Thin Man (EU2012)

1st Appearance	{{{appears}}}
HP	3/3/4/6
Aim	65
Defense	0
Will	15
Movement	15
Easy/Normal/Classic/Impossible

The Thin Men are agile, quick, and elusive alien creatures. Designed to look human so that they can successfully infiltrate society, Thin Men are responsible for handling the more secretive operations of the alien invasion. (Though 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 Man Armaments

Weapon	Damage	Critical Chance	Terrain Damage	Range	Reaction Angle	Reaction Range	Size	Abilities
Thin Man Plasma Light Rifle	4	10	125	27	200	NA	Large	Suppression 20%

Abilities:

• Poison Spit: The Thin Man spits a poisonous glob that decreases the aim of your soldiers by 20% and damages their health by one point each turn. Can be cured by medkit. Fades away after a while.
• Leap: Allows the Thin Man to jump incredibly high, allowing it to scale entire buildings and take up an elevated position. Very dangerous against Snipers who are unable to fire.
• Last Gasp: The Thin Man explodes, leaving a poisonous cloud that will poison any soldiers that move within it, can void a small area of cover. Only activates when Thin Man dies.
• Thin Men have an unexplained ability to deploy directly in to a mission area on some missions, seemingly dropping out of the sky.

Tactical Advice

Thin Men use a Light Plasma Rifle, which does much higher damage than a Sectoid's Plasma Pistol. On Classic try to make sure your troops have enough HP to not be one-shot by a lucky hit. Thin Men's high movement means you have to be very careful of flanks from them. If they have a low hit chance they will often use Poison Spit for a guaranteed hit, which will do 3 damage over 3 turns and wreck your soldier's aim. While their HP is nothing remarkable, it is enough to survive a grenade on Classic. Finally, beware of their leap ability, which they can surprise rooftop snipers with. Be careful when fighting around a building where you don't have the roof covered because Thin Men can leap on to the roof and then drop in for a flank on the next turn.

In the Escort and Bomb Disposal council missions Thin Men will periodically appear in the mission area. They will drop out of the sky (the game will show you where even if you can't see it) and then immediately go on overwatch. Dropping in counts as a move, so any troops on overwatch who see a Thin Man appear will take a shot.

V.I.P. Escort

In V.I.P. escort missions Thin Men will aim for the target you are trying to extract, regardless of whether or not there is an XCOM escort soldier at their side. As well as regular groups seeded on the map, extra Thin Men will periodically drop out of the sky on you. Be sure to scout with soldiers before moving the V.I.P. to the Skyranger; the entire mission will be a bust if the V.I.P. dies.

Bomb Disposal

In bomb disposal operations, it is not rare to see an entire alien force consisting of purely Thin Men. Some thin men will venture away from the main bomb and protect its power sources but you will find the highest concentration of Thin Men protecting the bomb. Just be sure to quickly dispatch the Thin Men before the bomb goes off and deactivate it. More Thin Men will usually drop down from the sky trying to rearm the bomb, so if you have time, take up defensive positions and go on overwatch before deactivating it.

Notes

• The Thin Men are one of the few aliens in Enemy Unknown 2012 that do not have a direct 1994 equivalent. However, their reptilian eyes, fangs, scales around the neck and wrists, autopsy reports, and use of poison suggest a strong conceptual link to the Snakemen.
• Thin Men are caricatures of Sid Meier, head of Firaxis. He has a history of showing up in games by Firaxis.