Rank
- This article is about the ranks an X-COM soldier can achieve, for alien ranks see Alien Ranks
Rank represents the soldier's position within the hierarchy of soldiers. The higher the rank, the more command the soldier can exert over his or her subordinates. In the X-COM world, rank is primarily a conciliatory tool to reassure the lower ranks during times of strife, and also as a cheerleader during times of success.
Higher ranked soldiers that are still in battle help keep morale high in an event of a casualty or injury. They also give extra morale gain whenever your troops kill aliens. However, when they are killed or incapacitated it means that the other soldiers suffer a big morale loss which could mean that they will panic or go berserk. You may find it useful for your highest ranked officers to act as a Rear Commander.
Rookie promotion
Rookies can advance to Squaddies if they obtained any combat experience - except for throwing experience. This type of promotion happens before the higher promotions, it is also not shown on the promotion list after debriefing.
Actions that qualify towards Squaddie promotion are:
- Hitting a target
- Shooting things with guns, hitting them with melee weapons, or blowing them up with grenades. HE and stun explosives count whether they connect directly or otherwise. Smoke/incendiary/proximity explosives do not, and neither does shooting scenery. You don't have to deal damage so long as the bullet hits a unit.
- Reacting
- Shooting at an enemy during their turn. Doesn't matter whether the shot connects.
- Psi attacks
- Doesn't matter whether they succeed or not.
- Bravery checks
- Having little enough morale that panicking is possible, but keeping under control regardless.
Higher promotions
Your soldiers can advance to higher ranks with their "promotion score". Soldiers with highest promotion score become promoted, assuming you have a large enough number of soldiers to justify the promotion.
The promotion score mainly depends on soldier stats and mission/kill counts, it is calculated as follows:
- promotion_score = 2* ( BaseHPs + BaseEnergy + ImproveHPs + ImproveEnergy + 2*( ImproveReactions + BaseReactions + 10*( 10-ImproveBravery-BaseBravery ) ) ) + 3*( BaseTUs + ImproveTUs + 2*( BaseFireAcc + ImproveFireAcc ) ) + ImproveMeleeAcc + ImproveThrowAcc + ImproveStrength + BaseMeleeAcc + BaseThrowAcc + BaseStrength + 10* ( Missions_cnt + Kills_cnt ) + PsiSkill>0 ? PsiStrength + 2* PsiSkill : 0;
When there is a free position in a certain rank, the soldier with the highest promotion score of the rank below is promoted.
It is worth noting that:
- Once a soldier has been handed a rank above rookie, they can continue to be promoted even if they do not leave base and other soldiers surpass their promotion score.
- Rookies can be immediately promoted to Sergeant in 1 battle.
- Bravery points assumed to be in native range 0-10, i.e. 0=110, 1=100, ...
UFO: Enemy Unknown / X-COM: UFO Defense
| Rank | Notes |
|---|---|
| Commander |  Only one allowed over all X-COM Bases, requires at least 30 soldiers in all bases. |
| Colonel |  Most experienced Captain is promoted to Colonel if opening present. 1 Colonel for 23 soldiers, limit of 10. |
| Captain |  Most experienced Sergeant is promoted to Captain if opening present. 1 Captain for 11 soldiers, limit of 22. |
| Sergeant |  Most experienced Squaddie is promoted to Sergeant if opening present. 1 Sergeant for 5 soldiers, limit of 50. |
| Squaddie |  Perform any action that qualifies towards promotion, may not be given with high troop counts. |
| Rookie |  Starting rank for all new recruits. |
| Rank | Notes |
|---|---|
| Captain |  Only one allowed over all X-COM Bases, requires at least 30 aquanauts in all bases. |
| Commander |  Most experienced Lieutenant is promoted to Commander if opening present. 1 Commander for 23 aquanauts, limit of 10. |
| Lieutenant |  Most experienced Ensign is promoted to Lieutenant if opening present. 1 Lieutenant for 11 aquanauts, limit of 22. |
| Ensign |  Most experienced Able Seaman is promoted to Ensign if opening present. 1 Ensign for 5 aquanauts, limit of 50. |
| Able Seaman |  Promotion Perform any action that qualifies towards promotion, may not be given with high troop counts. |
| Seaman |  Starting rank for all new recruits. |
