Foundry (EU2012)

The Foundry.

The Foundry allows for item upgrades similar to the Officer Training School. Unlike the OTS, Foundry projects take time to complete similar to research projects. Additionally, several Foundry projects benefit from various Research Credits. Also, take note that, unlike Research projects, multiple Foundry projects can be run at the same time (they will not affect each other's time requirement).

In the Enemy Within DLC, the Foundry counts as a Workshop for Adjacency Bonus purposes.

If you have a high Workshop refund bonus, it's easy to 'recycle' the same batches of credits, alloys, and Elerium for repeated projects. Any other components the projects require will be consumed as normal.

Construction

The Foundry must be constructed in the HQ in order to be accessed. Cost and Time are based off 5 Engineers on Classic difficulty. Also note that all Foundry Improvements require the continued existence of the Foundry itself to be maintained, even after they were purchased.

• Cost: 3 Power, §75
• Time: 10 days
• Maintenance: $20/month

Future Combat Bonus

If the XCOM base is located in Asia or by providing Asia with full satellite coverage, commanders are granted the continent bonus Future Combat. This bonus reduces most of the resource requirements for Foundry projects by 50%. However, the requirements for Weapon Fragments, Corpses, Engineers, and base items to be improved upon (i.e. Alien Grenade) remain static.

Foundry Projects

S.H.I.V.s

Heavy Weapons Platform (S.H.I.V.)

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Experimental Warfare	§70	5 Engineers	N/A	7 days	Basic S.H.I.V. becomes available in Engineering	The 'Super Heavy Infantry Vehicle' is an unmanned combat drone that could take the place of an XCOM soldier. Once this project is completed, we can begin building S.H.I.V. units in Engineering.

• This unlocks S.H.I.V.s in general: the Alloy S.H.I.V. requires that the Carapace Armor research also be completed, and these plus the Firestorm research tree for the Hover S.H.I.V. (i.e., the latter two are not additional Research/Foundry projects).

S.H.I.V. Suppression

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Foundry:Heavy Weapons Platform	§40	15 Engineers	N/A	7 days	Allow S.H.I.V. suppressive fire	With a fairly extensive hardware and software upgrade, our S.H.I.V. units would be capable of suppressive fire, letting them pin enemy targets down under a hail of bullets.

• Effectively the same as a Support/Heavy's Suppression ability.

S.H.I.V. Laser

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Foundry: Heavy Weapons Platform Research: Heavy Lasers	§100 30 Alloys	15 Weapon Fragments 10 Engineers	Beam Weapons All Weapons	7 days	S.H.I.V. minigun replaced with laser version	Now that we can produce high output laser weapons, we could swap out the conventional minigun our S.H.I.V. units currently use in favor of a laser cannon.

• Adds +2 damage, +15 aim, +5 crit chance compared to Minigun.
• Naturally, if your play style includes even some S.H.I.V. usage, this should be gotten at earliest opportunity.

S.H.I.V. Plasma

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Foundry: Heavy Weapons Platform Research: Heavy Plasma	§200 30 Elerium 45 Alloys	30 Weapon Fragments 20 Engineers	Plasma Weaponry All Weapons	7 days	S.H.I.V. minigun replaced with plasma version	Now that we can produce heavy plasma weapons, we could adapt our S.H.I.V. units' armament with this technology and dramatically increase their firepower.

• Adds +4 damage, +25 aim, +10 crit chance compared to Minigun.
• As with the S.H.I.V. Laser, this should be gotten at earliest opportunity if you use them. If not: the 30 fragments price makes it unimportant. Does not require the Laser upgrade to be completed first.

S.H.I.V. Repair

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Foundry: Heavy Weapons Platform Research: Arc Thrower and EMP Cannon	§70 15 Alloys 15 Elerium	10 Engineers	N/A	7 days	Allows soldiers to repair S.H.I.V. units with Arc Thrower. On the EW DLC MECs can also be repaired.	After studying one of the small alien drone units, we believe that we could upgrade our Arc Thrower with the drone's 'robotic repair' ability, allowing our soldiers to repair S.H.I.V. units in combat.

• Again, a possible priority for S.H.I.V. users, if you cannot hack Drone for whatever reason (none available, can't get to them, etc).
• Each use repairs 6 HPs of a S.H.I.V.. On the Enemy Within DLC it can also be used to repair MEC Troopers.

