UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Unconscious

2009-08-05T22:10:56Z

Venganza: /* Bug: Stunned mind controlled soldiers simply disappear on Abort */

I can't think of anywhere else to put this.

A thought occurred to me late last night. I doubt that the Gollop brothers actually went this far, but it'd be interesting to see if there is anything like this in the game.

X-COM units stun alien units to bring them back to base alive, to interrogate them and learn more about the alien threat.

If alien units successfully manage to knock X-COM units unconscious, and either the mission fails or the mission is aborted, leaving the stunned soldiers behind, do the aliens take the stunned units back and interrogate them (using psionics?) to try and learn the location of X-COM bases?

Like I said, I doubt this is in the game but it'd be a damn good thing to have in any remake. -- [[User:GazChap|GazChap]] 14:54, 1st August 2006 (BST)

== Moving bodies, and where do you wake up? ==

I know that stunned units being carried that wake up naturally will wake up next to the person who was carrying the body. But I have this vague recollection that there was some trick where you could move an unconscious body, but it would wake up where it was stunned (i.e waking up at the unit's last known coordinates, not the coordinates for the item representing the body). I really can't remember the particulars, but I've seen it happen. I'll have to run a few experiments and see if I can replicate it. Not sure if it can be used as an exploit though. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 21:33, 13 November 2007 (PST)

On second though, I can't seem to replicate it. The experience I had was that I picked up a stunned alien, then did something with it... oh hang on. Now I remember. I moved the body, then blew it up with a grenade. The corpse of the alien instead showed up where I'd originally picked it up. The game must replace the temporary unconscious body (with reference to the live unit) with a new corpse item. Instead, what happened was that the corpse was created at the unitref coordinates (which won't update when the unconscious body is moved about until it wakes up), not the coordinates of the temporary body item. Yes, that explains my vague recollection! So, no, not useful at all as an exploit. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:10, 13 November 2007 (PST)

== Exploitation? ==
Could it be poossible to use the bug listed here to keep any 1x1 alien indefintately unconscious? This would be are major help for long missions (terror, large/very large ships, alien bases, and retaliation). -[[User:Muton commander|Muton commander]]

:To be honest, outside of Terror Units, there's no 1x1 alien that poses any threat if it wakes up from stun. They'll have dropped all their weapons and grenades, and the AI has no code to ever pick items up. Annoying to hunt down, sure, but not dangerous. If it's really an issue, if you know an alien has been stunned and you don't want it to wake up, either pick up all the gear you want and run away, or toss the body into a corner, and then drop a grenade on the body. Works every time. (If it's an alien you want to remain stunned, they probably should be watched by someone anyways, or carried around or back to the dropship.) If absolutely necessary, you can even revive a stunned alien with use of Stimulants from a [[Medi-Kit]] and then 'finish the job.' (Difficult with aliens stunned by [[Small Launcher]]s, but in my experience any alien who knocks himself out with one of those suckers isn't gonna be waking up any time soon anyways.) [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 19:14, 5 October 2008 (CDT)

::Other than the 1x1 terror units, [[Ethereal]]s and other Psi using aliens can still be threat if they wake up. 4x4 terror units never wake up (bug?). I would never grenade unconscious bodies on purpose. That's a waste of a $20,000 corpse. They aren't a threat and aliens that later wake up are useful for experience training when you decide to put them down for the count.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 17:28, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

:Point on the Psi, I considered that after posting, but figured most people can put that piece together. As I noted, though, if you have Medi-Kits, you can use the Stimulants to wake the alien back up and then blast it then. As for corpses, yeah, it can be an issue, but really, Laser Cannons are more profitable. Alien corpses are actually only low-mid level in value of items in a mission; any alien weapon is worth far more(though not the ammo). Alloys and Elerium also sell for less, but have their own uses. The Heavy Plasma the alien was probably carrying is worth 8.5 times(9 times if its got a clip) as much as the corpse. I guess my opinion is that if the only way you can make ends meet in X-COM is by selling alien corpses, you're doing something wrong. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 19:15, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

:: Two really quick notes: 1) Chryssalids 2) There's no purpose in destroying a corpse. Although I take it we're talking about an unconscious body. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:15, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

