him, but to cause him to panic.
***The panicking soldier will kill a soldier and start a panic chain.
*Panicking soldiers will always have 100% to hit.
*Smoke grenades will always improve alien accuracy.
**Mutons and Floaters will always throw grenades into smoke.
*If a soldier can panic, it will.
**Soldiers that panic will aim for the highest ranking officer he can see.
***Even behind high cover, on a higher elevation, and covered by a smoke grenade, a panicking rookie will still be able to kill the "protected" Colonel.
*Rockets will always fly off target.
**ESPECIALLY when you squad is surrounded by explosive vehicles and forklifts.
***At a gas station
****Then everything will explode
***** Then everything will explode and everyone will panic
******Even your SHIVs
*******And they will shoot your highest-ranked soldier
********And he will die
*********He will also have the psionic gift
**********He also has one of the highest starting and leveling Will/Aim scores you ever got, in any playthrough.
***********And he/she will also be named after you.
************And he/she will be carrying your only medkit.
*Aliens will position themselves right outside the radius of a grenade throw.
**If a grenade can clip through and explode harmlessly under ground while you are trying to aim it, it will.
*When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will not be with you.
**When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will miss every shot.
*When it is time to face Muton Elites, your psionics will not be with you.
*Your soldiers are always one grid point away from moving to safely flank an alien.
*When a large UFO lands and you assault with your elite squad you will fight 3 Floaters, 3 Sectoids and a Sectoid Commander.
*When a moderate alien abduction comes up and you assault with a squad comprised of your Col. Sniper, squaddies, and rookies for training purposes, you will fight 9 Mutons (who will each throw their grenades asap), a Cyberdisc, and 2 Drones you just can't seem to hit.
*Even when you use the rookie to scout ahead, he will always stumble on no less than every enemy on the map on a single turn, who will then, with most of the laws stated above, wipe your elite squad before you can say Jenkins.
*You decide to research offensive tech first and the Arc Thrower later only to find that Sectoids have been removed from the alien roster. But after killing 7 Mutons on a map you decide to zap the last two for their weapons only to have the last group be a trio of Sectoids.
*The Overseer will only appear when you have no Firestorms.
**When you build your firestorm with dodge matrix, fusion lance, and uplink targeting, the Overseer will appear in the continent your new Firestorm is NOT stationed in
*Your MCed alien will always run out of usable turns before they can bust the asses off of some of their little alien friends.
**ALWAYS
***Especially on the final mission of the entire game.
*MCed aliens will always activate no less than two squads that were just behind them.
*Your sniper with Snap Shot will never be useful for anything, ever.
*Your sniper with Squadsight will never be in a good position.
**And when he is, a tree will block his line of sight to finish off that one alien flanking your soldiers.
*The alien with a grenade will go first. He will toss the grenade , without moving, negating any troopers on Overwatch, and removing cover from you forward trooper.
**Next alien will kill your now-exposed trooper.
***You will then have to wait 2-3 minutes for the other 9 or so Aliens to take their turn and batter your remaining troops.
****Also, it's been 5 rounds since you last saved.
*The range for a soldier flying with Archangel Armor will always be "One less than it takes to get into cover, or out of range."
*On a Battleship raid, there will always be one alien that runs away, forcing you to have to chase them down.
**Backwards.
*The game has no problem sending and activating every alien squad in an Abductor or Supply Barge at you in 1 turn.
**If not, that's because the high-level alien squad somehow noticed you from the other side of the ship.
*The council mission reward will always be either what you don't need, or not enough of what you do.
*When fighting Thin Men, you will always activate 2 squads at a time.
*When fighting Floaters, they will always Launch to flank just tiles away from your Sniper. No soldier will be close enough to help her.
*When fighting Mutons, you will activate a squad ''after'' you have finished moving at least two soldiers. Who you placed right next to each other.
**If you think two soldiers were just far enough apart to not both be hit by 1 grenade: turns out they weren't.
***Both of their cover is now gone, fyi.
*When fighting Chryssalids, they will always be at least close enough to hit your soldiers from a diagonal tile, if not closer.
*When fighting Cyberdiscs, when they are open, your hardest-hitting soldier will not be able to attack them.
**Because it opened up to kill said soldier in the previous turn.
*When fighting Sectopods, the answer to "Which soldier are they going to fire at?" The answer is always "the one taking cover behind something explosive."
**On the rare chance that it's Chest Cannon misses, the shot will still hit something explosive.
***Specifically, something that another soldier is taking cover behind.
****Whom it will then fire upon.
*When fighting a Sectopod, after your two troops have been battered by both Chest Cannon blasts despite being behind full cover and in the middle of a smoke grenade cloud, one moves and triggers a Reaction Shot.
*When fighting an Ethereal, it will either:
**Be in a different room than usual.
**Become activated when you pass within 10 feet of the door.
**Become activated when your last turn is to MC an Elite Muton or Heavy Floater that would be flanking it's buddies.
***Which it will then immediately kill.
*Your first shot with a shiny new weapon will miss.
*Despite bipods being visible on several weapons, your soldiers do not seem to recognise their existence for steadying and making more accurate shots.
*Your Support with Sprint and a Skeleton Suit or Ghost Armor will always be one movement short of saving a civilian.
*Your soldier will make a crazy-ass, low-percentage, gun-pointing-the-wrong-way-for-some-reason Overwatch shot with your currently-most powerful weapon.... on a wounded Sectoid.
*At the point in the game when you have all continents armed with Firestorms all with Fusion Lances (Highly unlikely, especially considering the laws above) that is the only time when the Aliens give up on sending the big UFOs and start sending small scouts
*On a Battleship raid, you send in a rookie to investigate the main room, thus activating all 20+ Aliens who just "happened" to spawn in there. They will then all hide, and when you think yourself so clever for taking up positions for multi-pronged attack on the main room, it turns out, they were all on Overwatch.
**And yes, each Alien is just so positioned so that each one of your soldiers will have a chance to get shot at.
***This will occur more often on Ironman Mode.
****On Impossible Difficulty.
*****It turns out, this was also supposed to be the day that you got the only Psionic Soldier you ever found got strong enough to become the volunteer.
******Afterwards, the game will glitch so that you will never find another Psionic Soldier in your whole playthrough
*******Not that it matters, your entire elite squad got wiped out, when they had all their fancy armor and weapons.
*"Don't shoot the Elerium, don't shoot the Elerium---- shit."
**"Don't blow up the power source, don't blow up the power source ---- crap."
***"Blow power source! Blow! Blow! ---- come on!"
*Your soldier will miss the alien and shoot the meld instead.
**Especially if you have them flanked.
*When your favorite soldier gets critically injured, you clear out the Muton Elite that hurt him. Too bad there is a group of sectoids all the way across the map.
**It will take a full turn of dashing for your Sprinter support in a Skeleton Suit to reach them
***They will all proceed to hide behind full cover just out of your sight.
****When you finally see them for your Squadsight Sniper with Double Tap will hit two of them, however, there are three sectoids
*****Not that it matters, they were all on overwatch, and considering the laws above, they will all get critical shots on your soldier, and kill her
******That is, IF you find them.
*Have Frag Grenades? Any aliens in range will have four HP left.
**Alien Grenades or Mind Fray? Six.
***And it will be your only viable action: any attempts at firing a gun will miss.
****C'mon: it's not even out yet, but you just ''know'' that the only time you'll have the Needle Grenade with you, aliens WILL take cover in such a way that only ONE would be affected by it at any time.
*****That alien will also have four HP left.
*Speaking of Enemy Within: you shall soon become familiar with the sound of exploding Meld canisters.
**Which is Dr. Vahlen annoying voiceover.
*Two words: naughty tentacles.
*Alien: "You brought a soldier with a Med-kit, I'll just Critically wound him then..."
*"Ooh look, the last meld canister.. and..... that's a group of Muton Elites... And a Cyberdisc... or three"
*Need 5 more Meld? Check out that Heavy Floater with only one health left!
**Looks like it's running away, no biggie, you'll just follow it.
***And activate its Mechtoid Buddies!
*While you are almost finished with Confounding Light, you have one turn left to activate the train, too bad the only soldier that can make it is being Overwatch-camped by that Muton who was just air-dropped.
**Even though that move would have required a dash!
***He was also an assault that was gonna get promoted that mission. Guess which Rank.
*The mission where your Squaddie Sniper levels up is alaways the mission that Sqaud Sight would have been supremely useful for.
*Don't EVER pick favorites, they'll just die anyways
*"Ok, gene mod do-- mission, ok, reload to get my soldier. OK, mission done, now to gene mo-- damnit, 'nother mission... ok, done, finally. Allright---- oh come the fuck on, Council, I'm busy here! Now what do you waaa'''AAAHHFUCKCHRYSSALIDS!!'''"
*Yes, Meld Canisters provide full cover. If you're actually using them for that, you have only yourself to blame.
*Enemy Within. Because Sectopods really needed the ability to outright ignore half of all incoming damage.
**AND be able to freely and deliberatley target your cover: "That'ssssssssssssssssssss a nice wall you got there~!"
*Your Heavy will never be in a good spot to launch a mission/life-saving rocket.
**Eventually, you'll fire it, because "might as well."
***'''Then''', and only then, on the ''next'' turn, will they be in the perfect situation to fire that shot you just wasted.
*Training Roulette:
**You'll either get abilites that're near-useless to that class, or
**You'll get high-tier abilities on the same Ranking, forcing you to choose between them.
***Doubly so if they're abilites that would otherwise work well together.
****The game will also pick the most useless skill for that soldier when he gets promoted to Major, like close combat specialist on your sniper.
*Damage Roulette:
**Any time you need to do ''just enough'' damage to weaken an alien so that you have the maximum capture chance, you'll kill it instead. Maybe even crit it.
**Any time you need to ''very definitely'' kill an alien (like the Chryssalid that wants to eat your Medic) you'll knock it down to 1hp.
***The chance of this occurring increases significantly if this is the last action of your turn.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your soldiers they'll do the maximum possible damage, especially if they're in cover and not flanked.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your SHIVs they'll do the minimum possible damage... unless that SHIV is being used '''as''' cover.
*Hey, see that high-ground, full cover spot right over there? That looks like a ''great'' place to attack those aliens from. Go on over, pal.
**Whoops, now they're out of line-of-sight. Tough break there, buddy.
*If you find yourself needing Revive, you're doing something wrong. Too bad you always need it thanks to all of the laws stated above.
*After spending some 3-5 rounds setting up a nice blitzkrieg for the bridge of a UFO, ''just'' when you're ready to open the door, the alien CO pod will 'teleport' either halfway across the map, or in the perfect spot to counterattack.
**This includes any other escorting pods, after the CO pod takes the Alien turn to open every door, revealing every soldier.
*The soldier with the arc-thrower will always be in the opposite direction that an alien you're trying to capture decides to run in.
**Followed by spending the rest of the mission chasing the alien like the LAPD. Benny Hill theme optional, but recommended.
*The international symbol of the red cross on med kits is apparently the Inter''galatic'' symbol for "Shoot me first."
*Any UFO that crashes into the ocean will be in a heavily forested area.
*The last alien alive will be a cloaked Seeker, that is now panicked and running away, in a large map. Good #&@%ing luck finding it.
**Or hasn't panicked, but it's a Terror Mission and the lone Seeker's AI has decided to kill as many civilians as possible before going after your agents. But if you split the team up to rescue more at once...
*If an alien hides behind something explosive, one of several things will keep you from taking advantage of it:
**Either you don't want to blow up the object,
**Or a soldier is in the blast zone,
***Especially if they're out of move, or there's no other safe place to move to.
**Or you don't want to destroy it's equipment/fragments.
**Or two of the above.
**Or all three.
*The farther and more obtusely placed a Meld canister is, the more likely it is that stray fire will destroy it from the other end of the map.
*Trying to overwatch-spam to let Adaptive Bone Marrow heal non-armor HP? Here, have a crit to the face.
**Courtesy of that wounded Sectoid that either only took 1 step into your POV, or didn't move at all.
*You will have the perfect Overwatch trap set up.
**You will have a pod you didn't know was there walk into it.
***You will batter the approaching aliens to a bloody pulp.
****You will have the game lock up in Alien Activity.
*****You will have your last save be just before this. Any attempt to Overwatch Trap again will result in a lock up, again.
*Your full 6-man team of one specific nationality will be carved up by an Ethereal MCing half of them and deflecting all your plasma shots.

==[[Long_War|Long War]]==
*You will always learn the hard way what new perks and Gene Mods the dev team has given the aliens.
**To wit: Jumping Berserkers.
*Even if you did have the muscle to take down Abductors, their flight path will only be long enough to send one interceptor against them.
**If at all.
*If you feel you're doing well: your confidence is ill-deserved.
**The alien pod with two Mechtoids, a Sectopod, several drones, and a Sectoid Commander on the other side of that door will gladly demonstrate this.
***Followed by the mixed Muton pack that just came up behind you.
****And then by those cyberdiscs that decided to say hi.
*The first two shots in Air Combat will always be critical hits.... on your interceptor.
*There are, essentially, three results to Air Combat: the UFO crash lands, it DOAs, or your interceptor is KIA.
**The result that ''will'' happen will be one of the two that you don't want.
*The first alien base will always appear (and remove a Council country from) the continent who's bonus you were hoping to get next.
*When you need meld the most, the game will glitch out and think you are doing good for some reason... so you will only get 3 meld per canister.

==[[The_Bureau:_XCOM_Declassified|Combat (The Bureau)]]==
*The agent you sent forward to flank one alien will then be fired upon by EVERY alien.
**Any agent sent forward will be flanked. Twice.
*Any attempt to make a Sectopod turn around (so you can hit it's weak point) will fail to make it turn sufficiently, if at all.
*You'll run out of ammuntion at the worst possible time.
**That includes just reloading, and flat-out running out of bullets alltogether.
*Even if you're replaying, you'll fail to notice the new weapon, or ammo sachel, that would have been really useful in the skirmish you just barely won a few seconds ago.
*There are the best kinds of weapon for a job, when entering a new skirmish. You will not be carrying it.
*You forgot to check a side-path, and just passed a checkpoint: and now you can't go back to check for ammo or backpack schematics.
**By the way, you'll need that ammo in about 5 seconds.
*Even though Battle Focus slows down time, and it's just one click, it still won't be enough time to finish hitting Heal and save an agent from dying.
**That goes double if the Agent in question is Carter.
*Like any other XCOM: An alien's location is ''always'' equal to: grenade toss range, plus explosion area, plus "just enough to not get caught in the blast."
**Meanwhile, aliens toss like they pitch for the Dodgers.
*When attepting to interact with something, the θ of the angle that will allow you to do so is inverse to how ugently you need to do it.
*The agent ability you need right now? You still need to wait for it to reload.
**When it does load, the only aliens left on the field are Sectoids and low-level Zudjari.
***When, out of frustration, you use the ability to finish off the weakling: that's when the second wave of aliens shows up.
**** They are led by a Commander, or Muton (Elite), or Sectopod, or Gunship.
*When attempting to snipe, the alien will always move at the last second.
*The distance between an agent and a Muton will aways be less than the length of it's arm.
*Alien shields and heals ''will'' go up in the span of time between firing a kill shot, and when it would've hit.
*God help you if you have a wireless keyboard/mouse, and haven't charged the battery in the last 24 hours.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Strategic)]]==
*Shen's dead, baby. Shen's dead.
*You will get greedy in going for the random supply discoveries, and forget to progress with Resistance activities.
*You will start building your resistance network.... in the wrong direction to the closest Blacksite.
*You will get a priority mission JUST before completing a scan.
*The rare time a soldier gets a cross-class training Perk... it'll be something useless for how you play that soldier.
**And you'll already have six people lined up for retraining.
*A mission will appear when you have just over a day remaining to finish picking up your supply drop.
**This will leave you 1 supply short of being able to buy that fancy weapon/armor upgrade you just finished researching.
***If it doesn't, that's because you don't have enough alloys or elerium anyway.
****Also you don't have enough intel to buy any from the black market.
*****Not that it would matter if you did since the Gone to Ground dark event is active.
*You will get the Resistance Network card just after you finish making contact with all the regions you wanted/needed to.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Tactical)]]==
*DODGE: GRAZED!
*You will be distracted by Snek Tits at inopportune moments.
*Sectopods are basically Metal Gears now. Have fun with that.
**[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrkzIN2eP0U muffled nuclear in background]]
*Hours worth of careful sneaking will be ruined by an unfriendly civvie walking around the corner.
*The procedurally generated map for that critical mission will be as follows:
**ADVENT stronghold: a high-terrain fortress with turrets, high cover, and choke points.
**Your cover: cars.
*If the Sectoid on the map decides to mind control anyone, it will be your Ranger
**You will always be in slashing distance of this Ranger
***The Ranger will always be your Blademaster
*The one time you get 4 damage with a grenade is on the soldier that drops loot
*Your Repeater won't activate on a Berserker but it will sure as hell execute a basic soldier
*You will never get Blacksite Intel drops
**Particularity when the Doom Counter is nearly full.
*** When you do get one: expect the next site to be somewhere you've already made contact with.
* You will learn that the game has chests with random loot in them only after finishing Legendary Ironman run.
*The Alien Leaders will always spawn on a timed escort mission.
**Doubly so if the 'reduce turn limit' Dark Event is active.
*Bringing rookies on a guerilla op? Wouldn't it be fun for the Chosen to arrive?
*if you have multiple people flanking the Chosen assassin, they are all in perfect position to be hit by Harbor wave.
*the shot that would kill the Chosen will never hit.
*if your ranger can kill a muton with a slash, that muton will kill your ranger by deflecting it.
**in the off chance you DO kill the muton, you will activate another pod in the process.
***the pod is more mutons.
*If a hack has < 100% to succeed, it will fail.
**If the hack reward would be something useful (like a permanent hacking stat increase), it will not even be close.
***This will be true even though you're using a Colonel Specialist with a mark 3 GREMLIN and a Skulljack with Skullmining researched.
*On a mission to rescue/kidnap a VIP from an ADVENT vehicle, the enemy pod will always take up positions directly between you and the vehicle. Any attempt to shoot them will miss, blow up the vehicle, and kill the VIP.
**If the pod contains a Purifier, it will use the VIP's vehicle as cover.
*Your grappling hook will let you grapple to every tile EXCEPT the full cover one you want to stand in.
*The first Chosen you encounter will have Low Profile and Kinetic Plating as their strengths. Their weakness will be Groundling. There will be no high ground anywhere near them.
*You will get the Warlock down to 1 HP at the end of your turn. On his turn, he will use Spectral Army.
*Every shot your Shredder spec'd grenadier takes against any target with armor will miss.
*If Whiplash has < 100% to hit, it will miss.
**If it somehow hits anyway, the target will dodge.
*In preparation to fight the Archon King, you set up your Reaper with Banish, Superior Repeater + Superior Expanded Mag + Stock, and Insider Knowledge. You engage the King comfortable in the knowledge that this gives you a 79% chance to insta-kill it. Guess what happens.
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]
[[Category:TFTD]]
[[Category: Apocalypse]]
[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]
[[Category: Bureau (2013)]]

Murphy's Laws (X-COM)

2020-04-23T20:16:09Z

SpeedofDeath118: Had this one before

==[[Battlescape|Battlescape (UFO Defense)]]==
===[[Soldiers]]===
*If a soldier can miss, he will.
**If the soldier can't miss, the shot won't kill the alien.
**If a soldier can hit another soldier while missing, he will.
*If a soldier has a high explosive, then he will have to commit suicide for the group to win.
*If a soldier can panic, he will.
**If he is holding a primed [[Proximity Grenade]], he will drop it and start running.
**If he is holding any other primed explosive, he will drop it and stay right there.
**If he is holding something else, he will drop it and run right next to an alien.
*The probability of a soldier getting MCed is proportional to the lethality of the weapons he is carrying.
*The probability of a soldier going berserk is proportional to the number of friendly units he can hit from where he's standing.
*Your troops invariably display better accuracy and reactions when mind controlled than they do under your own orders.
**The opposite is true when you mind control an alien.
*The soldier you gave your shiny new heavy weapon to will turn out to have shitty Psi Strength and/or Morale. You will discover this the hard way.
*If a soldier has a [[Rocket Launcher]], he will get MCed while still in the craft.
*Your first unit out is always shot down.
**Your first unit out is always your commander.
*A wounded soldier will always die just before you find the last alien.
*As soon as you get better armor, the aliens get better weapons.
*[[Electroflare|Flares]] will always land where they cannot be picked up.
*If your base is attacked, you will always get [[Electroflare|flares]] instead of [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]].
*You will always end up short 1 TU for the action you wanted to do.
*If there is a single square where an alien grenade can hit all your soldiers at once, that is the square it will land in.
*The soldiers with the worst stats will always be the first to get promoted.
**When you build the [[Psi Lab]], you will always discover that your highly-trained officers are psi weaklings.
*On [[Ethereal]] [[Terror_Mission|Terror Missions]], you will always get the maximum number of [[Sectopod|Sectopods]] possible.
*When you have finally perfected the art of UFO assaults - [[Initial_Deployment|safe initial deployment]], proper [[Scouting|scout]] and [[Sweeping_the_Battlescape|sweep]] tactics, [[UFO_Ground_Assault#Breaching_UFOs|correct breaching methods]] - that will be the mission an enemy commander shows up with a [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launcher]] and nukes your entire team while it's still on the [[Skyranger]]
*The only thing your soldiers are good for is warning each other about the Blaster Launching-wielding alien right around the corner.
**Considering the laws above, it's pretty easy to guess exactly how they warn the rest of your squad about said Blaster Launcher.
***They warn your squad with an explosion, followed by a scream.
*If a proximity grenade can land on a soldier, it will.
*A soldier with pockets full of pre-primed grenades will fall unconscious right next to your Commander.
*That point-blank reaction shot can be guaranteed by giving the guy a Rocket Launcher.
*The chance of soldiers panicking and running out of the access lift on Cydonia is relative to the amount of soldiers in the access lift.
**And into direct fire from a cyberdisc.

===[[Civilian|Civilians]]===
*If a civilian sees a fire, he will run into it.
*If a civilian sees an alien, he will move right next to it.
*If a civilian can block your line of fire on an alien, he will do so.
*Civilians are attracted by armed proximity grenades.
*Civilians inevitably block the doorway you need to use right before you get there.
**Stunning that civilian to get past it and through the doorway will reveal an alien right behind it.
*If a civilian is near an alien, any attempt to save him by shooting the alien will hit the civilian instead.
*Civilians will go out of their way to get shot in a Terror Mission.

===[[Alien Life Forms|Aliens]]===
*If an alien can hit, it will.
*If an alien tries to MC you, it will always succeed.
*Alien commanders will always kill themselves (with their [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launchers]]) when you're on track to capture them .
*If there are [[Chryssalid|Chryssalids]], you will get at least one zombified soldier.
**You never want to know the answer to "Why did the Chryssalid cross the road?".
*If a dying [[Cyberdisc]] can blow up one of your men, it will.
*Unconscious aliens with melee attacks will wake up when you least expect them to.
*If you open a door and turn left, the aliens will all be on the right.
*Aliens are smarter than they look.
*This one is universal for all of the series:
**"Gaahh! Come back here and let me stun/melee you, you little shit!"
*Aliens can smell proximity grenades.

