Alien Research (Long War)

Alien Research increases the power of the alien air and ground forces in a variety of ways. Specifically:

• Make UFOs stronger
• Allow stronger UFO types to be fielded at lower Alien Resource levels
• Allows aliens to field stronger alien types
• Grants alien ground forces increased stats and bonus perks
• Increases the size of pods

The aliens gain one point of research every day; this ensures a baseline progression for the aliens that can't be halted or stopped short of ending the campaign. That said, aliens can also gain Bonus Research via a variety of other methods, so under-performing at the strategic or tactical level can accelerate their progression.

The formula for research points is: Alien Research = Bonus Research (if greater than 0) + Days Passed

iMonth

Alien Research directly correlates to an internal variable called iMonth. Each 28 points of Alien Research (Base + Bonus) increases the iMonth counter by 1.

iMonth = Alien Research / 28, rounded down.

iMonth is directly used to calculate the aliens that can appear in missions.

Bonus Research

Bonus Research starts at -90, and while it remains negative it has no effect - alien development will progress as normal. It can be modified by the following events:

+2 per active Alien Base per month

+20 for each successful raid on XCOM HQ

+1 for a UFO that takes no damage on a mission (excluding Bombing missions)

+1 (50% chance) for a UFO that takes less than 50% damage on a mission (excluding Bombing missions)

+3 for a successful research mission by a landed Scout

+5 for a successful research mission by a landed Raider

+8 for a successful research mission by a landed Abductor

+10 for a successful research mission by a landed Terror Ship

+?? for a successful research mission by a landed Assault Carrier

+1 for each lost XCOM soldier on a failed mission (killed or left behind)

-15 for each successful assault on an Alien Base

+50 each time a country is incorrectly accused of harboring the EXALT base

Pod Size

Main article: Alien Deployment (Long War)

The number of aliens allowed in each pod is directly dependent upon current Alien Research:

Research > 0: Small pods (2-4 aliens)

Research > 120: Medium pods (3-6 aliens)

Research > 240: Large pods (4-8 aliens)

Alien Progression

Air Forces

Main Article: Air Combat (Long War)

All UFOs gain an additional 75 HP, 8 damage and 2 aim (capped at 95% of accuracy) for every 30 points of alien research, to a maximum of 960 points. Some UFOs will also gain upgraded weapons over time:

UFO Weapon Upgrades

UFO	Initial Weapon	Upgraded Weapon	Alien Research
Fighter	1x Single Plasma	2x Single Plasma	330
Raider	1x Single Plasma	2x Single Plasma	570
Destroyer	1x Single Plasma	1x Double Plasma	270
Abductor	1x Double Plasma	1x Double Plasma 1x Single Plasma	390
Terror Ship	1x Double Plasma	1x Double Plasma 1x Single Plasma	390
Assault Carrier	1x Double Plasma 1x Single Plasma	2x Double Plasma	???

Ground Forces

Main Article: Alien Life Forms (Long War)

Alien ground forces get gradually better, starting as soon as 15 research. For details, see the Research Progression tables for every species in Alien Life Forms (Long War). The following table offers easy comparison of alien species, as well as their "rough" stats progression alongside Alien Research. It covers regular and "Variant" aliens, but not Leaders. In the table:

• 1 refers to base stats, with which regular (non-leader) aliens first appear, listed with difficulty if applicable (Normal/Classic/Brutal/Impossible); (+x) might refer to "Variant" aliens, who often have better stats, or it might be Muton's/Sectopod's varying weapons, or Mechtoid's Shield HP
• 2 refers to upgrades which aliens gradually get during the time from their first appearance up to 900 Alien Research; ranges are due to Variant aliens
• 3 refers to the two final late game upgrades, which aliens get at 900 AND 1200 Alien Research

