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From: kschang@mercury.sfsu.edu (Kuo-Sheng (Kasey) Chang)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic
Subject: XCOM Strategy Guide and FAQ
Date: 28 Sep 1994 05:31:54 GMT
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Note: My word processor create too wide of a margin, some lines may be 
prematurely wrapped so so on...  Sorry!



                             X-COM : UFO Defense

      Frequently Asked Questions and Strategy Guide (updated 09/25/94)

                    maintained by Kuo-Sheng (Kasey) Chang
                  (kschang@mercury.sfsu.edu / ksc1@aol.com)

          WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING * WARNING

This FAQ and strategy article conatins info that you may prefer to find out
by exploring and researching yourself.  If you want to play the game in the
dark then read on with care or not at all!!

This FAQ was prepared using a wide range of material, including two existing
UFO/XCOM FAQ's, Computer Gaming World's Strategy article, Computer Game
Review's Strategy article (both are September 94), and the collective wisdom
of fellow XCOM players of which there are too many to mention.  In future
updates all attempts will be made to credit each author with their specific
hint.

This version has been reorganized somewhat.  All tables have been moved into
the appendix section along with associated notes and hints.  There are more
discussion on how to cope with the 80-item limit, differences between the
different type of shots and air attacks, and when to use each, and more.

If you have any comments or other strategies, please submit them to the
author via e-mail at the addresses above.

Thanks to the following:

     * Julian Gallop, XCOM High Commander (XCOM Creator)
     * Jeff James, XCOM Strategist (CGW Strategy Writer)
     * Kevin Perry, XCOM Strategist (CGR Strategy Writer)
     * William Kang, commander, X-COM Strike Team 1 (FAQ Writer)
     * Tim Chawn, commander, X-COM Strike Team 2 (FAQ Writer)
       (Sorry about your name spelled wrong!)
     * Stuart Lamble, sergeant (Contributor)
     * Doug Osborne, master sergeant (frequent contributor)
     * SCOHN (?), sergeant (Contributor)
     * And all the fellow X-COM players, without whom this Strategy Guide
       will not exist!

     (Any one I missed?)

Now, let's go save Earth!

Table of Contents
  1.0 General Information about XCOM .....................................2
     1.1 What is X-COM : UFO Defense?.....................................2
     1.2 What's the difference between X-COM and UFO:Enemy Unknown?.......3
     1.3 What type of PC do I need to run it?.............................3
     * 1.4 Sounds cool, but I'd like to try it first......................4
     1.5 How about any known bugs?........................................4
     * 1.6 Are there any patches available for those bugs?................5
     * 1.7 I need some help!  Any saved game editors?.....................5
     1.8 Any plans on sequels or expansion disks?  Other versions?........5
  2.0 How to use this strategy guide .....................................5



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 2
     2.1 Dealing with flying UFOs.........................................5
     2.2 Dealing with landed or crashed UFOs..............................6
     2.3 Dealing with Terror Sites........................................6
     2.4 Your initial lack of technology..................................6
     2.5 Your limited budget..............................................6
     2.6 Alien infiltration of governments................................6
     2.7 Alien bases on Earth.............................................6
  3.0 Strategy on Bases ..................................................6
     3.1 Where should I build bases?......................................6
     3.2 Base Types and evolution.........................................7
     3.3 Base Construction................................................8
     3.4 Defending a base.................................................8
  4.0 Air Combat and Intercept Strategies ...............................10
     4.1 Intercept tactics...............................................10
     4.2 Weapons vs. target..............................................10
     4.3 Differences among Aggressive, Normal, and Cautious attacks......11
     4.4 Craft Weapons Tactics...........................................12
     4.5 Finding the alien base..........................................12
     4.6 Keep soldiers in bases [IMPORTANT]..............................12
  5.0 Ground Combat Strategies ..........................................12
     5.1 Basic equipment considerations..................................12
     5.2 General Tactics.................................................13
     5.3  Weapon Tactics.................................................16
     5.4 Assault tactics.................................................18
     5.5 Capturing aliens................................................19
     5.6 Psi / Anti-Psi Tactics..........................................21
     5.7 Different shots and different weapons...........................21
     5.9 Misc. Ground Combat Questions and Answers.......................22
  6.0 Research and Manufacture Strategies ...............................24
     6.1 What should I research?.........................................24
     6.2 Suggested Research Priorities...................................25
     6.3 Research Strategies.............................................25
     6.4 Research Cheat [Verified].......................................25
     6.5 Manufacture Strategies..........................................26
  7.0  Logistics and Material Management ................................26
     7.1 Why is Elerium important?.......................................26
     7.2 I keep running out of funds!  What do I do?.....................26
     7.3 Dealing with Equipment Shortages................................27
     7.4 When to sack / retire things....................................28
     7.5 Equipping Landing Crafts........................................28
  9.0 Misc. questions and answers .......................................29
  A. Appendix of Tables .................................................29
     A.1 Base Facilities.................................................30
     A.2 X-COM Crafts and Craft Weapons..................................30
     A.3 UFO Types.......................................................31
     A.4 Ground Combat Weapons...........................................32
     A.5 Alien Information...............................................33
     A.6 Costs...........................................................34
     A.7 TU Usage by Activity............................................36
     A.8 Profitability study.............................................36

1.0 General Information about XCOM


1.1 What is X-COM : UFO Defense?
          [Excerpt from X-COM manual, page 6]

          It is the year 1999.  Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have
          started appearing with disturbing regularity in the night skies.
          Reports of violent human abductions and horrific experimentation
          has struck terror into the hearts of millions.  Mass public



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 3
          hysteria has only served to expose Earth's impotence against a
          vastly superior technology.

          [...]

          On December 11, 1998, representatives from the world's most
          economically powerful countries gathered secretly in Geneva.  After
          much debate, the decision was made to establish a covert
          independent body to combat, investigate, and defeat the alien
          threat.  The organization would be equipped with the world's finest
          pilots, soldiers, scientists, and engineers, working together as
          one multi-national force.

          This organization was named the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit.

          [End Excerpt]

          You are in overall command of X-COM.  You will launch interceptors
          to attack UFOs, send soldiers out to attack (crashed) UFOs, raid
          alien bases on Earth (if you can find them), keep the sponsor
          nations happy (by shooting down the UFOs and prevent terror
          attacks), buy the ammo and weapons you need in the war, research
          for better weapons as your troops brings in alien artifacts for
          analysis, manufacture the new weapons, pay for everything by
          sponsor countries' contributions and by selling excess stuff, and
          eventually figure out where the alien threat is coming from and end
          the threat once and for all.

          The strategic level is centered on a screen with a rotate-able /
          zoom-able 3D globe (GeoScape), with buttons to manipulate your
          bases, check UFO activity, check your funding levels from the 15
          sponsoring nations, and to look up data in your on-line UFOpedia.
          At the tactical level (BattleScape) you control troops/tanks in 3D
          combat which is quite similar to Syndicate and Populous.

1.2 What's the difference between X-COM and UFO:Enemy Unknown?
          Nothing.  UFO:EU is the European version of X-COM, where the game
          came from.  The game is developed by Mythos Games, based in
          England, which is headed by Julian (Laser Squad) Gallop.  The game
          was picked up by Microprose U.K. and imported to the US.

          MicroProse US changed the name because subLOGIC (the original
          Flight Simulator people, now R.I.P.) had a game called UFO.  That
          one uses actual physics for its flight model (huh?!), and include
          this dumb little game where you gather fuel so your mother ship can
          leave Earth.  It can use any scenery disks that you got for FS, and
          was never very popular any way.  There is also a CD-ROM
          "multimedia" program called UFO that collects all those UFO
          pictures, interviews, and so on a while back.

1.3 What type of PC do I need to run it?
          Requirements listed on the US. Version is as follows:  386 or 486
          (or higher?), 4 MB RAM, VGA, Mouse, MS-DOS 5.0 or higher

          It comes on 3 3.5" HD disks, and needs about 12Mb of hard disk to
          install.  (24 MB if using Stacker or DoubleSpace) There is a CD
          version which requires much less hard drive space.  You have 10
          savegame slots.

          The game requires 560K conventional memory and at least 1 meg of
          XMS.  The technical supplement does *not* guarantee that the game



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 4
          will work with Windows, DR DOS, Novell DOS7 or OS/2.  The game uses
          32-bit protected mode, so it MIGHT run under Windows enhanced mode.

          The copy protection is a code at the bottom of each odd-numbered
          page of the quite well written 128-page manual.

* 1.4 Sounds cool, but I'd like to try it first...
          No problem.  There's a playable demo available at most FTP sites.
          If wuarchive was too busy, try ftp.std.com in /pub/games, available
          in three files.  (Thanks to scohn for the info).  America On-line
          and other on-line services should also have it in games forum or
          Microprose forum.

          If you got a ZIP file, remember to unzip it with the -d (restore
          all subdirectories) option or the game will not run.

1.5 How about any known bugs?
          Here are some of the bugs that the author has experience or heard
          of.  If you have encountered a bug that is not listed here, send a
          short description to me.  MicroProse is aware of most of these
          problems.  See 1.6.

1.5.1 The Green Text Bug
          [Net] When running in BattleScape, the game start to display  some
          40-column Green Text (DOS extender error).  Usually happens just
          after battle in GeoScape.  Sometimes it takes you back into the
          BattleScape, and sometimes it hangs the computer.  No work arounds.
          The saved game is corrupt.  Try to restore an earlier saved game.
          See 1.5.2.

1.5.2 Intercept Save Bug
          [MPS] If you save a game while an intercept in progress (i.e. craft
          is in the air and you minimized the window to save) the saved game
          is corrupt and cannot be reloaded (it will crash the computer).
          This probably causes the 1.5.1 Green Text Bug.  Work around is DO
          NOT SAVE DURING INTERCEPTS.

1.5.3 The 16-bit Sounds Bug
          When playing on a 16-bit sound card such as SB-16 or PAS-16, the
          music and sounds often is played with a bunch of static instead, or
          no sound effect at all (soldiers walking inside the craft should
          have "walk on deck" clank-clank sounds).  No work around at the
          moment except play with sound off.  Also note that the setup
          program asks for the DMA channel, NOT the interrupt.

1.5.4  The One-Shot Blaster Bug
          [FAQ] The blaster launcher, when fired with only one way point,
          cannot be reloaded.  It will show there's no round in the weapon,
          but when you drop a round in the weapon it will say "Weapon is
          already loaded".  [Net] You can actually UNLOAD the "empty" shell
          and drop it.  See "How Do I UNload a Weapon".  For now, the work
          around is program launch with two or more waypoints.

* 1.5.5 The Flying Frozen Bug
          [Net / SCOHN] Sometimes a soldier flying (with a flying suit, of
          course) or a hovertank is stuck at the edge of the map.  S/he is
          OFF the map, and can only go up or down, but not back onto the map.
          S/he will recover when mission is successfully completed.  No
          workarounds.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 5
* 1.6 Are there any patches available for those bugs?
          As of 9-15/94 MPS on AOL noted that the patch for the 16-bit sound
          cards has been delayed, though they are hard at work on it.  They
          may have it in a few weeks.

          There are two patches available for the European version (UFO)
          which upgrades V1.0 to V1.1 and V1.2 respectively.  The patches
          does not apply to XCOM, which is equivalent to UFO V1.2.

* 1.7 I need some help!  Any saved game editors?
          There are currently three editors available:  SOLDIER, BASE, and
          MONEY.  The first two are available as UFOCHEAT in some places.
          (Can the author please contact me so I can credit him?)  All three
          are available on America On-line (PC Games Forum, Library Search,
          XCOM), and should be available elsewhere in the Internet.  The
          author of SOLDIER and BASE has just made V2.4 available (Sorry,
          lost your name!  Please e-mail me!).

1.8 Any plans on sequels or expansion disks?  Other versions?
          MicroProse Rep on America On-Line has revealed at least one
          (possibly two) scenario disks arebeing developed.  According to
          CGW's CES report, UFO2 is in the works, with better sounds and
          graphics, but NO CHANGE to the combat system.  (Hurray!)

