UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Gameplay Mechanics (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:58:45Z

Westley Roberts:

==Sub Sections==
[[Cover (EU2012)|Cover]]
*In combat, soldiers and aliens can take cover behind objects in the environment to lower their chance of being hit by enemy fire. Cover is taken automatically as the soldier moves through the environment. While in cover the soldier gains a defensive bonus against enemy attacks unless the enemy has flanked the soldier.
[[Critical Wounds (EU2012)|Critical Wounds]]
*After sustaining more damage than the Soldiers hitpoints, the Solider will either become critically wounded or die.
[[Defense (EU2012)|Defense]]
*Defense reduces the chance of being hit. Each point of Defense reduces the chance to be hit by 1%. In addition, using Suppression to reduce an enemy's chance to hit indirectly increases defense. Some aliens have innate Defense bonuses.
[[Flanking (EU2012)|Flanking]]
*A flanked target is indicated with a yellow shield. This target receives no benefits from cover and chances to score a critical hit against it are increased by 50%.
[[Overwatch (EU2012)|Overwatch]]
*A soldier or alien with a remaining action can enter Overwatch (default hotkey Y). This ends the soldier's turn, but allows them to shoot at the first enemy that enters their overwatch range during the enemy turn, albeit at a small penalty(aim penalty/cannot crit).
[[Scouting (EU2012)|Scouting]]
*
[[Suppression (EU2012)|Suppression]]
*Its purpose is to degrade the enemy's ability to fire and maneuver.
==Action System==

In ''[[EU (2012)|Enemy Unknown 2012]]'' the gameplay has been simplified when compared to previous titles, possibly with the intention to attract a wider console audience. Thus, [[Time Units]] have been removed and replaced with a two-part action system, where each unit can perform 2 Actions during its turn.

===Moving and Firing===
In a single turn, a soldier has two Action points. The soldier's class and abilities determine the options available for their 1st and 2nd Actions. The following rules are a brief summary of how Actions work:

* A unit may perform 1 or 2 Actions each turn.
* Some actions (firing [[Sniper Rifle (EU2012)|Sniper Rifle]] or [[Rocket Launcher (EU2012)|Rocket Launcher]]) may only be performed as the 1st Action and consume both Action points.
* A unit's turn automatically ends after the unit:
# Performs any action other than Move on its 1st Action.
# Performs a 2nd Action after moving as the 1st Action.
* The following [[Abilities (EU2012)|Abilities]] change the above rules:
** '''Bullet Swarm''' - Heavy can Fire + Fire/Move/Surpress/Overwatch.
** '''Double Tap''' - Sniper can Fire + Fire (Can also use Headshot or Disabling shot for either but not both due to cool down).
** '''Run & Gun''' - Assault can Dash + Fire but not Dash + Equipment.
** '''Snap Shot''' - Sniper can Move and Fire with a Sniper Rifle at reduced accuracy.

===List of Actions===
These are general actions that can be performed by your soldiers during the fight, depending on their [[Equipment (EU2012)|Equipment]] and [[Classes (EU2012)|Class]].

{| class="wikitable" width="50%"
|+ Movement Actions
|-
! width="50px" align="center" | Action !! Description
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| align="center" | '''Move''' || align="center" | Walk
|-
| align="center" | '''Dash''' || align="center" | Fast movement. Provides defensive bonus against enemy reaction fire.
|-
| align="center" | '''Grapple''' || align="center" | Move and use Grapple hook use to reach a higher position.
|-
| align="center" | '''Hunker Down''' || align="center" | Doubles cover bonus & provides immunity to critical hits, but reduces sight radius.
|-
| align="center" | '''Toggle Flight''' || align="center" | Activates flight mode on Archangel armor. Doesn't cost as an action point.
|-
| align="center" | '''Ascend/ Descend''' || align="center" | Go up/down one level while flying. Doesn't cost as an action.
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable" width="50%"
|+ Weapon Actions
|-
! width="50px" align="center" | Action !! Description
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| align="center" | '''Fire''' || align="center" | Shoot weapon at enemy/area. 4 types of weapon shots: Standard, Headshot, Disabling and Free.
|-
| align="center" | '''Grenade''' || align="center" | Throw grenade.
|-
| align="center" | '''Stun''' || align="center" | Can incapacitate targets for capture, easier if target's health is reduced.
|-
| align="center" | '''Suppress''' || align="center" | Fires at the area around the target to reduce its aim.
|-
| align="center" | '''Overwatch''' || align="center" | Takes a shot at the next enemy that moves through that unit's line of sight. A small (?how much?) Aim penalty applies.
|-
| align="center" | '''Reload''' || align="center" | Spend a full action to reload weapon.
|-
| align="center" | '''Psionic''' || align="center" | Perform a series of mental and physical attacks using Psionics.
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable" width="50%"
|+ Other Equipment Actions
|-
| align="center" | '''Heal Wound''' || align="center" | Use Medikit to heal Health Points.
|-
| align="center" | '''Stabilize/Revive''' || align="center" | Use Medikit to stop bleeding and/or revive an injured soldier.
|-
| align="center" | '''Combat Stim''' || align="center" | Use Medikit to temporarily increase a soldier's Will and reduce damage taken.
|-
| align="center" | '''Ghost''' || align="center" | Makes the soldier invisible for 1 turn or until attacking. Doesn't cost as an action.
|-
| align="center" | '''Battle Scanner''' || align="center" | Throw a scanning device to increase your vision.
|-
|}

