S.H.I.V. (LWR)

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In General

The Super-Heavy Infantry Vehicle is a special unit that brings raw damage, durability, and a degree of utility to the field, thanks to their numerous upgrades and equipment options. All SHIVs can be used as partial cover. The basic SHIV is available to build from the beginning of the campaign. Starting roster will contain 4-3-2-1-0 of them depending on difficulty. One SHIV will accompany your soldiers on your first mission, assuming you are not playing on Pain difficulty (where you will not even get a 6th soldier to replace it!)

Big Sky (the Skyranger pilot) can control only 1 SHIV each turn.
This means that if you bring multiple SHIVs on a mission only 1 can act each turn.

SHIVs do not accumulate fatigue.

Like other units, SHIVs must have their weapons replaced individually. All units start with the baseline Autocannon (with an unlimited quantity in stock, much like the other basic ballistic weapons), which can be upgraded for each tier of weapon. New weapons must be manufactured by Engineering, and they can be found in the same section as MEC armaments.

Bringing a SHIV to a mission isn't a waste of experience either, as the 1st SHIV alive at the end of any battle grants its mission experience to its squadmates. As well, any experience from kills the SHIV makes gets shared with the squad.

SHIVs, like most mechanized units, have built-in damage reduction and are hardened, which makes them more durable. Much cheaper than MEC Troopers, and with swappable perks giving them a significant degree of flexibility, these units will prove to be a valuable asset to XCOM.

It is advisable to have at least a small pool of SHIVs in reserve, to fill any gaps when your Barracks list reads nearly entirely "Fatigue", and to help deal with smaller crashed UFOs that you still may want to gather materials from, as their raw damage and durability can potentially serve as a replacement for high-ranking soldiers.

SHIV Units

All SHIVs have inherently have high HP and tankiness. There are ways to make them do significant damage. Creative play and builds are encouraged. All SHIVs can be repaired by Engineers. Their repair charges are valuable, but ultimately a limited resource. SHIVs worst enemy is Corrosion that reduces their tankiness and strips away the armor. Engineer can remove the Corrosion.

A basic SHIV is a strong, sturdy and reliable addition to any XCOM squad. Its a bit less tanky than the Alloy SHIV and its main limitation is access to limited item slots.

Alloy SHIV is sturdier version of the SHIV that offers significant space for customization since it can afford to equip 4 items. SHIVs with less than 8.0 or 7.3 mobility can be considerably less useful so even leaving some item slots unused is sometimes smart move. Lastly, while this SHIV is very resistant to damage, some aliens have Critical System Targeting ability that can do serious damage per hit to them.

Hover SHIV is technologically the most advanced version of the SHIV, capable of flight. It is a little less tanky than their Alloy counterpart, but while in air it gets a significant defense bonus. Aliens usually do not target higher defense units, so this SHIV is not tank primarily and will not draw as much fire. As this SHIV has excellent offensive potential due to height aim bonuses, it is probably best to equip it with offensive items. Remember, flight fuel is limited so strategizing is required. Fuel cells can be upgraded, at which point this SHIV becomes quite formidable offensive weapon.

Name	Mob	HP	Base DR	Def	Aim	Equipment Slots	Special properties	Prerequisites		Cost
SHIV	9.3	12+8	15	25	55	2	15 Crit Resistance		15	300			13 days
Alloy SHIV	9.3	14+12	20	25	55	4	20 Crit Resistance	Mechtoid Autopsy	35	450	40		26 days
Hover SHIV	9.3	14+8	10	25	55	4	10 Crit Resistance Supports Flight (14 fuel)	Antigrav Systems	70	600	60	45	39 days

SHIV Innate Perks

Perks that all SHIVs start with. Rams can do significant damage, depending on position it is possible even to kill two units per turn using 1AP blue moves. But it requires approximately straight shiv path to alien to work and do damage so commander should try to strategize to maximize SHIV damage potential. Tanking wise, SHIV is strong tank, but even with hardened it can be chipped down by multiple alien shots so some caution is advised. SHIV tanking resistance drops with lost armor therefore it is advisable to repair it sooner rather than later.

Ram Ram If this unit moves at least 6 tiles in a mostly straight line towards the tile directly in front of an enemy, this unit will hit that enemy for x melee damage, where x is half of the distance moved + 1 for every 10 max HP this unit has.

Hardened Hardened This unit cannot be exposed and gains +35% DR.