:I did say non-terror units. ;) Stunned Chryssalids should be grenaded, no question. Same with stunned Celatids. Stunned Silacoids aren't usually a problem, though. And no, there's no purpose destroying an already-dead corpse, but if you grenade a stunned alien(instead of killing it after waking it up) there's no body, and thus no $20,000 corpse to sell. Although as I said, I don't think this is a valid reason to not kill a stunned Psi-capable alien, or anyone else you don't want wandering around behind your lines. Your financial situation should be healthier than that. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 23:20, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

: Sorry about his, but this had gone off topic. I wanted to see if an unconscious unti that wakes up in a hand slot could be kept unconscious by placing in your backpack. [[User:Muton commander|Muton commander]] 18:46, 7 October 2008 (CDT)

::Nope, it can still wake up. I assumed you meant backpack as there is a bug with an alien that wakes up from a hand slot. It crashes the game. Only way I know if to keep an alien unconscious is by shooting their body with small launchers. They still take stun damage but doesn't harm the items (and the body is now classed as an item.) That's not indefinite, but will last the rest of the mission.

::If you are after a way to exploit unconsciousness, take all your sleeping aliens and put all except one close to one another, but not in the same square. Preferably in a corner or room where they can't get by you. When they wake up, shoot them with a small launcher for firing accuracy experience. As long as there is one alien still on his feet, the level will never end. Boring, but only way I know of to exploit the mechanic.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 23:43, 7 October 2008 (CDT)

::: I don't think it's possible to apply stun damage to the body, as the damage will work against the armour level of the body object itself as opposed to the stats that belong to it (this explains why HE can easily wipe out any unconscious alien no matter their health or their resistance to HE). This only applies to UFO/TFTD, but certainly does work in Apocalypse.

:::As for the bug in the hand slot, what's happening is that when the unit wakes up, the game forgets to clear the image of the body item in your hand slots. Clicking on the now non-existent item will cause the game to crash, although moving stuff into the hand slot will clear up the error. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:57, 7 October 2008 (CDT)

== Bug: Stunned mind controlled soldiers simply disappear on Abort ==

So I'm fighting my first Tasoth mission on the Liner in TFTD and I'm getting my butt kicked. I decide to do the honourable thing which is to conduct an orderly withdrawal back to the transport, collecting my fallen comrades, my valuable equipment (Heavy Gauss, Sonic Pulsers), and some critical research items: - 1 dead and live specimen of the Tasoths and Bio-Drones. The psionic attacks are non-stop, and I have to keep stunning those who are susceptible, so as to stop them running off and getting killed (which is a shame because, disarmed, they are very useful "psi-sinks" for drawing all the psionic attacks).

Anyway when I finally bail out of there (sorry civilians, we tried!) I have only 4 effectives, plus 5 KIA and 5 stunned. I checked the 5 stunned bodies in the inventory screen and they were all there in Triton, with proper names rather than 'Corpse'. (I also checked the game save file using '''xcomutil dis''', and it also confirms the 5 stunned soldiers are in the Triton).

The Abort screen confirms there are 4 X-Com effectives in the boat, 0 outside the area, and the summary screen confirms the 5 KIAs. There is no mention of any "Missing" soldiers on the summary screen.

However when I get back to base, only one of the stunned soldiers has rejoined my roster. He is both the most senior (XCom Commander), and the first stunned soldier on the list, in case that is significant. The other 4 soldiers have disappeared.

Another piece of weirdness I just noticed. The summary screen reported 5 Alien corpses recovered, and does not mention any live aliens captured, but I brought back 3 corpses (Tasoth, BioDrone, Calcinite) and 2 stunned live aliens (Tasoth, BioDrone). Maybe the summary reporting works a little differently when Abort rather than win the mission.

I have looked through the Known Bugs and the articles on Stun and Unconscious without seeing an explanation. The closest thing I can see is Mind Controlled units going MIA. The mind control happened many turns ago for most of these guys but yes, it's possible that all but one were mind controlled when they were stunned. The one non-missing soldier was possibly stunned "pre-emptively".

Perhaps I have to wake them up before I Abort? I don't have enough Stimulant left in the Medikits to wake these guys up as they are a long, long way under. Also I was using the Medikits to fight off smoke inhalation. Yes I think it's finally time to research some armour, as well as MC screening labs.

I am running with XcomUtil and I think that does attempt to fiddle with the MIA results which may be a complicating factor. I have the game save file directory if anyone wants it to look at.

