Threat (Long War)

The Aliens adjust their strategic operations based on how threatening they perceive XCOM to be. Threat determines which kinds of missions the aliens will run each month & the likelihood that a particular landed UFO will be a trap.

Threat Counter

A running tally of threat is incremented over the course of the month as XCOM successfully launches operations against alien UFOs.

• Shoot down or assault a Scout, Fighter, Raider, Destroyer, or Abductor: +1
• Shoot down or assault a Harvester, Terror Ship, Transport, Battleship, Assault Carriers, or Overseer: +2

XCOM starts each month with a minimum amount of threat, derived from their threat from last month.

• Monthly Starting Threat: last months Threat Category - 2, minimum 0

Threat Category

The Threat Category at the end of a month determines the types of missions the aliens will field in the next month and also the amount of threat to start with. Threat Category for the next month is derived from the total threat generated in the previous month.

• Threat Category: Threat / 2 (rounded down and capped between 0 and 4)

If an Alien Base was raided in the last month, the Threat Category is automatically set to 4.

Trap UFOs

The chance of any particular landed UFO being a Trap is based on the current threat counter:

• Chance of Trap: Threat / 30