The Mysteries of X-COM - Revision history

TowigOs: Question: What happens to UFOs that do Terror/Retaliation missions?

2025-08-04T02:04:24Z

Question: What happens to UFOs that do Terror/Retaliation missions?

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:04, 4 August 2025
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	Anyway, just felt someone had to bring this up here. If it really is explained elsewhere, it probably should be clarified here, as well, for consistency, anyway. (EDIT: I just felt it was being taken at face value far too readily in this discussion, and it just didn't seem right to just assume it with no evidence, despite all my experience playing this series, and noticing full well the soldiers' stats feeling constraining at first) --[[User:StormhawkAPS\|StormhawkAPS]] 01:08, 4 October 2013 (EDT)		Anyway, just felt someone had to bring this up here. If it really is explained elsewhere, it probably should be clarified here, as well, for consistency, anyway. (EDIT: I just felt it was being taken at face value far too readily in this discussion, and it just didn't seem right to just assume it with no evidence, despite all my experience playing this series, and noticing full well the soldiers' stats feeling constraining at first) --[[User:StormhawkAPS\|StormhawkAPS]] 01:08, 4 October 2013 (EDT)

			=== What happens to UFOs that do Terror/Retaliation missions? ===

			Both, the Terror missions and the Alien Retaliation end the same. A UFO comes along, reaches some point and disappears. The aliens do their terror/XCom base destruction and after that ... crickets. Nobody picks them up, nobody cares about them, nothing.

			Check it for yourself. Go to a Terror site but abort. The site just disappears (if you go to an UFO landing site and abort, the UFO is still there, flying away).

			Or try this. Go to the Terror site and defeat the aliens. Well, aren't you missing something? The UFO! What UFO? There isn't one. Well, that is the point!

			Or if you allow one of your bases to be destroyed, the UFO arrives at the base and then the two just ... disappear. Where do the aliens go? Given the fact how strapped for resources they are (check the question about why the aliens use so little force in the war), I find it pretty perplexing.

			Maybe the UFO dumps these crews on these sites, shots directly upwards all the way to space and waits in the orbit for a signal from the ground. When the aliens on Earth finish their terror/destruction, they send their signal, the UFO shoots back down, picks the crew up and shoots off. This is why you can't see it.

			Except there is a plethora of plot holes in this theory. If that is the case for these two missions, then why don't ALL the UFOs do the same. Well the scouts obviously have to find a suitable spot first, hence the flying to and fro over a region but why they enter the atmosphere from a quarter-of-the-world away and fly at high speed to their intended region is a mystery to me. Did they get lost or something? And why the large UFOs need to do these sweeps too??? Can't the scouts just send them some coordinates so they could dive in directly instead of parading in front of XCom radars???

			Ok, wait a minute. Aliens use hyper-waves for long range communication and navigation, including detection and ranging (hence Hyperwave Decoder). They use psionics for short range communication. Mankind uses a much more primitive means for both, communication and detection and ranging. Where did I hear this before? Oh, yes! The UK radar system from the second world war. Thing is, at that time UK needed a radar fast so they went with something primitive that could be developed and constructed quickly. Then the German's Zeppelin came to investigate. And left. Then the Germans attacked but ... they did not destroy the radar. They attacked it once but a few days they left and left the radar alone, never to return to it. They lost the war for Britain as a result. Why Germans did not destroy the radar was a complete mystery for a long time. Then long after the war some Brits came in contact with the German officer who led the German invasion of Britain and asked him "why did you not destroy the British radar system". The answer? "You did not have a radar system!" It turned out that Germans had so much more advanced radar systems that they could not recognize the primitive British radar design for what it was. Yes, the Germans did detect the British radar signals but they concluded it was just power grid arcing. Check [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a60LJGYK-ZQ The Secret History Of British Radar] for details. This gives me the idea that the aliens also believe humans can't track their UFOs because the aliens don't see any human made hyper-waves or psionics. Yes, they can hear strange electromagnetic noise in some areas or even in most populated areas but they assume it is "just something arcing there". This could also explain why they have to search for an XCom base for quite a bit of time before they can attack it. XCom is a top secret organization and it is tiny. All that psionic noise from all the humans around it must be hiding the bases pretty successfully. Especially when you build a "mind shield" there (which is just an over-powered psionic noise maker) ([[User:TowigOs\|TowigOs]] ([[User talk:TowigOs\|talk]]) 02:04, 4 August 2025 (UTC))

