The Best of Select: Games 9/CD_1.iso/tips/xcom/xcomsupp.txt

Text File | 1995-01-31 | 107KB | 2,313 lines

                           XCOM: UFO Defense

                     The UN-official Strategy Guide
                                  and
                 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

      works great as a Supplement to the Official Strategy Guide!

                            Updated 01-07/95

                 Maintained by Kuo-Sheng (Kasey) Chang
               ([e-mail] / [e-mail])

0.1 Introduction

This marks a major change in what was known as the "XCOM Unofficial
Strategy Guide".  Now that the official strategy guide is out (XCOM --
the Official Strategy Guide, by David Ellis, Prima Publishing, ISBN
1-55958-764-4, US$19.95, hereby known as OSG), I've found that I cannot
improve much upon my UNofficial guide without including information from
the real thing.  I don't want to either, for both legal and moral
reasons.

So I won't do it.  (Hold on...)

This UNofficial strategy guide (USG) is now patterned after the official
one, with similar table of contents.  You can use this guide along with
the official strategy guide (OSG), or you can use this by itself.

While OSG has all the neat charts and tables and stuff only available
from the source, I've found its tactics and strategy section sorely
lacking.  In fact, all the the strategy and tactics are condensed into
ONE chapter, with the rest of the book as simply a reprint of the manual
and UFOpedia and the underlying mechanics.

That's where USG come in.  USG will help you make more informed choices.
Instead of showing you a table of numbers, I'll actually show you what
is recommended by fellow XCOM players.  After you read each chapter in
the OSG, read that chapter's supplement here.  You will understand more
about how the game runs and the tactics to beat it.

You do NOT have to have the OSG to use this supplement, but you will get
more out of both if you do.


0.2 Credits where credits are due

Thanks to MicroProse and Mythos Games for bringing us such a nice game.
If this is not game of the year in 1994, I don't know what is!

Thanks to all the people who have contributed to previous editions of
the XCOM:USG, whom include but are not limited to: William Kang, Tim
Chawn, Doug Osbrone, Stuart Lamble, Seth Cohn, Bill Soo, Jeff Shaffer,
Rob Eiben, Menachem Pasteich, and fellow XCOM players all over the
world discussing the game on USENET.

UFO: Enemy Unknown users should be able to use this supplement with
minimum changes. Most tips will apply to both versions.


Table of Contents

1.0  X-COM General Information
     What is this game?  What about bugs?  Patches?  Expansions and
     future versions?  How do I win or lose?
2.0  The GeoScape Screen
     How do I use GeoScape?  Any tricks?
3.0  X-COM Bases
     Where do I put my first bases?  How to I build bases that are easy
     to defend?  How much defense do I build?
4.0  X-COM Hardware
     What kind of weapons are available?  Which ones are the best?
5.0  Finance
     How do I make more money?  How do I spend less money?  How do I
     cheat and get more money?
6.0  Research and Manufacturing
     What do I research?  What do I build?
7.0  Intercepting UFOs
     How do I intercept UFOs?  What weapon should I send up against
     UFO type X?
8.0  Soldiers, Movement, and Combat
     Who do I send on missions?  How do I avoid casualties?
9.0  The aliens
     Who are these &@*#%*!?  How do I kill them most efficiently?
10.0 Ground Assaults
     What do I do in UFO assaults and recoveries?  What is the best way
     to defend my base?  Assaulting alien bases?
11.0 Mastering Cydonia -- The Final Assault
     How do I win the "final confrontation"?
12.0 Misc Stuff
     Anything else that's not covered


BEGIN XCOM Unofficial Strategy Guide

1.0 X-COM General Information

    1.1 What is XCOM: UFO Defense?

        [Excerpt from XCOM manual page 6]
        It is the year 1999.  Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have
        started appearing with distrubing regularity in the night skies.
        Reports of violent human abductions and horrific experimentation
        has truck terror into the hearts of millions. Mass public
        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 counties gathered secretly in Geneva.
        After much debate, they 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 XCOM.  You will launch and control
        interceptors to attack marauding UFOs, send soldiers to attack
        crashed or landed UFOs, raid alien bases on Earth (if you can
        find them), keep the sponsor nations happy and UFOs out of their
        skies, buy the ammo and weapons you need in the war, research
        and build better weapons as your troops bring in captured alien
        artifacts for analysis and eventually manufacture our own
        copies, pay for everything by contributions from sponsor
        countries and selling stuff, and eventually figure out the alien
        threat's origin and end the threat once and for all.  (Whew!
        That's a mouthful!)

    1.2 How does XCOM play?

        The game is divided into two main segments: GeoScape and
        BattleScape.  GeoScape is a 3-D view of the globe, rotate-able
        and zoom-able.  This is where you control your various bases
        around the world (with radars), your fighters and transports
        (carrying your soldiers), your inventory at each base, the UFOs
        currently in sight, and so on.  Once ground contact is made
        (transport landed next to UFO, you attack alien base, aliens
        attack your base, etc.), the game switches to Battlescape.

        Battlescape is an isometric tile-based 3-D combat with viewpoint
        similar to SimCity 2000.  The combat is turn-based with
        opportunity fire on the opponent's round (provided you have
        enough TimeUnits [TUs] and reaction), with plenty of weapons and
        terrain to choose from.  Everything is mouse-driven so game is
        very easy to learn yet hard to master.

    1.3 What is UFO: Enemy Unknown?

        UFO: Enemy Unknown is the European version of XCOM.  The game
        was designed by Mythos Games, and was picked up at first by
        MicroProse UK, and was imported into the US later as XCOM.  XCOM
        is equivalent to UFO V1.2.

        1.3.1 Why the name change?

              OSG has no explanation, but I believe that SubLOGIC (the
              original Flight Simulator people) had a game called UFO,
              and MicroProse couldn't register the same name, so they
              picked XCOM.

        1.3.2 What is this UFO V1.3 Patch?

              Recently there's a supposedly UFO V1.3 patch floating in
              Internet somewhere. (Try ftp.uml.edu).  Computer Gaming
              World listed it in their patches page, so it appears to be
              official.  This is ONLY for UFO, NOT for XCOM.  XCOM patch
              should be coming "soon".  (see 1.5)

    1.4 What type of PC do I need? Is a Demo available?

        Requirements listed on XCOM is: 386/486 (Pentium?), 4 MB RAM,
        VGA, Mouse, MS/PC-DOS 5.0 or higher.

        One person reported that he was able to run XCOM with 2 MB RAM,
        though it is SLOW.  Your mileage may vary.

        It comes on 3 3.5" HD disks, and needs about 12MB of hard drive
        space to install (double that if using disk compression software
        such as Stacker or DoubleSpace).  There's a CD version which is
        the same except only the saved games reside on the hard drive
        and all of the data files stays on the CD.

        The game uses 32-bit protected mode, so it would not run under
        Windows.  No compatibility claims was made to any other versions
        of DOS such as DR DOS, Novell DOS 7, or even OS/2.

        There is a playable demo available on most on-line services such
        as America On-Line in the MicroProse forum /SIG/ roundtable/
        whatever.  There WAS a demo at ftp.std.com, but another user
        reported that it disappeared sometime during November.  If any
        one knows where a copy of the XCOM or UFO demo can be found in
        Internet, please let me know at the e-mail addresses above.

    1.5 What about any bugs?  Any patches?

        The OSG has no list of bugs, so here is a list of bugs that are
        known to exist in XCOM/UFO.  MicroProse is aware of most of
        these problems.

        At the beginning of November, Brian at MicroProse support
        explained that they are working on a completely new level of
        XCOM sound support that will fix ALL the sound bugs plus native
        support for most sound cards, including Gravis Ultrasound,
        Creative AWE 32, and stuff stereo, 16-bit sampled sounds, and
        General MIDI.  It is due before Christmas...  But they missed
        it, as it was NOT on AOL as of 12-31/94.

        There are three patches for UFO that upgrades V1.0 to V1.1,
        V1.2, and V1.3 respectively.  XCOM is equivalent to V1.2 (and a
        few others changes) so no patch is needed.

        Recently there's a UFO V1.3 patch.  Computer Gaming World listed
        it as an official patch, so I think it is official.  It does NOT
        work on XCOM, so don't use it if you have XCOM.

        1.5.1 Green Text Bug

              Symptom: Game suddenly displays 40-column Green text [DOS
              Extender Error].  Usually happens right after a battle,
              and after a bit it takes you back into the battle you just
              finished (infinitely), sometimes the computer hangs.

              Cause and Solution: This is usually caused by attempting
              to save a game while an UFO interception is in progress.
              The saved game is corrupt.  You must restore from an
              earlier saved game.  [OSG only mentions this as "trust me,
              don't save when intercept minimized".  :-P ]

        1.5.2 16-bit Sound bug

              Symptom: Game has compatibility problems with most 16-bit
              sound cards such as SoundBlaster 16 and PAS-16 (and Gravis
              UltraSound as well).  Music and sounds are often played as
              static, or no sound at all.

              Cause and solution: remember that the setup asks for the
              DMA channel, NOT the interrupt as most setup programs do.
              If it still doesn't work, it's a program bug.  You can
              always play with the sound off, but it's not as much fun
              having no alien screams when they got hit and die...

        1.5.3 One-shot blaster bug

              Symptom: Once you fired off a blaster launcher, sometimes
              there's still a shell in there so you can't reload it, but
              you can't fire it either.

