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  UFO  -  Enemy Unknown   :  the FAQ!  (version 1.22)
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If there are errors or you have new stuff to add, drop me an e-mail.

Tim (tjc@ecs.soton.ac.uk)

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*SPOILER ALERT*

This FAQ conatins info that you may prefer to find out by exploring and
researching yourself.  If you want to play the game "in the dark" then
read on with care or not at all!!

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General
  1a  What is UFO : Enemy Unknown?
  1b  What spec PC do I need to run it?
  1c  Is there a patch available?

Game Info
  2a  Base facilities
  2b  Non-combat equipment
  2c  Ship types
  2d  Ship weapons
  2e  Soldier weaponry
  2f  Alien races
  2g  Alien missions
  2h  Manufacturing costs

Questions (this is a FAQ after all :)
  3a  Overall strategy
  3b  Combat questions
  3c  Miscellaneous

Odd and Ends
  4a  Tinkering with saved games
  4b  The saved alien containment file
  4c  Diplomacy file


---------------------------  GENERAL  -------------------------------------

  1a  What is UFO : Enemy Unknown?

The game places you in charge of X-Com in the year 1999;  alien UFO's have
been sighted around the globe and your newly set up organization has been
charged with intercepting them, recovering any alien artefacts, and finding
out where the aliens are coming from and what they are after.

The strategic level is centered on a screen with a rotatable/zoomable 3D
globe, with buttons to manipulate your bases, check UFO activity, check
your funding levels from the 15 sponsoring nations, and to look up data in
your online ufopedia.  At the tactical level you control troops/tanks in
a 3D combat mini-game which is quite similar in appearance to Ultima 7/8.


  1b  What spec PC do I need to run it?

According to the box, you need a 386+, 20Mhz+, 2Mb RAM+ and a mouse; on a
486/DX33 with 8Mb RAM, mouse and 8-bit soundblaster it is pretty slick.
Base memory requirement is listed as 560K, with 1Mb EMS/XMS also required.
It comes on only 3 disks, and occupies about 13Mb of hard disk (including
the saved games).  The copy protection is a code at the bottom of each
odd-numbered page of the quite well written 128-page manual.  The manual
supplement does *not* guarantee that the game will work with DR DOS,
Novell DOS7 or OS/2.


  1c  Patches

Microprose have released a patch to bring UFO up to version 1.2; the patch
is now available at
    bell.ecs.soton.ac.uk   /pub/pc/games/patches/ufo1-2.zip
This is an upload of a patch received in the post direct from Microprose.
The correct patch file size should be 634063 bytes.  This patch does NOT
work with XCOM (US version) as XCOM is essentially UFO 1.2.  There is
another CD release called "UFO" which is a multimedia UFO encyclopedia,
not this game, so make sure exactly what you're ordering if you order your
copy of UFO:Enemy Unknown on CD!  (This may be why the game is called XCOM
in the USA).

The patch readme file lists the following points:

  * Please start a new game to eliminate all possibilities that the
     new version of the game fixes the bugs which you have seen so far.
  * This update contains a new version of the DOS Extender, DOS4GW to
     fix some compatibility problems seen with the earlier release.
     DOS4GW is not a MicroProse program and we were not aware of these
     compatibility problems until after UFO was published.  If you had a
     problem running UFO, this update will fix that.
  * Corrupt tiles that caused multiple images to appear have been fixed.
  * Action points have been limited to 80 to prevent the "wrap-around"
     problem seen with the original release.
  * Mission variety has been improved to allow access to all types of
     missions when playing.
  * Alien intelligence has been improved to allow a tougher game.
  * UFO encyclopedia has been expanded to include missing entries.
  * The corrupt game file, UBASE_07.MAP which caused problems when
     entering the Alien Bases has been replaced.
  * There is no PC Speaker support within UFO.
  * The Environment Space error has been fixed.

It doesn't seem to be necessary to start a new game after applying the
patch;  the old save files still work, though the soldier stat screens
can look messy.  You'll also miss a few ufopedia entries.

The aliens in version 1.2 do appear to shoot back a lot more than before,
and often have much better weaponry.  Your base(s) come under attack
earlier too (which in a way helps as you get some artefacts if you win!)

There are still some bugs in UFO 1.2.  The worst is the "green text bug":
   "A common bug, I've seen many posts here, but just to re-iterate.  If you
have an air combat window minimized while you go into a ground combat
mission, leaving the ground combat mission will spit out a pile o' green
text errors in 40 col. mode, and kick you backed to your last save game.
The work around for this is to make sure that you have no air combats
minimized when you go to ground combat.  This bug is a real pain."

I have a crack for UFO 1.2, but it's not included here in case anyone
gets shirty about legalities.