Alien Species	Base Dmg			HP			Aim			Crit. Chance			DR			Defense			Mobility			Will			Bonus Regen
	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3	1	2	3
Sectoid	3	+3	+1	3/3/3/4	+6-9	+3	55/60/65/65	+16-19	+4	0	-	-	0	-	-	0	+28	-	12	+1	-	5/5/10/15	+90-115	+15	0	+2	-
Drone	3	+2	+1	3/3/4/4	+5	+1	50/55/60/60	+12	+4	0	-	-	1	+1	-	0	+4	+4	12	+2	+1	0	-	-	0	-	-
Thin Man	5	-	+1	5	+6-10	+6	60/70/75/75	+25-39	+5	4	+20	+5	0	-	-	0	+15	+10	14	+3	+1	25/25/35/50	+24-28	+3	0	+4	+2
Seeker	2	+2	+1	4/4/4/5	+6	+5	55/60/65/65	+10	+6	0	-	-	2	+2	+1	0	+15	+5	16	+6	+3	0	-	-	0	-	-
Outsider	6/6/6/7	+3	+1	10	+10	+3	65/75/85/85	+20	+10	4	+8	+10	0	+2	+1	0	+15	-	12	+4	+1	115/115/125/140	+30	+5	3	+3	+1
Floater	5	+1	+1	5/5/6/6	+5-9	+3	55/60/65/65	+15-25	+5	4	+5	-	0	-	-	-5/-5/0/0	+8	+4	12/13/13/13	+6	+1	20/20/30/45	+20-26	+2	0	-	-
Chryssalid	8-10	+3	+1	8-12	+10	+2	-	-	-	25	-	-	0	-	-	10	+20	+5	20	+5	+2	50/50/60/75(+10)	+18	+2	0	+5	+2
Zombie	7/7/7/8	+7	+1	12/12/15/15	+6	+5	-	-	-	0	-	-	0	-	-	0	-	-	9	+7	-	120/120/130/140	-	-	0	+2	-
Muton	6/6/6/7(+2)	-	+1	8/8/10/10	+8-10	+3	60/65/70/70(+6)	+12-18	+5	4	+2	-	0	-	-	10	+13	+5	12	-	-	30/30/40/5	+24-29	+3	0	-	-
Cyberdisc	9/9/9/10	+5	-	18/18/18/21	+8	+3	60/65/70/70	+4	+5	8	-	+5	2	+2	+1	0	-	-	18	+2	+1	0	-	-	0	-	-
Mechtoid	8/8/8/11	+2	+1	25/25/27/30(+6)	+11(+4)	+3(+3)	65/70/75/75	+12	+8	8	+4	-	2	+1	+1	0	+8	-	14	+2	-	43/43/53/63	+18	+3	0	-	-
Berserker	10/10/10/12(+1)	+6	+2	20/20/22/25(+5)	+14	+5	-	-	-	33	-	-	0	-	-	20-30	+10	-	17	+2	+2	80/80/90/105	+24	+3	0	+1	+3
Sectoid Commander	4/4/4/6(+3)	+4	+1	15-17	+11	+5	55/60/65/65	-	-	0	-	-	0	-	-	20	+10	+4	12	-	+1	90/90/105/115(+7)	+60	+10	1	+3	+1
Heavy Floater	8/8/8/10	-	+1	15-18	+11-15	+2	60/65/70/70(+3)	+8-17	+4	8	-	+4	0	+1	-	5/10/10/10	+12	+4	12	+2	-	25/25/35/50	+12-13	+2	0	-	-
Muton Elite	10/10/10/13	-	+1	20-23	+6	+5	70/75/80/80(+5)	+8	+4	0	+4	-	0	-	-	20	+10	+5	12	+1	+1	40/40/50/65(+2)	+27-47	+10	0	+1-3	+1
Sectopod	7/7/7/9(+4)	+7	+3	35	+15	+5	70/75/80/80	+10	-	8	-	-	3	+4	+1	0	-	-	12	-	-	0	-	-	0	-	-
Ethereal	13/13/13/15	+1	+1	20	+10	+5	90/95/100/100	-	-	0	-	-	0	-	-	40	+5	-	12	-	-	135/135/160/170	+35	+10	4	+2	+2
Uber Ethereal	10/10/10/14	-	-	60	-	-	110/115/120/120	-	-	0	-	-	0	-	-	50	+20	+10	12	-	-	200/200/225/235	+20	+10	15	-	-