	==Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues==		==Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues==

TowigOs: Another theory why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War

2025-08-04T01:30:09Z

Another theory why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:30, 4 August 2025
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	The question of ages “Why aliens never have the smart of ramming Earth with a UFO flying at sub-lightspeed?” They have plenty of smaller UFO to spare and given there are no advanced bases on the Moon and the absence of “carrier-grade” UFO, interplanetary travel should be quite feasible to them, thus their UFO can achieve sub-lightspeed. Actually, a similar question is also presented in Star Wars “Why Galactic Empire never rams a Rebel-controlled planet with a Star Destroyer flying at sub-lightspeed?” So I made up an answer for both questions: When a spacecraft’s velocity approaches lightspeed, it becomes “transparent” in the real-space, for it has begun to “phase” into the so-called “hyperspace”, when it reaches lightspeed, it completely disappears from the real-space into the “hyperspace lane”. So ramming Earth or any other celestial bodies with something flying at sub-lightspeed is not feasible, because the projectile will simply goes through the target like a ghost, without making any damage. [[User:Lixiaofossil\|Lixiaofossil]] ([[User talk:Lixiaofossil\|talk]]) 14:09, 6 December 2023 (UTC+8)		The question of ages “Why aliens never have the smart of ramming Earth with a UFO flying at sub-lightspeed?” They have plenty of smaller UFO to spare and given there are no advanced bases on the Moon and the absence of “carrier-grade” UFO, interplanetary travel should be quite feasible to them, thus their UFO can achieve sub-lightspeed. Actually, a similar question is also presented in Star Wars “Why Galactic Empire never rams a Rebel-controlled planet with a Star Destroyer flying at sub-lightspeed?” So I made up an answer for both questions: When a spacecraft’s velocity approaches lightspeed, it becomes “transparent” in the real-space, for it has begun to “phase” into the so-called “hyperspace”, when it reaches lightspeed, it completely disappears from the real-space into the “hyperspace lane”. So ramming Earth or any other celestial bodies with something flying at sub-lightspeed is not feasible, because the projectile will simply goes through the target like a ghost, without making any damage. [[User:Lixiaofossil\|Lixiaofossil]] ([[User talk:Lixiaofossil\|talk]]) 14:09, 6 December 2023 (UTC+8)


