Xarquid

General Information

Xarquid

Another modfied Earth invertebrate, the Xarquid is a creature of great beauty and danger. The swift swimming gargantuan hides a devastating arsenal of weapons, a smothering ink spray and an ionised particle blast. Since our first encounters with this powerful creature we have been wary of its power and its controllers the vengeful Gillmen.

Source: Terror From The Deep Ufopaedia

Xarquid Autopsy

This overgrown Nautilus has beeen made huge on a diet of Alien drugs and surgical alterations. Perverted beyond the scope of nature, the Gillmen have added mechanical control systems to the creature and now none of the creature's original nature exists. Deployed as an organic weapons platform, the Xarquids tough shell and mobility make it a formidable opponent.

Source: Terror From The Deep Ufopaedia

Xarquid
Time Units		40 - 59
Health		114
Energy		80 - 118
Reactions		50 - 68
Strength		70 - 87
Bravery		90
Firing Accuracy		26 - 105
Throwing Accuracy		50
MC Skill		0
MC Strength		100 - 124
Front Armour		20 - 60
Left Armour		20 - 60
Right Armour		20 - 60
Back Armour		20 - 60
Under Armour		2 - 6
Hidden Attributes
Melee Accuracy		50 - 74
Energy Recharge		40
Victory Points		30
Standing Height		23
Kneeling Height		13
Intelligence		4
Aggression		2
Other information
Armour category		Xarquid/Bio-Drone
Possible Ranks		Terrorist
Unique Attributes		Can "Fly"

The Xarquid is a large, flying alien nautilus with substantial armor. Not only is it giant, it moves in reverse. Real Nautilus float backwards with the tentacles behind - the Xarquid floats with the tentacles forward. It has a fairly powerful and accurate ranged attack (roughly equivalent to a Sonic Cannon - see here), and will mostly stay at long range and snipe at your units.

Xarquid usually accompany Gill Men underwater, but may also be found as part of Mixed Crews, even on land.

Tactics

The Xarquid is not a particularly difficult enemy. The greatest danger comes from its tendency to lurk in a particular location and use reaction fire to take out your Aquanauts (which is actually fairly smart considering the Xarquid is one of the slowest aliens). Once you get Ion Armor, its attacks will become considerably less dangerous, except if they manage to hit your Aquanauts' weaker side armour.

The best weapons to use against the Xarquid are explosives (despite their resistance, they have weak Under Armour and will take extra damage due to their size) or melee weapons (provided they're not "flying" out of reach, that is!). The Sonic Cannon is best for taking out high-"flying" Xarquid.

Notes

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Xarquid:

• The Xarquid takes 0.6x damage from incendiary and explosive attacks, 0.7x damage from Gauss weapons, 0.9x damage from Sonic and Stun Attacks, but 1.45x damage from melee attacks.
• Xarquid normally accompany Gillmen and will normally replace the Deep One for underwater missions that involved terror units. They may also be found as part of Mixed Crews, strangely appearing only on land. This is most likely a bug or design oversight (perhaps the designers intended to use Deep Ones instead?). Finally, a few will be found on the lower levels of T'leth.
• Takes up 4 squares on the battlescape.
• Although the in-game UFOpedia claims they have a secondary attack in the form of an ink spray, which would presumably work like a smoke grenade, it is never used.
• Xarquid cannot be captured alive. For some reason, they have the "robotic" flag set (the same flag that makes Cyberdiscs and Sectopods uncapturable in UFO). The only way to get the "live alien" UFOpedia entry is to interrogate an Aquatoid Medic.
  • Because the Xarquid occupies the same slot in UNITREF.DAT as the Cyberdisk did in the first game, it is likely that the developers simply replaced the relevant data but forgot to remove this flag.

See Also

• Alien Life Forms
• Overviews of Aliens
• Terror Units
• Deep One
• Gillman