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                             AMIGA VERSION

                           XCOM: UFO Defense
                          (UFO - Enemy Unknown)

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

      works great as a Supplement to the Official Strategy Guide!

                            Updated Feb-11/95

                 Maintained by Kuo-Sheng (Kasey) Chang

                     Amiga Version by Tommy Iversen


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 in
    stores (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 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,
    CMDR; Tim Chawn, CMDR; Doug Osborne, SG; Stuart Lamble, SG; Seth
    Cohn, SG; Bill Soo, SG; Jeff Shaffer, Economist; Rob Eiben, SG; Jim
    Muchow, SG; Menachem Pasteich, architect; Paul Close, publicist and
    simulation expert; and fellow XCOM players all over the world
    discussing the game on USENET, America On-line and elsewhere.

    Some strategies and tactics here first appeared in Computer Gaming
    World and Computer Game Review magazines' strategy articles on XCOM.
    Thanks to Jeff James (CGW) and Kevin Perry (CGR), we honor you as
    XCOM Strategists.

    UFO: Enemy Unknown users should be able to use this supplement with
    minimum changes. Most tips will apply to both versions, esp. the
    tactical tips.  The charts on the other hand may have different
    numbers, so compare it carefully please.  See 0.3 if you have the
    Amiga version of UFO: Enemy Unknown.

0.3 Notes on the USG

    New/Improved sections since last update are marked by @.

    PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark.  I've
    already been reminded on the fact that I forgot to mention if one
    can get back a country infiltrated by aliens (i.e. no more funding,
    and the answer is NO) and how to change soldier's name (click on
    the name in soldier stats screen in Geoscape, fixed). If there's
    any more, PLEASE let me know so I can fix them!

    If you find an question about the game that is not covered in the
    USG, I'll include it in the next update.

    Tommy Iversen has graciously accepted the task of converting the
    USG for Amiga. (Yes, there is an Amiga version).  His e-mail
    address is [e-mail]

    If you want new versions of this faq, you will find them on Aminet
    and I will mail it to everyone that mail me and ask for it.
    I will anounce it on comp.sys.amiga.games some days before I release
    it to the net.

0.4 The author of the Amiga Version

    Im just a guy that got hold of the PC version of the faq and found
    out that the Amiga version had changed from the Pc version and the
    horrible bugs where removed and some new ones addes :-)

    Im in theese days serving my army duty. This means little time for
    my beloved amiga. But I'm doing my best.

    This means, that if you email me you can expect a answer
    within 6 days. Im home almost every weekend.

                    * BEFORE WE START *

    X-com is the American name of the game. Thats why the name X-com
    will keep on popping up in this faq.

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 or tips?
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
     Any other questions?
     (if information you are looking for is not listed, e-mail me and
     I'll give you an answer, and I'll include it in next update)


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 distributed by MicroProse
        UK.  It was imported into the US later as XCOM.

        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 Is there any patches for UFO Amiga Version ?

              Not that I know of.

        1.3.3 So what is the difference besides the title?

              Quite small, mainly price changes for items (esp.
              "armour").

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

        Commodore A1200/A4000

        It supports Hard Disk

        2 mb ram needed.

        I saw that someone mentioning a Cd32 version, but I have NOT
        heard about this, needer have I seen it in the shops.
        Chould someone confirm this for me ?

        It comes on 4 3.5" DD disks, and needs about 3.9MB of hard drive
        space to install

        Playable demos are not avaiable as far as I know.

@   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.  I don't know if  MicroProse is aware
        of these problems we have with UFO.


@       1.5.1 The computer goes into Guru.

              Symptom: The computer gurus.
              Well, I'v atleast found 1 horrible bug in this game,
              but I don't know why this happens and WHEN it happens.
              In other words, it just happen :-)

              Cause and Solution: I wish I knew, but I don't.


        1.5.2 The research bug

              Symptom: This is a bug that I can't ALWAYS reproduce, but
              it has hit me a few times now. When doing research on a
              Sectoid Medic, Floater Soldier or anything simular, the game
              sometime gurus when the reasearch is complete. What happens
              is that when the reasearch reports pops up on your screen,
              you will see the info on something completely different than
              you researched. When you hit ok, the Amiga will guru.

              Cause and Solution: Once again: I wish I knew, but I don't.


        1.5.3  The random bug ?

              Well, there appears to be a few random bugs in this game.
              - Iv lost tanks on missions where I never brought a tank.
              - Soldiers sometimes die without beeing shoot or leaving the
                UFO craft (This happend to me. A soldier died from fatal
                wound. He never left the ship and had other soldiers in
                front of him. He died on the first round. Don't ask me
                what happend. Maybe a bug, maybe not.

               Cause and Solution: None


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

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

        ----
        UFO 2: Terror From the Deep

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

        Seeking to take advantage of a weakened Earth, UFO'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 UFO: 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
        UFO2, looks just like UFO with slightly better graphics, and
        the scene is underwater.  There's a slide show available for
        download on America On-Line, and presumably on the MP's BBS.
        (looks pretty cool!) (any one found it in Internet?)

        UFO3 is in embyonic stages will will be more radically
        different from UFO/UFO2, according to MicroProse.

        There was currently no plan to port this game to other platforms
        (no Mac, no Amiga, etc).  On the other hand, I just got a
        message from an European reader that there IS an Amiga 1200
        version (and a CD32 version) of UFO and another asking for my
        permission to convert this guide for the Amiga version, so the
        Amiga version DOES exist (Europe only).

        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
        UFO 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 UFO
        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 UFO 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 (and the
        graph). 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.

        [Whether you want to attack smaller UFOs is up to you]

        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

        UFO 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

        [also see 3.0 for UFO Bases]

        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.
        (does this work for the Amiga Version ? Anyone)

    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 usually 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 a few 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!)

        Landed/crashed UFOs still has info, such as size.

        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 UFO activity probably
        have an alien base.

@   2.5 Target Selection

        If several targets presents itself, which one should you attack?
        Here are some of my general guidelines:

        2.5.1 UFOs in flight

              Attack the biggest UFO you can handle.  Supply ships are
              easy, terror ships are okay, battleships are death unless
              you have Firestorms and Avengers and can attack with
              multiple crafts simultaneously

              Launch from the closest base FROM UFOs INTENDED TARGET if
              it is known or can be deduced from UFOs path.  Launching
              from the closest base at the time of contact will result
              in a tail chase, resulting frequently in lost tracking and
              waste of fuel and time.