==[[Geoscape|Geoscape (UFO Defense)]]==
*When you need money the most, your funders will sign treaties with the aliens.
**The first country to drop funding is always the one that gave the most money.
*As soon as you get a new base built, it will be attacked.
**As soon as you get a new base fully equipped and operational, UFO activity in that area will drop to zero.
*If your fully developed base with 12 [[Missile_Defences|Missile Defences]] is successfully weathering a [[Alien_Retaliation|retaliation mission]] every couple days, the 1-in-30 battleship that makes it through will inevitably do so when all your experienced soldiers are out on missions.
*The more money you've saved, the higher the chance the aliens will do something that forces you to waste it.
**The amount of money you lose is proportional to how badly you need whatever you were saving up for.
*[[Alien Terror|Terror sites]] always appear at night.
**Or at noon, located conveniently so that night falls the second you arrive.
*If there is one tiny lake in the middle of 100 km of dry land, your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]] will inevitably shoot the UFO down over that exact spot.
*The chance that a crashed UFO's [[Elerium]] survived is proportional to how much you already have stockpiled.
*Landed UFO's will always take off before you can get to them.
**Unless they're filled with a species of alien you aren't equipped to deal with, in which case they will stick around forever.
***And when you finally get the equipment to deal with them, they fly away, never to be seen again.
****Until you have none of that equipment left to deal with them, because the base closest to them was destroyed.
*UFO's will always arrive while your [[Skyranger]] is refueling from a two day patrol.
*If you have forgotten to save the game for at least 3 missions, the game will crash.
**The game will always crash when it is the least convenient.
*If your craft is carrying no [[Electroflare|flares]] whatsoever, it will inevitably arrive five minutes after nightfall.
**If you've wasted half your [[Managing_the_Item_Limit|80-item limit]] on [[Electroflare|flares]] and incendiary ammo, you will arrive at high noon.
*[[Small Scout|Alien UFO scouts]] will always outrun your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]].
*Building a new base where there is heavy UFO activity? Seems like a good time for the Aliens to stop all activity in that area, and move it to a new area.
**That new area consists of the highest-funding countries.
*It's always exciting downing a UFO on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Too bad it's always an Ethereal-filled Battleship.

==[[Cityscape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If you're almost broke after buying a new flagship for your fleet, it will be destroyed in the next UFO incursion.
*The pride of your fleet is always stuck in alien dimension when you get attacked by a Mothership.
*UFOs carrying infiltrators always spawn at the gate you don't have covered.
*Griffon AFV is tough. The road under it is not. The tracks are just for show.
*There are only two types of vehicles that are always in abundance on the market: Blazer bikes and Stormdogs.
*While en route to a building, your craft will shoot at a Cult civilian car and demolish half of the city trying to hit it. However, the car will survive.
*Megapol is useless.
**Transtellar is annoying.
***Everyone else is both annoying and useless.
*Government's weekly paycheck will buy you a Lawpistol clip. Maybe two.
*If your base is in a slum, a single stray shot from a light disruptor will destroy it all.
**If your base is in a warehouse, said stray shot will still hit the tile with your agents.
*A hoverbike swarm is a good idea. Too bad they'll all get shot down anyway because of sheer dumb luck on the aliens' part.
*Research will always be completed right after when you needed it the most.
*After a firefight in the city, the only one to be blamed for the devastation will be you, even if it was an Overspawn that did it.
*The Overspawn will coincidentally be dropped right at your doorstep.
*The Overspawn will never, ''ever'' get hurt from falling debris. Unless you drop the said debris and level half of the city with it.
*People Tubes can collapse from an angry glare.
*You're the only one who has a problem with the aliens. Every other corp gets along with them fine.
**Transtellar in particular will always be dying for a chance to jump in bed with the aliens.
*Subversion attacks ''will'' succeed, 100%.
*Your carefully built Dimension Probe will be welcomed by a volley of Heavy Disruptor Guns.
*Your very first invasion of the Alien Dimension will require an hour's savescumming to get it right without being reduced to scrap metal.
*You ''will'' forget to not to move the X-COM craft when you succeed in destroying an alien building, killing everyone in the process.
* The alien Infiltration site will always be Hard to remember.

==[[Battlescape Overview (Apocalypse)|Battlescape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If your base is raided, there will be as few of your agents spawning as possible.
**Said agents will spawn as far away from the access lift as possible.
***Guess where the scientists will appear.
*If you're raiding a building, there will always be a trigger-happy idiot with a heavy launcher.
**Despite your best efforts, he will manage to fire at least one missile.
***And he will do so even if you're breathing in his face.
****There is no way to avoid the missile and injuries or casualties from it.
*****Even if you somehow actually manage to avoid the missile, it'll bring down the building on you.
*Live explosives are seemingly attracted to large concentrations of dead cultist bodies with all the loot you came here for.
*If an agent in a squad gets attacked by a brainsucker, the rest of the squad won't hit it at point blank range.
**Or they'll fire a missile launcher. Guess the results.
*If you turn around the corner where you think that last alien is hiding, it'll turn out to be half a dozen of Anthropods. All armed to the teeth.
*A berserking agent will cause more chaos and destruction than all of your other agents put together. And it won't be directed at the enemy.
*If someone throws a Boomeroid at an agent, he'll try to run away from it.
**Because it will always turn out that you forgot to set him to aggressive mode.
*If you try to capture a Megaspawn, it'll die before you can stun it.
**As will half the agents trying to stun the damn thing in the first place.
*You'd wish you gave that mind controlled agent a Toxigun instead of a Dimension Missile Launcher.
*You'll encounter cloaked and flying Skeletoids much more often than you'd like to.
**Cloaking never works for you. Neither does flying, actually.
*Good stuff always comes too late.
**Personal teleporters do not exist.
*Psi attacks are only successful when they're not necessary.
*Dynamic music always ignores what you're actually doing.
*That agent you sent to scout ahead will always be the one without a motion scanner.
*Every raid is a horrible decision between causing property damage and greed. Either way, you lose.
*The agent with a Mind Bender won't see the enemy <s>until he's standing right next to it</s> at all. Period.
*You will forget to capture a live Micronoid aggregate.
*Toxigun ammo, Vortex mines and Personal Shields come in only two varieties: "not enough" and "none".
*Anthropods, More likely than not, will just spaz out and spew out Brainsuckers if they have brainsucker launchers in turnbased, and, more likely than not, they'll haul brainsucker launchers.
*Nobody expects the alien inquisition
*Whenever there's an explosion, It'll be next to a chain of, like 5 other explosive objects. Good for clearing out enemies, Bad for Xcom insurance rates.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Strategic (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*When you need §§§ the most, the US and Russia (which you have satellite coverage over) will pull out of the XCOM project.
*Your satellites will always be available one day too late to prevent a country from withdrawing.
**Even if it shows up before "Council Report" on the event list.
*When you do have satellites available, you will never have enough Satellite Uplink/Nexus space for them.
*When you do have Satellite Uplink/Nexus, you will never have enough satellites.
*If you have one more satellite to go before getting a continent's bonus, that last country will pull out of the XCOM project.
**The one continent's bonus you don't want to get? The aliens will ignore that continent.
*You will always be at least §1 short of buying the next level of armor/weapons for all your troops.
*If a Colonel can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it.
**If a Rookie can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it either. Sorry 'bout that.
**The sixth soldier to be checked (guaranteed to have the Psi gift) will be the lowest rank possible.
**That soldier will die on the first mission you send them on.
*Your interceptor will always lose contact 0.1 seconds before the enemy UFO is destroyed.
*Your interceptor will blow up one round of fire exchange after you press the Abort button.
*Your interceptor will miss every shot.
**The UFO will have perfect aim and land every single hit.
***After an interceptor lands a few hits on a Supply Barge it's shot down. So you sortie another interceptor and it's shot down/loses contact without hitting the damaged UFO even once.
*Just a bit more than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Just a bit less than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Fast forwarding will result in the Terror Mission succeeding for the aliens before you can react to your Colonel getting out of the medbay.
*Just a bit more than a day before your latest and greatest research completes? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Any other time it's inconvenient? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Followed by abductions less than 24 hours later.
***Followed by a council mission less than 24 hours later.
****Followed by a Battleship coming to destroy your satellite less than 24 hours later.
*****Oh, you recently finished the Hyperwave Uplink? Here, have the Overseer UFO, 12 hours after that battleship.
******On the same continent as your surely-damaged Firestorm.
*******And once you lose ''that''... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Steam vents will be placed in inconvenient locations.
**Second floor steam vents will block your 2x2 Satellite Uplink block.
***The remaining steam vents will be on the 4th floor.
****In the corner.
*****Behind 3 solid squares of rock.
******The vent's spot is also solid rock.
*Research or Foundry upgrades will be completed one day after a critical mission appears.
*The only way you can afford the next item or facility you need, is to sell materials on the grey market.
**Specifically, just enough to not have the materials left to build it.
*When the option to start researching the various Plasma Weapons becomes available, you will not have enough Weapon Fragments.
**Heavy Floaters will also start appearing on your next mission.
**You'll also be trying to research the Firestorm.
*You will forget to equip your shiny new weapon.
**If not, your save (or at least when you last saved) may forget for you.
* .......................... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Oh, three steam vents all set up for awesome adjacency bonus! Too bad that two of them are directly underneath the Satellite Uplink!
*The only time you mis-click when accusing a country of hosting the EXALT Base, is when that country provided the most money.
**It is also the eighth country to leave!
***On Impossible difficulty.
****Ironman Mode was also on.
*****And you decided that right after you destroy the EXALT Base, you would go right on ahead and assault the Temple Ship!
******Not that you would have survived, anyways, everybody was panicking!
*Special: If you're trying to test something for this very 'paedia, the situation you're after will never occur.
**Instead, something else will happen that will give you another idea to test. Guess what will happen then.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Tactical (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*If a soldier's chance to hit is <99%, he will miss.
**Especially if the target is at 1 HP.
***Doubly so if that's your last action for the turn.
****Exponentially so, proportional to how dangerous the target is. Like a Sectopod that's now flanking several soldiers.
*If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, he won't do enough damage to kill the alien.
**If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, the game will glitch and turn that full-face Alloy Cannon blast into a spray of harmless confetti.
*The left mouse button is context sensitive; it will always do exactly what you didn't want it to.
*If a soldier's a heavy, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy.
**The range and blast radius of a heavy's rocket launcher will be a few tiles away from the nearest alien.
***Your heavy will never be in range to fire off a rocket.
*If a soldier's a sniper, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy FOR MOST OF THE GAME.
**A sniper will have squad sight on either a heavily wooded UFO crash/landing sight or a Terror Mission with one or two buildings that cover the entire map.
*If a soldier's an assault, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy EVEN AT POINT BLANK RANGE.
**If you activate Rapid Fire, both shots will miss a point blank Sectopod (who has only eight health bars left) despite the second shot's hit chance being 85%.
*If a soldier's a support, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy WITH ANYTHING BUT A S.C.O.P.E. AND A LIGHT PLASMA RIFLE.
*If an alien's chance to hit is >1%, he will hit.
**If an alien's chance to hit is <1%, he will destroy your full cover.
*If an alien's mind control chance is >1%, it will work.
*When aiming at an Ethereal with the last shot of your turn, it will reflect it.
**''Especially'' if that soldier has only 1 HP.
*If the vehicle that your soldier is dashing to for cover can be set on fire, it will be.
**That is, if the soldier survives the alien Overwatch shot that will set the vehicle on fire.
***If so, then the vehicle's explosion will finish him/her off.
****Not to forget that this specific soldier, was your Colonel who had been with you since the first mission.
*Your soldier will always have the exact amount of health for a vehicle to blow him up.
*You will always reveal new enemies on your last move of the turn.
**Who will then take up flanking positions behind anyone who dashed.
*The more soldiers who perform an Overwatch reaction shot against a single alien, the more likely they will all miss.
**Soldiers who hit the alien will barely kill the alien.
***The alien, in turn, will kill your highest-ranking soldier.
****After killing the highest-ranking soldier, the other aliens will come in and mop everyone else up.
*When you have your whole squad on overwatch they will all shoot one floater.
**And then all die to his Chryssalid buddy.
*Your Revive spec medic will always be the one critically wounded.
*When trying to capture a commander with one stunner, he will be the one MCed,
*Aliens will always hit soldier's hunkering down behind high cover.
**The alien will do just enough damage to not kill him, but to cause him to panic.
***The panicking soldier will kill a soldier and start a panic chain.
*Panicking soldiers will always have 100% to hit.
*Smoke grenades will always improve alien accuracy.
**Mutons and Floaters will always throw grenades into smoke.
*If a soldier can panic, it will.
**Soldiers that panic will aim for the highest ranking officer he can see.
***Even behind high cover, on a higher elevation, and covered by a smoke grenade, a panicking rookie will still be able to kill the "protected" Colonel.
*Rockets will always fly off target.
**ESPECIALLY when you squad is surrounded by explosive vehicles and forklifts.
***At a gas station
****Then everything will explode
***** Then everything will explode and everyone will panic
******Even your SHIVs
*******And they will shoot your highest-ranked soldier
********And he will die
*********He will also have the psionic gift
**********He also has one of the highest starting and leveling Will/Aim scores you ever got, in any playthrough.
***********And he/she will also be named after you.
************And he/she will be carrying your only medkit.
*Aliens will position themselves right outside the radius of a grenade throw.
**If a grenade can clip through and explode harmlessly under ground while you are trying to aim it, it will.
*When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will not be with you.
**When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will miss every shot.
*When it is time to face Muton Elites, your psionics will not be with you.
*Your soldiers are always one grid point away from moving to safely flank an alien.
*When a large UFO lands and you assault with your elite squad you will fight 3 Floaters, 3 Sectoids and a Sectoid Commander.
*When a moderate alien abduction comes up and you assault with a squad comprised of your Col. Sniper, squaddies, and rookies for training purposes, you will fight 9 Mutons (who will each throw their grenades asap), a Cyberdisc, and 2 Drones you just can't seem to hit.
*Even when you use the rookie to scout ahead, he will always stumble on no less than every enemy on the map on a single turn, who will then, with most of the laws stated above, wipe your elite squad before you can say Jenkins.
*You decide to research offensive tech first and the Arc Thrower later only to find that Sectoids have been removed from the alien roster. But after killing 7 Mutons on a map you decide to zap the last two for their weapons only to have the last group be a trio of Sectoids.
*The Overseer will only appear when you have no Firestorms.
**When you build your firestorm with dodge matrix, fusion lance, and uplink targeting, the Overseer will appear in the continent your new Firestorm is NOT stationed in
*Your MCed alien will always run out of usable turns before they can bust the asses off of some of their little alien friends.
**ALWAYS
***Especially on the final mission of the entire game.
*MCed aliens will always activate no less than two squads that were just behind them.
*Your sniper with Snap Shot will never be useful for anything, ever.
*Your sniper with Squadsight will never be in a good position.
**And when he is, a tree will block his line of sight to finish off that one alien flanking your soldiers.
*The alien with a grenade will go first. He will toss the grenade , without moving, negating any troopers on Overwatch, and removing cover from you forward trooper.
**Next alien will kill your now-exposed trooper.
***You will then have to wait 2-3 minutes for the other 9 or so Aliens to take their turn and batter your remaining troops.
****Also, it's been 5 rounds since you last saved.
*The range for a soldier flying with Archangel Armor will always be "One less than it takes to get into cover, or out of range."
*On a Battleship raid, there will always be one alien that runs away, forcing you to have to chase them down.
**Backwards.
*The game has no problem sending and activating every alien squad in an Abductor or Supply Barge at you in 1 turn.
**If not, that's because the high-level alien squad somehow noticed you from the other side of the ship.
*The council mission reward will always be either what you don't need, or not enough of what you do.
*When fighting Thin Men, you will always activate 2 squads at a time.
*When fighting Floaters, they will always Launch to flank just tiles away from your Sniper. No soldier will be close enough to help her.
*When fighting Mutons, you will activate a squad ''after'' you have finished moving at least two soldiers. Who you placed right next to each other.
**If you think two soldiers were just far enough apart to not both be hit by 1 grenade: turns out they weren't.
***Both of their cover is now gone, fyi.
*When fighting Chryssalids, they will always be at least close enough to hit your soldiers from a diagonal tile, if not closer.
*When fighting Cyberdiscs, when they are open, your hardest-hitting soldier will not be able to attack them.
**Because it opened up to kill said soldier in the previous turn.
*When fighting Sectopods, the answer to "Which soldier are they going to fire at?" The answer is always "the one taking cover behind something explosive."
**On the rare chance that it's Chest Cannon misses, the shot will still hit something explosive.
***Specifically, something that another soldier is taking cover behind.
****Whom it will then fire upon.
*When fighting a Sectopod, after your two troops have been battered by both Chest Cannon blasts despite being behind full cover and in the middle of a smoke grenade cloud, one moves and triggers a Reaction Shot.
*When fighting an Ethereal, it will either:
**Be in a different room than usual.
**Become activated when you pass within 10 feet of the door.
**Become activated when your last turn is to MC an Elite Muton or Heavy Floater that would be flanking it's buddies.
***Which it will then immediately kill.
*Your first shot with a shiny new weapon will miss.
*Despite bipods being visible on several weapons, your soldiers do not seem to recognise their existence for steadying and making more accurate shots.
*Your Support with Sprint and a Skeleton Suit or Ghost Armor will always be one movement short of saving a civilian.
*Your soldier will make a crazy-ass, low-percentage, gun-pointing-the-wrong-way-for-some-reason Overwatch shot with your currently-most powerful weapon.... on a wounded Sectoid.
*At the point in the game when you have all continents armed with Firestorms all with Fusion Lances (Highly unlikely, especially considering the laws above) that is the only time when the Aliens give up on sending the big UFOs and start sending small scouts
*On a Battleship raid, you send in a rookie to investigate the main room, thus activating all 20+ Aliens who just "happened" to spawn in there. They will then all hide, and when you think yourself so clever for taking up positions for multi-pronged attack on the main room, it turns out, they were all on Overwatch.
**And yes, each Alien is just so positioned so that each one of your soldiers will have a chance to get shot at.
***This will occur more often on Ironman Mode.
****On Impossible Difficulty.
*****It turns out, this was also supposed to be the day that you got the only Psionic Soldier you ever found got strong enough to become the volunteer.
******Afterwards, the game will glitch so that you will never find another Psionic Soldier in your whole playthrough
*******Not that it matters, your entire elite squad got wiped out, when they had all their fancy armor and weapons.
*"Don't shoot the Elerium, don't shoot the Elerium---- shit."
**"Don't blow up the power source, don't blow up the power source ---- crap."
***"Blow power source! Blow! Blow! ---- come on!"
*Your soldier will miss the alien and shoot the meld instead.
**Especially if you have them flanked.
*When your favorite soldier gets critically injured, you clear out the Muton Elite that hurt him. Too bad there is a group of sectoids all the way across the map.
**It will take a full turn of dashing for your Sprinter support in a Skeleton Suit to reach them
***They will all proceed to hide behind full cover just out of your sight.
****When you finally see them for your Squadsight Sniper with Double Tap will hit two of them, however, there are three sectoids
*****Not that it matters, they were all on overwatch, and considering the laws above, they will all get critical shots on your soldier, and kill her
******That is, IF you find them.
*Have Frag Grenades? Any aliens in range will have four HP left.
**Alien Grenades or Mind Fray? Six.
***And it will be your only viable action: any attempts at firing a gun will miss.
****C'mon: it's not even out yet, but you just ''know'' that the only time you'll have the Needle Grenade with you, aliens WILL take cover in such a way that only ONE would be affected by it at any time.
*****That alien will also have four HP left.
*Speaking of Enemy Within: you shall soon become familiar with the sound of exploding Meld canisters.
**Which is Dr. Vahlen annoying voiceover.
*Two words: naughty tentacles.
*Alien: "You brought a soldier with a Med-kit, I'll just Critically wound him then..."
*"Ooh look, the last meld canister.. and..... that's a group of Muton Elites... And a Cyberdisc... or three"
*Need 5 more Meld? Check out that Heavy Floater with only one health left!
**Looks like it's running away, no biggie, you'll just follow it.
***And activate its Mechtoid Buddies!
*While you are almost finished with Confounding Light, you have one turn left to activate the train, too bad the only soldier that can make it is being Overwatch-camped by that Muton who was just air-dropped.
**Even though that move would have required a dash!
***He was also an assault that was gonna get promoted that mission. Guess which Rank.
*The mission where your Squaddie Sniper levels up is alaways the mission that Sqaud Sight would have been supremely useful for.
*Don't EVER pick favorites, they'll just die anyways
*"Ok, gene mod do-- mission, ok, reload to get my soldier. OK, mission done, now to gene mo-- damnit, 'nother mission... ok, done, finally. Allright---- oh come the fuck on, Council, I'm busy here! Now what do you waaa'''AAAHHFUCKCHRYSSALIDS!!'''"
*Yes, Meld Canisters provide full cover. If you're actually using them for that, you have only yourself to blame.
*Enemy Within. Because Sectopods really needed the ability to outright ignore half of all incoming damage.
**AND be able to freely and deliberatley target your cover: "That'ssssssssssssssssssss a nice wall you got there~!"
*Your Heavy will never be in a good spot to launch a mission/life-saving rocket.
**Eventually, you'll fire it, because "might as well."
***'''Then''', and only then, on the ''next'' turn, will they be in the perfect situation to fire that shot you just wasted.
*Training Roulette:
**You'll either get abilites that're near-useless to that class, or
**You'll get high-tier abilities on the same Ranking, forcing you to choose between them.
***Doubly so if they're abilites that would otherwise work well together.
****The game will also pick the most useless skill for that soldier when he gets promoted to Major, like close combat specialist on your sniper.
*Damage Roulette:
**Any time you need to do ''just enough'' damage to weaken an alien so that you have the maximum capture chance, you'll kill it instead. Maybe even crit it.
**Any time you need to ''very definitely'' kill an alien (like the Chryssalid that wants to eat your Medic) you'll knock it down to 1hp.
***The chance of this occurring increases significantly if this is the last action of your turn.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your soldiers they'll do the maximum possible damage, especially if they're in cover and not flanked.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your SHIVs they'll do the minimum possible damage... unless that SHIV is being used '''as''' cover.
*Hey, see that high-ground, full cover spot right over there? That looks like a ''great'' place to attack those aliens from. Go on over, pal.
**Whoops, now they're out of line-of-sight. Tough break there, buddy.
*If you find yourself needing Revive, you're doing something wrong. Too bad you always need it thanks to all of the laws stated above.
*After spending some 3-5 rounds setting up a nice blitzkrieg for the bridge of a UFO, ''just'' when you're ready to open the door, the alien CO pod will 'teleport' either halfway across the map, or in the perfect spot to counterattack.
**This includes any other escorting pods, after the CO pod takes the Alien turn to open every door, revealing every soldier.
*The soldier with the arc-thrower will always be in the opposite direction that an alien you're trying to capture decides to run in.
**Followed by spending the rest of the mission chasing the alien like the LAPD. Benny Hill theme optional, but recommended.
*The international symbol of the red cross on med kits is apparently the Inter''galatic'' symbol for "Shoot me first."
*Any UFO that crashes into the ocean will be in a heavily forested area.
*The last alien alive will be a cloaked Seeker, that is now panicked and running away, in a large map. Good #&@%ing luck finding it.
**Or hasn't panicked, but it's a Terror Mission and the lone Seeker's AI has decided to kill as many civilians as possible before going after your agents. But if you split the team up to rescue more at once...
*If an alien hides behind something explosive, one of several things will keep you from taking advantage of it:
**Either you don't want to blow up the object,
**Or a soldier is in the blast zone,
***Especially if they're out of move, or there's no other safe place to move to.
**Or you don't want to destroy it's equipment/fragments.
**Or two of the above.
**Or all three.
*The farther and more obtusely placed a Meld canister is, the more likely it is that stray fire will destroy it from the other end of the map.
*Trying to overwatch-spam to let Adaptive Bone Marrow heal non-armor HP? Here, have a crit to the face.
**Courtesy of that wounded Sectoid that either only took 1 step into your POV, or didn't move at all.
*You will have the perfect Overwatch trap set up.
**You will have a pod you didn't know was there walk into it.
***You will batter the approaching aliens to a bloody pulp.
****You will have the game lock up in Alien Activity.
*****You will have your last save be just before this. Any attempt to Overwatch Trap again will result in a lock up, again.
*Your full 6-man team of one specific nationality will be carved up by an Ethereal MCing half of them and deflecting all your plasma shots.