          There was some talk about a Macintosh version, but no decision has
          been made.  Mac users who want a Mac version should contact
          MicroProse and voice your opinion.  Try MicroProse@aol.com.


2.0 How to use this strategy guide

     As you have read from (1.1), Earth is under attack by superior
     technology.  It is YOUR job to ensure the survival of Earth, even if it
     means xenocide (hey, they started it!).

     To achieve this, you will need to capture alien artifacts and live
     aliens to gain information on where they come from, and go to the source
     and deal with it once and for all.  Of course, there are a lot of
     obstacles in your way, including but not limited to the following:

     * alien harvest and/or abduction
     * alien terror attacks on innocent civilians
     * your initial lack of technology
     * your limited budget
     * alien infiltration of governments
     * alien bases on earth as center of operations
     * and more...

     Each of these has a counter-strategy, which will allow you at the end to
     WIN.  We will discuss each one in detail laster in this section.

2.1 Dealing with flying UFOs
          Those flashing lights in the night sky are not fun any more.  Shoot
          them down and sort them out on the ground!  See section 4.X for
          strategy and tactics on air combat.

          Once you got them on the ground, it's time to send out a boarding
          party to capture and kill any surviving aliens and capture any
          surviving alien artifacts.  See section 5.X for Ground Combat
          Strategies and Tactics.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 6
2.2 Dealing with landed or crashed UFOs
          So you manage to catch an UFO on the ground or shot one down!
          Great!  See section 5.X for Ground Combat Strategies and Tactics.
          Remember that landed UFOs can take off again, and it will be hard
          to catch then.  Also, landed UFOs usually means there is an alien
          base nearby.

2.3 Dealing with Terror Sites
          Aliens are terrorizing civilians!  Just like the intro animations,
          your team rushes to the rescue of the defenseless civilians!  See
          section 5.X for Ground Combat Strategies and Tactics.  Just
          remember that civilian casualties must be avoided at all costs!


2.4 Your initial lack of technology
          This can only be countered by research.  See 6.X for Research and
          Manufacture Strategies.  Initially you have few options to go, but
          as you capture alien hardware you will get more powerful weapons to
          aid you in your quest to end the alien threat.

2.5 Your limited budget
          The countries pay you certain amount of money each month, and may
          increase or decrease the funding level depending on their
          satisfaction level of your performance.  Unfortunately, that source
          of money is never enough.  Section 7.X goes into detail on how you
          can make more money.

2.6 Alien infiltration of governments
          Aliens will attempt to force governments into abandoning the X-COM
          project by attacking that country mercilessly until the government
          signs a pact with them.  As you can guess, we tried this on Hitler
          just before World War II.  It did not work then, it will not work
          now, but that doesn't prevent stupid leaders from trying it.  When
          the goverernment signs the pact it ceases to fund the X-COM
          project, so you may have problems...  To deal with that, see 9.X
          Miscellaneous Questions and Answers

2.7 Alien bases on Earth
          Those pesky aliens have established bases on Earth!  Those bases
          are well-hidden and only a prolonged patrol by X-COM crafts will
          find them.  You should send soldiers to take them out as soon as
          possible since those act as infiltration centers.  See 5.X for
          ground combat strategies.


3.0 Strategy on Bases


3.1 Where should I build bases?
     Usually you start in either Europe or North America, as those contain
     most of your sponsoring countries.  Your second base would be in the
     other area.  As for others, check UFO activity and see below.

3.1.1 Suggested Placement

               Central Europe (western USSR and all of Europe, India)
               North America / Rockies (USA and Canada)
               Japan (eastern USSR, Japan, and China)
               Eastern South America (Brazil)
               Australia (Australia and Pacific)
               Central Africa (South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria)



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 7
3.1.1 Ideal Placement

               North Pole
               South Pole / Antarctica
               Southern United States
               Persian Gulf
               North-eastern Australia
               Brazil, South America
               Central Europe
               Japan / USSR border

3.2 Base Types and evolution
          You will probably have four to six types of bases.  As you play you
          will start upgrading them to the next level to create a more
          effective detection and interception network.

3.2.1 Radar/Picket base
          Just an access lift and some radars, plus maybe some storage for
          HWP defense team and/or living quarters for defending soldiers.
          Detect UFOs.  Add more radars and defenses whenever possible.

          The long range radars have 450 nm range, 5% detection / 10 minutes,
          and short range radar have 300 nm range, 10% detection / 10
          minutes.  Adding more radars would improve chances of detection.  A
          hyperwave decoder would also help.

3.2.2 Airbase
          Base with a hangar or two housing an Interceptor or Firestorm, used
          to intercept and shoot down UFOs, as well as to patrol for enemy
          bases.  HINT: Use an empty Skyranger to tail UFOs for bases can be
          very effective as Skyranger has the longest range of any Terran
          craft.

          Can be improved from radar base by adding hangar(s).  You would
          also need storage space for the craft weapons and ammo.

3.2.3 Strike base
          Base with at least one transport (Skyranger, Lightning, or
          Avenger), as well as living quarters and storage. Houses soldiers
          and equipment.  Used to board UFOs and/or attack alien bases.

          Can be created from both radar base or airbase by adding a hangar
          for the transport.  Remember to add more storage space for the
          increased need for weapons and ammo as well as captured artifacts.
          Also add alien containment in case you took prisoners.

3.2.4 Command Center
          The EVERYTHING base, includes research and manufacturing.  Your
          first base is your first (and probably only) command center, where
          all the research and manufacturing is done.  Most people have this
          configuration instead of 3.2.5 and 3.2.6.

3.2.5 Research Lab
          Some players suggested that you should separate the research
          facility from airbase or attack base as to minimize loss of
          research against alien retaliation raids which destroyed the base.
          Transfer objects to be researched is CHEAP, and you only need ONE
          of the objects to research.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 8
3.2.6 Manufacturing / Engineering Facility
          You just need living quarters and workshops for the engineers, and
          general stores for storing the results, and maybe a hangar if you
          are manufacturing crafts.  Transfer between bases are cheap, and
          you don't need anything else.  A nice place to put this is
          Antarctica.

3.3 Base Construction
     Bases are the guts of X-COM defense.  You must build them carefully to
     minimize risks while maximize possible benefits.

3.3.1 Plan for defense!
          Try to isolate hangars and access lifts from the rest of the base
          to create a choke point.  For example:

          Design A    Design B
          HHHHHH      HHHHHH
          HHHHHH      HHHHHH
          A           X
          X XXXX      XXXXXX
          X XXXX      X XXXX
          XXXXXX      A XXXX   H=Hangars  A=Access Lift  X=anything else

          Design A:  ALL vulnerable areas are concentrated to ONE part of the
          base, limiting possible attacks along that ONE long corridor.

          Design B:  Isolates Hangar from Access Lift.  Since hangars have no
          doors, blaster bombs and/or fusion tanks can destroy everything in
          those spaces with one shot per hangar, counting the secondaries due
          to the fuel drums.  The access lift can be blocked by proximity
          grenades.

3.3.2 Watch each base carefully
          Plan ahead for expansion.  Use the BASE INFORMATION button
          frequently (once every 10 game days?) and start construction of
          things BEFORE you actually run out.

3.3.3 Initial modifications
          First things you need to add to your main base are: alien
          containment (prisoners), general stores (more ammo and captured
          artifacts), and long range radar (improve detection).  Later, add
          living quarters, labs, workshops, and defenses when needed.

3.3.4 Keep a hangar available!
          You should always keep a hangar SOMEWHERE available for new
          construction purposes.  Transfer a craft between bases is free.
          See base types for details.

3.4 Defending a base
          Aliens do try to raid your base.  The loss of the base means the
          loss of everything based on it.  So what can you do to prevent the
          destruction of your base?  Several things besides 3.3.1.

3.4.1 Build defenses
          You can build four types of base defenses:

                         days cost upkeep  def  accuracy
          Missile Defense 24? 600k?  8k?   500?  50%?
          Laser Defense   24  900k  10k    600   60%
          Plasma Defense  36 1200k  12k    900   70%
          Fusion Defense  36 1800k  14k   1200   80%



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                  Page 9

          In addition, there's two more facilities that helps in Defence
          Grav Shield     38 2300k  15k   Gives another chance of hitting
          Mind Shield     33 1300k   5k   "Cloaks" base from alien scout

          [CGW] Your base defense rating should be over 2500 to successfully
          and consistently repel alien attacks.

          [KSC] I recommend over 3500, PLUS grav shields, if you don't like
          fighting inside your own base.  Three fusion ball defense is
          enough.  Over course of a month, I allowed alien battleships to
          attack my main base, which has the above.  In ten tries, only ONE
          battleship made it through my defenses (somehow four out of six
          shots missed).  Only eight Ethereals and one Sectopod made it down
          against 10 hovertanks (2 of them Fusion Ball launchers).

* 3.4.2 Attack the incoming UFOs
          [FAQ] Usually you can detect the UFOs as they come in for the
          attack. Shoot them down first.  If you got Hyperwave Decoders,
          watch for UFOs with "retaliation" missions.  Those are coming after
          your bases.  The small UFOs that come first are scouts.  If they
          see your base, then comes the battleships.

          [KSC] [Not verified] If you managed to intercept the attacking UFO,
          stay in standoff mode, and it won't attack the base unless it
          outrun you.  If you attack with interceptors you'll lose them.

          [Doug] If you think you can hold your base, you can let the UFO
          through and just fight the ground action.  Of course, you risk
          getting your base wrecked, but you also get chance to capture
          aliens and alien equipment.

          [Net] In V1.0 of UFO, if you win a defend base action, you can gain
          thousands of units of Elerium.  This is no longer true in V1.2 of
          UFO and X-COM.


3.4.3 Watch the "80-item limit"
          If the aliens made their way down, you will have to defend
          yourself.  Only the first 80 items in storage can be used for your
          Defence, so this is another reason to sell off those excess
          inventory.  Besides, you need the cash.  Do NOT keep electro-flares
          in the warehouse as those are often the first items int he 80-item
          list!  Lasers and HWPs are on top so keep them.

3.4.4 Keep some HWPs just in case
          [CGR] HWP's only take up storage space, are the first things on the
          storage item list (therefore always in those 80 items), and needs
          no personnel to control, which makes them the ideal base defenders.

          [KSC] Fusion Ball Launcher Hovertanks are absolutely great in base
          defense, being able to shoot around corners.  So are blaster
          launchers, if you have them.

3.4.5 Booby trap the rooms!
          Booby trap all rooms that you must abandon, usually by throwing
          proximity grenades at the doors.  Any alien steps in, BOOM!  You
          can clear them by dropping a regular grenade on top of them.  See
          Section 7.X on weapon tactics.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 10
3.4.6 Leave some soldiers! [?]
          [Questionable] When a base is under alien attack, ALL crafts are
          evacuated ALONG WITH all soldiers and equipment onboard!  To have
          soldiers defending the base, you need to unload them from crafts
          BEFORE the attack reaches your base, and make sure the base have
          enough ammo and guns to let them defend.  See 3.4.3.

          [Doug] My soldiers stayed during alien base attack...  Can someone
          verify this?


4.0 Air Combat and Intercept Strategies

          Air combat is an important part of X-COM.  Without it, you will
          have very little chance of capturing any aliens or alien equipment,
          and thus have no progress in the game!

4.1 Intercept tactics
          Interception of UFOs is important.  Intercepting UFOs over
          sponsoring countries tells them you are doing your job and keeps
          them happy.  Successful interception and shoot-down means you can
          capture aliens, alien bodies, and alien equipment.  Even if
          interception is unsuccessful you may be able to discover alien
          bases.

4.1.1 Feet dry!  Feet dry!
          Try to attack an UFO over land, because if you shoot it down at sea
          no one can get to it.  If you intercepted it over water, press
          minimize and click over to 1 minute time step until you ran out of
          fuel, it lands, it outruns you, or you got back over land.  If you
          fly back over land, change back to 5 seconds, then commence attack!

