Floater (EU2012)
A twisted ball of airborne agony, the Floater provides close air support for the Alien forces. Unlike their older cousins from the the original, these Floaters fly with powerful jet powered packs integrated into their bodies.
They take advantage of their superior mobility and evasiveness to outflank even the strongest defensive positions. They can also use their launch ability to drop down anywhere they wish on the battlefield. They cannot fire after launching though, leaving them defenseless if they drop into the middle of your squad. Be wary of your snipers though, they can be caught unable to fire if a Floater launches down to them.
Floater groups may be easy to dispatch by themselves but in the middle of a heated firefight they can drop in unexpectedly, catching your soldiers off guard and leaving them flanked. Their flanking maneuvers can sometimes leading to disastrous situations for your operatives.
Tactical Advice
If there are Floaters you know to be lurking around, consider a few turns of overwatch from your entire squad. Floaters of all kinds are very rash and will fly recklessly into ambushes. They are quite hard to hit because of their evasion ability but of an entire XCOM squad firing at them some shots are bound to hit. (Unless you get terribly unlucky.)
If a Floater or a group of Floaters decide to drop in behind you during a battle with other alien ground troops, move your soldiers to deal with the Floaters first instead as their flanking positions will give them better aim than any other aliens you may be fighting.
They carry Light Plasma Rifles early on, and may change to Plasma Rifles, changing the +10 Aim for more damage. Depending on your luck of getting hit at all, this may be good or bad for you. Even once Heavy Floaters appear, they will still make regular appearances, though less and less as time goes on. The interrogation of the normal Floater reduces research time for Carapace Armor and the Skeleton Suit. While less of a priority on easier difficulties, this may be an early neccessity on Impossible difficulty, as the penalties to you and the bonuses to the aliens make it a certainty that you will not kill all aliens in the first round of engagement, and your soldiers will be hit in return.
Floater Soldier
1st Appearance | {{{appears}}} |
HP | 4/4/4/6 |
Aim | 50 |
Defense | 0 |
Will | 10 |
Movement | 12 |
Easy/Normal/Classic/Impossible |
These standard flying soldiers are the mainstay of the Floater forces. They are usually the forth or fifth aliens you will encounter. (After Thin Men or Outsiders.) They have pretty weak armour but they are very fast and agile. They're mobility makes them ideal for flanking. Accuracy is average but they gain bonuses because of their height advantage. As mentioned above keep your snipers safe and watch out for their surprise flank attacks. You may want to keep a stock of their corpses on hand, as they are used for the useful one-use-each Dodge Boost module for your Interceptors.
Weapon | Damage | Critical Chance | Terrain Damage | Range | Reaction Angle | Reaction Range | Size | Abilities |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Floater Plasma Light Rifle | 6 | 10 | 125 | 27 | 200 | NA | Large | Suppression 20% |
Abilities:
- Launch: The Floater can launch to any point on the map (ends its turn).
- Floaters are always considered to have at least Light cover even in the open or when flying, unless in proper cover and Flanked. This bonus does not stack with existing cover bonuses - they only recieve the best cover.
Heavy Floater
1st Appearance | {{{appears}}} |
HP | 12/12/14/16 |
Aim | 70 |
Defense | 10 |
Will | 25 |
Movement | 12 |
Easy/Normal/Classic/Impossible |
Tough. Accurate. Mobile. Deadly.
Heavy Floaters are hulking monsters, with a ton of health and a powerful degree of firepower to match. Flank attacks from these hovering horrors usually end in a tough fight and a lot of corpses. If these corpses turn out to belong to the Aliens or X-COM Operatives is up to the X-COM Commander and a little bit of luck.
Their skill and efficiency is at a margin far higher than that of their little brothers. They have a large amount of health and carry much better weaponry than Floater Soldiers, doing double the damage to us and receiving half the damage when compared to regular Floaters. They carry Alien Grenades, so keep troop position in mind.
Thankfully they appear very late game, and by then we should have deadly plasma weaponry of our own. Apply the tactics you would use against regular Floaters, but expect a tougher battle.
Weapon | Damage | Critical Chance | Terrain Damage | Range | Reaction Angle | Reaction Range | Size | Abilities |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Floater Heavy Plasma | 10 | 10 | 125 | 27 | 200 | 27 | Large | Suppression 35% |
Alien Grenade | 5 | 0 | Any | 250 | 17 | 240 | Small |
Abilities:
- Evasion: Enemies targeting this unit when it is airborn suffer a -20 Aim penalty.
- Launch: Move anywhere on the battlefield in a single turn. Launch cannot be used indoors.
- Bombard: Throw or launch grenades over exceptionally long distances.
Notes
- These Floaters use jet packs to travel around, unlike the gravball units used by the Floaters of the original.
- Floaters may be back, but the same cannot be said for their signature terror units from the original, the Reapers.
External Links
XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2012): Aliens | |
Aliens: | Sectoid • Floater • Thin Man • Outsider • Muton • Chryssalid • Zombie • Sectoid Commander • Cyberdisc • Heavy Floater • Berserker • Sectopod • Drone • Muton Elite • Ethereal • Uber Ethereal (*Spoilers*) • Mechtoid (EW DLC) • Seeker (EW DLC) |
Alien Corpses: | Sectoid Corpse • Floater Corpse • Thin Man Corpse • Muton Corpse • Chryssalid Corpse • Drone Wreck • Cyberdisc Wreck • Sectoid Commander Corpse • Heavy Floater Corpse • Berserker Corpse • Muton Elite Corpse • Sectopod Wreck • Ethereal Corpse • Seeker Wreck (EW DLC) • Mechtoid Core (EW DLC) |
Data: | Overview of Aliens • Alien Stats • Alien Objectives • Alien Deployment |