==[[Long_War|Long War]]==
*You will always learn the hard way what new perks and Gene Mods the dev team has given the aliens.
**To wit: Jumping Berserkers.
*Even if you did have the muscle to take down Abductors, their flight path will only be long enough to send one interceptor against them.
**If at all.
*If you feel you're doing well: your confidence is ill-deserved.
**The alien pod with two Mechtoids, a Sectopod, several drones, and a Sectoid Commander on the other side of that door will gladly demonstrate this.
***Followed by the mixed Muton pack that just came up behind you.
****And then by those cyberdiscs that decided to say hi.
*The first two shots in Air Combat will always be critical hits.... on your interceptor.
*There are, essentially, three results to Air Combat: the UFO crash lands, it DOAs, or your interceptor is KIA.
**The result that ''will'' happen will be one of the two that you don't want.
*The first alien base will always appear (and remove a Council country from) the continent who's bonus you were hoping to get next.
*When you need meld the most, the game will glitch out and think you are doing good for some reason... so you will only get 3 meld per canister.

==[[The_Bureau:_XCOM_Declassified|Combat (The Bureau)]]==
*The agent you sent forward to flank one alien will then be fired upon by EVERY alien.
**Any agent sent forward will be flanked. Twice.
*Any attempt to make a Sectopod turn around (so you can hit it's weak point) will fail to make it turn sufficiently, if at all.
*You'll run out of ammuntion at the worst possible time.
**That includes just reloading, and flat-out running out of bullets alltogether.
*Even if you're replaying, you'll fail to notice the new weapon, or ammo sachel, that would have been really useful in the skirmish you just barely won a few seconds ago.
*There are the best kinds of weapon for a job, when entering a new skirmish. You will not be carrying it.
*You forgot to check a side-path, and just passed a checkpoint: and now you can't go back to check for ammo or backpack schematics.
**By the way, you'll need that ammo in about 5 seconds.
*Even though Battle Focus slows down time, and it's just one click, it still won't be enough time to finish hitting Heal and save an agent from dying.
**That goes double if the Agent in question is Carter.
*Like any other XCOM: An alien's location is ''always'' equal to: grenade toss range, plus explosion area, plus "just enough to not get caught in the blast."
**Meanwhile, aliens toss like they pitch for the Dodgers.
*When attepting to interact with something, the θ of the angle that will allow you to do so is inverse to how ugently you need to do it.
*The agent ability you need right now? You still need to wait for it to reload.
**When it does load, the only aliens left on the field are Sectoids and low-level Zudjari.
***When, out of frustration, you use the ability to finish off the weakling: that's when the second wave of aliens shows up.
**** They are led by a Commander, or Muton (Elite), or Sectopod, or Gunship.
*When attempting to snipe, the alien will always move at the last second.
*The distance between an agent and a Muton will aways be less than the length of it's arm.
*Alien shields and heals ''will'' go up in the span of time between firing a kill shot, and when it would've hit.
*God help you if you have a wireless keyboard/mouse, and haven't charged the battery in the last 24 hours.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Strategic)]]==
*Shen's dead, baby. Shen's dead.
*You will get greedy in going for the random supply discoveries, and forget to progress with Resistance activities.
*You will start building your resistance network.... in the wrong direction to the closest Blacksite.
*You will get a priority mission JUST before completing a scan.
*The rare time a soldier gets a cross-class training Perk... it'll be something useless for how you play that soldier.
**And you'll already have six people lined up for retraining.
*A mission will appear when you have just over a day remaining to finish picking up your supply drop.
**This will leave you 1 supply short of being able to buy that fancy weapon/armor upgrade you just finished researching.
***If it doesn't, that's because you don't have enough alloys or elerium anyway.
****Also you don't have enough intel to buy any from the black market.
*****Not that it would matter if you did since the Gone to Ground dark event is active.
*You will get the Resistance Network card just after you finish making contact with all the regions you wanted/needed to.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Tactical)]]==
*You will be distracted by Snek Tits at inopportune moments.
*Sectopods are basically Metal Gears now. Have fun with that.
**[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrkzIN2eP0U muffled nuclear in background]]
*Hours worth of careful sneaking will be ruined by an unfriendly civvie walking around the corner.
*The procedurally generated map for that critical mission will be as follows:
**ADVENT stronghold: a high-terrain fortress with turrets, high cover, and choke points.
**Your cover: cars.
*If the Sectoid on the map decides to mind control anyone, it will be your Ranger
**You will always be in slashing distance of this Ranger
***The Ranger will always be your Blademaster
*The one time you get 4 damage with a grenade is on the soldier that drops loot
*Your Repeater won't activate on a Berserker but it will sure as hell execute a basic soldier
*You will never get Blacksite Intel drops
**Particularity when the Doom Counter is nearly full.
*** When you do get one: expect the next site to be somewhere you've already made contact with.
* You will learn that the game has chests with random loot in them only after finishing Legendary Ironman run.
*The Alien Leaders will always spawn on a timed escort mission.
**Doubly so if the 'reduce turn limit' Dark Event is active.
*Bringing rookies on a guerilla op? Wouldn't it be fun for the Chosen to arrive?
*if you have multiple people flanking the Chosen assassin, they are all in perfect position to be hit by Harbor wave.
*the shot that would kill the Chosen will never hit.
*if your ranger can kill a muton with a slash, that muton will kill your ranger by deflecting it.
**in the off chance you DO kill the muton, you will activate another pod in the process.
***the pod is more mutons.
*If a hack has < 100% to succeed, it will fail.
**If the hack reward would be something useful (like a permanent hacking stat increase), it will not even be close.
***This will be true even though you're using a Colonel Specialist with a mark 3 GREMLIN and a Skulljack with Skullmining researched.
*On a mission to rescue/kidnap a VIP from an ADVENT vehicle, the enemy pod will always take up positions directly between you and the vehicle. Any attempt to shoot them will miss, blow up the vehicle, and kill the VIP.
**If the pod contains a Purifier, it will use the VIP's vehicle as cover.
*Your grappling hook will let you grapple to every tile EXCEPT the full cover one you want to stand in.
*The first Chosen you encounter will have Low Profile and Kinetic Plating as their strengths. Their weakness will be Groundling. There will be no high ground anywhere near them.
*You will get the Warlock down to 1 HP at the end of your turn. On his turn, he will use Spectral Army.
*Every shot your Shredder spec'd grenadier takes against any target with armor will miss.
*If Whiplash has < 100% to hit, it will miss.
**If it somehow hits anyway, the target will dodge.
*In preparation to fight the Archon King, you set up your Reaper with Banish, Superior Repeater + Superior Expanded Mag + Stock, and Insider Knowledge. You engage the King comfortable in the knowledge that this gives you a 79% chance to insta-kill it. Guess what happens.
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]
[[Category:TFTD]]
[[Category: Apocalypse]]
[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]
[[Category: Bureau (2013)]]

Murphy's Laws (X-COM)

2020-04-23T20:14:21Z

SpeedofDeath118: Why so optimistic on the Psi gift?

==[[Battlescape|Battlescape (UFO Defense)]]==
===[[Soldiers]]===
*If a soldier can miss, he will.
**If a soldier can hit another soldier while missing, he will.
*If a soldier has a high explosive, then he will have to commit suicide for the group to win.
*If a soldier can panic, he will.
**If he is holding a primed [[Proximity Grenade]], he will drop it and start running.
**If he is holding any other primed explosive, he will drop it and stay right there.
**If he is holding something else, he will drop it and run right next to an alien.
*The probability of a soldier getting MCed is proportional to the lethality of the weapons he is carrying.
*The probability of a soldier going berserk is proportional to the number of friendly units he can hit from where he's standing.
*Your troops invariably display better accuracy and reactions when mind controlled than they do under your own orders.
**The opposite is true when you mind control an alien.
*The soldier you gave your shiny new heavy weapon to will turn out to have shitty Psi Strength and/or Morale. You will discover this the hard way.
*If a soldier has a [[Rocket Launcher]], he will get MCed while still in the craft.
*Your first unit out is always shot down.
**Your first unit out is always your commander.
*A wounded soldier will always die just before you find the last alien.
*As soon as you get better armor, the aliens get better weapons.
*[[Electroflare|Flares]] will always land where they cannot be picked up.
*If your base is attacked, you will always get [[Electroflare|flares]] instead of [[Heavy Plasma|Heavy Plasmas]].
*You will always end up short 1 TU for the action you wanted to do.
*If there is a single square where an alien grenade can hit all your soldiers at once, that is the square it will land in.
*The soldiers with the worst stats will always be the first to get promoted.
**When you build the [[Psi Lab]], you will always discover that your highly-trained officers are psi weaklings.
*On [[Ethereal]] [[Terror_Mission|Terror Missions]], you will always get the maximum number of [[Sectopod|Sectopods]] possible.
*When you have finally perfected the art of UFO assaults - [[Initial_Deployment|safe initial deployment]], proper [[Scouting|scout]] and [[Sweeping_the_Battlescape|sweep]] tactics, [[UFO_Ground_Assault#Breaching_UFOs|correct breaching methods]] - that will be the mission an enemy commander shows up with a [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launcher]] and nukes your entire team while it's still on the [[Skyranger]]
*The only thing your soldiers are good for is warning each other about the Blaster Launching-wielding alien right around the corner.
**Considering the laws above, it's pretty easy to guess exactly how they warn the rest of your squad about said Blaster Launcher.
***They warn your squad with an explosion, followed by a scream.
*If a proximity grenade can land on a soldier, it will.
*A soldier with pockets full of pre-primed grenades will fall unconscious right next to your Commander.
*That point-blank reaction shot can be guaranteed by giving the guy a Rocket Launcher.
*The chance of soldiers panicking and running out of the access lift on Cydonia is relative to the amount of soldiers in the access lift.
**And into direct fire from a cyberdisc.

===[[Civilian|Civilians]]===
*If a civilian sees a fire, he will run into it.
*If a civilian sees an alien, he will move right next to it.
*If a civilian can block your line of fire on an alien, he will do so.
*Civilians are attracted by armed proximity grenades.
*Civilians inevitably block the doorway you need to use right before you get there.
**Stunning that civilian to get past it and through the doorway will reveal an alien right behind it.
*If a civilian is near an alien, any attempt to save him by shooting the alien will hit the civilian instead.
*Civilians will go out of their way to get shot in a Terror Mission.

===[[Alien Life Forms|Aliens]]===
*If an alien can hit, it will.
*If an alien tries to MC you, it will always succeed.
*Alien commanders will always kill themselves (with their [[Blaster_Launcher|Blaster Launchers]]) when you're on track to capture them .
*If there are [[Chryssalid|Chryssalids]], you will get at least one zombified soldier.
**You never want to know the answer to "Why did the Chryssalid cross the road?".
*If a dying [[Cyberdisc]] can blow up one of your men, it will.
*Unconscious aliens with melee attacks will wake up when you least expect them to.
*If you open a door and turn left, the aliens will all be on the right.
*Aliens are smarter than they look.
*This one is universal for all of the series:
**"Gaahh! Come back here and let me stun/melee you, you little shit!"
*Aliens can smell proximity grenades.

==[[Geoscape|Geoscape (UFO Defense)]]==
*When you need money the most, your funders will sign treaties with the aliens.
**The first country to drop funding is always the one that gave the most money.
*As soon as you get a new base built, it will be attacked.
**As soon as you get a new base fully equipped and operational, UFO activity in that area will drop to zero.
*If your fully developed base with 12 [[Missile_Defences|Missile Defences]] is successfully weathering a [[Alien_Retaliation|retaliation mission]] every couple days, the 1-in-30 battleship that makes it through will inevitably do so when all your experienced soldiers are out on missions.
*The more money you've saved, the higher the chance the aliens will do something that forces you to waste it.
**The amount of money you lose is proportional to how badly you need whatever you were saving up for.
*[[Alien Terror|Terror sites]] always appear at night.
**Or at noon, located conveniently so that night falls the second you arrive.
*If there is one tiny lake in the middle of 100 km of dry land, your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]] will inevitably shoot the UFO down over that exact spot.
*The chance that a crashed UFO's [[Elerium]] survived is proportional to how much you already have stockpiled.
*Landed UFO's will always take off before you can get to them.
**Unless they're filled with a species of alien you aren't equipped to deal with, in which case they will stick around forever.
***And when you finally get the equipment to deal with them, they fly away, never to be seen again.
****Until you have none of that equipment left to deal with them, because the base closest to them was destroyed.
*UFO's will always arrive while your [[Skyranger]] is refueling from a two day patrol.
*If you have forgotten to save the game for at least 3 missions, the game will crash.
**The game will always crash when it is the least convenient.
*If your craft is carrying no [[Electroflare|flares]] whatsoever, it will inevitably arrive five minutes after nightfall.
**If you've wasted half your [[Managing_the_Item_Limit|80-item limit]] on [[Electroflare|flares]] and incendiary ammo, you will arrive at high noon.
*[[Small Scout|Alien UFO scouts]] will always outrun your [[Interceptor|Interceptors]].
*Building a new base where there is heavy UFO activity? Seems like a good time for the Aliens to stop all activity in that area, and move it to a new area.
**That new area consists of the highest-funding countries.
*It's always exciting downing a UFO on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Too bad it's always an Ethereal-filled Battleship.

==[[Cityscape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If you're almost broke after buying a new flagship for your fleet, it will be destroyed in the next UFO incursion.
*The pride of your fleet is always stuck in alien dimension when you get attacked by a Mothership.
*UFOs carrying infiltrators always spawn at the gate you don't have covered.
*Griffon AFV is tough. The road under it is not. The tracks are just for show.
*There are only two types of vehicles that are always in abundance on the market: Blazer bikes and Stormdogs.
*While en route to a building, your craft will shoot at a Cult civilian car and demolish half of the city trying to hit it. However, the car will survive.
*Megapol is useless.
**Transtellar is annoying.
***Everyone else is both annoying and useless.
*Government's weekly paycheck will buy you a Lawpistol clip. Maybe two.
*If your base is in a slum, a single stray shot from a light disruptor will destroy it all.
**If your base is in a warehouse, said stray shot will still hit the tile with your agents.
*A hoverbike swarm is a good idea. Too bad they'll all get shot down anyway because of sheer dumb luck on the aliens' part.
*Research will always be completed right after when you needed it the most.
*After a firefight in the city, the only one to be blamed for the devastation will be you, even if it was an Overspawn that did it.
*The Overspawn will coincidentally be dropped right at your doorstep.
*The Overspawn will never, ''ever'' get hurt from falling debris. Unless you drop the said debris and level half of the city with it.
*People Tubes can collapse from an angry glare.
*You're the only one who has a problem with the aliens. Every other corp gets along with them fine.
**Transtellar in particular will always be dying for a chance to jump in bed with the aliens.
*Subversion attacks ''will'' succeed, 100%.
*Your carefully built Dimension Probe will be welcomed by a volley of Heavy Disruptor Guns.
*Your very first invasion of the Alien Dimension will require an hour's savescumming to get it right without being reduced to scrap metal.
*You ''will'' forget to not to move the X-COM craft when you succeed in destroying an alien building, killing everyone in the process.
* The alien Infiltration site will always be Hard to remember.

==[[Battlescape Overview (Apocalypse)|Battlescape (Apocalypse)]]==
*If your base is raided, there will be as few of your agents spawning as possible.
**Said agents will spawn as far away from the access lift as possible.
***Guess where the scientists will appear.
*If you're raiding a building, there will always be a trigger-happy idiot with a heavy launcher.
**Despite your best efforts, he will manage to fire at least one missile.
***And he will do so even if you're breathing in his face.
****There is no way to avoid the missile and injuries or casualties from it.
*****Even if you somehow actually manage to avoid the missile, it'll bring down the building on you.
*Live explosives are seemingly attracted to large concentrations of dead cultist bodies with all the loot you came here for.
*If an agent in a squad gets attacked by a brainsucker, the rest of the squad won't hit it at point blank range.
**Or they'll fire a missile launcher. Guess the results.
*If you turn around the corner where you think that last alien is hiding, it'll turn out to be half a dozen of Anthropods. All armed to the teeth.
*A berserking agent will cause more chaos and destruction than all of your other agents put together. And it won't be directed at the enemy.
*If someone throws a Boomeroid at an agent, he'll try to run away from it.
**Because it will always turn out that you forgot to set him to aggressive mode.
*If you try to capture a Megaspawn, it'll die before you can stun it.
**As will half the agents trying to stun the damn thing in the first place.
*You'd wish you gave that mind controlled agent a Toxigun instead of a Dimension Missile Launcher.
*You'll encounter cloaked and flying Skeletoids much more often than you'd like to.
**Cloaking never works for you. Neither does flying, actually.
*Good stuff always comes too late.
**Personal teleporters do not exist.
*Psi attacks are only successful when they're not necessary.
*Dynamic music always ignores what you're actually doing.
*That agent you sent to scout ahead will always be the one without a motion scanner.
*Every raid is a horrible decision between causing property damage and greed. Either way, you lose.
*The agent with a Mind Bender won't see the enemy <s>until he's standing right next to it</s> at all. Period.
*You will forget to capture a live Micronoid aggregate.
*Toxigun ammo, Vortex mines and Personal Shields come in only two varieties: "not enough" and "none".
*Anthropods, More likely than not, will just spaz out and spew out Brainsuckers if they have brainsucker launchers in turnbased, and, more likely than not, they'll haul brainsucker launchers.
*Nobody expects the alien inquisition
*Whenever there's an explosion, It'll be next to a chain of, like 5 other explosive objects. Good for clearing out enemies, Bad for Xcom insurance rates.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Strategic (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*When you need §§§ the most, the US and Russia (which you have satellite coverage over) will pull out of the XCOM project.
*Your satellites will always be available one day too late to prevent a country from withdrawing.
**Even if it shows up before "Council Report" on the event list.
*When you do have satellites available, you will never have enough Satellite Uplink/Nexus space for them.
*When you do have Satellite Uplink/Nexus, you will never have enough satellites.
*If you have one more satellite to go before getting a continent's bonus, that last country will pull out of the XCOM project.
**The one continent's bonus you don't want to get? The aliens will ignore that continent.
*You will always be at least §1 short of buying the next level of armor/weapons for all your troops.
*If a Colonel can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it.
**If a Rookie can be checked for having the Psi gift, he won't have it either. Sorry 'bout that.
**The sixth soldier to be checked (guaranteed to have the Psi gift) will be the lowest rank possible.
**That soldier will die on the first mission you send them on.
*Your interceptor will always lose contact 0.1 seconds before the enemy UFO is destroyed.
*Your interceptor will blow up one round of fire exchange after you press the Abort button.
*Your interceptor will miss every shot.
**The UFO will have perfect aim and land every single hit.
***After an interceptor lands a few hits on a Supply Barge it's shot down. So you sortie another interceptor and it's shot down/loses contact without hitting the damaged UFO even once.
*Just a bit more than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Just a bit less than a day from getting your Colonel out of the medbay? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Fast forwarding will result in the Terror Mission succeeding for the aliens before you can react to your Colonel getting out of the medbay.
*Just a bit more than a day before your latest and greatest research completes? Time for a Terror Mission!
*Any other time it's inconvenient? Time for a Terror Mission!
**Followed by abductions less than 24 hours later.
***Followed by a council mission less than 24 hours later.
****Followed by a Battleship coming to destroy your satellite less than 24 hours later.
*****Oh, you recently finished the Hyperwave Uplink? Here, have the Overseer UFO, 12 hours after that battleship.
******On the same continent as your surely-damaged Firestorm.
*******And once you lose ''that''... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Steam vents will be placed in inconvenient locations.
**Second floor steam vents will block your 2x2 Satellite Uplink block.
***The remaining steam vents will be on the 4th floor.
****In the corner.
*****Behind 3 solid squares of rock.
******The vent's spot is also solid rock.
*Research or Foundry upgrades will be completed one day after a critical mission appears.
*The only way you can afford the next item or facility you need, is to sell materials on the grey market.
**Specifically, just enough to not have the materials left to build it.
*When the option to start researching the various Plasma Weapons becomes available, you will not have enough Weapon Fragments.
**Heavy Floaters will also start appearing on your next mission.
**You'll also be trying to research the Firestorm.
*You will forget to equip your shiny new weapon.
**If not, your save (or at least when you last saved) may forget for you.
* .......................... Time for a Terror Mission!
*Oh, three steam vents all set up for awesome adjacency bonus! Too bad that two of them are directly underneath the Satellite Uplink!
*The only time you mis-click when accusing a country of hosting the EXALT Base, is when that country provided the most money.
**It is also the eighth country to leave!
***On Impossible difficulty.
****Ironman Mode was also on.
*****And you decided that right after you destroy the EXALT Base, you would go right on ahead and assault the Temple Ship!
******Not that you would have survived, anyways, everybody was panicking!
*Special: If you're trying to test something for this very 'paedia, the situation you're after will never occur.
**Instead, something else will happen that will give you another idea to test. Guess what will happen then.

