Cyberdisc (EU2012)

1st Appearance	{{{appears}}}
HP	16/16/20/20
Aim	70
Defense	10
Will	Mechanized
Movement	18
Easy/Normal/Classic/Impossible

The Cyberdisc is a flying heavy weapons platform equipped with a devastating plasma cannon and covered in tough armour plating. When first encountered the Cyberdisc will be in a closed disc like form not unlike a miniature UFO. When the Cyberdisc is ready to attack it opens up to reveal a terrifying mass of tentacles bustling with heavy weaponry. It will take a lot of firepower to take down and it also comes equipped with an alien grenade.

The disc will explode on death, damaging everything in a small radius.

Note that Cyberdiscs will always work in groups with Drone units. The Drones can repair the Cyberdisc. You might want to kill the Drones so the Cyberdisc cannot be healed. Just make sure the reward in doing so is greater than the risk.

Tactical Advice

When a Cyberdisc appears you should prioritise them over other aliens you may be fighting. The disc will likely charge in to your midst and take a flanking shot.

Discs aren't very subtle, and will use their move when you first see them to charge at you. Try to burn them down on the turn you see them, because they are very fast and can often get a flank on their next turn unless you fall back. HEAT ammo Heavies can do heavy damage to Discs and the fact that they tend to fly high means your snipers will probably have a good shot immediately. A closed disc is Hardened, so is very difficult to crit, but otherwise is hit and damaged normally. When the Disc attacks it will open up in order to fire, making them more vulnerable. The cyberdisc will close up again on your turn when hit, so make sure to hit it with something high damage for the first shot to make the most of the opportunity for a a critical.

Also note that they do carry an Alien Grenade, so keep your troop's proximity to one another appropriately in mind.

Drones only repair the Disc they spawned with for 3 HP, so as long as you kill the Disc quickly enough, Drones should be more of an annoyance than a serious problem. The drones usually start close to the Disc, so they can be destroyed by it when it explodes on death. Using a rocket on the group is a good way to take out the drones while also dealing damage to the Disc itself. A skilled commander will be able to take advantage of this, and have the Disc's death damage (if not outright destroy) the drones, and any aliens that happen to be near it.

If all else fails, and you can afford the 3 Damage (and not moving into range of any other aliens), an Assault with a Scatter Laser or Alloy Cannon and Rapid Fire can make short work of them.

Interestingly, they're fairly uncommon in Impossible difficulty: for as soon as Sectopods begin to appear, they will be launched en mass, making Cyberdisc appearances infrequent.

For their Autopsy, a kill NOT using explosives is required. It will give you access to the Tracking Module for your Interceptors, a one-use item that extends the amount of time of an air engagement. Not too necessary, as the only time you may require them is when attempting to take down Battleships or the Overseer UFO, and you have only one ready interceptor on that Continent (but, if you have two or more interceptors on a continent: the subsequent Interceptors can be launched when the previous one is either returning to base, or is destroyed, thus reducing the need of this item).

Abilities:

• Death Blossom: An area of effect attack dealing high damage to all units within a few spaces in all directions.