==Sound==
* Both your soldiers and the aliens are able to sense one another's presence by detecting any noise produced by the other side as a result of movement or firing.

==Morale==
* Squad members are affected by morale and can panic on the battlefield, moving and firing uncontrollably on friend and foe alike. Losing squad members increases this chance while higher-ranked squad members and Officer Training Upgrades reduce this chance.

==Environments==
* Everything is destructible with the exception of floors/ceilings and bringing down entire buildings.

* Explosions can start fires which can spread each turn. These prevent movement across them but that can be countered with special armor.

* Entering buildings is much more dynamic than in previous games. Squad members can break through windows to enter buildings, kick down doors or quietly open them in standing on either side of the door frame. The two former options increase the chance enemies will hear you and come to investigate.

* Roofs and elevated positions can be utilized for better line of sight and squad tactics. Beyond traditional stairs and ladders, squad members can use drain pipes or armor upgrades to grapple or jet pack to higher elevations. From the demo, it seems that you can get down from a roof anywhere, so long as the drop is less than three elevation.

* There are weather effects in the game as well as day/night however they have no effect on game play.

==Tactics==
* Overwatch: Overwatch only allows a shot against the first unit spotted. For example, if you put a soldier on overwatch and they fire at the first enemy to move, any subsequent enemies moving through that soldier's line-of-sight will not be fired upon. The same applies to aliens overwatching against you. For example, you could use a high-HP unit (e.g., SHIV) to draw enemy reaction fire and then follow-up with a more vulnerable unit's move. This could also work against you if you're being flanked by multiple units the same turn. Take notice that overwatch has reduced chance to hit, cannot crit and only happens if unit '''moves''' within your sight range, so if you stop as soon as you get into overwatching unit's view, overwatch will not trigger.

* Alien encounters: Sometimes aliens are setup to spawn at a given point on the map, such that they do not move until discovered by one of your units. Upon discovery, the aliens interrupt your squad's turn and immediately move (but do not take action/attack). They tend to move relative to the unit discovering them and either attack that position (e.g., aggressive Floaters) or take cover against that unit's position (e.g., Sectoids, Thin Men). Therefore, if you're on a mission where time/turns don't matter (e.g., mission brief indicates no civilians; no countdown timer for mission objectives) you should move units one movement each at a time. In other words, don't immediately dash a unit as far as possible, especially without overwatch protection. Cycle through your whole squad giving each unit their first move before deciding whether to move each again or take action. Otherwise, you may encounter a group of aliens that can quickly flank that forward unit while the rest of your squad is out of moves/actions. Also, you may hinder your ability to purposefully flush the aliens toward a choke point, bunch them up in range of a specific unit (e.g., Heavy who can still fire his rocket, in Sniper LOS), or limit them to an area of the map with poor cover (e.g., explodable vehicles, half-cover).

* Taking advantage of alien squad script: Aliens can never attack you unless you "awaken" them first (a cinematic has played where camera shows a bunch of aliens) and when alien squad is provoked, they never take any offensive action or overwatch, only move. This means that you are never in danger of receiving any damage unless you have an unfinished alien alive from a provoked pack on the map. Therefore, there is not much incentitive to stay in cover when there are no "provoked" aliens alive - rather, having suitable cover in range of 1 movement is enough. Taking advantage of this fact, you can beat enemy in tactical quite easilly and without casualties. If you keep your people together (you can even stand in the open and on adjacent tiles), and advance slowly, every time going on overwatch with all your soldiers, you can make it so that aliens pop up on their turn (all except immobile squads, which are rare). This will make them trigger your overwatch, and then run to cover, and give you a full turn to either take them down or retreat into cover and setup an overwatch ambush. When having 2 squad sight snipers on a team, this usually lets you take down any alien squad before they even get a chance to fire a shot at you, and if they live, you retreat into cover which is beyond their line of sight, so that your snipers can squad-sight-overwatch enemy advance, which will finish them off. Take opportunist on snipers to have better hit chance on overwatch and lightning reflexes on assault to discover remaining enemies (letting snipers take care of them) without getting damage.

