Alien Life Forms (EU2012)

There are a number of Alien Life Forms to be encountered during the First Alien War, each with a unique set of strengths, weaknesses and abilities. Know your enemy; your soldiers' lives depend on it.

Sectoid

Sectoids are a basic, weak unit with an average ranged attack. They are capable of some psionics. Killing a unit that is performing Mind Merge will also kill the unit receiving the merge.

• Mind Merge: the merged ally receives +1 hit points, increased accuracy, & increased critical hit chance. Has anyone seen a Sectoid merge with anything other than another Sectoid? I haven't. Off the Rails 18:28, 15 October 2012 (EDT)

Thin Man

Thin Men are weak, highly mobile units with an average ranged attack. They use a light plasma rifle, making them more accurate than Sectoids, but they don't pack as much firepower as other enemies.

• Poison Spit: Causes damage each turn for up to 3 turns to any unit poisoned by the cloud of spit. Being poisoned reduces a unit's accuracy.
• Thin Men explode into a cloud of poison upon death. Moving into this cloud has the same effect as being poisoned by their spit attack.
• Leap: Allows the Thin Man to jump vertically up onto high ground (e.g., roof tops).
• Note: Units carrying a medikit or titan armor are immune to the Thin Man's poison.
• Trivia: The Thin Man's face is a caricature of Sid Meier, boss of Firaxis. Sid's face has a habit of popping up in his games.

Floater

A fast and aggressive flying unit with a light plasma rifle. They prefer to use their mobility to outflank your squad, and their high mobility grants them an innate defensive bonus. They can be especially dangerous to Snipers.

• Launch: The Floater can launch to any point on the map (ends its turn).
• Floaters are always considered to have at least Light cover even in the open or when flying, unless in proper cover and Flanked. This bonus does not stack with existing cover bonuses - they only recieve the best cover.

Muton

Mutons are very strong units and carry a respectably powerful Plasma Rifle, though they are susceptible to psionics. Wounding a Muton without killing it can intimidate your soldiers and lower their Will.

• Blood Call: Buffs other Mutons.
• Mutons carry Alien Grenades, allowing them to injure multiple troops at once and destroy cover.

Outsider

Outsiders are relatively fragile alien units that are only encountered on UFO missions. They will not spawn until an XCOM soldier generally enters a certain portion of the UFO and usually try to hang around and snipe at any soldiers near their spawn point.

• Outsiders do not seem to possess any particularly unique abilities, though capturing one is required to progress the main plot. They are not usually encountered on larger UFOs.

Muton Berserker

Muton Berserkers are extremely strong and very tough melee units, susceptible to their own bloodlust; they have a habit of chasing after whichever unit damaged them last (uncontrollable in multiplayer?). They are also quite resilient to psionic attack.

• Bull Rush: Charges through cover and causes damage to any units within a small radius.

Chryssalid

Chryssalids are fast melee units. Their Implant attack is particularly dangerous. Their corpses can be used to make Chitin Vests, an equippable item that makes your soldiers tougher and more resilient to melee damage.

• Poisonous Claws: "Poison enemies wounded by a melee attack."
• Implant: "Victims are implanted with a Chryssalid egg if they are killed by the attack." A successful implant converts the victim into a zombie that eventually hatches into another Chryssalid a couple turns later. Killing the zombie seemingly prevents this transformation from occurring.
• Chryssalids are best fought by abandoning cover completely, falling back into the open, and concentrating your fire.

Cyberdisc

Cyberdiscs are strong, flying robotic units with a powerful plasma barrage attack that frequently destroys cover even if it fails to hit the target. When in their 'closed' form, they take less damage and are highly resistant to Critical Hits. They are always accompanied by a pair of Drones, which can repair them during combat. They are immune to most psionic attacks.

• Can throw an Alien Grenade to attack multiple soldiers at once.
• Cyberdiscs automatically 'close-up' into their disc form after being attacked. In their closed form, they are almost immune to Critical Hits.
• Death Blossom: An area of effect attack dealing high damage to all units within a few spaces in all directions.
• Cyberdiscs explode upon death, dealing damage to all units within a fairly small radius.

Cyberdisc - open assault form

Cyberdisc - closed disc form

Drone

Drones are weak flying robotic units with a weak ranged attack. Their purpose is to repair accompanying Cyberdiscs and Sectopods during combat.

• With Foundry Upgrades, the Arc Thrower can be used to 'hack' Drones and seize control of them for the duration of a mission.

Ethereal

Physically weak, slow units with high health and powerful psionic attacks.

• Mindfray, offensive psionic ability that causes damage and lowers will.
• Can mind control.
• Can drain life from friendlies, including units it is mind-controlling.
• Rift, a powerful AoE attack that inflicts more damage to an enemy the higher their Will.
• Chance to reflect physical projectiles back at the attacker.
• High will; resistant to psionic attacks.

Heavy Floater

A tougher version of the regular Floater with considerably more hit points than a Floater, and a more powerful variant of the Plasma Rifle. They also carry an Alien Grenade.

Muton Elite

An even tougher version of the regular Muton, armed with a powerful Heavy Plasma. They are not noticeably more resistant to psionic attack, though.

Sectoid Commander

The Sectoid Commander is a slightly stronger Sectoid with more psionic capabilities. They have much more health than normal Sectoids, but are otherwise unremarkable aside from their Mind Control ability.

• Mind Control: Takes control of the target. Robotic units are immune to Mind Control.

Sectopod

An extremely strong robotic unit that can use both its turn moves for attacking. Frequently escorted by a Drone. They are immune to most psionic attacks. Make as much use of Smoke Grenades, Heavy Cover, and Psionic Fields as you can.

• Plasma Beam: This weapon allows the Sectopod to make a single Overwatch attack even when it has used all of its actions for the prior turn unless those actions were spent to initiate the Cluster Bomb attack below.
• ??? Beam: A powerful yellow beam attack that can inflict around 10 damage.
• Cluster Bomb: Uses both of the Sectopod's actions for that turn. It enters a special deployed state and aims at the target location; on the following turn, it bombards the target area with many small explosives. Using this ability prevents a Sectopod from using its Plasma Beam above.
• Seems to have a longer sight range than most units
• Note: Due to its superior firepower, use of suppression may be necessary to render its attacks far less dangerous. Do not stack units too close together or the Sectopod may choose to target them with the Cluster Bomb attack. Using Plasma / Heavy weapons or Mind-controlled cannon-fodder against this unit is also recommended.
• The Heavy's HEAT Ammo promotion applies to all weapons, and can allow them to inflict vast amounts of damage to Sectopods; combined with Bullet Swarm, a pre-positioned Heavy with a Heavy Plasma can easily kill or cripple a Sectopod in one turn, or even destroy two that have already taken significant damage.
• The Heavy's Shredder Rocket promotion can also be used to make the Sectopod take additional damage from all other attacks.
• Snipers can use their Headshot or Disabling Shot powers to cripple or inflict serious damage to a Sectopod, especially if they have the Double Tap promotion.

Uber Ethereal

Same as the Ethereal, but with larger stats and a higher projectile reflection chance.