Alien Research (TFTD)
Difficulties
Information recovered from research of alien Medics may break the research tree progression. Don't research live alien Medics until the very end of the game, because you may need to interogate the actual live Alien (or research its corpse) instead of getting the information second-hand from a Medic class Alien.
There are problems getting the Thermic Lance and Vibro Blade research items if you don't have the Calcinite corpse to research. If the information is obtained from a Medic, then you will never get the option to research hand-to-hand weapons
Trying to get a Calcinite corpse after the initial glut of Terror mission from the Aquatoids is nigh on impossible. Well, not really because you can have "Mixed" race Terror Sites (usually on ocean liners). One problem that can arise is if one were to be researching a Medic, getting the results of any unresearched alien corpse or race would sometimes break the progression of research if those results were to lead to anything further down the research tree. eg:
---> ACTUAL Calcinite corpse = Calcinite Autopsy and Thermic Lance (if you are researching the physical corpse)
BUT
---> any Alien Medic = any possible Alien data
Hence: if you research any Medic, you MAY get "Calcinite Autopsy" as a result. If this were the case, the results display as per usual, but the research line stops dead for that path. ie: the next screen doesn't appear which would be "next available research" items. Thus, Medics can break the tree if the results lead to something more.
Note: i might have been a bit wrong with the vibro blade. I think that came from a Gillman race.... Damn! i really need to play a game so i can remember the tree. (but i'm absolutely sure about the Medic breaking the tree, BTW) - EsTeR
(Actually, Vibro Blade research comes from the Calcinite. Once that research is done, if you've autopsied a Gillman by that point (more than likely) you get to research Thermic Lance. Once Thermic Lance is researched, Heavy Thermic Lance, last in this line, can be researched.) - cpj1227
Research Times
This is taken from the XComUtil.cfg file, may not be 100% accurate.
Rec# Days Research Topic ---- ----- ------------- 0 50 Gauss Tech 1 180 Particle Disturbance Sensor 2 210 Medi-Kit 3 500 M.C. Disruptor 4 800 Sonic Cannon 5 400 Cannon Power Clip 6 700 Blasta Rifle 7 400 Blasta Clip 8 600 Sonic Pistol 9 400 Sonic Pistol Clip 10 900 Disruptor Pulse Launcher 11 300 Disruptor Ammo 12 550 Thermal Shock Launcher 13 180 Thermal Shock Bomb 14 200 Sonic Pulser 15 450 Zrbite 16 600 M.C. Reader 17 450 Ion-Beam Accelerator 18 450 Magnetic Navigation 19 450 Alien Sub Construction 20 150 Alien Cryogenics 21 150 Alien Cloning 22 150 Alien Learning Arrays 23 150 Alien Implanter 24 150 Examination Room 25 400 Aqua Plastics 26 600 Manta 27 700 Hammerhead 28 900 Leviathan 29 100 Gauss Pistol 30 300 Gauss Rifle 31 460 Heavy Gauss 32 420 Craft Gauss Cannon (includes Gauss Cannon Ammo "free" [BASE.DAT item d0, not item d2]) 33 660 Sonic Oscillator 34 880 PWT Cannon 35 510 Gauss Defences 36 620 Sonic Defences 37 800 PWT Defences 38 930 Bombardment Shield 39 360 MC Generator 40 420 MC Lab 41 670 Transmission Resolver 42 250 Coelacanth/Gauss 43 430 Displacer/Sonic 44 690 Displacer/PWT 45 180 Aquatoid Corpse 46 180 Gill Man Corpse 47 180 Lobsterman Corpse 48 180 Tasoth Corpse 49 180 Calcinite Corpse 50 180 Deep One Corpse 51 180 Biodrone Corpse 52 180 Tentaculat Corpse 53 180 Triscene Corpse 54 180 Hallucinoid Corpse 55 180 Xarquid Corpse 56 300 Alien Origins 57 500 Ultimate Threat 58 600 T'leth the alien city 59 180 Plastic Aqua Armor 60 205 Ion Armor 61 330 Mag-Ion Armor 62 60 Gauss Pistol Clip 63 150 Gauss Rifle Clip 64 230 Heavy Gauss Clip 65 400 <<BAD REF>> (unused Gauss Cannon ammo??) 66 500 Vibroblade 67 500 Thermic Lance 68 600 Heavy Thermic Lance
Days is the total ( number of scientists x days of research) to complete research on the topic. This is an average value, actual values in any given game may be higher or lower.