Any explanations welcome! [[User:Spike|Spike]] 19:43, 12 October 2008 (CDT)

In UFO Defense today, I stunned a Sectoid Leader, Commander, and Medic after using Mind Control to locate and group them together, then had the Medic fire to knock them all out. To my great annoyance (I needed that commander!), none of them were counted as captured. Maybe this is part of the same bug, or it could be entirely different. [[User:Venganza|Venganza]] 14:25, 3 August 2009 (EDT)

:Interesting. Are you able to replay it and allow one or more aliens to come out of Mind Control first before you use the Medic to stun them? Then see if they count as captured. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 05:18, 4 August 2009 (EDT)
::Doing another mission, knocking out friendly units doesn't count them as captured. I had a Floater Engineer knock himself and four other Floaters out (two MCed, two not MCed) and had only two Live captures as the end of the mission. Seems that Stunning makes them no longer flagged as aliens as per Zombie's input. [[User:Venganza|Venganza]]
This is a case of [[ExploitsB#Zombie.27s_Permanent_Control_of_Aliens_via_Stunning|Permanent Mind Control Via Stunning]]. ;) --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 18:07, 4 August 2009 (EDT)

Talk:Base Defence

2009-08-04T04:56:07Z

Venganza: /* Earliest Assault? */

==Base Disjoint Bug==

Reference for the base disjoint bug is at:

http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/reference/bdb.html

If anyone wants to remodel or redraw it in a more suitable form or make it easier to understand, then please feel free to do so.

Other thoughts I might have is to give a rough indication of the layout of ground modules to allow players to plan ahead and perhaps even make use of the disjointed walls.

(Also note - hangar and small radar are the safest modules to place in lower right)

- NKF

== Earliest Assault? ==

Just had my base attacked after six weeks. Fifteen Sectoids and two Cyberdiscs against fourteen un-armoured soldiers with laser rifles and pistols. Naturally, I was slaughtered - a Sectoid with a Blaster Launcher took out two of my last three men as the final insult.

Has anyone been attacked at an earlier point?
--[[User:Majick|Majick]] 05:20, 3 December 2006 (PST)

Attacks on the 3rd or even 2nd week aren't that uncommon on Superhuman level. If the first alien mission is Alien Retaliation and your radar doesn't detect the scout...

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 10:26, 3 December 2006 (PST)

I have yet to see an initial mission of Retaliation scheduled at game start (before 12:30 Jan. 1 1999) in the save files. However, I don't know whether UFOs other than Retaliation scouts can nominate your base for Retaliation -- and your region always gets a UFO immediately.

[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 17:07, 3 December 2006 (CST)

Also: if you shoot down the first UFO in your region, and ''that'' starts a series of Retaliation missions, not taking out any of the prior ones puts the first Battleship at about 2 weeks out.

[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 19:39, 3 December 2006 (CST)

In a brand new superhuman campaign where I was running some tests on the hyperwave decoder, occasionally I would pick up UFO-1 as a retaliation scout.

Also, I have had my base get attacked immediately after the first or second missions in both X-Com UFO and TFTD on superhuman difficulty. It wasn't nice, to say the least.

But that's just what I've experienced.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

Now, that would be interesting if a Hyperwave Decoder at a base automatically scheduled Retaliation missions....

[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 9:05, 5 December 2006 (CST)

DAMNIT. I just got hit by Sectoids on January 23rd. My chaps are armed with Laser Pistols and Rocket Launchers for crying out loud, how are they supposed to handle these Cyberdisks??? ... Good luck to me, I guess. [[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]] 06:46, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

: You just answered yourself. Laser Pistols and rocket launchers. They'll bust through cyberdisc armour no problem. Compared to doing it with just standard rifles, you've got a fighting chance. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 12:45, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

::Agreed, you'll be fine with that weapon mix. Conserve your rocket ammo, use it wisely. Even better if you have some Stun Rods. The worst risk is when Cyberdisks explode near your troops when you kill them. But if you finish them off with Stun Rods they don't explode. Good luck! (And to the topic: don't think I've had earlier than about the 2nd week, and usually just at the end of Jan.) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:38, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

:::About two games back I got a Base Defense on Jan 3rd. That was a very brief restart. [[User:Venganza|Venganza]] 00:55, 4 August 2009 (EDT)

== Psi and visual contact ==

I was just checking the new changes and noted the affect paragraph refer to keeping soldiers out of sight during the alien turn to keep them from being attacked with psi.

The alien's don't need visual contact at any time. They already know where you are and will start attacking even if you are successful in keeping out of sight (try rooting the aliens to the spot by setting their energy and energy recharge to 0).