* Do not provoke more aliens: Each extra tile you reveal (get sight on) can have next alien pack waiting. Provoking them when you are not ready can prove fatal. This means that for example, if you've just finished fighting cryssalids and have only one soldier with action points remaining, never move him in a position where he'd uncover new area, because if you happen to find new aliens there, they'll get to attack you before you can do something about it. However, ending turn, you either get aliens on their turn (they do their free movement, you get your turn to attack them) or dont (again, you have full action points to do something).

*The changes in the action system are most notable when fighting Chryssalids. While fundamentally the same as their counterparts in the original, they are significantly less dangerous this time around because of the two action system. Instead of moving to a position where they can reach you next turn, they will dash up to your squad and end their turn standing right next to you, allowing them to be easily picked off.

[[Enemy_Unknown_(2012)| Back to Main Page]]

[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Suppression (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:54:53Z

Westley Roberts:

'''Suppression''' is a combat ability shared by the [[Classes (EU2012)#Heavy|Heavy]] and [[Classes (EU2012)#Support|Support]] classes, the [[SHIV (EU2012)|S.H.I.V]] as well as most of the [[Alien Life Forms (EU2012)|Aliens]].

Its purpose is to degrade the enemy's ability to fire and maneuver. The target's Aim suffers a 30 point penalty, and your soldier gets an Overwatch shot on the target if it tries to get away. It uses up two ammo, and cannot be activated if you have less. Suppressing an enemy prevents them making Overwatch shots, too. If your Heavy have Danger Zone and suppresses multiple targets, he'll get Overwatch shots to all of them if they move.

Suppression allows you to pin down a target that you can't immediately kill, reducing its ability to hurt your soldiers. You can then get your people to cover, or attempt to flank the alien. Suppressive fire sometimes destroys the enemy's cover, which may allow another soldier better line of fire on the alien.

Since it affects the enemy's Aim, Suppression is not so effective when used against an enemy that relies on hand to hand (melee) combat such as Chryssalids or Berserkers. However, the free shot still applies (and is more likely to be applied against these aliens, as they are much more prone to moving).

===Dealing with Suppression===
Suppression can be dealt with in a number of ways. Firstly you can attack the suppressing unit before moving or using the suppressed soldier. You don't need to kill them, taking any damage cancels the Suppression effect.
Some abilities will not trigger a reaction shot, so you may still use these freely while under suppression instead of a low percentage shot:
* Grenades
* Rocket Launchers
* Psionic Abilities

The [[Classes (EU2012)#Assault| Assault]] class ability Lightning Reflexes will counter the first reaction shot in a turn, so if your Assault soldier has this ability and is suppressed, it is safe to move him/her.

[[Gameplay_Mechanics_(EU2012)| Back to Gameplay Mechanics]] 
[[Enemy_Unknown_(EU2012)| Back to Main Page]]

[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Overwatch (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:54:16Z

Westley Roberts:

A soldier or alien with a remaining action can enter Overwatch (default hotkey Y). This ends the soldier's turn, but allows them to shoot at the first enemy that enters their overwatch range during the enemy turn, albeit at a small penalty(aim penalty/cannot crit).

Some class abilities alter or improve various aspects and properties of Overwatch. These include Rapid Reaction (Heavy), Squad Sight (Sniper), Opportunist (Sniper), Covering Fire (Support), and Sentinel (Support).

When overwatching be aware of what accuracy percentage you are likely to get. It is better to hunker down and double your defense bonus rather than risking a 20% shot. Especially early on with rookies with low accuracy and carrying weak weapons it isn't worth the risk.

Due to the aim penalty, overwatch can be more effectively used to "pin down" aliens while your squad maneuvers, rather than for direct damage. An aliens will never, or very rarely move if it sees an agent enter overwatch (this holds true for aliens under suppressing fire as well). This can be exploited to great effect: it allows you to move your agents into flanking positions, while at the same time preventing the aliens from doing the same to you. Please note that aliens that do NOT see the agent go into overwatch will still freely move, and will more than likely trigger the reaction shot. If all your squad's reaction shots are triggered, then the aliens will once again move freely, so care must be taken when setting up overwatch for this tactic.

Here is a more in-depth guide to effective overwatch usage, credit to 1stGear of the Something Awful forums:

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3508281&perpage=40&pagenumber=395#post408751257
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I'm going to cover a bunch of stuff in this post, but I'm going to start with Overwatch and using it properly. This is because Overwatching correctly is one of the most fundamentally important parts of playing this game on Classic and Impossible and the aliens will destroy you every single time if you don't do it right.