              If the landing site is on the dark side, you may want to
              patrol nearby and wait for light.  Of course, in the
              meanwhile the landed UFO may take off again.

              Keep a fighter on top of a landed UFO in case it takes off
              before your transport can get to it.

        2.5.2 Downed/Landed UFOs

              Attack the biggest UFO you can handle. Terror ships have
              annoying terrorists (esp. Chrysalids!) and Battleship
              simply have lots of enemies (and terrorists, depending on
              mission).  Supply ships are okay if you watch the grav-
              lifts closely

              Larger UFOs have more aliens and more artifacts to
              recover, so risk and reward are proportional.

              If you have a choice, attack a landed UFO instead of a
              shot-down UFO.  Landed UFO are undamaged and therefore
              have more artifacts (plus 50 units of E-115 per engine)
              but of course have also more aliens.

              Some veterans have reported that they can finish game
              faster by attacking landed UFOs only.  While score may not
              be as spectacular, they also have less risk of retaliation
              and can get more research done and have more money (from
              the extra booty)

              Don't follow an UFO around with a loaded transport (with
              soldiers and equipment).  They are wasting fuel and time
              and they may not have enough endurance to finish the race
              and not able to respond to a different emergency (such as
              a terror site suddenly popping up elsewhere)

        2.5.3 Terror sites

              Attack one ASAP, no exceptions.  Divert from other UFO or
              base attacks if necesary, and definitely attack at night.
              The penalty for ignoring a terror site is simply too large
              to ignore.

        2.5.4 Alien bases

              Depending on your soldiers, you should attack a base as
              soon as you are able to (don't take rookies though).  You
              should not allow more than one alien base on Earth since
              you can't really afford the penalty.

              You may want to consider leaving a base alone nearby so
              you can keep attacking the supply UFOs that drops by.
              Just make sure you can handle the alien retaliation.


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 UFO 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 UFO 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 (covering Australia).

        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 UFO 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
        (or SouthCom, if you want to be authentic), Asia is AsiaCom,
        Africa is AfriCom, and so on.  Sounds military.  :-)

        Naming bases is important because it means less confusion on the
        Intercept screen on choosing which base to launch the fighters
        and transports.  Launching from the wrong one means the craft
        will not get there in time, run out of fuel before getting there
        (never get there since it will come back first), etc.

    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.

              Each radar has a 5 percent chance of detecting an UFO
              within its detection radius (just like the UFOpedia says),
              so you don't need both small and large radars, just large
              will do (unless you run out of money!).  Ten radars means
              50% chance of detection, etc.

              Later you can replace all the radars with ONE hyperwave
              decoder.  One of those detects 100% UFOs in range.
              Dismantle the radars to save on maintainence (see 5.4)

@       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.

              Consider adding defense now (or assign more guards and
              HWPs) since aliens may get mad seeing their UFOs getting
              destroyed in your area.

@       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.

              Consider adding more defense, esp. when the aliens will
              get really mad as you attack more of their UFOs and/or
              bases in the area.

@       3.3.4 Research Base / Manufacture Base

              Base should specialize in either research or manufacture,
              not both (doing so is 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.

              You shouldn't have to build a lot of defenses here, esp.
              if you build the 3.3.5 variant.

        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
                  three more structures down the right side.

                  Basically, put the access lift off to one side of the
                  map and try to isolate that and hangars from the rest
        XXXXXX    of the base.
        X.XXXX
        X.XXXX    There is one catch: sometimes, there's a bug in
        A....X    the game that eliminates some doors that leads you to
        HHHH.X    the rest of the base.  Without rockets and blaster
        HHHH.X    bombs to "dig", you can't kill the aliens in the other
                  section and thus cannot finish the battle at all.

          * I don't know if this bug is in the Amiga version *

    3.5 What should I add to my base at first?  Later?

        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.  Of course, don't clog up the 80-items list.

        Try to keep an hangar available so you can build more crafts.
        Remember that transferring crafts is free.

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

@       WARNING: previous versions of this guide listed that HWPs at
        an empty base (i.e. no soldiers) can defend.  I copied this
        hint from _Computer Game Review_'s strategy article.  I have
        received at least two angry statements telling me that this is
        NOT so.  Each have lost at least TWO "undefended" bases.

        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. During a month, only one
        out of ten battleships made it through my 3500 defense, and its
        remaining landing parties are easy to wipe out with only HWPs.

        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.

        Clean out old inventory! Old inventory will prevent you from
        getting to the GOOD weapons since you are still limited to 80
        items during base defense, and base have lots of stuff...

@       The 80 items are pulled from inventory in the order on the SELL
        screen, top to bottom in order.  So if you have lots of lasers
        you'll never got to plasmas and blaster bombs.

        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.

        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   400k  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     34   600k  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.

@       NOTE 4: What the manual does NOT tell you is Hyperwave Decoder
                detects 100% of the UFOs within its range, and it has a
                range LONGER than Large Radar.  Once you have this, you
                don't need any radars.

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

Not confirmed for Amiga Version (havent had the time to check this out).

        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   Western China
        Asia, South East      750,000   Japan, Eastern 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 UFO Crafts and their weapons

        UFO crafts comes in two flavors: traditional, and UFO-based.
        traditional, besides using conventional jet engines, also
        requires MONTHLY RENT, so replace them with UFO-based crafts as
        soon as possible.

        UFO weapons also comes in two flavors: built vs bought.

        4.1.1 UFO Crafts

                    Speed  Accel  Fuel  Weapons  Hull  Cargo HWPs Note
        Skyranger    760      2   1500     0     150    14    3
        Interceptor 2100      3   1000     2     100     0    0
        ----Research required----
        Firestorm   4200      9   20(E) 4  2     500     0    0   (1)
        Lightning   3100      8   30(E) 6  1     800    12    0   (2)
        Avenger     5400     10   60(E)12  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 need to divide by 5
                  for the actual units used. Avenger takes actually 12
                  units of E-115 for refuel, instead of 60 as written

        4.1.2 Craft 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.
              Lightning has four ONE-space doors which means it cannot
              carry any HWPs.