              Cause and solution: This is caused by programming only one
              waypoint for the blaster bomb.  If you program two or more
              waypoints for the bomb this won't happen.  You can also
              UNLOAD the "empty" shell and drop it on the ground.

        1.5.4 Flying Frozen bug

              Symptom: a unit near the edge of the map was hit by the
              enemy.  When it is their turn to more, their pointer shows
              them off the edge of the map (totally outside).  They can
              move up/down, but not back onto the map.  They can still
              shoot, and they recover if you win the battle.

              Cause and solution: no idea, this seems to be random.

    1.6 Any plans on sequels?  Mission disks?  Other computers?

        Here's an actual message posted by MicroProse on AOL:

        ----
        XCOM 2: Terror From the Deep

        The war continues...  XCOM: Terror From the Deep brings the alien
        terror into a totally new dimension...

        Seeking to take advantage of a weakened Earth, XCOM's deep space
        foes unexpectedly change strategy and launch a powerful second
        front against planet Earth.  In the dark depths of vast oceans,
        long sleeping forces are awakened by re-animation signals sent
        out across the galactic silence by their interstellar brothers
        and sisters.  Slowly but surely, and army of hibernating alien
        sea creatures awakens.

        Your combat now extends to the strange new world of the deep
        where superior alien technologies threaten the very survival of
        the planet.  Your planet: Earth.

        *  Sequels the hugely successful XCOM: UFO Defense
        *  Actual undersea geoscape mapping system with rich topo-
           graphical detail
        *  Full array of undersea military technology
        *  Rich graphics feature water coloration and wrecks
        *  Multi-level tactical maps featuring both underwater
           seascapes and buildings
        *  Alien encyclopedia features mutation technology and
           new watery denizens

        -- Brian/MicroProse
        -------------------

        January issue of Computer Gaming World (CGW) has a screenshot of
        XCOM2, looks just like XCOM with slightly better graphics, and
        the scene is underwater.

        There was currently no plan to port this game to other
        platforms (no Mac, no Amiga, etc).  People who want to see this
        game on their favorite platforms should contact MicroProse and
        voice their opinion. One address to try is [e-mail].

    1.7 How do I win?  How do I lose?

        You win by finding the source of the alien threat and "deal with
        it" once and for all on a "final mission".  (See 11.0 if you
        REALLY want to know)

        You can lose by several ways:

        1) You were in debt for over $1,000,000 for two months.  Your
        sponsors had had enough of your mismanagement and terminated the
        XCOM project.  Earth was conquered by aliens not long after.

        2) You had two consecutive "badly losing" months (big negative
        score), and your sponsors had had enough and terminated XCOM
        project.  Just how bad is a "badly losing" month depends on your
        score and difficulty level (Scoring is explained in OSG
        Chapter 1 and 1.8).

        3) You lost all of your bases to the aliens.

        4) You failed to complete the "final mission" (see above 1).

    1.8 How is scoring calculated?

        Score is kept for both sides.  You get positive score for
        conducting successful research, capturing and/or killing aliens,
        grounding and/or destroying UFOs, destroying alien bases,
        grabbing alien equipment, and more. You get negative score for
        losing XCOM soldiers, crafts, HWPs, and civilians. (for exact
        numbers, see OSG)

        Aliens score points by overflying Earth, lands on Earth
        (whatever purpose), build and keep bases on Earth, conduct
        terror raids and hoping that you ignore it (so NEVER do so since
        this REALLY scores big for them!), sign pact with funding
        countries (which means those countries don't pay you any
        longer!), conduct harvest and/or abduction mission on Earth.
        (for exact numbers, see OSG)

        Your net score is (your_score - alien_score), which is the score
        you see on the monthly performance report.  The funding changes
        are affected by your total score, and are explained in
        OSG:Chapter 5.

2.0 The Geoscape Screen

    The GeoScape screen is where you will control the interceptions and
    provides access to the BattleScape and the base controls.

    2.1 Air Intercepts

        Always attack an UFO over land.  If you shoot it down over water
        no one can get to it (unless you are playing the sequel, see
        section 1).  If you are over water, minimize the window, and
        select 1 minute step until you get back over land, then switch
        back to 5 seconds and start attack.

        If you send multiple crafts after one UFO and the UFO gets shot
        down or destroyed, the shooter will go home, but other crafts
        will continue onto the crash site, THEN return to their base. So
        make them return to base manually.  They will return faster, and
        thus be refueled/rearmed/repaired for next sortie faster.  Click
        on its icon on GeoScape and select "return to base".

        If an UFO has landed, keep a fighter on top of it.  That way, if
        it takes off before your transport get there, you still have a
        chance of taking it down.

        Since the best weapons have a chance of blowing a smaller UFO
        totally to pieces, you may want to keep one fighter armed weaker
        than the rest for intercepting smaller UFOs.  (Assuming that you
        even WANT to go after small UFOs)

    2.2 Finding Alien Bases

        XCOM agents have a chance of finding an alien base for you, but
        chances are pretty slim.  So do not rely on that.  Watch for
        high alien activity (check the graphs) yet no interception:
        there's probably a base in the area.

        Send something slow like a Skyranger to patrol the area.  An
        empty Skyranger has excellent range and therefore is perfect in
        spotting alien bases.

        Watch UFOs, esp. where they land.  If you see a "Supply Ship",
        do NOT attack it.  Trail it and follow it to their base.  After
        it lands, patrol nearby and you'll see the base.

        Hyperwave decoders can find UFOs on supply runs.  Follow that
        will usually lead you to a base.

        Of course, you do NOT have to take out that base...  You go
        after the supply train instead.

    2.3 Base Management

        Since it takes several weeks before additional modules to the
        base can be brought online, you need to build them ahead of
        time.  See the base status to see how full are your facilities
        getting.  If they are getting close, start building additional
        facilities so that they'll be ready by the time you need them.

        Examine base status at least twice every month, check living
        quarters, workshops and labs, etc, and determine your expansion
        schedule.  Dismantle extra stuff before end of month so you
        don't pay maintainence on them.

        Hire engineers and scientists at the last hour of the month so
        that they get delievered early NEXT month, so you get maximum
        research from them while not paying an extra penny in salary.

    2.4 GeoScape Tricks and Tips

        Many people don't realize that click on the UFO icon will bring
        up all known info about the UFO.  If you detected it via
        Hyperwave Decoder, you'll know A LOT about it.

        UFO Crash Site susually disappear in a few days.  If you have
        no soldiers available, you can let it sit for a day or two.

        Landed UFOs will take off in hours (less than a day).

        Terror Sites disappear in less than a day (which mean you have
        to get to one ASAP, even if it means skipping UFOs and landing
        at night!)

        Check your graphs regularly to determine where to build your
        next base.  Watch for sponsor countries with high alien activity
        with high-paying sponsor(s), then check how much did they pay
        you via the Funding screen and see if they are worth defending.

        Areas with high alien activity and high XCOM activity probably
        have an alien base.


3.0 X-COM Bases

    3.1 Where should I put my first base?  Additional bases?

        There are several things to consider while placing your first
        base.  Keep in mind that your first base will be your only base
        for a while, so make sure you place it where you get maximum
        coverage of the sponsoring countries, who also pays the most.

        The problem is how to maximize the country coverage WHILE
        maximizing the covered countries' total payment.  We know that
        the US pays the most (always), and second most is Japan, while
        Europe has a lot of sponsor countries in a cluster.  Third best
        paying is, believe it or not, South Africa.

        According to OSG's Chapter 5, the finance changes depend on
        your score.  If your score is positive, and you did a lot of
        stuff in the sponsoring country (see XCOM Activity in Graphs),
        then they will raise their payment by a random percentage.  Now,
        would you rather have 10% of $100,000, or 10% of $800,000?

        OSG recommends Northern US as a good starting place, which is
        okay, since US is the largest paying XCOM sponsor.  On the other
        hand, a base in US can only cover US, and Canada. A base in
        Central Europe can cover UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and
        a piece of Russia (though most of Russia would need a base in
        Asia, covering Japan, China, and maybe India as well).

        My vote is a toss-up between Europe and Northern-Central US.
        Both can work quite well.

        If you build your first base in Northern-Central US, build your
        second in Europe, and vice versa.  The third base should be near
        Japan to cover Japan, China, Russia, and hopefully India (maybe
        not), and fourth base should be in Africa covering Nigeria and
        South Africa (an important contributor).  If you build a fifth
        base, it should go in South America, covering Brazil.  If you
        want a sixth base, built it in New Zealand or NorthEastern
        Australia to covering most of the Pacific (this one covers no
        sponsors, so it's kind of optional).

        Check your graphs regularly to determine where to build your
        next base.  Watch for sponsor countries with high alien activity
        with high-paying sponsor(s), then check how much did they pay
        you via the Funding screen and see if they are worth defending.

        Do not build additional bases until you have enough money in the
        bank to pay for its initial construction AS WELL AS the first
        month's maintainence.  Negative balance for two months means the
        end of your XCOM tenure!

    3.2 How should I name my bases?

        I personally name bases based on the continent they are on, plus
        the COM suffix (stands for Command), except for the US base,
        which is CentCom. Europe is EuroCom, South America is SoAmCom,
        Asia is AsiaCom, Africa is AfriCom, and so on.  Sounds military
        too.  :-)

        Naming bases is important because it means less confusion on the
        Intercept screen on choosing which base to launch the fighters.

