Two Questions

This has prob been covered before, I'm sure, but I can't seem to find the answers thru the forum search function.

1. If a UFO on a base-building mission manages to touch down, but I assault it and kill the crew, will the base generation be stopped too?

2. If an alien base appears, but I don't feel strong enough to attack it right away, will the aliens inside upgrade to stronger classes with the passage of time?

Thank you!

1. I think so, yes.

2. Kind of. Bases get larger over the course of the game and therefore have more and higher ranked aliens. In Dynamic UFOs (which I assume is relevant here) individual bases grow over time so they will start small and get harder (as opposed to vanilla, where bases are always the same size at any given point in time and upgrade at specified points during the invasion). So delaying a base assault may or may not be beneficial, depending on your relative strength at any given point in time.

Thank you for the answers.

As to #1, I was curious because in the original 90s XCom, a swarm of UFOs would appear during base building, and even if you shot down/assaulted/destroyed every single one of them, IIRC the base would still be built. As to #2, yes Dynamic UFOs applies, so though I wanted to wait until I had better stun weapons, sounds like I should just go for it.

But now the game is crashing as soon as I try to assault the base!

1 is yes, I've done it successfully in vanilla.

Can I ask another question along the same lines? I have a UFO on my radar at this moment, a sebillian landing ship on a construction mission. By current objective is to bag an alien leader. Now, from what I understand, only enemy ships that are cruiser-class or bigger contain leaders. So if I shoot down and assault the landing ship, no leader. But if I let it complete its mission, and construct a base, will that base now magically have a leader in it (one of the sebbies gets a field promotion?)?

Pretty much. Landing ships build medium bases, which have a Leader (except for a small window where they can actually build a small base when they first appear).

Thank you for the info. Ok, then, here we go: I let the base be constructed and I'm going in. God help my poor troops

You're a brave man. I would have just waited for a larger UFO to nab one.

Well, the landing ship didn't simply field-promote one of its crew, it also magically changed its species. The leaderless sebillian landing ship is now an andron base with a leader. Seems that base creation is independent of the originating race. Which really throws a monkey wrench into my plans; I took a big risk in letting this base be generated, specifically to try to bag a leader, and now I'm endangering my troops for little reason

Are you still playing with Dynamic UFOs? If you are, it's worth noting that alien bases work quite differently: they grow independently over time from small to large rather than being linked directly to the alien ticker. So newly created bases probably won't have a leader in anyway (which actually I might change so there's always one there).

... (which actually I might change so there's always one there).

I'm not sure about doing that. Small bases shouldn't have leaders. Capturing one is supposed to be a distinct challenge. In fact, I don't really like that cruisers can contain them; I'd move them up to carriers

I'm not sure about doing that. Small bases shouldn't have leaders. Capturing one is supposed to be a distinct challenge. In fact, I don't really like that cruisers can contain them; I'd move them up to carriers

Lore wise, perhaps not. But from a gameplay perspective, I don't like the idea of players being encouraged to let bases grow so that they can progress in the game. (Indeed, the problem about whether to stop the alien base being constructed or let it so you can raid a base is a similar issue: ideally you'd never want a base to be constructed and always have an incentive to destroy a construction ship before it can complete). It's not a major issue, mind. But it's not something that I'd thought of previously.

Then, you could modify the UFO crews that result in a base with a leader to include a leader too.

And I don't have a clue if this is possible at all, but would it be possible to have the highest officer to remain the same on a base that grew over time instead of just treating it as a new base of a higher tier? I mean, making a difference between bases that grew and bases that were designed as a higher level from the start. It would be great if this was possible, because it would alow you to somehow punish a player for letting a base grow, giving it, let's say, 25% more personnel than a regular base of that size if it grew by one tier.