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


        4.1.3 Craft Weapons

                        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      100
        Plasma Beam       140      52      140%       6s      100
        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)

        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.

        4.1.4 Craft Weapons 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.  With two to three interceptors you can
              take down terror ships or supply ships easily.

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

              Forget laser cannons except for selling (see section 5)


    4.2 UFO 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 percent of a soldier's total TU.

        Also see 8.6.X on battle notes for each type of weapon.

                     (Accuracy / TU% needed)
                      Aimed    Snap    Auto  Dam Type  Ammo (Capacity)
Pistol                78/30   60/18           26  AP   Pistol Clip (12)
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.  Replace them with laser/heavy plasma and
        blaster 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

        Get the latest and greatest ASAP, buy/built them.  You need the
        extra TUs and ammo the provide early in the game.  When you have
        lots of veterans HWPs lose their importance, but is still
        important as just a scout.

        You must buy enough ammo for HWP that requires them for them to
        be available for deployment.  Tank cannon, Tank/Rocket, and
        Hover/launcher each require their own ammo in the quantity
        indicated under "Shots".  Make sure you get the right ones.


    4.4 Armor
                          Fr/Sd/Rr/Bt
        None               5/ 5/ 5/ 5
        --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,
        and finishing a hovertank should get your flying suit.

        Power suit is the most "efficient" amor.  Flying suit requires
        a lot of elerium, so reserve them for scouts and officers.

    4.5 Equipment

        Equipment are non-combat items that you may need to use in
        BattleScape.

        4.5.1 Equipment list

                       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)

        4.5.2 Very General Advice

              Carry one 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.

              Medikits are not quite as useful when you don't have good
              armor, because even a weak hit becomes a kill with bad
              armor.  Before then you can distribute less medikits.

              You can pick up a thrown electroflare and throw it again.
              So you don't need to carry too many of those around.

              Mind Probe and Motion Scanner are optional items. Motion
              Scanner 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 to a ground battle.

        4.5.3 How do I use...

              Check your UFOpedia.  Below are some additional tips:

              Electroflare

                 You can pick up an electroflare on the ground and throw
                 it out again, illuminating another area

                 Chuck one inside the building through a window to see
                 inside.  You may have to kneel to angle one in.

              Medikit

                 Heal fatal wounds first, worry about unconscious and
                 morale later.  If necesary, use TWO people's medikits.

                 To revive a person, keep administering stimulant until
                 s/he no longer shows up on the ground in the inventory
                 screen.  Should appear next turn at an adjacent square.

              Motion Scanner

                 Remember the top of display is always north (like the
                 overhead map) and YOUR facing is the middle arrow.

                 Use this to look around corners and behind doors.
                 Aliens hardly ever stay still between rounds.

              Mind Probe

                 Usually you would use this to ID a target for capture
                 but here's a trick that you can use if you do NOT have
                 one: try to pick up the unconscious alien on the ground
                 will also identify alien's rank and position.


    4.6 Stuff that can be bought, hire, or leased

        These are the stuff you can buy, usually not very interesting.

        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   20 rd/clip
        Pistol Clip       Ammo                70
        Rifle             Weapon            3000   25 rd/clip
        Rifle Clip        Ammo               200
        Heavy Cannon      Weapon            6400   6 rd/clip
        HC-AP             Ammo               300
        HC-HE             Ammo               500
        HC-I              Ammo               400
        Auto Cannon       Weapon           13500   14 rd/clip
        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

        See 5.4 for profitability study of these items.

                  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      -    304000
Psi amp              500   160k      4       1      -    194700
[Armor]
Personal armor       800    22k     12       -      4     54000
Power suit          1000    42k     16       5      5     85000
Flying suit         1400    58k     16      16      5    115000
[HWP]
Tank/laser          1200   500k     25       -      -    594000
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       -    170         -**
[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 sell or waste any of it


5.0 Finance

    5.1 What really eats up money at UFO?

        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 UFO:

        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?

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

        Recently, we at the UFO 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.

        [some numbers are rounded to the nearest 1000 (K) for space]

                        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     1A   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
        UFO. (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 "UFO 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!

        This is NOT confird on the Amiga Version.

    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.

    5.7 Aliens signed pact with XXX who stopped paying me!

        Nothing you can do.  One of the Infiltration UFOs got through.
        (See 9.8 UFO Missions) and now the country stopped paying you.
        Consensus on the net is you can NOT get them back (i.e. nullify
        the pact). The OSG confirms so.

        On the other hand, some UFO players have reported that certain
        countries (very few though) have returned.  Any UFO players
        have their countries coming back from an alien pact?


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.

        Research prisoners ASAP.  See 9.3 for benefits you can gain from
        each type of prisoners.  Grab a navigator would mean that you
        can reap significant saving in radars (after you get the
        hyperwave decoder, of course) and better interception.

    6.3 Research Tree

        [OSG has chart on 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 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 UFO crafts.  Some of
    these hints and related hints are also listed in Section 2.

    Also see 12.2 for UFO recognition chart (and floorplan)

    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.

        [Interestingly, they sometimes abort their mission (just leave),
        esp. in cases where they can't find your base to attack.]

        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
        UFO craft weapons.  Only Firestorms and Avengers can stand up
        to it, NEVER use Interceptors (or you WILL lose them).  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.

    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.

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

              * PsiCorp is named after the organization in Babylon 5

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

              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.
              (contributed by Seth Cohn)

              To change the name, go to the soldiers screen (the one
              base display) that displays their stats.  Click on their
              name, and a cursor comes up, allowing you to change them.

        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
              (and heavier) stuff.  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.

@       8.1.3 How do I improve stats of soldiers?

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

@       8.1.4 Dividing up specialties

              Assuming 10 soldiers and 1 HWP (normal for a Skyranger)
              you should have the following:

              1 scout
              2 soldiers heavy weapon squad
              3 soldiers squad A
              3 soldiers squad B
              1 officer
              1 HWP

              The two highest strength soldiers should be the heavy
              weapon folks, who would be carrying autocannon and rocket
              launcher in the early game, and blaster launchers later.

              The scout should have the highest TU (low strength is
              okay) and will be carrying pistols and grenades and maybe
              stun weapons.

