Deep One

Deep-Ones are a graft of a human body and alien technology, with armored skin and alien implants to control them. The eyes are the only organ left unchanged, although it's hard to tell under the red glowing goggles.

The Deep-One is a terror weapon commonly associated with the Gillman race, but will later appear on Mixed Crews. They are only brought into battle on land mission. This includes port attacks, ocean liner attacks, X-Com aqua base attacks and island resort attack. They will appear underwater on the T'Leth mission.

Deep-Ones are armed with a long range arcing weapon that discharges electricity. Though they pose little more threat than the average Gillman or Aquatoid, their electric attacks are not to be understimated, as they can be fired over walls and can deal massive damage to any and all human targets regardless of the protection they are wearing. This attack does reduced damage against other alien targets.

Do not confuse the Deep-Ones for the Lovecraftian Deep Ones,which are more closely related to the Tasoth than TFTD's Deep-One.

The Deep-One is a crucial alien in X-Com's overall research. The corpse reveals the fundamental principles behind the Aqua Plastics and Plastic Aqua Armor. Only after you've learned this will interrogating a live Deep-One allow a better understanding of constructing the more potent Ion Armor. The Ion Armour and its upgrade, the Magnetic Ion Armor are an integral part of Sub Construction. Deep-Ones are also an optional lead to understanding MC technology.

The only way to capture a live Deep-One is to get them during a Gillman terror mission. Unfortunately, Gillmen only appear for a short window of time and are quickly mostly replaced with Lobsterman and Tasoth crews, though they will occasionally launch a terror mission even later in the game. If you have not captured a Deep-One by then, you may not be able to obtain one until much later when the Mixed Crews arrive. This can often prove to be a very long wait. Even if you do manage to get one later in the game, bear in mind your Aquanauts will be left without Ion Armor for a very long time (i.e. you will take a lot of casualties). It is often better to be aggressive and engage and capture a Deep-One as soon as possible, even at the risk of abandoning the terror site if it's too difficult.

Research Bug

The TFTD Research tree has a few bugs. One major bug that will prevent you from winning the game is associated with the Deep One. Researching the Deep-One in the incorrect sequence will prevent you from getting the advanced armor and most importantly the subs. The advanced subs are one half of the necessary requirements to launch the end-game mission.

To avoid it, you will need to research the live Deep One in the proper sequence. This proper sequence is covered in The Deep One Dilemma article.

Live Specimen

Be advised: Deep-Ones don't carry weapons. The miniature craft PWT cannon is just for show.

Ufopaedia excerpt

The Deep One is a biological nightmare, a cross breed, produced by the mind warping experiments of the Aquatoids. We have encountered several variations of this creature.

After extensive research we conclude that these are manufactured by the invaders. Swelling their ranks when fresh human stock has been captured. Each of these sub-human is armed with an electrical energy discharge powerful enough to kill an aquanaut.

Autopsy

Deep-One Autopsy

Ufopaedia Excerpt

The creature is a graft of man and alien organism. The human brain is massively altered to accommodate control electronics and the Alien cortex. All vestiges of the human body seem lost save one: the eyes. The surgical graft appears to allow the alien foetus to consume the human host as it grows.

The tough skin of the creature appears to be a non-organic, metallic mesh, extremely strong and flexible. The resulting cross breed is strong, fast and utterly under the control of the aliens.

Notes

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Deep One:

• The Deep One takes 0.8x damage from explosions and 0.9x damage from Armour Piercing, Incendiary and Gauss attacks, but 1.1x damage from Sonic weapons and 1.2x damage from Melee attacks.
• It appears almost exclusively on land, usually being replaced by Xarquid underwater. The only two cases where they do appear underwater are some Mixed Crew Dreadnoughts and T'leth.
• Average Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
• High Strength
• Low Health.
• Average speed (average TUs).
• Low Energy.
• Average Reactions.
• Their weapon has a grenade-like trajectory. It cannot be recovered or used by X-com. In fact, it doesn't appear in the game at all, making it look like the Deep Ones are spitting something at your Aquanauts.
• Despite being required for researching armour, Deep Ones have weaker armour ratings than the Diving Suit!

See Also

• Alien Life Forms
• Overviews of Aliens
• Terror Units
• Xarquid
• Gillman