Alien Ship Combat (Apocalypse)

Buildings

Note: do not move agents from a landed craft ever... to the building when in the Alien Dimension when in the select squad screen. Keep them in the craft, click the craft to highlight all agents or click each agent individually, then click the "search" or "raid" buttons when ready.

• X-Com craft do not need to be at the base all the time. Spread your craft around the city to buildings which have multiple launch tubes when using multiple airbourne craft. Don't crowd many craft into one-tube buildings! Choose buildings which, when collapsing, would not damage craft in the process of taking off.
• Craft will launch from multiple tubes even if the yellow craft icon doesn't appear over all tubes.
• After combat, return to base to repair, refuel and rearm and afterwards, send them to the buildings again. If you need to use your transport version of any craft to help in a desperate battle, remove all personel and any excess equipment if expecting it to be destroyed.
• If your craft has sustained damage, depending on the attitude (note: not altitude), it will immediately try to return to base. It will fly a straight line and does not avoid any threats. To stop this action, changing the attitude to a more aggressive setting will regain control (from forced "Returning to Base" messages) of the damaged craft. You can then choose a direction to fly away from the air-battle or to force that craft back into the fight. The more 'mild' the attitude, the earlier that craft will break-off when sustaining damage.
• To enable/disable a weapon so that valuable missiles are not wasted on hostile company vehicles or trying not to destroy a UFO outright, LMB the relevant weapon on the selected craft.
• Transport versions of X-Com craft will be heavier due to modules. Assisting in battle may be worthwhile since a squad of troops is ready to land immediately for land battle or to investigate a building as soon as possible.

Vehicles

Hoverbikes

Hoverbikes are very weak. Use them as a swarm. They are very good at evasion, even better when upgraded with the best engines allowing higher speed and the best acceleration.
The 'heaviest' weapon available for the Hoverbike is the Lineage_Plasma_Cannon_(Apocalypse) but regarding the low constitution of this vehicle, this may become expensive.

Hovercars

Hovercars can mount two weapons and have room for one small shield. They should be upgraded with the SD Turbo engine as they are underpowered from the factory. With two weapon slots, better constitution and the option of mounting a shield, Hovercars will survive longer in battle.

Valkyrie

Expensive but durable. Plasma cannons mounted ensures this vehicle can knock them down whilst being knocked about. Even better with three small shields and the best engine.

Air Hawk

Expensive, durable, three weapon mounts. Heavy vehicle that can mount the alien Medium Disruptor Beam. Turns slowly which can be a liability. Will last long in battle when using small shields but can be overwhelmed due to its slow turning and weight .

Airborne Tactics

• A mixed force of hovercars and hoverbikes works quite well in the beginnings of the game.
• Fast (evasive attitude) hoverbikes can attract fire from enemy craft whilst less agile hovercars can destroy from a distance when set to cautious attitude.
• Slow craft (purposely given weak engines) with missiles will launch them at the target directly if flying towards the enemy from long distance. This will allow the missile to fly straight at the target instead of turning constantly trying to hit.
• Giving waypoints to vehicles en-route to battle may help in tactics.
  • Switch to overhead cityscape view. Give a vehicle a target (building or craft). Click the "Go to Location" button. Hold down CRTL button then click on the cityscape somewhere to set a waypoint. Close the pop up window. The craft will fly the waypoints first then resume to the target.

Attitude

There a four settings:
Agressive = shoot shoot shoot!!! don't care about health or who is in the way.
Standard = shoot shoot!! make those shots count, and dodge others.
Cautious = shoot! make sure to get the best shot but don't scratch my paintwork.
Evasive = don't shoot but dodge dodge dodge.

• Attitude (evasive to angry) influences the disengagement from battle and returning to base according to damage sustained.
• An agressive combat setting will make your air craft get very close to the target. This will affect enemy missiles since they must turn constantly, but it limits your craft's space for evasive manoveuvers. If you have many craft swarming an enemy, the hostile cannot move freely. Craft will often fire even if there is a friendly in the way.
• A Cautious attitude enables weapon use at distance (typically maximum range of the selected weapon to target). Weapons may miss if the target is nimble. Overshoot into buildings may pose a problem.
• Evasive attitude will prevent your craft from using weapons. This is best when flying long distance to a target so that your craft do not fire on hostile company vehicles.
• Changing combat attitude as an air battle progresses may prevent UFOs from being destroyed outright. Switch to Evasive just before the UFO is destroyed. Missiles in flight will be cause for guesswork!

Height

• The highest setting enables the best unobstructed flight path.
• The lowest setting is just above road level. Large craft have slightly weaker top armor which may be an issue when shields are not available yet.
• Using the highest setting allows room for missile flight but forces your craft to shoot downwards at a hostile (if at a lower height). If your weapons miss, they may impact a building.
• Using a lower (but not lowest) height setting can make air combat more difficult due to building proximity blocking shots and possible collapse, damaging your craft; but it allows the possibility of shooting up at a target. If the shots miss, they fly off into the sky and not into a building.
• Over unowned land or outside citywalls, medium-high altitude is best since it allows maximum evasive movement.
• Inside the city, lower height setting is prefered since the enemy may miss and hit a building (to your Relations advantage). Enemy missiles will be flying downwards also. If they miss they often impact the ground which reduces the overall threat.

Advanced Tactic

Your craft can block Dimension Gates!

• Place many air vehicles in a diamond like pattern around the 3D space of a gate!!
  

Using Hoverbikes, set all to evasive attitude to prevent friendly fire and to force them to be evasive (even though they do not move when in position). Place one air vehicle using "Go to location" at each compass point next to the gate. Change altitude for each of the four vehicles until it is as close as possible to the same level as the gate. To place a craft above or below the dimension gate, change to overhead cityscape, switch to manual control for that vehicle and right click on the gate (Note: the first RMB click will go near the gate, the second RMB will be on the gate icon). Switch back to isometric view then change the altitide for this craft until it stays as close to under (or over) the dimension gate, then switch off manual control. Alien craft do not ram your craft but they will shoot at it and launch missiles. The strange effect is that the guns and missiles rarely hit a stationary Hoverbike. To block the gate so nothing can escape, six Hoverbikes (four around, one each above and below) set to the matching altitude of the dimension gate will prevent small alien craft from escaping. When large alien craft need blocking, four in a diamond at the same level as the gate is sufficient. The dimension gate can appear so that it is between the altitude settings of your airbourne craft. If you cannot match the same height as the gate, place four more around the gate at a different level to the four already there. Use other craft to knock down the (trying to) escaping UFO quickly since hoverbikes will still get damaged or destroyed. The Fast Attack UFO loses its advantage of high speed when using this unconventional tactic.