              The two squads can go after different targets, one squad
              lead by officer and supported by HWP, while the other
              squad supported by scout and heavy weapons.

@       8.1.5 How do I get more officers?

              Officers come from Squaddies, and squaddies come from
              Rookies who survived a mission and gotten at least one
              kill.  Section 3.2.4 Promtions of manual explains how many
              soldiers you need for officers to show up.


    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.

              Prime a grenade for most soldiers and be ready to throw it
              as you get off the ramp.

              Move the initial soldiers a few squares away before
              deploying the next two so you don't invite grenades and/or
              blaster bomb.

        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.  (It was reported
              that one alien shot itself when attempting to shoot down
              the gravlift)

              Kneel whenever possible.  It increases your accuracy and
              decreases the enemy's (make you a smaller target)

              Always hide behind something; it could mean the difference
              between a wound vs. death!  Of course, that also means
              that you have to have enough TUs

              If you have flying suit, do not stay in mid-air unless you
              have something to hide behind also.

        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
              aliens in range shoot at you out of your visual range.

                   visible
                    range
                A-----|-->A
                      |   |             YOU
                   A<-|---+

              This is why soldiers may get mind-blasted even if no
              aliens are in sight.


        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.

              Watch carefully where the shots came from.

              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.

        8.2.5 Spread out and cover each other

              Bunch up invites enemy attack you with grenades, or worse,
              blasterbombs.  Stay about four to eight squares apart.

              Aliens DO attack from behind sometimes, so try to have two
              troopers who can watch each other's back.  This is
              ESPECIALLY important when going up against Chryssalids,
              who moves extremely fast [~120 TUs!]  It will turn your
              soldiers into zombies in a blink of an eye...  One player
              reported losing the entire squad to a single Chryssalid on
              a terror mission!  It pays to watch each other's back!

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

               A                          A

                     C             C
                           ===>>
               B                          B

                     D             D

              A and B moves forward, leapfrogging C and D.  C and D
              would look forward when A and B move, ready to shoot at
              any spotted enemies. When A and B has stopped, C and D
              would turn around and watch the backs of A and B, who
              would also turn facing outwards.

@       8.2.6 Retreat (Tactical withdrawal)

              Sometimes you can't win and it's time to cut your losses.

              To retreat from a landing assault (UFO recovery or
              assault, terror site), move any many units as you can back
              into the transport, then hit the dust-off button.  Any
              units left behind are "missing in action".

              If the only solider onboard the transport is unconscious
              and you select dust-off, s/he's also missing in action,
              and you lose the transport.

              To retreat an attack on an alien base, you must pull every
              one that you can back into one of those green-floor rooms
              that you came down in.  Soldiers on gravlifts (even if
              they are in the green-floor room) as well as soldiers
              elsewhere are MIA when you select dust-off.

              To retreat from a base defense mission, just hit dust-off.
              You will lose the whole base to the aliens, of course,
              including the crafts (no home elsewhere for them)


    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 and grenades don't miss by very far.

              High Explosive is just a very heavy grenade, and you will
              have problems tossing it.  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 (maybe outer?) 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.

              You can toss grenades to upper levels and through windows,
              though you may have to kneel down to do it.


        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)

              Remember that blaster bomb do NOT explode when they reach
              their last waypoint.  They explode when they actually HIT
              something.  If you just fly a BB into an empty field, it
              will NOT explode.

              Blaster bombs is great for UFO attacks.  Use them to punch
              holes in the UFO's outer hull for a new door. 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.

        8.3.4 Rookie Plasma Fodder

              One possible if cruel tactic is to use rookies instead of
              HWPs as scouts.  It is a smaller target, though have less
              armor and a lot less TUs.  On the other hand, they cost
              about 1/10th as much.

@       8.3.5 Leave opportunity for shots

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

              Have soldiers kneeling close to UFO doors is a good way to
              get better reactions, if they have plenty of TUs left to
              shoot any aliens who comes out.

@       8.3.9 Saving ammo

              UFO 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 (plus clips the alien was carrying).


    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.
              Remember to stand RIGHT NEXT to the target, and DIRECTLY
              FACING the target, or you cannot stun!

              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
              full turn), THEN stun it, or otherwise it is NOT captured!
              (somehow computer counts mind-controlled alien as
              "friendly" and not "captured") (confirmed by Bill Soo)

              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 for choking
              sounds.  :-D

              As you can probably tell from the pictures, Power Suit and
              flying suit are immune to smoke damage (has built-in
              environmental helmet)

        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, many have reported that the civilians get
              MAD when they wake up and you have to kill them, so finish
              mission fast if you do stun one.

        8.4.5 Do you HAVE an alien containment facility?

              Does the home base of the transport have alien containment
              facility available?  If not, all aliens you captured will
              DIE upon end of ground battle.


    8.5 Psi Combat

        To gain psionic power, you must capture a Sectoid Leader or
        Commander, or any Ethereal, and successfully research
        (interrogate) them.  Then you need to build psi labs and send
        your soldiers to be assessed and trained.  Then you can use your
        psi powers in combat with psi amps.

        General observation: aliens do NOT pick up dropped weapons.


        Offensive tips:

        Panicked aliens drop their weapons (just as panicked UFO
        soldiers) Of course, they will pull out anything else they got
        left on them as well as use their natural abilities (HTH or Psi
        attacks) if any.

        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.

        You can access inventory of an alien under your mind control
        even though the inventory button does not work.  Select one of
        YOUR soldiers, then use scroll button on top to scroll to the
        alien.  (Watch out for the 1.5.6 bug/feature!)

        To get more ammo, mind control an alien, and have it throw its
        weapon toward you or drop everything on the ground.

        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 (actual formula is in the OSG)


        Defensive tips:

        The only way to protect yourself against psi attacks is to
        kill the attackers quickly.  While some soldiers at the
        beginning may be more resistant to psi attacks (i.e. high psi
        strength), without psi labs to help you identify them it is a
        all by chance.

        If a solider was mind-controlled more than once in a battle and
        s/he survives, sack him/her immediately after.  S/he probably
        has low bravery and/or low psi strength.