'''What is Overwatch?'''

Just so we're on the same page, Overwatching is the act of having your soldier reaction fire on any enemy that makes a move action within their field of view. Overwatch shots cannot crit, are made at an Aim penalty, and the Overwatcher must have line-of-sight on the victim. Overwatch shots do not trigger on any action except for movement. Choosing to Overwatch ends your soldier's turn entirely, regardless of how many actions they had left. I'll interchangeably refer to Overwatch shots as reaction fire.

'''I know that and I use it all the time, what's the problem?'''

The using it all the time is the problem. Its a common refrain in this thread that should always end your turn on Overwatch and that's a false statement that will result in the death of a lot of soldiers. This is because of something incredibly, unbelievably important that the game does not directly tell you:

An alien that knows it is being Overwatched will not move for any reason (Short of panic). This is for the same reason that you try to avoid moving when you're being Overwatched: the AI doesn't want to give you the free shot and potential kill. However, a human player has the capacity to judge the risk of taking reaction fire against other potential risks, like being flanked or a car about to explode. The AI does not. Again, if the AI knows a unit is being Overwatched, it will not move that unit under any circumstance. Instead, it will fire at one of your units. On unmodded Classic, this is super-bad because the aliens receive bonuses to their Aim and Crit chance, meaning their chances of hitting and killing one of your soldiers is significantly higher.

This is why you are fucking up using Overwatch. By always choosing to Overwatch if you can't think of anything else, you are essentially forcing the AI to make more shots on your soldiers, significantly increasing the chance of those soldiers dying.

'''So Overwatch is useless then.'''

No, Overwatch still has two primary uses:

1)The AI in XCOM is not omnipotent. If it doesn't have line-of-sight on you, it legitimately does not know where you are and what you are doing (This appears to extend even further than a human player's lack of knowledge in that the AI doesn't seem to cohesively use all of its units' vision, meaning that the AI might move Sectoid A into an Overwatching soldier's LOS even though Sectoid B already had LOS on the Overwatcher). This means the AI will walk into Overwatch fire if the Overwatcher was in the fog of war. This is why, when you are in the initial scouting phase, you should be ending every turn on Overwatch in case an alien pack runs into view. This is also useful for Overwatch traps, where you pull your soldiers back, Overwatch them, then let Muton Berserkers charge in and get fucked up by a criss-crossing plasma disco.

2) The refusal of the AI to move while it is Overwatched is as much as a risk to them as it is a risk to you. This means they won't shift out of half-cover, they won't run from being flanked, and they won't move from an exploding car. Using Overwatch is a way of 'fixing' an alien in place if that alien is in an advantageous place for you or if you are moving soldiers to flank it. Keep in mind that the pinned alien will continue to shoot at your people, so make sure that the potential gain of pinning it is higher than the potential risk of injury or death. Its honestly better to use Suppression for this particular use.

'''I'm a goon, break it down into bullet points'''

*Overwatch when you are scouting and not certain what you'll run into.
*Overwatch when you want to keep an alien pinned down to flank it/shoot it/whatever.
*Overwatch when you know the AI doesn't have LOS on you and thus doesn't know what you're doing.
*DO NOT Overwatch if you will gain nothing from this alien's current position. Either take the shot if its >40% or Hunker Down.
*AVOID Overwatching while in half-cover. Half-cover is not hugely useful on Classic and it is almost always better to Hunker Down than doing anything else.
People who say you should always end by Overwatching are straight-up wrong. I followed that particular advice and was losing 1+ soldiers every mission. When I learned how the AI responded to Overwatch and began thinking about my use of it in that context, I started using it a lot less while using Hunker Down or taking shots I wouldn't have taken before. Abruptly, I start winning more missions with no casualties. Overwatch is a very powerful ability when used correctly and its is an anchor around your neck if you use it without thought.

[[Gameplay_Mechanics_(EU2012)| Back to Gameplay Mechanics]] 
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[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Flanking (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:53:44Z

Westley Roberts:

A flanked target is indicated with a yellow shield. This target receives no benefits from cover and chances to score a critical hit against it are increased by 50%.

In order to be considered a flank, the flanker must be somewhere behind the flankee, as shots directly from the side do not count as an official flank.

See Also: [[Cover (EU2012)|Cover]]

[[Gameplay_Mechanics_(EU2012)| Back to Gameplay Mechanics]] 
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[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Defense (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:53:19Z

Westley Roberts:

Defense reduces the chance of being hit. Each point of Defense reduces the chance to be hit by 1%. In addition, using Suppression to reduce an enemy's chance to hit indirectly increases defense. Some aliens have innate Defense bonuses.