==[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)|Tactical (Enemy Unknown)]]==
*If a soldier's chance to hit is <99%, he will miss.
**Especially if the target is at 1 HP.
***Doubly so if that's your last action for the turn.
****Exponentially so, proportional to how dangerous the target is. Like a Sectopod that's now flanking several soldiers.
*If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, he won't do enough damage to kill the alien.
**If a soldier's chance to hit is 100%, the game will glitch and turn that full-face Alloy Cannon blast into a spray of harmless confetti.
*The left mouse button is context sensitive; it will always do exactly what you didn't want it to.
*If a soldier's a heavy, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy.
**The range and blast radius of a heavy's rocket launcher will be a few tiles away from the nearest alien.
***Your heavy will never be in range to fire off a rocket.
*If a soldier's a sniper, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy FOR MOST OF THE GAME.
**A sniper will have squad sight on either a heavily wooded UFO crash/landing sight or a Terror Mission with one or two buildings that cover the entire map.
*If a soldier's an assault, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy EVEN AT POINT BLANK RANGE.
**If you activate Rapid Fire, both shots will miss a point blank Sectopod (who has only eight health bars left) despite the second shot's hit chance being 85%.
*If a soldier's a support, he/she is going to have terrible accuracy WITH ANYTHING BUT A S.C.O.P.E. AND A LIGHT PLASMA RIFLE.
*If an alien's chance to hit is >1%, he will hit.
**If an alien's chance to hit is <1%, he will destroy your full cover.
*If an alien's mind control chance is >1%, it will work.
*When aiming at an Ethereal with the last shot of your turn, it will reflect it.
**''Especially'' if that soldier has only 1 HP.
*If the vehicle that your soldier is dashing to for cover can be set on fire, it will be.
**That is, if the soldier survives the alien Overwatch shot that will set the vehicle on fire.
***If so, then the vehicle's explosion will finish him/her off.
****Not to forget that this specific soldier, was your Colonel who had been with you since the first mission.
*Your soldier will always have the exact amount of health for a vehicle to blow him up.
*You will always reveal new enemies on your last move of the turn.
**Who will then take up flanking positions behind anyone who dashed.
*The more soldiers who perform an Overwatch reaction shot against a single alien, the more likely they will all miss.
**Soldiers who hit the alien will barely kill the alien.
***The alien, in turn, will kill your highest-ranking soldier.
****After killing the highest-ranking soldier, the other aliens will come in and mop everyone else up.
*When you have your whole squad on overwatch they will all shoot one floater.
**And then all die to his Chryssalid buddy.
*Your Revive spec medic will always be the one critically wounded.
*When trying to capture a commander with one stunner, he will be the one MCed,
*Aliens will always hit soldier's hunkering down behind high cover.
**The alien will do just enough damage to not kill him, but to cause him to panic.
***The panicking soldier will kill a soldier and start a panic chain.
*Panicking soldiers will always have 100% to hit.
*Smoke grenades will always improve alien accuracy.
**Mutons and Floaters will always throw grenades into smoke.
*If a soldier can panic, it will.
**Soldiers that panic will aim for the highest ranking officer he can see.
***Even behind high cover, on a higher elevation, and covered by a smoke grenade, a panicking rookie will still be able to kill the "protected" Colonel.
*Rockets will always fly off target.
**ESPECIALLY when you squad is surrounded by explosive vehicles and forklifts.
***At a gas station
****Then everything will explode
***** Then everything will explode and everyone will panic
******Even your SHIVs
*******And they will shoot your highest-ranked soldier
********And he will die
*********He will also have the psionic gift
**********He also has one of the highest starting and leveling Will/Aim scores you ever got, in any playthrough.
***********And he/she will also be named after you.
************And he/she will be carrying your only medkit.
*Aliens will position themselves right outside the radius of a grenade throw.
**If a grenade can clip through and explode harmlessly under ground while you are trying to aim it, it will.
*When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will not be with you.
**When it is time to face Sectopods or Cyberdiscs, your HEAT ammo heavies will miss every shot.
*When it is time to face Muton Elites, your psionics will not be with you.
*Your soldiers are always one grid point away from moving to safely flank an alien.
*When a large UFO lands and you assault with your elite squad you will fight 3 Floaters, 3 Sectoids and a Sectoid Commander.
*When a moderate alien abduction comes up and you assault with a squad comprised of your Col. Sniper, squaddies, and rookies for training purposes, you will fight 9 Mutons (who will each throw their grenades asap), a Cyberdisc, and 2 Drones you just can't seem to hit.
*Even when you use the rookie to scout ahead, he will always stumble on no less than every enemy on the map on a single turn, who will then, with most of the laws stated above, wipe your elite squad before you can say Jenkins.
*You decide to research offensive tech first and the Arc Thrower later only to find that Sectoids have been removed from the alien roster. But after killing 7 Mutons on a map you decide to zap the last two for their weapons only to have the last group be a trio of Sectoids.
*The Overseer will only appear when you have no Firestorms.
**When you build your firestorm with dodge matrix, fusion lance, and uplink targeting, the Overseer will appear in the continent your new Firestorm is NOT stationed in
*Your MCed alien will always run out of usable turns before they can bust the asses off of some of their little alien friends.
**ALWAYS
***Especially on the final mission of the entire game.
*MCed aliens will always activate no less than two squads that were just behind them.
*Your sniper with Snap Shot will never be useful for anything, ever.
*Your sniper with Squadsight will never be in a good position.
**And when he is, a tree will block his line of sight to finish off that one alien flanking your soldiers.
*The alien with a grenade will go first. He will toss the grenade , without moving, negating any troopers on Overwatch, and removing cover from you forward trooper.
**Next alien will kill your now-exposed trooper.
***You will then have to wait 2-3 minutes for the other 9 or so Aliens to take their turn and batter your remaining troops.
****Also, it's been 5 rounds since you last saved.
*The range for a soldier flying with Archangel Armor will always be "One less than it takes to get into cover, or out of range."
*On a Battleship raid, there will always be one alien that runs away, forcing you to have to chase them down.
**Backwards.
*The game has no problem sending and activating every alien squad in an Abductor or Supply Barge at you in 1 turn.
**If not, that's because the high-level alien squad somehow noticed you from the other side of the ship.
*The council mission reward will always be either what you don't need, or not enough of what you do.
*When fighting Thin Men, you will always activate 2 squads at a time.
*When fighting Floaters, they will always Launch to flank just tiles away from your Sniper. No soldier will be close enough to help her.
*When fighting Mutons, you will activate a squad ''after'' you have finished moving at least two soldiers. Who you placed right next to each other.
**If you think two soldiers were just far enough apart to not both be hit by 1 grenade: turns out they weren't.
***Both of their cover is now gone, fyi.
*When fighting Chryssalids, they will always be at least close enough to hit your soldiers from a diagonal tile, if not closer.
*When fighting Cyberdiscs, when they are open, your hardest-hitting soldier will not be able to attack them.
**Because it opened up to kill said soldier in the previous turn.
*When fighting Sectopods, the answer to "Which soldier are they going to fire at?" The answer is always "the one taking cover behind something explosive."
**On the rare chance that it's Chest Cannon misses, the shot will still hit something explosive.
***Specifically, something that another soldier is taking cover behind.
****Whom it will then fire upon.
*When fighting a Sectopod, after your two troops have been battered by both Chest Cannon blasts despite being behind full cover and in the middle of a smoke grenade cloud, one moves and triggers a Reaction Shot.
*When fighting an Ethereal, it will either:
**Be in a different room than usual.
**Become activated when you pass within 10 feet of the door.
**Become activated when your last turn is to MC an Elite Muton or Heavy Floater that would be flanking it's buddies.
***Which it will then immediately kill.
*Your first shot with a shiny new weapon will miss.
*Despite bipods being visible on several weapons, your soldiers do not seem to recognise their existence for steadying and making more accurate shots.
*Your Support with Sprint and a Skeleton Suit or Ghost Armor will always be one movement short of saving a civilian.
*Your soldier will make a crazy-ass, low-percentage, gun-pointing-the-wrong-way-for-some-reason Overwatch shot with your currently-most powerful weapon.... on a wounded Sectoid.
*At the point in the game when you have all continents armed with Firestorms all with Fusion Lances (Highly unlikely, especially considering the laws above) that is the only time when the Aliens give up on sending the big UFOs and start sending small scouts
*On a Battleship raid, you send in a rookie to investigate the main room, thus activating all 20+ Aliens who just "happened" to spawn in there. They will then all hide, and when you think yourself so clever for taking up positions for multi-pronged attack on the main room, it turns out, they were all on Overwatch.
**And yes, each Alien is just so positioned so that each one of your soldiers will have a chance to get shot at.
***This will occur more often on Ironman Mode.
****On Impossible Difficulty.
*****It turns out, this was also supposed to be the day that you got the only Psionic Soldier you ever found got strong enough to become the volunteer.
******Afterwards, the game will glitch so that you will never find another Psionic Soldier in your whole playthrough
*******Not that it matters, your entire elite squad got wiped out, when they had all their fancy armor and weapons.
*"Don't shoot the Elerium, don't shoot the Elerium---- shit."
**"Don't blow up the power source, don't blow up the power source ---- crap."
***"Blow power source! Blow! Blow! ---- come on!"
*Your soldier will miss the alien and shoot the meld instead.
**Especially if you have them flanked.
*When your favorite soldier gets critically injured, you clear out the Muton Elite that hurt him. Too bad there is a group of sectoids all the way across the map.
**It will take a full turn of dashing for your Sprinter support in a Skeleton Suit to reach them
***They will all proceed to hide behind full cover just out of your sight.
****When you finally see them for your Squadsight Sniper with Double Tap will hit two of them, however, there are three sectoids
*****Not that it matters, they were all on overwatch, and considering the laws above, they will all get critical shots on your soldier, and kill her
******That is, IF you find them.
*Have Frag Grenades? Any aliens in range will have four HP left.
**Alien Grenades or Mind Fray? Six.
***And it will be your only viable action: any attempts at firing a gun will miss.
****C'mon: it's not even out yet, but you just ''know'' that the only time you'll have the Needle Grenade with you, aliens WILL take cover in such a way that only ONE would be affected by it at any time.
*****That alien will also have four HP left.
*Speaking of Enemy Within: you shall soon become familiar with the sound of exploding Meld canisters.
**Which is Dr. Vahlen annoying voiceover.
*Two words: naughty tentacles.
*Alien: "You brought a soldier with a Med-kit, I'll just Critically wound him then..."
*"Ooh look, the last meld canister.. and..... that's a group of Muton Elites... And a Cyberdisc... or three"
*Need 5 more Meld? Check out that Heavy Floater with only one health left!
**Looks like it's running away, no biggie, you'll just follow it.
***And activate its Mechtoid Buddies!
*While you are almost finished with Confounding Light, you have one turn left to activate the train, too bad the only soldier that can make it is being Overwatch-camped by that Muton who was just air-dropped.
**Even though that move would have required a dash!
***He was also an assault that was gonna get promoted that mission. Guess which Rank.
*The mission where your Squaddie Sniper levels up is alaways the mission that Sqaud Sight would have been supremely useful for.
*Don't EVER pick favorites, they'll just die anyways
*"Ok, gene mod do-- mission, ok, reload to get my soldier. OK, mission done, now to gene mo-- damnit, 'nother mission... ok, done, finally. Allright---- oh come the fuck on, Council, I'm busy here! Now what do you waaa'''AAAHHFUCKCHRYSSALIDS!!'''"
*Yes, Meld Canisters provide full cover. If you're actually using them for that, you have only yourself to blame.
*Enemy Within. Because Sectopods really needed the ability to outright ignore half of all incoming damage.
**AND be able to freely and deliberatley target your cover: "That'ssssssssssssssssssss a nice wall you got there~!"
*Your Heavy will never be in a good spot to launch a mission/life-saving rocket.
**Eventually, you'll fire it, because "might as well."
***'''Then''', and only then, on the ''next'' turn, will they be in the perfect situation to fire that shot you just wasted.
*Training Roulette:
**You'll either get abilites that're near-useless to that class, or
**You'll get high-tier abilities on the same Ranking, forcing you to choose between them.
***Doubly so if they're abilites that would otherwise work well together.
****The game will also pick the most useless skill for that soldier when he gets promoted to Major, like close combat specialist on your sniper.
*Damage Roulette:
**Any time you need to do ''just enough'' damage to weaken an alien so that you have the maximum capture chance, you'll kill it instead. Maybe even crit it.
**Any time you need to ''very definitely'' kill an alien (like the Chryssalid that wants to eat your Medic) you'll knock it down to 1hp.
***The chance of this occurring increases significantly if this is the last action of your turn.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your soldiers they'll do the maximum possible damage, especially if they're in cover and not flanked.
**Any time the aliens shoot at your SHIVs they'll do the minimum possible damage... unless that SHIV is being used '''as''' cover.
*Hey, see that high-ground, full cover spot right over there? That looks like a ''great'' place to attack those aliens from. Go on over, pal.
**Whoops, now they're out of line-of-sight. Tough break there, buddy.
*If you find yourself needing Revive, you're doing something wrong. Too bad you always need it thanks to all of the laws stated above.
*After spending some 3-5 rounds setting up a nice blitzkrieg for the bridge of a UFO, ''just'' when you're ready to open the door, the alien CO pod will 'teleport' either halfway across the map, or in the perfect spot to counterattack.
**This includes any other escorting pods, after the CO pod takes the Alien turn to open every door, revealing every soldier.
*The soldier with the arc-thrower will always be in the opposite direction that an alien you're trying to capture decides to run in.
**Followed by spending the rest of the mission chasing the alien like the LAPD. Benny Hill theme optional, but recommended.
*The international symbol of the red cross on med kits is apparently the Inter''galatic'' symbol for "Shoot me first."
*Any UFO that crashes into the ocean will be in a heavily forested area.
*The last alien alive will be a cloaked Seeker, that is now panicked and running away, in a large map. Good #&@%ing luck finding it.
**Or hasn't panicked, but it's a Terror Mission and the lone Seeker's AI has decided to kill as many civilians as possible before going after your agents. But if you split the team up to rescue more at once...
*If an alien hides behind something explosive, one of several things will keep you from taking advantage of it:
**Either you don't want to blow up the object,
**Or a soldier is in the blast zone,
***Especially if they're out of move, or there's no other safe place to move to.
**Or you don't want to destroy it's equipment/fragments.
**Or two of the above.
**Or all three.
*The farther and more obtusely placed a Meld canister is, the more likely it is that stray fire will destroy it from the other end of the map.
*Trying to overwatch-spam to let Adaptive Bone Marrow heal non-armor HP? Here, have a crit to the face.
**Courtesy of that wounded Sectoid that either only took 1 step into your POV, or didn't move at all.
*You will have the perfect Overwatch trap set up.
**You will have a pod you didn't know was there walk into it.
***You will batter the approaching aliens to a bloody pulp.
****You will have the game lock up in Alien Activity.
*****You will have your last save be just before this. Any attempt to Overwatch Trap again will result in a lock up, again.
*Your full 6-man team of one specific nationality will be carved up by an Ethereal MCing half of them and deflecting all your plasma shots.

==[[Long_War|Long War]]==
*You will always learn the hard way what new perks and Gene Mods the dev team has given the aliens.
**To wit: Jumping Berserkers.
*Even if you did have the muscle to take down Abductors, their flight path will only be long enough to send one interceptor against them.
**If at all.
*If you feel you're doing well: your confidence is ill-deserved.
**The alien pod with two Mechtoids, a Sectopod, several drones, and a Sectoid Commander on the other side of that door will gladly demonstrate this.
***Followed by the mixed Muton pack that just came up behind you.
****And then by those cyberdiscs that decided to say hi.
*The first two shots in Air Combat will always be critical hits.... on your interceptor.
*There are, essentially, three results to Air Combat: the UFO crash lands, it DOAs, or your interceptor is KIA.
**The result that ''will'' happen will be one of the two that you don't want.
*The first alien base will always appear (and remove a Council country from) the continent who's bonus you were hoping to get next.
*When you need meld the most, the game will glitch out and think you are doing good for some reason... so you will only get 3 meld per canister.

==[[The_Bureau:_XCOM_Declassified|Combat (The Bureau)]]==
*The agent you sent forward to flank one alien will then be fired upon by EVERY alien.
**Any agent sent forward will be flanked. Twice.
*Any attempt to make a Sectopod turn around (so you can hit it's weak point) will fail to make it turn sufficiently, if at all.
*You'll run out of ammuntion at the worst possible time.
**That includes just reloading, and flat-out running out of bullets alltogether.
*Even if you're replaying, you'll fail to notice the new weapon, or ammo sachel, that would have been really useful in the skirmish you just barely won a few seconds ago.
*There are the best kinds of weapon for a job, when entering a new skirmish. You will not be carrying it.
*You forgot to check a side-path, and just passed a checkpoint: and now you can't go back to check for ammo or backpack schematics.
**By the way, you'll need that ammo in about 5 seconds.
*Even though Battle Focus slows down time, and it's just one click, it still won't be enough time to finish hitting Heal and save an agent from dying.
**That goes double if the Agent in question is Carter.
*Like any other XCOM: An alien's location is ''always'' equal to: grenade toss range, plus explosion area, plus "just enough to not get caught in the blast."
**Meanwhile, aliens toss like they pitch for the Dodgers.
*When attepting to interact with something, the θ of the angle that will allow you to do so is inverse to how ugently you need to do it.
*The agent ability you need right now? You still need to wait for it to reload.
**When it does load, the only aliens left on the field are Sectoids and low-level Zudjari.
***When, out of frustration, you use the ability to finish off the weakling: that's when the second wave of aliens shows up.
**** They are led by a Commander, or Muton (Elite), or Sectopod, or Gunship.
*When attempting to snipe, the alien will always move at the last second.
*The distance between an agent and a Muton will aways be less than the length of it's arm.
*Alien shields and heals ''will'' go up in the span of time between firing a kill shot, and when it would've hit.
*God help you if you have a wireless keyboard/mouse, and haven't charged the battery in the last 24 hours.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Strategic)]]==
*Shen's dead, baby. Shen's dead.
*You will get greedy in going for the random supply discoveries, and forget to progress with Resistance activities.
*You will start building your resistance network.... in the wrong direction to the closest Blacksite.
*You will get a priority mission JUST before completing a scan.
*The rare time a soldier gets a cross-class training Perk... it'll be something useless for how you play that soldier.
**And you'll already have six people lined up for retraining.
*A mission will appear when you have just over a day remaining to finish picking up your supply drop.
**This will leave you 1 supply short of being able to buy that fancy weapon/armor upgrade you just finished researching.
***If it doesn't, that's because you don't have enough alloys or elerium anyway.
****Also you don't have enough intel to buy any from the black market.
*****Not that it would matter if you did since the Gone to Ground dark event is active.
*You will get the Resistance Network card just after you finish making contact with all the regions you wanted/needed to.

==[[XCOM2|XCOM 2 (Tactical)]]==
*You will be distracted by Snek Tits at inopportune moments.
*Sectopods are basically Metal Gears now. Have fun with that.
**[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrkzIN2eP0U muffled nuclear in background]]
*Hours worth of careful sneaking will be ruined by an unfriendly civvie walking around the corner.
*The procedurally generated map for that critical mission will be as follows:
**ADVENT stronghold: a high-terrain fortress with turrets, high cover, and choke points.
**Your cover: cars.
*If the Sectoid on the map decides to mind control anyone, it will be your Ranger
**You will always be in slashing distance of this Ranger
***The Ranger will always be your Blademaster
*The one time you get 4 damage with a grenade is on the soldier that drops loot
*Your Repeater won't activate on a Berserker but it will sure as hell execute a basic soldier
*You will never get Blacksite Intel drops
**Particularity when the Doom Counter is nearly full.
*** When you do get one: expect the next site to be somewhere you've already made contact with.
* You will learn that the game has chests with random loot in them only after finishing Legendary Ironman run.
*The Alien Leaders will always spawn on a timed escort mission.
**Doubly so if the 'reduce turn limit' Dark Event is active.
*Bringing rookies on a guerilla op? Wouldn't it be fun for the Chosen to arrive?
*if you have multiple people flanking the Chosen assassin, they are all in perfect position to be hit by Harbor wave.
*the shot that would kill the Chosen will never hit.
*if your ranger can kill a muton with a slash, that muton will kill your ranger by deflecting it.
**in the off chance you DO kill the muton, you will activate another pod in the process.
***the pod is more mutons.
*If a hack has < 100% to succeed, it will fail.
**If the hack reward would be something useful (like a permanent hacking stat increase), it will not even be close.
***This will be true even though you're using a Colonel Specialist with a mark 3 GREMLIN and a Skulljack with Skullmining researched.
*On a mission to rescue/kidnap a VIP from an ADVENT vehicle, the enemy pod will always take up positions directly between you and the vehicle. Any attempt to shoot them will miss, blow up the vehicle, and kill the VIP.
**If the pod contains a Purifier, it will use the VIP's vehicle as cover.
*Your grappling hook will let you grapple to every tile EXCEPT the full cover one you want to stand in.
*The first Chosen you encounter will have Low Profile and Kinetic Plating as their strengths. Their weakness will be Groundling. There will be no high ground anywhere near them.
*You will get the Warlock down to 1 HP at the end of your turn. On his turn, he will use Spectral Army.
*Every shot your Shredder spec'd grenadier takes against any target with armor will miss.
*If Whiplash has < 100% to hit, it will miss.
**If it somehow hits anyway, the target will dodge.
*In preparation to fight the Archon King, you set up your Reaper with Banish, Superior Repeater + Superior Expanded Mag + Stock, and Insider Knowledge. You engage the King comfortable in the knowledge that this gives you a 79% chance to insta-kill it. Guess what happens.
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]
[[Category:TFTD]]
[[Category: Apocalypse]]
[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]
[[Category: Bureau (2013)]]

Talk:Main Page

2019-12-16T16:08:39Z

SpeedofDeath118: /* XCOM 2 section problems */ new section

'''Welcome To All Rookies'''

This is the place to talk/ask about general issues concerning the wiki and hopefully someone will answer/reply to them.

Specific game questions should be asked on the game's individual talk pages.

For new users, in order to reduce spam you'll need to register to be able to edit pages.

To start a new topic simply press the '''edit''' button above. Then place your <nowiki>==Topic Name==</nowiki> like it is written here.
* To add a line you can either type <nowiki>----</nowiki> or use the buttons that appear on the edit screen.
* If replying to an existing topic use colons '''<nowiki>:</nowiki>''' before your answer
* Don't forget to sign your posts in the talk pages by typing '''<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>''' at the end.
* Finally when creating/editing wiki articles have a look at the [[Guidelines to writing articles|guidelines]] page.

That's it. Happy editing!
----

Old articles have been moved to [[Talk:Main Page/Archive]] for later perusal.

__TOC__

==Server Move==
In the near future we're going to move to a new server (hosted by NineX) because of the constant site outages and other technical/security issues that have been affecting the wiki since the last year. NineX currently hosts the OpenXCom forums and site, so I feel that it will be a good move since the OpenXCom community has been the most active in keeping the old XCom games alive.

However we're still not sure if we're gonna be able to keep the old domain (www.ufopaedia.org) or if it will be necessary to move to a new one, and ask everybody to update their links. We're trying to keep the old domain, but right now the choice is to be between keeping things as they currently are, or get the technical/security issues fixed and get back the wiki properly working, even if that means losing the domain and the traffic.