    3.3 What types of bases should I build?

        The OSG recommends that you build every base to be as full
        fledged as possible, as to be ready in the unlikely event that
        all other bases fell to the aliens.  While I can sympathize with
        the approach, it is very difficult to implement.

        The main problem is in research.  Each base research independent
        of each other. Decentralized research slows discoveries and
        makes duplicate research possible (efforts are NOT cumulative).

        The only way to make things work like recommended is limit
        yourself to about three or four bases, covering North America,
        Europe, East Asia (Japan, China, Eastern Russia), and Africa
        (South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt).  Your bases will evolve in
        stages as follows:

        3.3.1 Radar base

              The radar base just have radars, and later, hyperwave
              decoders.  Remember to put in a storage space (for HWPs
              and their ammos) and a living quarter (for expansion and a
              few guards).  Stock it with several HWPs (plasma hover-
              tanks are ideal) for defense, add one defense station when
              you can afford it.

        3.3.2 Intercept Base

              Radar base with a hangar housing a fighter (Interceptor or
              Firestorm).  Watch the storage space since fighter needs
              its own weapons and ammo.  Add one if needed.

        3.3.3 Strike Base

              Intercept Base with a second hangar housing a transport
              (Skyranger, Lightning, or Avenger).  Remember to add
              storage (weapons and ammo, plus loot) and alien
              containment (prisoners) when needed.

        3.3.4 Research Base / Manufacture Base

              Base should specialize in either research or manufacture,
              not both (putting too many eggs in one basket).  Add
              living quarters and either workshop or laboratory as
              needed.  Manufacture base needs more storage space or an
              empty hangar (if building crafts) so make you have enough
              or use TRANSFER a lot.

        3.3.5 Special Research Base or Manufacture Base

              As OSG mentioned, UFOs will start looking for your base if
              their brethrens keeps getting attacked and destroyed in
              the area.  This suggest that if you build a base at North
              or South pole, only stock it with soldiers and needed
              equipment (no crafts or radars, or maybe a hyperwave
              decoder), and wait until UFOs enter a different zone
              before attacking them, you can keep a base pretty safe.
              Many people have employed this tactic and it seems to work
              quite well.  This is also great for psi labs.

    3.4 How do I design secure base easy to defend?

        The most secure base design that I can think of is this one:

        XXXXXX    This base has only ONE access point: by the lift.
        X.XXXX    Any other way (such as through the hangar) actually
        X.XXXX    takes LONGER.  And the long corridor spanning FOUR
        A.....    sections makes EXCELLENT choke points and impromptu
        HHHHHH    minefields with proximity grenades are great for
        HHHHHH    defense in this kind of situations.  If you don't
                  need three hangars, you can trade the right one for
        XXXXXX    three more structures down the right side.
        X.XXXX
        X.XXXX    Basically, put the access lift off to one side of the
        A....X    map and try to isolate that and hangars from the rest
        HHHH.X    of the base.
        HHHH.X
                  There is one catch though: sometimes, there's a bug in
                  the game that eliminates some doors that leads you to
                  the rest of the base.  Without rockets and blaster
                  bombs to act as "diggers", you can't kill the aliens
                  in the other section and thus cannot finish the battle
                  at all.

    3.5 What should I add to my base at first?

        Initial modifications you need for the main base are: alien
        containment (prisoners), general stores (ammo and captured
        artifacts), and long range radar (detection).  Later, with more
        money, add living quarters, labs, workshops, and defenses, in
        approximately that order.

        Defenses comes last usually since you can defend with soldiers
        and HWPs.

    3.6 How should I defend a base?  How much defense is enough?

        Defending a base against alien raids is tough.  Fortunately,
        unless you are doing terribly well, aliens usually don't bother
        your bases for a while.  But near the end, alien battleships
        will come after your bases, then you have a problem...

        To defend against that, you need a high defense rating.  I would
        recommend over 3000, maybe 3500, plus grav shields, if you don't
        like fighting inside your own base.  Three fusion ball defenses
        plus grav shields is usually enough. Only one out of ten
        battleships made it through my defenses, and its remaining
        landing parties are easy to wipe out.

        On the other hand, if you don't have equipment to fight battle-
        ships in the air, you may want to let it land and take it out on
        the ground (i.e. at your base).  Remember you will see A LOT of
        aliens on a base raid, I hope you have a lot of USABLE
        equipment (i.e. GOOD stuff in the first 80 items)...

        Small UFOs usually scout ahead of the large UFOs that will
        actually raid your base.  If you can destroy the scout before it
        detects your base, you can prevent the base attack.

        In V1.0 of UFO (not XCOM and not later versions of UFO), you can
        gain hundreds to thousands of units of Elerium if you win a
        defend base action.

        Clean out old inventory! Old inventory will prevent you from
        getting to the GOOD weapons since you are still limited to the
        80 item limit during base defense.

        If you really ran out of space and do not want to conduct a fire
        sale, stuff the extras into the transports, though selling them
        is much easier and gains you money.

        HWPs are great base defenders, being always available and only
        requires warehouse space.  Put a few in every base you build, as
        they work even with no soldiers around.  (?)

        Proximity grenades are vital in base defenses.  Dump a few near
        entrances and doors, and get ready for the alien death screams.

    3.7 Base modules

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

        Fusion Defense, Grav Shield, Hyperwave Decoder, Laser Defense,
        Mind Shield, Plasma Defense, and Psi Lab require respective
        advances to be researched before they can be built, see 6.X for
        more information.

        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.

    3.8 Base startup costs, compiled by [e-mail]

        base location       lift cost   Covers
        ----------------------------------------
        Africa, South         550,000   South Africa
        Africa, North         650,000   Nigeria, Egypt
        Atlantic, North       500,000   (Really Greenland)
        America, North        800,000   USA, Canada
        America, South        600,000   Brazil
        Antartica             900,000
        Arctic                950,000
        Asia, Central         500,000   Eastern China
        Asia, South East      750,000   Japan, Western China
        Australasia           750,000   Australia
        Europe              1,000,000   Eastern Commonwealth, UK, France,
                                        Germany, Italy, Spain
        Pacific               600,000   (really Hawaiian islands)
        Siberia               800,000   Western Commonwealth, India


4.0 X-COM Hardware

    Here's the comprehensive list of all the toys you get to play with.
    Of course, most of them requires research.

    4.1 XCOM Crafts and their weapons

                    Speed  Accel Fuel  Weapons  Hull  Cargo HWPs Note
        Skyranger    760      2   2000     0     150    14    3
        Interceptor 2100      3   1000     2     100     0    0
        ----Research required----
        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

        Speed   : maximum speed of craft, determines if it can keep up
                  with UFO during interception.
        Accel   : maximum acceleration of craft, determines whether UFO
                  will stay in range
        Fuel    : amount of fuel carried, endurance terms
        Weapons : number of weapon pod mounts available
        Hull    : amount of damage the craft can take
        Cargo   : number of "spaces" craft can carry.  Each soldier is
                  one space and each HWP is four spaces (see HWPs also)
        HWPs    : maximum number of HWP this craft can carry.

        Note: for the Elerium fueled crafts, You may need to divide by 5
              for the actual units used. Avenger takes actually 12 units
              of E-115 for refuel, instead fo 60 as implied here.

        General Advice:

        Replace Skyrangers and Interceptors ASAP to save on monthly
        lease.  OTH, Interceptors have longer range than Firestorms, and
        with twin plasma cannon, can attack anything except battleships.

        Lightning is almost useless and usually do not get built by most
        players.  Just forget it and research for Avenger.

        Do NOT use Avengers exclusively since you put too many eggs
        (soldiers and equipment) in one basket.

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

        Damage   : damage done to target if hit
        Range    : max range of weapon
        Accuracy : hit probability when fired
        Reload   : second needed to fire next shot
        Shots    : number of shots available

        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 smithereens (though it
                might make you feel good) and saves you time

        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
                7.5 for UFO weapon ranges.

        NOTE 3: It is possible to miss with weapons that have accuracy
                > 100%, esp. when target moves out of range.

        General Advice:

        You don't want Stingray missiles and cannons. They can handle
        only very small or small UFOs.  Only keep them around on ONE
        fighter in case you want to go after small stuff.

        Use Avalanche missiles in the early game to take on medium or
        large UFOs.

        Switch to plasma cannons later in the game and forget fusion
        ball launchers (not enough damage overall, with 2 shots each)

        Forget laser cannons except for selling (see section 5)

    4.2 XCOM Ground Weapons

        Ground weapons accuracy is further modified by free hands,
        kneeling /standing, and soldier's shooting accuracy.  Time Units
        used is always expressed as a percentage of a soldier's total TU
        available.

                    (Accuracy / TU% needed)
                      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
Grenade                                       50  HE
Smoke Grenade                                 60  Smoke
Proximity Grenade                             70  HE
High Explosive                               110  HE
--Research required---
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
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 : Accuracy for two-handed weapons is decreased 20% if
                 other hand is not empty (i.e. holding something like
                 grenade, psi amp, etc.)
        Note 2 : Accuracy is increased 10% if the soldier is kneeling,
                 which takes only 4 TUs
        Note 3 : Grenades and Blaster Bomb have 3-D explosions (despite
                 what many people claimed)

        General Advice:

        Get laser pistol and rifle ASAP, then research heavy plasma,
        skipping plasma pistol and plasma rifle (go back later when you
        have time), then blaster launcher.

