Combing the map for the final aliens in ground missions

[TheTuninator]

If you don't want any to escape you hunt them down.

If you want the mission to be over quicker you hold the control room.

You may even get bonus points for holding the control room that more than make up for any losses from fleeing enemies.

It would definitely make holding the room more interesting if the aliens came to recapture of course but it could turn into a duck shoot if they just stream back in one at a time while you have your whole team set up waiting for them.

The thing is, being forced to scour the whole map for the last alien is rather tedious; that seems to be why X-COM included the 20% "kamikaze trigger" in the first place. I don't want to be forced to spend twenty minutes looking through empty buildings. I recognize that you technically don't have to, but the score hit is fairly appreciable.

I've no problem with some of the aliens escaping from time to time, but equally, I think it makes sense for them to try to recapture the UFO as well, and I think that provides a lot more fun from a gameplay perspective.

Of course, the penalty might be alleviated once we can actually attack landed UFOs and capture them, so this might be a problem which really doesn't bother me once we get into the beta.

[Gauddlike]

But that's the point, you aren't FORCED to hunt them down once there are other win conditions.

If you CHOOSE to hunt them down then that is your call.

Why should the game be designed to make that easier on you?

The score reduction for capturing the ufo instead of hunting down all enemies will be unlikely to reduce the mission score below zero.

That means you have still gotten a bonus and are free to go do another mission or two to boost your score further in those 20 minutes you have saved.

That might not be the case just yet but it is still early days.

[anotherdevil]

well this all might just be a moot point if the AI gets programmed in such a way that they don't just stand at the edge of the maps, but rather are doing something (defending UFO, hunting civilians, etc.) That way you're more likely to encounter them on the way to the UFO, or near by, and then you may never need to scour the entire map, and look in every last corner

[Chris]

Yeah we'll evaluate this in more detail once the AI model is in. I'm ambivalent about you being able to conclude terror sites and base defence missions without killing all the aliens (isn't that the point?) and the kamikaze trigger does seem a bit like cheating. Though, to be honest, I doubt many aliens would have defensive-style AI scripts on missions like that, so hopefully it won't come up. We'll have to see.

[Gorlom]

You could motivate it that you in terror missions secured an evacuation zone and got the civiies out letting the local army set up roadblocks, contain and quaranteen and then steamroll the aliens with superior numbers.

In alien base attacks you would secure a beachhead and shutdown alien automated defences/security room.

Although if you complete it by theese victory conditions you allow the local military to take the credit, the kills for the last aliens and a part of the recovered technology (or all of it, depending on how much you want to penalize the "easy way out" option).

In case you want a motivation that is.

[Dilettante]

Caveat: I'm very new here. Just picked up the game today.

I'm running into this problem in an early crashed scout mission. I have combed the map but can't find the remaining alien (it did take me quite a while to figure out how to climb stairs, but now I've done it and still - no alien).

I noticed that each mission says I can hold and secure the UFO...so I did. I sent in two of my troops into the scoutship and had them stay there, crouching, waiting for an alien to attack. Nothing happened.

Ten turns later, I'm pretty sure I haven't met the condition to "hold and secure" the ship. Thing is, I'm not sure what else I should be doing. Do I need to send in more than two troops? I have one inside the ship and one right behind it, in between the...wings. There don't seem to be any other parts to it, and it's a small scoutship - there is only one room (unless I've missed something).

I've saved the game here in case it's useful, but I'm going to have to just send my troops back to the ship and abort. Frustrating.

What exactly does it take to 'hold and secure' this ship?

Edited September 16, 2012 by Dilettante

[XenoMask]

Its not yet in game.

Note that final alien shouldn't be hiding in later versions or in this one, but there is problem with them spawning inside walls preventing them from moving Meaning you have to find wall they are stuck inside and shoot them.

[TornadoADV]

It's a glitch, one of the aliens has hidden himself/itself in the wall of the crashed UFO. Slowly sweep a targeting cursor over the UFO's wall and pretty soon it should change to an active target. That will be the alien in the wall, simply spray down that section of the UFO with gunfire and soon enough you'll kill it

[XenoMask]

Its easier to use explosives though. And faster.

[Toonami Fan]

I always bring a rocket launcher for this part. Spent nearly 30 minutes combing a map with no aliens in sight. Decided to randomly start blasting the inside walls of the control room with rockets and grenades. Worked after 3 shots and mission was over.

About the sole alien hiding in a closet on the 2nd floor of a building, the best solution would be to make the AI have the alien actively move around when there are no other aliens left. It doesn't matter if the alien is actively hunting the humans or just hiding, but as long as he's moving around in a meaningful way, we can find him that much quicker. Seems more elegant than leaving aliens alive in terror missions.

*First Post Ever*

[StellarRat]

I just have to remind everyone that there is a bug in the game right now that allows aliens to hide in places that they shouldn't be able to, like crates, walls, inside machinery, so just keep that in mind. That being said, I wouldn't be at all opposed to the aliens attempting suicide charges or blowing themselves up at the end of mission to avoid capture. After all, the aliens have to know that live captures are very useful to XCom, so it makes perfect sense that they would attempt to die valiantly to avoid that fate.