---------------------------  GAME INFO  ----------------------------------

As you research more tech, your on-line UFOPEDIA will have more information
added automatically.  None of this is included in the game manual;  some of
the info here might be spoiler(s).


  2a  Base Facilities

You can have up to 8 bases around the world.  There are 36 (6x6) locations
to place rooms in.  Only the hanger takes up more than one location (2x2).
Costs apear to vary in XCOM to what they are in UFO (below).

                 Days Build  Cost Cost/month

Access Lift           1      300k     4k    (Entrance to underground base)
Living Quarters      16      400k    10k    (Sleeps 50)
Laboratory           26      750k    30k    (Allows 50 research)
Workshop             32      800k    35k    (Allows 50 manufacture)
Small Radar          12      500k    10k    (300nm range, 5% detect/10mins)
Large Radar          25      800k    15k    (450nm range, 5% detect/10mins)
General Stores       10      150k     5k    (Holds 50 units of equipment)
Alien Containment    18      500k    15k    (Holds 10(?) live aliens)
Hanger               25      200k    25k    (Repairs/refuels/rearms 1 plane)
Laser Defence        24      900k    10k    (Def value  600, Accuracy 60%)
Plasma Defence       36     1200k    12k    (Def value  900, Accuracy 70%)
Fusion Ball          36     1800k    14k    (Def value 1200, Accuracy 80%)
Grav Shield          38     2300k    15k    (Gives defences an extra shot)
Mind Shield          33     1300k     5k    (Helps stop aliens finding base)
Psi Lab              24      750k    16k    (For troop psionics training)
Hyperwave Decoder    26     2000k    30k    (To evaluate alien missions)

Missile Defences     16      200k     5k    (Def value  500, Accuracy 50%)

To dismantle a base, you must remove all facilities (which means transferring
all people and equipment elsewhere if needbe) then finally remove the access
lift itself.


  2b  Non-combat equipment

Most of this you need to research, some you get at the start.

Motion scanner     -  detects movement in the near vacinity
Medikit            -  heals fatal wounds (heal), revives unconscious soldiers
                      (stimulate) and boosts morale (painkiller)
Stun rod           -  has a chance to render an alien unconscious
Electro flare      -  essential for night time operations.  Thrown.
Elerium 115        -  only found on alien ships/bases, and needed for many
                      important weapons and power units.
Mind probe         -  when used on an alien tells you his stats and rank
                      (useful to find an alien commander or leader).
Psi amp            -  required to allow soldier to use psionic attacks on
                      aliens (attempting to cause panic or get mind control).

  2c  Ship types

The XCom craft at your disposal throughout the game are:

                Max                    Weapon   Hull    Max
               Speed   Acceln    Fuel   Pods   Damage  Cargo  HWPs
Skyranger        760      2     2000     0       150     14     3
Interceptor     2100      3     1000     2       100      0     0
Lightning       3100      8     30(E)    1       800     12     0
Firestorm       4200      9     20(E)    2       500      0     0
Avenger         5400     10     60(E)    2      1200     26     4

The firestorm is the new fighter craft you can research, lightning the new
fighter transport and the avenger is the ultimate craft. (E)=Elerium fuel.

The UFOs are as follows (from interogated alien navigators):

               Max   Hull     Weapon           Ship
              Speed Damage Power Range Crew   Width
Small Scout    2200    50     0    0     1      3   Like an Apollo capsule
Medium Scout   2400   200    20  120    3- 6    9   1 level, small square
Large Scout    2700   250    20  272    7- 9    ?   1 level, cross shaped
Harvester      4000   500    40  176   11-15   16   3 levels, 11 windows
Terror Ship    4800  1200   120  336   10-15   30   2 levels, narrow top
Supply Ship    3200  2200    60  288   10-16   30   3 levels, wide middle
Battleship     5000  3000   140  520   11-13   30   3 levels, no windows
Abductor       4300   500    40  160   10-?    30   2 level octagonal star
Base              -     -     -    -   13-15    -   -

Ships will usually carry additional material as follows (Michael Lewchuk):

               Nav units  Power supplies   Extras
Small Scout        1            1            -
Medium Scout       2            1            -
Large Scout        2            1            -
Harvester         10            2          Surgery, food
Terror Ship        ?            ?            -
Supply Ship       10            4          Surgery, food, entertainment
Battleship         4            4          Entertainment (!)
Abductor           5            2          Surgery, food, examination room
Base               0           2-4         Entertainment, food

E115 is roughly Power Supplies * 50

Bases are constructed out of random "components" including an alien park,
a command area, a 2-story 3x3 tower (watch tower?) in the middle of a bunch
of alien food containers, alien food/display rooms, and elevator rooms, so
what you get from a base changes from base to base.  But don't expect to
ever get navigation units from a base.

