Missions (EU2012)

Tactical missions are XCOM's main operations and can be generated through either Mission Control or the Situation Room. Each mission will have a codename, and will have a Brief and Objectives for XCOM to achieve. At the end of the mission the XCOM Commander will be shown an After Action Report detailing the success/failure of the mission.

Mission Types

Alien Missions

Missions involving alien invaders 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 these missions increases the panic level of the country, and usually also in the continent where they occur, with the exception of Crashed UFO sites.

• Alien Abductions
• Crashed UFO
• Landed UFO
• Alien Terror Attack

Council Missions

Council 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. If failed or ignored most missions will also raise panic on the country, and, in Impossible difficulty, on the entire continent.

• Target Extraction
• Target Escort (Rescue)
• Asset Recovery (Assault)
• Bomb Disposal

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 Thin Men found in those missions.

Slingshot DLC Missions

Slingshot is a DLC available for Enemy Unknown which consists in a campaign of 3 Council missions that unlock a playable soldier Zhang along with additional salvage. The Slingshot missions will only be offered once in the first month of the game and you'll be given the choice of taking it instead or a regular Council mission. 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.

• Friends in Low Places
• Confounding Light
• Gangplank

On the Enemy Within DLC, the Slingshot campaign has been pushed to a May start, instead of late March.

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. There are five Storyline missions, although the two Tutorials are optional at game start.

• Tutorial
• Meld Tutorial (EW DLC)
• Alien Base Assault
• XCOM Base Defense (EW DLC)
• Temple Ship Assault

For more details see the Storyline Missions page (massive spoilers!).

XCOM: Enemy Within DLC Missions

IIn addition to the ones already mentioned above, the Enemy Within DLC introduces several new mmissions.

Covert Operations Missions

Covert Operations missions that become available on the Situation Room after EXALT appears in May. Covert missions will be available until the EXALT base is destroyed.

• Covert Extraction
• Covert Data Recovery
• EXALT Base Assault

Council Missions

• Site Recon

Progeny Missions

Progeny is a Council campaign of 3 missions that is optional at game start. It can be played in the same game with Slingshot campaign also activated, or as a solo campaign.

• Portent
• Deluge
• Furies

Mission Frequency

The majority of the tactical missions will be generated periodically by the game upon certain definitions on a monthly basis. It is possible to ignore those missions but it will usually have negative consequences as panic increase. The Storyline missions take place at the player's discretion and can be postponed indefinitely.

After the Alien Base mission, the frequency of the Abductions, Terror and UFO missions will be changed.

Abductions

• Before the Alien Base mission, there will be 2 Abductions each month, regardless if there's 3 or more countries left in the Council without a satellite.
• After the Alien Base is assaulted it can be none or up to 2 monthly missions, depending if there's still 3 or more countries remaining on the Council without satellites.
• The aliens will target any countries still in the Council that don't have a satellite deployed and avoid any country already marked for a Terror Site during the month.
• The number of countries with abductions is 3, but it can be less, depending on the number of countries without a satellite, if the Alien Base hasn't been assaulted yet.

Terror Site

• Before the Alien Base mission, there's 1 Terror Site every even month (April, June, etc.). After the base is destroyed, it takes place every month.
• There's a 75% chance that the aliens will choose to terrorize the most panicked country. If not, the aliens will prioritize countries in continents with the most panic levels.
• The targeted country will also be removed from any Abduction missions that take place.

UFOs

• Detected UFOs can be conducting 4 types of missions: Scout Target, Destroy Satellite, Harvest Live Specimens, and Final Preparations.
• 1 UFO is detected each month, either crashed or landed.
  • 50% chance for a 2nd detected UFO during April or May (March to July with Second Wave's Marathon).
• There's a monthly limit of 2 UFOs being detected either landed (Harvest Live Specimens mission) or flying (Scout Target mission)
• More UFOs can appear in case a Destroy Satellite UFO mission is generated but there's a maximum of 2 UFO ground missions.
• If any Harvest Live Specimens or Scout Target missions are completely ignored the aliens will send quickly a Large Scout/Battleship on a Destroy Satellite mission. If the first mission is ground assaulted or intercepted, regardless of the final result, the 2nd mission will not be generated.
• If the last ground mission has been a Crashed UFO, there's a 66% chance that a UFO will appear on a Scout Target mission. Otherwise it will be a Landed UFO mission. This value is defined on the UFO_INTERCEPTION_PCT setting at DefaultGameCore.ini.
• The Final Preparations UFO mission is only assigned to Overseer UFOs and only appears after you've progressed enough on the Storyline to build the Hyperwave Relay.

Council

• On Enemy Unknown, 1 Council Mission every month, between the 13th and the 27th, can be filled by Slingshot campaign missions.
• On the Enemy Within DLC, there are two monthly time windows, between the 5th and 15th days and between the 17th and 27th.
  • There can be only 1 Council Mission each month. On each window there will be either a Mission or Request (25% chance for 2 Requests, 50% for Mission and a Request, 25% for a Request/Mission). The Slingshot and Progeny missions can fill either window.

EXALT

(Work in progress)

Mission Factors

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

• The number of aliens present in a mission depend on its type and the Difficulty level. For a detailed breakdown of the numbers, check Alien Deployment.
• Certain missions (Abductions, Terror Sites) will also appear with individual difficulty levels of: Easy/Moderate/Difficult/Very Difficult. These indicate the number of alien "pods" (groups of 1-3 aliens) present on the mission, with Easy usually having 2 packs and Very Difficult around 4-5.