        Forget heavy cannon and heavy laser as they are not worth the
        weight without auto (three-round-burst) mode.

        Autocannon would be your "heavy" weapon early on, along with a
        rocket launcher.


    4.3 HWP Types
                        Cost  Shots Dam  TU ArmorF/S/R  Health
        Tank/Cannon     450K    30   60  70  90/ 75/ 60   90
        Tank/Rocket     480K     8   85  70  90/ 75/ 60   90
        --Must research--
        Tank/Laser      500K   255  110  70  90/ 75/ 60   90
        Hover/Plasma    850K   255  110 100 130/130/100   90
        Hover/Launcher  900K     8  140 100 130/130/100   90

        General advice:

        HWPs should be your scouts, extending your visual range and
        keeps your soldiers out of enemy's visual (and lethal) range

    4.4 Armor
                          Fr/Sd/Rr/Bt
        --Must research--
        Personal Armor    50/40/30/30
        Power Suit       100/80/70/60
        Flying Suit      110/90/80/70

        General Advice:

        personal armor just need "alien alloy", so research that ASAP.
        That will improve your chance of survival by quite a bit.  After
        that, research UFO power source and you should get Power Suit.

    4.5 Equipment
                       TUs    Usage
        Electroflare   25%    Use at night for illumination, reusable
        --Must research--
        Medikit        10     heal fatal wounds, raise morale, revive
                              unconscious people (see UFOpedia)
        MotionScanner  25%    registers movement within 8 squares radius
        Mind Probe     50%    allows you to see alien's status screen
                              (ID, TUs remain, health, + other stats)

        General Advice:

        Carry one or two electroflare and one medikit on each soldier.
        You need the light at night (just in case) and the medikit means
        no more bleeding to death.

        Mind Probe and MotionScanner are optional items.  MotionScanner
        are useful to look behind doors or for hunting down that last
        alien.  Mind Probe is for knowing who to capture.  Take them if
        you have room, but they are not essential.


    4.6 Stuff that can be bought or leased

        Item              Category         Cost    Note
        ---------------------------------------------------------
        Soldier           Personnel        40000   monthly salary
        Scientist         Personnel        60000   monthly salary
        Engineer          Personnel        50000   monthly salary
        Skyranger         Craft           500000   monthly lease
        Interceptor       Craft           600000   monthly lease
        Stingray l'cher   Craft Weapon     16000   6 rounds
        Stingray missile  Craft Ammo        3000
        Avalanche l'cher  Craft Weapon     17000   3 rounds
        Avalanche missile Craft Ammo        9000
        Cannon            Craft Weapon     30000
        Cannon Ammo (x50) Craft Ammo        1240
        Tank/Cannon       HWP             420000   30 rounds
        HWP Cannon Ammo   HWP Ammo           200
        Tank/Rocket       HWP             480000   8 rounds
        HWP Rocket        HWP Ammo          3000
        Pistol            Weapon             800
        Pistol Clip       Ammo                70
        Rifle             Weapon            3000
        Rifle Clip        Ammo               200
        Heavy Cannon      Weapon            6400
        HC-AP             Ammo               300
        HC-HE             Ammo               500
        HC-I              Ammo               400
        Auto Cannon       Weapon           13500
        AC-AP             Ammo               500
        AC-HE             Ammo               700
        AC-I              Ammo               650
        Rocket Launcher   Weapon            4000
        Small Rocket      Ammo               600
        Large Rocket      Ammo               900
        Incendiary Rocket Ammo              1200
        Grenade           Weapon             300
        Smoke Grenade     Weapon             150
        Proximity Grenade Weapon             500
        High Explosive    Weapon            1500
        Stun Rod          Weapon            1260
        ElectroFlare      Equipment           60


    4.7 Stuff that must be researched and manufacturered

                  Engineer       Workshop          Alien   Sale
                   Hours   Cost   Space   Elerium Alloys  Price
[Equipment]
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/laser          1200   500k     25       -      -         ?
Hovertank/plasma    1200   850k     30      30      5    980000
Hovertank/launcher  1400   900k     30      25      8   1043000
HWP fusion bomb      400    15k     25       5      8     31500
[weapons]
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]
FIRESTORM          14000   400k     30       -     65         -*
LIGHTNING          18000   600k     34       -     85         -*
AVENGER            34000   900k     36       -    120         -**
[Craft Weapons]
Laser cannon         300   182k      6       -      -    211000
Plasma beam          500   226k      8      15      -    267300
Fusion ball 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

*   needs 1 UFO power source + 1 UFO navigation
**  needs 2 UFO power sources + 1 UFO navigation
*** Elerium can ONLY be captured as parts of UFO or base, which makes it
    extremely valuable, so NEVER waste any of it


5.0 Finance

    5.1 What really eats up money at XCOM?

        The answer is: maintenence, and salary.  If you have 100
        scientists, their monthly salary is $6 million (!).  Add that to
        your bases (the BARE MINIMUM radar base costs over $1 million a
        month to maintain!), and you will go broke pretty quick.

        Sponsors' money will barely make a dent in your expenses, as
        they only pay you a few million, probably not even enough for
        base maintainence.

    5.2 How do I earn more money?

        Three (real) ways to make money in XCOM:

        Make your sponsoring countries happy -- so they will increase
        their payments.  The problem is: they don't pay much to start
        with, and their increase is just enough to sneeze at.  Their
        payments may be enough to buy some ammo and stuff, but don't
        expect much of an increase.

        Manufacture arms for sale -- 5.4 shows you what to make to
        really make money, but usually you need the weapons and other
        stuff for yourself, so that leaves us to:

        Sell captured/surplus equipment -- most of your money will be
        made this way.  Dump off all your obsolete equipment (pistols,
        rifles, etc) and surplus and you will get LOTS of money.  You
        will usually end with with plenty of surplus heavy plasma, and
        those fetch very good prices on the market.  :-) Doing this also
        means you need less storage space (and less maintainence) and
        more "real" weapons on base defense (due to the 80 item limit)
        Keep only one item of each type for research, sell the rest.
        You need the money and the space for more useful stuff.

        As a last resort, you can always cheat.  See the last section
        for how.

    5.3 How do I cut expenses?

        Cut Maintenence -- dismantle any unused facility (see 5.6)

        Build your own crafts -- Skyrangers and Interceptors have a
        monthly rental fee, your own crafts do not.  Of course, this
        means you have to research UFO construction and things.

        Minimize salary -- use the salary transfer trick! (see 5.5)

    5.4 What do I manufacture to make more money on the arms market?

        Here's the excellent analysis by Jeff Shaffer...

        X-COM Profitability study -- by Jeff Shaffer [edited]

        Recently, we at the XCOM Business 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 engineers long-term in order to
        make a profit.  I calculated results for a hypothetical 2
        workshop operation. You would get slightly better results with
        larger facilities, due to the economy of scale.

        [all numbers are rounded to the nearest 1000, or K]

                        Work  Eng  Raw            Sale Unit|Monthly|Net
      Item              Space Hrs  Material Cost Price   P R O F I T
      -----------------------------------------------------------------
      Motion Scanner     4     220    -      34K   45K  11K 3765K 1275K
      Medikit            4     420    -      28K   46K  18K 3146K  656K
      Psi Amp            4     500  1E      160K  194K  29K 4242K 1752K
      Personal Armor    12     800     4A    22K   54K   6K  491K     -
      Power Suit        16    1000  5E+5A    42K   85K    -    -      -
      Flying Suit       16    1400 16E+5A    58K  115K    -    -      -
      Alien Alloys      10     100    -       3K    6K   3K 2343K    3K
      Elerium 115        -      -     -       -     5K    -    -      -
      Laser Pistol       2     300    -       8K   20K  12K 2916K  376K
      Laser Rifle        3     400    -      2K0   36K  16K 3049K  534K
      Heavy Laser        4     700    -      32K   61K  29K 2958K  468K
      Plasma Pistol      3     600     1A    56K   84K  21K 2586K   71K
      Plasma Pistol Clip 4      60  1E        2K    4K    -    -      -
      Plasma Rifle       4     820     1A    88K  126K  32K 2787K  297K
      Plasma Rifle Clip  4      80  2E        3K    6K    -    -      -
      Heavy Plasma       4    1000     1A   122K  171K  43K 3078K  588K
      Heavy Plasma Clip  4      80  3E        6K    9K    -    -      -
      Blaster Launcher   5    1200     1A    9K0  144K  47K 2797K  332K
      Blaster Bomb       3     220  3E        8K   17K    -    -      -
      Small Launcher     3     900     1A    78K  120K  35K 2846K  331K
      Stun Bomb          2     200  1E        7K   15K   3K 1166K     -
      Alien Grenade      2     200  2E        6K   14K    -    -      -
      Mind Probe         4    1200  1E      262K  304K  37K 2202K     -
      UFO Power Source  22    1400 16E+5A   130K  250K   7K  310K     -
      UFO Navigation    18    1600     3A   150K   80K    -    -      -
      Fusion Ball L'cher 6     400    -     242K  281K  39K 6836K 4396K
      Fusion Ball        6     600  4E       28K   53K   5K  617K     -
      Laser Cannon       6     300    -     182K  211K  29K 6760K 4320K
      Plasma Beam        8     500 15E      226K  267K    -    -      -
      Tank/Laser Cannon 25    1200    -     500K  594K  94K 4371K 2406K
      Hovertank/Plasma  30    1200 30E+5A   850K  980K    -    -      -
      Hovertank/Launcher30    1400 25E+8A   900K 1043K    -    -      -
      HWP Fusion Bomb   25     400  5E+8A    15K   31K    -    -      -

        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 armor!)  The 'Unit Profit' column
        is sale price minus cost, minus the cost of any E-115/Alloy used
        in manufacture.  A '-' means a net loss, no further analysis.
        'Monthly Profit' column is based on an "XCOM Month" of 24*31 =
        744 hours. The calculation is number of engineers that 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 (1275K).