SHIV Configurable Perks

All SHIVs start with the ability to alter their Base Configuration. Further upgrade levels require Foundry upgrades to be researched.

Technology	Perk
Base Configuration	Lock n' Load Lock n' Load Reloading any weapon costs only 1 AP and dashing automatically reloads the active weapon.		Repair Servos Repair Servos Repairs damage sustained in battle: When damaged, gain servos equal to 50% of the damage sustained. Each servo can heal 1 HP. At end of turn, use 20% the servos available (minimum 1). Active servos are removed if this unit is fully healed or corroded.		Platform Stability Platform Stability If this unit is on the ground and has not moved, they gain: +15 aim, -80% rocket scatter, and +1 damage to suppressive fire. Allows steadying of Autocannons, Vulcan Cannons, SAWs, and LMGs. Prevents damage from breaking a steadied weapon.
SHIV Advancements I	Holo Rounds Holo Rounds Firing at a target holos them for 3 turns [Prevents stealth, incoming shots gain +10 aim and +10 penetration].		Shredder Shredder Primary weapon attacks apply Shred equal to the damage dealt as a percent of the target's max HP (which increases subsequent damage the target receives by the amount of Shred) for the remainder of the battle.		Damage Control Damage Control Grants +5 DR and +10 crit resistance each time damage is received. If shredded, reduce shred to a maximum of 50% at end of turn.
SHIV Advancements II	Reactive Targeting Sensors Reactive Targeting Sensors Once per turn, if this unit is not suppressed and is shot: Attempt to return fire with a +20 aim reaction shot. If this unit did return fire, enter One For All (if able). [Basic reaction shots bypass half of cover DR/def, cannot crit, and require hit chance >30]		Light 'Em Up Light 'Em Up Standard shots cost only 1 AP and gain both +3 penetration and +0.5 damage for each instance of damage their target took this turn.		Close Combat Specialist Close Combat Specialist Grants a reaction shot at any enemy within 4 tiles that acts. Reaction shot only activates on enemy's turn, once per enemy. [Basic reaction shots bypass half of cover DR/def, cannot crit, and require hit chance >30]
SHIV Advancements IIIa	Critical System Targeting Critical System Targeting Shots against autopsied mechanical units deal +20% damage and gain +20 penetration (+50% damage and +50 penetration if steadied). Does not work with Arc Weapons.		Fortified Fortified Grants immunity to critical hits. Injury and fatigue times are reduced by 15%.		Absorption Fields Absorption Fields Gain 5% DR. Shots from beam weapons (laser/pulse/drone/cyberdisc) lose half of their penetration when targeting this unit.
SHIV Advancements IIIb	Vital Point Targeting Vital Point Targeting When hitting humans or autopsied biological aliens: steadied shots, reaction shots, or shots at targets not protected by cover double the bleed chance and deal 30% more damage.		Bring 'Em On Bring 'Em On This unit gains +0.5 damage on standard shots and incoming non-psionic attacks have a +5% graze chance for each enemy in sight.		Smart Macrophages Smart Macrophages Grants complete immunity to corrosion and shredding.

SHIV Additional Items

Additonal items that SHIVs can use to complement its builds. Some of the items are shared with mech units making them more convenient to build and utilize.

Motion Tracker - Never underestimate power of information. One of strongest item to have if properly used, more so if you don't have Scout available on a mission.

Scope - Generic shooting booster, strong, as SHIVs in general have high damage weapons with low aim.

Battle Computer - Lategame upgrade to Scope, and an upgrade in general.

Laser Sight/AR Targeter/Reaper Ammo - SHIV is not very good at critting, but it deals heavy damage making these items at least interesting.

Alloy Carbide Plating/Core Plating - More armor HP, DR and resistance to Corrosion. Excellent items to equip. Eliminates one of main SHIV weaknesses - acid.

Alloy Enhanced Rounds/Enhanced Beam Optics/Plasma Stellerator - Good boosters for shooter builds.

Elerium Turbos - Pretty much mandatory item for Alloy SHIVs and great one at that. SHIV movement is boost by 2.0 and RAM damage is doubled. Nothing better than overrun fat mutons from full HP to zero. Works best when dashing long distances.

Prediction Computer - Gives lots of damage to SHIV on reactive shots. Works well with 'Reactive Targeting Sensors configuration. It boosts SHIV defense by +10, which is something you might not want, so take into consideration when using it.

Heavy Mags/Armor Piercing Ammo/Flak Ammo - Utility items with some niche uses.