        Get rookies with high bravery ensures they are more resistant to
        alien panic attacks (though they may not be as resistant to mind
        control, that has a inherent lower chance of success)


    8.6 Battle Notes on weapons

        8.6.1 General Weapon Notes

              Most pistols and rifles holds 20 rounds or more, so ammo
              is usually not a problem unless you fire a lot on auto or
              you carry something like autocannon (14) or heavy cannon
              (6). Usually one extra clip should be enough.  In case of
              plasma or laser weapons one/none is enough.

              Use HWPs (and rookies?) to "beat the bush" and spot
              enemies.  THEN shoot them.  Once an alien is visible,
              everybody can take a shot as long as there's nothing in
              the way.

              If you can, take a aimmed shot while staying in cover.
              You want a kill, not spraying shots all over the place.
              "One shot, one kill" is not a bad motto.  On the other
              hand...

              If you have the ammo, use auto shot whenever you can.
              Why?  It ensures a kill.  Let me explain:

              Auto shot fires three rounds, but is the least accurate of
              the three shots.  On the other hand, when you use the laws
              of probability, you actually come out ahead using an
              auto-shot, since each shot is calculated independently.

              For example, let's say chance of hitting in auto shot is
              25%, and snap shot is 30% (average).  The chance of
              getting at least one hit out of three is 1-(chance of no
              hits).  So 25% hit prob AND no hit in three tries is

              0.75 * 0.75 * 0.75 = 0.42

              Chance of getting at least one hit is then

              1 - 0.42 = 0.56, or 56%

              Which is much better than 30% (but no higher than the
              aimed percentage).  When your accuracy improves, you
              increase your chances of hitting the target multiple
              times, which ensures a kill, and you use less TUs than ONE
              aimmed shot.

              It is not unknown to see three aliens line up in a row,
              you fired auto, and each shot killed one alien.

        8.6.2 Pistols and Rifles

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

        8.6.3 HeavyCannon and AutoCannon

              HeavyCannon is slightly more accurate than the AutoCannon
              and slightly more damage, but a lot less effective with
              only six shots and no auto-fire mode. I'd rather use the
              AutoCannon.

              AutoCannon is probably the most effective weapon in the
              early game, with auto mode, three types of ammo, and 14
              shot magazine.  Still, 14 shots is not much in auto-mode,
              and three magazines can run out on you pretty quick.  It
              is also VERY HEAVY. (more than twice of heavy plasma)

@       8.6.4 Rocket Launcher

              Rocket Launcher packs your biggest punch in the early
              game, and being an area weapon makes it invaluable in
              dealing with nasty Reavers and Cyberdiscs.  On the other
              hand, you can only carry three reloads, and they only fly
              in straight lines.

              Try to have another team member carry reloads.  When you
              got to a good firing point, have that guy drop the reloads
              on the ground, then you stand on top of the reloads.

              Don't give rocket launcher to rookies with low morale.  If
              they go berzerk, you may lose a lot of people.

        8.6.5 Laser Pistol, Laser Rifle, and Heavy Laser

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

        8.6.6 Grenades and High Explosive

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

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

              (D=Door     P=Proximity Grenade     A=Alien)

              Alien just behind door, does NOT trigger the grenade since
              not in radius of 1.  Then Alien steps through the door,
              and BOOM!

                 |                          |
                AD P                        DAP
                 |                          |

              [Jim Muchow's variation]

              Throw one in front of medium/large scout's exterior door,
              one off like above, then hide near the doors in the
              shadows so you are not visible.


              |   X = YOU          Just stand there, keep others out of
              |                    sight.  After a few turns, alien
              |                    will come out and take a peek,
              \----\               wondering where did you go.  And as
                   |               soon as it steps out the door, BOOM!
                   |
                   D P = Prox      Repeat as needed.  They are dumb...
                   |   Grenade


              I haven't found smoke grenades to be that useful.  I've
              tried it in covering my deployment, but it doesn't seem to
              work that well.  You can try to use it as a stun weapon
              alternative, but it's bound to be slow.

              I've yet to use any high-explosive in any of the games I
              played, but [NET] has reported that they are very useful
              taking out Cyberdiscs in tight urban settings, due to more
              blast power, useful before you get alien grenades.
              I got a mail from a guy saying that he used the
              high-explosive on holes in the UFO roof. Iv yet to spot a
              hole in a UFO roof.

              Sometimes kneeling down will allow you to throw where you
              cannot before

        8.6.7 Plasma Pistol, Plasma Rifle, and Heavy Plasma

              Plasma weapons are good weapons, and the heavy-plasma is
              the only heavy weapon in the game with auto mode.  On the
              other hand, Heavy Plasma is , like its name says, "heavy".
              Heavy Plasma should only carried by a few select members,
              due to possible shortages in clips early on and its weight
              (later you'll find PLENTY of reloads so no problem).

              Heavy Plasma can punch through inner walls of UFOs when
              auto- fired a couple times, useful for pincer attacks in
              Supply Ships, when one lift goes straight to third level
              while another lift goes only to second.  The guys take the
              high lift can punch through the walls on second level and
              attack both sides at once. [see 12.x]

        8.6.8 Blaster Launcher

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

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

              [NET] You can also blow open parts of UFO and go in that
              way instead of through the door.  Many have reported that
              wrecking the bridge first with a well-placed blaster bomb
              or two into the upper level will decrease casualties by a
              large amount.

              [KSC] Use blaster bomb to enlarge a standard door so you
              can fit a tank through by targeting the wall next to the
              door.  You can also try this with heavy plasma as those
              can sometimes punch through walls.  This is great for
              battleships since the large central lift allows tanks to
              go up to any level, and they also have 2-space corridors
              wide enough for tanks.

        8.6.9 Small Launcher

              This is the only weapon that gives you standoff stun
              capability. Get this when you need to stun aliens and do
              not rely on stun rods.

              Try to back this up with another stun bomb or a pistol.
              Stun damage counts against alien's health, and a hit can
              drop its health low enough so it gets stunned.


9.0 The Aliens

    Most information here can be accessed via the UFOpedia.

    9.1 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, depending on rank and position.
        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.  Some alien species are
        also more intelligent than others.  For example, Ethereals and
        Sectoids have higher intelligence than Mutons and Reapers.


