Alien Ship Combat (Apocalypse)

In General

All vehicles, road and air, are under robotic control. You do not need to have a 'pilot' (a single X-Com troop) on the craft just to drive/fly it. Is is not necessary and a waste when the vehicle is destroyed.

Cityscape Vehicle Groups

• Grouping cannot saved.
• Maximum quantity that can be selected as one temporary group is 13.
• Select multiple vehicles by holding down the CTRL button and either, LMB click on the icon in the bar displaying your craft, or click on the individual yellow icons on the cityscape portion.
• The vehicles selected do not belong in a group anymore if you LMB click on an unhighlighted vehicle icon. To get those vehicles again, you must select them again via the tedious CTRL+LMB method.
• The vehicle with the yellow border (the lead vehicle irrelevant who is grouped) is the one which has its weapon loadout displayed in the interface. Icons with an orange border denote the other selected vehicles within this temporary group.
• To remove a vehicle from the grouping, RMB click on its icon.

Cityscape Tactics

• Dimension Gates move randomly about Mega-Primus at random times. Craft stationed at nearby buildings may having the shortest flight time before engaging the alien crafts but may be vunerable when exiting the launch tubes.
• X-Com craft do not need to be at the base all the time. Spread your craft around the city to buildings which have multiple launch tubes when using multiple airbourne craft.
• Don't try and crowd many craft into one-tube buildings that are closest to the dimension gates.
• Choose buildings which, when collapsing, would not damage craft in the process of taking off.
• Craft will launch from multiple tubes even if the yellow craft icon doesn't appear over all tubes.
• After combat it is not necessary to return to base to refuel and rearm, or even to repair (if is tedious to Ctrl-LMB on many craft).
• To enable/disable a weapon on a single craft so that missiles are not wasted on hostile company vehicles or trying not to destroy a UFO outright, LMB the relevant weapon on the weapons display. (see Attitude: Evasive below)
• Transport versions of X-Com craft will be heavier due to modules. Assisting in battle may be worthwhile since a squad of troops is ready to land immediately for UFO crash recovery, or to investigate a building for infestation, without delay. Any transport craft with agents on-board will die if the craft is shot down!

Vehicles

Hoverbikes

Hoverbikes are very weak. Use them as a swarm. They are very good at evasion, even better when upgraded with the best engines allowing higher speed and the best acceleration.
The 'heaviest' weapon available for the Hoverbike is the Lineage_Plasma_Cannon_(Apocalypse) but regarding the low constitution of this vehicle, this may become expensive.

Hovercars

Hovercars can mount two weapons and have room for one small shield. They should be upgraded with the SD Turbo engine as they are underpowered from the factory. With two weapon slots, better constitution and the option of mounting a shield, Hovercars will survive longer in battle.
An optimal configuration (dual plasma cannons or plasma cannon and prophet missiles) with a shield and the best engine wil usually be the main fighting force until better (hybrid) vehicles become available.

Valkyrie

Expensive but durable. Plasma cannons mounted ensures this vehicle can knock them down whilst being knocked about. Even better with three small shields and the best engine.

Air Hawk

Expensive, durable, three weapon mounts. Heavy vehicle that can mount the alien Medium Disruptor Beam. Turns slowly which can be a liability. Will last long in battle when using small shields but can be overwhelmed due to its slow turning and weight .

Griffin AFV

Uses the roads, and will be destroyed instantaneously if the road if destroyed. The Rumble Cannon it starts off with has massive firepower, doing 34 damage with 1.7x the firing rate of a plasma cannon, but has only 90 degree arc of fire and 250m range, which coupled with it's being limited to roads, means that it spends a lot of time unable to shoot at your targets. Well worth it to upgrade it with a Plasma Turret Cannon, giving it 360 arc and 400m range.

Airborne Tactics

• A mixed force of hovercars and hoverbikes works quite well in the beginnings of the game.
• Fast (evasive attitude) hoverbikes can attract fire from enemy craft whilst less agile hovercars can destroy from a distance when set to cautious attitude.
• Slow craft (purposely given weak engines) with missiles will launch them at the target directly if flying towards the enemy from long distance. This will allow the missile to fly straight at the target instead of turning constantly trying to hit.
• Giving waypoints to vehicles en-route to battle may help in tactics.
  • Switch to overhead cityscape view. Give a vehicle a target (building or craft). Click the "Go to Location" button. Hold down CTRL button then click on the cityscape somewhere to set a waypoint. Close the pop up window. The craft will fly the waypoints then resume to the target.

Attitude

There are four settings:
Agressive = shoot shoot shoot!!! don't care about health or who is in the way.
Standard = shoot shoot!! make those shots count, and dodge others.
Cautious = shoot! make sure to get the best shot but don't scratch my paintwork.
Evasive = don't shoot but dodge dodge dodge.