        The 'Net Profit' column is the bottom line.  Monthly expenses
        are the salaries of as many engineers as fit in the workshops
        times $50K, 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.

        [Editor's note: don't forget the "transfer salary trick" below]


    5.5 The "Transfer Salary Savings" trick

        As explained on page 131 of OSG, if you sack scientists and/or
        engineers before the end of the month, you don't have to pay
        their salaries.  However, there's ANOTHER way to do this.

        Have two bases approximately equivalent to each other, like both
        research (or manufacturing), about same living quarters, and
        scientists (or engineers).  Just before end of the month (last
        day, last hour), transfer ALL of the scientists (engineers) to
        the other base, and do the same on the other base (i.e. they
        swap their contingent).  When the end of month comes along,
        NEITHER side has their scientists (engineers) (they are in
        transit), no salary is paid.  If you have like 100 scientists
        moving each way, you save $60,000x100x2 = $12 million!

    5.6 When do I dismantle unused base facilities?

        The OSG was rather unclear on what to dismantle.  Basically, you
        should do the following:

        * When you get hyperwave decoder, build only one at each base,
          and dismantle all the radars there.  One hyperwave decoder
          detect 100% of UFOs within range, so no radars are needed.
        * When you no longer need alien prisoners (i.e. you are ready to
          undertake the "final mission"), zap the alien containment
          (though by that time, it doesn't matter any more, unless you
          are waiting for your Avenger to be built)
        * When you no longer need more research or manufacturing (i.e.
          you are ready for the "final mission"), lay off all the
          scientists and/or engineers, and zap their living quarters and
          working modules.


6.0 Research and Manufacturing

    6.1 What should I start researching first?

        OSG and I have different priorities on research...

        I recommend laser weapons, medikit, laser rifle, and alien alloy
        (which allows personal armor) for the starting projects.
        Pistols and rifles are pitiful against plasma rifles and alien
        grenades. Laser rifles, which does not use ammo, should even up
        the odds a bit, and personal armor should save you from a
        grazing shot (which would have killed with no armor).  Medikit
        will save you from the grazing shot that caused fatal wounds.

        The rest is up to you, but I recommend researching heavy plasma,
        small launcher and stun bombs, then heavy blaster and blaster
        bombs.  Then research Elerium, UFO power source, so you can
        build nice armor.

    6.2 Overall strategy

        Keep roughly 100 scientists in your employment.  You need that
        much research to discover things in reasonable time, though you
        can probably get by with 50-75.

        Due to the way research works, concentrate on one project at a
        time so you can start on later topics faster.

    6.3 Research Tree

        [OSG has chart on how many man-hours needed for each discovery]

 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
                   |
                   |
           New Fighter Craft
              (Firestorm) * = [Hovertank / Plasma]
                   |
        New Fighter-Transporter
              (Lightning)
         __________|____________
         |                      |
        Grav              Ultimate Craft
       Shield               (Avenger)

*  Need "New Fighter Craft" before you can build the plasma hovertank.
** Need fusion ball launcher before you can build the fusion ball
   hovertank.

    6.4 Any hints on manufacturing?

        Only manufacture thing that you REALLY need, like crafts, etc.
        almost NEVER manufacture ammo since most of them require
        Elerium, which is always in short supply. Captured ammo is much
        cheaper and don't use your precious E-115 supply.

        NEVER let any engineers go idle.  If you don't need anything
        built, build something that makes money.


7.0 Intercepting UFOs

    Don't forget to check section 4 for info on XCOM crafts.  Some of
    these hints are also listed in Secion 2.

    7.1 Tracking UFOs

        Remember that UFOs have specific targets and they do not change
        missions in mid-air ("Chicago's covered, let's go for Havana
        instead").  They also head STRAIGHT for their targets on the
        inbound leg.  So if you see an UFO and lost tracking, try to
        extrapolate its course and send interceptors to their estimated
        NEXT location instead of going toward the last known location.

        If you have hyperwave decoder, you can see UFO destination
        directly as it comes into range.

    7.2 Air-to-air attack methods

        Once you got a craft in range of the UFO, it's time to attack.

        While the OSG explained what the different attacks REALLY mean,
        it STILL doesn't explain what good is each for.  Here's my
        version...

        Cautious Attack: causes least damage per attack but remains at
        the longest range and therefore has the least chance of getting
        counter-attacked.  Useful when you want a not too badly damaged
        UFO (just enough to crash it).

        Normal Attack: average damage per attack, enough for most
        attacks if your weapon outranges the UFOs.

        Aggressive Attack: close to point-blank and let them have it
        in the face!  Causes the most damage per attack, but exposes
        craft to counter-fire.  Good for brave/suicidal charges (toward
        an alien battleship, for instance)

    7.3 Weapons

        OSG has a typo: Table 7-2, Fusion Ball Launcher holds TWO, not
        three shots as stated.  Section 4.1 is correct.

        In case you haven't noticed, Plasma Beam is the BEST craft
        weapon in the game.  It has 100 shots, 70 damage per shot, AND
        range of 52 km, which outdistances almost all UFOs except
        battleships.  Even though Fusion Ball Launcher causes more
        damage per shot, you only get two shots for each launcher.

        In any case, try to replace Stingrays and regular cannons ASAP,
        since they are worthless once you see large UFOs.

    7.4 Special note on Alien Battleship

        Battleship is the most dangerous UFO, period. It outranges ALL
        XCOM craft weapons.  Only Firestorms and Avengers can stand up
        to it, NEVER use Interceptors.  ALWAYS attack Battleships in
        groups to minimize damage and the resultant repair time, and use
        aggressive attack, since you don't want the UFO to fire back
        that often.  I've found that aggresive attack reduces damage
        against Battleships, so use it whenever possible.

    7.5 UFO Size Classes and weapons range

        If you read table 7-3 in OSG or the UFOpedia, the Weapon Range
        of the UFO is a rather large number (ex. Battleship = 520). That
        number means nothing by itself.  To get a more meaningful
        number, divide that by 8 for the range in kilometers. (EX.
        Battleship is 520/8=65 km).  That forms the revised weapons
        range table below.

        Revised range table:

        UFO TYPE          Weapon Range (km)
        Small Scout                0
        Medium Scout              15
        Large Scout               34
        Harvester                 22
        Abductor                  20
        Terror Ship               42
        Battleship                65
        Supply Ship               28.5

        Plasma beam, with 52 km range, can attack any UFO except
        battleship with impunity. UFO Battleship, with range of 65 km,
        can shoot back at even crafts armed with Fusion Ball Launchers
        (which also has a 65 km range).

    7.6 Methods of Attack

        The safest way to hit large or very large UFOs is to have
        multiple Firestorms and/or Avengers to converge on them.  UFOs
        are dumb and does not concentrate on one target, so the more
        targets you present, the less damage each will receive.  Of
        course, if you send up Interceptors against Battleships, don't
        expect many to come back, since Battleships can destroy an
        Interceptor with ONE shot.

        Plasma beams will make your Interceptors useful again, so get
        them ASAP.  Replace them with Firestorms ASAP though to save on
        monthly "rent".

    7.7 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 refueled and rearmed faster for the next
        mission.

    7.8 Keep Landed UFOs covered

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

    7.9 Weapon vs UFO analysis

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

        For this reason, if you WANT to go after the smaller UFOs, keep
        a fighter around with "wimpy" weapons.

        7.9.1 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.  Laser
              cannons are not much better, sharing the short range flaw.

        7.9.2 Medium UFOs

              Interceptors with Avalanche missiles or plasma beams can
              handle medium UFOs easily.  On the other hand, one
              Avalanche will blow a very small UFO into pieces.

        7.9.3 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.

        7.9.4 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 will at least
              cripple an interceptor.  Just don't do it.

              The only way to "safely" attack alien battleships is to
              use Firestorms and Avengers (the more the better!) with
              twin plasma beams.  Even then you will probably be heavily
              damaged (as in 20% to 60% damage), which is not a good
              trade.  Many have suggested that you should let them land
              and attack them on the ground.


8.0 Soldiers, Movement, and Combat

    8.1 Soldiers

        8.1.1 Soldier Statistics

              We recommend that instead of using the default names, you
              adopt a naming system for your soldiers that will help you
              to know at a glance who to take on a mission.

              System One reflects a trained specialty, such as scout
              (SC), heavy weapons (HW), demolitions (DM), psi combat
              (PS), sharpshooter (SS), etc.  For example, "Steve Rogers
              HW/PS" has lots of strength and nice time units for
              carrying the heavy weapons (and shooting them).  His
              PsiStr and PsiSkl is also pretty high so he also carries a
              PsiAmp for psi combat.

              System Two just places the numbers in the name.  For
              example, "Steve 64/44/36/71/46/62/16", for which the
              numbers are Time Units, Health, Reactions, Firing
              Accuracy, Strenth, Psi Strength, and Psi Skill.  You'll
              probably need to update after this every mission.