    9.2 Alien attack/defense summary

        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 : esp. vulnerable to type(s) of attack

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

    9.3 Alien specialties and information possible from them

        Alien Soldier            ----- mission (harvest, base, etc)
        Alien Medic              ----- Species information *
        Alien Navigator          ----- Hyper-Wave Decoder
        Alien Engineer           ----- UFO stats (of that UFO)
        Alien Leader             ----- The Martian Solution
        Ethereal/ Sectoid Leader ----- Psi Lab, which leads to
         or command                      psi amp and mind shield
        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


    9.4 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 UFO!
        Base           Survey and establish alien base, may contain alien
                       commander, esp. higher levels
        Terror         Creates terror sites when lands at city, so get
                       them fast!
        Retaliation    Scout / attack UFO base, greatest threat
        Supply         Supply alien bases.  Trail them and patrol nearby
                       to find alien base

@   9.5 Battle Notes on individual aliens

        Chrysalid, Reaper, Silacoid, and Zombie are hand-to-hand only,
        which means if you have flying suit, take off and shoot them
        from the air.  They cannot attack things in mid-air nor through
        a window.  Reaper, being double-wide, cannot attack through
        single-wide doors.

        Celatids are VERY dangerous and causes A LOT of damage if you
        don't have good armor.  Kill them ASAP.

        Kill Chrysalids ASAP at a terror site.  Kill them ASAP, even if
        it means wiping out the civilians near it.  Use rockets and
        blaster bombs and grenades on it freely.

        If you are REALLY worried about Chrysalids, have everyone carry
        a PRIMED grenade around (prime it first).  If your soldier got
        turned into a zombie, all equipment gets dropped, and the
        grenade should go BOOM at the end of the turn

        Usually you only find floaters flying (i.e. on higher levels),
        so if you can fly, you do gain an advantage, esp. if you go on
        top of buildings and start sniping.

        You cannot stun a Cyberdisc.  Just destroy it.

@   9.6 UFO floorplans

        Following floor plans are approximately 1x1.  Approximate
        only, so no complaints about precision please.

          KEY:
          D/Dr = Door                 Gr   = Gravlift (Up/Down)
          Gu   = Gravlift Up          Gd   = Gravlift Down
          P/Pw = Alien Power Unit     S    = Alien Surgery
          F    = Alien Food           X    = Alien Examination


Small Scout   123     Looks like an Apollo 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 0--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    |
              |____|    |__________|    |____|
              |                              |
              |                              |
              |     E    NNN    NNN    E     |
              \\\        NNN    NNN        ///
                 \\\                    ///
                    \\\______________///


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---+    |      ./
            \.     |                   |    ./
              \.   |                   |  ./
                \------------------------/



Harvester     1234567890123456
(Medium) (?)  /---|------|---\
              |---|------|---|
              |---|------|---|
              \---|------|---/
Level 0                             Level 1
           /----------\                        /----------\
         /   SS         \                    /  | Empty  |  \
       /   SSSS       F   \                /    |  Room  |    \
     /                      \            /      | Up to  |      \
   / FF               F   F   \        /   Gu   |  this  |   Gu   \
  +                            +      +___DD___ | level  |___DD____+
  |      +----------------+    |      |         +---DD---+         |
  |      |  Pw         Pw |    D      |                      FF    |
  |      +-------------DD-+----+      |  F   F   +------+__________|
  +          |      |          +      +  F   F   |      |          +
    \   F  F |  Gu  |   Gu    /         \    F   D  Gd  D   Gd    /
      \    F |      |       /             \      |      |       /
        \    |      |     /                 \    +--DD--+     /
          \--+--DD--+---/                     \---------+---/

Level 2
           /-+------+-\
         /   |      |   \
       /     +--DD--+     \
     /       |      |       \
   /   Gd    D      D    Gd   \
  +          |      |          +
  +----------+      +----------+
  |N                           |
  |N        NNN    NNN         |
  +         NNN    NNN         +
    \                         /
      \                     /
        \                 /
          \             /
            -----------

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

Level 0
        /----------\              /----------\
      //     Gu     \\          //     Gu     \\
    //                \\      //                \\
   /     ---------      \+--+/      ---------     \
  |     |         |                |         |     |
  |     |          ----------------          |     |
  |     D    Pw           Pw           Pw    D     |
  |     |          ----------------          |     |
  |     |         |                |         |     |
   \     ---------      /+--+\      ---------     /
    \\                //      \\                //
      \\            //          \\            //
        \----DD----/              \----DD----/

Level 1
        /----------\              /----------\
      //   ------   \\          //   ------   \\
    //     |    |     \\      //     |    |     \\
  //  F    | Gu |       \+--+/       | Gr |    F  \\
 /         |    |                    |    |         \
| F   F    --DD--      ---DD---      ------    F   F |
|                     | S      |                     |
| F   F    F    F     |        |     F    F    F   F |
|                     | S      |                     |
| F   F    --DD--      ---DD---      --DD--    F   F |
 \         |    |                    |    |         /
  \\  F    |    |       /+--+\       |    |    F  //
    \\     ------     //      \\     ------     //
      \\            //          \\            //
        \----------/              \----------/

Level 2
        /----------\              /----------\
      //            \\          //   | Gu |   \\
    //                \\      //     --DD--     \\
   /   +----------+     \+--+/                    \
  |    |          |                                |
  |    |          |------+------+------DD------+---|
  |    D   NNNN   |      |      |              |   |
  |    |   NNNN   |      D      |              D   |
  |    |          |      |      +--+        +--+   |
   \   +----------+     /+--+\     |        |     /
    \\                //      \\   +--------+   //
      \\            //          \\            //
        \----DD----/              \----DD----/


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

  Level 0                              Level 1
        ^     +----+     ^                  ^     +----+     ^
      // \\   |    |   // \\              // \\   |    |   // \\
    //     \\/      \//     \\          //     \ /      \ /     \\
   /                          \        /        +-+               \
   \                          /        \          +-DD-+          /
    \\    ______DD______    //          \\    +---+    +---+    //
  +--/    |            |    \--+      +--/  +-+N        N  +-+  \--+
  |       |            |       |      |     | N              |     |
  |  Pw   |  XX XX XX  |   Pw  |      |     |N              N|     |
  |       |     XX     |       |      |     |                |     |
  +--\    |            |    /--+      +--\  +-+            +-+  /--+
    //    |_____DD_____|    \\          //    +---+    +---+    \\
   /        |        |        \        /          +----+          \
   \   Gu   |        |        /        \   Gd                     /
    \\     / \      / \     //          \\     //\      /\\     //
      \\ //   |    |   \\ //              \\ //   |    |   \\ //
        V     +-DD-+     V                  V     +-DD-+     V