4.1.2 Go home early
          When you send multiple crafts after one UFO and the UFO gets shot
          down, the shooter will go home, but other crafts will continue onto
          the crash site and THEN return.  Instead, click on them and turn
          them back early (Return to base).  They will return earlier, thus
          be refuled and rearmed faster for the next mission.

4.1.3 Keep Landed UFOs covered
          Even if an UFO has landed, keep an interceptor on top of it if
          possible until your landing craft arrives for the action.  That
          way, if the UFO takes off, you still have a chance to shoot it
          down.

4.2 Weapons vs. target
          Before attacking click on the VIEW UFO button to take a look at
          your target before deciding whether to attack or not.  Attacking
          with the wrong weapons means either the loss of the interceptor or
          the UFO totally destroyed so that nothing can be recovered.  Also
          see

4.2.1 Very Small / Small UFOs
          Interceptors with Stingray missiles and cannons can only handle
          very small or small sized UFOs.  Attacking larger UFOs means heavy
          damage or even destruction.

4.2.2 Medium UFOs
          Interceptors with Avalanche missiles can handle medium UFOs.  One
          Avalanche will blow a very small UFO into pieces though.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 11
4.2.3 Large UFOs
          Interceptors with Plasma beam and/or Avalanche missiles can handle
          large UFOs, but not VERY large UFOs.  Plasma beam may blow small
          UFO into pieces.

4.2.4 Very Large UFOs
          Multiple Interceptors with plasma beam and/or Avalanche are needed
          to attack very large UFOs, and you'll probably lose a few, since
          one shot from battleship and the interceptor is destroyed or
          crippled.

          Interceptors with fusion ball launchers can attack very large UFOs
          if it does so at maximum distance, but will probably run out of
          ammo first since they are two shots each.

          The only way to "safely" attack alien battleships is to use
          Firestorms and Avengers, and even then you will probably be heavily
          damaged (as in 20% to 60% damage), even with Fusion Balls and
          Plasma beams.

4.3 Differences among Aggressive, Normal, and Cautious attacks
          The difference between Aggressive, Normal, and Cautious attacks
          were not explained clearly in the manual.  Here's my version:

4.3.1 Cautious Attack
          Attack the UFO from maximum range of the available weapon(s) at a
          slow firing rate.  Cause least damage per shot, useful when you
          want prisoners or attacking a small target and your weapons may be
          overkill.

4.3.2 Normal Attack
          Attack the UFO from maximum range of the available weapon(s) at
          standard firing rate.  Cause average damage per shot, suffice for
          most attacks if your weapon outrange the enemy's.

4.3.3 Aggressive Attack
          Attack the UFO as fast as possible, as close as possible, and fire
          as fast as possible.  Cause most damage per shot, but exposes the
          craft to enemy return fire.

4.3.4 Applications of each attack mode
          To determine which attack mode to use, you need to look at the UFO
          first.  Click on the VIEW UFO icon and take a look at what type of
          UFO it is.  See section A.3 for list of UFOs and recognition chart.

          Of all the UFOs, only battleship is a major threat to your crafts.
          Battleship have a weapon range of ~70 kilometers, longer than even
          fusion balls.  NO OTHER UFO has this kind of firepower.  The only
          way to ensure destruction of a battleship is to use Firestorm or
          Avenger with dual plasma beams.  One shot from a battleship is
          enough to destroy an Interceptor, so do NOT attack battleships with
          Interceptors.

          When attacking battleships with Avengers and Firestorm, use
          Aggressive Attack.  After several battleship interceptions with an
          Avenger, I've found that using Aggressive Attack with an Avenger I
          get approximately 40% damage (once as low as 30%) where as I
          usually get 60% damage in Normal attack.  Firestorm got hit pretty
          hard against battleships, usually 50-80% damaged.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 12
          All other UFOs can be safely tackled with Avanlanche missiles and
          plasma beams, since you can stay at maximum range and avoid their
          fire.  Supply Ship and Terror Ship have range of ~50 km, which is
          the second longest, but Avalanche and Plasma beam outrange them.

4.4 Craft Weapons Tactics

4.4.1 Get Plasma Cannon quickly
          Plasma Cannon is THE best craft weapon in the game, with 99 shots
          and 54 km range.  Interceptors armed with twin plasma cannons can
          even tackle large (though not VERY large) UFOs safely by remaining
          outside the UFO's weapon range.

4.4.2 Get rid of Stingray Missiles and cannons
          Stingrays are only good for hitting VERY SMALL and maybe SMALL UFOs
          due to the short range (30 for Stingray, 12 for cannon).  Replace
          Stingray and Cannon with Avalanches as soon as possible.  You can
          also forget about the laser cannon but at least it does not use
          ammo.

4.5 Finding the alien base
          Alien Bases can be found by two ways: X-COM agents can find an
          enemy base for you, or you have to send out crafts and patrol
          certain parts of the world.  If you see a lot of UFO activity but
          can't get any interceptions, there's probably a base in the area.

          Hyperwave decoders, which can tell you what a UFO is up to, can
          allow you to spot the UFOs on their SUPPLY runs.  Once you spot a
          supply UFO, use an empty Skyranger to follow it.  If it disappears,
          go to last known coordinates and start patrolling.  With a couple
          hours (game time) in the air you should see the base.

4.6 Keep soldiers in bases [IMPORTANT]
          Equip NO soldiers for the crafts until you are ready to launch the
          intercept.  You will lose no more than a few seconds of game time
          (and real-time) when you equip the craft again with the team
          members, and this prevents you from getting surprised when an enemy
          UFO attack your base and your crafts took off with all your
          soldiers.  The same would go for the equipment as well.  Unless
          your base has lots of spares, unequip from the craft.


5.0 Ground Combat Strategies

          Ground combat is arguably the most important aspect of X-COM, and
          probably also the most satisfying part when a successful raid has
          been completed.  Here are some tactics and advises to keep your
          soldiers alive and well and keep alien body counts mounting.

5.1 Basic equipment considerations
          Since you only get 80 items per craft, you have to plan carefully.
          Also see section 7.5 for further material management strategies.

          Lasers are useful since they do not need ammo, saving you a lot of
          items.  They also cause a nice amount of damage (though not as much
          as plasma weapons, thus the trade-off).

          Once you got Blaster Bombs, carry those if you can afford them.
          They start out as unloaded, unlike other weapons, so load them
          during BEFORE the battle starts.  Use them to flatten buildings and
          fences, and to open new doors for entrances.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 13
5.1.1 Basic Loadouts
          Skyranger: 2 HWPs and 6 soldiers.  Divide them up to 1 HWP / 3
               person fire teams, with HWP as scouts.  If necessary you can
               split each team up further into pairs.

          Lightning: only one choice since this thing does not carry HWP's

          Avenger: 4 HWPs and 10 soldiers are good.  Use 2 teams of 1 HWP and
               2 soldiers, and 2 teams of 1 HWP and 3 soldiers, or you can
               make them all 1 HWP and 2 soldiers, with two soldier as the
               special weapons team with blaster bombs and/or psi attacks.

5.1.2 Rookie Training
          Try to always take a couple of rookies along to give them
          experience to boost their stats.  In XCOM, you learn by doing.  You
          want more strength?  Carry heavy stuff.  More accuracy?  Take more
          shots.  Soldiers with kills gain more than those without.

* 5.1.3 Avoid night missions
          [Concensus] Avoid night missions if you can.  The UFO can wait
          until next morning or later unless they take off first.  Just set
          the craft to patrol nearby.  Aliens hold an advantage in visibility
          range at night (or appears to).  If you ABSOLUTELY MUST, carry LOTS
          of electroflares and incendiary weapons.

5.1.4 Mix up the weapons
          Try to take along a mixed set of weaponry, like lasers, auto
          cannons, AND plasma guns.  This way you'll be ready for all sorts
          of threats, as some aliens are more vulnerable to certain types of
          weapons than to others.  See A.2 for alien tables.

5.1.5 Use Stun on Terror [!?]
          [CGW] When tackling terror sites, take along lots of stun weaponry
          and stun any civilians that you find.  Alien terrorists don't
          attack unconscious civilians, and therefore the civilians count as
          "saved" at the end.  Just don't drop grenades on them or fire
          rockets and missiles into the area.

          [Net] Recently someone reported that stunned civilians, upon waking
          up, are counted as enemy and must be killed to finish the battle.
          Can someone verify this?

5.1.6 Misc. Equipment
          * Medikits are important.  In addition to healing fatal wounds
            they can raise morale if used on panicking troops as well as
            revive unconscious soldiers (hit by a stun bomb?)
          * Motion detectors are useful for looking behind doors and walls,
            but only helps if aliens moved
          * Mind Probe is useful in identifying alien leaders and
            commanders, or any specific type of alien you want to capture.
            Make sure you have an arsenal of stun weapons.
          * Proximity grenades are great for blockading large UFO doors.
            Just drop one next to the door and wait for them to come out

5.2 General Tactics

* 5.2.1 Assign specialties to soldiers
          [CGW/CGR/KSC] BEFORE you go on missions, examine each solider and
          assign them a specialty, according to the weapons you have and the
          soldier's abilities.  The person(s) with the most strength would
          carry Heavy Cannon, Auto-Cannon, or Rocket Launcher.  The person(s)



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 14
          with the most time units would be scout, and so on.  After you've
          decided, add a suffix to their name by clicking on the name in the
          solider stat display and type.  For example, if "Bill Donovan" has
          lots of strength, make him "Bill Donovan/HW" (HW for Heavy
          Weapons).  That way, when you arrived at the battle, you can equip
          the right people with the right stuff.

          [KSC] Here's some suggested specialties and related equipment
          Scout (SC)          -- carry motion sensor
          Medic (MD)          -- carry Medi-Kit
          Intelligence (IT)   -- carry mind probe
          Heavy Weapons (HW)  -- carry "heavy" stuff
          PsiCorp (PSI)       -- carry psi amp for psi attacks *

          * PsiCorp is named after the organization in Babylon 5  :-)

          You can also cross-train, of course.  There's no limit in the
          number of spots each person can hold...  And real-life SEAL teams
          are all cross-trained any way.

          [SCOHN] Another way of doing this is put the TUs / Fire / Throw /
          Str in the person's name.  For example, Bill 58/46/78/40.  You may
          have to update the stats after every mission or so, but it helps
          you see a variety of skills quickly when you need to load up the
          landing crafts.

5.2.2 Deploying from craft
          [NET] Keep a grenade in hand as you deploy since sometimes there
          are enemies right next to your landing craft.  Grenades should also
          be used to reduce any cover close to your craft that can hide an
          alien.

          [KSC] Only deploy two soldiers at a time.  Next to the landing
          gears is good.  If you deploy all of them at once you invite
          grenades and blaster bombs.  Move the two away before deploying the
          next two.

5.2.3 Spread out and cover each other
          Bunch up invites enemy attack you with grenades, or worse,
          blasterbombs.  In general, about six to eight squares apart is far
          enough.

          Aliens DO attack from behind sometimes, so try to have two troopers
          who can watch each other's back.  This is ESPECIALLY important when
          going up against Chryssalids, who moves extremely fast [120 TUs!]
          One player reported losing the entire squad to a single Chryssalid
          on a terror mission...

          Here's a simple demonstration with a four person fire team:

               X                          X

                     X             X
                           ===>>
               X                          X

                     X             X

          The two in front did not move, while the two in the back moved up
          beyond them for about that much distance.  The recommended
          separation between team members is between four to six squares, and



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 15
          the normal leap frog distance is about that much as well.  That
          way, when one person spots a target, most likely every one will be
          able to see and fire at the target.  The two who stayed in place
          should turn around and face out and/or back to prevent rear
          attacks.  Keep plenty of TUs for opportunity fire.

