Firing Accuracy

Firing accuracy affects a soldier's ability to hit their target with a ranged weapon.

Starting Values

New recruits will always begin with a value between 40 and 70.

Maximum Caps

An X-COM soldier's Firing Accuracy is capped at 120.

Improvement

Firing Accuracy will increase from 0 to 6 points per combat mission, dependent on 1) how many times you hit an enemy alien (scenery, friendlies, and MC'd aliens don't count), and 2) how close you are to the cap of 120. The lower your skill, the more it will increase (up to 6 points) for more hits on aliens. The closer you get to the cap, the more hits that are needed to increase it up to 6 (or at all). Note that the "0 to 6" is a random roll, with the upper limit (6) determined by how many hits vs. distance to the cap. It's a random roll - you might still get little or no points even if you landed tons of shots. For more info, see Soldier Experience.

Missed shots, distance to target, rank, etc. - none of these matter. Just whether or not you hit an alien. Thus, weak weapons like pistols and laser pistols mean the alien won't die as quick, which means more hits, which means more chance of Firing Accuracy improvement.

Base Chance To Hit

Each weapon has an accuracy rating of its own, which, when applied to the soldier's firing accuracy, gives the soldier's "base chance to hit".

Formula:

Base Chance To Hit = Firing Accuracy x Weapon Accuracy

Example:

A soldier with a firing accuracy of 50%, using a weapon with an 
accuracy rating of 50%, will have a base chance to hit of 25%.

Influencing Factors

Base Chance To Hit is also affected by other factors:

• +15% when kneeling.
• -20% when holding a two-handed weapon with one hand.
• -10% per wound to the head or gun arm.
• -25% x (max health-current health)/max health)