= Sources of Defense =
Defense comes from armor, smoke grenades, altitude, [[Cover (EU2012)|cover]], and abilities.

== Cover ==
*Low Cover: +20
*High Cover: +40

== Abilities ==
*Hunker Down (all): Doubles cover bonus, but reduces sight range.
*Tactical Sense (Assault): +5 per enemy in sight (max +20).
*Damn Good Ground (Sniper): +10 vs targets on lower elevation (in addition to normal bonuses).
*Low Profile (Sniper): Low cover counts as high cover.
** Works only for stationary cover and does not work with low cover bonus provided by the Evasion ability of the Archangel Armor.
*Smoke Grenade (Support): +20 to all units in area.
** Dense Smoke: increases Smoke Grenade bonus to +40.
*Telekinetic Field (Psionic): +40 to all units in a large area.
*Enemy Defense (Alien): +10 to +40 depending on the species and difficulty.

== Armor ==
*[[Skeleton Suit (EU2012)|Skeleton Suit]]: +10
*[[Ghost Armor (EU2012)|Ghost Armor]]: +20
*[[Psi Armor (EU2012)|Psi Armor]]: +10

== Notes ==
* Defense provided from cover applies against shots coming from the frontal 180 degree area, a straight line that matches the direction the cover comes from. You can imagine whatever you are covering against extending forever to both sides.
* There is no difference at which precise angle the shot comes, all that matters is whether it comes from the front of your line of cover or from behind it (where you are). As long as the shot comes from the other side from where you are, your cover defense bonus applies. If the attacker is on the same side of cover as you, you gain no defense bonus from the cover, and the attacker gains an additional bonus to critical hit because you are Flanked (see [[Flanking (EU2012)|Flanking]]).
* Lacking cover (standing in the open or being flanked) provides no bonus or penalty to Defense. Aliens tend to prioritize uncovered targets in their line of sight.
* Being behind scenery, behind another unit, etc. does not influence defense or decrease chance of being hit at all. In a situation when one can see the target, it does not matter if there are several scenery objects or other units in between (Sectopods, cars, debris, etc.) It only matters whether the target has an adjacent cover, and is not considered flanked.
** You can always tell if you have low or full cover when moving based on the shield icon. When it's half filled-in that's low cover, and fully filled in means full cover. If there's no shield on a side, you don't have a line of cover in that direction.

=Countering Defense Bonuses=
Enemies with an innate natural defense in high cover are often very difficult, if not impossible to hit. There are several ways to improve your chances counter the defense bonus of a target. Increasing the Hit of the unit, removing the target's cover, or using an ability that ignores the target's cover

==Bonuses to Hit==
The simplest way to overcome Defense is to increase Aim/Hit. Soldiers automatically gain an increase in Aim for each rank they increase (See [[Soldiers (EU2012)|Soldiers]] page for details). Some equipment and abilities also increase Aim. When bringing new recruits along in battle with experienced soldiers, it is often helpful to equip them with these items to increase their chance of scoring a kit and getting experience for kills.

*S.C.O.P.E.: +10
*Light Plasma Rifle: +10
*Holo-Targeting (Heavy): +10 to allies attack vs the same enemy.
*Damn Good Ground (Sniper): +10, in addition to height bonus.
*Executioner (Sniper): +10 vs targets with less than 50% health.
*Height: +20, applies to all targets at a lower elevation.

==Removing Cover==
Using explosive weapons, ie Grenades and Rockets, is the main method of removing cover. Mid to late game when the aliens begin fielding stronger troops, grenades are unable to kill them in a single blast. The strength of grenades then becomes their ability to destroy the nearby environment and remove the target's cover bonus. Another possibility is using the [[Classes (EU2012)#Assault|Assault's]] Flush ability to force the enemy to leave it's cover and move to the open.

==Attacks that Ignore Defense==
These abilities do not use the standard Hit vs Defense mechanic and are best used against targets with a low chance of hit whether because of distance, high cover, or other reasons.

*Suppression (Heavy, Support, some Aliens): Target is -30 Aim to all attacks until next turn, provides automatic reaction shot if target moves.
** Danger Zone (Heavy): Suppression affects enemies within 2 squares of the target.
** Mayhem (Heavy): Suppression attacks to do a small amount of damage.
* Psionic Attacks: These abilities attack Will instead of Defense so they ignore innate defense bonuses, cover, and distance penalties.
** Mind Fray: 5 Damage. Reduces the target's Aim (-25), Will, and Movement.
* Explosives: Rockets and Grenades target a location, not a unit so their chance to hit is not affected by defense.