			I have a theory of my own. According to my theory the aliens (let's call them Invaders) actually started their existence on Earth, which is only about 6000 years old. There are Big Bang scenarios where the universe is 13 billions of years old but Earth/the solar system/the Milky Way is only 6000 years old because the big bang started around the space it now occupies and all that mass of the universe slowed up the timing here in the center of the expansion pretty bad while the edges got a lot more time to age. Life in the universe (or at least in the Milky Way galaxy) was created by aliens from another dimension. There happened an argument between the main extra-dimensional alien (who designed the life, let's call him Creator) and one of his subordinates (who wanted something else, let's call him Adversary), so Adversary created the first Invaders to mess up the Creator's handiwork as badly as possible. However after centuries of messing the DNA Adversary with his Invaders learned the hard way that messing up Creator's handiwork cannot be done by methods chosen at random, some theory must be used. To develop these theories the Invaders created The Brain and placed it on Mars to have it out of reach of any mess. So The Brain developed the theory but now it did not work because the DNA of the life of Earth was too messed up and to add insult to injury the Creator deployed some nasty countermeasures to protect all the untouched DNA that still existed. New DNA strands were needed, preferably ones that the Creator does not care too much about. And here comes T'leth, an ancient colony ship from the outer edges, sailing towards Milky Way due to its plethora of aquatic planets. It initially contained only GillMen and their squid-like hyper-intelligent leader (let's call these aliens Aquians). Aquians made the understandable mistake of not securing their colony ship's computers (it is easy to make this mistake when you are the only civilization around in your galaxy) against hacking so now (with everyone onboard asleep) their computers get hacked, data downloaded and analyzed. The Invaders discover that Aquians were too dangerous to let live here, so they decided to crash T'leth into Earth hard enough to kill everyone onboard but not hard enough to destroy the DNA. However that led to the Earth destabilizing, giant water geysers spewing billions of cubic kilometers of water into atmosphere, flooding the entire surface of the planet with a giant flood and wiping everything out. Pretty nasty surprise from the Creator that dealt a severely crippling blow to the Invaders and their plans. Some sectoids found refugee against this disaster in the T'leth itself, where they were forced to become water-adapted Aquatics but the rest was killed and buried. Now The Brain on Mars had a big problem. Skeleton crew only, no carbon-based materials on the planet itself, only lots of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and no interplanetary travel technology to speak of (the vessel they used to get to Mars was cannibalized to create the Cydonian underground complex). The Brain scrapped most of the Martian atmosphere to get its hand on some carbon, allowing it to build a few thousands scientists but discovering Elerium, figuring out how to mine it and how to use it, how to make Alien Alloys, Power Sources, etc, etc took them 4500 years and now is year 1999 and they are just starting to try and take the Earth back. Aquians (the inhabitants of T'leth) are only GillMen and the leading alien, all the other alien life forms were created by Sectoids. I do not have a theory about why the Creator did not protect Aquians from the shenanigans of the Invaders. The most sensible explanation was that they left their galaxy without his permission (Milky Way was supposed to be the domain of humans) and hence the Creator decided to teach them some consequences. And why the Creator decided to not protect humans from the shenanigans of the Invaders? Because at the very beginning the humans turned their back to him and damaged their ability to commune with him so badly that it took 4000 years to just start the repairs. And also he had to decide the humans needed some hard lessons to learn too. TLDR: Why the Invaders used such a limited force in the First Alien War? Because they wiped themselves out by their own stupidity and now are trying to rebuild from scratch on a barren and desolate planet. ([[User:TowigOs\|TowigOs]] ([[User talk:TowigOs\|talk]]) 01:30, 4 August 2025 (UTC))

	===What may be the hidden function of UFO Power Sources?===		===What may be the hidden function of UFO Power Sources?===

Hobbes: removed bold section titles

2023-12-07T01:29:04Z

removed bold section titles

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:29, 7 December 2023
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	==General issues==		==General issues==

	===~~'''~~How fast can alien craft travel in space?~~'''~~===		===How fast can alien craft travel in space?===

	Some alien missions (repeated attacks on X-COM bases, for instance) come daily. This seems to imply that alien craft are able to travel the distance from Mars to Earth in a matter of hours.		Some alien missions (repeated attacks on X-COM bases, for instance) come daily. This seems to imply that alien craft are able to travel the distance from Mars to Earth in a matter of hours.
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	::On one hand, "near-constant multiple organ failure" problably includes THAT organ. Ouch. On the other, sheer force of will problably works on that for them (lucky them); and with Psionics, you can make any woman belive that "this long" (holds hands a few inches apart) is 1 foot, as well as literally make her forget any other man she's thought about before, as well as Algerbra. Unhooking a bra would, however, still a challenge unto itself. And, since we are given specific dates in-game, there's plenty of programs online that can calculate the distance between planets for any given time, as well as lists of Oppositions (when two plants are at their closest): http://cseligman.com/text/planets/marsoppositions.htm For example, in 1999, the in-game year of the first game, on April 24th, Mars was only 86 million Km away (though Kudos if you can beat the game THAT early into a campaign) --[[User:Xuncu\|Xuncu]] 16:55, 13 April 2013 (EDT)		::On one hand, "near-constant multiple organ failure" problably includes THAT organ. Ouch. On the other, sheer force of will problably works on that for them (lucky them); and with Psionics, you can make any woman belive that "this long" (holds hands a few inches apart) is 1 foot, as well as literally make her forget any other man she's thought about before, as well as Algerbra. Unhooking a bra would, however, still a challenge unto itself. And, since we are given specific dates in-game, there's plenty of programs online that can calculate the distance between planets for any given time, as well as lists of Oppositions (when two plants are at their closest): http://cseligman.com/text/planets/marsoppositions.htm For example, in 1999, the in-game year of the first game, on April 24th, Mars was only 86 million Km away (though Kudos if you can beat the game THAT early into a campaign) --[[User:Xuncu\|Xuncu]] 16:55, 13 April 2013 (EDT)