I personally prefer the 2nd option since we need a wiki that is 100% available for both consulting and editing information, like it did in the past. [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] ([[User talk:Hobbes|talk]]) 14:17, 25 January 2018 (UTC)
==Temporary Domain==
We completed the server move thanks to NineX, who also upgraded the wiki's software. The process required that we moved temporarily to a new domain, ufopaedia.info, but we'll return to our old domain, ufopaedia.org, as soon as the process is complete. Thanks for your patience :) [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] ([[User talk:Hobbes|talk]]) 21:40, 28 January 2018 (CET)

Migration finished. ufopaedia.info is redirecting to ufopaedia.org.
Mediawiki software have been upgraded to latest version , and whole site audited. [[User:NineX|NineX]] ([[User talk:NineX|talk]]), 13:27, 31 January 2018 (CET)

==Piratez in featured projects?==
It seems out of place that piratez has it's own table on the UFOpedia, and uses (Piratez) to distinguish its own pages, but is not listed on the featured projects. Going to add it if nobody objects. The rationale for adding Long War in this talk pages history (Huge makeover of the original version) pretty much goes doubly so for piratez. [[User:Greep|Greep]] ([[User talk:Greep|talk]]) 21:57, 5 May 2019 (CEST)
:Only admins can edit Featured Projects. And I object to it.
:I proposed to add Long War because it was the only major mod available to EU/EW, and even got recognition and compliments made by Firaxis (with Jake Solomon joking that he was the guy that designed LW's beta), which was then extended to hiring the LW team to make official XCOM 2 mods for the game's release. So LW is really something special that deserved to get its own recognition.
:Piratez is just one of several total conversions available for OpenXCom, and the intent is not to list all mod projects on Featured Projects, Because then X-Files, Hardmode or Area 51 would also qualify, being also expansions on their own right, although without Piratez's popularity.
:Not to mention that there are other current XCom games like XCOM 2 that have also their own mods. So, if Piratez is added, what happens if someone else from another XCOM game, or current projects being developed like OpenApoc, decides to ask for his major mod to be added?
:The primary intent of this wiki is the XCOM games, and Featured Projects is a way to recognize the hard work and dedication of a few fan projects, OpenXCom being one of them - and if you add Piratez then you're basically saying that Piratez is at the same level as OpenXCom, when Piratez wouldn't exist if there wasn't OpenXCom to begin with.
:Finally, pages with their own suffix (Whatever) don't necessarily translate into Featured Projects, check the existing Interceptor and the Enforcer pages, it's more of a matter of internal page categorization. [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] ([[User talk:Hobbes|talk]]) 23:23, 5 May 2019 (CEST)
::: Ah okay, but I'm not really convinced, this feels like a matter of scale. I'm not trying to get it added as a featured project because I'm a fan, it just doesn't seem right to not have it there regardless of those reasons. If you look at something like UFO:AI or OpenApoc, on the main featured bar, they're almost completed unupdated and tiny. If the idea is that Piratez should have it's place on this wiki, and not on it's own wiki, then it really should have a place on the main page. If it's not, why is it even on here with hundreds and hundreds of pages? I type in just about any search for x-com related things and see a bunch of piratez pages in the autocomplete. If X-Files, Hardmode, Area 51 had hundreds of pages on the wiki, I'd recommend adding them as well, though they don't. Anyways, just my thoughts, I won't push this anymore. [[User:Greep|Greep]] ([[User talk:Greep|talk]]) 01:53, 6 May 2019 (CEST)
:::Edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Orphan explains the argument more. It The piratez main page is a huge presence on the wiki, and is essentially unaccessable on the wiki. Which is just not what wikis are about. [[User:Greep|Greep]] ([[User talk:Greep|talk]]) 01:59, 6 May 2019 (CEST)
:::: There are a lot of interesting points in your reply, that I'll try to answer separately to those, since some I have already considered myself.
:::: UFO2000 and UFO:AI are dead projects, UFO2000 had its glory days more than 10 years ago (I was heavily involved with it) and it is playable (although hardly anyone plays it) and UFO:AI was never finished, so there's really an argument there whether both should still be on Featured Projects. OpenApoc on the other hand is actively being developed right now, they have their own Discord channel and it might take a while, but the general feeling is that one day it will reach 1.0 status, like OpenXCom did.
:::: Piratez section on its wiki grew up by itself out of the OpenXCom until now, Dioxine or anyone ever asked permission, that I recall, but since we got the space and it is XCom related, no one objected, and the community is pretty supportive of each other's projects.
:::: If by Auto-Complete you mean Google's search bar then the reason why you get so much Piratez results associated with XCom is because it uses your past search history and page views. I don't get any Piratez results when I search for XCom things because I don't play Piratez (and I don't play LW or LW2 also, but I suggested that they should be added because of their importance).
:::: And this brings me to another important point, which is that Piratez includes content that some people don't really think belongs in an XCom game, namely it being about space pirates, slaves and mutants against aliens, and with the nudity involved. I know it takes place in an alternate universe where XCom lost the war, but if Firaxis announced that XCOM 3 followed Piratez setting, there would be a huge fan backlash because XCom has almost always been about an international, semi-clandestine organization of humans fighting aliens, and never required nudity to be atractive. Piratez setting and aesthetics appeal to a lot of people but to a lot of others it doesn't, even inside the OpenXCom community.
:::: And for instance, I'm the lead developer of Area 51 that was mentioned before, and while it expands the base UFO: Defense game like EW or LW did, if not more, I do not think it should be on Featured Projects because of all the reasons I mentioned before. As a developer I'd love it to be more publicized, but here I need to think first as a wiki administrator, and like I said before, this is an XCOM wiki since it was created 15 years ago, not an OpenXCom one. If this was a wiki dedicated to OXC, then Piratez, Area 51, Tech-Comm (another total conversion I'm working based on the Terminator universe), Warhammer 40k, Dune, and all other major projects, XCom based or not, would belong here, but it isn't.
:::: Finally, we're not talking here about a single orphan article. Orphan articles mean that they can only be accessed by searching the wiki since there aren't any links to them anywhere. Piratez can be accessed through here https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Mods_(OpenXcom). The issue really is that you think Piratez should be more advertised on the wiki by adding it to Featured Projects, but as I said before, it is questionable whether it deserves to get that sort of attention on an XCOM wiki. [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] ([[User talk:Hobbes|talk]]) 05:37, 6 May 2019 (CEST)
::::: Heh, well in any case, looks like someone else added it to featured projects about a year ago: it's just on the featured projects at the very bottom of the page, along with all the other featured projects but with piratez squeezed in haha. Somewhat tangential but a bit on topic: Maybe the front page should just have a section at the top listing all the relevant games on the wiki? I remember like a decade ago when it was just the 1994 version/TFT and Apoc and the main page was very organized and clear, but it's really not now what with the tables of nearly every game on the wiki on the main page and some random lists in random places. Case in point: Piratez is already considered a featured mod by someone and neither of us noticed until this point, nor did I know even enforcer or these other spinoffs existed that you mentioned earlier existed or were on the wiki at all. In any case, glad to have talked this out. [[User:Greep|Greep]] ([[User talk:Greep|talk]]) 11:21, 6 May 2019 (CEST)
::::: Bluh, one last point, I promise. I think maybe your having made/worked on a huge mod might be influencing your decision: you make it sound like it'd be a bad thing if all OpenXcom mods were featured and I don't think this would even be bad at all. E.g. a lot of games wikis list basically all the relevant large mods for the game in a very visible place. Example: https://rimworldwiki.com/wiki/Main_Page has a link to a list of pretty much every major mod visible up front without needing to scroll down. To me it just seemed odd specifically for piratez here since it also had a huge space on the wiki, but I don't see an issue with Area 51, Warhammer 40k, etc having a visible place.

== XCOM 2 section problems ==

Hi guys,

I've noticed that there's loads of problems in the XCOM 2 sections - misspellings, orphan pages, a lack of organisation, and so on. Even the term "MEC" was spelt wrong in a page title. I've been tackling a few of these issues, but I'm just thinking that this isn't worth having because Fandom have their own wiki at [https://xcom.fandom.com/wiki/XCOM_Wiki] and they've got nearly everything down already.

What are we trying to do here - dedicate this wiki to the old X-COM and a few mods (ahem, Long War), or adding in Firaxis's new XCOM grouping?

Just a question in editorial direction.

--[[User:SpeedofDeath118|SpeedofDeath118]] ([[User talk:SpeedofDeath118|talk]]) 17:08, 16 December 2019 (CET)

Dark Events (XCOM2)

2019-12-07T16:14:05Z

SpeedofDeath118: Completed the list of Dark Events

Dark Events are activities undertaken by the ADVENT administration to counteract XCOM operations. They will usually undertake 3 per month (2 at the start of the game) and you will have the option of preventing one of them with a Guerilla Operation.

One Dark Event per cycle is usually a "Hidden Event"; you will not know what it is. You can spend 20-30 Intel to reveal the Dark Event, but it is optional.

Dark Events are worked on in sequence, though not necessarily the sequence presented in the game. As such, it is possible to sometimes prevent more than one of the listed projects based on how you tackle them.

Most Dark Events last for a month, although some have instant effects once completed.

== Base Game Dark Events ==
*ADVENT Alloy Padding: Some ADVENT troops get an extra point of armor.
*Avatar Minor Breakthrough: 1 block of progress is instantly added to the Avatar project at a random location.
*Avatar Major Breakthrough: 2 blocks of progress are instantly added to the Avatar project at a random location.
*Hunt Avenger: A UFO is dispatched to hunt the Avenger; if it finds it, it will trigger an Avenger Defense mission.
*Infestation: Chryssalids spawn on every mission.
*Infiltrators: Faceless spawn on every mission, disguised as civilians.
*Resistance Mole: The Retaliation counter is reduced by two weeks.
*New Construction: The Alien Facility Construction counter is reduced by two weeks.
*Viper Rounds: Some ADVENT troops gain Venom Rounds, poisoning your troops if they are hit.
*ADVENT Midnight Raids: All recruiting costs doubled.
*ADVENT Rural Checkpoints: Next Supply Drop supplies reduced by 50%
*Alien Cypher: All Intel costs doubled.
*Rapid Response: Guaranteed ADVENT reinforcements on all Guerilla Ops.
*Show of Force: More enemy units are added to each mission.
*Vigilance: The size of alien detection radii is greatly increased.

== War of the Chosen Dark Events ==
The War of the Chosen DLC adds more Dark Events to the pool.

*Signal Jamming: Increases all scanning times for 6 weeks.
*Gone to Ground: Black Market is closed for 6 weeks, and must be rediscovered.
*Stiletto Rounds: ADVENT gain special rounds that inflict "Bleeding" status.
*Undying Loyalty: ADVENT have a chance to be reanimated as Psi Zombies when they die.
*Barrier: Enemy Tech and Psionic Defense are doubled.
*Made Whole: The Chosen no longer suffer from any weaknesses.
*ADVENT Sealed Armor: ADVENT become immune to fire, poison, acid and ice.
*Lightning Reflex: ADVENT Troopers have the Lightning Reflexes trait; that is, the first reaction shot against them each turn is guaranteed to miss.
*Collateral Damage: ADVENT troops carry more explosives.
*High Alert: You no longer start missions concealed.
*Lost World: The Lost may appear in any missions.
*The Collectors: The Chosen will capture operatives at every opportunity.
*Wild Hunt: The Chosen are more likely to appear in missions.
*ADVENT Bending Reed: ADVENT Stun Lancers have a chance to move after performing a melee attack.
*ADVENT Return Fire: Missed shots against ADVENT Officers and Priests will trigger return fire.
*Dark Tower: XCOM soldiers suffer greater losses to Will in combat.
*Loyalty Among Thieves: When any Chosen gain knowledge about XCOM, a portion is passed along to (one of: The Hunter, The Assassin, The Warlock) as well.
*Counterattack: ADVENT units have a chance to enter overwatch upon being revealed.
*Left Behind: All Covert Actions have a risk of a soldier being captured.
*Spider and Fly: There is a risk of ambush on all Covert Actions.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]

ADVENT Security Tower (XCOM2)

2019-12-07T15:56:56Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added lots of content

'''ADVENT Security Towers''' act as watchpoints in all ADVENT cities.

== Interaction with XCOM ==
ADVENT Security Towers produce detection radii, and can reveal concealed XCOM operatives if they step into their detection radius.

Specialists can remotely hack these towers with their GREMLINs to obtain different combat bonuses such as concealment, immunity to enemy attacks, and a variety of other skills, or various resources. If you successfully hack a tower you will obtain the bonus and disable the sight radius, but if you fail then you get the negative outcome for the hack. A failed hack will also break concealment.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT MEC (XCOM2)

2019-12-07T15:42:02Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added headlines, a link, and an autopsy section

The '''ADVENT MEC''' is an enemy unit in XCOM 2.They appear in the base game.

== Description ==
ADVENT MECs are fully automated units, with high health and heavy armor. Their Magnetic Cannon is substantially better than an [[ADVENT Trooper (XCOM2)|ADVENT Trooper's]] Magnetic Rifle, shredding a layer of Armour, and they're quite durable. They cannot use cover. ADVENT MECs are also armed with Micro Missiles, which are a trio of missiles that do medium damage, but have a wide area of effect and destroy cover very well. They can jump over walls and onto roofs.

== Tactics ==
Shredding the armor from a MEC through explosives or other means will make it a lot easier to destroy. As fully mechanized units, MECs are immune to psionic attacks that affect minds like Insanity, but are vulnerable to the Specialist's Haywire Protocol ability, Bluescreen Rounds, and EMP Bombs.

== Advanced Forms ==
ADVENT MECs will be replaced by ADVENT Heavy MECs later in the campaign. Heavy MECs are painted deep red and have improved stats and an additional salvo of missiles, but are otherwise the same.

== Autopsy ==
As a mechanical unit, its autopsy is called a "Breakdown".

It reveals that these units are intended for urban pacification purposes. Their weaponry in normal states is disguised, and it runs facial scans on crowds at microsecond intervals.

The GREMLIN MK2 is unlocked from this project, and Proving Grounds get a new project called "Bluescreen Protocol", which in turn unlocks Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Grenades.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Mech (XCOM2)

2019-12-07T15:30:44Z

SpeedofDeath118: SpeedofDeath118 moved page ADVENT Mech (XCOM2) to ADVENT MEC (XCOM2): Misspelling of 'MEC' - old name was 'Mech'

#REDIRECT [[ADVENT MEC (XCOM2)]]

ADVENT MEC (XCOM2)

2019-12-07T15:30:44Z

SpeedofDeath118: SpeedofDeath118 moved page ADVENT Mech (XCOM2) to ADVENT MEC (XCOM2): Misspelling of 'MEC' - old name was 'Mech'

ADVENT MECs are fully automated units, with high health and heavy armor. Their Magnetic Cannon is substantially better than an ADVENT trooper's Magnetic Rifle, shredding a layer of Armour, and they're quite durable. They cannot use cover. ADVENT MECs are also armed with Micro Missiles, which are a trio of missiles that do medium damage, but have a wide area of effect and destroy cover very well. They can jump over walls and onto roofs.

Shredding the armor from a MEC through explosives or other means will make it a lot easier to destroy. As fully mechanized units, MECs are immune to psionic attacks that affect minds like Insanity, but are vulnerable to the Specialist's Haywire Protocol ability, Bluescreen Rounds, and EMP Bombs.

ADVENT MECs will be replaced by ADVENT Heavy MECs later in the campaign. Heavy MECs are painted deep red and have improved stats and an additional salvo of missiles, but are otherwise the same.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)

2019-06-17T06:18:54Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added picture

The ADVENT Officer can be seen leading units of ADVENT Troopers.

== Info ==

{{Unit Stat Box (EU2012)
|picture=
[[File:XCOM2_ADVENT_Captain_(1).jpg|256px]]
|appears=Operation Gatecrasher
|hp=6/6/7/7
|aim=65/75/75/75
|defense=0/0/0/0
|will=50/60/60/60
|move=12/12/12/12
}}

ADVENT Officers are more durable than regular ADVENT Troopers, and they cannot be killed by a single assault rifle burst. Their Magnetic Rifle deals 3-4 damage, and they have a grenade to deal 2-3 damage shredding 1 armor.

Officers have the ability to Mark a target, making it easier to hit and encouraging all ADVENT units to focus fire on the target. This doesn't end their turn, so they can also fire at said target.

== Story relevance ==

ADVENT Officers are mostly notable as the first target you're required to Skulljack to progress the storyline. Note that skulljacking the Officer will cause a powerful enemy, the Codex, to spawn, so don't do it while in the middle of a firefight. Skullmining an officer after the initial Skulljack, however, will not spawn another Codex.

Their autopsy is required to advance the plot, and reveals that the Officer have an implant similar to the Commander's. It is linked to the alien Psionic Network, and sends the Commander's tactical data to the Officers, who then order the Troopers around. However, due to the Commander's rescue and removal from the Psionic Network, the data has decayed, causing the Officers to make occasionally make silly tactical errors.

The Proving Grounds are unlocked from this autopsy, and the new objective is to build the Skulljack and to Skulljack an Officer, as detailed above.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)

2019-06-17T06:16:57Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added stat box

The ADVENT Officer can be seen leading units of ADVENT Troopers.

== Info ==

{{Unit Stat Box (EU2012)
|appears=Operation Gatecrasher
|hp=6/6/7/7
|aim=65/75/75/75
|defense=0/0/0/0
|will=50/60/60/60
|move=12/12/12/12
}}

ADVENT Officers are more durable than regular ADVENT Troopers, and they cannot be killed by a single assault rifle burst. Their Magnetic Rifle deals 3-4 damage, and they have a grenade to deal 2-3 damage shredding 1 armor.

Officers have the ability to Mark a target, making it easier to hit and encouraging all ADVENT units to focus fire on the target. This doesn't end their turn, so they can also fire at said target.

== Story relevance ==

ADVENT Officers are mostly notable as the first target you're required to Skulljack to progress the storyline. Note that skulljacking the Officer will cause a powerful enemy, the Codex, to spawn, so don't do it while in the middle of a firefight. Skullmining an officer after the initial Skulljack, however, will not spawn another Codex.

Their autopsy is required to advance the plot, and reveals that the Officer have an implant similar to the Commander's. It is linked to the alien Psionic Network, and sends the Commander's tactical data to the Officers, who then order the Troopers around. However, due to the Commander's rescue and removal from the Psionic Network, the data has decayed, causing the Officers to make occasionally make silly tactical errors.

The Proving Grounds are unlocked from this autopsy, and the new objective is to build the Skulljack and to Skulljack an Officer, as detailed above.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)

2019-06-17T06:11:53Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added sections

The ADVENT Officer can be seen leading units of ADVENT Troopers.

== Characteristics and Abilities ==

They are more durable than regular ADVENT troopers, and they cannot be killed by a single assault rifle shot. Officers have the ability to Mark a target, making it easier to hit and encouraging all ADVENT units to focus fire on the target. This doesn't end their turn, so they can also fire at said target.

== Story relevance ==

ADVENT Officers are mostly notable as the first target you're required to Skulljack to progress the storyline. Note that skulljacking the Officer will cause a powerful enemy, the Codex, to spawn, so don't do it while in the middle of a firefight. Skullmining an officer after the initial Skulljack, however, will not spawn another Codex.

Their autopsy is required to advance the plot, and reveals that the Officer have an implant similar to the Commander's implant. It is linked to the alien Psionic Network, and send the Commander's tactical data to the Officers, who then order the Troopers around. However, due to the Commander's rescue and removal from the Psionic Network, the data has decayed, causing the Officers to make occasionally make stupid tactical errors.

The Proving Grounds are unlocked from this autopsy, and the new objective is to build the Skulljack and to Skulljack an Officer, as detailed above.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

Alien Hunters DLC (XCOM2)

2019-06-04T16:44:08Z

SpeedofDeath118: Incomplete edit

Alien Hunters is a DLC for XCOM 2. It adds a storyline mission, after which the Commander will encounter elite alien rulers randomly in missions. Defeating the alien rulers grants special weapons and items.

===Introduction===
The Avenger receives a garbled radio transmission that appears to bear the signature of the original Skyranger. Cleaning up the transmission reveals a voice that may be Dr. Vahlen's. Bradford authorises a mission to rescue Vahlen. Despite misgivings about her... extreme... research practices, her genius could be a huge asset to the resistance.

===Mission - Operation Regal Beast===
This mission appears early, after recovering the unique weapons from Big Sky's Skyranger. Bradford personally accompanies the squad on this mission. He is a Colonel Ranger with high HP and access to all Blademaster skills - usually far beyond what your squad normally has. The squad approaches the research site and quickly encounters Neonate Vipers, young Vipers with low HP, weak attacks, and no special abilities. Bradford's Reaper ability is extremely effective against these creatures, as they are weak but numerous. Explosives are also recommended.

As the squad proceeds through the facility they hear recordings from Vahlen about her research in to the original, unmodified genetic structure of the alien races. They also encounter displays detailing her creation of three "Ruler" aliens, called Subjects Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Further recordings describe alarmingly intelligent behaviour on their part, especially Subject Gamma.

Reaching the final chamber, the squad find a containment chamber that has been breached, with a body in the middle of it. They also hear the ungarbled transmission being broadcast - a warning that the test subjects have escaped and to stay away. Bradford decides that having come this far, he must know if the body in the containment cell is Vahlen's. Upon approaching the cell, Subject Gamma, the Viper King, ambushes the squad. A battle ensues, with the player learning first-hand how dangerous the Rulers are. After the Viper King is killed (unlikely even for a mid-game squad) or flees, the squad fully investigate the cell, finding that the body is not Vahlen's, and no trace of her is left.

===Alien Rulers===
Alien Rulers are formidable, worthy of being called bosses. As well as having incredible amounts of HP and decent firepower, they have changed and enhanced abilities based upon their original alien. For example, the Viper King spits freezing ice instead of poison, and his Bind has a 50% chance of knocking its victim unconscious.

Alien Rulers have the unique Ruler Reaction ability, where they will take an action for every action your soldiers take on your turn. This greatly complicates many strategies that would work against other aliens - for example, flanking them is very difficult, because they can move or attack the flanking soldier between moving in to position and firing. Balancing offense and defense is vital and challenging.

When an Alien Ruler takes enough damage they will summon a psi-gate and try to escape. If they make it to the gate, they will disappear and return in a later mission with less than maximum HP, proportional to how much they had when they escaped. In this way they can be whittled down and killed over several encounters.

===Unique Items===
The DLC allows the creation of 4 unique weapons designed to combat the alien rulers. Upon defeating the rulers, autopsying them gives access to unique, powerful armour sets. If any of these weapons of armour sets are equipped by a soldier who dies and the body is not recovered, they are permanently lost.

