Outsider (EU2012)

A being of pure energy, the Outsider commands UFOs for the Alien Forces. Although they possess no truly special abilities in tactical combat, Outsiders are required in order to progress further in the story. You will only find them on UFO assault missions.

Tactical Advice

As mentioned above, despite their unique energy-based nature, Outsiders have no special abilities unique to them that can be used in tactical battles.

Outsiders are however very proficient with their weapon. They have good base accuracy and they use light plasma rifles giving them an additional 10 aim, making them some of the most accurate creatures in the game. They only ever use light plasma rifles, meaning they will rarely one-shot a soldier in carapace armor. They also have unimpressive health, only a little more than a Thin Man, though the gap widens at higher difficulty. They almost always spawn in the bridge of the UFO, so make sure you are prepared before you enter the bridge.

Since you need to capture one alive, this means you will need to run extremely close to them in order to perform a stun from the arc thrower. This is a big deal because Outsiders will often go into Overwatch at the end of their turns. This means they can take a free shot at soldiers trying to advance on their positions. Assault soldiers can beat this as you can obtain lightning reflexes quite early on, allowing them to avoid reaction fire from them. Otherwise standard tactics for captures apply, such as using rookie cannon fodder, smoke for cover or disabling shot to make the Outsider unable to fire. Since the Outsider's location is predictable, a good plan for a capture is to avoid encountering the Outsider until you've cleared out the rest of the aliens and then swarm it.

Notes

• After you assault the alien base they will pull one final disappearing act and be replaced by Sectoid Commanders.
• Outsiders share the name and a few characteristics of the aliens from 2K Marins upcoming X-COM FPS. Their existence may be a joke pointed at 2K Marin.
• Outsiders are described by Dr Wahlen as "pure energy". The crystal left behind after stunning an Outsider is described by Dr. Shen as an "antenna" receiving a signal from the alien base. This may mean that Outsiders are some sort of energy-based avatar of the real UFO commander who remains in safety in the alien base.