Weapons/Equipment

Improved Pistol I

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Experimental Warfare	§75	5 Weapon Fragments 5 Engineers	All Weapons	7 days	All pistols Critical Chance increased by 20%	One of our earliest developments in the Foundry, the Magnetic Ordnance Reduction System greatly reduces the recoil of our entire range of sidearms. Utilizing the latest in composite materials, this upgrade will significantly improve the odds of our soldiers scoring critical hits on their on their targets.

• A cheap, early Foundry upgrade, the 20% bonus is a nudge to the RNG to work more in your favor, particularly with other crit-boosting abilities/items.

Improved Pistol II

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Beam Weapons	§150 20 Alloys	25 Weapon Fragments 10 Engineers	All Weapons	7 days	Increases all pistols Aim by 10%	We've started testing an experimental cryogenic treatment for the barrels of our existing sidearm designs. This process will greatly reduce heat distortions caused by repeated firing, which should increase the aim of all soldiers using a pistol.

• Formerly glitched in vanilla EU, this has been fixed in Enemy Within-- in which case, you may want to get this by the time EXALT shows up, so your pistol-wielding Operative can benefit from it.

Improved Pistol III

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Plasma Pistol	§250 20 Elerium 20 Alloys	50 Weapon Fragments 20 Engineers	All Weapons	14 days	All pistols Damage increased by 1	Having learned a great deal from the alien weapons recovered from the field, we think it should be possible to implement improvements across our entire range of side arms. At the very least, we can expect an increase in the maximum damage output of all of our pistols.

• To a Gunslinger Sniper with a Plasma Pistol, this totals to a respectable base damage of 5-7.

S.C.O.P.E. Upgrade

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Weapon Fragments	§75	15 Weapon Fragments 10 Engineers	Beam Weapons Weapons Technology	7 Days	Increases S.C.O.P.E.'s Critical Chance by 10%	The portable targeting module called 'S.C.O.P.E.' could be upgraded to highlight sensitive points on the enemy targets. We believe that the chance of critical shots would increase accordingly.

• The item and upgrade of choice for a Sniper.
• This upgrade gets added even though it is not mentioned in the critical column.

Alien Grenades

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Salvage: Alien Grenade	§75 10 Elerium 25 Alloys	1x Alien Grenade 20 Weapon Fragments 20 Engineers	All Technology	7 days	Alien Grenades will become available in unlimited quantity	We've had a look at the intact alien grenade you recovered, and with a small investment of resources and time we believe that we can upgrade all of our current frag grenades to this new, deadlier version.

• On EU this upgrade is often fairly irrelevant. Assuming you stun-capture a Muton, Heavy Floater, and a Muton Elite, you'll get three Alien Grenades, which is more than enough for most teams: your money, Elerium, alloys, and especially fragments are best spent elsewhere.
• On the Enemy Within DLC the 2 items allowed by Tactical Rigging can make it more useful if you're planning to use a lot of grenades. Furthermore, any MEC Trooper with a Grenade Launcher equipped will do more damage (increases the damage from 4 to 5) with the grenades with Alien Grenades researched.
  • However, security personnel on Base Defense will still only carry basic grenades, so don't research it just for that.

Improved Medikit

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Thin Man Autopsy	§125	4 Thin Man Corpse 20 Weapon Fragments 15 Engineers	N/A	14 days	Healing delivered by a single Medikit charge increased from 4 to 6	The flexible physiology of the Thin Men has given us new ideas for improving our Medikits. We now believe we can increase by 50% the amount of healing delivered in a single charge.

• For your Medic Support, this can either be an alternative to the Savior Ability (additional 4 pts per heal), or in conjunction with it, for a total of 10 pt heals per use. Plus Field Medic, that's up to 30 HP a mission.
  • In Enemy Within, the MEC-2 Sentinel's Restorative Mist also benefits from this upgrade, and perhaps even makes better use of it, give it is an area-of-effect heal, meaning a single charge could theoretically heal 36 total damage (6 on each member of the Squad).

Improved Arc Thrower

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Arc Thrower and Elerium	§100 20 Elerium 20 Alloys	4 Drone Wreck 20x Weapon Fragments 10 Engineers	N/A	14 days	Aliens up to 6 HP can be successfully stunned	By increasing the power of our Arc Throwers, we should increase the successful stun rate in combat.