• Attitude (evasive to aggressive) influences your craft's disengagement from battle when damaged.
• An aggressive setting will make your aircraft get very close to the target. This will affect enemy missiles since they must turn constantly, but it also limits your craft's airspace for evasive maneuvers. If you have many craft swarming an enemy, the hostile cannot move freely. Aggressive craft will often fire at the target disregarding any friendly craft in the way.
• A Cautious setting enables weapon use at a distance (typically maximum range of the selected weapon to target). Weapons may miss if the target is nimble. Overshoot into buildings may be a problem.
• Evasive setting will prevent your craft from using weapons. This is best when flying long distance to a target so that your craft do not fire on hostile company vehicles.
• Changing a craft's attitude as an air battle progresses may prevent UFOs from being destroyed outright. Switch to Evasive just before the UFO is destroyed. Missiles still inflight will be cause for guesswork!
• If your craft has sustained damage, depending on the attitude (note: not altitude), it will immediately try to return to base. It will fly a straight line and does not avoid any threats. To stop this action, changing the attitude to a more aggressive setting will regain control (from forced "Returning to Base" messages) of the damaged craft. You can then choose a direction to fly away from the air-battle or to force that craft back into the fight. The more 'mild' the attitude, the earlier that craft will break-off when sustaining damage.

Height

• The highest setting enables the best unobstructed flight path.
• The lowest setting is just above road level.
• Using the highest setting allows room for missile flight but forces your craft to shoot downwards at a hostile (if at a lower height). If your weapons miss, they may impact a building.
• Using a lower (but not lowest) height setting can make air combat more difficult due to a building blocking shots and close proximity to sections of building collapsing, damaging your craft; but it allows shooting up at the target. If the shots miss, they fly off into the sky and not into a building.
• Large X-Com craft have weak Top Armor. Higher altitudes will limit exposure and damage to this area if shields are not available.
• Over unowned land or outside citywalls, medium-high altitude is best since it allows your craft maximum available airspace for evasive maneuvers.
• Inside the city, lower height setting is prefered since the enemy may miss and hit a building (to your Relations advantage). Enemy missiles will be flying downwards also. If they miss they often impact the ground which reduces the overall threat.
• If multiple airbourne craft are selected, height is only changed for the Leader. The others in the group do not change.

Manual Control

A single X-Com air or road vehicle may be controlled directly by the player. Certain controls are specific to road or flying vehicles. Manual control allows unconventional targeting of weapons, to choose the best firing positioning and to do so when stationary.

• When selecting multiple craft, the vehicle with the yellow border is the "Leader". When under manual control other vehicles within this temporary group will all fire on the target that the lead vehicle fires upon.
• A vehicle stuck in stasis cannot move but can still shoot when manually controlled.
• The 'go to location' button when used in overhead cityscape view will allow exact positioning of your airbourne craft just before you choose to manual control it in isometric view.
• Airbourne craft automatically avoid obstacles. When choosing a new direction to fly, the craft must be moving to make the turn. Aircraft do not turn on the spot.
• A weapon's Firing Arc will determine if a shot can be made from the side or rear of a vehicle.
• Negative points from cityscape building damage are 'awarded' for each shot that hits. The type of building piece damaged/destroyed influences the score. The weapon used is irrelevant.
• If an unstable building collaspes from one shot (typically Thomas More Tower - Superhuman Cityscape) then only one shot is recorded for Cityscape Damage.
• Road vehicles will travel at maximum speed unless slowed on purpose. It is possible to slam into the back of a slower or stopped vehicle and both will be destroyed if you are not careful. A head-on collison is also possible if you swap lanes and head into oncoming traffic. A U-turn may be performed anywhere.
• Attack buildings by utilising a weapon with far overshoot (best air: Heavy Disruptor Beam or best ground: Rumble Cannon), at an extreme range as to not allow the defense craft of that organisation to get close your own craft when they launch to defend the structure.
• When planning to manually destroy a building it is best to destroy it 'from bottom to top'. Position a vehicle in the south-east somewhere (isometric view), far away from a building you want to target. To optimally shoot, place your mouse cursor over the closest and lowest section of building you can see and LMB. The shot may (should) destroy the single section near the ground. The top part will collapse. One hit = one negative score.
• Manual shooting in overhead cityscape view is possible. The targeted building will be shot from 'top to bottom' instead. Vehicles and crashed UFOs can be targeted in the same fashion.
• Use a vehicle to destroy a crashed UFO if you don't want to perform a crash recovery (although not strictly necessary since crashed craft will disappear eventually).

Advanced Tactic

Your craft can block Dimension Gates!

• Place many air vehicles in a diamond like pattern around the 3D space of a gate!!

Using Hoverbikes, set all to evasive attitude to prevent friendly fire and to force them to be evasive (even though they do not move when in position). Place one air vehicle using "Go to location" at each compass point next to the gate. Change altitude for each of the four vehicles until it is as close as possible to the same level as the gate. To place a craft above or below the dimension gate, change to overhead cityscape, switch to manual control for that vehicle and right click on the gate (Note: the first RMB click will go near the gate, the second RMB will be on the gate icon). Switch back to isometric view then change the altitide for this craft until it stays as close to under (or over) the dimension gate, then switch off manual control. Alien craft do not ram your craft but they will shoot at it and launch missiles. The strange effect is that the guns and missiles rarely hit a stationary Hoverbike. To block the gate so nothing can escape, six Hoverbikes (four around, one each above and below) set to the matching altitude of the dimension gate will prevent small alien craft from escaping. When large alien craft need blocking, four in a diamond at the same level as the gate is sufficient. The dimension gate can appear so that it is between the altitude settings of your airbourne craft. If you cannot match the same height as the gate, place four more around the gate at a different level to the four already there. Use other craft to knock down the (trying to) escaping UFO quickly since hoverbikes will still get damaged or destroyed. The Fast Attack UFO loses its advantage of high speed when using this unconventional tactic.