Difficulty (EU2012)

Starting Funds

Difficulty	North America	South America	Europa	Africa	Asia
Easy	§465				§315
Normal
Classic	§300
Impossible

Achievements

File:Humanity's Savior.jpg Humanity's Savior - complete the game on any difficulty
File:Earth First.jpg Earth First - complete the game on classic difficulty
File:No Looking Back.jpg No Looking Back - complete the game on classic or impossible difficulty in ironman mode
File:Our Finest Hour.jpg Our Finest Hour - complete the game on impossible difficulty

Easy

• 150% of monthly funds income
• Base global panic starts at 0
• Most alien activity only raises panic by 1 if left unchecked
• Aliens use the Easy/Normal AI package, and aren't as numerous.
• XCOM soldiers have +1 bonus HP, starting with 6 instead of 5
• Soldiers cost $10
• XCOM HQ starts 35 units of power.
• XCOM HQ starts with an Officer Training School.
• Sectoids have their health reduced by 1 compared to Normal
• Thin Man aliens' damage is reduced by 2, and their HP is reduced by 1 compared to Normal\
• Aliens use special abilities and throw grenades extremely infrequenly

Normal

• 100% of monthly funds income
• Base global panic starts at 0
• Most minor alien activity raises panic by 1 in left unchecked with some events doing up to 3
• Soldiers have no bonus hitpoints
• Soldiers cost $10
• XCOM HQ has 35 units of starting power.
• XCOM HQ starts with an Officer Training School.

Classic

• 100% of monthly funds income
• Base global panic starts at 8 (1 per location)
• Unchecked alien activity causes at least 1 panic, but will often cause 2 or 3
• There are more aliens per mission
• Aliens receive bonuses: Chryssalids and Zombies recieve a +2 damage bonus, Muton berserkers receive a +1 damage bonus, all aliens that use ranged weapons receive a +10 Aim bonus, Mutons, Heavy Floaters, Drones, and Outsiders receive a +2 HP bonus, Sectoid Commanders and Cyberdiscs receive a +4 HP bonus, Sectoid Commanders and Ethereals receive a +25 Will bonus.
• Alien AI is unshackled
• Soldiers have -1 HP
• Soldiers cost $15
• XCOM HQ has 30 units of starting power
• XCOM HQ has no Office Training School at the start; a soldier must reach Sergeant to unlock the OTS base facility
• You do not start with a extra satellite

Impossible

• 100% of monthly funds income
• Base global panic starts at 16 (2 per location)
• If unchecked alien activity causes at least 2 panic, but will often cause even more
• There are even more aliens per mission
• Aliens receive bonuses: Many aliens do 2 to 4 bonus damage, all aliens using ranged weapons have +10 Aim except the Outsider and Muton Elite who receive +20 Aim, all aliens have +10 Critical Chance, Outsiders can move 5 more tiles per turn than in Easy, Normal, or Classic, Sectoid Commanders, Ethereals, and the Uber Ethereal receive bonus Will, with the first two getting +35 and the latter getting +10, many aliens receive +10 bonus Defense, and most aliens receive 1 to 5 bonus HP
• Alien AI is unshackled
• Soldiers have -2 hitpoints
• Soldiers cost $15
• XCOM HQ has 30 units of starting power.
• XCOM HQ starts without an Officer Training School; a soldier must reach Sergeant to unlock the OTS base facility
• Aliens use special abilities frequently, and are 40 times more likely to throw grenades compared to Easy and Normal
• You do not start with a extra satellite

Ironman

The Ironman game mode disallows you from saving the game manually.

• This makes the game more difficult since you cannot undo catastrophic mistakes or turns in combat.
• The game saves when you exit and when turns end in combat.
• This is independent of the difficulty setting, and may be enabled for any of them.
• This mode can cause problems if you encounter bugs that cause non-progression, since you cannot go back to an earlier, hopefully more functional save state.
• Ironman can arguably 'save you from yourself' if you are the kind of player who would otherwise tend to reload any decision, combat, or turn that did not go well. While you are likely to do better as a result, overall gameplay may not be as fun as simply figuring out how to go on with the consequences.