• Very useful for late-game captures: your more powerful weapons will weaken stronger aliens, but probably won't be able to "stop on a dime" and leave them at 1-3 HP (and will kill them outright instead), but Mindfray takes off a whole 5 pt bar of HP each time, which in whole gives you some room for making any last captures.
• Before this upgrade: 3,2,1 HP -> 70,80,90% chance. After: 6,5,4,3,2,1 HP -> 70,80,90,95,95,95% chance.

Drone Capture

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Arc Thrower, Drone Autopsy	§175	4 Drone Wreck 20 Weapon Fragments 10 Engineers	N/A	7 days	Allows Arc Thrower to hack control of Drones	We're confident that our Arc Throwers could be upgraded to allow the capture of enemy drones, giving us control of the flying drones for the remainder of the combat mission.

• Captured drone is controllable by the squad for the remainder of the mission (flying scout, 2 damage weapon, repair S.H.I.V. and other Drones, self-destruct). Still requires close proximity and consumes one use of an Arc Thrower.
• Upon mission completion, Drone automatically triggers self-destruct attack: will damage any nearby soldiers and UFO materials/equipment.

Ammo Conservation

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Muton Autopsy	§150 90 Alloys	6 Muton Corpse 20 Weapon Fragments 15 Engineers	Beam Weapons Weapons Technology	14 days	All weapons can be fired twice as many times before reloading	Muton armor contains servomotors that function as automatic weapon loaders, allowing their weapons to carry more ammunition without requiring the soldier to pause for a full reload. We could apply some of the same techniques to our own weapons.

• This is one of the single most important soldier upgrades you can buy from the Foundry, and perhaps in the game. As aliens get tougher and need more shots to put down, reloading puts you at more and more risk.
• Multiple early Mutons can be encountered in the Slingshot DLC, with the exact number dependent on difficulty. Plus the Autopsy, you'll need 7 corpses total, though one can be the resulting corpse from the Muton Interrogation.

Miscellaneous

Advanced Repair

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Heavy Floater Autopsy	§175 10 Elerium 30 Alloys	4 Heavy Floater Corpse 20 Engineers	N/A	14 days	Improves repair rate of S.H.I.V.s and aircraft	As our understanding of alien materials grows, we believe that we can develop processes that would reduce the repair times of our fighter craft and S.H.I.V. units significantly.

• Not too expensive, but depending on your luck with where/when UFOs appear, you may or may not need this. The big drawback is that by the time Heavy Floaters begin to appear, you'll probably have Firestorms and Plasma Weapons, and not be too burdened by repair times.
• On the other hand, if you're using a lot of SHIVs, this can help keep them ready for the next mission, meaning you need less overall.

Advanced Flight

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Archangel Armor	§325 50 Alloys 50 Elerium	2 Heavy Floater Corpse 2 Drone Wreck 2 Cyberdisc Wreck 25 Engineers	Flight	14 days	Doubles fuel for Archangel Armor from 6 to 12, and Hover S.H.I.V. from 12 to 24	We believe that we can improve the small system flight capabilities of the Archangel Armor and the Hover S.H.I.V. designs, considerably increasing their maximum flight time in combat.

• As Archangel Armor is the suit of choice for Snipers, especially ones with Squadsight, the additional moves are appreciable.

Advanced Construction

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Sectopod Autopsy	§375 50 Alloys 30 Elerium	2 Sectopod Wreck 20 Weapon Fragments 30 Engineers	N/A	14 days	Allows you to construct facilities in half time for double cost	The advanced fabrication processes that the aliens used to build this Sectopod could be repurposed to accelerate XCOM's vehicle and facility construction. At a significant cost, of course.

• A very late-game upgrade, the most use you will have left from this is filling out your Firestorm fleet, and, if you feel the need, reorganizing your base facilities in short order.
• It is toggled when facility/item is ordered, option will be named "Rush construction: ON/OFF"

Stealth Satellites

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Alien Nav Computer	§150 20 Elerium 20 Alloys	3 UFO Flight Computer 20 Engineers	UFO Technology	7 Days	Makes Satellites harder to detect by UFOs	By studying the communication signatures of the UFO nav computers we've recovered, we could update our satellite network to mimic the alien communications. This would make the satellites much harder to detect if the aliens were to go looking for them.