(Work in progress)

Mission Scoring & Rewards

(Work in progress)

Alien Species Deployment Table

For detailed information on the actual probabilities of seeing an alien species during a mission, check Alien Deployment.

Enemy Unknown

Mission	Sectoid	Thin Man	Outsider	Drone	Floater	Muton	Chryssalid	Sectoid Commander	Heavy Floater	Muton Elite	Cyberdisc	Berserker	Ethereal	Sectopod
Abductions	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO
Terror Site	NO	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES 1	YES	NO	YES	NO	YES	YES	NO	YES
Scout UFO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO
Large UFO	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
1 As escorts to Berserkers.

Enemy Within DLC

Mission	Sectoid	Thin Man	Outsider	Drone	Floater	Muton	Chryssalid	Sectoid Commander	Heavy Floater	Muton Elite	Cyberdisc	Berserker	Ethereal	Sectopod	Mechtoid	Seeker
Abductions	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES1	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	NO	YES	YES
Terror Site	NO	NO	NO	YES	YES	YES2	YES	NO	YES	NO	YES	YES	NO	YES	?	?
Scout UFO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES
Large UFO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
Council	YES	YES	NO	NO	NO	YES	YES3	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
Slingshot	YES	YES	NO	NO	NO	YES	YES	NO	NO	NO	YES	NO	NO	NO	NO	NO
Progeny	YES	YES	NO	NO	?	YES	?	YES	?	?	?	YES	NO	?	YES	?
Storyline	YES	YES	NO	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES	YES
1 As escorts to Mechtoids. 2 As escorts to Berserkers. 3 Site Recon mission only.

Progeny vs. Slingshot

• Portent first appears in April, but the other two missions in this side plot won't take place until the aliens have done their assault on the XCOM HQ, which only takes place after the assault on the Alien Base.
• Friends in Low Places takes place after Portent and the whole Slingshot campaign is usually finished before the rest of Progeny.
• Annette and her fellow abductees' stats, recruited months into the game, won't be as useful as getting Zhang in just a few weeks in, especially since pre-leveled recruits (such as from Abduction/Council rewards) don't benefit from OTS's Iron Will.
  • This also includes having your later-game soldiers in mind, if Hidden Potential and Not Created Equally are chosen, and you have already begun farming and raising for your Psi Squad; they can easily get higher stats than pre-leveled soldiers.
  • Pre-leveled soldiers are not a priority reward in general: generic Abduction/Council Reward soldiers will always be one level below your highest-ranked solider for that class, and Zhang was the one exception as he would be the only one that could be of higher rank than any soldiers you'll have at the time, at least in vanilla EU, where he could be gotten in March.
• What you can sell and research from Slingshot's Battleship mission in (as early as) April, has now been moved to May.
• At the very least, the Council rewards of the first missions are more profitable from Slingshot.

Slingshot		Progeny
Friends in Low Places	Council Rewards: 2 Engineers 2 Scientists §200 Zhang (Heavy Lieutenant) Enemies: Sectoids Thin Men Chryssalid, or 1 Muton on Impossible Difficulty Note: May be as early as 2 weeks into the game Thus, for Classic/Impossible, Zhang will probably unlock OTS construction	Portent	Council Rewards: 1 Engineer 1 Scientist §150 Enemies: Thin Men Note: Appears to have priority appearance over Slingshot As a part of a "Portent" [1], is inherent to EW's storyline, as it features an EXALT agent, and Annette's abilities, taken by the aliens, are reported to be the cause for the attack on XCOM Base.
Confounding Light	Council Reward: 2 Engineers Enemies Thin Men Mutons (w/Plasma Rifles) Note: 10 turn limit, placing devices does not extend time Arguably the most difficult of all DLC missions, perhaps the most difficult of all early-game missions Wounds suffered here may put soldiers out of commission for the next few missions, particularly Gangplank Possible early Muton capture can give you a massive early lead on Plasma weaponry research Can be done as early as April	Deluge	Council Rewards: §100 Annette (random class, Sergeant) Enemies: Sectoids Thin Men Mechtoids Note: Will not occur until after you do the Alien Base Assault Level is on a damaged dam, with a turn limit. Opening valves will extend time by 2 turns each (similar to a Bomb Disposal Mission). Only one soldier needs to reach the target area at the end of the dam
Gangplank	align="center" Council Reward: 2 Engineers Enemies: Sectoids Thin Men Chryssalids 1 Cyberdisc 1 Muton Note: Will often occur within days of completing Confounding Light (and thus: April) Spoils of Victory: ~500 Alien Alloys ~300 Elerium 5x UFO Power Engines 6x UFO Flight Computers 2x Fusion Cores	Furies	Council Rewards: §100 Possibility of acquiring all three abductees as Psionic Lieutenants, if their pods aren't destroyed by the aliens or by accident Enemies: Sectoids Thin Men Mechtoids Berserker Note: Level is in a snow field in the Alps with a landed Abductor. Target is a unique console in the central room of the UFO, just before the door to the bridge

See Also

• Mission Control
• 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.
• Alien Deployment - For data on the number of aliens present during a mission.