Info (UFOAI)

Introduction

UFO: Alien Invasion is a free, open-source game in the tradition of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown. Players must defend earth against an alien invasion by building bases around the world, shooting down alien UFOs and sending in infantry squads to engage the enemies in turn-based tactical combat.

Introduction

"It is the year 2084. Earth, never the most stable of places, enjoys a time of relative peace. The violent beginnings of the 21st century are far away now; distant memories, but not so distant that they've been forgotten. To most of Earth's people, the Second Cold War is a dark shadow from the past, much like the World Wars were to the children of the late 20th.

Conflicts have gotten rarer near the end of the century as new technology and universal health-care finally became available to the third world. Even the fires of terrorism have cooled in the wake of the Second Cold War, with its horrors and inhumanities still fresh in the minds of the people, from the old United States to the ravaged Indian subcontinent. Class struggles are ascending to the political battlefield now that every nation is guaranteed fair representation in the UN, and the global standard of living is slowly on the rise down to the most impoverished corners of the planet. Countries have solidified, stabilised around a restructured United Nations that successfully polices the world governments. Fragmented clumps of smaller nations, frightened at first by the vast power blocks accumulating around China and the European Union, have banded together into powerful political leagues of their own -- then found themselves with no neighbours they could safely fight. For the first time in the history of mankind, there is law and order across more than three quarters of the world.

To many people on Earth, it seems like things are going all right.

The first attack hits the city of Mumbai on the 3rd of March, 2084. Six small UFOs appear out of nowhere and come screaming down from orbit, undetected by the vast radar installations covering the skies over Mumbai, and set down in the single most densely-populated city on Earth. They offer no warning, no explanation. Twenty thousand innocent civilians and three battalions of elite troops are massacred over the course of twelve brutal hours before massed Commonwealth soldiers manage to bring the aliens' advance to a standstill. Then, as suddenly as they appeared, they retreat to their craft and vanish back into orbit, leaving only the ravaged streets of Mumbai as evidence.

An emergency meeting of the UN provides no conclusive direction. The incursions continue faster, larger and more savage than before, this time in Bonn, Johannesburg and Bangkok. Some nations attempt diplomacy, sending messages in a thousand different languages to the aliens ravaging across the countryside. Their words are ignored. Within hours, all three cities are emptied of human life. The attack is over by the time the various militaries are given permission to strike back. The aliens leave nothing behind them but concrete and blood. All the UFOs disappear without a trace -- but no one doubts they'll be back.

Eighty-seven hours after the initial attack on Mumbai, Earth declares war. For two weeks, the armies of humanity each try to fend off the mysterious alien attackers to the best of their ability. They score precious few successes.

Left with only one alternative, the UN takes action. Ancient equipment is dusted off, some of it more than a century old, and the long-defunct anti-extraterrestrial agency of the former United States -- PHALANX -- is resurrected under a new UN banner. Its sworn duty is to combat the alien threat, and to ensure the survival of the human race at all costs.

Funded by all eight of the political powers, and drawing its soldiers from the elite of their armies, PHALANX is the best of the best. It is Earth's first and only line of defence. It can't afford to fail; because if it does, humanity doesn't stand a chance."

Victory

"Great work, Commander. We have fought off the alien horde and kept earth safe. For now.

But we can't rest on our laurels for long. The aliens could return at any moment.
They must have many more Carriers up there, beyond our reach. I'm sure they'll be
back just as soon as the game's development team can build a carrier mission. I'll
be waiting for your orders.

Until then, visit ufoai.org to find out when the next version is coming out. If
it's not coming fast enough for you, lend a hand. We're free. We're open-source.
We're under-staffed. Until next time, thanks for playing.

-- UFO: Alien Invasion Development Team"

Gameplay

In line with the traditional gameplay of the original UFO: Enemy Unknown, UFO:AI is split primarily between a global view of the earth and short tactical ground missions. In the global view, players will construct and develop bases around the world to track and engage UFOs. Players will have to recruit and equip soldiers, hire scientists to research new technologies, and employ engineers to build new weaponry, aircraft and equipment. Funding comes from nations and the sale of loot acquired from successful ground missions.

In the ground missions, players will take control of their soldiers (8-12) to kill or capture aliens that have landed or been shot down on earth's surface. Technology acquired during these missions will open up new research paths, while research and development will provide new weapons and equipment for soldiers to wield on the battlefield.

Concepts

Research

"PHALANX will need to conduct a broad research program to combat the superiority of alien technology. Our scientists will examine any artifacts recovered from a successful combat mission and deliver new research proposals via the mail client.

