Sectoid

UFOpaedia entry

Sectoid "The Sectoid hierarchy ranges from soldiers to leaders with powerful psionic abilities. These psionic powers can be used to demoralise soldiers in combat, or even take control of their minds. They tend to indulge in human abductions and cattle mutilation. The abduction is used to extract genetic material for cross breeding and developing clones for infiltrating human society. The cattle provide both nutrition and genetic material. This race appears to want to develop superior genetic hybrids to increase the efficiency of their hive-like society." Sectoid Autopsy "The autopsy reveals vestigial digestive organs and a simple structure. The brain and eyes are very well developed. The structure suggests genetic alteration or mutation. The small mouth and nose appear to have little function. The webbing between the fingers and the flat feet suggest aquatic origins. There are no reproductive organs and no clues as to how this species can reproduce. They are most probably a genetically engineered species."

Source:

Sectoids look like the stereotypical alien abductor - skinny, grey and with big black eyes.

Sectoids are usually the first alien species a Commander will come across. They are lightly armoured and will usually go down after taking one or two direct hits with standard Earth pistols and rifles.

Though weak, high ranking sectoids such as the Leaders and Commanders have the ability to use psionics to mentally attack and disrupt the activities of X-COM squads. Just one Sectoid with psi powers can be a deadly threat to even the toughest of squads if there are any weak links in their mental defences.

This race is often involved in terror attacks and is supported in these endeavours by the Cyberdisc.

Capturing a Leader or Commander Sectoid will allow R&D to further their research into the field of psionics. An Ethereal of any rank will also allow this.

Statistics

TUs:               54-62
Health:            30
Energy:            90-104
Reactions:         63-78
Strength:          30-32
Bravery:           80
Firing Accuracy:   26-64
Throwing Accuracy: 58
Psi Skill:         40-58
Psi Strength:      50-69

Appearance rate
Dec - Jan	Feb - Mar	Apr - May	Jun - Jul	Aug Onwards
51.42%	47.14%	25.71%	15.71%	24.28%

For a complete a breakdown by race and mission type, see: Alien Appearance Ratios or Alien Appearance Ratios (TFTD)

Notes

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Sectoid:

• The Sectoid takes 1.2x damage from melee attacks, and 1.6x damage from a Celatid's acid spit.
• High Reactions.
• Average speed (average TUs).
• Average Psi Strength.
• Low Energy.
• Low Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
• Very low Health.
• Very low Strength.

Other references

• Sectoids firstly appeared on Laser Squad, the predecessor to UFO Defense, on mission 5 'Paradise Valley', where they are mentioned as "A sentient race known as the Sectoids tend to collect and store weaponry taken from humans unfortunate enough to meet them, and they have the ability to use these weapons as well."