UFO Recovery Values
Although Country Funding is thought of as the mainstay of X-COM's working budget, and manufacturing can be a great supplement to that, alien artefacts and UFO components recovered from UFO Ground Assaults are the greatest source of funds for commanders.
The following tables list values for fully-intact ships. If you attack ships while they are landed, you can recover most of the items listed below.
UFOs which have been shot down will usually have several destroyed components, especially UFO Power Sources and the Elerium-115 contained within them. That's half a mil down the drain, for each lost Power Source & Elerium.
The best way to ensure a UFO is intact in order to maximize loot is to let it land without shooting it down.
Artefacts and UFO components can also be destroyed during the course of a mission, particularly by Explosions -- so use HE munitions and grenades sparingly inside UFOs if you want maximum salvage value.
Alien Armaments
Items which the aliens carry -- weapons, almost exclusively -- are identified as "Alien Artefacts" until you fully research them. They can still be sold at full price once you get them back to base.
In the first few months of the game, the aliens will be relatively lightly armed -- primarily Plasma Pistols or Rifles, although sometimes they will carry Small Launchers or Heavy Plasmas instead. Within a few months, they will abandon pistols and rifles altogether in favor of Heavy Plasmas. Blaster Launchers can be found on Battleships, Alien Bases, and Base Defence missions.
Aliens on Small, Medium, or Large Scout ships will also sometimes carry a Mind Probe, worth $304,000, the highest-priced alien artefact in the game. Since the UFOs you encounter in the first few months will mostly be scout ships, the average value of alien artefacts (per alien) will remain relatively constant throughout the game.
Here are items carried by aliens, and their value:
Value Plasma Pistol $84,000 Clip $4,440 Plasma Rifle $126,500 Clip $6,290 Heavy Plasma $171,600 Clip $9,590 Blaster Launcher $144,000 Blaster Bomb $17,028 Small Launcher $120,000 Stun Bomb $15,200 Alien Grenade $14,850 Mind Probe $304,000
Here are item sets commonly found on aliens:
Total Value Plasma Pistol + 2 Plasma Pistol Clips $92,880 Plasma Rifle + 2 Plasma Rifle Clips + 1 Alien Grenade $153,930 Heavy Plasma + 2 Heavy Plasma Clips + 1 Alien Grenade $205,630 Small Launcher + 3 Stun Bombs $165,600 Blaster Launcher + 4 Blaster Bombs $212,112
You will only recover ammunition clips if they have not been used. Each time an alien fires a Heavy Plasma for the first time, its clip becomes unrecoverable, and $10k is lost. Bang goes an Alien Grenade? $15k up in smoke.
Every alien corpse you recover is worth $20,000. Terror units have built-in weapons and will never carry artefacts, although their corpses are worth $20,000 as well. Unconscious (i.e., live) aliens don't leave behind corpses and aren't worth any money, so don't stun everything in sight -- only stun what you need (see Research). Live aliens do produce a higher score, but only if you don't currently have that alien species+rank in containment.
UFO Recovery Value Tables
In the tables below, the average value of each alien's armament is assumed to be about $180,000. The number of aliens found on each ship type varies; on higher difficulty settings, many more aliens will appear. In addition, on Terror Sites with Chryssalids the number of alien corpses could climb as high as 16 more if the max amount of civilians were turned to Zombies. This doesn't take into account X-COM soldiers which get turned either.
Small Scout
- Total Aliens
- 1 (all difficulty levels; guaranteed to spawn carrying a Mind Probe)
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 1 | $6,500 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 1 | $20,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 1 | $180,000 |
Mind Probe | $304,000 | 1 | $304,000 |
Total | $510,500 |
Medium Scout
- Total Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 3 - 6
- Vet./Gen.: 4 - 7
- Super.: 6 - 9
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source | $250,000 | 1 | $250,000 |
UFO Navigation | $80,000 | 2 | $160,000 |
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 11 | $71,500 |
Elerium-115 | $5,000 | 50 | $250,000 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 3 - 9 | $60,000 - $180,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 3 - 9 | $540,000 - $1,620,000 |
Total | $1,331,500 - $2,531,500 |
Large Scout
- Total Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 3 - 10
- Vet./Gen.: 4 - 11
- Super.: 6 - 13
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source | $250,000 | 1 | $250,000 |
UFO Navigation | $80,000 | 2 | $160,000 |
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 35 | $227,500 |
Elerium-115 | $5,000 | 50 | $250,000 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 3 - 13 | $60,000 - $260,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 3 - 13 | $540,000 - $2,340,000 |
Total | $1,487,500 - $3,487,500 |
Abductor
- Total Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 9 - 14
- Vet./Gen.: 11 - 16
- Super.: 13 - 18
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source | $250,000 | 2 | $500,000 |
UFO Navigation | $80,000 | 5 | $400,000 |
Examination Room | $9,000 | 4 | $36,000 |
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 70 | $455,000 |
Elerium-115 | $5,000 | 100 | $500,000 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 9 - 18 | $180,000 - $360,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 9 - 18 | $1,620,000 - $3,240,000 |
Total | $3,691,000 - $5,491,000 |
Harvester
- Total Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 10 - 15
- Vet./Gen.: 12 - 17
- Super.: 16 - 21