5.2.4 Use the terrain!
          Use whatever advantage terrain can give you.  Hide behind things,
          use secondary explosions or fires, etc.  Also see 5.2.5.

          If enemy is standing next to some volatile objects (fuel drum in
          Hangar, purple command console in UFO room or base, etc.), shoot
          the object instead of the alien to take advantage of the secondary
          explosions.  Lots of things are explosive in enemy bases.  Just
          make sure you are not close by when it goes...

          Hide behind other aliens can be a valid tactic, if a desperate one.
          Aliens do NOT check who's in their path before firing.  Often they
          will hit and kill their comrades as they try to shoot you.  It was
          reported that one alien shot itself while attempting to shoot down
          the gravlift.

          [KSC] Hiding behind something can be the difference between a dead
          soldier versus a critically wounded solider who could be saved by a
          medikit.  NEVER if possible leave soldiers out in the open.  Either
          use up all their TUs and get under cover or don't move at all.
          This also means do NOT stay in midair if you have flying suits.
          Also, try to leave 4 TUs so you can kneel down.  It makes you a
          smaller target as well as improve your shooting accuracy.

5.2.5 Aliens are wishy-washy (alien movement pattern)
          Aliens usually move forward, take a shot, then turn 180 and move
          back.  So, if you see them in their movement phase and don't see
          them in yours, move forward a little, and you may see them.  For
          example, they move like this...

                   visible
                    range
                      |
               S -----/-->S
                     |    |                     YOU
                   S<-\---+
                      |

5.2.6 Leave opportunity for shots
          To make opportunity shots in the enemy movement phase, you need
          TU's left unused, as well as a high reactions rating (over 50
          preferred).  So leave enough for a shot while moving and still get
          in cover, or don't move at all.

          HINT: have soldiers kneeling close to UFO doors is a good way to
          get better reactions, if they have plenty of TUs left to shoot any
          aliens who comes out.  This is great against Muton UFOs, as Mutons
          tends to come out and go back in the doors a lot.

5.2.7 Use HWP as scouts
          HWP's, especially the Hovertanks, are great scouts.  They have 70
          to 100 TU's, nice firepower, plenty of health, and are immune to
          alien psi attacks.  On the other hand, they ARE expensive, they do
          NOT gain experience, and they are four space units.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 16
          Don't make kills with HWP's.  Their job is to SEE the enemy so the
          human members can then fire at them, even when it's beyond THEIR
          visual range.

5.2.8 Deny cover to the enemy
          The rocket tank and perhaps the Fusion Ball Hovertank are great for
          taking down buildings and walls, denying aliens places to hide.
          You can also use grenades and rocket launchers, or auto-cannon with
          explosive / incendiary ammo.

          [Hint] There's no penalty for destroying civilian property, so go
          ahead and blast all the houses into pieces if you have to, just to
          get that last alien on the map.  Of course, don't kill any
          civilians in the process.

          [Counterpoint] While this is a game, it's NOT nice to destroy an
          entire building just to wipe out one last alien...  X-COM is a
          COVERT organization, not the "Dirty Pair"...

          (For those of you who don't know "The Dirty Pair", they are a pair
          of Japanese Anime characters, who are supposed to be trouble-
          shooters but usually ended up wrecking the place they
          troubleshoot...  :-)

          You can also use guns in the process. Lasers, consuming no ammo,
          are great in this role.

5.2.9 Listen to the sounds in alien movement phase
          The sounds in alien movement phase can reveal important clues to
          alien locations.  Normal door clicking means the aliens are near a
          regular building (farm house, etc.)  Hydraulic door sounds means
          the automatic doors were used.  Two sounds close together means
          someone just went in and immediately came back out (or vice versa).
          COROLLARY : the length of the alien movement phase is also
          proportional to the number of aliens left on the map.  (Remember
          that stunned aliens or civilians can wake up!)

5.3  Weapon Tactics
          Different weapons should be used differently and in different
          circumstances.  Here are some suggestions on how to best employ the
          different weapons.

5.3.1 Pistols and Rifles
          Use them only when you have to, sniper style.  Dump them for lasers
          as fast as possible.  They use clips and doesn't do much damage.
          They may be enough to use against Sectoids, who has little armor,
          but not against tougher enemies.

5.3.2 Heavy Cannon
          More accurate than the auto-cannon and slightly more damage, but a
          lot less effective with only six shots and no auto-fire mode.  I'd
          rather use the auto-cannon.

5.3.3 Auto-Cannon
          Probably the most effective weapon in the early game, with auto
          mode, three types of ammo, and 14 shot magazine.  Still, 14 shots
          is not much in auto-mode, and three magazines can run out on you
          pretty quick.  It is also HEAVY.  Of course, auto-fired HE rounds
          can clear a forest REAL quick.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 17
5.3.4 Rocket Launcher
          Rocket Launcher packs your biggest punch in the early game, and
          being an area weapon makes it invaluable in dealing with nasty
          Reavers and other loathsome creatures.  On the other hand, you can
          only carry three of them, and they only fly in straight lines.
          Have another member carry reloads for you.

5.3.5 Laser Pistol, Laser Rifle, and Heavy Laser
          Forget the heavy laser.  The 35% more damage that it does is offset
          by having no auto mode and decreased accuracy.  You can probably
          forget the pistol also, but you need to research it to get laser
          rifle.  Laser rifle is arguable the best squad weapon in the game,
          needing no ammo, with decent accuracy and damage.

5.3.6 Grenades and High Explosive
          Get alien grenades when you can, but regular grenades would do.
          Use them to flatten small buildings and take down walls so aliens
          have nowhere to hide.

          [NET] Proximity grenades should be used to block off doors and
          stuff so nothing can sneak up behind you.  They appear to have a 2-
          square blast radius and 1-square sensing radius, so do NOT throw
          them next to the door!  Throw them one square away from the 
door so
          the alien have to come out before it blows up.  For example:
          (D=Door     P=Proximity Grenade     A=Alien)

          Alien just behind door, does NOT trigger the grenade since not in
          radius of 1

              |
             AD P
              |

          Alien steps through the door, and BOOM!

              |
              DAP
              |

          I haven't found smoke grenades to be that useful.  I've tried it in
          covering my deployment, but it doesn't seem to work that well.

          I've yet to use any high-explosive in any of the games I played,
          but [NET] has reported that they are very useful taking out
          Cyberdiscs in tight urban settings, due to larger blast area.

5.3.7 Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, and Heavy Plasma
          Forget the plasma pistols.  Plasma Rifle and Heavy Plasma are good
          weapons, and the heavy-plasma is the only heavy weapon in the game
          with auto mode.  On the other hand, Heavy Plasma is "heavy" and
          normal soldier can't carry it very well.

          Heavy Plasma should only carried by a few select members, due to
          possible shortages in clips.  Also, with only 80 items per craft,
          having so many clips around can be a problem.

          Heavy Plasma can punch through inner walls of UFOs when auto-fired
          a couple times, useful for pincer attacks.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 18
5.3.8 Blaster Launcher
          Blaster launcher is probably one of the greatest weapons in the
          game.  It is expensive, its ammo is expensive, but it is VERY
          useful.  You can blow up things in ANY direction, turn around
          corners, go up and down stairs, flatten entire barns, even punch a
          hole in UFO's outer hull!  With a bit of management one solider can
          carry up to 5 reloads (2 on belt and 3 in backpack).

          [NET] One trick is to leave the soldier and the launcher inside the
          craft kneeling on top of the ammo on the floor.  That way there's
          more than 5 rounds available.  Or you can have other soldiers carry
          more ammo, drop them on the ground, then have the launcher guy
          stand/kneel on top of them.  You can use this trick on rocket
          launcher too, but it's not as useful.

          [NET] When attacking battleships, consider using a blaster bomb to
          blow open one of the engine "legs" and go up through that instead
          of through that large central elevator.  That way you don't have to
          worry about attacks from 4 directions.  You can also blow open
          other parts of UFO and go in that way instead of through the door.

          [KSC] Use blaster bomb to enlarge a standard door so you can fit a
          tank through by targetting the wall next to the door.  You can also
          try this with heavy plasma as those can sometimes punch through
          walls.  This is great for battleships since the large central lift
          allows tanks to go up to any level.

5.3.9 Small Launcher
          This is the only weapon that gives you standoff stun capability.
          Get this when you need to stun aliens.  Try to back this up with a
          regular weapon.  Stun damage counts against alien's health, and a
          hit can drop its health low enough so it gets stunned.

5.4 Assault tactics
          * Your first priority is to make sure no aliens can ambush you as
            you deploy.  This makes HWP invaluable as they are often the
            first ones to exit the craft, saving your soldiers from getting
            shot.  They also take several hits, even from heavy plasma,
            before being destroyed.
          * Your second priority is to scout and clear out the map of any
            stray aliens, while locating your primary objective.  When
            boarding UFOs, the objective is the UFO itself.  When attacking
            alien base, the objective is the alien command center.  Spread
            out into fire teams of two soldiers or one soldier and one HWP
            and search.  One team should guard the entrances to the
            objective when found.
          * Your third priority is to secure the objective.  Leave a team
            guarding the entrance to the objective in case the perimeter
            sweep missed somebody.

5.4.1 Use a "scout" to open the door
          There should be one person whose specialty is open doors so that
          other people can shoot through the open door.  The person with the
          best reaction and most TUs should get this job.

* 5.4.2 Look "over the top" if the top's open
          [SCOHN] Some of the small or medium UFO that has been shot down
          have their tops blown open.  Throwing some grenades into that
          opening can help you clean up any more aliens left inside.  There's
          not that much equipment left in there any way.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 19
          [KSC] If you have flying suits, you may want to go up to the upper
          level and see if you can see any one while standing on the edges.
          Four of you at separate corners can set up a great cross-fire
          pattern and fry / stun any aliens left inside.

          [NET] On larger UFOs you may want to OPEN a hole from the top with
          a blaster launcher.  Also see 5.3.8.  Many people have reported
          more success cleaning the UFO from the TOP down instead of bottom
          up, esp. battleships.

5.4.3 Aliens have no manners [open doors]
          Unpowered doors do not close by themselves.  Therefore, if you spot
          an open door and you know you didn't open it, there must be an
          alien nearby!  See also 5.2.9.

5.4.4 Look up!
          [KSC] On multi-level UFO and bases, you can sometimes see enemies
          at the upper level near grav-lifts.  Multi-level UFO's with floor
          pieces destroyed will also allow you to look up into the higher
          level.  If you see someone, ATTACK FIRST!

          [KSC] Remember to look at the upper level (view level up button),
          since sometimes you may have walked by the ceiling hole without
          realizing it.  Also, watch the blast patterns in the floor and
          check the center of the blast pattern and turn around to look up.

5.4.5 Use your blaster bombs!
          Blaster bombs shoot around corners and up/down grav-lifts as well
          as opening up walls and stuff, so use them!  Blasting new doors are
          great.  Just remember not to bunch up so the aliens can do the same
          thing to you.  You can do the similar things with Fusion Hover
          tanks but those have weaker warhead.  See also 5.3.8.

5.4.6 Use your windows in the craft!
          [CGR/CGW] Your craft have windows, so turn your rearmost soldiers
          or HWPs around and take a look.  This will let you know the general
          terrain layout before you even get out of the transport.

5.4.7 In base, find Central Command!
          Usually the base commander does not move from their two level
          command center, with a corridor all around, windows on the
          corridor, and a VERY large gravlift in the middle.  It is very
          distinctive.  If you can find it, and watch your back while doing
          so, you can probably setup ambushes all around as other aliens
          converge on you and head into the trap.  Just don't bunch up and be
          blasterbomb bait.

5.5 Capturing aliens
          Capturing aliens will yield a lot of information, especially the
          medics, engineers, and leaders.  Alien commanders (who are only in
          bases or base-establishing UFOs) are the only ones that can give
          you clues on how to WIN the game once and for all, so capturing
          aliens are very important.

