Scouting

Scout/Sniper Tactics

The most valuable tip I ever learned from the xcom.co.uk (now [StrategyCore.co.uk]) forums was this: The soldier who sees the alien, should not be the soldier who shoots the alien.

Reaction fire from the aliens may be fast and deadly, but there are two ways to avoid reaction fire completely.

• 1) Don't shoot at the alien.
• 2) Don't be within sight of the alien.

Thus we have the Scout/Sniper teamwork tactic.

The Scout creeps forward - high reactions, high movement, always careful to keep looking around, always finishing the turn crouched & behind cover to avoid being noticed during the alien turn. When turning corners they wait for the Sniper to catch up and get a good angle on the corner.

The Sniper - or preferably Snipers, plural, with high accuracy skills - stay within the "safe", cleared area, moving only if the Scout has completed their movement with no alien contact, moving to keep the Scout covered.

The idea is that the Scout is the first one to spot any alien - and then DOESN'T MOVE, as any further movement while within range could provoke further reaction fire. (If the alien isn't looking, diving for cover or retreating to safety is allowed.)

The Snipers can then take shots at the alien safely. Being out of range, they're safe from return fire. But they can still fire at the alien by right-clicking on it. (Think of it as using spotter data, or a telescopic sight.) Or if they don't have line-of-sight, a strong soldier might still be able to toss grenades into the area.

If using this tactic with several scouts - or with multiple alien contacts in the same turn - be sure to STOP advancing your scouts when your snipers run out of TU's. Otherwise you're just dropping bait in the water without a hook.

This tactic is best suited to the middle third of a battle, after LZ deployment and before storming the UFO, when there's a lot of relatively open ground to clear.

More Tips

• Don't fall into the trap where, when your scout gets shot, you walk another soldier to the same spot to see if you can spot the shooter. The enemy has the TU advantage, the established line of sight, and probably good cover to boot.

I've lost three soldiers rounding the same wheel of the Skyranger before it occurred to me this was unproductive behavior.

--JellyfishGreen 16:47, 19 Apr 2005 (BST)