Although there appears to be short period from the time you start the battle before they start using their psi attacks. This appears to vary depending on difficulty level and the psi strength level of your troops.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]] 18:41, 17 May 2008 (PDT)

:Probably not the best place to put the info, but here it is: there are two conditions that cause the aliens to know the position of all your troops: after 20 turns have elapsed (you can change the value in the executable at offset 0x10F4), or if only 2 (offset 0x10EF in the executable) or less aliens remains alive (this explains why a single commander can psi attack from the beginning if he is the only survivor). [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 15:23, 18 May 2008 (PDT)

:: Ah, I knew there was some sort of grace period. So 20 turns eh? Good to know. ''Really'' good to know (although very bad for my play style, since I take it slow). Does it get adjusted by difficulty or the presence of psi-weakling (of a single digit nature) in any way? -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:39, 18 May 2008 (PDT)
::Yeah, this explains the sudden rush of aliens out of their UFO at around turn 20 I guess. I found nothing related to psi-weaklings. As for target selection, everything that is conscious, xcom, small unit, not already under mind control and whose unitpos[8] is less than the attacker's intelligence is susceptible to being attacked. There is then some computing involving distance from target, target psi-strength and psi-skill, attacker psi-attack strength, and a random number between 0 and 50 (the formula is too complex to my liking). The potential target which fits best may be attacked (based on some other unclarified randomness). If someone wants to perform more analysis, the subroutine starts at virtual offset 0x404650. Actually, patching the 0x83 at that address with a 0xC3 should completely disable psi-attacks from aliens (may be useful for testing) [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 12:29, 19 May 2008 (PDT)

:There's also the break that comes after a turn where you manage to kill a fair number of aliens. Even if you don't cause them to panic, they often stop Psi Attacks after you force a successful round. From a storyline perspective, the officers are probably busy rallying the troops and so they can't use Psi on you. Of course, the best way to stop Psionic attacks is to kill or otherwise incapacitate the psions. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 21:08, 17 May 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Base Defence

2009-08-04T04:55:46Z

Venganza: /* Earliest Assault? */

==Base Disjoint Bug==

Reference for the base disjoint bug is at:

http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/reference/bdb.html

If anyone wants to remodel or redraw it in a more suitable form or make it easier to understand, then please feel free to do so.

Other thoughts I might have is to give a rough indication of the layout of ground modules to allow players to plan ahead and perhaps even make use of the disjointed walls.

(Also note - hangar and small radar are the safest modules to place in lower right)

- NKF

== Earliest Assault? ==

Just had my base attacked after six weeks. Fifteen Sectoids and two Cyberdiscs against fourteen un-armoured soldiers with laser rifles and pistols. Naturally, I was slaughtered - a Sectoid with a Blaster Launcher took out two of my last three men as the final insult.

Has anyone been attacked at an earlier point?
--[[User:Majick|Majick]] 05:20, 3 December 2006 (PST)

Attacks on the 3rd or even 2nd week aren't that uncommon on Superhuman level. If the first alien mission is Alien Retaliation and your radar doesn't detect the scout...

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 10:26, 3 December 2006 (PST)

I have yet to see an initial mission of Retaliation scheduled at game start (before 12:30 Jan. 1 1999) in the save files. However, I don't know whether UFOs other than Retaliation scouts can nominate your base for Retaliation -- and your region always gets a UFO immediately.

[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 17:07, 3 December 2006 (CST)

Also: if you shoot down the first UFO in your region, and ''that'' starts a series of Retaliation missions, not taking out any of the prior ones puts the first Battleship at about 2 weeks out.

[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 19:39, 3 December 2006 (CST)

In a brand new superhuman campaign where I was running some tests on the hyperwave decoder, occasionally I would pick up UFO-1 as a retaliation scout.

Also, I have had my base get attacked immediately after the first or second missions in both X-Com UFO and TFTD on superhuman difficulty. It wasn't nice, to say the least.

But that's just what I've experienced.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

Now, that would be interesting if a Hyperwave Decoder at a base automatically scheduled Retaliation missions....