To see a picture of the UFO in flight just click on the UFO icon on
the airborne combat display.  To keep tracking the UFO until it is over
land you can minimise the airborne combat window to an icon (making sure
you are in "standoff" mode :) and then accelerate time to 1-min slices;
when you're over land open the window and shoot!


  2d  Ship weapons

You initially start with cannon/stingray/avalanche missiles, but you can
research more stuff:

                Damage   Range   Accuracy  Reload time
Cannon             10      10       10%       2s
Stingray           70      30       70%      15s
Avalanche         100      60      100%      20s
Laser Cannon       70      21       70%       4s
Plasma Beam       140      52      140%       6s    (uses Elerium)
Fusion Ball       230      65      230%      25s

It is important to match the weapon to the target as usually you want to
force the alien to land (preferably intact) to be able to recover artefacts
and prisoners on the ground.  If you intercept over the sea, it doesn't
really matter though.


  2e  Soldier weapons

Your soldiers can be equipped with a hue arsenal of weaponry;  either by
equipping their transport ship, or in the case of a base defence when the
attack starts.  Many weapons can be loaded with different ammo types.

                      Aimed    Snap    Auto  Dam Type  Dam Type Dam Type
Pistol                78/30   60/18           26  AP
Rifle                110/80   60/25   35/35   30  AP
Heavy Cannon          90/80   60/33           56  AP    52  HE   60  I
Auto Cannon           82/80   56/33   32/40   42  AP    44  HE   48  I
Rocket Launcher      115/75   55/45           75  HE   100  HE   90  I
Laser Pistol          68/55   40/20   28/25   46 Laser
Laser Rifle          100/50   65/25   46/34   60 Laser
Heavy Laser           84/75   50/33           85 Laser
Grenade                                       50  HE
Smoke Grenade                                 60  HE
Proximity Grenade                             70  HE
High Explosive                               110  HE
Heavy Plasma         110/60   75/30   50/35  115 Plasma
Plasma Pistol         85/60   65/30   50/30   52 Plasma
Plasma Rifle         100/60   86/30   55/63   80 Plasma
Blaster Launcher     120/80                  200  HE
Small Launcher       110/75   65/40           90 Stun
Alien Grenade                                 90  HE

 (AP = Armour piercing  HE = High Explosive  I = Incendiary)

The pairs of numbers indicate accuracy and TU cost to shoot.  Note that
the TU cost is always a percentage of the soldier's total TUs, not a fixed
amount.  Accuracy for two-handed weapons is improved if one hand is empty,
and overall accuracy is better if the soldier is kneeling.   The autofire
option gives you three shots, but these are the least accurate (they are
effective with area effect weapons like autocannon).

Grenades are thrown, and the accuracy of where it lands is based on the
soldier's own throwing accuracy stat.

Many people suggest that the laser rifle is the best overall weapon; cheap
to produce, rapid fire rate, quite accurate and doesn't use Elerium.  Laser
weapons do not require ammo clips (which take up avenger space!).  No aliens
are resistant to lasers, and sectopods are affected more by them.


  2e  Alien types

              Attacks with    Resists    Weakness    Notes
Sectiod        Weapons & Psi                        Likes cattle abduction
Snakemen       Weapons       fire/heat              Carries up to 50 eggs
Ethereal       Weapons & Psi                        Physically weak/blind
Muton          Weapons          AP                  Strong & intelligent
Floater        Weapons                              Likes terrorising
Celatid        Venom
Silacoid       HTH           fire/incend            Works with mutons
Chryssalid     HTH                          HE      Turns humans to zombies
Reaper         HTH                        incend    Two brains and hearts
Sectopod       Weapons        plasma       laser    Highly armoured
Cyberdisc      Weapons       explosives             Works with sectoids
Zombie         HTH                                  Dies -> Chryssalid

You can get info on particular alien stats by using a mind probe on them.
From doing this it seems average stats on aliens are as follows.  Some of
the stats vary a lot between the races!
                                                        ----- Armour ------
            TUs Ene Hea Bra Mor Rea Fir Thr Str PSt PSk Fro Lef Rig Rea Und
Sectoid      55  90  30  80 100  65  30  60  30   -   -   2   1   1   1   1
Ethereal     70 100  60  80 100  75  40  80  50  50  40  17  17  17  17  16
Snakeman     40  80  45  80 100  45  30  65  50   -   -  10   9   9   8   6
Muton        58  90  90  80 100  60  30  60  70   -   -  10  10  10  10   5
Floater      50  90  35  80 100  50  25  60  40   -   -   4   3   3   2   6
Celatid      70  90  70  90 100  40  50   0  70   -   -  10  10  10  10  10
Silacoid     40  80 115 100 100  40   0   0  70   -   -  25  25  25  25   5
Chryssalid  110 140  95 100 100  70   0   0 110   -   -  17  17  17  17  17
Reaper       ??
Sectopod     60  90  95 110 100  65  30   0  90   -   -  70  65  65  50  45
Cyberdisc    60  90 120 110 100  65  30   0  90   -   -  17  17  17  17  17
Zombie       40 110  85 110 100  40   0   0  85   -   -   4   4   4   4   4

