Brainsucker (Apocalypse)

The Brainsucker UFOpaedia entry, if captured alive.

The Brainsucker Autopsy report from the UFOpaedia.

The Brainsucker will probably be the first alien creature you ever see. They tend to run straight towards your men (similar to Poppers), and it is because of this that Stun Grenades usually don't work against them. Stun Grapples are suggested against these agile creatures, though it's usually best to finish them off to prevent them regaining conciousness.

Brainsuckers are fairly harmless in realtime mode (where even amateur soldiers can take them out with a single bullet of nearly any kind), but considered a serious hazard in turn based (where they're much more likely to succeed in attacking your units, which potentially turns them against you permanently). They can leap several stories in the air to reach flying soldiers (Maybe even all the way to the top of the map, not sure on this...), and once they get a grip on their victims head, only an accompanying soldier can remove them before it's too late.

Although Brainsuckers are primitive creatures, they seem to know not to attack non-X-Com units (such as civilians and any human enemy combatants). That said, they will follow your Androids around without attacking them, and they are also incapable of attaching themselves to units lying prone.

Bipedal aliens will sometimes use a Brainsucker Launcher to fire Brainsucker Pods at your units. Pods on the ground near your agents will usually hatch into fullgrown Suckers on the spot, so pay attention to where they land and keep your distance from the corpses of aliens who wielded launchers.

Official Entry (Captured Alive): "The life span of a Brainsucker is very short, eight hours at most. It has no reproduction or feeding system. Instead it attacks human victims by grasping the head with its claws and inserting its proboscis into the victims throat. The Brainsucker dies immediately after a successful attack, but our tests reveal that the victim is subsequently transformed into an Alien controlled entity. We will not understand the mechanism which causes this until we have completed studies on the full Alien life cycle."

Official Entry (Autopsy): "This life form appears to have a simple structure with no distinguishable organs apart from an efficient heart and cardiovascular system. There appears to be no means of ingesting food or separate brain structure rendering it immune from Psionic influence. It seems that this creature has little purpose in life except that it is known to attack humans and seems to be designed to do only that. Its complex organic structure may be useful for developing toxins to counter any threat to our race."

See Also

• Aliens
• Brainsucker Launcher
  • Brainsucker Pod