        8.1.2 Recruiting soldiers

              Sack weaklings ASAP.  You want high strength, reaction,
              morale, and shooting accuracy, and when you get psi, psi
              strength. So recruit lots of rookies, use them for scouts
              (they are cheap when compared to HWPs).  If they survive,
              keep them, else, oh, well, they've done the world a great
              service.  :-)

              Why those traits?  High strength means they can carry more
              weapons.  High reaction means they can get opportunity
              fire (reaction shots) while enemy is moving.  High Morale
              means they are less susceptible to panic, and shooting
              accuracy is obvious.  :-)  Other characteristics are not
              as important.

              Soldiers only get promoted if there are enough of them to
              warrant a promotion.  So hire a lot of rookies, send them
              out to missions. The ones that survive are squaddies, and
              when you have enough squaddies, you have officers.  Feel
              free to sack the bad squaddies later to save on salary.


    8.2 Movement

        8.2.1 Deployment from Transport into Battle

              The OSG fails to mention that you CAN see the outside
              through the Windows in your transport.  If the last
              soldier turn around in the Skyranger or Avenger, you can
              see A LOT beyond the cockpit.  Of course, since you are on
              Level 1, (Level 0 = ground) you can't see things that are
              right next to you on ground.

              After that, send out a HWP just on the ramp, turn to face
              right. If there's no enemy, turn to face left, and you've
              just cleared the surrounding area.  If there is enemy, get
              off the ramp and start shooting.

              The main mission of HWP is to spot aliens so the soldiers
              can take a shot at them instead of exposing soldiers
              getting shot. If you feel like wasting people instead, use
              rookies instead of HWPs.  (Rookies are cheaper too...)

        8.2.2 Use the terrain!

              You can use the terrain in other ways than just hiding
              behind something.  Use secondary explosions to your
              advantage!  If alien is standing next to volatile object
              like fuel drums, gas pumps, those red things in UFOs or
              bases, etc, blow THAT up (DOOM players love doing this).

              Aliens DO shoot through each other, so if you have NOWHERE
              to hide, hide BEHIND an alien and pray.

        8.2.3 Alien Movement and visual range

              Do the aliens have better night vision?
              Answer: They do NOT.

              Why they can shoot at you but you don't see them?
              Answer: depending on difficulty level, they "remember"
              where you are from previous turns for several turns (on
              higher levels they remember longer).  They can ONLY shoot
              at you IF they had seen you before and still "remembered".

              Aliens capitalize on this by moving forward, spot you,
              then move back out of range.  Then for next X turns those
              in range shoot at your out of your visual range.

        8.2.4 Listen and watch

              Watch carefully in alien movement phase. Sometimes you CAN
              spot them moving around.  TRY to remember the surrounding
              terrain, then go to overhead map and see if you can spot
              where that was.

              Sound can give you important clues to alien locations. If
              you hear door sounds, you know alien moved in/out of a
              door.  Different door makes different sounds.

              Aliens also have no manners.  They leave doors open after
              they go through.  Watch farm houses carefully.

              The length of the alien movement phase is proportional to
              the number of hostile aliens left on the map.  Just keep
              in mind that stunned aliens can wake up.

    8.3 General Combat Tactics

        8.3.1 HWP usage

              HWPs should be used for "beating the bush" and flush
              aliens out for soldiers to shoot.  That makes rocket
              launcher tank and fusion ball launcher hovertank more
              useful than their cousins.

              Hovertank is even more useful since it can go high and
              thus cover more ground.  They can also hover in mid-air
              and thus avoid hand-to-hand attacks.

              Use their shots to take down walls of orchards, barns, and
              stuff like that so you don't have to go inside and clean
              up every room.

        8.3.2 Grenade usage

              Grenades should be used for temporary boost in firepower
              and for clearing obstacles in view.  Blow a hole in the
              walls instead of going through the door.

              Rookies can be effective grenadiers since grenades are
              area weapons.

              High Explosive is just a very heavy grenade, and you will
              have problems tossing it.  usually, toss it a short
              distance or drop it on ground, then RUN away from the
              area.  They are great opening up houses and barns, and may
              be able to punch through inner UFO walls.

              Proximity grenades are great for traps.  Use them to
              prevent aliens coming up behind you, and/or pin aliens
              (toss one on either side of it and it can't move without
              setting one off)  Just remember where you threw them
              (check the map) and don't walk near them yourself.

        8.3.3 Blaster bombs usage

              Blaster bomb and launcher is the second best weapon in the
              game (the best is heavy plasma).  It can shoot around
              corners, has wonderful damage (200 points!) and is very
              effective.  Of course, it is also EXPENSIVE, and so is its
              ammo.  So, use them carefully (don't save them either).

              Use them to take down cover is a waste, use grenades
              instead (unless you got bombs to waste)

              Blaster bombs is great for UFO attacks.  Use them to punch
              holes in the UFO's outer hull for new entrance. Target
              square next to main door to enlarge door for HWPs.  One
              shot will clear most of the corridor.  Unfortunately,
              aliens love to shoot blaster bombs down gravlifts.

        8.3.9 Saving ammo

              XCOM has a peculiar way of counting ammo usage: any clip
              that was fired (even just one round!) is consider "spent"
              at the end of the scenario UNLESS unloaded from the
              weapon.  So, if you just fired one round, unload it when
              the end of battlescape is near (you DID time the alien
              movement phase, didn't you?)

              Interestingly, the same thing applies to the aliens as
              well!  If you panic the aliens and they drop their
              weapons, you should pick them up and unload them, toss the
              ammo clip aside.  That way you gain a clip independent of
              the gun you got.


    8.4 Capturing Aliens

        8.4.1 How to I capture an alien?

              You can capture aliens in four ways, so let's discuss
              advantages and disadvantages.

              Shoot an alien and hope it drops stunned instead of dead:
              Since smoke inhalation produce stun damage, if alien had
              inhaled smoke for a while, and you shot it later, it may
              drop stunned.  This is too much of a guess work though,
              and is dangerous if alien is armed.

              Use stun rod on the alien:  Dangerous since stun rod is
              a hand-to-hand weapon, but it's all you have early on.

              Use stun bomb and small launcher: safest way to capture an
              alien, shoot and scoot.

              Keep dumping smoke grenades on an alien. After it inhaled
              enough smoke, it'll drop stunned: takes too long.

        8.4.2 So what's your recommendation?

              Several ways to make captures safer:

              Double/triple-team on capture: at least two soldiers
              should carry stun bombs and ready to fire in salvoes in
              case the alien does not drop after one hit.

              Combine psi combat with capture: Panic it with psi to
              make it drop its weapon (repeat if necesary), then
              stun it.  Be careful since alien WILL pull out any other
              weapon that it has on it.  After it is out of weapons, and
              if it does not have HTH attack, you can use stun rods on
              it safely.

              WARNING: release mind control on the alien (wait one
              turn), THEN stun it, or otherwise it is NOT captured!

              If a stun attempt fails, shoot the alien with a light
              weapon like a pistol.  The addition damage may cause the
              health to drop below stun damage, which ALSO counts as
              "stunned". Just don't kill it (yet).

        8.4.3 Stunning aliens without stun weapons

              Found an alien that you need to capture but have no stun
              weapons?  You have to use smoke.  Hopefully the alien had
              panicked and droped its weapons (if not, and you have psi,
              panic it).  Keep him in an enclosed space (a room?), dump
              a smoke grenade into the room, and keep something to block
              the door (rookie, HWP, whatever), and wait, listening to
              choking sounds.  :-D

        8.4.4 Other uses for stun weapons

              At a terror site, Chrysalids turning civilians into
              zombies?  Stun the civilians if you see them near
              Chrysalids!  Stunned civilians will not be attacked.
              Unfortunately, they get MAD when they wake up and you have
              to kill them, so finish mission fast if you do stun one.


    8.5 Psi Combat

        Panicked aliens do NOT pick up dropped weapons.  Of course, they
        will pull out anything else they got on them as well as use
        their natural abilities (HTH or Psi attacks).

        Aliens under mind control then stunned does NOT count as
        captured. One player reported that he saw a commander but had no
        stun weapon, so he threw a smoke grenade and kept the commander
        in the smoke (with mind control) until it passed out.  He was
        NOT captured.  It appears that the computer counts mind-
        controlled aliens as "friendly", which they sort of are.

        Panic has a much better chance of success than mind control.

        Psi strength is more important than psi skill.  PsiStr
        determines resistance to psi attacks as well as potential with
        training (the actual formulas are in OSG, but basically you
        add/multiply your PsiStr to your PsiSkl plus random number,
        compared to number of the subject you are trying to affect).



9.0 The Aliens

    Most information here can be accessed via the UFOpedia.

    Alien        Attack       Defend    Vulnerable
    -------------------------------------------------
    Celatid      Acid Spit     none       none
    Chryssalid   HTH           none     IC, stun    *
    Cyberdisc    Plasma beam  AP, HE      none
    Ethereal     Psi,weapons  IC,stun     none
    Floater      weapons       none       none
    Muton        weapons        AP        psi
    Reaper       HTH           none        IC
    Sectoid      Psi,weapons   none       none
    Sectopod     Energy beam  PL,HE       laser
    Silacoid     HTH            IC         HE
    Snakeman     weapons        IC        none
    Zombie       HTH     Psi,AP,Las,Pl,HE none      **

    HTH=hand to hand combat    IC =incendiary/fire
    AP =armor piercing         PL =plasma
    HE =high explosive         Las=laser

    Alien      : alien name
    Attack     : attack method
    Defend     : resistance to type(s) of attack
    Vulnerable : vulnerable to type(s) of attack

    *  When Chryssalids succeeds in HTH attack, the subject being
       attacked becomes a Zombie
    ** Zombie in a few turns becomes a Chryssalid.  If killed, the
       new Chryssalid appears IMMEDIATELY.