5.5.1 Build Alien Containment first!
          Without "Alien Containment", any aliens you capture DIE upon your
          arrival at the base.  So build alien containment as your FIRST
          improvement.  Add alien containment to all strike bases, since
          prisoners are ONLY brought back to that strike team's home base.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 20
5.5.2 How do I capture aliens?
          There are three ways you can capture aliens : you can shoot them
          and hope you only knocked them unconscious (i.e. they did NOT
          scream as they collapsed); you can use stun rods on them; or you
          can use stun bombs on them.  Sometimes you will need combination of
          all three.  NOTE: You cannot stun a Cyberdisc or a Sectopod.  Those
          are robots, and stun charges destroy them instead.

5.5.3 WHO do I capture?
          You want specialists like leaders, medics, and engineers over
          common soldiers or terrorists.  Specialists can give you more
          information like UFO stats and specie information.  Leaders and
          Commanders can give you special information that will eventually
          lead to the final battle, and only Ethereals and Sectoid leaders /
          commanders can give you Psi Power.
          HINT: You can use a mind probe on aliens to identify their rank
          while they are still standing.
          HINT: you can also stun them then try to pick them up, which will
          also identify their rank. [Stuart Lamble]

5.5.4 Double-team them!
          Capturing, as in all fighting, requires a backup.  If one fails you
          get another chance.  This is especially important with stun rods
          since you must go up right next to the alien.  Failing that, save
          enough TUs to get back to cover and hope the alien doesn't come
          after you or your buddies will cover you.

5.5.5 Using Stun Rods
          You should sneak up from behind to use Stun Rods.  Have one guy in
          front to keep its attention, while another sneak up behind it and
          ZAP!  This works best in the large scout UFOs (the one that looks
          like a plus sign) when there are TWO doors leading to the "bridge".
          You can also use this on panicked aliens or aliens that just shook
          off your mind control.  HINT: Use a Mind Probe on the alien to see
          if it has enough TU's to fire back at you.

5.5.6 Using Stun Bombs
          Stun bombs frequently requires several shots in order to
          incapacitate one, but they are effective over an area.  So if you
          have several aliens close to each other, one bomb can stun multiple
          aliens.  Try to fire between them.

          If an alien got hit by a stun bomb and does not drop, have someone
          take a snap shot at it.  If the shot hits and does not kill it,
          it'll probably drop unconscious.

5.5.7 Do NOT stun Mind-Controlled Aliens [?]
          [Not Verified] Aliens under your mind control may NOT count as
          captured when you stun them since they are technically on your
          side.  You MUST wait until they are no longer under mind control
          before stunning them for the program to count them as "captured".
          (Can someone try to verify this?)

5.5.8 It won't fit, lame double-brain! (Anti-Reaver tactic)
          When under attack by Reavers, hide in a house with a single-space
          door.  The Reaver, being a 4-space creature, cannot go through the
          door, and being a HTH attacker, cannot attack you through the door
          or window.  You can then jab it with stun rods or any weapon you
          feel like using.  Just don't... No, not the wall!  Aieee!!!!!



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 21
5.6 Psi / Anti-Psi Tactics
          Ethereal and Sectoid leaders can conduct psi attacks on your
          soldiers.  To get psi powers yourself, see 6.0 Research.  You will
          need to train your own soldiers in order to identify those with
          most psi potential and then further training to bring them up to
          speed.  You will also need psi amp to conduct your own psi attacks.
          Once mastered, psi attacks are very powerful.  Here are some
          suggestions in using and countering psi attacks.

5.6.1 Cause Panic
          Aliens who panic usually drop their weapons, and since they never
          pick them back up, this makes them a lot less dangerous (except for
          the enemy that use HTH attacks).  Cause panic can also cause
          berzerkness, which can help you eliminate aliens nearby that alien,
          especially when the things it hit cause secondary explosions...
          :-)  Cause panic is also more likely to succeed than mind control.

5.6.2 Access Mind-Controlled Enemy Inventory [Cheat / Bug]
          If you mind-controlled an alien, you may have noticed that you
          cannot access their inventory by clicking on the person icon.
          However, there is still a way: go through YOUR soldiers' inventory,
          THEN use the scroll buttons to scroll over!  The alien will show up
          as a squad member with no armor, but with name of Race and Rank,
          like "Ethereal Soldier".  You can drop/move their inventory like
          this instead of throwing.

5.6.3 Use mind-controlled aliens as scouts
          Mind controlled aliens should be used to go where you do NOT want
          to go personally.  If you want it to shoot, keep the weapons.
          Otherwise, drop them.  Use them to open doors is much safer than
          using one of your own.

5.6.4 Sack your psi-weaklings and cowards
          Sack any rookies with bravery under 40-50.  They will panic first
          in combat.  Once you have psi labs, sack rookies with the lowest
          psi strengths and train only those who have the highest psi
          strengths.  Save the psi-weak veterans for attacks that you know do
          not involve psi-active races.  This is another reason not to equip
          crafts until you know for sure about the mission.

5.6.5 Check for signs of mind control
          When an alien attempts to mind control your troop you'll see the
          signs.  If the control did not succeed, have that soldier drop
          his/her weapons immediately and kneel.  That way if s/he was taken
          over, little harm could be done.  If you got the alien you can
          always have the soldier pick up the weapon again.
          HINT: panicked aliens and mind controlled soldiers NEVER EVER pick
          up dropped weapons.

5.7 Different shots and different weapons
          Which shot to take from which weapons depends a lot on the tactical
          situation involved.  Any shot, no matter hit or not, can alert the
          enemy who may turn around and let loose some shots (if alien is
          still alive after the shot) by opportunity fire.  Here's some
          general guidelines.

5.7.1 When to use auto-shot
          [KSC] Auto shot fires three rounds, but is the least accurate of
          the three shots.  On the other hand, when you use the laws of
          probability, you actually come out ahead using an auto-shot, since



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 22
          each shot is calculated independently.  For example, let's say
          chance of hitting in auto shot is 25%.  The chance of getting at
          least one hit out of three is 1-(chance of no hits).  Chance of 25%
          hit prob AND no hit in three tries is 0.75*0.75*0.75=0.42.  Chance
          of getting at least one hit is then 1-0.42 which is 0.56, or 56%,
          much better than 25% and probably higher than the snap shot
          probability.  When accuracy improves, you simply increase your
          chances of hitting the target multiple times, which ensures a kill.

          [Doug] I disagree.  I believe auto shots are useless unless
          * You are standing next to the alien
          * You have a cannon with HE and wants to clear the area

5.7.2 When to use snap shot or aimmed shot
          [KSC] Personally, I only use snap/aimmed shot when:
          * I don't need the three shot overkill
          * There is something close or beyond the target I do NOT want hit,
            like an exploding object, or I only want the target hit once
          * I only have enough TUs to take a snap shot

5.7.3 Pistol versus Rifle debate

          [Doug] I like pistols because:
          * pistols are accurate enough at close range
          * since they are one-hand weapons, you can carry something in the
            other hand without messing up your aim, good for specialists
          * shots take less TUs than rifles, thus more possible shots

          [KSC] On the other hand:
          * they require a separate type of ammo (unless you are using laser
            pistols) which counts against your 80 item limit
          * they usually do not have auto mode (again, exceptions) which
            means the enemy can conduct opportunity fire / reaction fire
          * they don't cause that much damage, even if they hit

          [Consensus] All weapons have their place...  Weight the decrease in
          accuracy of a rifle but increased damage versus the pistol, which
          has more accuracy (maybe) but less damage

5.9 Misc. Ground Combat Questions and Answers

* Why do I lose ammo that I never use?
After combat all clips loaded in weapons are lost, whether or not they have
been used (not a great piece of design!).  Thus you should unload any weapons
that uses valuable ammo before the battle ends.  See "How do I UNLOAD ammo
from a weapon?"  [SCOHN] You can tell when the battle is almost over by
judging how long the alien movement phase takes.

* How do I reload weapons?
Make sure you have enough time units [SCOHN : You do NOT have to have the
other hand free.]  Drop ammo into weapon.  You should hear a "reload" click.
Click on the weapon in hand and it will tell you what type of ammo and how
many shots are left.

How do I UNLOAD ammo from a weapon?
Keep the other hand empty.  Click on the weapon and drop it on the UNLOAD
icon to the right of the screen (just under the OK and the scroll arrows).
The ammo cartridge should be in the other hand.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 23
* Some of my soldiers have TU's used before I moved them.  Why?
[KSC] You "overloaded" them.  They have low strength yet you gave them too
many things or things too heavy to carry, which decreases their TUs.  Give
them something lighter to carry.  [SCOHN/KSC] On the other hand, soldiers
gain strength by carry heavy stuff...  So if there isn't much danger, train
the "weak" soldiers by by giving them heavy stuff to carry and running them
back and forth around the landing craft.  They'll gain some strength when the
battle's over.  (Imagine a drill sergeant conducting training under live
fire!  :-D )

Why should I need grenades when I have auto cannon?
[FAQ] An autocannon has very impressive firepower.  However it is heavy to
carry (strength 40+ recommended).  A soldier equipped with a laser rifle can
carry a couple of grenades and use them to flatten small buildings or other
targets without needing a bulky cannon.

How can I fire on aliens in their movement phase?
You can carry out opportunity fire on aliens as they move.  Leave enough TU's
after your move for at least a snap shot, then if your trooper saw an alien
and has good enough reactions s/he will fire at the alien.  Use the 4 icons
near the bottom left of screen to reserve the TUs.  Rookies typically will
not fire unless you leave them with more than half of their TUs.

What's with troops missing in action (MIA)?
If one of your troopers in under alien control at the end of a battle (s)he
counts as MIA; therefore try to wait until (s)he is no longer in control
before finishing off aliens.  (This would be a bug since there's no one to
control him/her any more!)  Another way to get people MIA is try to take off
(abort mission) with only an unconscious person in the transport.  You'll
lose that person as MIA as well as the transport.  HINT: use MediKit to wake
them up (stimulant) then march them in.  See next.

How do I wake up unconscious soldiers?
[SCOHN / KSC] Stand over unconscious solider, use Medi-Kit, apply one 
shot of
stimulant.  Check inventory.  If the "Body" is still on the ground, repeat.
When the "body" is no longer there, move away.  The soldier should be
standing at that square next turn. S/he may need further treatment, see
below.  You should HEAL any fatal wounds first as those decreases health per
turn, and may cause the soldier to fall unconscious again.

How do I use Medi-Kit?
Stand next to the soldier you need to heal (except for unconscious, see
above), medikit in hand, select use.  If healing, click on part in red to
show number of fatal wounds in that area, then apply one dose per wound.
Fatal wounds must be HEALed since they decrease health per turn (bleeding?)
and can kill a soldier.  You can also add painkiller to raise morale.  EACH
dose dispensed costs 10 TUs.  See UFOpedia for applications.

How do I open doors?
[KSC] Target your soldier to move to the "square" behind the door and (s)he
will then automatically open it (using some TUs).  HINT: Do not open doors
without plenty of spare TU's.  Using a motion scanner will help.  HINT:
Create a door!  Either shoot a hole in the wall or blow up the entire wall.

How do I use motion scanner?
[KSC] Put motion scanner in one hand, select hand, select Use Motion Scanner.
It will display every movement for a radius of 9 around you.  The more
movement (includes your side also), the larger the blip on the scanner.  The
central arrow is your facing, North is top.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 24
How do I use Mind Probe?
[KSC] Keep the alien visible to at least one of your soldiers (does NOT have
to be the one holding the Mind Probe).  Put Mind Probe in hand, select use.
Click cursor on the alien (make sure the cursor square is blinking).  You
will see the alien's stat graph screen (TU's, armor, etc.) and their type and
rank (ex: Sectoid Engineer).

* How do I use the Blaster Launcher/Bomb or Fusion Hovertank?
When you select Launch Missile, you can specify a series of up to 9
"waypoints" which can go around any thing, climb and dive, even fly in
circles.  The final waypoint is the explosion point, UNLESS it runs into
something solid first.  Remember that a blaster bomb can actually miss, so
keep everyone WELL CLEAR of the flight path!!!!!  When you are finished
plotting, click LAUNCH, then enjoy the fireworks!  Program it with two or
more waypoints to avoid the one-shot blaster launcher bug.  See 1.5.