9.7  UFO speed, range, etc.

                   Max   Hull    Weapon*   Ship   Max**
             Size Speed Damage Power Range Width  Crew
Small Scout   VS  2200    50     0    0      3      1
Medium Scout  S   2400   200    20  120      9      9
Large Scout   S   2700   250    20  272     12     13
Harvester     M   4000   500    40  176     16     21 (1L)
Abductor      M   4300   500    40  160     12     18 (1L)
Terror Ship   L   4800  1200   120  336     30     14/10 (1L)
Supply Ship   VL  3200  2200    60  288     30     20 (1L)
Battleship    L   5000  3000   140  520     30     22/6 (1C/1L)

*  Weapon Range should be divided by 8 for range in KM, see 7.5
** Maximum crew is absolute maximum reported in one mission.  Number is
   in format of X/Y (Z) where X is host race (race the UFO belongs to),
   Y as terrorists and Z as number of leaders (L) or commander (C) in
   the host race.  Any 4-space creatures counts as 4 aliens for this.


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
                          Pro                 Con
          Rifles     more powerful       use more TUs
                     more accurate       two-handed weapon
          Pistols    uses less TUs       less powerful
                     one handed weapon   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 The Great Pistol vs Rifle debate II (by Paul Close)

          Not being ad handy with theoretical statistics as I am with
          discrete simulation, I wrote a very simple program to simulate
          100,000 turns where each weapon was used in as many times as
          possible, up to 80% of the turn.  Sinc eht time to use the
          weapons is also a percentage of the turn, simple subtraction
          sufficed.  :-)  In each case where an auto mode was available,
          it was used instead of snap shot. I felt that 70-80% was a
          good compromise between some movement, but still inflicting
          maximum damage.

                             TU   average    +/- 1 std dev
                        A/S   %  hits  dmg  hits     damage

          Pistol        0/4  72  2.4   62  1.4-3.4   36- 87
          Rifle         2/0  70  2.1   63  0.9-3.3   28- 98
          Heavy Cannon  0/2  66  1.2   67  0.5-1.9   28-105
          Auto Cannon   2/0  80  1.9   80  0.8-3.1   32-128

          Laser Pistol  3/0  75  2.5  115  1.2-3.9   53-177
          Laser Rifle   2/0  68  2.8  165  1.5-4.0   92-238
          Heavy Laser   0/2  66  1.0   84  0.3-1.7   24-145

          Plasma Pistol 2/0  60  3.0  155  1.8-4.2   92-219
          Plasma Rifle  2/0  66  3.3  263  2.1-4.5  166-361
          Heavy Plasma  2/0  70  3.0  344  1.8-4.2  203-485

          A/S : number of shots taken, Auto/Snap
          TU% : TU% used for the shots taken
          +/- 1 std dev : average +/- one standard deviation,
              roughly covers 66% of the possibilities

          Conventional Weapons :

          Pistol is a tie with rifle.  The pistol can be shot
          one-handed, but in the early stages of the game, you're not
          likely to have anything in the other hand :-) The rifle holds
          more ammo, but is slightly less accurate.  Each has a clip
          that will last three rounds at this firing rate.  Take your
          pick.

          Cannons :

          This seems like a no-contest, but the higher damage of the
          heavy cannon makes it not so simple.  The lower accuracy of
          the auto cannon in auto mode make it a more erratic weapon.
          Still, it's more satisfying to shoot off six shots instead of
          two  :-)  The clip holds 14, which will only last two rounds
          at this rate compared to three of the heavy cannon (which
          holds 6 shots)

          With only one shot, the three shots of the auto cannon imporve
          the odds of at least one hitting to 69% vs 60% for one snap
          shot of the heavy cannon.

          One final consideration is that the auto cannon takes 80% TU
          for its two auto shots, compared to 66% for the heavy cannon.
          With weaklings early in the game, you may need the extra
          time...

          Lasers:

          As you may expect, the heavy laser sucks due to the lack of an
          auto fire, and a rather slow snap shot.  The pistol and rifle
          get about the same number of hits, and the rifle does 30% more
          damage.  The rifle gets the nod in this case.  Even with a 20%
          penalty for one-handed use (not shown in table) rifle gets
          1.0-3.4 hits and 62-204 damage, still better than the pistol.
          So forget th elaser pistol and the heavy laser.

          Plasma:

          What can you say? The heavy plasma is king!  With pretty much
          the same accuracy and firing time as the rifle and pistol,
          over 40%/120% more damage (respectively), and bigger clip,
          there's no reason not to use the ehavy plasma.  The only down
          side is the ammo takes 3 elerium to manufacture, but with
          careful unloading of weapons, you'll get all you need during
          recoveries and assaults.


          [Editor's note: the advantage of heavy plasma is even greater
          when you realize that it weighs exact the same as a regular
          rifle.  Perhaps that why even those Sectoid weaklings can tote
          one around...]

     10.4 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/only 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.  Feel free to
            add more soldiers if you can distribute 80 items okay.

     10.5 General Combat Notes

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

          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 carrying blaster
          launchers, who would carry plasma pistols)

     10.6 UFO Recoveries and Assaults

          [Definition: attack on UFO shot down is "recovery", 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 or use proximity grenades.

          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.  Of course,
          watch out for the retaliation missions...

          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 may need a blaster bomb to punch through.

     10.7 Base assaults

          The trick in 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). Charge in, leaving proximity grenades behind to cover
          your back, go in the inside door, and you'll find a huge
          grav-lift taking you to the second level of command center.
          The base commander (and his deputy leader) should be there.

     10.8 Anti-Terror Missions

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

          Consider stunning 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.

          If necesary, carry a primed greande one each person.  If the
          person becomes a zombie, all equipment are dropped, INCLUDING
          THE LIVE GRENADE.  (boom!)

          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.