[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 9:05, 5 December 2006 (CST)

DAMNIT. I just got hit by Sectoids on January 23rd. My chaps are armed with Laser Pistols and Rocket Launchers for crying out loud, how are they supposed to handle these Cyberdisks??? ... Good luck to me, I guess. [[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]] 06:46, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

: You just answered yourself. Laser Pistols and rocket launchers. They'll bust through cyberdisc armour no problem. Compared to doing it with just standard rifles, you've got a fighting chance. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 12:45, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

::Agreed, you'll be fine with that weapon mix. Conserve your rocket ammo, use it wisely. Even better if you have some Stun Rods. The worst risk is when Cyberdisks explode near your troops when you kill them. But if you finish them off with Stun Rods they don't explode. Good luck! (And to the topic: don't think I've had earlier than about the 2nd week, and usually just at the end of Jan.) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:38, 8 March 2009 (CDT)

About two games back I got a Base Defense on Jan 3rd. That was a very brief restart. [[User:Venganza|Venganza]] 00:55, 4 August 2009 (EDT)

== Psi and visual contact ==

I was just checking the new changes and noted the affect paragraph refer to keeping soldiers out of sight during the alien turn to keep them from being attacked with psi.

The alien's don't need visual contact at any time. They already know where you are and will start attacking even if you are successful in keeping out of sight (try rooting the aliens to the spot by setting their energy and energy recharge to 0).

Although there appears to be short period from the time you start the battle before they start using their psi attacks. This appears to vary depending on difficulty level and the psi strength level of your troops.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]] 18:41, 17 May 2008 (PDT)

:Probably not the best place to put the info, but here it is: there are two conditions that cause the aliens to know the position of all your troops: after 20 turns have elapsed (you can change the value in the executable at offset 0x10F4), or if only 2 (offset 0x10EF in the executable) or less aliens remains alive (this explains why a single commander can psi attack from the beginning if he is the only survivor). [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 15:23, 18 May 2008 (PDT)

:: Ah, I knew there was some sort of grace period. So 20 turns eh? Good to know. ''Really'' good to know (although very bad for my play style, since I take it slow). Does it get adjusted by difficulty or the presence of psi-weakling (of a single digit nature) in any way? -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:39, 18 May 2008 (PDT)
::Yeah, this explains the sudden rush of aliens out of their UFO at around turn 20 I guess. I found nothing related to psi-weaklings. As for target selection, everything that is conscious, xcom, small unit, not already under mind control and whose unitpos[8] is less than the attacker's intelligence is susceptible to being attacked. There is then some computing involving distance from target, target psi-strength and psi-skill, attacker psi-attack strength, and a random number between 0 and 50 (the formula is too complex to my liking). The potential target which fits best may be attacked (based on some other unclarified randomness). If someone wants to perform more analysis, the subroutine starts at virtual offset 0x404650. Actually, patching the 0x83 at that address with a 0xC3 should completely disable psi-attacks from aliens (may be useful for testing) [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 12:29, 19 May 2008 (PDT)

:There's also the break that comes after a turn where you manage to kill a fair number of aliens. Even if you don't cause them to panic, they often stop Psi Attacks after you force a successful round. From a storyline perspective, the officers are probably busy rallying the troops and so they can't use Psi on you. Of course, the best way to stop Psionic attacks is to kill or otherwise incapacitate the psions. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 21:08, 17 May 2008 (PDT)

Plasma Pistol

2009-08-03T22:53:28Z

Venganza: /* Recommendations */

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Talk:Unconscious

2009-08-03T18:25:16Z

Venganza: /* Bug: Stunned mind controlled soldiers simply disappear on Abort */

Talk:Heavy Laser

2009-08-03T16:27:25Z

Venganza: /* XComUtil Stats */

== XComUtil Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS06.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 120
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 18
*TUs:
** Auto: n/a
** Snap: 33% (accuracy 75%)
** Aimed: 60% (accuracy 110%)
----
Hmm, interesting stats for XComUtil version of the Heavy Laser. I like how this upgrade makes it a more viable weapon now, the extra accuracy and power make it a potentially useful sniper weapon.

It also makes sense that lasers would be at least as accurate as plasma weapons (if not more), since lasers move at the speed of light. If you were going for realism, they should perhaps be more accurate, but maybe less powerful -- maybe allowing a high volume of rapid, low damage, but highly accurate shots to simulate the amount of time a laser would need to burn a hole in a target. For game balance though, this seems like a good improvement.