= See also =
*[[Classes (EU2012)|Classes]]
*[[Cover (EU2012)|Cover]]
*[[Armor (EU2012)|Armor]]

[[Gameplay_Mechanics_(EU2012)| Back to Gameplay Mechanics]] 
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[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Critical Wounds (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:52:40Z

Westley Roberts:

After sustaining more damage than the Soldiers hitpoints, the Solider will either become critically wounded or die.

== Critically wounded ==

When a soldier is critically wounded, you have three turns to save that soldier. Saving a soldier can be done by stabilizing or reviving the wounded soldier with a [[Medikit (EU2012)|medikit]] or finishing the mission before the wounded soldier bleeds out.
Each time a soldier becomes critically wounded, it will receive a permanent penalty to its willpower. After several critical wounds, it may be a good idea to sack/use a mind shield, depending on its rank.

'''Stabilizing'''

Any character with a [[Medikit (EU2012)|medikit]] can stabilize a critically wounded soldier. Move into healing range and select the "Stabilize" action. A stabilized soldier will not die from its current wounds (don't play with grenades), but will not become active again for the duration of that mission. After the mission, the soldier will be gravely wounded and will take a fairly long time to become active again.

NOTE: Aliens can and WILL shoot soldiers that you stabilize. Make sure you clear the area of attacking aliens before stabilizing the soldier.

'''Reviving'''

Reviving a soldier can only be done by a soldier in the support class with the appropriate skill. A revived unit will become active again during the mission with 33% of it's maximum hitpoints (including armor or items bonus).

NOTE: A soldier who is revived will not be able to perform any actions for the current turn. As such, be very careful when reviving soldiers who were downed out of cover; the aliens may be able to take the soldier down again quickly!

== Death ==
Death is permanent, once a soldier is dead, he/she is gone forever, unless you go back to an earlier save in which said soldier was still alive.
Every soldier that dies will have his/her name added to the memorial wall in the Barracks, where the number of missions, the number of kills, and the mission in which the soldier died is shown.

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[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Cover (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:52:06Z

Westley Roberts:

In combat, soldiers and aliens can take cover behind objects in the environment to lower their chance of being hit by enemy fire. Cover is taken automatically as the soldier moves through the environment. While in cover the soldier gains a defensive bonus against enemy attacks unless the enemy has flanked the soldier. Cover is divided into two categories: Low Cover and High Cover.

'''Low Cover''' 
Low Cover is represented by a half shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a '''-20%''' accuracy for the enemy firing at the target.

'''High Cover''' 
High Cover is represented by a full shield symbol on the tactical HUD. It conveys a '''-40%''' accuracy for the enemy firing at the target.

At Classic and Impossible difficulties, it's better to try to stay out of line-of-sight of aliens whenever possible (assuming you are not going on Overwatch yourself). When overwatching be aware of what accuracy percentage you are likely to get. It is better to hunker down and double your defense bonus rather than risking a 20% shot. Especially early on with rookies with low accuracy and carrying weak weapons it isn't worth the risk.

'''How Cover Works'''
How cover actually affects your units can be a bit confusing or unintuitive at first, and unfamiliarity can lead to situations of targets remaining covered when you thought they'd be flanked.

When a unit is adjacent to an object that provides cover, a plane is drawn between the unit and the object that extends to infinity in both directions, both horizontally and vertically. If a second unit fires at the first, and the line of fire connecting the two units intersects the plane, then the shot's accuracy will be affected by cover.

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[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Gameplay Mechanics (EU2012)

2012-11-02T18:45:08Z

Westley Roberts: Attempting to add sub sections to main pages to better reflect the Main Page

==Sub Sections==
===[[Cover (EU2012)|Cover]]===
In combat, soldiers and aliens can take cover behind objects in the environment to lower their chance of being hit by enemy fire. Cover is taken automatically as the soldier moves through the environment. While in cover the soldier gains a defensive bonus against enemy attacks unless the enemy has flanked the soldier.
===[[Critical Wounds (EU2012)|Critical Wounds]]===
After sustaining more damage than the Soldiers hitpoints, the Solider will either become critically wounded or die.
===[[Defense (EU2012)|Defense]]===
Defense reduces the chance of being hit. Each point of Defense reduces the chance to be hit by 1%. In addition, using Suppression to reduce an enemy's chance to hit indirectly increases defense. Some aliens have innate Defense bonuses.
===[[Flanking (EU2012)|Flanking]]===
A flanked target is indicated with a yellow shield. This target receives no benefits from cover and chances to score a critical hit against it are increased by 50%.
===[[Overwatch (EU2012)|Overwatch]]===
A soldier or alien with a remaining action can enter Overwatch (default hotkey Y). This ends the soldier's turn, but allows them to shoot at the first enemy that enters their overwatch range during the enemy turn, albeit at a small penalty(aim penalty/cannot crit).
===[[Scouting (EU2012)|Scouting]]===
===[[Suppression (EU2012)|Suppression]]===
Its purpose is to degrade the enemy's ability to fire and maneuver.
==Action System==

In ''[[EU (2012)|Enemy Unknown 2012]]'' the gameplay has been simplified when compared to previous titles, possibly with the intention to attract a wider console audience. Thus, [[Time Units]] have been removed and replaced with a two-part action system, where each unit can perform 2 Actions during its turn.

