Firing Accuracy

Overview

Firing Accuracy is a measure of the soldier's overall skill at operating any given firearm. In short, it controls how accurate the soldier can be with any given gun.

Starting Values

New recruits will always begin with a value between 40 and 70.

Improvement

Firing Accuracy increases depending on how many times you hit an enemy alien. Examples / clarification:

• If you aim at one alien but hit a different one, it counts.
• If you hit an alien but don't do any Damage because it was too weak for their armor, it counts.
• If each of the three shots from a single Auto fire burst hits an alien, it counts as three hits.
• Mind-controlled aliens are friendly aliens. Hits on MC'd aliens do not count. Conversely, hitting soldiers under alien mind control does count.
• Area-effect weapons (i.e., grenades, rockets, Blaster Bombs, and even Stun Bombs) also count toward Firing Accuracy experience. You will score a "hit" for every alien within the blast's radius.
• Missed shots, hitting friendlies (including MC'd aliens or civilians), shooting scenery, distance to target, rank, etc. - none of these matter or count.

All that matters is that you hit a non-MC'd alien. Kills, per se, nor damage matter at all towards Firing Accuracy improvement. Only hits. (Kills do increase your Kill counter, but that's all - kills don't otherwise do anything at all for you, as far as is known.)

Weak weapons like pistols and laser pistols mean the alien won't die as quick, which means more hits, which means more chance of Firing Accuracy improvement. Because their skin is so thick and they have lots of Health, Mutons (and their Silacoid buddies) are great for multiple hits with a weak weapon. For more information, see Experience Training.

You can be awarded up to an average of 4 skill points (range 2-6) per combat mission if you make at least 11 hits. The point award does not depend on your current skill level, only on the number of hits. For more particulars on skill-point increases, see Experience.

Maximum Caps

An X-COM soldier's Firing Accuracy is capped at 120. However, because you can get a +6 roll when at 119, a soldier can have up to 125 Firing Accuracy (if they're really lucky!). For more info, see Regarding Caps.

Base Chance To Hit

Each weapon has an accuracy rating of its own, which, when applied to the soldier's firing accuracy, gives the soldier's "base chance to hit".

Formula:

Base Chance To Hit = Firing Accuracy x Weapon Accuracy

Example:

A soldier with a firing accuracy of 50%, using a weapon with an 
accuracy rating of 50%, will have a base chance to hit of 25%.

Influencing Factors

Base Chance To Hit is also affected by other factors:

• Kneeling: +15% when kneeling.
• Weapon Grip: -20% when holding a two-handed weapon with one hand.
• Wounds: -10% per wound up to not beyond -90%.
• Health: Base Accuracy × ( (max health − current health) ÷ max health )

For a full breakdown and example, see:

• The Accuracy formula

See Also

• Reactions
• Accuracy formula
• Damage
• Experience
• Grenades
• Experience Training