The unique weapons are all about disabling the Alien Rulers, nullifying their Ruler Reactions. Most can also be upgraded like their regular counterparts. They are:

*The '''Shadowkeeper''' - a pistol for Sharpshooters. The user is granted bonuses of 10 Aim and 15 Critical Chance. It also has the ability ''Shadowfall'' - a shot with 100% chance to hit, and granting Concealment to the shooter if the shot kills.
*The '''Hunter's Axe''' - a melee weapon for Rangers. The damage is one tier higher than a sword of the same level. It also has the ability ''Throw Axe'', where the Ranger throws an axe for lower damage, but as a free action.
*The '''Bolt Caster''' - a rifle equivalent, usable by Specialists, Rangers, and Rookies. It only carries one shot, but deals greater damage.
*

XCOM2 Table

2019-06-01T15:15:44Z

SpeedofDeath118: Fixed 'Heros' typo

<table style="padding-left:20px;">
<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
<td colspan = "5">
{| {{stdTable}} title = "XCOM2" width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| colspan = "5" | '''XCOM2'''
|-
|}
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="vertical-align: top;">
<td style="width:220px; border:1px gray solid;">
{| {{stdTable}} width="100%" style="border:none;"
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:XCOM2_Resistance_Logo.png|30px]] '''Overview'''
|-
| [[Info (XCOM2)|Game Information]]

: [[Difficulty (XCOM2)|Difficulty Levels]]

: [[Achievements (XCOM2)|Achievements]]

[[XCOM 2: War of the Chosen]]

|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:XCOM2_Resistance_Logo.png|30px]] '''[[Avenger (XCOM2)|The Avenger]]'''
|-
| [[Commander's Quarters (XCOM2)|Commander's Quarters]]

[[Bridge (XCOM2)|Bridge]]

[[Research (XCOM2)|Research]]

[[Engineering (XCOM2)|Engineering]]

[[Living Quarters (XCOM2)|Living Quarters]]

|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:XCOM2_Resistance_Logo.png|30px]] '''Facilities'''
|-
| [[Proving Ground (XCOM2)|Proving Ground]]

[[Advanced Warfare Center (XCOM2)|Advanced Warfare Center]]

[[GTS (XCOM2)|Guerrilla Tactics School]]

[[Psionic Labs (XCOM 2)|Psionic Labs]]

[[Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)|Shadow Chamber]]

|-
|}
</td>

<td style="width: 220px; border:1px gray solid;">
{| {{stdTable}} width="100%" style="border:none;"
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[Image:Lone_Wolf_(EU2012).jpg|30px]] '''[[Soldiers (XCOM2)|Soldiers]]'''
|-
|
[[File:Slash.png|20px]] [[Ranger (XCOM2)|Ranger]]

[[File:UIPerk runandgun.png|20px]] [[Grenadier (XCOM2)|Grenadier]]

[[File:UIPerk runandgun.png|20px]] [[Sharpshooter (XCOM2)|Sharpshooter]]

[[File:UIPerk aidprotocol.png|20px]] [[Specialist (XCOM2)|Specialist]]

[[Psi Operative (XCOM2)|Psi Operative]]

[[SPARK (XCOM2)|SPARK]]

[[Hero (XCOM2)|Heroes]]

|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Meet New People Then Kill Them (EU2012).jpg|30px]] '''Arsenal'''
|-
| [[Armor (XCOM2)|Armor]]
|-
| [[Equipment (XCOM2)#Portable Equipment|Equipment]]
|-
| [[Weapons (XCOM2)|Weapons]]
|-
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Head red 2.png|30px]] '''[[Resistance Factions]]'''
|-
| [[Reapers (XCOM2)|Reapers]]
|-
| [[Skirmishers (XCOM2)|Skirmishers]]
|-
| [[Templars (XCOM2)|Templars]]
|-
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Head red 2.png|30px]] '''ADVENT Coalition'''
|-
| [[Alien Life Forms (XCOM2)|Alien & ADVENT Life Forms]]
:[[The Chosen (XCOM2)|The Chosen]]
|-
|[[Avatar Project (XCOM2)|Avatar Project]]
|}
</td>

<td style="width: 220px; border:1px gray solid;">
{| {{stdTable}} width="100%" style="border:none;"
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Skyranger Pilot (EU2012).png|30px]] '''Strategy & Tactics'''
|-
| [[Missions (XCOM2)|Mission Types]]
: [[Continent Bonus (XCOM 2)|Continent Bonus]]
[[Gameplay Mechanics (XCOM2)|Gameplay Mechanics]]
: [[Concealment (XCOM2)|Concealment]]
: [[Dodge (XCOM2)|Dodge]]
: [[Overwatch (XCOM2)|Overwatch]]
: [[Suppression (XCOM2)|Suppression]]

|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Bradford Small (EU2012).png|30px]] '''Guides & Tips'''
|-
| [[Finances (XCOM2)|Finances / Resistance Contacts]]

[[Avenger Optimization (XCOM2)|Avenger Optimization]]

[[Storyline Missions (XCOM2)|Story Walkthrough]]

[[Tactics (XCOM2)|Combat Tactics]]
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Meet New People Then Kill Them (EU2012).jpg|30px]] '''Multiplayer'''
|-
|
[[Multiplayer (XCOM2)|Multiplayer]]

|}
</td>

<td style="width:220px; border:1px gray solid;">
{| {{stdTable}} width="100%" style="border:none;"
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Shen Small (EU2012).png|30px]] '''DLC'''
|-
|
[[Alien Hunters DLC (XCOM2)|Alien Hunters]]

[[Shen's Last Gift DLC (XCOM2)|Shen's Last Gift]]

|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:ABILITY LEAD BY EXAMPLE (EU2012).png|30px]] '''Miscellaneous'''
|-
|
[http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/268500/manuals/XCOM2_Manual_English.pdf?t=1454378153 Game Manual]

[[Game Credits (XCOM2)|Game Credits]]

[[Glossary|Glossary of Terms]]

[[Murphy's Laws (X-COM)#XCOM 2 (Strategic)|Murphy's Laws (XCOM2)]]

|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| [[File:Combat Ready (EU2012).jpg|30px]] '''Technical Information'''
|-
|

[[Patches (XCOM2)| Patches]]

[[Bugs (XCOM2)| Bugs]]

[[Mods (XCOM2)| Mods]]

[[Wiki Tips (EU2012)|Wiki Tips]]
|}
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<noinclude>

[[Category:XCOM 2]]

Archon (XCOM2)

2019-05-22T18:32:19Z

SpeedofDeath118: Big addition and categories added

The Archon is an enemy Alien unit. It is the new evolution of the Floater, but is now much more polished and is now of a higher rank among alien troops.

Archons are of decent durability, with 12-24 HP, difficulty dependent. They are armed with a powerful staff, able to strike hard (6-9 damage) and fire a plasma beam (7-8 damage). They can fly and have a notably high dodge of 25, making them tough to take down. In addition, if they take damage they will use an ability called Battle Frenzy, giving them an extra action that will almost certainly allow them to close with you next round.

Archons have a third attack, the ability 'Blazing Pinions'. They will fly to the top level of the map and release a volley of missiles which will impact on the next round no matter if the Archon is killed or not, with strike locations being marked on the map. This is a very dangerous attack, not merely for the 4-7 damage dealt, but for it's huge area of effect. Each missile explodes in a 3x3 square, destroying huge areas of cover. Moving all soldiers away from the marker is advised.

The Archon autopsy unlocks the Fusion Blade, the highest tier of swords. Those with the Alien Hunters DLC also unlock the Fusion Axe, the final upgrade to the Hunter's Axes.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]

Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)

2019-05-22T17:32:06Z

SpeedofDeath118: Created page

Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)

2019-05-22T17:31:52Z

SpeedofDeath118: Addition of poetic bit

The alien horde is a diverse and deadly lot. With the conquering of Earth, the aliens have even more genetic material to play with.

Old faces from the invasion return, changed through yet more genetic tampering, and new foes emerge from alien science. As ADVENT lends its might to the alien cause, only XCOM stands between humanity and total subjugation.

Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)

2019-05-22T16:53:06Z

SpeedofDeath118: Created page

Faceless (XCOM2)

2019-05-22T16:32:38Z

SpeedofDeath118: Major addition and categories added

The Faceless is an alien enemy unit. They are a new, improved infiltration unit, and unlike the [[Thin Man (EU2012)|Thin Man]], they are capable of maintaining a perfect civilian disguise until they attack. Faceless normally appear in Retaliation missions, mimicking civilians to be rescued. When approached, they will transform into their true form, a hulking sack of flesh and internal chitin three metres tall.

They are a moderate nuisance with a surprising amount of mobility. They are moderately durable, with 8-12 HP. Their only weapon are their claws, which deals 3-4 damage to the target and anyone nearby, even alien and ADVENT units. It might not even do that, due to their horrendous Aim - 60-75. However, this can potentially destroy nearby cover, exposing the XCOM soldier to enemy fire.

There are numerous 'tells' and ways to reveal Faceless.
*Battle Scanners or the GREMLIN Scanning Protocol reveal all Faceless in the area.
*Alien and ADVENT enemies will not attempt to harm Faceless deliberately, and will never use a Standard Shot on them. A civilian close to some enemies who is not being shot at is likely a Faceless.
*Normal civilians have Shadowstep to prevent them being cut down too easily by Overwatch fire. If a civilian is shot by an enemy on Overwatch, that person is a Faceless.
*Faceless don't count towards the counter of unrescued civilians in a mission. If there is only one civilian left and there are two in sight, one of them is a Faceless.

Faceless will transform on your turn if you try to rescue them or if there are no more enemies. They can also transform after a random number of turns.

The 'Alien Infiltrator' Dark Event temporarily places Faceless in all missions with civilians. If it is active, sparing a hand grenade on a group of civilians may be worth it.

View them in combat as the Psi Zombie's big brother - a nuisance that is low on the priority list. They cannot use cover, so hitting them is almost a non-issue. Their moderate health is easily cut down by a Chain Shot or a Rapid Fire. Plasma weapons will make quick work of them. A weakened Faceless can also be cut down with a Ranger's Bladestorm. A Sharpshooter with Deadeye and a Gauss Rifle can one-shot a Faceless, and anything better guarantees it (providing the shot hits). They are not worth using Psionics on - Domination should certainly be used elsewhere.

Faceless have Leap, so elevation is not an obstacle for them. This is rendered nearly moot in that their home territory is the Retaliation, where there are few buildings higher than one story tall. However, their AoE claw attack can destroy the floor beneath them and their target, dealing fall damage to them and their target.

Their autopsy reveals how the Faceless shapeshifts. Their internal chitin structures are malleable, and provide expansion points for special fluid membranes. These can manipulate their cellular structure and can replicate a convincing human form.

From this autopsy, the prized Mimic Beacon (sometimes nicknamed the Meme Beacon) is unlocked, which requires another Faceless corpse to produce.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]]

Codex (XCOM2)

2019-05-08T17:03:29Z

SpeedofDeath118: Organic-mechanical quality shared with Gatekeepers

The Codex is an alien mechanical unit that lives inside the alien psionic/data network. It takes the form of an electric yellow female-humanoid being, seemingly made entirely of energy, save for a metallic skull and a spinal column.

You will first encounter the Codex after you attempt to Skulljack an [[ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)|ADVENT Officer]]. It is advisable to kill all other enemies on the map. It has high health, a high dodge rate (so even point-blank shots may 'graze' it for partial damage), and high accuracy. For the storyline requirement, the best time to fight it is when there's no turn limit, allowing as much time as necessary to defeat the Codex.

Its abilities include:
* Teleportation: The Codex will usually teleport instead of physically moving. This has a better-than-average movement range, doesn't trigger any reaction fire, and and represents a single action, so the Codex can attack any targets. This ability means the Codex will almost always get a flanking shot every round, unless it uses another ability. However, its plasma weapon is not very high powered, so even a flanking critical hit will not be lethal once [[Predator Armor (XCOM2)|Predator Armor]] is unlocked.
* Rift: The Codex can summon a psionic rift. This disables weapons of XCOM soldiers in the area (mechanically, it reduces their ammo to zero). The rift will detonate on the next turn for moderate damage to anything still in the area of effect. This usually costs the turn of any soldier caught by it, since reloading and moving out of the area of effect to avoid the damage is a full turn of actions, though there are options that don't rely on the primary weapon, such as a Ranger's Slash, the Sharpshooter's pistol or using an item. Auto-loaders can also allow your soldier to reload for free, allowing a soldier to act. If necessary, a soldier can be left in the Rift and ignore the damage, since it will not be lethal to a soldier with full health, although the rift detonation could destroy their cover.
* Clone: Whenever it takes damage the Codex will clone itself and teleport away, leaving two Codices on the battlefield. The remaining HP will be divided between the two clones, rounding up for the clone and down for the original (so if it attempts to clone at 1 HP, it will just teleport). Since any amount of damage will result in a clone, try to hit it with a single killing shot, ensuring that the Codex will not Clone. An Overwatch ambush from Concealment can also defeat it, as all shots are simultaneous.

Flashbangs and other causes of Disorientation greatly reduce its threat by restricting it from using its special abilities, crippling the Codex's offensive potential and movement. Killing your first Codex reduces Avatar progress by 1, but afterwards, they will spawn in regular enemy pods.

After researching the Codex Brain in the [[Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)|Shadow Chamber]], you will be tasked with Skulljacking a Codex itself (which, similarly to the skulljacking of the ADVENT Captain, summons the stronger [[Avatar (XCOM2)|Avatar]]). After this task is complete, all future Codices can be Skullmined, offering an easier way to kill Codices without allowing it to clone itself (unless the Skulljack misses).

Codices have the unfortunate distinction of being considered both partially mechanical and organic simultaneously, similarly to Gatekeepers. This means that both mental Psionic attacks (such as Insanity and Domination) and Bluescreen Protocol (Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Bombs) are effective upon it, although Haywire Protocol will not work. Codices also have high Will, so early Psionic attacks should be focused elsewhere.

Having two soldiers close to each other will almost always result in the Codex using Rift, leaving 2-3 soldiers with empty primary guns. However, it deals no immediate damage and leaves the Codex open to counterattack. By clone or Teleports, the Codex will tend to at least stay in LoS, thus within range of attack of your squad. A high-ranking Sharpshooter is perhaps best suited to facing them: Standoff can kill all low health clones, Fan Fire and Deadeye can kill a Codex in one shot, and Serial can let you snipe several clones in a row.

Codices do not have an autopsy as such. Instead, it is split into three parts. The first is called Alien Encryption, a regular research project revealing that the encryption is so complex that a separate facility is required to get through. The Shadow Chamber is unlocked from this.

The second part is called Codex Brain, a Shadow Project. Upon completion, a cutscene plays, depicting Dr Tygan and Lily Shen trying to analyse the Codex and extract data, succeeding despite the Codex's best efforts.

The third and final part is called Encrypted Codex Data, and is again a Shadow Project. The encryption is cracked, revealing that the Elders (Ethereals) are dying, suffering from extreme muscular degeneration. All the conquering and enslavement is a mighty effort to find a successor species to plant their minds into, so they can survive. Humanity is the next test subject, and the Elders have struck gold.

After this, the Psionic Gate is revealed, and an XCOM squad is to capture it.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]]

Codex (XCOM2)

2019-05-05T13:40:37Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added data on all plot points

The Codex is an alien mechanical unit that lives inside the alien psionic/data network. It takes the form of an electric yellow female-humanoid being, seemingly made entirely of energy, save for a metallic skull and a spinal column.

You will first encounter the Codex after you attempt to Skulljack an [[ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)|ADVENT Officer]]. It is advisable to kill all other enemies on the map. It has high health, a high dodge rate (so even point-blank shots may 'graze' it for partial damage), and high accuracy. For the storyline requirement, the best time to fight it is when there's no turn limit, allowing as much time as necessary to defeat the Codex.

Its abilities include:
* Teleportation: The Codex will usually teleport instead of physically moving. This has a better-than-average movement range, doesn't trigger any reaction fire, and and represents a single action, so the Codex can attack any targets. This ability means the Codex will almost always get a flanking shot every round, unless it uses another ability. However, its plasma weapon is not very high powered, so even a flanking critical hit will not be lethal once [[Predator Armor (XCOM2)|Predator Armor]] is unlocked.
* Rift: The Codex can summon a psionic rift. This disables weapons of XCOM soldiers in the area (mechanically, it reduces their ammo to zero). The rift will detonate on the next turn for moderate damage to anything still in the area of effect. This usually costs the turn of any soldier caught by it, since reloading and moving out of the area of effect to avoid the damage is a full turn of actions, though there are options that don't rely on the primary weapon, such as a Ranger's Slash, the Sharpshooter's pistol or using an item. Auto-loaders can also allow your soldier to reload for free, allowing a soldier to act. If necessary, a soldier can be left in the Rift and ignore the damage, since it will not be lethal to a soldier with full health, although the rift detonation could destroy their cover.
* Clone: Whenever it takes damage the Codex will clone itself and teleport away, leaving two Codices on the battlefield. The remaining HP will be divided between the two clones, rounding up for the clone and down for the original (so if it attempts to clone at 1 HP, it will just teleport). Since any amount of damage will result in a clone, try to hit it with a single killing shot, ensuring that the Codex will not Clone. An Overwatch ambush from Concealment can also defeat it, as all shots are simultaneous.

Flashbangs and other causes of Disorientation greatly reduce its threat by restricting it from using its special abilities, crippling the Codex's offensive potential and movement. Killing your first Codex reduces Avatar progress by 1, but afterwards, they will spawn in regular enemy pods.

After researching the Codex Brain in the [[Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)|Shadow Chamber]], you will be tasked with Skulljacking a Codex itself (which, similarly to the skulljacking of the ADVENT Captain, summons the stronger [[Avatar (XCOM2)|Avatar]]). After this task is complete, all future Codices can be Skullmined, offering an easier way to kill Codices without allowing it to clone itself (unless the Skulljack misses).

Codices have the unfortunate distinction of being considered both partially mechanical and organic simultaneously. This means that both mental Psionic attacks (such as Insanity and Domination) and Bluescreen Protocol (Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Bombs) are effective upon it, although Haywire Protocol will not work. Codices also have high Will, so early Psionic attacks should be focused elsewhere.

Having two soldiers close to each other will almost always result in the Codex using Rift, leaving 2-3 soldiers with empty primary guns. However, it deals no immediate damage and leaves the Codex open to counterattack. By clone or Teleports, the Codex will tend to at least stay in LoS, thus within range of attack of your squad. A high-ranking Sharpshooter is perhaps best suited to facing them: Standoff can kill all low health clones, Fan Fire and Deadeye can kill a Codex in one shot, and Serial can let you snipe several clones in a row.

Codices do not have an autopsy as such. Instead, it is split into three parts. The first is called Alien Encryption, a regular research project revealing that the encryption is so complex that a separate facility is required to get through. The Shadow Chamber is unlocked from this.

The second part is called Codex Brain, a Shadow Project. Upon completion, a cutscene plays, depicting Dr Tygan and Lily Shen trying to analyse the Codex and extract data, succeeding despite the Codex's best efforts.

The third and final part is called Encrypted Codex Data, and is again a Shadow Project. The encryption is cracked, revealing that the Elders (Ethereals) are dying, suffering from extreme muscular degeneration. All the conquering and enslavement is a mighty effort to find a successor species to plant their minds into, so they can survive. Humanity is the next test subject, and the Elders have struck gold.

After this, the Psionic Gate is revealed, and an XCOM squad is to capture it.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)

2019-05-05T13:28:11Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added autopsy data

The ADVENT Officer can be seen leading units of ADVENT Troopers. They are more durable than regular ADVENT troopers, and they cannot be killed by a single assault rifle shot. Officers have the ability to Mark a target, making it easier to hit and encouraging all ADVENT units to focus fire on the target. This doesn't end their turn, so they can also fire at said target.

ADVENT Officers are mostly notable as the first target you're required to Skulljack to progress the storyline. Note that skulljacking the Officer will cause a powerful enemy, the Codex, to spawn, so don't do it while in the middle of a firefight. Skullmining an officer after the initial Skulljack, however, will not spawn another Codex.

Their autopsy is required to advance the plot, and reveals that the Officer have an implant similar to the Commander's implant. It is linked to the alien Psionic Network, and send the Commander's tactical data to the Officers, who then order the Troopers around. However, due to the Commander's rescue and removal from the Psionic Network, the data has decayed, causing the Officers to make occasionally make stupid tactical errors.

The Proving Grounds are unlocked from this autopsy, and the new objective is to build the Skulljack and to Skulljack an Officer, as detailed above.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Stun Lancer (XCOM2)

2019-05-05T13:17:45Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added autopsy data

The Stun Lancer is a specialist ADVENT soldier wielding an electrically-charged baton/sword and a magnetic rifle. They are moderately durable with 4-8 health, difficulty dependent.

Stun Lancers are infamous for their total disregard for their own safety. They charge forward like XCOM's Rangers, except with a Shock Lance that deals 2-4 damage. Worse yet, the Shock Lance can inflict Disorientation, Stunned, or even Unconsciousness on their victim, with the latter effectively killing them for the duration of the mission. Should they miss, however, they are quite finished.

Although their AI makes them use their Shock Lance at any opportunity, they are also equipped with a regular Magnetic Rifle,which deals 3-4 damage.

Stun Lancers evolve into Heavy Lancers and Elite Lancers as time passes. Their later forms have increased stats and an armor point, but their arrivals typically coincide with the unlocking of Magnetic and Plasma weaponry, allowing them to be dealt with.

A decent counter is a Ranger with Blademaster, but early Stun Lancers come before the arrival of XCOM Captains. Frost Bombs from a Grenadier are quite effective in halting them, and Psi Operatives with Stasis can freeze them to be killed later. Their Will is generally low, allowing Psi Operatives to mind control them, and perhaps even knock other enemies unconscious. If all else fails or XCOM is training rookies, massed Overwatch fire will almost certainly kill them.

Remember, however, that a strong offense is the best defence, and a grenade to their cover followed by a shot will put them down as easily as any other ADVENT trooper.

The autopsy reveals that the Stun Lancers are extremely high on combat stims, which contorts the faces into hideous grins after death. Since they are more durable than normal Troopers, the implications are such that the aliens bear some "genetic frugality" about them. The Arc Blade, the Tier 2 sword, is unlocked after the autopsy is completed.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Stun Lancer (XCOM2)

2019-05-05T13:04:34Z

SpeedofDeath118: A big addition and categories added

The Stun Lancer is a specialist ADVENT soldier wielding an electrically-charged baton/sword and a magnetic rifle. They are moderately durable with 4-8 health, difficulty dependent.

Stun Lancers are infamous for their total disregard for their own safety. They charge forward like XCOM's Rangers, except with a Shock Lance that deals 2-4 damage. Worse yet, the Shock Lance can inflict Disorientation, Stunned, or even Unconsciousness on their victim, with the latter effectively killing them for the duration of the mission. Should they miss, however, they are quite finished.

Although their AI makes them use their Shock Lance at any opportunity, they are also equipped with a regular Magnetic Rifle,which deals 3-4 damage.

Stun Lancers evolve into Heavy Lancers and Elite Lancers as time passes. Their later forms have increased stats and an armor point, but their arrivals typically coincide with the unlocking of Magnetic and Plasma weaponry, allowing them to be dealt with.

A decent counter is a Ranger with Blademaster, but early Stun Lancers come before the arrival of XCOM Captains. Frost Bombs from a Grenadier are quite effective in halting them, and Psi Operatives with Stasis can freeze them to be killed later. Their Will is generally low, allowing Psi Operatives to mind control them, and perhaps even knock other enemies unconscious. If all else fails or XCOM is training rookies, massed Overwatch fire will almost certainly kill them.

Remember, however, that a strong offense is the best defence, and a grenade to their cover followed by a shot will put them down as easily as any other ADVENT trooper.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)

2019-05-05T07:47:35Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added categories

Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)

2019-05-05T07:46:53Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added category page

ADVENT is the alien puppet government. Although they claim to only want the best for humanity, they are merely a means to an end, that being the alien Avatar Project.

