Xarquid

The Xarquid is a large, flying alien nautilus with substantial armor. Not only are they giant, they move in reverse. Real Nautilus float backwards with the tentacles behind - the Xarquid floats with the tentacles forward. They have a fairly powerful and accurate ranged attack, and will mostly stay at long range and snipe at your units.

Xarquids usually accompany Gill Men underwater, but may also be found as part of Mixed crews, even on land. They are arguably the most rarely-encountered alien in the game.

Live Specimen

Another modfied Earth invertebrate, the Xarquid is a creature of great beauty and danger.

The swift swimming gargantuan hides a devastating arsenal of weapons, a smothering ink spray and an ionised particle blast.

Since our first encounters with this powerful creature we have been wary of its power and its controllers the vengeful Gillmen.

Autopsy

This overgrown Nautilus has beeen made huge on a diet of Alien drugs and surgical alterations. Perverted beyond the scope of nature, the Gillmen have added mechanical control systems to the creature and now none of the creature's original nature exists.

Deployed as an organic weapons platform, the Xarquids tough shell and mobility make it a formidable opponent.

Notes

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Xarquid:

• The Xarquid takes 0.6x damage from incendiary and explosive attacks, 0.7x damage from Gauss weapons, 0.9x damage from Sonic and Stun Attacks, but 1.45x damage from melee attacks.
• Xarquids normally accompany Gillmen and will normally replace the Deep One for underwater missions that involved terror units. They may also be found as part of Mixed crews, where they may also appear on land. This is most likely a bug or design oversight. Finally, a few will be found on the lower levels of T'leth.
• It's quite large, making for an easy target.
• Takes up 4 squares on the battlescape.
• High Strength.
• High Health.
• Low Reactions.
• Average Energy.
• Is slow (low TU).
• High Firing Accuracy.
• Has the rough equivalent of Plastic Aqua-Armour.
• Although the UFOpedia claims they have a secondary attack in the form of an ink spray, which would presumably work like a smoke grenade, it is never used.

See Also

• Alien Life Forms
• Overviews of Aliens
• Terror Units
• Deep One
• Gillman