     10.9 UFO 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 going 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 pair of electro-flares each for the Mars surface
          battle. It'll be dark there, so toss a few of those around.
          The doors at each face of the pyramids are especially
          important as Sectoids may come out and play.  You also want to
          spot Cyberdiscs as far away as possible.

     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, use pyramids for cover.

          Move slowly, toss electroflares at base of each pyramid, esp
          near exits so you can see if a Sectoid 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 to hit the end, then
          one more up through the grav lift (either side) to get rid of
          the Ethereal Commanders (the elite guards), then ONE MORE on
          the top, and it's all over.

12.0 Misc Questions and their answers

     Equipment

     * Why do I lose ammo that was fired only a few times?

       After combat all clips that had been USED in the battle and left
       in their rifles/pistosl/cannons are lost, no matter only 1 round
       fired or totally empty.  UNUSED clips are NOT affected (even if
       they are loaded), as are clips separate from weapons.

       HINT: You should unload any weapons that had fired and use
       valuable ammo before the battle ends.

       HINT: You can tell when the battle is almost over by judging how
       long the alien movement phase takes.

       HINT: You can get MORE clips if you unload captured alien weapons
       that you come across

     * How do I reload weapons?  How do I unload ammo from weapons?

       See section 2, Chapter 3.1 of UFO Manual.

     * Why should I need grenades when I have autocannon?

       Autocannon weighs A LOT.  For the same weight you can carry a
       lighter weapon plus a couple grenades, and move faster and
       further as a result.

     * How do I wake up unconscious soldiers?

       See UFOpedia on Medikit.

       HINT: Heal any fatal wounds first before attempt to revive.

       HINT: After applying shot of stimulant, exit medikit screen and
       check your inventory.  If "body" is still on ground, apply another
       shot of stimulant until the "body" is no longer on ground. S/he
       should appear in an adjacent square at beginning of next turn.

     * How do I use Medi-Kit?

       See UFOpedia on Medikit.

     * How do I use motion scanner?

       See UFOpedia on Motion Scanner

       HINT: They are useful to detect that one last alien you can't
       find, esp. at night when visibility is less, or city blocks (but
       there you have civilians)

       HINT: They are somewhat useful for looking behind closed doors
       that you would like to enter.

     * How do I use Mind Probe?

       See UFOpedia on Mind Probe

       NOTE: ANY one can use a mind probe, no psi power is required.

     * How do I use the Blaster Launcher/Bomb or Fusion Hovertank?

       When you select Launch Missile, you can specify a series of up to 9
       "waypoints" which can go around any thing, climb and dive, even fly
       in circles.  The final waypoint is the explosion point, UNLESS it
       runs into something solid first.

       NOTE: There MUST be something solid at the last waypoint or the
       "missile" will NOT explode!

       HINT: You can UNset a waypoint by right-clicking


     Movement

     * Some of my soldiers have TU's used before I moved them.  Why?

       Each soldier has a physical weight limit to the amount of "stuff"
       he or she can carry, usually known as "emcumberance".  If you
       carry less than or equal to the emcumberance, no penalty is
       assessed.  For each weight unit over the limit, you get a TU
       penalty.  Carry too much and you can't move at all!

       OSG has the complete weight chart for all items (Table 8-4).
       Interesting observation: heavy plasma weighs the same as a
       regular rifle.

     * How can I fire on aliens in their movement phase?

       This is called "opportunity fire".

       Leave enough TU's after your move for at least a snap shot, then
       if your trooper saw an alien and has good enough reactions s/he
       will fire at the alien.

       HINT: Use the 4 icons near the bottom left of screen to reserve
       the TUs. Reactions usually need to be above 50.

     * How do I open doors?

       Target your soldier to move to the "square" behind the door and
       s/he will then automatically open it (using some TUs) and move
       to the square you specified.

       HINT: Do not open doors without plenty of spare TU's or expect to
       DIE.  Using a motion scanner will help to see if any aliens moved
       beyond the door.

       HINT: When you are not sure, create another door!  Either shoot a
       hole in the wall or blow up the entire wall with grenades, HE,
       HPlas, or BBomb.


     Psionic Combat

     * How do I get psi power?

       See Section 8.5

     * What is psi strength and psi skill?

       Psi strength is a person's physical talent for psi (esper
       sensivity) and cannot be improved.  It is also a measure of
       resistance against enemy psi attacks.

       Psi skill is a person's skill at USING the psi strength.  It can
       be improved with usage and training at a psi lab.

     * Help! My soldiers kept getting mind-blasted!

       Fight harder, make more kills.  Low morale invites more psi
       attacks.

       If you survive the fight, sack the ones who's not very good and
       kept getting panicked or controlled.


     Soliders

     * What's with troops missing in action (MIA)?

       If one of your troopers in under alien control at the end of a
       battle s/he counts as MIA; therefore try to wait until s/he is no
       longer in control before finishing off aliens.

       If you abort a mission, any soldiers you leave behind is MIA.  On
       missions with a transport, any one not on the transport is "left
       behind".  On an alien base assault, any one not in the green
       rooms (on the gravlift does NOT count) is "left behind".

       Yet another way to get people MIA is to try (abort mission) with
       only an unconscious soldier in the transport.  You'll lose that
       person as MIA as well as the transport

       HINT: use MediKit to wake them up (stimulant) then march them in if
       that happens to you.

     * How do my soldiers improve?

       By doing things.  They improve firing accuracy by shooting at
       things, strength by carrying more things, and so on.  Those
       getting kills will improve more than those who did not.
       Therefore, try not to let HWP get a kill since you will lose a
       chance to let a soldier improve, and leave the easy shots
       (against panicked aliens, for example) to the rookies.  Psi skill
       also improves with use.

     * How do I get more officers?

       See Section 8.1.5


     Miscellaneous

     * How do I cheat?

       Check out the files called ufocheatx.lha included in this arkive.
       There is one Money cheat, one telling you how to edit your files
       for more of everything and final a FIXED trained savegame allowing
       you to start up with TONS of stuff and money !

     * How do I bypass the Document Check Copy Protection?

       Sorry, you won't find the info in there.
       This is a STRATEGY guide, not a game crack guide.
       This game is soo good that you shold buy the original and
       tell MPS that we love this type of game and that they should
       make new and better ones in the same area.