Alien Artifacts (Long War)

Some artifacts that previously had no value are now used by the game as prerequisites for research projects or foundry projects, particularly Alien Stasis Tanks and Alien Surgery. Within the Gray Market listings, the green text "This item has no research benefit, and can be sold freely" is still correct in that these items will never be a part of any research project, foundry project, or as a prerequisite for manufacturing any items. However, you may still get pending resource requests for some of these items from XCOM countries. As an example, Alien Entertainment can be requested by a country in exchange for panic reduction.

Beyond that, the changes are mostly to the Gray Market values for these resources. Acquisitions from Alien Base assaults and the EXALT HQ are much more valuable, encouraging XCOM to liberate withdrawn nations when possible and forcing the player to consider the benefits of selling these resources for quick cash versus possibly fulfilling later country resource requests.

Another notable difference is that alien weapons obtained through stunning enemies with the Arc Thrower cannot be used directly, but are consumed to manufacture XCOM plasma weapons, including interceptor, SHIV, and MEC plasma weapons. Alien Rifles (from captured Mutons and Heavy Floaters) are used in the production of most plasma weapons (including the Plasma Rifle, Plasma Novagun (heavy plasma), and interceptor Plasma Cannon). Alien Carbines (from Floaters, Outsiders, and Thin Men) are used in the production of the lighter XCOM soldier weapons such as the Plasma Carbine. Alien Heavy Weapons (from Muton Elites) are used in the production of the SHIV plasma weapons. Additionally, some of these alien weapons may be required in order to perform the associated plasma research in the first place.