Their infantry all appear to be vat-grown human-alien hybrids, rather than the human volunteers the government claim they are.

Their forces are nothing to be sniffed at, and if one did, their noses would be blasted off by their powerful magnetic weapons - along with most of their head.

Sectopod (XCOM2)

2019-05-05T07:38:16Z

SpeedofDeath118: Big, big addition and changes

The Sectopod is a huge ADVENT walker. It is extremely tough, with 24-40 HP and 4-6 armor, difficulty dependent. They are late-game pod leader units, appearing in August (or earlier on Legend). They take up 4 squares on the Battlescape grid.

Sectopods have good aim, and can improve it by using their High Stance ability, a free action that makes it taller, granting it a height advantage. Their high damage Sectopod Cannon hits for 10-11 damage and can fire twice per turn.

Sectopods can launch an attack called the Wrath Cannon, a devastating attack that deals 9-12 damage and destroys cover, but take one turn to charge up. They also have Lightning Field, a melee-range area of effect attack that deals 7-9 damage. Sectopods have no qualms about moving through buildings and obstacles to clear a line to your soldiers, even in high stance, which only increase the damage they can do to buildings.

Explosives and acid weapons greatly help to remove armor, and AP rounds make its armor mostly irrelevant. Shredder and Rupture are very useful abilities, with a Rupture shot both shredding armor and increasing all damage done.

A Psi Operative can use Stasis to freeze it for a turn, but will also stop it from taking any damage. The Specialist's Haywire Protocol can disable or even control it for a few turns (both are Achievements). Grenadiers with Frost Bombs can also disable it, but for one turn only.

Being a robotic unit, Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Bombs are also very useful weapons against Sectopods. Both of these weapons will not only damage a Sectopod, but will reduce its hack resistance, making a subsequent Haywire easier. Gunslingers should abuse both Bluescreen Rounds and Rupture for massive damage output - a single Fan Fire with Bluescreen Rounds and a prior Rupture shot will mean certain destruction for the Sectopod, even on Legend. That's not even involving the other Gunslinger abilities.

In addition, an EMP Bomb will disorient the Sectopod, reducing its aim and preventing it from using special abilities (though relying only on this effect is very risky; a disoriented Sectopod is still a very capable enemy).

Lastly, like their Enemy Within incarnation, they also explode with significant force when they are destroyed, damaging nearby units and the environment. Having a Sectopod standing next to an objective is a very dangerous situation. Moving backwards make prompt the Sectopod to move forward and be Fan Fired into the ground.

Once you destroy a Sectopod in a non-evac mission, and research the resulting Sectopod Wreck, you'll be able to build the GREMLIN MKIII, which will substantially improve the abilities of your Specialists.

According to the autopsy report, XCOM soldiers believe that the Sectopod is piloted by an alien. However, this is not the case, as it is completely autonomous.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT Shieldbearer (XCOM2)

2019-05-04T12:14:41Z

SpeedofDeath118:

The ADVENT Shieldbearer is a variation on the ADVENT Trooper with a more defensive focus. They are extremely durable, with 6-9 health and 1-3 armor, depending on difficulty.

Their main ability is the Energy Shield. Once deployed via an impressive display of energy and strength, the Shieldbearer will project a shield around themself and their allies, which, with only 3 HP, serves as a buffer against damage. However, it's enough to make Standoff a waste of time, and could save an alien's life.

Shieldbearers should always be priority targets, perhaps even above Stun Lancers, since the Shield can be a game-changer with many aliens in play. Killing the Shieldbearer will destroy the shields they're generating on any nearby units as well. Their low Will can make them a decent Domination target, and any Bluescreen Protocol attacks with instantly break the Shield.

Shieldbearers evolve over the course of the game into Elite Shieldbearers. This grants them improved stats and a stronger Energy Shield.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:ADVENT (XCOM 2)]]

Muton (XCOM2)

2019-05-04T11:59:10Z

SpeedofDeath118: A huge addition and adding categories

Mutons, like the other original aliens, have been altered with human DNA. They look little different to their predecessors, but are otherwise very similar. They're quite durable, with 8-11 health and 1-2 armor, depending on difficulty. They are armed with three weapons: Plasma Rifles, which deal 4-6 damage and shreds 1 armor; a bayonet attachment, dealing 6-8 damage; and Plasma Grenades, dealing 4-5 damage and shredding 2 armor.

The Muton AI likes to close in and use the bayonet. Attacking them in melee is ill advised due to their Counterattack passive ability, which automatically nullifies a melee attack and immediately responds with one of their own. Their Bayonet also has a chance to stun, complementing the Execute ability.

Mutons can Execute an adjacent stunned enemy, killing them regardless of remaining HP. A stunning Counterattack followed by an Execution can and has cost the life of many favoured and overzealous Rangers.

Seeing multiple soldiers close together may make them use their grenade. They can also use the classic Suppression ability, which pins down the target, lowering their Aim and forbidding movement on pain of an Overwatch shot.

Counterattack is nullified with Disorientation, making them safe to cut apart. Their Will is also poor, making them vulnerable to Psi Operative abilities.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]]

Sectoid (XCOM2)

2019-05-04T11:37:47Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added category

[[File:Sectoid(xcom2).jpg|300px|right|Sectoid]]
Since the original invasion, Sectoids have been hybridized with human DNA, apparently across the entire race. No 'original' Sectoids seem to remain. The 'new' Sectoid has greater physical stamina and psionic potential, as well as such human features as walking upright and having a visible jaw with teeth.

Sectoids fit a support role for enemy groups, often accompanied by ADVENT troopers who handle the damage dealing. Their two Psionic abilities - Mindspin and Reanimate - are their main function, providing disruption amongst XCOM's forces and cheap, expendable bullet-sponges from nearby corpses.

Sectoids carry a wrist-mounted plasma pistol, though they rarely make use of them. Despite the genetic modification, they are still averse to close combat, and take double damage from all melee attacks.

==Strategy==

Mind Control and Reanimate can, as expected, be countered by killing the controlling Sectoid. Additionally, disorienting the controlling Sectoid will cause them to lose concentration and end the effect - Disorient is available very early through Flashbang grenades. It's advisable to bring one or possibly two on early missions, specifically to negate Mind Controls.

Sectoids will only use their wrist-mounted weapon as a last resort or in extremely opportune circumstances, generally prioritising psionic abilities far higher than dealing damage. Their Psionic attack, Mindspin, is on a one-turn cooldown, so a Sectoids attack pattern will typically follow the route of Mindspin, Re-Animate, Mindspin, move/attack. Even easy flanks and low-cover targets don't divert a Sectoids focus from using their Psi powers if they're available.

A Ranger with Blademaster will, if they land a melee attack, always kill a Sectoid in one hit. However, a mind-controlled Ranger can be a very dangerous thing if left to run rampant.

A Mind Shield will make an operative immune to Mindspin, but will not stop a Sectoid from targeting the shielded creature, potentially wasting their turns.

==Info==
{{Unit Stat Box (EU2012)
|appears=???
|picture=[[]]
|hp=3/3/4/4
|aim=?/?/?/?
|defense=?
|will=?
|move=?
}}

{| class="wikitable" width="70%"
|-
|+ Sectoid Armaments
|-
! width=""50px" align="center" | Weapon !! Base Damage !! Critical Damage !! Critical Chance !! Abilities
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|- align="center"
| |[[Sectoid Plasma Pistol]] || - || - || - || -
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" width="70%"
|-
|+ Sectoid Abilities
|-
! width=""50px" align="center" | Ability !! Description
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|- align="center"
|-align="center"
| [[File:PSIONIC MINDMERGE.png|24px]]<br>'''Reanimate''' || ''Will reanimate a targeted human or ADVENT corpse to create a Psi-Zombie, which acts on the Sectoids next turn.''
|-align="center"
| [[File:PSIONIC_MINDFRAY.png|24px]]<br>'''Mindspin''' || ''An attack that will inflict either Disorient, Panic, or Mind Control effects. Targets with high Will are more likely to receive a lesser effect. 1-turn cooldown.''
|-
|}

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]]

ADVENT MEC (XCOM2)

2019-05-04T11:36:57Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added categories

Codex (XCOM2)

2019-05-04T11:36:04Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added categories

The Codex is an alien mechanical unit that lives inside the alien psionic/data network. It takes the form of an electric yellow female-humanoid being, seemingly made entirely of energy, save for a metallic skull and a spinal column.

You will first encounter the Codex after you attempt to Skulljack an [[ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)|ADVENT Officer]]. It is advisable to kill all other enemies on the map. It has high health, a high dodge rate (so even point-blank shots may 'graze' it for partial damage), and high accuracy. For the storyline requirement, the best time to fight it is when there's no turn limit, allowing as much time as necessary to defeat the Codex.

Its abilities include:
* Teleportation: The Codex will usually teleport instead of physically moving. This has a better-than-average movement range, doesn't trigger any reaction fire, and and represents a single action, so the Codex can attack any targets. This ability means the Codex will almost always get a flanking shot every round, unless it uses another ability. However, its plasma weapon is not very high powered, so even a flanking critical hit will not be lethal once [[Predator Armor (XCOM2)|Predator Armor]] is unlocked.
* Rift: The Codex can summon a psionic rift. This disables weapons of XCOM soldiers in the area (mechanically, it reduces their ammo to zero). The rift will detonate on the next turn for moderate damage to anything still in the area of effect. This usually costs the turn of any soldier caught by it, since reloading and moving out of the area of effect to avoid the damage is a full turn of actions, though there are options that don't rely on the primary weapon, such as a Ranger's Slash, the Sharpshooter's pistol or using an item. Auto-loaders can also allow your soldier to reload for free, allowing a soldier to act. If necessary, a soldier can be left in the Rift and ignore the damage, since it will not be lethal to a soldier with full health, although the rift detonation could destroy their cover.
* Clone: Whenever it takes damage the Codex will clone itself and teleport away, leaving two Codices on the battlefield. The remaining HP will be divided between the two clones, rounding up for the clone and down for the original (so if it attempts to clone at 1 HP, it will just teleport). Since any amount of damage will result in a clone, try to hit it with a single killing shot, ensuring that the Codex will not Clone. An Overwatch ambush from Concealment can also defeat it, as all shots are simultaneous.

Flashbangs and other causes of Disorientation greatly reduce its threat by restricting it from using its special abilities, crippling the Codex's offensive potential and movement. Killing your first Codex reduces Avatar progress by 1, but afterwards, they will spawn in regular enemy pods.

After researching the Codex Brain in the [[Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)|Shadow Chamber]], you will be tasked with Skulljacking a Codex itself (which, similarly to the skulljacking of the ADVENT Captain, summons the stronger [[Avatar (XCOM2)|Avatar]]). After this task is complete, all future Codices can be Skullmined, offering an easier way to kill Codices without allowing it to clone itself (unless the Skulljack misses).

Codices have the unfortunate distinction of being considered both partially mechanical and organic simultaneously. This means that both mental Psionic attacks (such as Insanity and Domination) and Bluescreen Protocol (Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Bombs) are effective upon it, although Haywire Protocol will not work. Codices also have high Will, so early Psionic attacks should be focused elsewhere.

Having two soldiers close to each other will almost always result in the Codex using Rift, leaving 2-3 soldiers with empty primary guns. However, it deals no immediate damage and leaves the Codex open to counterattack. By clone or Teleports, the Codex will tend to at least stay in LoS, thus within range of attack of your squad. A high-ranking Sharpshooter is perhaps best suited to facing them: Standoff can kill all low health clones, Fan Fire and Deadeye can kill a Codex in one shot, and Serial can let you snipe several clones in a row.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]]

Andromedon (XCOM2)

2019-05-04T11:35:31Z

SpeedofDeath118: Many additions and formalisations

The Andromedon is an alien unit inside a "Battlesuit". It is an extremely heavy enemy, appearing in the endgame armed to the teeth.

It is equipped with a plasma rifle, dealing 9-11 damage and shredding 2 armor. It can also launch an acid bomb, which deals 5-7 damage and shreds 3 armor.

It can destroy cover by walking through it and has a melee attack similar to the Faceless, in that it destroys cover around the target.

The Andromedon is extremely durable, with 12-21 HP (depending on difficulty) and 4 armor (3 on Rookie). The Battlesuit means tgat it is immune to fire, poison and acid, although Acid Grenades and Bombs will still shred its armor.

Upon "killing" the Andromedon (smashing the cockpit to kill the pilot), the Battlesuit's AI will activate, trailing corrosive coolant all over the ground and attacking nearby XCOM soldiers. Fortunately, the Andromedon Shell is disarmed, and can only attack with its fists. It also loses its armor pips and immunities.

The Andromedon is interesting in that the piloted and autonomous suits are two different units. The piloted suit is organic, so Psionic attacks such as Insanity and Domination are effective. The Andromedon Shell counts as a robotic unit, so anti-robot attacks such as Haywire Protocol, Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Grenades/Bombs will be effective.

Mind control of an Andromedon ends when it is killed and turns into a Shell - it will no longer be on XCOM's side after the Battlesuit AI activates. This means that if a mind controlled Andromedon is killed, even under Domination, the Shell will return and act on the next alien turn.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]
[[Category:Enemies (XCOM 2)]]
[[Category:Aliens (XCOM 2)]]

User:SpeedofDeath118

2019-05-03T16:12:50Z

SpeedofDeath118: Heh heh heh.

It's not a mech, it's a MEC!

I have played OpenXCOM, XCOM Enemy Unknown (2012), and XCOM 2.

I know about Enemy Within and War of the Chosen, but I have not played them. I do have Alien Hunters and Shen's Last Gift though.

Storyline Missions (XCOM2)

2019-05-03T16:10:36Z

SpeedofDeath118: Many, many minor changes and additions

===Tutorial===
The tutorial mission is entirely scripted, designed to introduce you to various concepts. There is no way to change the events, and you will always finish the mission with two casualties, and one soldier (Jane Kelly) on your roster at Squaddie rank. It's recommended to play through your first time with it on, since it also contains plot exposition that you otherwise miss. Do note that tutorial makes The Untouchables achievement unattainable.

The Commander of XCOM (you) had been captured a few weeks into the campaign of the war in 2015: having been in stasis for 20 years, the tutorial will guide you through with Bradford himself pulling you out of an ADVENT facility. As you leave the area, an electrical surge burns out the remaining equipment, and a [[Codex (XCOM2)|Codex]] appears and notes your disappearance.

The Commander is taken to the Avenger, where Dr Tygan performs an operation to remove an implant from your brain to restore you to health. You are then encouraged to browse the history database and then are introduced to Dr Tygan, the chief scientist, and Lily Shen, chief engineer and daughter of Raymond Shen.

You will quickly be launched in to a second mission to obtain a power core for the Avenger to make it flight ready. This mission is not scripted.

If playing with tutorial off, the game will instead start in a 4-person mission to destroy an ADVENT monument, to provide a distraction from the recovery of the Commander. The Avenger is already fully functional and the mission to recover the power core doesn't occur.

===Initial Research===
You will have a research topic available to research the implant removed from your brain, then an autopsy to take a similar implant from an [[ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)|ADVENT Officer]]. Researching this will reveal that all of the ADVENT troops are linked together by these implants, and that accessing a live officer's implant could allow XCOM to pull information from the aliens' psychic network. You then need to construct a [[Proving Ground (XCOM2)|Proving Ground]] and research the Skulljack. This will give an objective to Skulljack an ADVENT officer in the field.

Meanwhile you will be contacted by the former XCOM Council Spokesman, who will inform you of a "Blacksite" that seems to be a focus of alien activity. You need to research Resistance Comms to contact other regions and contact the region containing the Blacksite to gain access to the mission, after which you can launch it at any time.

===Blacksite===
This is a retrieval and extraction mission. Your squad is inserted some distance from the Blacksite in concealment. Upon approaching the Blacksite you will see that it's a processing facility turning humans into some sort of liquid, and you must recover a vial of this substance and extract it to the Avenger. This mission has more enemies than missions so far, and is likely to be your first encounter with [[ADVENT Mech (XCOM2)|ADVENT MEC]]s, and [[ADVENT Turret (XCOM2)|ADVENT Turret]]s.

Completion of this mission allows the research of the Blacksite vial. This requires building a [[Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)|Shadow Chamber]] facility first, and completing the analysis unlocks the Forge mission.

===Skulljacking an Officer===
Upon skulljacking an officer, a [[Codex (XCOM2)|Codex]] will teleport in. A Codex is likely much stronger than anything you've encountered so far (depending on how long you put off Skulljacking), so you'll want to wait until things are quiet before doing the Skulljack. Killing the Codex will reward you with a Codex Brain to research. Note that you will recover the Codex Brain after the killing the Codex even if you extract from the mission.

Analyzing the Codex Brain requires the Shadow Chamber facility. Completing this analysis unlocks the Psi Gate mission, and Skulljacking a Codex in the field.

===Forge===
Analysis of the Blacksite Vial in the Shadow Chamber will reveal the presence of another alien facility. Infiltrating this facility, you discover an environment suit similar to the one you were imprisoned in, and you are tasked with recovering the suit and occupant and extracting with it. This mission is guaranteed to contain a [[Sectopod (XCOM2)|Sectopod]].

===Psi Gate===
Researching the Codex Brain unlocks this mission to investigate the point of origin of the Codex. You approach in infiltration and find a Psionic Gateway, guarded by a large number of [[Chryssalid (XCOM2)|Chryssalid]]s and other enemies. In addition, when you get close a [[Gatekeeper (XCOM2)|Gatekeeper]] will come out of the gateway to defend it. You must defeat all enemies to secure the site.

This will allow you to install the Psi Gate in to the Shadow Chamber. Researching the Psi Gate shows it to be a gateway to the aliens' base of operations, but efforts to send a probe through fail due to needing an organic key of some sort.

===Skulljacking a Codex===
After completing research on the Codex Brain, Tygan will ask you to Skulljack a live Codex in the field to allow further access to the aliens' psionic network. Skulljacking a Codex spawns an [[Avatar (XCOM2)|Avatar]] enemy, at reduced health. Killing the Avatar allows its autopsy.

===ADVENT Network Tower===
Analysing the Avatar corpse requires all other storyline research to be complete. This will trigger ADVENT to accelerate their plans for humanity and start processing all humans in to genetic material in the gene therapy clinics. The Spokesman will contact you with a plan to assault the ADVENT central network tower to capture it and broadcast the truth to the population, and also to distract ADVENT from an XCOM assault through the Psi Gate. The assault on the ADVENT network tower will then be unlocked, though you don't have to accept it yet if you don't want to.

Launching the assault on the ADVENT network tower locks you in to the end-game sequence, so be sure you're ready to finish the game before doing so. The ADVENT tower assault is a small penultimate mission, where a small squad of infiltrators must attack the tower. You can spend any remaining Intel you have on bonuses to make this mission easier. You must fight through the tower's defenders (a relatively small number of high powered enemies) to hack the network tower's control panel and extract.

===Alien Fortress - "Waterworld"===
After the network tower mission, you will immediately launch in to the final mission of the game. You can field wounded soldiers in this mission, including any wounded in the network tower assault.

XCOM launches an assault through the Psi Gate to the aliens' base, accompanied by an Avatar controlled by you, the Commander, personally. Losing your Avatar in this mission immediately loses the game. As you move through the level, Central, Shen, and Tygan will keep you updated on the situation here and on the revolution across the Earth, while the Speaker, the female-sounding 'Angelis Ethereal', and a more aggressive male-sounding one attempt to persuade and goad you. After fighting through a variety of enemies, you will reach the final room, full of psionic gates.

After a cutscene, an alien Avatar will be on a raised platform up high in the middle of the room-- and can be flanked from the left path, being spotted by a soldier in concealment and a Sharpshooter using Squadsight from the full cover pillar near the statuary. It will move to engage you when spotted/wounded (and the game may glitch if this first one is Executed via a Repeater before waking the pod up). After a turn or two, two more will spawn in from the other portals, accompanied by alien pods of varying composition and threat level. Killing all three Avatars wins the game, so keeping away from the other aliens to focus on the Avatar may work as a last stand, even if means continuously falling back through the level to keep ahead of the aliens.

With the last enemy Avatar destroyed, the psionic network holding the Gates active begins to destabilize, with the alien base starting to self-destruct from the strain. The Gate in front of you collapses, but you manage to wedge it open with Psionic power and send your troops back through. With no other options left, the Ethereal bodies glow from their 'coffins' strewn about the room, and attempt to overwrite you from the Avatar body. Fortunately, they have greatly underestimated you, and you are able to hold your own against the full squad of Ethereals, singlehandedly. Blasting back the wraith-like entities they have become, you destroy their fortress and also manage to get your own consciousness back, waking up in your real body - with an otherworldly sound not unlike when Asaru contacted Faulke, Wier, and Weaver...

The true leaders of ADVENT destroyed, their atrocities exposed and their psionic network in ruins, ADVENT forces crumble before the now exponentially more empowered and numbered Resistance. The people have awoken and are striking down ADVENT, taking back their world. Those with the War of the Chosen DLC will also be treated to several other cutscenes: the Reapers rising up to face ADVENT in combat, an ADVENT squad being admitted into the Skirmishers, and the Templars predicting that the war is not over just yet.

Mission complete, Commander!

''Meanwhile...''[https://youtu.be/Unzc1sMxlZA?t=214]

''The ocean had rushed in, the immense pressure destroying the alien fortress, leaving debris and alien bodies scattered all about the seabed. The last bit of light leaves as the Ethereal 'coffins' flicker and go out... save for from one fissure in the rock, where Psionic energy seems to stream out of the gap in the Earth. Is this truly the end of the Ethereal invasion? Or is this a sign of a new rising '''Terror From The Deep'''? Only time will tell...''

Storyline Missions (XCOM2)

2019-05-03T16:07:27Z

SpeedofDeath118:

===Tutorial===
The tutorial mission is entirely scripted, designed to introduce you to various concepts. There is no way to change the events, and you will always finish the mission with two casualties, and one soldier (Jane Kelly) on your roster at Squaddie rank. It's recommended to play through your first time with it on, since it also contains plot exposition that you otherwise miss. Do note that tutorial makes The Untouchables achievement unattainable.

The Commander of XCOM (you) had been captured a few weeks into the campaign of the war in 2015: having been in stasis for 20 years, the tutorial will guide you through with Bradford himself pulling you out of an ADVENT facility. As you leave the area, an electrical surge burns out the remaining equipment, and a [[Codex (XCOM2)|Codex]] appears and notes your disappearance.

The Commander is taken to the Avenger, where Dr Tygan performs an operation to remove an implant from your brain to restore you to health. You are then encouraged to browse the history database and then are introduced to Dr Tygan, the chief scientist, and Lily Shen, chief engineer and daughter of Raymond Shen.

You will quickly be launched in to a second mission to obtain a power core for the Avenger to make it flight ready. This mission is not scripted.

If playing with tutorial off, the game will instead start in a 4-person mission to destroy an ADVENT monument, to provide a distraction from the recovery of the Commander. The Avenger is already fully functional and the mission to recover the power core doesn't occur.