Leaders tend to have slightly higher stats than other ranks in each race,
for example an ethereal leader has 20-rated armour all round and a psionic
strength of 60.

The high TUs on chryssalids allows them to move a long way and often surprise
troops from behind, turning them to zombies before you can react.  When
killed, zombies shed their skins to become new chryssalids.  This can make
the chryssalid one of the hardest aliens to deal with.


  2f  Alien Missions

There are many mission types.  The nasty ones are terror and infiltration.
Supply is handy because it can lead you to an alien base, and in turn to
an alien leader.

  Research:      Small vehicles, least threat to earth and Xcom
  Harvest:       Any size ships, great concern to governments
  Abduction:     Causes great alarm
  Infiltration:  Make pact with earth govt, greatest threat to Xcom
  Base:          Build alien base (you need to let them build one to win game)
  Terror:        Causes hysteria, troubles govts
  Retaliation:   Attack Xcom base
  Supply:        Supply alien base

A hyperwave decoder is very handy to work out mission types.  Later in
the game you are probably safe to leave ships on research missions alone
and concentrate on the dangerous ones.


  2h  Manufacturing Costs

This chart shows which items need alien alloys and Elerium for production;
all of them need to be researched.  You could use the info to work out
which item is best to produce for profit if your engineers are idle ...
(an initial glance suggests personal armour is good if you have the alloys
to spare, or power suits if you have Elerium coming out your ears too :)
Thus setting up personal armour "factories" could be a way to pile up some
decent reserves of cash.

Sale prices are apparently different in XCOM (or perhaps at the highest
difficulty levels) but I have no hard facts on this (yet).  If you have
XCOM rather than UFO, you may wish to chart the figures and let me know :)

                 Engineer       Workshop          Alien   Sale
                   Hours   Cost   Space   Elerium Alloys  Price

Motion scanner       220    34k      4       -      -     45600
Medikit              420    28k      4       -      -     46500
Psi amp              500   160k      4       1      -    194700
Personal armour      800    22k     12       -      4    140000
Power suit          1000    42k     16       5      5    310000
Flying suit         1400    58k     16      16      5    420000
Alien alloys         100     3k     10       -      -      6500
Elerium-115            -      -      -       -      -      5000

Laser pistol         300     8k      2       -      -     20000
Laser rifle          400    20k      3       -      -     36900
Heavy laser          700    32k      4       -      -     61000
Plasma pistol        600    56k      3       -      1     84000
Plasma pistol clip    60     2k      4       1      -      4440
Plasma rifle         820    88k      4       -      1    126500
Plasma rifle clip     80     3k      4       2      -      6290
Heavy plasma        1000   122k      4       -      1    171600
Heavy plasma clip     80     6k      4       3      -      9590
Blaster launcher    1200    90k      5       -      1    144000
Blaster bomb         220     8k      3       3      -     17028
Small launcher       900    78k      3       -      1    120000
Stun bomb            200     7k      2       1      -     15200
Alien grenade        200   6.7k      2       2      -     14850
Mind probe          1200   262k      4       1      -    334000

FIRESTORM          14000   400k     30       -     65         -
LIGHTNING          18000   600k     34       -     85         -
AVENGER            34000   900k     36       -    170         -
UFO power source    1400   130k     22      16      5    250000
UFO navigation      1600   150k     18       -      3     80000
Fusion ball l'cher   400   242k      6       -      -    281100
Fusion ball          600    28k      6       4      -     53300
Laser cannon         300   182k      6       -      -    211000
Plasma beam          500   226k      8      15      -    267300

Tank/laser cannon   1200   500k     25       -      -    594000
Hovertank/plasma    1200   850k     30      30      5    980000
Hovertank/launcher  1400   900k     30      25      8   1043000
HWP fusion bomb      400    15k     25       5      8     31500

(The three aircraft all need 1 UFO power source + 1 UFO navigation
 unit, except the AVENGER which needs two UFO power sources).

Clearly you should never sell Elerium for cash.  You'd be much better
off making either power armour or flying suits and selling that (or
possibly fighter laser cannon).


