Difference between revisions of "Alien Missions"

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(→‎Alien Infiltration: Another redirect. Gee, how many of these do we need on one page!?!)
(explained the mission generation procedures)
 
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==Alien Research==
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UFOs are sent out periodically to conduct a number of types of '''Alien Missions''', some of which the purpose is fairly inscrutable, others are fairly obvious in their reasoning. Especially once the [[Hyper-wave Decoder]] is deployed, knowing the mission of the aliens can help make strategic plans for further actions that the aliens may attempt in the near future.
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The Alien research mission is used for collecting basic data on Earth and its inhabitants. Small vehicles are predominantly used, with occasional landings in deserted areas. This type of Alien activity poses the least threat to X-COM, with little concern from governments or the public.
 
  
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==Alien Harvest==
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==List of Alien Missions==
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The Aliens have many uses for Earth's fauna. Animals are abducted secretly, and returned with various organs removed. Cattle mutilations are predominantly reported along with [[UFOs|UFO]] sightings. This type of Alien activity causes great concern by governments and considerable anxiety amongst the population. This type of activity occurs mainly in farming land. The theory behind the 'Alien Harvest' suggests that Alien races originally "seeded" the planet with its flora and fauna, and now they have returned to reap the harvest they have sown.
 
  
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==Alien Abduction==
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* [[Alien Research]]
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This is the most insidious form of Alien activity. The abduction by Aliens is widely reported, despite the Aliens' attempts to erase the experience from their victims' memories. Abductees report being subject to humiliating physical examinations, including impregnation of alien foetuses and bizarre genetic experiments. The purpose behind this activity appears to be linked to genetic mutation and manipulation of the Aliens own genetic material. This activity causes great alarm, and occurs in populated areas or cities.
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* [[Alien Harvest]]
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* [[Alien Abduction]]
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* [[Alien Infiltration]]
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* [[Alien Base]]
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* [[Alien Terror]]
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* [[Alien Retaliation]]
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* [[Alien Supply]]
  
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==Alien Infiltration==
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==Generation of Alien Missions==
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Earth governments can be infiltrated by Alien agents which are Human in appearance. This can result in official contact between Aliens and governments at the highest level. The climax of this activity is characterised by intense [[UFOs|UFO]] activity in the vicinity of major cities. The aliens will attempt to sign a pact with an earth government by offering knowledge of their superior technology. In return, the government will allow the Aliens to conduct their activity unhindered. This Alien mission represents the worst threat to X-COM. If a government agrees to a pact then its funding will cease.
 
  
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===Additional Information===
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Most new alien missions are generated by the game at the start of each calendar month. The process goes as follows:
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Five UFOs take part in an Infiltration mission, landing in both the target and neighboring countries. Two of these are often [[Battleship]]s. There is limited conclusive evidence to say whether shooting down the Battleships or simply assaulting a landed ship will stop the infiltration from succeeding. Results will vary greatly no matter the outcome.  
 
  
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Zombie says, "According to my preliminary results, Russia cannot be infiltrated in the CE version of X-COM so losing the game by this method is impossible." (Jun 16, 2005, StrategyCore forums)
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*Generate an ordinary mission (Research, Harvest, Abduction, Infiltration or Base).
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**If it is January 1999, this will be a Sectoid Alien Research mission in the same zone as X-Com's first base, with no consultation or modification of .DAT files. Otherwise, continue.
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**Roll on [[ZONAL.DAT]] to select the zone in which the mission will take place.
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**Roll on the selected zone's section of [[ACTS.DAT]] to select the mission type.
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**Roll on the selected act's section of [[Alien Appearance Ratios]] to select the alien race performing the mission.
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**Set the value for the selected zone/act combination in ACTS.DAT to zero (preventing the combination being used again). If the selected zone has no nonzero values remaining in ACTS.DAT, set the value for that zone in ZONAL.DAT to zero as well.
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*If it is July 1999 or later, generate a ''second'' ordinary mission, by the same mechanism.
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*Generate a Terror mission.
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**Roll on a special table in the executable to select the zone in which the mission will take place. This table looks like the starting values of [[ZONAL.DAT]], but the Arctic, Antarctic and Pacific weights are set to zero (there are no cities in those zones). Note that this table is not modified during gameplay, so terror missions ''can'' hit the same zone more than once.
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**Roll on the Terror section of [[Alien Appearance Ratios]] to select the alien race performing the mission.
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*If X-Com has researched [[The Martian Solution]], or if a certain time threshold has been reached, generate a Retaliation mission.
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**The time threshold is (14 - difficulty), using the game's internal numbering. This corresponds to March 2000 on Beginner and November 1999 on Superhuman.
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**The mission targets the oldest X-Com base that does not already have a Retaliation mission searching for it.
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**Roll to select the alien race performing the mission. All five alien races are equally likely; the Retaliation section of [[Alien Appearance Ratios]] is not consulted.
  