It's also interesting that the Sniper Rifles in Apocalypse are laser based. It is a bit strange how much weaker they get even though technology has presumably advanced in the intervening years. --[[User:Captain Foo|Captain Foo]] 18:23, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

Ideally the Heavy Laser would be less of a sniper and more of a long-range minigun. Accurate, low-damage, but voluminous fire. [[User:Venganza|Venganza]] 12:27, 3 August 2009 (EDT)

Blaster Launcher

2009-08-02T02:14:34Z

Venganza: /* Safe practise */

This man-portable total destruction device is the heaviest weapon alien artifact you'll discover. It fires the football-shaped [[Blaster Bomb]] which can hover and route through up to nine programmable waypoints before detonating on impact with a small explosion. 'Small' being a relative term for battlefield nuclear weapons. A safety radius of 10-20 meters is a good guideline. Blaster Bombs are ''outside'' toys, and can generally be relied upon to kill anything unlucky enough to be hit by them (and anything nearby). Although the weapon can only fire one shot before requiring a reload, one shot is usually enough.

Researching the Launcher and its ammo allows you to research the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]] and [[Hovertank/Launcher]] projects.

Blaster Launchers will only be encountered during Battleship, Alien Base, and X-Com Base missions. Late game, you are guaranteed to face several of these things every battleship or Base mission.

Blaster Launchers are usually carried by Commanders, Leaders and Engineers. In the case of Mutons, Commanders and Leaders that have been demoted to soldier will retain their Blaster Launchers.

== Stats ==
<b>Blaster Launcher:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS35.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 16
*TUs:
**Aimed: 80% (Accuracy 120%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $90,000 for parts, 1,200 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $144,000</td></tr></table>

<b>Blaster Bomb:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS36.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 200 High Explosive
*Ammo: 1
*Size: 2 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $8,000 for parts, 220 Engineer Hours, 3 Elerium
*Sell Price: $17,028</td></tr></table>

BB [[explosions]] have an 11 tile radius. A soldier on the 11th tile can still be '''killed''' as BB's do average 90 points damage '''at the edge''' of the explosion.

'''Note''': Though the [[UFOpaedia]] states that the blaster launcher costs 80% of your TUs to fire, this is in fact incorrect. It only costs 66% to use the launch command. The 80% only applies to the blaster launcher's 'aimed shot', which is disabled when the 'launch' command is enabled. The launch command is a completely different firing mode entirely.

== Usage ==
* Use left clicks to set up to 9 waypoints. Two are the minimum to avoid a bug concerning dud shells. To guarantee detonation, the last two waypoints should guide the bomb towards something solid such as a wall or floor. Right clicks will unset the last waypoint you set.
* The [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]] fusion ball is fired by the top-most section of the hovertank (the upper left corner when viewed via the overhead map).
* A bomb fired from within the [[Skyranger]] cannot be relied upon to cleanly exit the craft. Firing from the lip of the craft ''may'' be safe, especially if you angle your first waypoint away from the edge adjacent to the firer: if you're on the left side of the craft, angle your first waypoint to the right, and vice-versa.
* Similarly, it appears to be impossible to fire a Blaster Bomb from inside an [[Avenger]]. On the CE (Windows) version of the game <b>modified by [[XcomUtil]]</b>, there appears to be a pink door covering the rear of the craft that the Blaster Bomb hits every time. Curiously, units can walk through this "door" and the explosion damage from the Blaster Bomb detonating also goes through the door and will kill any unit within range on the outside of the craft.
* In the CE (Windows) version of the game, attempting to fire a Blaster Bomb along an absolutely vertical path (as opposed to on an angle) results in it flying south instead. Aliens will still set vertical waypoints however, often killing themselves as a result.
* If it somehow misses a waypoint (via the above method or drift), a bomb will restart its path from the correct waypoint if it later passes it or if it flies off the edge of the map (so long as there are two or more waypoints remaining).
* Soldiers do not need to face targets or waypoints when firing.
* Blaster Bombs can break open a single section of '''UFO outer hulls''' (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). They will carry through with enough power to detonate the nav modules on the other side of the hull, if you hit north or west sides. See [[Explosions#When_Is_a_Wall_not_a_Wall|Explosions: When Is a Wall not a Wall]]. This is not true of shells fired from the [[Hovertank/Launcher|Hovertank]]

== Tactics ==
Aim for large, open areas first to maximize the effects of your blasts. If you want to send a shell into a UFO, first punch open the bridge, then send a shell into that section of the craft to ensure you destroy the highest ranking aliens. This will reduce both [[psionic]] attacks and enemy [[morale]].