Average Alien Stats (on easiest level!)
                                                  ------ Armor ------
          TUs Ene Hea Bra Rea Fir Thr Str PSt PSk Fro Lft Rgt Rer Und
Sectoid    55  90  30  80  65  30  60  30  40   *   2   1   1   1   1
Reaper     60  90 145  80  60   0   0  90  35   -  14  14  14  14   2
Floater    50  90  35  80  50  25  60  40   -   -   4   3   3   2   6
Cyberdisc  60  90 120 110  65  30   0  90   -   -  17  17  17  17  17
Snakeman   40  80  45  80  45  30  65  50   -   -  10   9   9   8   6
Cryssalid 110 140  95 100  70   0   0 110   -   -  17  17  17  17  17
Zombie     40 110  85 110  40   0   0  85   -   -   4   4   4   4   4
Ethereal   70 100  60  80  75  40  80  50  50  40  17  17  17  17  16
Sectopod   60  90  95 110  65  30   0  90   -   -  70  65  65  50  45
Muton      58  90  90  80  60  30  60  70   -   -  10  10  10  10   5
Celatid    70  90  70  90  40  50   0  70  60   -  10  10  10  10  10
Silacoid   40  80 115 100  40   0   0  70   -   -  25  25  25  25   5

TUs = time units        Ene = energy/stamina     Hea = health
Bra = bravery           Rea = reaction           Fir = firing accuracy
Thr = throwing accuracy Str = strength           PSt = Psi Strength
PSk = Psi Skill         Armor = front/left/right/rear/under

* Only Sectoid leaders and commander have Psi Skill, with avg of 55.

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.  Stats are also higher on higher
        difficulty levels

NOTE 2: higher rank aliens also have higher "intelligence", which means
        they will remember your location longer


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


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, so get them!
Retaliation    Scout / attack XCOM base, greatest threat
Supply         Supply alien bases.  Trail them and patrol nearby to
               find alien base


10.0 Ground Assaults

     10.1 Packing Advice

          The 80-item limit is always a problem, especially on an
          Avenger and Lightning when you can carry LOTS of soldiers.
          While the OSG gave some hints on what to take, here's a couple
          more hints to see you through the 80-item Crunch:

          * If you are short on ammo clips, use laser weapons, which
            require no ammo at all.  (Also see below)
          * Carry only ONE clip for your plasma weapons.  You should
            be able to find plenty of reloads during battle, esp. for
            heavy plasma (which seems to be used by all aliens near the
            end of the game)  With 20-35 rounds in each clip, your
            should not run out unless you use auto-fire a lot
          * Carry uniform weapons.  Don't mix pistols and rifles,
            plasmas and slug-throwers. Instead of a pistol/clip and
            rifle/clip, bring an extra clip for the rifle.
          * Bring less misc. equipment such as mind probes, medikits,
            motion detectors, psi amps, and so on.  You don't need
            everything on every person (except Medikits)
          * Bring HWPs if you can.  HWP is one item yet has plenty of
            firepower. Too bad it takes FOUR soldier's space.  Still,
            they are quite useful in the early parts of the game
          * Don't fight at night so that you need to take along all
            those stupid electro-flares which you end up throwing all
            over the place (exception: Attack Terror Sites ASAP)

     10.2 The Great Pistol vs Rifle debate

          Rifles pro : more powerful, more accurate

          Rifles con : uses more TUs, two-handed weapon

          Pistols pro: uses less TUs, one handed weapon

          Pistols con: less powerful, less accurate

          As you can see, they are exact complements of each other.
          Very often, using a pistol is called for, since using a pistol
          would mean you still have enough TUs to duck into cover.

          Give pistols to heavy weapons people for when they ran out.

     10.3 Basic Loadout for Transports

          Skyranger : 2 HWPs / 6 soldiers or 1 HWP / 10 soldiers

            The HWPs early on carry more firepower and has more TUs than
            soldiers, which makes them good scouts, and more survivable.
            Switch to more soldiers later.

          Lightning : as many soldiers as you can fit

            Lightning doesn't take HWPs, too bad.  At least you can
            deploy from all four sides at once.  Send rookies out
            first...  (Commander's prerogative)

          Avenger   : 14 soldiers / 3 HWPs or 18 soldiers / 2 HWPs

            As the end of game draws near, your best soldiers should be
            as fast as HWPs and carries just as much (if not more) fire-
            power.  HWPs are there to simply scout ahead.

     10.4 General Combat Notes

          There is no penalty for destroying civilian property, so go
          ahead and wreck the whole place like "The Dirty Pair" (anime).

          The OSG forgot one thing: If the only person inside the craft
          is unconscious and you abort mission, s/he's MIA and the
          transport is lost as well.

          In the early game, you want rocket launchers and/or autocannon
          as your heavy weapons, and plenty of greandes (mix of regular
          and proximity).

          Later in the game, you want almost exclusively heavy plasma
          (except for the heavy weapons people who would carry plasma
          pistols)

     10.5 UFO Recoveries and Assaults

          [Definition: attack on UFO shot down is "recovery"]
          [Definition: attack on landed UFOs (not downed) is "assault"]

          HWPs CAN enter an UFO with a single-width door if you help
          make the door wider with a blaster bomb. Just target the panel
          beside the door for a blaster bomb, and make sure no one is
          near the impact point.

          HWP is very useful in a Battleship on the third level, where
          the corridors are wide enough for HWPs except the doors
          leading from the elevators.  Open one up with a blaster bomb,
          send another one or two down each end of the corridor, then
          send up the HWPs to scout, then send in your troops.

          In UFO navigation centers, there's usually some octagonal
          purple "tables" that EXPLODES when hit.  If you can catch
          aliens standing next to them, hitting THAT is a lot of fun.

          Blaster bombs and/or high explosives can be used to punch a
          hole in the outside wall of an UFO, creating an alternate
          entrance.  This will allow you to surprise the aliens inside
          since usually they gather by the doors waiting for you.

          Corollary: on a multi-level UFO, attack from TOP down by
          blasting a hole in the roof or top level, posting guards near
          the UFO doors.

          Post guards outside an UFO when attacking inside.  Any aliens
          outside will attempt to return, and getting shot from behind
          is not fun.

          If the UFO Power Units exploded, and UFO's ceiling may be
          damaged (single-level UFO have top blown open).  In that case,
          stand on the edge and kneel will allow you to see inside.  In
          larger UFOs, holes in the ceiling will allow you to see above,
          but you may have to kneel to get a good look (someone may be
          hiding up there!)

          One trick you can pull is ALLOW an alien base on Earth once
          you've pinpointed its location, and keep assaulting the supply
          ships that comes to keep the base supplied.  They just keep
          coming and coming, and the UFOs you take out more than offsets
          the "base on Earth" penalty, not to mention all the Elerium
          and other goodies you get that you can sell later.

          Consider using blaster bombs and flying suits to attack from
          TOP DOWN instead of bottom up.  Blow a hole in the ceiling,
          send another bomb inside the hold, go in and spread out, work
          your way down, pick off aliens coming up one by one.

          When attacking battleships, consider going up one of the
          engine "legs" instead of through the central elevator.  On
          assaults, you need a blaster bomb to punch through.

     10.6 Base assaults

          The trick is base assaults is use a lot of grenades and
          blaster bombs.  Use grenades to clear corners, proximity
          grenades to block corridors so no one can come up behind you
          (esp. Chryssalids!), blaster bombs to open walls so you don't
          have to go extra distance around things.  Once you find the
          control center, you have pretty much won the game.

          While base layouts differ, base command center always look
          like this:  (D=door, WW=window, ground/level 0 only)

          +-----WW--------WW-----+
          |   +--------------+   |
          | +-+              +-+ |
          | |                  | |
          D |                  D |
          D |                  D |
          D |                  D |
          | |                  | |
          | +-+              +-+ |
          |   +--------------+   |
          +-----WW--------WW-----+
           ^

          Instead of going through the doors, go through one of the SIDE
          walls (^) with a blaster bomb, send a couple grenades through
          the hole for the guards inside the door (or another blaster
          bomb). The rest is mop-up.

     10.7 Anti-Terror Missions

          Your top priority is self-preservation.  Killing 9 out of your
          10 soldiers to save a city is NOT worth it.  Given a choice to
          save your soldier or to save a civilian, save the soldier.

          Stun the Civilians!  Stunning the civilians makes them
          "unpalatable" to the alien terrorists, and they count as saved
          at the end of the mission.  (WARNING: when they wake up, they
          count as ENEMY and you must kill them!)

          Do NOT mind control any of the civilians.  They count as
          ENEMY after you release control and you must kill them!

          Kill Chryssalids ASAP.  If necesary, kill the civilian near it
          so that the civilian will not be turned into a zombie that
          will attack you.  Have two persons watch each other.