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Several players have however offered a different opinion on this matter and have lost Russia.
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There are two cases in which a new alien mission can be generated during a month.
  
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==Alien Base==
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*If an alien base is present on Earth at midnight of any day, there is a 6% chance for each base that a Supply mission will be generated targetting that base. This mission will be performed by the same alien race that founded the base (and, in UFO, mans it).
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Aliens will construct secret underground bases in remote locations. After some initial reconnaissance flights some intense [[UFOs|UFO]] activity will occur as the base is being built. These bases are known to contain experimental labs for human abductees, and supplies for further activity in the region. The presence of Alien bases will generate a large amount of reported Alien activity without the presence of UFOs. In order to locate a base, an [[Craft (UFO Defense)|X-COM craft]] must patrol an area for a few hours to stand some chance of detection. An [[Alien Base Assault]] will remove the threat but should never be taken lightly.
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*If X-Com shoots down or destroys a UFO, there is a chance an Alien Retaliation mission will be immediately generated. This mission will be performed by the same alien race that owned the UFO shot down. See [[Alien Retaliation]] for more detail.
  
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===Additional Information===
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==Additional Research==
  
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There is no limit to the number of alien bases that can be built, but there is a limit as to how many can exist on the globe at the same time.  
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There are also a few key research topics essential to winning the game that can be uncovered by capturing and interrogating aliens, with the more important topics requiring aliens of higher rank to uncover them.
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Each topic can only be [[research]]ed when the previous one has been completed.
  
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Only a limited number of Geoscape Tokens (bases, waypoints, ships, etc) that can exist on the globe at any given time: 50.
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[[Alien Origins]]
  
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Because you have to share this space with pretty much everything that you can interact with on the Geoscape, you can have as many Alien bases as there are unused slots.
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[[The Martian Solution]]
  
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==Alien Terror==
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[[Cydonia or Bust]]
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When the Aliens terrorise a city, they will deploy some [[Terror Units (UFO Defense)|special forces]] with awesome powers. [[Civilian]]s will be directly threatened, and governments will be forced to evacuate whole areas. The main purpose behind this activity is to generate sufficient public hysteria so that governments will threaten the X-COM project.
 
  
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==Alien Retaliation==
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==See Also==
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If X-COM [[Interceptor]]s are being particularly successful in shooting down [[UFOs]] then the Aliens may take some retaliatory action. This could result in a direct attack against an [[Base Defense|X-COM base]]. However, the aliens have to find an X-COM base in order to attack it, and provided UFOs are kept away then there should be little danger of an assault.
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*[[Alien Missions (TFTD)]]<br />
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*[[Alien Life Forms]]<br />
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=== Additional Information ===
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*[[UFOs]]<br />
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*[[Research]]<br />
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Sometimes the very first UFO you encounter in a brand new game will be a Retaliation Scout. Do not be alarmed if your base is attacked almost immediately. This is normal. You don't have to like it, though.
 
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Shooting down the retaliation scouts may prevent a base assault, but shooting them down close to your base almost guarantees an attack. Therefore, shoot down retaliation scouts with great care.
 
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Retaliation missions consist of the scout that loks for your base. When found, it is followed up by a [[Battleship]] dropship carrying a team of aliens that are to be inserted into your base. The assault team consists of aliens that you can find manning Battleships and Alien Bases. The Battleship vanishes once it has inserted the troops - presumably escaping into the atmosphere during the attack.
 
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Each retaliation wave consists of a single group of aliens that are seeking to destroy your base. Each group, which can be of the same species, will independantly target your base for retaliation. Once your base is located, they will continuously send [[Battleship]]s at the base until one breaks through your defences. They will not stop until this happens.
 
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Once they manage to drop a retaliation squad into your base the group sending the battleships will have a sudden case of amnesia and forget the base location. Why this is a bit of mystery, but what's important is that you will not have to worry about another attack until the retaliation scouts appear.
 