===Moving and Firing===
In a single turn, a soldier has two Action points. The soldier's class and abilities determine the options available for their 1st and 2nd Actions. The following rules are a brief summary of how Actions work:

* A unit may perform 1 or 2 Actions each turn.
* Some actions (firing [[Sniper Rifle (EU2012)|Sniper Rifle]] or [[Rocket Launcher (EU2012)|Rocket Launcher]]) may only be performed as the 1st Action and consume both Action points.
* A unit's turn automatically ends after the unit:
# Performs any action other than Move on its 1st Action.
# Performs a 2nd Action after moving as the 1st Action.
* The following [[Abilities (EU2012)|Abilities]] change the above rules:
** '''Bullet Swarm''' - Heavy can Fire + Fire/Move/Surpress/Overwatch.
** '''Double Tap''' - Sniper can Fire + Fire (Can also use Headshot or Disabling shot for either but not both due to cool down).
** '''Run & Gun''' - Assault can Dash + Fire but not Dash + Equipment.
** '''Snap Shot''' - Sniper can Move and Fire with a Sniper Rifle at reduced accuracy.

===List of Actions===
These are general actions that can be performed by your soldiers during the fight, depending on their [[Equipment (EU2012)|Equipment]] and [[Classes (EU2012)|Class]].

{| class="wikitable" width="50%"
|+ Movement Actions
|-
! width="50px" align="center" | Action !! Description
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| align="center" | '''Move''' || align="center" | Walk
|-
| align="center" | '''Dash''' || align="center" | Fast movement. Provides defensive bonus against enemy reaction fire.
|-
| align="center" | '''Grapple''' || align="center" | Move and use Grapple hook use to reach a higher position.
|-
| align="center" | '''Hunker Down''' || align="center" | Doubles cover bonus & provides immunity to critical hits, but reduces sight radius.
|-
| align="center" | '''Toggle Flight''' || align="center" | Activates flight mode on Archangel armor. Doesn't cost as an action point.
|-
| align="center" | '''Ascend/ Descend''' || align="center" | Go up/down one level while flying. Doesn't cost as an action.
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable" width="50%"
|+ Weapon Actions
|-
! width="50px" align="center" | Action !! Description
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| align="center" | '''Fire''' || align="center" | Shoot weapon at enemy/area. 4 types of weapon shots: Standard, Headshot, Disabling and Free.
|-
| align="center" | '''Grenade''' || align="center" | Throw grenade.
|-
| align="center" | '''Stun''' || align="center" | Can incapacitate targets for capture, easier if target's health is reduced.
|-
| align="center" | '''Suppress''' || align="center" | Fires at the area around the target to reduce its aim.
|-
| align="center" | '''Overwatch''' || align="center" | Takes a shot at the next enemy that moves through that unit's line of sight. A small (?how much?) Aim penalty applies.
|-
| align="center" | '''Reload''' || align="center" | Spend a full action to reload weapon.
|-
| align="center" | '''Psionic''' || align="center" | Perform a series of mental and physical attacks using Psionics.
|-
|}
{| class="wikitable" width="50%"
|+ Other Equipment Actions
|-
| align="center" | '''Heal Wound''' || align="center" | Use Medikit to heal Health Points.
|-
| align="center" | '''Stabilize/Revive''' || align="center" | Use Medikit to stop bleeding and/or revive an injured soldier.
|-
| align="center" | '''Combat Stim''' || align="center" | Use Medikit to temporarily increase a soldier's Will and reduce damage taken.
|-
| align="center" | '''Ghost''' || align="center" | Makes the soldier invisible for 1 turn or until attacking. Doesn't cost as an action.
|-
| align="center" | '''Battle Scanner''' || align="center" | Throw a scanning device to increase your vision.
|-
|}

==Sound==
* Both your soldiers and the aliens are able to sense one another's presence by detecting any noise produced by the other side as a result of movement or firing.