	===~~'''~~What happens to the crashed UFO craft and its crew?~~'''~~===		===What happens to the crashed UFO craft and its crew?===

	Downed alien craft disappear after a few days have passed. No explanation is given to this whatsoever, so what really happens to them?		Downed alien craft disappear after a few days have passed. No explanation is given to this whatsoever, so what really happens to them?
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	==Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues==		==Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues==
	===~~'''~~Why isn't Earth overrun by Snakeman/Chryssalids?~~'''~~===		===Why isn't Earth overrun by Snakeman/Chryssalids?===

	According to the UFOPaedia, Snakemen's "Reproduction is asexual, with each snakeman carrying up to fifty eggs inside its body at any one time" adding the ominious conclusion: "Left to its own devices this species would be a severe threat to life on earth."		According to the UFOPaedia, Snakemen's "Reproduction is asexual, with each snakeman carrying up to fifty eggs inside its body at any one time" adding the ominious conclusion: "Left to its own devices this species would be a severe threat to life on earth."

Lixiaofossil: /* Why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War? */

2023-12-06T06:09:49Z

Why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War?

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:09, 6 December 2023
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	I think that the aliens simply had no concept that they could be defeated. By analogy: when a dog trainer shows up to tame a savage dog, she's not showing up with a troupe of armed bodyguards, because that would be a silly level of overpreparedness. She's not worried the dog will outsmart her. She's not worried that the dog will figure out how to handle the leash, wrap it around her neck, and then demolish her car. If anything like that started happening, she'd be so utterly astonished, because it's never happened so far with any of the dogs she's trained. She'd be slow to react or to adapt her strategy, because the situation would be so difficult for her to believe. Dogs just don't behave that way! Similarly, the combination of battleships, mind control, and plasma has always been so overwhelmingly effective that the Ethereals have never needed to be smart, or adaptive, or even make accurate assessments about the intricate details of the planets they're taking over. Plus, they're a society of clones operating in a strict hierarchy, and literally sharing thoughts psionically. They probably have only a vague understanding of "individuality", and I doubt they have much understanding of guerrilla warfare, because they've never seen it succeed. Their political and interpersonal dynamics are vastly simpler than ours. I doubt that they're even aware that X-COM exists as an entity that is independent of our world governments. [[User:Jessicest\|Jessicest]] ([[User talk:Jessicest\|talk]]) 22:23, 15 March 2020 (UTC)		I think that the aliens simply had no concept that they could be defeated. By analogy: when a dog trainer shows up to tame a savage dog, she's not showing up with a troupe of armed bodyguards, because that would be a silly level of overpreparedness. She's not worried the dog will outsmart her. She's not worried that the dog will figure out how to handle the leash, wrap it around her neck, and then demolish her car. If anything like that started happening, she'd be so utterly astonished, because it's never happened so far with any of the dogs she's trained. She'd be slow to react or to adapt her strategy, because the situation would be so difficult for her to believe. Dogs just don't behave that way! Similarly, the combination of battleships, mind control, and plasma has always been so overwhelmingly effective that the Ethereals have never needed to be smart, or adaptive, or even make accurate assessments about the intricate details of the planets they're taking over. Plus, they're a society of clones operating in a strict hierarchy, and literally sharing thoughts psionically. They probably have only a vague understanding of "individuality", and I doubt they have much understanding of guerrilla warfare, because they've never seen it succeed. Their political and interpersonal dynamics are vastly simpler than ours. I doubt that they're even aware that X-COM exists as an entity that is independent of our world governments. [[User:Jessicest\|Jessicest]] ([[User talk:Jessicest\|talk]]) 22:23, 15 March 2020 (UTC)