To develop the research program, build new laboratory facilities, hire more scientists and set them to work on a specific research project. With luck, we will be able to leverage what we learn to deploy more effectively on the battlefield and maybe one day take the fight to the enemy.

Addendum

Artifacts must be stored in the same base where they are researched. If a research project is listed as unable to be researched at a particular base, it may be stored at a different base or you may need to research another project before it can be adequately studied."

Production

"We may be able to repurpose captured alien technology for use in the war, but PHALANX will also need to produce its own advanced Terran technology and aircraft.

Our initial base has workshop space for a few engineers, but to improve the pace of production we'll need to build additional workshops, hire more engineers and set them to work on something."

Interception

"We can't just wait around for the aliens to come knocking at our door. We need to detect alien craft and shoot them down whenever possible. The initial PHALANX base includes a powerful radar facility, but we'll need to build off-site radar towers to cover more of the sky.

Once a UFO has been detected, we'll need to dispatch our nearest interceptors to try to shoot it down. But we're heavily outgunned in the air, so we should send multiple aircraft whenever possible.

Addenda

Off-site radar towers have a smaller detection range than our in-base installations.

Previously unseen types of UFOs should be approached with extreme caution until our scientists and engineers can establish their combat capabilities.

Alien activity will often go undetected in areas where our radar coverage doesn't reach and the funding nations will be angry when PHALANX fails to respond to these attacks."

Disassembly

"Disassembling captured UFOs will be vital in the battle to uncover secrets about the alien technology. PHALANX will need to build a UFO Yard -- an off-base installation to house the recovered crafts -- as soon as possible.

Our engineers will need to travel to the storage site and transport the components back to their workshop, so UFO Yards should be built close to the base where work will occur.

Addendum

Before our engineers can disassemble a UFO in a way that will yield usable materials, they'll need the complete technical readout from the research teams."

Nation Happiness

"PHALANX is a UN organisation that is permitted and funded by the unanimous support of its member nations. If we neglect the defense and security of one of our sponsors, they'll soon lose faith in our capabilities and withdraw their funding. Let the relationship deteriorate too far and they may shut the whole operation down.

To keep up satisfaction in the performance of PHALANX, make sure the organisation can cover as much of the globe as possible and confront alien attacks all around the world."

Time Units

"A soldier can only do so much in a single turn. Each soldier has a limited number of Time Units (TUs) they can spend each turn on moving, crouching, looking around and firing their weapon. They move faster when standing and spend more TUs walking in a crouched position.

Monitor a soldier's TU carefully. Some firemodes -- like aimed shots and automatic fire -- take more TUs than others. Running low on time in the wrong spot can be a deadly mistake.

Addendum

TUs are refreshed each turn, but if an enemy flashbang goes off in front of a soldier they will lose all of their TUs for the next turn."

Reaction Fire

"Units can fire on enemy units when they wander into their field of view during the enemy's turn. Soldiers will execute a reaction shot when an enemy unit spends more Time Units (TU) in their field of view than the cost of their reaction fire.

This means that a unit which has been set to execute a reaction shot that costs 8 TU will take the shot after the enemy spends 9 or more TU within their field of view. But be careful -- aliens can take reaction shots just like PHALANX soldiers.

Soldiers firing weapons with low TU costs will execute more reaction shots -- and receive less reaction fire from the enemy -- than soldiers who fire weapons which cost more TUs.

Addenda

A soldier will not perform reaction fire unless it has been enabled in the soldier's control panel. When enabled, a soldier will be unable to spend the Time Units required to fire once during the enemy's turn. Commanders can choose the firemode the soldier should use with reaction fire in the firemode selection window.

If an enemy unit wanders out of a unit's view -- even for a moment -- the reaction fire counter will be reset. A unit must spend enough TUs consecutively in view of a unit to receive reaction fire."

Weight

"Soldiers must be able to fight quickly and effectively. Load them up with too much equipment and they will slow down, reducing the number of Time Units (TUs) they have to use each turn. Soldiers will get a speed boost if they're carrying a light load.

Addendum

Monitor a soldier's load carefully in the equipment screen. If he is carrying more than 50 per cent of his maximum capacity, he'll lose TUs and may not be able to use all of his fire modes. If he is carrying less than 20 per cent of his maximum capacity, he'll gain extra TUs."

Wounds

"Our soldiers can receive wounds if they are injured by enemy fire. These wounds can effect their firing accuracy, firing speed and movement speed. Injuries will degrade a soldier's health each turn and may lead to death if they are not treated by a medikit. A PHALANX squad should bring along plenty of medikits to perform combat stabilisation of wounds.