----------------- GAME TACTICS/STRATEGY ----------------------------------

  3a  Overall strategy

Where should I build bases?

  Build a few bases at the start, make sure they all have long range radar.
  Spread them around the globe; you only get 8;  note the groupings of the
  richer funding countries and defend them early on.  You can also build
  bases on both poles.  The following eight locations have been suggested
  to maximise radar coverage of the globe:
        i)      North Pole
        ii)     South Pole
        iii)    Southern California
        iv)     Persian Gulf
        v)      North-eastern Australia
        vi)     Right most tip of South America (Brazil??)
        vii)    Europe
        viii)   right most Russia (near japan??)

  Probably the best starting place is central Europe (lots of rich countries)
  or possibly slightly further east towards Israel.   Then you can later
  expand to America or SE Asia, or wherever the UFO activity chart suggests
  there are some UFOs to nail.

How can I make money?

  The main income at the start is from the funding countries, so you should
  maximise your efforts to win their favours early on.  As the game
  progresses you can sell off artefacts for cash.  If you set up workshops
  and have engineers with nothing to do have them make something like laser
  weapons and sell them; you can sell for more than it costs to make them.
  You can sell off weaponry and artefacts that you capture on UFO missions,
  in particular sell off any technology you can't use (keeping at least 1
  to research on), but keep any plasma clips or bombs you find as they take
  Elerium to make and later the Elerium will be valuable elsewhere.

Why is Elerium important?

  Elerium is only found on alien ships; you can't make it yourself (you can
  make alien alloys).  If you are running short of elerium use interceptors
  with laser weapons from multiple bases and give your troops laser rifles
  (laser rifles are very effective in any case). If you feel confident let
  the aliens attack your base, you can get lots (sometimes 1000+, on one
  occasion 3000+) elerium in a single battle (under UFO v1.0 at least :)

How do I win the game?

  The ultimate aim of UFO is to research (interogate) live aliens to find
  out where they are coming from and why.  The best prisoner you can get
  is an alien commander; there should be one in an alien base.  Once you
  interogate a commander you should get a big clue as to how to win the
  battle once and for all!   The earliest win I've seen claimed was in
  about 15 months (ie. late March 2000).

What should I research?

  You start off with just pistols and rifles, which are not very effective.
  Early on your main goal should be to get laser weaponry (rifles) and
  the personal armour.  These combined help make missions much easier.
  As the game progresses, your options will be more open ... you'll want
  to make the better intereceptors, get flying suits and be able to use
  the heavy weaponry, so investing in research (scientists) is money
  well spent.

  Here is the research tree for UFO (as first written by William Kang, but
  with minor corrections included):

      Laser Weapons        Heavy      Heavy         Plasma    Plasma
           |               Plasma   Plasma Clip      Rifle   Rifle Clip
      Laser Pistol            |___________|            |__________|
           |                         |                       |
      Laser Rifle                    |                       |
           |                         |__________OR___________|
      Heavy Laser                               |
           |                                    |
      Laser Cannon                        Plasma Cannon
    (Tank/Laser Cannon)                  _______|_________
           |                            |                 |
      Laser Defense               Plasma Defense    (Hovertank/Plasma)*

                  Alien Alloys                        Blaster      Blaster
                      |                               Launcher     Bombs
    Elerium 115  Personal Armor  UFO Power Source       |___________|
        |_____________|_________________|                      |
                      |                                   Fusion Ball
                      |                               _________|______
                 Power Suit      UFO Navigation      |                |
                      |_________________|        Fusion Ball     (Hovertank/
                               |                   Defence        Launcher)*
                         Flying Suit

    Alien    Elerium        UFO            UFO
    Alloys      115     Power Source   Navigation
     |___________|___________|______________|
                       |
                      UFO
                  Construction
                       |
                      New
                 Fighter Craft*
                       |
                      New
               Fighter-Transporter
             __________|____________
             |                      |
            Grav                 Ultimate
           Shield                 Craft

  * - Learning new fighter craft lets you build hovertanks.

  There are some steps you can bypass (eg. laser pistol) if you wish.

  To find out about ship stats research alien engineers, to find out about
    missions research navigator.
  To learn and build Hyperwave Decoder, interrogate a navigator.
  To find out about Psi research ethereals (or a sectoid leader/commander)
  To win the game, you need start by researching alien origins, then an
     alien commander, and from there, figure it out yourself :)

  Don't research the same thing at different bases, there is no benefit;
  the research seems independent at each base (as manufacturing is).

Why do I never see any large UFOs?