How do my soldiers improve?
By doing things.  They improve firing accuracy by shooting at things,
strength by carrying more things, and so on.  There is no concensus on
whether using psi attacks improves one's psi talent yet.  Those getting kills
will improve more than those who did not.  Therefore, try not to let HWP get
a kill since you will lose a chance to let a soldier improve, and leave the
easy shots (against panicked aliens, for example) to the rookies.


6.0 Research and Manufacture Strategies


6.1 What should I research?
Here are the research trees that shows detailed progression.

 Laser Weapons       Heavy      Heavy         Plasma     Plasma
       |             Plasma   Plasma Clip      Rifle   Rifle Clip
  Laser Pistol          |___________|            |__________|
       |                       |                       |
  Laser Rifle                  |                       |
       |                       |__________OR___________|
  Heavy Laser                             |
       |                                  |
  Laser Cannon                      Plasma Cannon
  (Laser Tank)                   (Hovertank/Plasma)*
       |                                  |
  Laser Defense                     Plasma Defense

              Alien Alloys                      Blaster     Blaster
                  |                             Launcher     Bomb
Elerium 115  Personal Armor  UFO Power Source      |___________|
    |_____________|_________________|                     |
                  |                                  Fusion Ball
                  |                             (Hovertank/Launcher)*
             Power Suit      UFO Navigation               |
                  |_________________|               Fusion Defense
                           |
                      Flying Suit

Alien    Elerium        UFO            UFO
Alloys      115     Power Source   Navigation
 |___________|___________|______________|
                   |
           UFO Construction
                   V



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 25
                   V
           New Fighter Craft
              (Firestorm) * = [Hovertank / Plasma]
                   |
        New Fighter-Transporter
              (Lightning)
         __________|____________
         |                      |
        Grav              Ultimate Craft
       Shield               (Avenger)

* You need "New Fighter Craft" before you can build the hovertanks.  You need
fusion ball launcher before you can build the fusion ball hovertank.

6.2 Suggested Research Priorities
          * [KSC] First, get laser weapons ASAP, then go down the list to
            laser rifle, No need to go further than that on that tree
          * [Doug] laser cannon is a GREAT money maker, See A.8
          * Get alien alloy researched ASAP so you can build personal armor,
            which will increase your survival rate substantially.  Research
            and build any armor that you come across ASAP.
          * Do not research medikits until you get at least personal armor,
            and probably power suit, because before then, one hit will
            usually kill you, giving you no chance to use medikits
          * You need better weapon and armor initially more than you need
            anything else.  Concentrate research on weapons.
          * While plasma rifle is lighter, skip it and research heavy plasma
            since you would need the extra firepower.  The "weaker" members
            can carry laser rifles instead or get some exercise
          * Research plasma beam immediately after you finish researching
            the plasma weapons.  Plasma beams make interceptors much more
            effective and lowers its operating cost (no missile reloads)
          * Research small launcher/stun bomb and blaster launcher / blaster
            bomb when you get them (but not top priority).  They are nice to
            have, but not essential until need to capture live aliens for
            more research and fights in alien bases
          * Motion sensor is great for ground assaults, allowing you to see
            behind walls and doors
          * Mind Probe is very useful in IDing aliens for possible capture

6.3 Research Strategies
          * Do not research the same thing at different bases, there is no
            benefit; the research is independent at each base (as is
            manufacturing).
          * Gang-research each topic.  If you have 50 scientists, do NOT
            spread them into 5 topics of 10 each.  Assign all 50 to one
            topic.  Assign ALL scientists you have to ONE task.  You'll
            finish each faster overall.
          * Add scientists whenever you can.  You will probably be limited
            to about 50-100 scientists only, but add more if you can.  Add
            scientists up to the maximum your living quarters can permit.

6.4 Research Cheat [Verified]
          If you have more than one research site, arrange transfer of
          scientists and/or engineers JUST before the end of the month so
          that they will arrive next month (check transfer times).  Since
          salaries are deducted at the end of month for scientists/engineers
          at each base, no salary is paid...  Saving you a TON of cash!



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 26
6.5 Manufacture Strategies
          * Remember that item(s) being built uses up some workshop space,
            so do not hire 50 engineers just because you have 50 open
            workshop space.  You may end up with a couple engineers sitting
            on their hands doing nothing.
          * Always keep your engineers busy building something.  Never let
            them sit idle. You need to keep them around in case of new
            manufacturing needs, but in the meanwhile they should earn their
            money's worth.  See A.8 for things to make.


7.0  Logistics and Material Management


7.1 Why is Elerium important?
          It is a power source NOT native to the Solar System.  You need it
          to build most alien things such as UFO power source, stun bombs,
          plasma clips, and more.  In addition, the UFO-style crafts you get
          use Elerium for fuel.  Since you cannot make it yourself, it is a
          very scarce and valuable commodity.

7.1.1 Where can I get Elerium then?
          Each intact engine captured can yield about 50 or so units of
          Elerium.  Bases can contain more.

          Consider cautious attack in order to preserve the UFOs condition
          upon crash landing, or chase them until they land and keep
          attacking the landed ones only.  Consider leaving one alien base
          alone and attack the landed supply ships just for Elerium.

          [NET] In UFO V1.0, if aliens attack your base and fail, you will
          get thousands of units of Elerium.  This is no longer true in UFO
          V1.2 and XCOM.

7.1.2 How can I save Elerium?
          * In the air, use Interceptors only (they have longer range any
            way) with Avalanche missiles and lasers.  Do not use the modern
            crafts, which needs Elerium for fuel.
          * [Possible Cheat] keep redirecting the craft in the air means the
            craft can keep flying even at 0% fuel
          * Plasma beam seems to need no Elerium.
          * On the ground, use captured equipment and laser weapons only.
          * Unload the clip before the battle ends so you keep the clip for
            a free refill.
          * Never sell any Elerium-based stuff that you MAY need or Elerium
            itself.  Build stuff that requires elerium only grudgingly.
            (Sell extra clips since they count toward 80-item limit!)  You
            capture lots more on each mission any way.

7.2 I keep running out of funds!  What do I do?
          There are three ways to make money:
          1) The sponsoring countries pay you each month if you keep them
             smiling.  They may even increase payments if you make them REAL
             happy (i.e. get a good score)  See 7.2.1.  On the other hand,
             the amount they pay is quite little compared to your profits...
          2) You can sell off excess alien artifacts for money.  One raid on
             a large UFO can net a million bucks or more.  See 7.2.2 on what
             to sell and what not to sell.
          3) You can sell off stuff that you manufacture.  This is one way
             to make the engineers earn their salary when they are idle.
             See A.8 for a profitability analysis.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 27
7.2.1 How do I keep sponsors happy?
       *  Intercept UFOs over their country
       *  Shoot those UFOs down (thus discouraging further UFO presence)
       *  Board UFOs and capture artifacts, live aliens, and dead bodies with
          little or no casualties (score you get at end of mission)
       *  Attack terror sites and minimize civilian / XCOM casualties
       *  Destroy alien bases on Earth
       *  Prevent destruction of your own bases
       *  Successfully research and apply alien technology

          You can see your score in the graphs screen.  (Unfortunately there
          is no breakdown like the after-battle report)  You can see your
          current funding levels in the Funding screen.

7.2.2 What alien artifacts should I sell?
          For non-weapon items, keeping one should be enough, since you only
          need one artifact for your scientists to research, so sell off the
          rest.  Alien Entertainment, Food, and others are of no use to you
          except for research value.  Don't bother researching those until
          you have nothing else to do, just sell them.

          Sell off all the alien bodies unless you need one for research,
          which probably won't happen till near the end.  It's 
interesting to
          know, but not essential to the win.  So just sell those bodies and
          research live aliens only.

7.2.3 What alien artifacts should I NOT sell?
          Never sell any Elerium.  Practically every "useful" alien artifact
          that can be manufactured requires Elerium.  Besides, it doesn't
          sell for much.

          Never sell any ammo that you may use unless you have plenty more.
          If you have 10 heavy plasmas, then you should keep between 15 and
          20 HP clips.  Blaster bombs and stun bombs are harder to find and
          usually have to be manufactured, so save those while you can.

          On the other hand, do NOT keep too much extra stuff because you
          need the cash.  If you only have 10 soldiers, you don't need twenty
          rifles.  Keep just enough weapons and ammo for the soldiers, plus
          grenades.  Remember crafts and base have SEPARATE storage...  So
          you may have double the amount you think you do.

7.2.4 What manufactured objects should I sell?
          Laser Cannon.  See table A.8 for an in-depth analysis in the
          profitability of any manufactured object.  While Fusion Bomb
          Hovertank has a bit more net profit, it needs Elerium.

7.3 Dealing with Equipment Shortages
          No equipment?  Running out of equipment?  Here's some hints and
          tips on how to deal with that.

7.3.1 What is "Not Enough Equipment to Re-Equip Squad"?
          Your base does not have enough inventory to keep the same 
amount of
          the equipment the team had previously onboard the craft before the
          mission.  For example, you had 16 grenades on the Skyranger.  You
          used up 4 on the mission, but the base only has 3 left, so base
          cannot reprovision you to the original stock of 16.  SOLUTION:
          Stock up a bit more at the base.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 28
7.3.2 I bought HWP's but I can't use them!
          Did you get them a full load of ammo?  You cannot put HWP's onboard
          crafts unless you have enough ammo for each (automatically loaded).
          HWPs except Laser Tanks and Plasma Hovertanks require ammo.  Cannon
          Tank needs 30 shells, Rocket Tank needs 8 rockets, and Fusion
          Hovertank needs 8 HWP Fusion Balls.  Always keep twice or more in
          stock, especially HWP Fusion Balls (which must be built).

7.3.3 I keep running out of missiles for crafts!
          [KSC / FAQ] If you ran out of money also, use weapons that doesn't
          use ammo, like plasma beam and laser cannons.  On the other hand,
          Avalanche is cheap at 9000 each and has a good punch, so stock up
          on those, keep 4 times capacity around.  For example, Avalanche
          launchers holds 3 each, so Avalanche stock should be 12 per
          Avalanche launcher.  If it doesn't fit, add a General Stores.

7.4 When to sack / retire things
          [KSC] Crafts that were too heavily damaged (i.e. over 50%) should
          be sacked and a new one hired, unless it must be manufactured and
          you are short on money, time, or materials.  Repair time may be too
          long.  That's one more reason to keep your engineers busy...

          [KSC] Rookies and squaddies who have not improved much yet were
          wounded heavily should be sacked / discharged and money spent 
on a
          new recruit.  Remember that you still pay for each soldier even
          when they are in the hospital recuperating.  Of course, you can try
          using the Transfer Trick to avoid paying for them...

7.5 Equipping Landing Crafts
          There's an 80-item limit on what you can take with you per craft,
          no matter it's a Skyranger or Avenger.  Here's a couple tips on
          getting the most out of those 80 items:

7.5.1 Use Laser Weapons
          [CGW / KSC] Laser Weapons require no ammo, eliminating a large
          number of items.  Assuming two clips per weapons, 8 plasma rifles
          vs. 8 laser rifles means 16 less items (2 clips each assumed).  Of
          course laser rifles are about 33% less powerful, but 16 more items
          means you can take along more grenades and other things.

* 7.5.2 Bring uniform weapons
          Don't bring both pistols and rifles, since they cannot use the same
          ammo and adds one more item into the equation.  Bringing one more
          clip for one or the other is better.

7.5.3 Bring less misc. equipment
          [KSC] You do not need a Medi-Kit on each person, just on designated
          medics.  You also don't need mind probes, motion detectors, and psi
          amps on every one, just the specialists.  Remember to have a backup
          or two for each.

