Movement (EU2012)

Movement (or Mobility) is a hidden unit stat in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Basics

A soldier's standard movement stat has the value of 12, which translates into 7 tiles (cell/square) for a half-turn move (blue), and 15 tiles for a dash (yellow), when running in a straight line. It also translates into moving 5 tiles for a half-turn move and 11 tiles for a dash, when moving diagonally.

The conversion for a half-turn move is:

round_down(attribute value * 0.666)

So, with a value of 12, we get:

12 * 0.666 = 7.992 => round_down(7.992) = 7 tiles

Also, 1 game square (or cell/tile) costs (1/0.666) = 1.501 movement points to cross in a straight line (horizontal or vertical)

Dashing

With dashing (using both actions to move), the value is doubled, so we get:

12 * 0.666 * 2 = 15.98 => round_down(15.98) = 15 tiles

Diagonal Movement

The cost of diagonal movement is determined by the Pythagorean Theorem:

 square root of (2) /0.666 = ~2.123

Movement Modifiers

A unit's movement stat can be increased/decreased by several modifiers.

Positive modifiers

• Abilities
  • The Sprinter ability of the support class: +4 movement (or 3 tiles as on its description)
  • Muton's Blood Call ability: +4 movement
• Armor
  • Skeleton Suit: +3 movement
  • Ghost Armor: +3 movement
  • Psi Armor: +2 movement
• Other
  • Combat Stims: +4 movement
  • MEC's Kinetic Strike Module: +4 movement
  • Combat Rush (triggered by the Adrenal Neurosympathy gene mod): +2 movement
  • Foundry's Advanced Servomotors project for MECs and SHIVs: +3 movement

Negative modifiers

• Injuries suffered while using Second Wave's Red Fog option: -2 movement
• Units under the influence of Flashbang grenades: -50% movement
• Units under the influence of Mind Fray psionic abilitiy: -50% movement
• Units poisoned: -25% movement
• Units who are catching breath after a Seeker's Strangle attack: -75% movement

Second Wave Options and Movement

While on a vanilla game all your soldiers will have 12 movement points, there are 2 Second Wave options that can allow for soldiers with different movement stats.

Not Created Equally

When a soldier is recruited, the movement attribute may vary between 11 and 14 points.

Hidden Potential

Your soldiers may gain +1 movement per additional rank gained through promotions. The chance for that to happen is 10% for Heavy soldiers and 20% for all other classes.

Theoretically, it would be possible to gain +7 movement points by the time a soldier reaches Colonel rank. However, the chances for that happening are extremely low.

Min/Max movement

With both Second Wave options enabled, the possible range of soldier movement is between 11 (minimum) and 21 (maximum), although the latter value is almost impossible to happen during a game. If all of the possible positive modifiers are applied to the maximum value, then theoretically the unit with highest movement value possible would be a soldier with the Sprinter ability, equipped with Skeleton Suit/Ghost Armor and under the influence of both Combat Rush and Combat Stims. That would give him 34 movement points on that turn, making it possible to move 22 straight squares on a single action, or 45 squares while dashing.

Without both the Second Wave options enabled, the highest possible value for the movement stat is 25, or 16 straight tiles on a single action and 33 while dashing.

Movement Table

The table below converts mobility stat values to the corresponding number of tiles for straight-line and diagonal movement, for blue and yellow moves (dashes). Columns 6 through 12 list straight-line tile values with applied movement modifiers listed in a previous section. The table shows exact calculations up to two decimal places. Since units can only move an integer number of tiles in the game, the fractions listed here are rounded down to the next lower integer, i.e. the decimal parts are truncated. E.g. given mobility of 12 points, the calculated tile value of 7.99 is rounded down to 7 tiles of in-game movement.

Movement Stat	# Tiles (blue straight move)	# Tiles (blue diagonal move)	# Tiles (straight dash)	# Tiles (diagonal dash)	# Tiles (+4)	# Tiles (+3)	# Tiles (+2)	# Tiles (-25%)	# Tiles (-50%)	# Tiles (-75%)	# Tiles (-2)	Unit
8	5.33	3.77	10.66	7.54	7.99	7.33	6.66	4.00	2.66	1.33	4.00	Zombie
9	5.99	4.24	11.99	8.48	8.66	7.99	7.33	4.50	3.00	1.50	4.66
10	6.66	4.71	13.32	9.42	9.32	8.66	7.99	5.00	3.33	1.67	5.33
11	7.33	5.18	14.65	10.36	9.99	9.32	8.66	5.49	3.66	1.83	5.99
12	7.99	5.65	15.98	11.30	10.66	9.99	9.32	5.99	4.00	2.00	6.66	Standard for soldiers and most aliens
13	8.66	6.12	17.32	12.24	11.32	10.66	9.99	6.49	4.33	2.16	7.33
14	9.32	6.59	18.65	13.19	11.99	11.32	10.66	6.99	4.66	2.33	7.99	Mechtoid, Seeker (Normal difficulty and above)
15	9.99	7.06	19.98	14.13	12.65	11.99	11.32	7.49	5.00	2.50	8.66
16	10.66	7.54	21.31	15.07	13.32	12.65	11.99	7.99	5.33	2.66	9.32
17	11.32	8.01	22.64	16.01	13.99	13.32	12.65	8.49	5.66	2.83	9.99	Berserker, Outsider (Classic/Impossible)
18	11.99	8.48	23.98	16.95	14.65	13.99	13.32	8.99	5.99	3.00	10.66	Cyberdisc
19	12.65	8.95	25.31	17.90	15.32	14.65	13.99	9.49	6.33	3.16	11.32
20	13.32	9.42	26.64	18.84	15.98	15.32	14.65	9.99	6.66	3.33	11.99	Chryssalid
21	13.99	9.89	27.97	19.78	16.65	15.98	15.32	10.49	6.99	3.50	12.65
22	14.65	10.36	29.30	20.72	17.32	16.65	15.98	10.99	7.33	3.66	13.32
23	15.32	10.83	30.64	21.66	17.98	17.32	16.65	11.49	7.66	3.83	13.99
24	15.98	11.30	31.97	22.61	18.65	17.98	17.32	11.99	7.99	4.00	14.65
25	16.65	11.77	33.30	23.55	19.31	18.65	17.98	12.49	8.33	4.16	15.32
26	17.32	12.24	34.63	24.49	19.98	19.31	18.65	12.99	8.66	4.33	15.98
27	17.98	12.72	35.96	25.43	20.65	19.98	19.31	13.49	8.99	4.50	16.65
28	18.65	13.19	37.30	26.37	21.31	20.65	19.98	13.99	9.32	4.66	17.32
29	19.31	13.66	38.63	27.31	21.98	21.31	20.65	14.49	9.66	4.83	17.98
30	19.98	14.13	39.96	28.26	22.64	21.98	21.31	14.99	9.99	5.00	18.65
31	20.65	14.60	41.29	29.20	23.31	22.64	21.98	15.48	10.32	5.16	19.31
32	21.31	15.07	42.62	30.14	23.98	23.31	22.64	15.98	10.66	5.33	19.98
33	21.98	15.54	43.96	31.08	24.64	23.98	23.31	16.48	10.99	5.49	20.65
34	22.64	16.01	45.29	32.02	25.31	24.64	23.98	16.98	11.32	5.66	21.31