  On missions like retaliation, base and terror, small ships scout before
  the larger ships come in. If you destroy the scouts no larger ships will
  appear.  It is thus important to let them land!  (else you'll have a
  long game :)   By using the hyperwave decoder you can detect the alien
  mission; it can pay off to let aliens build a base so you can capture
  one of their leaders for interogation.

How does my radar work?

  It can pay off to have more than one large radar system at a base.  As
  the manual says
    "XCom radar systems, while very long ranged, rotate very slowly -
     once every 10 minutes. This means that your base will detect UFOs
     more effectively if more than one radar system is in place."
  Thus a fast UFO is more likely to be spotted by multiple radars, as
  each radar has a 5% success rate every 10 minutes.  Short range radar
  is cheaper and faster to build, and cheaper to keep maintained, but
  if you can afford the long range, go for it.


  3b  Ground combat questions

Who/what should I take on missions?

  A nice combo on a Skyranger is a couple of tanks and 6 troops;  the
  hovering plasma tanks are particularly effective.  Tanks lose out as
  they cannot enter most alien ships (terror ships being an exception).
  Tanks can be left in bases to defend them from alien attacks.  Flying
  suits give your troops a lot of versatility and save a lot of TUs in
  many terrain types.  If a soldier dies though you lose the armour (but
  keep his other equipment if you win the battle).  Try to always take a
  couple of rookies along to give them experience to boost their stats.
  On night missions always carry electro flares.  Medikits are important
  as in addition to healing fatal wounds they can raise morale if used
  on panicing troops.

What type of tactics work best?

  Teamwork and patience are usually the key.  The only exception to this
  are terror missions, where civilians need to be saved quickly.  Group
  your troopers into teams of size 3-4, and advance slowly.  Make use of
  any available cover (even the skyranger wheels when disembarking) and
  be prepared to spread out slowly.  If you try to send single men out
  after aliens, they're highly liable to get picked off.  If you keep
  your teams too tightly packed they're vulnerable to alien grenades (on
  the higher difficulty levels).  Use tanks to draw alien fire.  Use smoke
  bombs to give cover if the disembarking zone comes under fire.  Take out
  any "suspect" buildings with heavy rocket launchers or autocannon.
  Later in the game you get better armour, and can afford to take more
  risks but in general slow, safe teamwork pays dividends.  Remember that
  as soldiers survive missions, they get better;  you can always keep a
  couple of "expendables" (like the Star Trek security guards :) but you
  need experienced soldiers as well.

Why do I lose ammo that I never use?

  After combat all clips loaded in weapons are lost, whether or not they
  have been used (not a great piece of design!).  Thus you should unload
  any weapons that uses valuable ammo before the battle ends.  To unload
  click on the weapon over the "rifle" icon on the soldier's equipment
  screen (this can also be used to select alternate ammo before battle).

Why should I need grenades when I have autocannon?

  An autocannon has very impressive firepower.  However it is very heavy
  to carry, and can reduce a soldier's TU total.  A soldier equipped with
  a laser rifle can carry a couple of grenades and use them to flatten
  small buildings or other targets without needing a bulky cannon.  You
  can also lob grenades over obstacles, giving you some "artillery" support.
  If the UFO's roof is damaged, you can throw grenades directly into the
  damaged hull to kill off any lingering survivors.

How can I fire on aliens in their movement phase?

  You can carry out opportunity fire on aliens as they make their moves.
  To do this, leave enough TU's after your move for at least a snap shot,
  then if your trooper sees an alien and has good enough reactions (s)he
  will automatically fire on the alien.   You can use the 4 icons near the
  bottom left of the screen in your movement phase to reserve the TUs.

What's with troops missing in action (MIA)?

  If one of your troopers in under alien control at the end of a battle
  (s)he counts as MIA; therefore try to wait until (s)he is no longer in
  control before finishing off aliens.  Troops unconscious when the battle
  ends seem to survive.

How do I open spaceship doors?

  Simply target your soldier to move to the "square" behind the door and
  (s)he will then automatically open it (using some TUs).  It's wise not
  to open doors without plenty of spare TU's or without using a motion
  scanner first.

How do I use a medikit?

  If the victim is unconscious, you must be standing *right over* the
  wounded trooper, then you use the midikit.  If the victim is conscious
  but has a fatal wound, stand next to them and face them, then use the
  medikit on the wound.

How do I counter psi attacks?