          [Doug] I disagree slightly.  Having a medi-kit on everyone means
          more immediate treatment is available instead of waiting for the
          medic to get to you.  At the minimum carry one kit per 2 soldiers.

7.5.4 Bring HWP's
          HWP's is just one item, yet it has lots of firepower, and ammo is
          included.  Of course, you need to trade 4 spaces on the craft for
          it, but that means you bring less soldiers who would need less
          items, giving you even MORE itms savings.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 29
7.5.5 Don't fight at night
          Fighting at night means electro-flares, and those take up a lot of
          the 80 items.  So don't fight at night.  Fighting at night is also
          a major pain any way.


9.0 Misc. questions and answers


How do I win the game?
The ultimate aim of XCOM is to research (interrogate) live aliens to find out
where they are coming from and why.  Grab an alien commander in an alien
base.  Once you interrogate a commander you should get a big clue!

I still don't understand... How do I beat the aliens?
*sigh*  Basically, you need to research Alien Origins, The Martian Solution,
then Cydonia or Bust.  As you finished research on each, READ the text.  See
A.2 for more information.

Why do I never see any large UFOs?
On missions like retaliation, base and terror, small ships scout before the
large ship comes in. If you destroy the scouts, no large ships will appear.

Why do my soldiers rarely get promoted?
To have promotions after battle you need to have a certain number of troops
around all your bases for the promotion to be possible.  There can be only
one commander in all XCOM.  [KSC] These numbers appears to be based on the
number of soldiers XCOM has EVER HAD, rather than soldiers in employment.
    Rank            Sergeant Captain Colonel Commander
    Troops needed      5       11      23       30
[Manual] HINT: Try to spread the officers out into different teams.  Troops
led by officers have higher morale and is less susceptible to panic, unless
the officer is killed.

In the Soldier's stats, what's with the 2 colors on the bars?
The dark color was the soldier's ORIGINAL stats, when s/he first arrived at
XCOM.  The lighter colors are the stats s/he gained since then.  HEALTH bar
is a little different.  The health bar have red indicating current health,
with a pink outline denoting original health.  The WHITE bar that overlays
the red bar sometimes is the "STUN" bar.  When the white bar reaches over the
red bar, the person drops unconscious.  The white bar can go up from smoke
inhalation or getting hit by stun weapons.  The red bar drops from taking
damage.

XXXX has signed a pact with the aliens! Can I get them back?
Net has conflicting reports on this questions.  Some have reported that if
you patrol that country aggresively, shoot down all UFO you see closeby,
eliminate any alien bases in that country, and so on, it may came back after
a few months.  Others have reported that this tactic does not seem to work.
It may be related to difficulty level.

I've grabbed an alien commander.  Now how do I go to Cydonia?
Read the text that goes under Cydonia or Bust carefully.  If you do
everything right, select that craft to intercept, and on the top next to
CANCEL should be a button labelled CYDONIA.


A. Appendix of Tables

     Following are series of tables for XCOM.  All information are in your
     UFOpedia somewhere, but are presented in different forms here.  The ?



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 30
     items have unknown values at this revision.  If you see them, please
     notify the author so an update could be made.

A.1 Base Facilities
     You can have up to 8 bases around the world.  There are 36 (6x6)
     locations in each.  Only hanger takes up more than one location.

Name             Days Build  Cost Cost/month   Usage
Access Lift           1      300k     4k    (Entrance to underground base)
Living Quarters      16      400k    10k    (Sleeps 50)
Laboratory           26      750k    30k    (Allows 50 research)
Workshop             32      800k    35k    (Allows 50 manufacture)
Small Radar          12      500k    10k    (300nm range, 5% detect/10mins)
Large Radar          25      800k    15k    (450nm range, 5% detect/10mins)
General Stores       10      150k     5k    (Holds 50 units of equipment)
Alien Containment    18      500k    15k    (Holds 10[!?] live aliens)
Hanger               25      200k    25k    (Maintains 1 craft)
Missile Defence      24?        ?      ?    (Def value  500, Accuracy 50%)
Laser Defence        24      900k    10k    (Def value  600, Accuracy 60%)
Plasma Defence       36     1200k    12k    (Def value  900, Accuracy 70%)
Fusion Defense       36     1800k    14k    (Def value 1200, Accuracy 80%)
Grav Shield          38     2300k    15k    (Gives defences an extra shot)
Mind Shield          33     1300k     5k    (Stop aliens finding base)
Psi Lab              24      750k    16k    (For troop psionics training)
Hyperwave Decoder    26     2000k    30k    (To evaluate alien missions)

NOTE 1: In a workshop, the object being manufactured takes up some 
space.  So
you will not be able to cram all 50 engineers in there.
NOTE 2: You can dismantle a facility, even when it is under construction.
Simply click on the facility, and the program will ask you do you wish to
dismantle it, select OK or Cancel.
NOTE 3: To dismantle a base, you must remove all facilities (transferring all
people and equipment elsewhere if needed) then finally remove the access lift
itself.

A.2 X-COM Crafts and Craft Weapons
               Speed   Acceln   Fuel   Weapon   Hull   Cargo  HWPs
Skyranger        760      2     2000     0       150     14     3
Interceptor     2100      3     1000     2       100      0     0
Firestorm       4200      9     20(E)    2       500      0     0 (1)
Lightning       3100      8     30(E)    1       800     12     0 (2)
Avenger         5400     10     60(E)    2      1200     26     4 (3)
(E) Uses elerium-115 for fuel      (1) new fighter
(2) new fighter/transport          (3) ultimate craft

                Damage   Range   Accuracy  Reload  Shots
[Start with]
Cannon             10      10       10%       2s     200?
Stingray           70      30       70%      15s       6
Avalanche         100      60      100%      20s       3
[Must Research]
Laser Cannon       70      21       70%       4s      99?
Plasma Beam       140      52      140%       6s      99
Fusion Launcher   230      65      230%      25s       2

NOTE 1: Match the weapon to the target.  You want to force the alien to land
so you can board it and recover artifacts and prisoners, not blow it into
smithreens (though it might make you feel good)
NOTE 2: The long range weapons, like Avalanche, Plasma Beam, and Fusion Ball
Launcher, gives you advantage since UFO usually do not fire back until you
are quite close.  See A.3 for UFO weapon ranges.



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 31
NOTE 3: It is possible to miss with weapons that have accuracy of over 100
percent, usually when target zooms out of range.

A.3 UFO Types
               Max   Hull    Weapon    Max  Ship
              Speed Damage Power Range Crew Width       comment
Small Scout    2200    50     0    0     1    3   Like an Apollo capsule
Medium Scout   2400   200    20  120     6    9   1 level, small square
Large Scout    2700   250    20  272     ?   12?  1 level, like a cross
Harvester      4000   500    40  176     ?   16   3 levels, top hatch
Terror Ship    4800  1200   120  336     ?   30   2 levels, narrow top
Supply Ship    3200  2200    60  288     ?   30   3 levels
Battleship     5000  3000   140  520     ?   30   3 levels, 5 legs
Abductor       4300   500    40  160     ?   12?  ?

Following floor plans are approximately 1x1.  Any one want to do more?
Please send them in, and don't forget your name so I can credit you!

Legend :  G = Gravlift, D = Doors, P = UFO Power

Medium Scout [KSC]
/-------\
|       |
|   P   |
|       |
\---D---/

Large Scout[KSC]
        /---------\
        |    D    |
        |    |    |
  /-----+    |    +-----\
  |      +-------+      |
  |      |       |      |
  |      D   P   |      D
  |      |       |      |
  |      +-------+      |
  \-----+    |    +-----/
        |--D-|    |
        |    D    |
        \---------/

Note: Typically UFO's will not fire until you are at 1/6th of the weapon's
maximum range, sometimes even less.  For example, battleship usually open
fire at 70 km, and terror ships at 45 km.

Here's a Recognition Chart for air intercepts...

Small Scout   123
(Very Small)  /=\
              ---

Medium Scout (Small)  123456789
                      /=======\
                      |_______|

Large Scout (Medium) 123456789012
(?)                  /===/===\===\
                     |___|___|___|



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 32
Harvester     1234567890123456
(Medium) (?)  /---|------|---\
              |---|------|---|
              |---|------|---|
              \---|------|---/

Terror Ship (Large)    123456789012345678901234567890
                              /--------------\
                       /------|              |------\
                       |____________________________|

Supply Ship (Large)    123456789012345678901234567890
                       /--------|----------|--------\
                       |--------|----------|--------|
                       |--------|----------|--------|
                       \--------|----------|--------/

Battleship (Very Large)  123456789012345678901234567890
                         /----------------------------\
                         |----------------------------|
                         \-------==----------==-------/
                         |-------||----------||-------|

Abductor      1234567890123456
(Medium) (?)  /---|------|---\
              |---|------|---|
              \---|------|---/



A.4 Ground Combat Weapons
                    (Accuracy / TU%)
                      Aimed    Snap    Auto  Dam Type  Ammo (Capacity)
Pistol                78/30   60/18           26  AP   Pistol Clip (15)
Rifle                110/80   60/25   35/35   30  AP   Rifle Clip (20)
Heavy Cannon          90/80   60/33           56  AP   HC-AP (6)
                                              52  HE   HC-HE (6)
                                              60  I    HC-I  (6)
Auto Cannon           82/80   56/33   32/40   42  AP   AC-AP (14)
                                              44  HE   AC-HE (14)
                                              48  I    AC-I  (14)
Rocket Launcher      115/75   55/45           75  HE   Small Rocket
                                             100  HE   Large Rocket
                                              90  I    Incendiary Rocket
Laser Pistol          68/55   40/20   28/25   46  Las
Laser Rifle          100/50   65/25   46/34   60  Las
Heavy Laser           84/75   50/33           85  Las
Grenade                                       50  HE
Smoke Grenade                                 60  HE!
Proximity Grenade                             70  HE
High Explosive                               110  HE
Plasma Pistol         85/60   65/30   50/30   52  Plas PP clip (25)
Plasma Rifle         100/60   86/30   55/63   80  Plas PR clip (30)
Heavy Plasma         110/60   75/30   50/35  115  Plas HP clip (35)
Blaster Launcher     120/80                  200  HE   Blaster Bomb
Small Launcher       110/75   65/40           90  Stun Stun Bomb
Alien Grenade                                 90  HE

(AP = Armor piercing  HE = High Explosive  I = Incendiary)

Note 1 : TU cost is always a percentage of the soldier's total TUs



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 33
Note 2 : Accuracy for two-handed weapons is decrease 20% if other hand is not
empty (i.e. holding something like grenades, psi amp, etc.)
Note 3 : Accuracy is increased 10% if the soldier is kneeling, which takes
only 4 TUs, so kneel whenever you can before you fire.

A.5 Alien Information

Attack Types, strengths, and weaknesses:

Type          Attacks with    Resists    Weakness  Notes
Sectoid       Weapons                              Leader/Commander has psi
Cyberdisc     Weapons       explosives             Explodes when dead
Floater       Weapons                              Flies (=flying suit)
Reaper        HTH                        incend    Two brains and hearts
Snakemen      Weapons       fire/heat              Carries up to 50 eggs
Cryssalid     HTH                          HE      Turns humans to zombies
Zombie        HTH                                  Dies -> Cryssalid
Ethereal      Weapons & Psi                        All have psi attack
Sectopod      Weapons        plasma       laser    Power armored robot
Muton         Weapons          AP                  Strong, work for Eths
Silacoid      HTH           fire/incend            Works with mutons
Celatoid      Venom                                The blob!

