Thin Man (EU2012)

The Thin Men are agile, quick, and elusive alien creatures. Designed to look human so that they can successfully infiltrate society, their true reptilian nature is betrayed by their yellow eyes as well as the patches of scales around their necks and wrists (not to mention their unnatural agility). Thin Men are responsible for handling the more secretive operations of the alien invasion, although some aren't exactly subtle, such as planting huge alien bombs in the middle of urban centres. Their human-like appearance doesn't fool XCOM troops, who have no trouble identifying Thin Men as hostiles.

Thin Men are one of the deadliest units in the early game. They have increased accuracy and mobility, making them ideal for long-range sniping at your soldiers while moving to outflank them. Their Leap ability allows the Thin Man to jump incredibly high, allowing it to scale entire buildings and take up an elevated position. This can be very dangerous against Snipers who are unable to fire. Against soldiers in high cover, they'll make use of their Poison Spit to reduce their aim, mobility and possibly causing them to panic. Even upon their death they can be dangerous since they'll release a poison cloud that can affect any soldier that moves through it.

Info

1st Appearance	March (Council missions) April (all other)
HP	3/3/4/6
Aim	65/65/75/75
Defense	0
Will	15
Movement	15
Easy/Normal/Classic/Impossible

Thin Man Armaments

Weapon	Base Damage	Critical Damage	Critical Chance
Thin Man Light Plasma Rifle	4-6	7 or 9	10

Thin Man Abilities

Ability	Description
Suppression	Can fire a special shot that grants reaction fire at a single target if it moves. The target also suffers a -30 Aim penalty.
Poison Spit	Spit poison at long range, causing a noxious cloud to remain briefly on the battlefield.
Leap	Allows vertical leaps onto elevated surfaces during movement.

Notes

• Thin Men start appearing on April on Abduction and UFO missions, but they can also be encountered in March during Council missions.
• On Easy and Normal difficulties, Thin Men deal less 2 damage than normal.
• Poison Spit damages soldiers by 20% and damages their health by one point each turn, and can be active up to 3 turns. Soldiers equipped with Titan Armor or a Medikit are immune (even if the Medikit has no more uses left). Other soldiers can be cured by using a Medikit on them.
  • Also, upon dying, the Thin Man will explode, leaving a poisonous cloud that will poison any soldiers that move within it and voiding a small area of cover.
• If killed during a successful mission a Thin Man Corpse will be recovered.
  • Researching Thin Men corpses will unlock the Improved Medikit Foundry project and, in the EW DLC, the Muscle Fiber Density gene mod and the Gas Grenade.
• If captured during a mission and interrogated afterwards they will provide a reduction in the time required to research all UFO Technology (Alien Nav Computer and UFO Power Source).
  • This can speed up the process of researching Firestorms and Titan Armor, as both require UFO Power Source to have been researched previously (as a direct prerequisite for Firestorms and a prerequisite to Elerium which is a prerequisite to Titan Armor), and Firestorms also require Alien Nav Computer to have been researched too. However, beyond these, capturing a Thin Man does not have much use.
  • Capturing a Thin Man will also recover intact its Light Plasma Rifle, which can be used later by your troops after it's researched.

Trivia

• The Thin Men are one of the few aliens in Enemy Unknown 2012 that do not have a direct 1994 equivalent. However, their reptilian origin suggests a conceptual link to the Snakemen.
  • And with XCOM2 confirming that they are an altered race based on the Vipers, this species is, literally, based on Snakemen.
• Thin Men are caricatures of Sid Meier, head of Firaxis. He has a history of showing up in games by Firaxis.