Addenda

Wounds can be tracked in the character stats window. A medikit can heal wounds to prevent a soldier from dying from their wounds on the battlefield, but it will only restore a small amount of health. Soldiers will need time to recover once they've returned to the base. Build a hospital facility to greatly increase their recovery times."

Equipment

"The aliens deploy powerful weaponry to deadly effect on the battlefield. Engaging them in a shootout on open terrain is a sure way to get killed quickly, so PHALANX soldiers must be adept at using auxiliary equipment to overcome the extraterrestrial forces on the battlefield.

PHALANX soldiers should equip themselves with smoke grenades to hide their positions when in the line of sight of alien forces. Incendiary grenades and rockets can produce fields of fire that damage alien forces before they come within range of our soldiers. And flashbangs can be used to temporarily disable an alien unit.

If a soldier comes face to face with an alien and is not capable of taking it down without suffering deadly reaction fire, indirect weaponry such as grenades -- launched by hand or through a grenade launcher -- should be used to take out the enemy from a safe position.

We'll always need conventional firearms on the battlefield, but auxiliary weaponry deployed defensively will be key if we're to overcome the aliens' technological dominance on the battlefield.

Addenda

Smoke clouds will block line of sight on the battlefield.

Flashbangs will remove Time Units when deployed effectively. A unit that has been effected by a flashbang will lose any Time Units it had when the flashbang exploded and will not receive more Time Units during its next turn. Flashbangs are only effective when they explode close to the target and within its field of view.

Incendiary fields cause a small amount of damage to units which pass through them."

Mails

Mail From UN

"SecGen. Mahouf Serra, United Nations, New York City"

Mail To Base Commander

"Welcome to your new post, Commander. You now have full command over the PHALANX Extraterrestrial Response Unit. Your mission is to protect the citizens of Earth and stop the alien threat at all costs. How you accomplish this is up to you; our only requirement is that you succeed.

Your first order of business is to set up a headquarters. The UN has access to military bases all over the world, so you may consider any region for your base of operations. Choose the location wisely, because it will have great influence on the success of the PHALANX project.

A recent analysis of the attacks on Mumbai and Bonn reveal that UFO sightings and alien activity seems to focus on the most densely populated regions of Earth, including coastal North- and South-America, Europe, Eastasia, South and Mediterranean Africa, and Australia. You should consider including these territories in your field of operations.

Once you've established your first base, you must prepare your soldiers. The recruits we have assigned to PHALANX must be stationed on your dropship, then equipped for battle.

Take care of them, Commander. The rest of us are all counting on you, and praying for you.

That is all. Good luck and good hunting."

Mail From Paul Navarre

"Cdr. Paul Navarre, R&D: Engineering Division, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command"

Mail From Dr. Connor

"Dr. Connor, R&D: Bio & Containment Division, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command"

Stunned Alien Died

"Commander,

I'm afraid I have some bad news. Despite our best efforts, the alien specimens recovered from our last tactical mission have expired in Containment. We were ultimately unable to stabilise their medical condition enough to learn anything useful.

Outward signals indicate the cause of death to be sudden and fatal asphyxiation. It seems the aliens can only live in our atmosphere for a limited time before they suffocate. We haven't performed a full examination on the body, not without your authorisation, but I strongly recommend that we move straight to autopsy at this point. We must find a way to keep them alive longer or we won't be able to conduct any meaningful research on them.

My autopsy request should be waiting in the R&D queue for your approval. Thank you, Commander.

Sincerely, Dr. Connor"

Mail From XO

"XO Abel S. Howard, Command & Control, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command"

Alien Base Discovered

"Sir, our operatives have discovered the location of a large alien installation on Earth. This installation represents a serious threat to PHALANX and to humanity at large, we must take it out ASAP."

Mail From UFO Falkland

"Col. Ingrid Falkland, Intelligence Division, PHALANX, Atlantic Operations Command"

Project History

The game was initially developed by a small team, which released their final version ("the Christmas release") of the game at the end of 2003. In 2006, one of the project members, Martin Gerhardy, received permission to release the game under an open-source license. The source code and art assets were made available on their Sourceforge page and development resumed under its current form.

• Jan 12, 2008: Version 2.2 released
  • Air interceptions
  • Random map assemblies
• Jun 17, 2010: Version 2.3 released
  • Campaign system
  • Rendering engine improvements (normalmaps, bumpmaps, glowmaps, etc)
  • UFO crash site missions
• Apr 25, 2012: Version 2.4 released
  • Smoke and incendiary weapons
• Jun 28, 2014: [1]
  • Major rebalancing of campaign and combat

Where to Download

UFO: Alien Invasion can be downloaded for free from the project's website.