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source | $250,000 | 2 | $500,000 |
UFO Navigation | $80,000 | 10 | $800,000 |
Alien Food | $5,000 | 14 | $70,000 |
Alien Surgery | $38,000 | 8 | $304,000 |
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 97 | $630,500 |
Elerium-115 | $5,000 | 100 | $500,000 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 10 - 21 | $200,000 - $420,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 10 - 21 | $1,800,000 - $3,780,000 |
Total | $4,804,500 - $7,004,500 |
Supply Ship
- Total Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 9 - 16
- Vet./Gen.: 10 - 17
- Super.: 14 - 21
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source | $250,000 | 3 | $750,000 |
UFO Navigation | $80,000 | 4 | $320,000 |
Alien Food | $5,000 | 20 | $100,000 |
Alien Surgery | $38,000 | 2 | $76,000 |
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 141 | $916,500 |
Elerium-115 | $5,000 | 150 | $750,000 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 9 - 21 | $180,000 - $420,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 9 - 21 | $1,620,000 - $3,780,000 |
Total | $4,712,000 - $7,112,000 |
Terror Ship
- Total Armed Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 8 - 10
- Vet./Gen.: 9 - 11
- Super.: 12 - 14
- Total Terrorists
- Beg./Exp.: 2 - 6
- Vet./Gen.: 4 - 8
- Super.: 6 - 10
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source | $250,000 | 4 | $1,000,000 |
UFO Navigation | $80,000 | 8 | $640,000 |
Alien Entertainment | $20,000 | 8 | $160,000 |
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 92 | $598,000 |
Elerium-115 | $5,000 | 200 | $1,000,000 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 10 - 24 | $200,000 - $480,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 8 - 14 | $1,440,000 - $2,520,000 |
Total | $5,038,000 - $6,398,000 |
Battleship
- Total Armed Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 9 - 13
- Vet./Gen.: 12 - 16
- Super.: 18 - 22
- Total Terrorists
- Beg./Exp.: 0 - 2
- Vet./Gen.: 2 - 4
- Super.: 4 - 6
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source | $250,000 | 4 | $1,000,000 |
UFO Navigation | $80,000 | 4 | $320,000 |
Alien Entertainment | $20,000 | 24 | $480,000 |
Alien Alloys | $6,500 | 231 | $1,501,500 |
Elerium-115 | $5,000 | 200 | $1,000,000 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 9 - 28 | $180,000 - $560,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 9 - 22 | $1,620,000 - $3,960,000 |
Total | $6,101,500 - $8,821,500 |
Terror Missions
When a Terror Mission has begun, there is no ship to recover: the Terror Ship will disgorge its aliens upon some hapless city and take straight off into space. Alien corpses and their armament can still be recovered.
It is presumed that the same number (and type) of aliens present on a Terror Ship will appear during a terror mission.
- Total Armed Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 8 - 10
- Vet./Gen.: 9 - 11
- Super.: 12 - 14
- Total Terrorists
- Beg./Exp.: 2 - 6
- Vet./Gen.: 4 - 8
- Super.: 6 - 10
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Corpses | $20,000 | 10 - 24 | $200,000 - $480,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 8 - 14 | $1,440,000 - $2,520,000 |
Total | $1,640,000 - $3,000,000 |
X-COM Base Defence
As with Terror Missions, there is no ship to recover during a Base Defence mission: only corpses and armament can be recovered.
It is presumed that the same number (and type) of aliens present on a Battleship will appear during a base invasion.
- Total Armed Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 9 - 13
- Vet./Gen.: 12 - 16
- Super.: 18 - 22
- Total Terrorists
- Beg./Exp.: 0 - 2
- Vet./Gen.: 2 - 4
- Super.: 4 - 6
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Corpses | $20,000 | 9 - 28 | $180,000 - $560,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 9 - 22 | $1,620,000 - $3,960,000 |
Total | $1,800,000 - $4,520,000 |
On DOS versions, a known bug may occur, which can multiply Elerium in stores up to 50 times in the base. This is a completely unintentional glitch and Elerium will not spawn during base defence on any game version past 1.2.
Alien Base Assaults
The loot available from alien bases is quite variable. Each base is randomly assembled from several standard modules (see Alien Base Terrain), which contain Alien Entertainment, Alien Alloys, and sometimes UFO Power Sources (and Elerium-115).
In eight trials, the number of Alien Entertainments recovered from different bases ranged from 26 to 95, and averaged 55; Alloys ranged from 42 to 50, averaging 45; and Power Sources were only seen in two bases -- one with two Power Sources (and 50 Elerium), the other with four Power Sources (and 150 Elerium). The largest share of recovered value from an alien base is likely to be from alien armaments.
Based on the following figures, it seems that "milking" an alien base is less profitable overall (and probably more dangerous) than just waylaying its Supply Ships. Especially considering the propensity of the aliens to blow up all the loot under the grav lift with a stray blaster bomb. Attacking but not destroying alien bases may still have some use for Experience Training.
- Total Armed Aliens
- Beg./Exp.: 11 - 15
- Vet./Gen.: 13 - 17
- Super.: 17 - 21
- Total Terrorists
- Beg./Exp.: 1 - 3
- Vet./Gen.: 3 - 5
- Super.: 5 - 7
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
Alien Entertainment (average) | $20,000 | 55 | $1,100,000 |
Alien Alloys (average) | $6,500 | 45 | $292,500 |
Corpses | $20,000 | 12 - 28 | $240,000 - $560,000 |
Alien Armament | $180,000 | 11 - 21 | $1,980,000 - $3,780,000 |
Total | $3,612,500 - $5,732,500 |
Also, if any:
Item | Sell Price | Quantity | Value |
---|---|---|---|
UFO Power Source (per) | $250,000 | 1 | $250,000 |
Elerium-115 (per) | $5,000 | 50 | $250,000 |