Missions (EU2012)
Mission Types
Mission Response Times
Each mission will have a window of opportunity of 1-2 days, specific values below:
| Mission | Deadline (Hours) |
|---|---|
| Abductions | 48 |
| Terror Site | 30 |
| Crashed UFO | 30 |
| Landed UFO | 30 |
| Council | ?? |
Mission Difficulty
- Certain missions (Abductions, Terror Sites) appear with four levels of Difficulty: Easy/Moderate/Difficult/Very Difficult.
- These indicate the number of alien "packs" (also named "pods") present on the mission, with Easy usually having 2 packs and Very Difficult around 4.
- Keep in mind that the actual number of aliens may vary since packs can have 1-3 aliens, depending on game stage. Usually the aliens will deploy a maximum of 12 units on a Very Difficult setting on Terror sites or Abductions.
Alien Missions
Missions envolving the aliens are the bread and butter of XCOM. You'll be asked to either stop alien activity in specific countries or to recover landed/crashed UFOs. Ignoring any of those missions will increase Panic levels on the country where they occur, with the exception of Crashed UFO sites.
Council Missions
These missions will appear periodically and you'll be given resources (credits, soldiers, etc.) in exchange for completing these missions, in addition it may also reduce the panic level of the country where it takes place. Council missions may be ignored without any effect on your monthly score but if you accept any mission, its results will affect the Council's score. The most difficult Council missions are usually the Bomb Disposal sites because of the time window involved to deactivate the alien bomb. After a player has reached the mid/late game the Council missions will turn into training runs since your advanced weapons and armor will be more than a match for the usual aliens found in those missions.
Slingshot DLC Missions
Slingshot is a DLC available for Enemy Unknown which consists in a series of 3 missions that unlock a playable soldier Zhang along with additional resources. The Slingshot missions will only be offered once in the first month of the game. After each mission appears available on the Situation Room it is possible for the player to delay it indefinitely by choosing the 'Not Now' option.
Enemy Within DLC Missions
Covert Operations Missions
Progeny Missions
Storyline Missions
These are special missions that you'll need to complete in order to progress in the storyline. Failure to complete certain missions will be considered a game loss. For more details see the Storyline Missions page (massive spoilers!).
(Spoiler) Alien Species Deployment Table
| Mission | Sectoid | Thin Man | Outsider | Drone | Floater | Muton | Chryssalid | Sectoid Commander | Heavy Floater | Muton Elite | Cyberdisk | Bezerker | Ethereal | Sectopod |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abductions | YES | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES | NO | NO | YES | YES | YES | YES | NO | ? |
| Terror Site | NO | NO | NO | YES | YES | YES | YES | NO | YES | NO | YES | YES | NO | YES |
| UFO Crash Site | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| UFO Landing Site | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
| Council | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO | NO |
| Slingshot | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO | YES | YES | NO | NO | NO | YES | NO | NO | NO |
| Storyline | YES | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES | YES |
See Also
- UFOs - For more information regarding salvage from landed/downed UFOs.
- Maps - For details on the types of terrain for each mission.
- Managing Panic - For more information regarding country and world panic.
- Mission Names - For a list of the names used while generating missions.