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If you are being targeted by several groups of aliens at the same time, you will have to crush both (or all) of the assault squads before the aliens stop attacking your base.
 
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A few quick conclusions: First, each wave of retaliation ends when the retaliation squad is inserted into the base - then the base is forgotten. Second, an impenetrable base is highly discouraged as it will never be left alone until the battleships are let through.
 
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==Alien Supply==
 
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Once an Alien base is constructed, then it is resupplied on a regular basis by a special [[Supply Ship|supply vessel]]. If one of these vessels is detected while landing then it is certain that an Alien base is nearby.
 
  
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Piracy time. You may want to let the Alien base exist, just for millions of dollars plundered from the Supply "Blimps". Arrrrrr, avast ye Space-Lubbers!
 
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==See Also==
 
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[[Alien Life Forms (UFO Defense)|Alien Life Forms]]<br>
 
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[[UFOs]]
 
  
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{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
 
[[Category:Missions]]
 
[[Category:Missions]]
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[[Category:Research (EU)]]
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[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Latest revision as of 05:55, 5 November 2019

UFOs are sent out periodically to conduct a number of types of Alien Missions, some of which the purpose is fairly inscrutable, others are fairly obvious in their reasoning. Especially once the Hyper-wave Decoder is deployed, knowing the mission of the aliens can help make strategic plans for further actions that the aliens may attempt in the near future.

List of Alien Missions

Generation of Alien Missions

Most new alien missions are generated by the game at the start of each calendar month. The process goes as follows:

  • Generate an ordinary mission (Research, Harvest, Abduction, Infiltration or Base).
    • If it is January 1999, this will be a Sectoid Alien Research mission in the same zone as X-Com's first base, with no consultation or modification of .DAT files. Otherwise, continue.
    • Roll on ZONAL.DAT to select the zone in which the mission will take place.
    • Roll on the selected zone's section of ACTS.DAT to select the mission type.
    • Roll on the selected act's section of Alien Appearance Ratios to select the alien race performing the mission.
    • Set the value for the selected zone/act combination in ACTS.DAT to zero (preventing the combination being used again). If the selected zone has no nonzero values remaining in ACTS.DAT, set the value for that zone in ZONAL.DAT to zero as well.
  • If it is July 1999 or later, generate a second ordinary mission, by the same mechanism.
  • Generate a Terror mission.
    • Roll on a special table in the executable to select the zone in which the mission will take place. This table looks like the starting values of ZONAL.DAT, but the Arctic, Antarctic and Pacific weights are set to zero (there are no cities in those zones). Note that this table is not modified during gameplay, so terror missions can hit the same zone more than once.
    • Roll on the Terror section of Alien Appearance Ratios to select the alien race performing the mission.
  • If X-Com has researched The Martian Solution, or if a certain time threshold has been reached, generate a Retaliation mission.
    • The time threshold is (14 - difficulty), using the game's internal numbering. This corresponds to March 2000 on Beginner and November 1999 on Superhuman.
    • The mission targets the oldest X-Com base that does not already have a Retaliation mission searching for it.
    • Roll to select the alien race performing the mission. All five alien races are equally likely; the Retaliation section of Alien Appearance Ratios is not consulted.

There are two cases in which a new alien mission can be generated during a month.

  • If an alien base is present on Earth at midnight of any day, there is a 6% chance for each base that a Supply mission will be generated targetting that base. This mission will be performed by the same alien race that founded the base (and, in UFO, mans it).
  • If X-Com shoots down or destroys a UFO, there is a chance an Alien Retaliation mission will be immediately generated. This mission will be performed by the same alien race that owned the UFO shot down. See Alien Retaliation for more detail.

Additional Research

There are also a few key research topics essential to winning the game that can be uncovered by capturing and interrogating aliens, with the more important topics requiring aliens of higher rank to uncover them. Each topic can only be researched when the previous one has been completed.

Alien Origins

The Martian Solution

Cydonia or Bust

See Also


UFO Badge X-COM: Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense
Alien Missions:Alien Origins • The Martian Solution • Cydonia or Bust • Alien Research • Alien Harvest
Alien Abduction • Alien Infiltration • Alien Base • Alien Terror • Alien Retaliation • Alien Supply
Retrieved from "https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Alien_Missions&oldid=89873"