==Morale==
* Squad members are affected by morale and can panic on the battlefield, moving and firing uncontrollably on friend and foe alike. Losing squad members increases this chance while higher-ranked squad members and Officer Training Upgrades reduce this chance.

==Environments==
* Everything is destructible with the exception of floors/ceilings and bringing down entire buildings.

* Explosions can start fires which can spread each turn. These prevent movement across them but that can be countered with special armor.

* Entering buildings is much more dynamic than in previous games. Squad members can break through windows to enter buildings, kick down doors or quietly open them in standing on either side of the door frame. The two former options increase the chance enemies will hear you and come to investigate.

* Roofs and elevated positions can be utilized for better line of sight and squad tactics. Beyond traditional stairs and ladders, squad members can use drain pipes or armor upgrades to grapple or jet pack to higher elevations. From the demo, it seems that you can get down from a roof anywhere, so long as the drop is less than three elevation.

* There are weather effects in the game as well as day/night however they have no effect on game play.

==Tactics==
* Overwatch: Overwatch only allows a shot against the first unit spotted. For example, if you put a soldier on overwatch and they fire at the first enemy to move, any subsequent enemies moving through that soldier's line-of-sight will not be fired upon. The same applies to aliens overwatching against you. For example, you could use a high-HP unit (e.g., SHIV) to draw enemy reaction fire and then follow-up with a more vulnerable unit's move. This could also work against you if you're being flanked by multiple units the same turn. Take notice that overwatch has reduced chance to hit, cannot crit and only happens if unit '''moves''' within your sight range, so if you stop as soon as you get into overwatching unit's view, overwatch will not trigger.

* Alien encounters: Sometimes aliens are setup to spawn at a given point on the map, such that they do not move until discovered by one of your units. Upon discovery, the aliens interrupt your squad's turn and immediately move (but do not take action/attack). They tend to move relative to the unit discovering them and either attack that position (e.g., aggressive Floaters) or take cover against that unit's position (e.g., Sectoids, Thin Men). Therefore, if you're on a mission where time/turns don't matter (e.g., mission brief indicates no civilians; no countdown timer for mission objectives) you should move units one movement each at a time. In other words, don't immediately dash a unit as far as possible, especially without overwatch protection. Cycle through your whole squad giving each unit their first move before deciding whether to move each again or take action. Otherwise, you may encounter a group of aliens that can quickly flank that forward unit while the rest of your squad is out of moves/actions. Also, you may hinder your ability to purposefully flush the aliens toward a choke point, bunch them up in range of a specific unit (e.g., Heavy who can still fire his rocket, in Sniper LOS), or limit them to an area of the map with poor cover (e.g., explodable vehicles, half-cover).

* Taking advantage of alien squad script: Aliens can never attack you unless you "awaken" them first (a cinematic has played where camera shows a bunch of aliens) and when alien squad is provoked, they never take any offensive action or overwatch, only move. This means that you are never in danger of receiving any damage unless you have an unfinished alien alive from a provoked pack on the map. Therefore, there is not much incentitive to stay in cover when there are no "provoked" aliens alive - rather, having suitable cover in range of 1 movement is enough. Taking advantage of this fact, you can beat enemy in tactical quite easilly and without casualties. If you keep your people together (you can even stand in the open and on adjacent tiles), and advance slowly, every time going on overwatch with all your soldiers, you can make it so that aliens pop up on their turn (all except immobile squads, which are rare). This will make them trigger your overwatch, and then run to cover, and give you a full turn to either take them down or retreat into cover and setup an overwatch ambush. When having 2 squad sight snipers on a team, this usually lets you take down any alien squad before they even get a chance to fire a shot at you, and if they live, you retreat into cover which is beyond their line of sight, so that your snipers can squad-sight-overwatch enemy advance, which will finish them off. Take opportunist on snipers to have better hit chance on overwatch and lightning reflexes on assault to discover remaining enemies (letting snipers take care of them) without getting damage.

* Do not provoke more aliens: Each extra tile you reveal (get sight on) can have next alien pack waiting. Provoking them when you are not ready can prove fatal. This means that for example, if you've just finished fighting cryssalids and have only one soldier with action points remaining, never move him in a position where he'd uncover new area, because if you happen to find new aliens there, they'll get to attack you before you can do something about it. However, ending turn, you either get aliens on their turn (they do their free movement, you get your turn to attack them) or dont (again, you have full action points to do something).

*The changes in the action system are most notable when fighting Chryssalids. While fundamentally the same as their counterparts in the original, they are significantly less dangerous this time around because of the two action system. Instead of moving to a position where they can reach you next turn, they will dash up to your squad and end their turn standing right next to you, allowing them to be easily picked off.

[[Enemy_Unknown_(2012)| Back to Main Page]]

[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]