Average Alien Stats                                   ------ Armor ------
          TUs Ene Hea Bra Mor Rea Fir Thr Str PSt PSk Fro Lft Rgt Rer Und
Sectoid    55  90  30  80 100  65  30  60  30   ?   ?   2   1   1   1   1
Reaper     ??
Floater    50  90  35  80 100  50  25  60  40   -   -   4   3   3   2   6
Cyberdisc  60  90 120 110 100  65  30   0  90   -   -  17  17  17  17  17
Snakeman   40  80  45  80 100  45  30  65  50   -   -  10   9   9   8   6
Cryssalid 110 140  95 100 100  70   0   0 110   -   -  17  17  17  17  17
Zombie     40 110  85 110 100  40   0   0  85   -   -   4   4   4   4   4
Ethereal   70 100  60  80 100  75  40  80  50  50  40  17  17  17  17  16
Sectopod   60  90  95 110 100  65  30   0  90   -   -  70  65  65  50  45
Muton      58  90  90  80 100  60  30  60  70   -   -  10  10  10  10   5
Celatoid   ??
Silacoid   40  80 115 100 100  40   0   0  70   -   -  25  25  25  25   5

NOTE 1: you can get info on particular alien stats by using a mind probe on
them.  Leaders and commanders are 10 to 20% higher, and there appears to be
random modifiers.  Sectoid Leader and Commander have Psi capabilities.
NOTE 2: The high TUs on cryssalids allows them to move a long way and often
surprise troops from behind, turning them to zombies before you can react.
When killed, zombies shed their skins to become new cryssalids.
NOTE 3: There does not appear to be a commander in the Muton base.  Therefore
Commander in a Muton base could be an Ethereal!



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 34
Specialties and information possible from them:

Alien Soldier            ----- Alien activity
Alien Medic              ----- Species information *
Alien Navigator          ----- Hyper-Wave Decoder
Alien Engineer           ----- UFO stats
Alien Leader             ----- The Martian Solution
Ethereal/ Sectoid Leader ----- Psi Lab -> Mind Shield/Psi-Amp
Alien Commander          ----- Cydonia or Bust **

*    alien medics can give information on species other than their own
**   commander can be found in bases, or UFOs on Base missions, but players
     have reported that only commander captured from a base can help you
     research "Cydonia or Bust".

Alien Missions

Research       Generally small vehicles, least threat
Harvest        Great concern to governments, usually cattle abduction
Abduction      Abducts humans, causes great alarm
Infiltration   Infiltrates countries and try to make pact with government,
               big threat as countries that sign pact cease to fund XCOM
Base           Survey and establish alien base, may contain alien commander
Terror         Creates terror sites when lands at city
Retaliation    Scout / attack XCOM base, greatest threat
Supply         Supply alien base, trail them and patrol nearby to find alien
               base

A.6 Costs

All things are listed there.  Those that can be purchased or cannot be
manufactured have NO Engineer-hours.  Those that must be manufactured have
Engineer-hours listed.  Those things that cannot be purchased nor
manufactured have only sale price listed.  See also A.8.

                 Engineer       Workshop          Alien   Sale
                   Hours   Cost   Space   Elerium Alloys  Price
[Equipment]
Stun Rod               -      ?      -       -      -         ?
ElectroFlare           -     40      -       -      -        30?
Motion scanner       220    34k      4       -      -     45600
Medikit              420    28k      4       -      -     46500
Mind probe          1200   262k      4       1      -    334000
Psi amp              500   160k      4       1      -    194700
[Armor]
Personal armor       800    22k     12       -      4    140000
Power suit          1000    42k     16       5      5    310000
Flying suit         1400    58k     16      16      5    420000
[HWP]
Tank/cannon
Tank/rocket
Tank/laser          1200   500k     25       -      -         ?
Hovertank/plasma    1200   850k     30      30      5    980000
Hovertank/fusion    1400   900k     30      25      8   1043000
HWP fusion bomb      400    15k     25       5      8     31500
[weapons]
Pistol
Rifle
Grenade
Proximity Grenade
Smoke Grenade



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 35
High Explosive
Laser pistol         300     8k      2       -      -     20000
Laser rifle          400    20k      3       -      -     36900
Heavy laser          700    32k      4       -      -     61000
Plasma pistol        600    56k      3       -      1     84000
Plasma pistol clip    60     2k      4       1      -      4440
Plasma rifle         820    88k      4       -      1    126500
Plasma rifle clip     80     3k      4       2      -      6290
Heavy plasma        1000   122k      4       -      1    171600
Heavy plasma clip     80     6k      4       3      -      9590
Blaster launcher    1200    90k      5       -      1    144000
Blaster bomb         220     8k      3       3      -     17028
Small launcher       900    78k      3       -      1    120000
Stun bomb            200     7k      2       1      -     15200
Alien grenade        200   6.7k      2       2      -     14850
[Crafts]
Interceptor
Skyranger
FIRESTORM          14000   400k     30       -     65         -*
LIGHTNING          18000   600k     34       -     85         -*
AVENGER            34000   900k     36       -    170         -**
[Craft Weapons]
Cannon
Stingray
Stingray Launcher
Avalanche
Avalanche Launcher
Laser cannon         300   182k      6       -      -         ?
Plasma beam          500   226k      8      15      -    267300
Fusion launcher      400   242k      6       -      -    281100
Fusion ball          600    28k      6       4      -     53300
[Misc]
Alien alloys         100     3k     10       -      -      6500
Elerium-115            -      -      -       -      -      5000
UFO power source    1400   130k     22      16      5    250000
UFO navigation      1600   150k     18       -      3     80000
Alien Surgery                                             20000
Alien Examination                                         20000
Alien Entertainment                                       20000
Alien Food                                                20000
Alien bodies                                              20000

*  needs 1 UFO power source + 1 UFO navigation
** needs 2 UFO power sources + 1 UFO navigation

Misc. Equipment Descriptions
[Available at start]
Stun rod                has a chance to render an alien unconscious with
                        hand-to-hand attack (i.e. go up next to it)
Electro flare           Lights up area at night, thrown, can be picked up
[Must be researched]
Motion scanner          detects movement in the near vicinity, even
                        behind doors and walls, useful when storming UFOs
                        or buildings
Medikit                 heals fatal wounds (heal), revives unconscious
                        (stimulate) and boosts morale (painkiller)
Elerium 115             only found on alien UFOs/bases, and needed for
                        many important weapons and power units
Mind probe              when used on an alien tells you its stats and
                        rank, useful to find an alien commander or leader



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 36
Psi amp                 allow soldier to use psionic attacks on aliens
                        (attempting to cause panic or get mind control),
                        requires Psi training (see later)

A.7 TU Usage by Activity

Weapon Usage are listed in Section A.4 above.

Equipment Usage:
Medi-Kit                10 / dose
Mind Probe              25%
Motion Sensor           25%

Movement Usage:
Kneel/Stand             4
Go up
Go down
Turn                    1 per 45 degrees
Go forward

Material Transfer Usage: (Thanks to reiben@vt.edu)

 From \ To! Hand ! Belt ! Shoulder ! Leg ! Pack ! Ground
--------------------------------------------------------
 Hand     !   -      8       10       8     14       2
 Belt     !   4      -       12      10     16       6
 Shoulder !   3     10        -      12     16       4
 Leg      !   6     10       10       -     18       6
 Pack     !   6     12       14      16      -      10
 Ground   !   8     12       12      10     20       -


A.8 Profitability study
Can the writer of this article contact me for proper credit?  I got this
forwarded by Doug Osborne, who somehow got the article's header cut off...

*--- <being included file>
Recently, we at the XCOM Business Institute have seen numerous posts asking
"How can I make money with my spare engineers?", and boasting "I made
millions manufacturing Medikits in my basement".  We at the Institute (our
motto: "If it's worth doing, it's worth analyzing to death") spent all last
night to bring you the following table.

The basic assumption is that you are willing to support a cadre of engineers
long-term in order to make a profit.  Since there is a fixed amount of
workshop space overhead for a given item, I couldn't come up with an exact
profit per engineer hour.  Instead, I calculated results for a hypothetical
2-workshop operation.  You would get slightly better results with larger
facilities, due to the economy of scale.

                                                                    Net
                  Work  Eng  Raw             Sale    Unit   Monthly Monthly
Item              Space Hrs  Material Cost   Price   Profit Profit  Profit
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Motion Scanner     4     220    -      34000   45600  11600 3765993 1275993
Medikit            4     420    -      28000   46500  18500 3146057  656057
Psi Amp            4     500  1E      160000  194700  29700 4242586 1752586
Personal Armour   12     800     4A    22000   54000   6000  491040     -
Power Suit        16    1000  5E+5A    42000   85000    -      -        -
Flying Suit       16    1400 16E+5A    58000  115000    -      -        -
Alien Alloys      10     100    -       3000    6500   3500 2343600    3600



XCOM:UFO Defense        Frequently Asked Questions                 Page 37
Elerium 115        -      -     -         -     5000    -      -        -
Laser Pistol       2     300    -       8000   20000  12000 2916480  376480
Laser Rifle        3     400    -      20000   36900  16900 3049098  534098
Heavy Laser        4     700    -      32000   61000  29000 2958994  468994
Plasma Pistol      3     600     1A    56000   84000  21500 2586020   71020
Plasma Pistol Clip 4      60  1E        2000    4440    -      -        -
Plasma Rifle       4     820     1A    88000  126500  32000 2787278  297278
Plasma Rifle Clip  4      80  2E        3000    6290    -      -        -
Heavy Plasma       4    1000     1A   122000  171600  43100 3078374  588374
Heavy Plasma Clip  4      80  3E        6000    9590    -      -        -
Blaster Launcher   5    1200     1A    90000  144000  47500 2797750  332750
Blaster Bomb       3     220  3E        8000   17028    -      -        -
Small Launcher     3     900     1A    78000  120000  35500 2846627  331627
Stun Bomb          2     200  1E        7000   15200   3200 1166592     -
Alien Grenade      2     200  2E        6700   14850    -      -        -
Mind Probe         4    1200  1E      262000  304000  37000 2202240     -
UFO Power Source  22    1400 16E+5A   130000  250000   7500  310885     -
UFO Navigation    18    1600     3A   150000   80000    -      -        -
Fusion Ball L'cher 6     400    -     242000  281100  39100 6836244 4396244
Fusion Ball        6     600  4E       28000   53300   5300  617768     -
Laser Cannon       6     300    -     182000  211000  29000 6760480 4320480
Plasma Beam        8     500 15E      226000  267300    -      -        -
Tank/Laser Cannon 25    1200    -     500000  594000  94000 4371000 2406000
Hovertank/Plasma  30    1200 30E+5A   850000  980000    -      -        -
Hovertank/Launcher30    1400 25E+8A   900000 1043000    -      -        -
HWP Fusion Bomb   25     400  5E+8A    15000   31500    -      -        -

The first six columns are just basic information from my version of XCOM.
(Note:  I have seen posts stating that UFO has higher sale prices for some
items, notably armour!)  The 'Unit Profit' column is just the sale price
minus the cost, minus the cost of any Elerium/Alloys used in 
manufacture.  A
'-' means a unit loss, and no further analysis is necessary.  The 'Monthly
Profit' column is based on an "XCOM Month" of 24*31 = 744 hours.  (30 days
hath September, April, June, ... oh, forget it)  The calculation is therefore
the number of engineers that can fit in two workshops times 744 times unit
profit, divided by the hours required to make one item.  For example, the
monthly profit for Motion Scanners is (96)(744)(11600)/220 = $1275993.

The 'Net Monthly Profit' column is the bottom line.  Monthly expenses are the
salaries of as many engineers as fit in the workshops times $25K, plus the
maintenance on 2 workshops and 2 living quarters.  As you can see, Fusion
Ball Launchers are the winner, narrowly edging out Laser Cannons.  A profit
can be made early in the game on motion scanners, however.

One final note:  It costs roughly $7M to hire engineers and build the
facilities, so you'll need to 'borrow' some money (preferably from alien
supply ships :) to get started.

And before you ask, no, I am not an accountant.  I write software for a
living. This explains any errors there may be in the table.
*--- <end included file>



--
==============================================================================
|| Kasey Chang   Internet >>  kschang@mercury.sfsu.edu  or  ksc1@aol.com    ||
||   (the rest of this .sig is under construction...)                       ||
==============================================================================