			The question of ages “Why aliens never have the smart of ramming Earth with a UFO flying at sub-lightspeed?” They have plenty of smaller UFO to spare and given there are no advanced bases on the Moon and the absence of “carrier-grade” UFO, interplanetary travel should be quite feasible to them, thus their UFO can achieve sub-lightspeed. Actually, a similar question is also presented in Star Wars “Why Galactic Empire never rams a Rebel-controlled planet with a Star Destroyer flying at sub-lightspeed?” So I made up an answer for both questions: When a spacecraft’s velocity approaches lightspeed, it becomes “transparent” in the real-space, for it has begun to “phase” into the so-called “hyperspace”, when it reaches lightspeed, it completely disappears from the real-space into the “hyperspace lane”. So ramming Earth or any other celestial bodies with something flying at sub-lightspeed is not feasible, because the projectile will simply goes through the target like a ghost, without making any damage. [[User:Lixiaofossil\|Lixiaofossil]] ([[User talk:Lixiaofossil\|talk]]) 14:09, 6 December 2023 (UTC+8)

	===What may be the hidden function of UFO Power Sources?===		===What may be the hidden function of UFO Power Sources?===

Lixiaofossil: /* Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues */

2023-12-05T07:26:21Z

Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:26, 5 December 2023
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	[[User:VanTorrens\|VanTorrens]] ([[User talk:VanTorrens\|talk]]) 12:45, 24 October 2019 (CEST)		[[User:VanTorrens\|VanTorrens]] ([[User talk:VanTorrens\|talk]]) 12:45, 24 October 2019 (CEST)

	===Why battlescapes always being "~~one-way transparent~~"?===		===Why battlescapes always being "opaque"?===

	Every time an X-COM taskforce disembarks from the transport, they always find the surrounding being completely “shrouded”, despite in common military practice, there must be recon satellites and/or scout planes to overwatch the AO, even with hostiles marked and tracked. Even if X-COM doesn’t have that kind of luxury, their transports should be able to scan the AO before landing to provide a rather clear and detailed map for soldiers.		Every time an X-COM taskforce disembarks from the transport, they always find the surrounding being completely “shrouded”, despite in common military practice, there must be recon satellites and/or scout planes to overwatch the AO, even with hostiles marked and tracked. Even if X-COM doesn’t have that kind of luxury, their transports should be able to scan the AO before landing to provide a rather clear and detailed map for soldiers.

Lixiaofossil: /* Why battlescapes always being "one-way transparent"? */

2023-12-05T07:24:46Z

Why battlescapes always being "one-way transparent"?

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:24, 5 December 2023
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	[[User:VanTorrens\|VanTorrens]] ([[User talk:VanTorrens\|talk]]) 12:45, 24 October 2019 (CEST)		[[User:VanTorrens\|VanTorrens]] ([[User talk:VanTorrens\|talk]]) 12:45, 24 October 2019 (CEST)

	===~~'''~~Why battlescapes always being "one-way transparent"?~~'''~~===		===Why battlescapes always being "one-way transparent"?===

	Every time an X-COM taskforce disembarks from the transport, they always find the surrounding being completely “shrouded”, despite in common military practice, there must be recon satellites and/or scout planes to overwatch the AO, even with hostiles marked and tracked. Even if X-COM doesn’t have that kind of luxury, their transports should be able to scan the AO before landing to provide a rather clear and detailed map for soldiers.		Every time an X-COM taskforce disembarks from the transport, they always find the surrounding being completely “shrouded”, despite in common military practice, there must be recon satellites and/or scout planes to overwatch the AO, even with hostiles marked and tracked. Even if X-COM doesn’t have that kind of luxury, their transports should be able to scan the AO before landing to provide a rather clear and detailed map for soldiers.