When using BBs for base defense, remember that it is possible to destroy your own base with them! Use waypoints to hit the rear side of your (indestructible) entry lift (this helps to avoid destroying adjacent modules), then send another through the resulting hole to nuke the lift contents. Now nuke the (also indestructible) hangars.
Be careful of the effects of drift whenever firing through a narrow area.

Units can only hold so many Blaster Bombs. However, because just about any target can be hit from anywhere, there's no real need for the launcher units to move about.
Hence, one tactic is to have them stand on top of a large supply of ammo, as opposed to having them carry the extra bombs with them.

Blasters are the key for the ultimate anti-Sectoid Leader/Commander tactic:
Load a Skyranger with three [[Hovertank/Plasma|plasma tanks]], two soldiers and a blaster with a high amount of ammo, but don't equip it.
Send out your tanks to flush out and kill the aliens. As soon as one of the HWPs are sighted, the Sectoids will start to mind control one of the soldiers. Send that one into a two-story building and shoot out the stairs to put him/her out of the fray.
If you see multiple Sectoids or Cyberdiscs gathering around (for example, in the [[Abductor]]'s examination room), blast them. After the tanks have cleared the outside, use the blaster to create an entrance into the UFO wide enough for the tanks to enter (you might want to repeat it for every floor if the lifts are small). While clearing the UFO, you might want to destroy the bridge to put the Leader/Commander out of commission.

== Drift ==
Blaster Bombs will often veer slightly off course as they travel, regardless of your units' firing accuracy stat. If it strikes an object (such as a wall, unit, or even the floor) before reaching the next waypoint, it will explode. The waste of a perfectly good bomb aside, a misfire could result in the decimation of your own squad.

Set the bomb's path through the air if possible. There's nothing to hit up there, so even if it does drift, this won't stop it from ultimately hitting the target. Remember to avoid setting waypoints directly above or below each other if using the CE version.

Drift can result in waypoints being missed completely. For this reason, it pays to set multiple waypoints around the final target. If you can, send the bomb up in the air, then dunk the bomb back down again - even if it misses your actual target, it'll detonate when it hits the ground. Be sure, however, that it explodes on the same map level as its intended target, as explosive damage does not carry over to other levels.

Drift is particularly dangerous when firing in narrow corridors, such as those found in bases. In order to avoid this, don't allow the bombs path to cross a tile that has a wall in it. Without benefit of a diagram, the best way to explain this is to say that waypoints should be set as south-easterly as possible (as walls tend to be placed in the northern or western most tiles). Also, try to enforce 90° turns.

Try to always have your soldier <i>exactly</i> facing the first waypoint position (turn soldier or set 1st point accordingly), to reduce the chances of BB drift.

== Safe practice ==
Because of the indirect-fire nature of the Blaster Launcher, Launcher-armed soldiers need not be on your squad's front line. Ideally, Launcher-armed units should be kept out of the line of fire to prevent them from using reaction fire, which could result in the death of several friendly units, including the unit carrying the launcher.

While the Blaster Bomb is an awesome tool in your fight against the aliens, it is still originally their weapon, and there are times when it will be used against you. Alien units will only carry them during a base defense/offense mission or if deployed on [[Battleship]]s. During these missions, soldiers caught out in the open are wise to crouch (true of any situation). A BB shot directly at a crouching soldier on a level course will simply fly harmlessly over their head, (hopefully) detonating at a distance.

If an alien is carrying a blaster launcher, you can prevent it from shooting by having your soldiers move right up next to it. The AI, though generally stupid, does have some sense of self preservation and will *usually* not fire a blaster launcher at a close range target. Just remember that units further away may still be fired on. This strategy only works on aliens with blasters and grenades, and only applies to UFO and TFTD. The aliens in X-Com Apocalypse are a tad psychotic when it comes to explosives.

Finally, when facing psionic Sectoid Leaders/Commanders or Ethereals, DO NOT give a blaster launcher to a soldier susceptable to mind control or panic attacks.

== Dud shells ==
Sometimes you will get into a situation where your blaster launcher cannot be loaded with a new shell. When you examine the weapon, you'll find that it's still loaded, but will have 0 rounds. In order to use the blaster again, the empty shell must be unloaded.

This situation occurs whenever you attempt to fire the blaster launcher with only 1 waypoint. A blaster launcher fired by way of reaction fire (see next section) will also leave a dud shell behind, as it's technically a 1-waypoint attack. If you set multiple waypoints but the bomb explodes before it reaches its first waypoint, this will also create a dud.