          Aliens that use HTH (hand-to-hand) combat only such as Reavers
          and Chrysallids cannot attack someone in mid-air (by a flying
          suit or hovertank). They also cannot attack someone through a
          Window. Reavers cannot attack through a one-space-wide door
          (they are two-wide).

          Feel free to blow up gasoline pumps, esp. with aliens next to
          one.  They make great secondary explosions.


     10.8 XCOM Base Defense

          You DID plan your base as mentioned in Chapter 4, didn't you?

          First priority is blockade the lift.  Dump prox grenades near
          the doors (close enough so that there are no spaces in between
          to walk through) and wait back for aliens to emerge.

          Second priority is clean out the hangars.  Fusion Bomb
          Launcher Hovertanks and/or blaster launchers are great for
          this, but a rocket launcher will do if you hit explosive stuff
          like fuel drums and so on.

          Third priority is reclaim your base module by module.  Use
          prox grenades to guard your back.

          Proximity grenades are priceless here, great for blocking
          corridors, limiting movement into kill zones, etc.


11.0 Mastering Cydonia-- The Final Assault

     For those of you who watch shows like ENCOUNTERS or SIGHTINGS,
     there IS a Cydonia on Mars, and there are "pyramids" and a face
     there...  And there's a big rumor of a NASA cover-up and recent
     Mars probe there ALL malfunctioned...  Hmmm...

     11.1 Preparation

          Don't bring any psi-weaklings.  You'll be meeting a lot of
          Sectoids and Ethreals, who will be mind-blasting you a lot.

          Bring your best weapons and all of your blaster launchers and
          blaster bombs, plus rockets and all the grenades you got.
          This is not time for captures, so leave all stun stuff at
          home.  This is a fight to the death, preferably theirs.

          Bring a few electro-flares for the Mars surface battle.  It'll
          be dark there, so toss a few of those around.

     11.2 Pyramids of Mars

          Lots of Sectoids and Cyberdiscs around in this one. Soldiers
          with flying suits are nice for recon, just don't leave them in
          the air for Sectoid target practice.

          Move slowly, toss electroflares at base of each pyramid, esp
          near exits so you can see if someone comes out.  Use grenades
          and/or blaster bombs on the cyberdiscs.

     11.3 Base Interior

          You do NOT want to clean out the whole base.  Find the
          distinctive command center (see below, NOT to scale), run for
          it (sacrificing HWPs and rookies in the process), let blaster
          bombs and rockets fly, protect your back with prox grenades.

               [not in scale!]
               +----------------------+
               |                      |
               |                   _  |
               |                  | | |
               |__________________|L| |
               D__________________  | |
               |                  |L| |
               |                  |_| |
               |                      |
               |                      |
               +----------------------+

          Once you found it, send a blaster bomb up through the grav
          lift (either side) to get rid of the Ethereal Commanders (the
          elite guards), then it's all over.

12.0 Misc Stuff

     While the expert advices int he OSG are nice, there's just not
     enough of them, and they don't cover enough areas!  Hope you
     noticed that I've split all my advices all over the article instead
     of in one section only...

     Anything that's here doesn't belong up there

     ==UFO Floorplans

               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?  Jagged sides
????????                                          Big 2 level room, square

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!

KEY:
D/Dr = Door
Gr = Gravlift (Up/Down)
Gu = Gravlift Up
Gd = Gravlift Down
Pw = Alien Power Unit


Small Scout   123     Looks like an Appolo Capsule...
(Very Small)  /=\     2 level, 1 square each UFO
             /===\


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

 /--------\
|          |
|          |
|    Pw    |
|          |
|          |
 \---Dr---/

Large Scout (Medium) 123456789012
                     /==/====\==\
                     |__|____|__|

            +--------+
            |   |    |
            |   D    |
           /    |     \
         /      |       \
  +----/    +---------+   \----+
  |         |         |        |
  |         D    P    |        D
  |         |         |        |
  +----\    +---------+   /----+
         \        |     /
           \ --D--|   /
            |     D  |
            |     |  |
            +--------+

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


Level 1 --Menachem M. Pastreich ([e-mail])

                       ______________
                    ///              \\\
                 ///       ______       \\\
+--------+    ///       __|      |__       \\\    +--------+
|        |    |       __|          |__       |    |        |
|        |    |     __|      Pw      |__     |    |        |
|        |____|     |                  |     |____|        |
|                   |                  |                   |
|                   |  Pw    Gu    Pw  |                   |
|         ____      |                  |      ____         |
|        |    |     |__              __|     |    |        |
|        |    |       |__    Pw    __|       |    |        |
|        |    |         |__      __|         |    |        |
+--DrDr--+    \\\         |__Dr__|         ///    +--DrDr--+
                 \\\                    ///
                    \\\______________///

Terror Ship Level 2 -- Pastreich
                       ______________
                    /// |          | \\\
                 ///    D          D    \\\
              ///--|    |          |    |--\\\
              |    |    |____Dr____|    |    |
              |    |                    |    |
              |    |     ____Dr____     |    |
              |    |    |          |    |    |
              |    D    |    Gd    |    D    |
              |____|    |__________|    |____|
              |                              |
              |                              |
              |                              |
              \\\                          ///
                 \\\                    ///
                    \\\______________///


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

Battleship Level 1 -- Pastreich


                         /------\
                        /        \
                        |   Gu   |
                        |   Pw   |
                        |        |
                        \        /
                         \------/




  /------\                                      /------\
 /        \              +------+              /        \
 |        |              |GuGuGuD              |        |
 | GuPw   |              |GuGuGuD              |   PwGu |
 |        |              |GuGuGu|              |        |
 \        /              +DrDr--+              \        /
  \------/                                      \------/



                         /------\
                        /        \
                        |        |
                        |   Pw   |
                        |   Gu   |
                        \        /
                         \------/

Battleship Level 2 -- Menachem M. Pastreich ([e-mail])

               ./------+----------+------\.
             ./    |   |          |        \.
           ./      D   |    Gd    |     _____\.
         ./        |   |          |    |       \.
        //-----  --|   +--+    +--+    |        \\
      ./           |      |    |     __|          \.
    ./|            +------|    |    |               \.
  ./  |                   |    |    |                 \.
 /    |          +--------|    |    D                   \
 |    +--Dr--+   |        |    |    |                   |
 |  Gu       |   |        |    |    |____               |
 |           |   D        |    |         |              |
 +------+    |   |     +--+    +--       |       +------+
 |      |    |   |     |          |      |       |      |
 |      +------Dr------+  GrGrGr  +--Dr----------+      |
 |  Gd                    GrGrGr                    Gd  |
 |      +--Dr------Dr--+  GrGrGr  +--------------+      |
 |      |        |     |          |              |      |
 +------+        |___  +--+    +--+              +--Dr--+
 |                   |    |    |                 |      |
 |                   |    |    |                 |      |
 |                   |    |    |                 |      |
 \.                  |    |    |               __|     ./
   \.                D    |    |              |      ./
     \.              |    D    |           __      ./
       \.            |    |    |          |      ./
        \\    +--Dr----+--+    +--+-------+     //
          \.  |        |          |           ./
            \.|        |    Gd    D         ./
              \.       |          |       ./
                \------+----------+------/

Battleship Level 3

               ./------------------------\
             ./    |                   |   \
           ./      |                   |     \
         ./        |    +---Dr---+     |       \
        //         |    |        |     |        \\
      ./|          |    |        |     |          \
    ./  |          D    |        |     |            \
  ./    D          |    |        |     |              \
 /      |          |    |        |     |                \
 |      |          |    |        |     |                |
 |  Gd  +----------+    +--------+     +-----Dr---------|
 |      |                                               |
 |______|__________                     ___________     |
 |     |           |    +---Dr---+     |           |    |
 |     |           |    | GdGdGd |     |           |    |
 |     D           |    D GdGdGd D     |           D    |
 |     |           |    | GdGdGd |     |           |    |
 |     |___________|    +---Dr---+     |___________|    |
 |                                                      |
 |                                                      |
 |-------+  + -----+    +---------+    +----------------|
 |                 |    |         |    |                |
 \.                |    |         |    |               ./
   \.              |    |         |    |             ./
     \.            |    |         |    |           ./
       \.          |    |         |    D         ./
        \\         |    |         |    |        //
          \.       |    +----Dr---+    |      ./
            \.     |                   |    ./
              \.   |                   |  ./
                \------------------------/

Assault Hint: use blaster bombs to penetrate one of the legs at the bottom
and go up that way.  Leave one team at bottom to watch the bottom doors.
Once central gravlift on level 2 is secure use blaster bomb to widen doors
on level 3 to 2 wide, then send tanks through.


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

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


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





     ==Cheat==

     Yes, if you REALLY want to cheat, here's how to add TONS to money
     into your accout.  Yes, you are embezzling the world to support
     XCOM.  You are twisting arms, and it is for a GOOD cause.  :-D

     Any way, here's how:

     Use a sector editor (such as Norton DiskEdit) and edit LIGLOB.DAT
     in your saved game's directory. Overwrite the first 8 bytes with

     64 64 64 64 00 00 00 00...

     You should get about 1.68 billion dollars. (In case you are
     wondering, 64646464h is a hexadecimal number.  In decimal it is
     1,684,300,900.)  You can also use

     FF FF FF 7F 00 00 00 00...

     Which will give you about 2.1 billion dollars. (7FFFFFFFh =
     2,147,484,647)