Lixiaofossil: /* Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues */

2023-12-05T07:24:22Z

Enemy Unknown/UFO Defence issues

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:24, 5 December 2023
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	Though it's only theoretical, aforesaid may pretend to explain some unclear details of UFO Power Source functions.		Though it's only theoretical, aforesaid may pretend to explain some unclear details of UFO Power Source functions.
	[[User:VanTorrens\|VanTorrens]] ([[User talk:VanTorrens\|talk]]) 12:45, 24 October 2019 (CEST)		[[User:VanTorrens\|VanTorrens]] ([[User talk:VanTorrens\|talk]]) 12:45, 24 October 2019 (CEST)

			==='''Why battlescapes always being "one-way transparent"?'''===

			Every time an X-COM taskforce disembarks from the transport, they always find the surrounding being completely “shrouded”, despite in common military practice, there must be recon satellites and/or scout planes to overwatch the AO, even with hostiles marked and tracked. Even if X-COM doesn’t have that kind of luxury, their transports should be able to scan the AO before landing to provide a rather clear and detailed map for soldiers.

			And similarly, X-COM bases seemly never have any CCTV system, so during a Base Defense mission, the soldiers effectively fight in blind despite on their own turf.

			However in Alien Base Assaults, it’s understandable. Since an alien base is subterranean and it’s almost devoid of artificial illumination, also it’s impossible to send a spy for pre-battle reconnaissance, and seems aliens don’t have terminals for being hacked in corridors, so an alien base is supposed to be “shrouded”.
			[[User:Lixiaofossil\|Lixiaofossil]] ([[User talk:Lixiaofossil\|talk]]) 15:24, 5 December 2023 (UTC+8)

	==TFTD issues==		==TFTD issues==

Jessicest: /* Why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War? */

2020-03-15T22:24:53Z

Why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War?

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:24, 15 March 2020
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	The aliens probably observed earth previously. (maybe Roswell was a scouting mission which failed to return) as such they underestimated our detection and interception capabilities (the back-story actually states that X-com is using the best craft available and previous attempts to intercept UFOs failed using conventional earth technology, which probably explains the limited weapon load-outs for x-com craft (they are built on high speed prototypes designed as proof of concept not actual in service craft so they had to jury rig hard points).		The aliens probably observed earth previously. (maybe Roswell was a scouting mission which failed to return) as such they underestimated our detection and interception capabilities (the back-story actually states that X-com is using the best craft available and previous attempts to intercept UFOs failed using conventional earth technology, which probably explains the limited weapon load-outs for x-com craft (they are built on high speed prototypes designed as proof of concept not actual in service craft so they had to jury rig hard points).
	This basically means that the aliens were unprepared for earth's level of resistance, before they even had a force capable of fighting. If they had been more careful, built their forces in silence (by farming wild life in the jungles and oceans, instead of going for rich targets like farms to load up on cow parts quickly) they may have been able to launch an invasion before earth even knew what was happening (just imagine if the game started with 20 battleships over every country, mutons march down the streets carrying heavy plasmas and blaster bombs, while snakemen and chrysalids strike major cities, all the while ethreals are mind controlling everyone... try winning that game with just 2 interceptors, a couple of rifles, some heavy weapons and 8 soldiers who can't hit the broad side of a barn from point blank range with a guided rocket --[[User:crwydryny\|crwydryny]] 14:50, 30 December 2015 (GMT)		This basically means that the aliens were unprepared for earth's level of resistance, before they even had a force capable of fighting. If they had been more careful, built their forces in silence (by farming wild life in the jungles and oceans, instead of going for rich targets like farms to load up on cow parts quickly) they may have been able to launch an invasion before earth even knew what was happening (just imagine if the game started with 20 battleships over every country, mutons march down the streets carrying heavy plasmas and blaster bombs, while snakemen and chrysalids strike major cities, all the while ethreals are mind controlling everyone... try winning that game with just 2 interceptors, a couple of rifles, some heavy weapons and 8 soldiers who can't hit the broad side of a barn from point blank range with a guided rocket --[[User:crwydryny\|crwydryny]] 14:50, 30 December 2015 (GMT)