  Ethereal and sectoid races have psionic abilities.  This means they are
  able to amke a number of psionic attacks on your troops for which they
  do not need line-of-sight on the target.  There are two types of attack:
    Panic   - if your trooper succumbs (s)he will panic, possibly dropping
              equipment and then running, possibly also going beserk.
    Control - potentially worse; aliens can control targets, thus getting
              your troops to fire on each other.  The effect is usually
              temporary, and can be reduced in effect by not bunching
              potential victims too close together.
  When you research psionics and build psi labs, you can evaluate each
  soldier's resistance to psi attacks (his/her psi strength) and train them
  in psi skills (which allows your troops to make psionic attacks if they
  have a psi amp on them in battle).  Yes, you can leave troops in the
  transport and use HWP's to scout for aliens to attack with psionics!
  Psi skills can be trained, psi strength is constant, so don't waste time
  on psi training troops with low psi strength.  Psi training allocations
  happen at the *end of each month* at bases that have psi labs.

  Even if you don't train psi abilities, knowing which troops are resistant
  to psi attacks can be very valuable information.  You can then choose to
  simply sack anyone with a low psi rating (below (45-50).

Can I blow holes in the sides of spaceships?

  This should be possible with a blaster launcher (BL).  BLs are great
  destructive weapons, but this also means you must try to equip your
  (psionically) strongest trooper with the BL as a mind-controlled BL is
  no fun :)

Should I have any different tactics at night?

  Of course you should equip with flares (which are reusable, and you can
  also pick them up in battle and lob them elsewhere).  At the start, throw
  flares out all around, as it seems most aliens can see in the dark, while
  you cannot, so you have nothing to lose.  You can try to avoid night
  missions by landing at crash sites at daytime (hover at the site until
  it is daylight there).

Are stunrods worth using?

  Stunrods are very risky ... if you try to stun an alien make sure you have
  some backup troops who can drop the alien if your stun fails (and beware
  if you fail a stun you will be in the line of fire :)  Small launchers
  and stun bombs are much safer to use.  It can be worth putting your small
  launchers on psionically weak troops as if they get mind-controlled at
  worst they'll just stun your other troops.

Can I pass equipment to another trooper?

  Not directly.  You can drop the equipment for him/her to pick it up, or
  if they're closeish you can throw equipment to another trooper.  Thrown
  equipment does not appear to do any damage if it's thrown accurately :)

Can I put a soldier into "overwatch" mode?

  Sadly no.  Ideally you could have a button to say "don't come back to
  me unless I see an alien or get shot at" but this isn't the case.  So
  if you have 18 squaddies on a mission you have to "move" each trooper
  on every game turn.

How do I know if an alien is dead or unconscious?

  Usually a dying alien gives a death squeal, but it has been known for
  some aliens to only go unconscious even then.  If you stand over an
  alien on the ground, if it's dead it will be labelled 'corpse' else
  it is labelled as an alien.   Be very wary of carrying unconscious
  aliens (especially chrysallids) as they can wake up on you with nasty
  results!  The death sound (and the sound of doors opening in the hidden
  movement phase) means that you really need sound to make the combat
  easier to win.

Can I take tanks into the final battle?

  Yes.  Although it seems the doors on the elevators that lead to the
  final combat are only wide enough for troops, you can shoot away the
  earth/door to make it wide enough to take tanks into the climactic
  conflict.   Of course, you don't NEED tanks, but they help.  If you
  lose the final conflict you lose the game ... no second chances.


  3c  Miscellaneous

Why do my soldiers rarely get promoted?

  To have promotions after battle you need to have a certain number of
  troops around all your bases for the promotion to be possible.  This
  little charts sums it up:
    Rank            Sergeant Captain Colonel Commander
    Troops needed      5       11      23       30

  There can be only one commander.  So if you have 35 troops around the
  globe in theory you should have 1 commander, 1 colonel, 3 captains,
  7 sergeants and 23 rookies/squaddies.

Can I rename my soldiers?

  Yes.  You can click on the name when the soldier info screen is up at
  a base and change the name.  It can help to put in the soldier's stats
  into the name, so that in combat and in pre-combat equipping you know
  which guys can handle the big weaponry (for example).  So if you add
  firing accuracy, throwing accuracy, and strength you might have names
  like:    Alexander   69-70-55
           Hephaistion 65-67-48

What is the Microprose helpline number?

  In the UK (where the first release was made) the number is 0454 329510
  and is open Mon-Fri 2-5pm.  Or you can fax on 0454 329507 from 9am-5pm.


----------------- ODDS AND ENDS ------------------------------------------
                                        

  Note all info in this section you use at your own risk!!