===Initial Research===
You will have a research topic available to research the implant removed from your brain, then an autopsy to take a similar implant from an [[ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)|ADVENT Officer]]. Researching this will reveal that all of the ADVENT troops are linked together by these implants, and that accessing a live officer's implant could allow XCOM to pull information from the aliens' psychic network. You then need to construct a [[Proving Ground (XCOM2)|Proving Ground]] and research the Skulljack. This will give an objective to Skulljack an ADVENT officer in the field.

Meanwhile you will be contacted by the former XCOM Council Spokesman, who will inform you of a "Blacksite" that seems to be a focus of alien activity. You need to research Resistance Comms to contact other regions and contact the region containing the Blacksite to gain access to the mission, after which you can launch it at any time.

===Blacksite===
This is a retrieval and extraction mission. Your squad is inserted some distance from the Blacksite in concealment. Upon approaching the Blacksite you will see that it's a processing facility turning humans into some sort of liquid, and you must recover a vial of this substance and extract it to the Avenger. This mission has more enemies than missions so far, and is likely to be your first encounter with [[ADVENT Mech (XCOM2)|ADVENT MEC]]s, and [[ADVENT Turret (XCOM2)|ADVENT Turret]]s.

Completion of this mission allows the research of the Blacksite vial. This requires building a [[Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)|Shadow Chamber]] facility first, and completing the analysis unlocks the Forge mission.

===Skulljacking an Officer===
Upon skulljacking an officer, a [[Codex (XCOM2)|Codex]] will teleport in. A Codex is likely much stronger than anything you've encountered so far (depending on how long you put off Skulljacking), so you'll want to wait until things are quiet before doing the Skulljack. Killing the Codex will reward you with a Codex Brain to research. Note that you will recover the Codex Brain after the killing the Codex even if you extract from the mission.

Analyzing the Codex Brain requires the Shadow Chamber facility. Completing this analysis unlocks the Psi Gate mission, and Skulljacking a Codex in the field.

===Forge===
Analysis of the Blacksite Vial in the Shadow Chamber will reveal the presence of another alien facility. Infiltrating this facility, you discover an environment suit similar to the one you were imprisoned in, and you are tasked with recovering the suit and occupant and extracting with it. This mission is guaranteed to contain a [[Sectopod (XCOM2)|Sectopod]].

===Psi Gate===
Researching the Codex Brain unlocks this mission to investigate the point of origin of the Codex. You approach in infiltration and find a Psionic Gateway, guarded by a large number of [[Chryssalid (XCOM2)|Chryssalid]]s and other enemies. In addition, when you get close a [[Gatekeeper (XCOM2)|Gatekeeper]] will come out of the gateway to defend it. You must defeat all enemies to secure the site.

This will allow you to install the Psi Gate in to the Shadow Chamber. Researching the Psi Gate shows it to be a gateway to the aliens' base of operations, but efforts to send a probe through fail due to needing an organic key of some sort.

===Skulljacking a Codex===
After completing research on the Codex Brain, Tygan will ask you to Skulljack a live Codex in the field to allow further access to the aliens' psionic network. Skulljacking a Codex spawns an [[Avatar (XCOM2)|Avatar]] enemy, at reduced health. Killing the Avatar allows its autopsy.

===ADVENT Network Tower===
Analysing the Avatar corpse requires all other storyline research to be complete. This will trigger ADVENT to accelerate their plans for humanity and start processing all humans in to genetic material in the gene therapy clinics. The Spokesman will contact you with a plan to assault the ADVENT central network tower to capture it and broadcast the truth to the population, and also to distract ADVENT from an XCOM assault through the Psi Gate. The assault on the ADVENT network tower will then be unlocked, though you don't have to accept it yet if you don't want to.

Launching the assault on the ADVENT network tower locks you in to the end-game sequence, so be sure you're ready to finish the game before doing so. The ADVENT tower assault is a small penultimate mission, where a small squad of infiltrators must attack the tower. You can spend any remaining Intel you have on bonuses to make this mission easier. You must fight through the tower's defenders (a relatively small number of high powered enemies) to hack the network tower's control panel and extract.

===Alien Fortress - "Waterworld"===
After the network tower mission, you will immediately launch in to the final mission of the game. You can field wounded soldiers in this mission, including any wounded in the network tower assault.

XCOM launches an assault through the Psi Gate to the aliens' base, accompanied by an Avatar controlled by you, the Commander, personally. Losing your Avatar in this mission immediately loses the game. As you move through the level, Central, Shen, and Tygan will keep you updated on the situation here and on the revolution across the Earth, while the Speaker, the female-sounding 'Angelis Ethereal', and a more aggressive male-sounding one attempt to persuade and goad you. After fighting through a variety of enemies, you will reach the final room, full of psionic gates.

After a cutscene, an alien Avatar will be on a raised platform up high in the middle of the room-- and can be flanked from the left path, being spotted by a soldier in concealment and a Sharpshooter using Squadsight from the full cover pillar near the statuary. It will move to engage you when spotted/wounded (and the game may glitch if this first one is Executed via a Repeater before waking the pod up). After a turn or two, two more will spawn in from the other portals, accompanied by alien pods of varying composition and threat level. Killing all three Avatars wins the game, so keeping away from the other aliens to focus on the Avatar may work as a last stand, even if means continuously falling back through the level to keep ahead of the aliens.

With the last enemy Avatar destroyed, the psionic network holding the Gates active begins to destabilize, with the alien base starting to self-destruct from the strain. The Gate in front of you collapses, but you manage to wedge it open with Psionic power and send your troops back through. With no other options left, the Ethereal bodies glow from their 'coffins' strewn about the room, and attempt to overwrite you from the Avatar body. Fortunately, they have greatly underestimated you, and you are able to hold your own against the full squad of Ethereals, singlehandedly. Blasting back the wraith-like entities they have become, you destroy their fortress and also manage to get your own consciousness back, waking up in your real body - with an otherworldly sound not unlike when Asaru contacted Faulke, Wier, and Weaver...

The true leaders of ADVENT destroyed, their atrocities exposed and their psionic network in ruins, ADVENT forces crumble before the now exponentially more empowered and numbered Resistance. The people have awoken and are striking down ADVENT, taking back their world. Mission complete, Commander!

''Meanwhile...''[https://youtu.be/Unzc1sMxlZA?t=214]

''The ocean had rushed in, the immense pressure destroying the alien base, leaving debris and alien bodies all about the seabed. The last bit of light leaves as the Ethereal 'coffins' flicker and go out... save for from one fissure in the rock, where Psionic energy seems to stream out of the gap in the Earth. Is this truly the end of the Ethereal invasion? Or is this a sign of a new rising '''Terror From The Deep'''? Only time will tell...''

Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)

2019-05-03T15:50:20Z

SpeedofDeath118:

The Shadow Chamber is a special research lab for the highest priority and most complex subjects: research that advances the plot is completed here, such as analysing the Blacksite Vial captured at the Blacksite raid and the Codex Brain recovered from the [[Codex (XCOM2)|Codex]].

Other than its research purposes, it also has a function similar to the [[Hyperwave Relay (EU2012)|Hyperwave Relay]]. Once built, the composition and total number of the enemies will be revealed on the Geoscape, which will allow XCOM to plan for encounters with particularly powerful enemies. It has no slot to benefit from a staffed Engineer.
[[Category:XCOM 2]]

Codex (XCOM2)

2019-05-03T15:41:27Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added category and Shadow Chamber link

The Codex is an alien mechanical unit that lives inside the alien psionic/data network. It takes the form of an electric yellow female-humanoid being, seemingly made entirely of energy, save for a metallic skull and a spinal column.

You will first encounter the Codex after you attempt to Skulljack an [[ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)|ADVENT Officer]]. It is advisable to kill all other enemies on the map. It has high health, a high dodge rate (so even point-blank shots may 'graze' it for partial damage), and high accuracy. For the storyline requirement, the best time to fight it is when there's no turn limit, allowing as much time as necessary to defeat the Codex.

Its abilities include:
* Teleportation: The Codex will usually teleport instead of physically moving. This has a better-than-average movement range, doesn't trigger any reaction fire, and and represents a single action, so the Codex can attack any targets. This ability means the Codex will almost always get a flanking shot every round, unless it uses another ability. However, its plasma weapon is not very high powered, so even a flanking critical hit will not be lethal once [[Predator Armor (XCOM2)|Predator Armor]] is unlocked.
* Rift: The Codex can summon a psionic rift. This disables weapons of XCOM soldiers in the area (mechanically, it reduces their ammo to zero). The rift will detonate on the next turn for moderate damage to anything still in the area of effect. This usually costs the turn of any soldier caught by it, since reloading and moving out of the area of effect to avoid the damage is a full turn of actions, though there are options that don't rely on the primary weapon, such as a Ranger's Slash, the Sharpshooter's pistol or using an item. Auto-loaders can also allow your soldier to reload for free, allowing a soldier to act. If necessary, a soldier can be left in the Rift and ignore the damage, since it will not be lethal to a soldier with full health, although the rift detonation could destroy their cover.
* Clone: Whenever it takes damage the Codex will clone itself and teleport away, leaving two Codices on the battlefield. The remaining HP will be divided between the two clones, rounding up for the clone and down for the original (so if it attempts to clone at 1 HP, it will just teleport). Since any amount of damage will result in a clone, try to hit it with a single killing shot, ensuring that the Codex will not Clone. An Overwatch ambush from Concealment can also defeat it, as all shots are simultaneous.

Flashbangs and other causes of Disorientation greatly reduce its threat by restricting it from using its special abilities, crippling the Codex's offensive potential and movement. Killing your first Codex reduces Avatar progress by 1, but afterwards, they will spawn in regular enemy pods.

After researching the Codex Brain in the [[Shadow Chamber (XCOM2)|Shadow Chamber]], you will be tasked with Skulljacking a Codex itself (which, similarly to the skulljacking of the ADVENT Captain, summons the stronger [[Avatar (XCOM2)|Avatar]]). After this task is complete, all future Codices can be Skullmined, offering an easier way to kill Codices without allowing it to clone itself (unless the Skulljack misses).

Codices have the unfortunate distinction of being considered both partially mechanical and organic simultaneously. This means that both mental Psionic attacks (such as Insanity and Domination) and Bluescreen Protocol (Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Bombs) are effective upon it, although Haywire Protocol will not work. Codices also have high Will, so early Psionic attacks should be focused elsewhere.

Having two soldiers close to each other will almost always result in the Codex using Rift, leaving 2-3 soldiers with empty primary guns. However, it deals no immediate damage and leaves the Codex open to counterattack. By clone or Teleports, the Codex will tend to at least stay in LoS, thus within range of attack of your squad. A high-ranking Sharpshooter is perhaps best suited to facing them: Standoff can kill all low health clones, Fan Fire and Deadeye can kill a Codex in one shot, and Serial can let you snipe several clones in a row.

[[Category:XCOM 2]]

Codex (XCOM2)

2019-05-03T15:36:57Z

SpeedofDeath118: Added more content and formalised the page

The Codex is an alien mechanical unit that lives inside the alien psionic/data network. It takes the form of an electric yellow female-humanoid being, seemingly made entirely of energy, save for a metallic skull and a spinal column.

You will first encounter the Codex after you attempt to Skulljack an [[ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)|ADVENT Officer]]. It is advisable to kill all other enemies on the map. It has high health, a high dodge rate (so even point-blank shots may 'graze' it for partial damage), and high accuracy. For the storyline requirement, the best time to fight it is when there's no turn limit, allowing as much time as necessary to defeat the Codex.

Its abilities include:
* Teleportation: The Codex will usually teleport instead of physically moving. This has a better-than-average movement range, doesn't trigger any reaction fire, and and represents a single action, so the Codex can attack any targets. This ability means the Codex will almost always get a flanking shot every round, unless it uses another ability. However, its plasma weapon is not very high powered, so even a flanking critical hit will not be lethal once [[Predator Armor (XCOM2)|Predator Armor]] is unlocked.
* Rift: The Codex can summon a psionic rift. This disables weapons of XCOM soldiers in the area (mechanically, it reduces their ammo to zero). The rift will detonate on the next turn for moderate damage to anything still in the area of effect. This usually costs the turn of any soldier caught by it, since reloading and moving out of the area of effect to avoid the damage is a full turn of actions, though there are options that don't rely on the primary weapon, such as a Ranger's Slash, the Sharpshooter's pistol or using an item. Auto-loaders can also allow your soldier to reload for free, allowing a soldier to act. If necessary, a soldier can be left in the Rift and ignore the damage, since it will not be lethal to a soldier with full health, although the rift detonation could destroy their cover.
* Clone: Whenever it takes damage the Codex will clone itself and teleport away, leaving two Codices on the battlefield. The remaining HP will be divided between the two clones, rounding up for the clone and down for the original (so if it attempts to clone at 1 HP, it will just teleport). Since any amount of damage will result in a clone, try to hit it with a single killing shot, ensuring that the Codex will not Clone. An Overwatch ambush from Concealment can also defeat it, as all shots are simultaneous.

Flashbangs and other causes of Disorientation greatly reduce its threat by restricting it from using its special abilities, crippling the Codex's offensive potential and movement. Killing your first Codex reduces Avatar progress by 1, but afterwards, they will spawn in regular enemy pods.

After a plot point, you will be tasked with Skulljacking a Codex itself (which, similarly to the skulljacking of the ADVENT Captain, summons the stronger [[Avatar (XCOM2)|Avatar]]). After this task is complete, all future Codices can be Skullmined, offering an easier way to kill Codices without allowing it to clone itself (unless the Skulljack misses).

Codices have the unfortunate distinction of being considered both partially mechanical and organic simultaneously. This means that both mental Psionic attacks (such as Insanity and Domination) and Bluescreen Protocol (Bluescreen Rounds and EMP Bombs) are effective upon it, although Haywire Protocol will not work. Codices also have high Will, so early Psionic attacks should be focused elsewhere.

Having two soldiers close to each other will almost always result in the Codex using Rift, leaving 2-3 soldiers with empty primary guns. However, it deals no immediate damage and leaves the Codex open to counterattack. By clone or Teleports, the Codex will tend to at least stay in LoS, thus within range of attack of your squad. A high-ranking Sharpshooter is perhaps best suited to facing them: Standoff can kill all low health clones, Fan Fire and Deadeye can kill a Codex in one shot, and Serial can let you snipe several clones in a row.

ADVENT Officer (XCOM2)

2019-05-03T14:54:54Z

SpeedofDeath118: Changed some details of the page

Glossary

2019-05-03T14:48:51Z

SpeedofDeath118: Changed "XCOM FPS" to the proper name, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

==A==
; Alien : An organism not native of Earth. Also known as an Extraterrestrial. Also used as an adjective to refer to anything that's not Earth in origin.

; AP : An Abbreviation for '''A'''rmour '''P'''iercing.

; Armour-Piercing : This type of ammunition is a shell filled with a dense material which is capable of breaching most types of hardened armour. Despite its name, it is the damage type that most commonly does nothing to heavily-armoured aliens, and actually has no armour-negating qualities at all.

; AoE : An abbreviation for '''A'''rea '''o'''f '''E'''ffect. Used to refer to attacks that affects large area of the map, usually explosions. Also used as a term to measure how large the area of effect is.

; Aquanaut : A soldier of X-COM specializing in underwater operations. First appeared in ''X-COM: Terror from the Deep''.

==B==
; [[Brain]] : The name given to the controlling being upon Mars. Also known as the "Alien Brain".

==C==
; Captain : The highest rank an aquanaut of X-COM can attain. May also refer third highest rank a soldier of X-COM can attain.

; [[Commander]] : The highest rank a soldier of X-COM can attain. May also refer second highest rank an aquanaut of X-COM can attain. May also refer to the main leader of X-COM or just its many sector/regional branches such as the one in charge in [[Mega Primus]]. May also refer to the highest ranking alien X-COM can capture.

; Cydonia : The name given to a region of Mars. For the game's purposes, it is the site for the alien's main headquarters.

==D==
==E==
; E-Mail X-COM : A cut down and very simplified play-by-e-mail combat game with the X-Com theme.
; Enemy Unknown : The original release (''UFO: Enemy Unknown''), Playstation version (''X-COM: Enemy Unknown'') and the re-imagined remake's (''XCOM: Enemy Unknown'') subtitle. Also known as ''X-COM: UFO Defense'' in the United States due to copyright issues. Used to refer to the first game of the franchise. May also refer to the new upcoming remake.
; Enforcer : The titular combat android player character of the X-COM third-person shooter ''X-COM: Enforcer''. Also used to refer to the game in general.
; Electro-Flare : A portable and persistent light source that activates when it hits the ground after being thrown.
; EU : An abbreviation for '''E'''nemy '''U'''nknown.

==F==
* [[Foundry (EU2012)|Foundry]] is a base facility from the New XCOM Game that allows you to upgrade your weapons and technology.

==G==
; Grenade : A thrown area-effect weapon consisting of an amount of high explosive substances encased in metal fragments with a timed detonator. The Grenades used by X-Com are all equipped with a timer and a trigger safeguard mechanism that prevents the grenade from detonating after the timer has elapsed and only when it lands on the ground.

; GZ : Short-hand for '''Ground Zero'''. This is the point at which an explosive is detonated; the center of the blast area. Distance from Ground Zero is referred to in radii. The edge of the blast area, where damage is minimal or none, is referred to as the '''Blast Radius'''.

==H==
; HE : An abbreviation for '''H'''igh/'''H'''ighly '''E'''xplosive(s).

; [[Heavy Weapons Platform]] : A miniature unmanned tank.

; [[Explosion#HE_Block| HE Block]] : A property of most walls and many terrain objects that causes them to resist or block explosive blasts.

; HEB : An abbreviation for '''H'''igh '''E'''xplosive '''B'''lock.

; High Explosive : Used as an adjective to refer to any object or item in the game with explosive properties or properties that affects explosions. It is also a [[Weapons#High_explosive|damage type]] calculated in the game along with Armour Piercing (AP), Incendiary (IN), Laser, Plasma and Stun. May also refer to the [[High Explosive]] inventory item from the first game.

; Hovertank : An alien based HWP that uses hover technology for locomotion instead of the traditional tank tracks or wheels.

; HWP : An abbreviation for '''H'''eavy '''W'''eapons '''P'''latform.

==I==
; IN : Short for '''In'''cendiary.

; Interceptor : A combat aircraft designed to intercept and shoot down other aircraft. The name of the fighter jet first available to X-COM. May also refer to the X-COM flight simulator game ''X-COM: Interceptor''.

; [[Incendiary]] : A damage type that causes health damaging fire to spawn in its area of effect or set unfortunate units to be set on fire and sustain damage each turn.

==J==
==K==
; Kiryu Kai : An elite team set up by the Japanese Government that failed to deal with the alien menace before X-Com was formed. Spirit Dragon Society? Energy Dragon Association?
==L==
; Laser : A light pump; A weapon technology involving highly concentrated beams of light.
; Laser Pistol : The first laser weapon in the laser family. In effect, a laser sub-machine gun.
; Laser Rifle : A popular and very well balanced rifle based on laser technology.
; Leviathan : An elongated and much improved Hammerhead. The equivalent to the Avenger on TFTD.
; LOF : Short for Line Of Fire.
; LOFT : Line Of Fire Template. A series of pixelated templates used by the game to represent a pseudo-3D form on the battlescape.
; LOS : Short for Line Of Sight.

==M==
==N==
==O==
==P==
; Psi : The greek letter ψ Commonly used to refer to the field of Psionics
; Psi-Amp : Psionic Amplifier, used by humans to amplify and channel their psionic abilities
; Psiclone : An electronic hallucogenic implant with a considerable bounty.
; Psionics : the art of invading and manipulating the psyche of enemy targets through sheer willpower
; Phosphor : Phosphorus - a poisonous and flammable substance that reacts when exposed to air, used in Incendiary munitions and chemical flares.
==Q==
==R==
; [[Rank]] : Used to indicate how high a soldier is within X-COM's hierarchy. Higher ranking officers provide morale boost in combat while causing morale penalty should they die in combat. May also refer to a captured alien's rank; what kind of intelligence is gathered through [[Live Alien Research]] depends on the interrogated alien's rank.

; Rookie : The lowest rank a soldier of X-COM starts with after hiring. Often used by players as cannon fodder and/or decoys/distractions. If the rookie survives the first mission and attain a higher rank, the newly promoted squaddie is usually put into more important roles.

==S==
; [[S.H.I.V._(EU2012)|S.H.I.V.]] : Stands for '''S'''uper '''H'''eavy '''I'''nfantry '''V'''ehicle. A series of Heavy Weapons Platforms XCOM operatives used in [[Enemy Unknown (EU2012)]].

; Seaman : The aquanauts' equivalent to the land based soldiers' rookie.

; Skyranger : The name of a slow VTOL Russian troop transport aircraft that can remain in the air for days on end with a single tank of fuel.

; SWS : Submersible Weapon Systems. Underwater variant of HWP

==T==
; Terror from the Deep : Used to refer to the second X-COM game ''X-COM: Terror from the Deep''.

; [[Terror Mission]] : A type of alien mission with the goal of terrorizing a populated area. A type of X-COM mission with the goal of stopping the alien terrorists.

; Terror Site : A city that is being attacked by Alien terrorists.

; [[Terror Units]]: A special alien unit that only appear in Terror Missions and other significant missions. The type of Terror Units that will appear depends on the primary alien species they're accompanying.

; TFTD : An Abbreviation for '''T'''error '''f'''rom '''t'''he '''D'''eep.

; [[Time Unit]] : A time unit is a fraction of time taken by any unit to perform any action. It's also a measure of speed; how fast a unit can do things in a single turn.

; TU : An abbreviation for '''T'''ime '''U'''nit.

==U==
; UFO: An abbreviation for '''U'''nidentified '''F'''lying '''O'''bject. Used to describe any unknown flying object in real life but is used in the games to refer to alien spacecraft in general regardless if it's known or not.
; UFO Defense: The name of the US release used to avoid possible copyright conflicts. Officially changed to Enemy Unknown as of the 1.4 update.
; USO: An abbreviation for '''U'''nidentifid '''S'''ubmersible '''O'''bject. An amphibious UFO. The term is commonly used to reference the alien subs in TFTD, but does not appear in that game. Presumably coined by players, it has been used in official game publications.

==V==
; VTOL : Stands for '''V'''ertical '''T'''ake '''O'''ff and '''L'''anding. A capability of most X-COM aircraft which allows them to achieve flight without requiring a long airstrip to take off and also saving the underground base some space.

==W==
==X==
; XCOM: The non-hyphenated version of "X-COM". This version is now used in current generation X-COM games such as the ''The Bureau: XCOM Declassified'' and ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown''.
; X-COM: Short for E'''x'''tra Terrestrial '''Com'''bat Unit; A paramilitary organization bent on defending humanity against alien threats and using their own advance technology against them. Is also used to refer to the franchise as a whole, especially the earlier generation of X-COM games.

==Y==
==Z==

ADVENT MEC (XCOM2)

2019-05-02T20:03:48Z

SpeedofDeath118: Corrected 'Mechs' to 'MECs' and improved some parts of the text