Note that the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO has rectified this problem to a certain extent. You no longer get a dud shell when:

# You fire the blaster with reaction fire
# You use a 1-waypoint attack and the blaster bomb misses its target and flies off the map. You will still get the empty shell if the fusion ball hits something and explodes.

Dud shells do not come back to base with you at the end of a mission.

== Avoiding reaction fire ==
* In case it's not obvious, reaction-fired blasters are generally a bad thing. There is no chance to guide them, so they fly straight forward, and your soldiers will gladly fire at a target a few paces away. Unless the target is far away and the shot is very accurate, you can expect several friendly casualties. Keep your blaster units out of the line of sight of the enemy, and/or with weapons unloaded until needed. It may be sufficient to have them face away from the combat zone. Alternately, one can expend unwanted TUs by ordering the soldier to rotate in place or perform "sit-ups" (e.g. crouching/uncrouching rapidly).
* After a shot is spent via reaction fire, the empty casing "dud" must be unloaded before using again. This bug has been fixed in the Collectors Edition of X-Com UFO and no longer occurs except with normal one-waypoint shots.
* The time to reaction-fire a blaster is significantly less than the time it takes to normally shoot one.
* One trick to avoid accidentally using a blaster launcher during attacks of opportunity is to keep your blaster unloaded and only load it when you need to use it. You cannot fire an empty weapon. This works for [[Rocket Launcher]]s and [[Small Launcher]]s as well.
* An even better trick is to arm another weapon in the other hand and set it as the [[active weapon]] (that is, visible in the soldiers hands) before ending the turn. You will only switch over to the blaster launcher once the active weapon runs out of ammo (which will never happen if it is a [[Laser Pistol]] or [[Laser Rifle|Rifle]]).

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

Ethereal

2009-07-31T11:08:48Z

Venganza: /* Special Abilities */

[[Image:ethereal.png|right|Ethereal]]
The '''Ethereal''' race is arguably the most dangerous species that X-COM forces faced during the First Alien War.

Ethereals are rarely seen on Earth as they prefer to send other races (especially [[Muton]]s) to carry out missions on their behalf.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 68-79
'''Health:''' 55
'''Energy:''' 96-111
'''Reactions:''' 75-93
'''Strength:''' 48-52
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 37-92
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 80
'''Psi Skill:''' 40-46, 45-52, 50-58
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-58, 60-70, 65-75

==Special Abilities==
Every member of the Ethereal race possesses very powerful [[Psionics|psionic abilities]] that can be used to make X-COM forces panic. It is even possible for Ethereals to take control of X-COM units and use them against us.

Terror attacks by Ethereals are the most dangerous for both [[Civilian]]s and X-COM units - apart from having to deal with their psionic abilities, we also have to fight against [[Sectopod]]s.

Be aware of the fact that ethereals can fly, giving them access to just about anywhere on the map. They often use this to set up midair sniping positions, especially on the harder difficulties but not as much for across-the-map movement. [[Night Missions]] ARE A PAIN, especially since their nightvision is far superior to humans. Plus, flares and incendiaries aren't useful for illuminating empty air.

If an ethereal is "spotting" for his pals from around level 9 of the map and you can't find him, and his friends are all bombarding you with psi, you will probably have to abort... if you still can.

== Live Specimen ==
This being has awesome mental powers which allow for telepathic communication and telekinetic abilities.

The apparently weak physical abilities of this creature are sustained by its mental powers. We do not understand how these telekinetic powers work, since they seem to defy the laws of physics as we know them.

They are extremely dangerous in any combat situation, where they rely on their mental powers for combat. They rarely appear on Earth since they seem to rely on other races to pursue their objectives.

== Autopsy ==
[[Image:etherealautopsy.png|right|Ethereal - Autopsy]]
This being is physically retarded and seems incapable of sustaining any life functions.

The muscles are severely atrophied and the internal organs appear to be under-developed. The sensory organs, including the eyes, do not appear to function at all.

The brain, however, is well developed and draws on a high proportion of the body's blood supply. It is a mystery as to how this creature can sustain itself without external support.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Ethereal:
* The Ethereal takes 0.7x damage from [[Incendiary|fire]], and 0.8x [[stun]] damage.
* Very high Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* Is very fast (very high TUs).
* High Health.
* Very high Energy.
* Very high Reactions.
* High Strength.
* Very high Psi Strength.
* There are no Ethereal Navigators, Engineers, or Medics. Ethereal Leaders will be used in their place.

==See Also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research]]