	I think that the aliens simply had no concept that they could be defeated. By analogy: when a dog trainer shows up to tame a savage dog, she's not showing up with a troupe of armed bodyguards, because that would be a silly level of overpreparedness. She's not worried the dog will outsmart her. She's not worried that the dog will figure out how to handle the leash, wrap it around her neck, and then demolish her car. If anything like that started happening, she'd be so utterly astonished, because it's never happened so far with any of the dogs she's trained. She'd be slow to react or to adapt her strategy, because the situation would be so difficult for her to believe. Dogs just don't behave that way! Similarly, the combination of battleships, mind control, and plasma has always been so overwhelmingly effective that the Ethereals have never needed to be smart, or adaptive, or even make accurate assessments about the intricate details of the planets they're taking over. Plus, they're a society of clones operating in a strict hierarchy, and literally sharing thoughts psionically. They probably have only a vague understanding of "individuality", and I doubt they have much understanding of guerrilla warfare, because they've never seen it succeed. Their political and interpersonal dynamics are vastly simpler than ours. I doubt that they're even aware that X-COM exists as an entity that is independent of our world governments. [[User:Jessicest\|Jessicest]] ([[User talk:Jessicest\|talk]]) 22:23, 15 March 2020 (UTC)		I think that the aliens simply had no concept that they could be defeated. By analogy: when a dog trainer shows up to tame a savage dog, she's not showing up with a troupe of armed bodyguards, because that would be a silly level of overpreparedness. She's not worried the dog will outsmart her. She's not worried that the dog will figure out how to handle the leash, wrap it around her neck, and then demolish her car. If anything like that started happening, she'd be so utterly astonished, because it's never happened so far with any of the dogs she's trained. She'd be slow to react or to adapt her strategy, because the situation would be so difficult for her to believe. Dogs just don't behave that way! Similarly, the combination of battleships, mind control, and plasma has always been so overwhelmingly effective that the Ethereals have never needed to be smart, or adaptive, or even make accurate assessments about the intricate details of the planets they're taking over. Plus, they're a society of clones operating in a strict hierarchy, and literally sharing thoughts psionically. They probably have only a vague understanding of "individuality", and I doubt they have much understanding of guerrilla warfare, because they've never seen it succeed. Their political and interpersonal dynamics are vastly simpler than ours. I doubt that they're even aware that X-COM exists as an entity that is independent of our world governments. [[User:Jessicest\|Jessicest]] ([[User talk:Jessicest\|talk]]) 22:23, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

Jessicest: /* Why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War? */

2020-03-15T22:23:57Z

Why did the aliens use limited force during the First Alien War?