  4a  Tinkering with saved games

The format of soldier.dat (which holds your troop stats) appears to be
like this, with 68 bytes making up each soldier (thanks here to Gunnar
Haukur Stefansson :)

Byte   What it does
   1-2          Beginning of a soldier ( always FF FF )
   3            Number of missions
   5            Number of kills
   7            Number of days until healed
   9            - Unknown ( these values puzzle me !)
   11-32        Name (not clear how long this is)
   37           Initial Tu's
   38           Initial Health
   39           Initial Stamina
   40           Initial Reactions
   41           Initial Strength
   42           Initial Firing Accuracy
   43           Initial Throwing Accuracy
   44           - Unknown (does not seem to matter what I put in here)
   45           PSI Strength
   46           PSI Skill
   47           Bravery (00 = 100, 01 = 90, 02 = 80 .. 09 = 10, 0A = 0)
   48           Tu's gained
   49           Health gained
   50           Stamina gained
   51           Reactions gained
   52           Strength gained
   53           Firing Accuracy gained
   54           Throwing Accuracy gained
   55           - Unknown
   56           Breavery gained ( 00 = 0, 01 = 10, 02 = 20 ....)
   57-68        Something to do with sex, rank and base ?
                (67 is sex, 0=male, 1=female)

  (69-70        Beginning of the next soldier)

(A number of different people have different opinions on the offsets of
 the info in bytes 1-36 inclusive!)

The format of base.dat is something like this (credit Tony L. Hayes):

  Bytes 1 - 22 are for the base name.

  Bytes 23-58 are for the construction starting in the upper left and
        going across the site to the left, just like writing

        1  2  3  4  5  6
        7  8  9 10 11 12
        ...
       31 32 33 34 35 36

  Hex Value       Construction Type
    FF            Bare ground (no construction)
    00            Access Lift
    01            Living Quarters
    02            Laboratory
    03            Workshop
    04            Small Radar
    05            Large Radar
    06            Misile Defense
    07            General Stores
    08            Alien Containment
    09            Laser Defense
    0A            Plasma Defense
    0B            Fusion Ball Defense
    0C            Grav Shield
    0D            Mind Shield
    0E            Psi Lab
    0F            Hyperwave Decoder
    10            Hanger, Upper Left
    11            Hanger, Upper Right
    12            Hanger, Lower Left
    13            Hanger, Lower Right

  Bytes 59-94 are either FF for bare ground, 00 for completed constructions
        or the number of days remaining for completion.
  The remaining bytes are for your base stores, eg.
    Byte 95 is the number of engineers
    Byte 96 is the number of scientists


  4b  The saved alien containment file

  From: lewchuk@cs.ualberta.ca (Michael Lewchuk)

  Okay guys, wanna edit your save files so that you get a commander/leader
  or whatever the game decided died off even though you had PLENTY of
  containment available?

  I've been playing with ASTORE.DAT and it seems to be the right file.
  Aliens are stored starting at offset X'0C' (12) and each alien takes
  up X'18' (24) bytes.  The first 3 bytes are important.  They are:
  Alien race, alien profession, unknown - probably alien containment unit #
  or which base the alien is at or something.  The numbers are:
  Race: 01 - Sectoid, 02: snakeman, 03: ethereal, 04: muton, 05:floater
  06: celatid, 07:silacoid, 08:chryssalid, 09:reaper, 0a:sectapod, 0b:cyberdisk
  Profession: 01:commander, 02:leader, 03:engineer, 04:medic, 05:navigator
  06: soldier 07: terrorist
  Values of 00 00 mean "no alien".  All other values, including 00 xx and xx 00
  and values of 8 or higher for profession, or 0c or higher for race, result in
  rather weird errors (like an alien being classed as a Chryssalid cyberdisk or
  a Muton UFO Power Source).

  Once an alien gets researched, its race changes to 00.  It is possible that
  the cleanup routine has problems with it, but the alien allocation routine
  certainly does.  I attacked a base and suddenly an alien in transit was
  changed from a "sectoid navigator" to an "alien navigator" - race was gone.


  4c  Diplomacy file

  From: lewchuk@cs.ualberta.ca (Michael Lewchuk)

  Diplomacy file (incomplete):
  A series of 18 words of 2 bytes each for each country.  Offsets listed
  below. When using debug add Hex 100 to each number.
  USA 000  Russia 024  UK  048  France 06C  Germany 090  Italy 0B4
  Spain 0D8  China 0FC  Japan 120  India 124  Brazil 168  Australia 18C
  Nigeria 1B0  South Africa 1D4  Egypt 1F8  Canada 11C

  18 fields:
  1 - unknown
  2 - status (00-pact, 01-?, 02-?, 03-paying member)
  3 - current funding $
  4 - unknown, probably a funding field
  5 - unknown, probably a funding field
  6-13 - unknown
  14 - previous month's funding
  15 - Net change
  16 - 01 - pact, 00 - no pact THIS MONTH.  Will change word 02 to "pact" and
       cut funding AT THE END OF THIS MONTH.
  17 - unknown
  18 - unknown

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
END
