Celatid

Celatids are an alien Terror Unit accompanying Mutons along with Silacoids. As with all terror units, they can be encountered on Terror Missions, Base Defences, with a Terror Ship or Battleship, Alien Base Assaults, and finally on Cydonia.

The Celatid's only means of attack is its acid spit. This does an exceptional 140HP damage, making it the most powerful non-HE weapon in the game(!), increased by 60% on unarmoured soldiers and civilians (and even 10% on Personal Armoured soldiers). Now combine this with a firing accuracy that can reach 124% (on Superhuman difficulty) and the Celatid makes for a rather deadly foe.

Statistics

TUs:               70-81
Health:            62
Energy:            90-104
Reactions:         40-49
Strength:          70-75
Bravery:           90
Firing Accuracy:   50-124
Psi Skill:         N/A
Psi Strength:      60-69

Damage:            140 Venom
Accuracy-
  Snap:            75%
  Aimed:           110%
TUs-
  Snap:            30%
  Aimed:           60%

Live specimen

This life-form has the mysterious natural ability to float through the air. It appears to detect human brain waves and will move towards a human target even if well hidden. Once a target is detected the Celatid lands and fires small globules of extremely corrosive venom. The creature has the ability to clone itself at an alarming rate. It accompanies the Muton race in its wanderings.

Autopsy

The core contains a small bio-mechanical device which appears to be a naturally evolved anti-gravity propulsion system. The sac of venom is the largest organ and there does not appear to be a separate brain structure. There is no discernible digestive or reproductive system. A small organ contains embryos which can grow rapidly into a new being.

Notes

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Celatid:

• We're not sure what the eggheads mean about tracking hidden targets or rapid reproduction cycles, but none of this activity has ever been observed in the field, except the tracking hidden targets after turn 20, which ALL aliens perform.
• The Celatids acid spit does 1.6x damage to unarmoured soldiers and civilians.
• It does 0.4x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
• Celatid has a weakness to its own spit!
• Very accurate attack.
• If in range, can attack up to 3 times in one turn.
• It's quite fast.
• It's quite small, making for a harder target.
• It has poor armor. It can fall to conventional weapons, and even a glancing shot from heavy plasma will usually kill it.
• Its acid spit follows an arcing trajectory that the game traces just like it does for grenades. Because of this, its effective range is 7 squares indoors (with a roof immediately overhead), or 16 squares outdoors.
• If aimed at an outer UFO hull (most likely via Mind Control), Celatid spit is strong enough to penetrate 7.14% of the time (see Destroying Terrain).
  • Due to its trajectory, it cannot target walls directly, so it's a bad choice for them despite its high damage. However, it can target (and penetrate) a UFO's roof (or floor) from above or below, so it's great for this.