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:23, 15 March 2020
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	The aliens probably observed earth previously. (maybe Roswell was a scouting mission which failed to return) as such they underestimated our detection and interception capabilities (the back-story actually states that X-com is using the best craft available and previous attempts to intercept UFOs failed using conventional earth technology, which probably explains the limited weapon load-outs for x-com craft (they are built on high speed prototypes designed as proof of concept not actual in service craft so they had to jury rig hard points).		The aliens probably observed earth previously. (maybe Roswell was a scouting mission which failed to return) as such they underestimated our detection and interception capabilities (the back-story actually states that X-com is using the best craft available and previous attempts to intercept UFOs failed using conventional earth technology, which probably explains the limited weapon load-outs for x-com craft (they are built on high speed prototypes designed as proof of concept not actual in service craft so they had to jury rig hard points).
	This basically means that the aliens were unprepared for earth's level of resistance, before they even had a force capable of fighting. If they had been more careful, built their forces in silence (by farming wild life in the jungles and oceans, instead of going for rich targets like farms to load up on cow parts quickly) they may have been able to launch an invasion before earth even knew what was happening (just imagine if the game started with 20 battleships over every country, mutons march down the streets carrying heavy plasmas and blaster bombs, while snakemen and chrysalids strike major cities, all the while ethreals are mind controlling everyone... try winning that game with just 2 interceptors, a couple of rifles, some heavy weapons and 8 soldiers who can't hit the broad side of a barn from point blank range with a guided rocket --[[User:crwydryny\|crwydryny]] 14:50, 30 December 2015 (GMT)		This basically means that the aliens were unprepared for earth's level of resistance, before they even had a force capable of fighting. If they had been more careful, built their forces in silence (by farming wild life in the jungles and oceans, instead of going for rich targets like farms to load up on cow parts quickly) they may have been able to launch an invasion before earth even knew what was happening (just imagine if the game started with 20 battleships over every country, mutons march down the streets carrying heavy plasmas and blaster bombs, while snakemen and chrysalids strike major cities, all the while ethreals are mind controlling everyone... try winning that game with just 2 interceptors, a couple of rifles, some heavy weapons and 8 soldiers who can't hit the broad side of a barn from point blank range with a guided rocket --[[User:crwydryny\|crwydryny]] 14:50, 30 December 2015 (GMT)

			I think that the aliens simply had no concept that they could be defeated. By analogy: when a dog trainer shows up to tame a savage dog, she's not showing up with a troupe of armed bodyguards, because that would be a silly level of overpreparedness. She's not worried the dog will outsmart her. She's not worried that the dog will figure out how to handle the leash, wrap it around her neck, and then demolish her car. If anything like that started happening, she'd be so utterly astonished, because it's never happened so far with any of the dogs she's trained. She'd be slow to react or to adapt her strategy, because the situation would be so difficult for her to believe. Dogs just don't behave that way! Similarly, the combination of battleships, mind control, and plasma has always been so overwhelmingly effective that the Ethereals have never needed to be smart, or adaptive, or even make accurate assessments about the intricate details of the planets they're taking over. Plus, they're a society of clones operating in a strict hierarchy, and literally sharing thoughts psionically. They probably have only a vague understanding of "individuality", and I doubt they have much understanding of guerrilla warfare, because they've never seen it succeed. Their political and interpersonal dynamics are vastly simpler than ours. I doubt that they're even aware that X-COM exists as an entity that is independent of our world governments. [[User:Jessicest\|Jessicest]] ([[User talk:Jessicest\|talk]]) 22:23, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

	===What may be the hidden function of UFO Power Sources?===		===What may be the hidden function of UFO Power Sources?===

VanTorrens: UFO Power Sources hidden function as ship Plasma Gun

2019-10-24T10:45:38Z

UFO Power Sources hidden function as ship Plasma Gun

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 The aliens probably observed earth previously. (maybe Roswell was a scouting mission which failed to return) as such they underestimated our detection and interception capabilities (the back-story actually states that X-com is using the best craft available and previous attempts to intercept UFOs failed using conventional earth technology, which probably explains the limited weapon load-outs for x-com craft (they are built on high speed prototypes designed as proof of concept not actual in service craft so they had to jury rig hard points).
 This basically means that the aliens were unprepared for earth's level of resistance, before they even had a force capable of fighting. If they had been more careful, built their forces in silence (by farming wild life in the jungles and oceans, instead of going for rich targets like farms to load up on cow parts quickly) they may have been able to launch an invasion before earth even knew what was happening (just imagine if the game started with 20 battleships over every country, mutons march down the streets carrying heavy plasmas and blaster bombs, while snakemen and chrysalids strike major cities, all the while ethreals are mind controlling everyone... try winning that game with just 2 interceptors, a couple of rifles, some heavy weapons and 8 soldiers who can't hit the broad side of a barn from point blank range with a guided rocket --[[User:crwydryny|crwydryny]] 14:50, 30 December 2015 (GMT)
 ==TFTD issues==