• As long as you shoot down a UFO, it won't spawn a Battleship that will attempt to destroy your satellites (which they will then seem to do with regular success anyways). Those flight computers would be of better use on Firestorms.

Enemy Within DLC

Tactical Rigging

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Experimental Warfare	§200	5 Engineers	N/A	7 Days	Gives all soldiers 2 item slots	Increasing need for tactical flexibility has driven us to develop tactical rigs that apply to all of XCOM's individual soldier protection systems. These will enable soldiers to bring a second item into battle.

• One of the most important upgrade in Enemy Within; it basically gives the original Deep Pockets ability to everyone you have. Being able to carry two items makes certain items, such as the Mind Shield, significantly more attractive.
• It's also a great way to make sure you always have someone to patch up a critically wounded squad mate, even if its the Medic who got dropped.
• If you don't know what to give a soldier in his second slot, you can almost never go wrong with a S.C.O.P.E. or a Medikit.

Sentinel Drone

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Drone Autopsy	§80 20 Alloys 10 Elerium	10 Engineers	N/A	7 days	Repairs 2 HP per turn. Gives S.H.I.V.s an ability akin to Assault's Close Combat Specialist	We've been able to adapt an alien drone into a repair module for the SHIV. While we had to sacrifice its autonomous movement functions, we've been able to retain its repair capability and use its spare AI cycles to improve the SHIV's situational firing heuristics.

• Like the other S.H.I.V. upgrades, this only helps them. So: get it if you use them, ignore if you don't.

Shaped Armor

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Mechtoid Autopsy	§300 40 Alloys 20 Elerium	20 Engineers	N/A	14 days	Increases MECs and S.H.I.V. stats by 3 HP	The invaders' mechanized cybersuits are of course somewhat more advanced than our own; by examining the interfaces between the armored shells and the cores, we could improve our overall armor design. This has the potential to increase tactical survivability for all of our mechanized forces.

• 3 HP might not sound like a lot, but it makes a big difference on MECs, given how much fire they tend to attract. It's less important if you're only using S.H.I.V.s, since they're replaceable.
• If you're using this with S.H.I.V.s, this will extend the repair time because they can lose more HP before dying. You may want to build a few extra, or research Advanced Repair, if not both. MECs do not suffer from this downside.

Advanced Servomotors

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Mechtoid Autopsy	§300 40 Alloys 20 Elerium	20 Engineers	N/A	14 days	Gives +3 movement points to MECs and S.H.I.V. units	After a careful examination we've been able to replicate the articulated joints of the Mechtoid, allowing for mobility improvements on both our cybersuits and SHIV Units.

• Basically, this is the equivalent of the Sprinter ability for MECs and S.H.I.V.s. If you're using them, its a great upgrade. If you aren't, don't bother.

Elerium Jelly

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Elerium	§200 50 Elerium	15 Engineers	N/A	10 days	Increases Flamethrower damage from 6 to 9	Using Elerium in tactical situations is quite risky; in the absence of a full sized craft's regulator and fuel management systems, adding it to our flamethrowers would be too dangerous. With some additional investment, though, we could devise a formula to increase flamethrower effectiveness without risking our soldiers.

• If you're using the Flamethrower, you should probably buy this. 9 damage is enough to one-hit a Muton (on lower difficulties) and most EXALT operatives. Remember: injured enemies can shoot back. Dead enemies can't.
  • 'Carryover' glitch lets you start all subsequent campaigns with the upgraded 9 damage as the base, and to 12 when completing this project again!

MEC Close Combat

Image	Requirements	Variable cost	Fixed cost	Research Credits applies	Time	Result	Description
	Research: Meld Recombination and Foundry: Heavy Weapons Platform	§200 30 Alloys	5 Engineers	N/A	7 days	Kinetic Strike no longer ends the MEC's turn. Increases Kinetic Strike Module's damage from 12 to 18	Our advancements in heavy armor technology have enabled us to install better actuators and support structures in the Kinetic Strike Module. This should increase its force output by 50%.

• If you're using Kinetic Strike Module, this allows your MEC to one-shot most enemies in the game in melee. If you aren't, don't waste your credits.
  • 'Carryover' glitch lets you start all subsequent campaigns with the upgraded 18 damage as the base, and raises it's power to a devastating 27 damage when upgraded again!