General "newbie" questions

[Pandora]

1. How can I increase squad size and what's the maximum squad size?

2. How can I train a solider?

3. What triggers a reaction shot?

[Elydo]

Squad size is determined by the transport craft. Larger transports can be researched later in the game.

There is no mechanic to train soldiers outside of combat. Currently stat increases are gained through missions via the associate action, this may change in the future.

Reaction shots are taken if an enemy takes an action before a soldier and the soldiers reflex score is high enough.

[EchoFourDelta]

1. Research new transports. You'll get the Shrike first, then the Valkyrie; each of these increase the number of troops you can deploy on the battlefield at once after you've researched them as the game progresses.

2. You train troops by using them in combat. Each soldier can gain one point in each stat per battle. Time Units are gained by having a soldier expend 150 time units in a single battle. Accuracy is gained by firing at an enemy at least once anywhere up to 1.5 times the weapon's maximum effective range. Strength is gained by moving your soldiers around with at least 80% of their current maximum carry weight, represented by that bar you see in the loadout menu. Reaction is increased by having a soldier take a reaction shot. You gain Bravery when a soldier loses morale and panics; this can happen due to being wounded or seeing fellow Xenonauts killed, or by killing another Xenonaut with friendly fire. Resilience (health) is gained by accruing 5 points in other stats. You can increase each stat by 1 after every battle, providing the soldier fulfills all of these things ina single landing.

3. Actions taken in view of an alien where the alien can see the soldier taking the action, like firing or moving. They cannot act if you suppress them with gunfire or explosions, however.

Edited September 8, 2013 by EchoFourDelta

[Assoonasitis]

It should be noted, as it was not mentioned in either response, that in order for reactions to occur your soldiers or the aliens must have enough TUs to perform the action, and the chance of reaction fire is based on the reacting unit's reflexes compared against the acting units reflexes and remaining TUs (unless they've changed it). Thus if you want your soldiers to be able to fire reaction shots you must keep enough TUs in reserve to perform the shot at the end of the soldier's movement. Suppression, then, reduces a unit's remaining TUs to 0 and causes the unit to start it's next turn with only half of its maximum number of TUs.

[VaeliusNoctu]

Soldier Classes:

I Hired much Soldiers but all i get was Rifle Soldiers, no Sniper, no Assault etc.

What i ask now is can i "make" (equip) a Rilfe Soldier to a Sniper?!? Or have that negative Consequences?

[Assoonasitis]

Soldier Classes:

I Hired much Soldiers but all i get was Rifle Soldiers, no Sniper, no Assault etc.

What i ask now is can i "make" (equip) a Rilfe Soldier to a Sniper?!? Or have that negative Consequences?

The only thing classes do is set the soldier's default load out. If you want to change class you can click the icon and select a different one. Basically it lets you re-equip your soldiers more quickly.

[EchoFourDelta]

Yeah, soldier "class" isn't so much their specialty as it is a loadout. It's just a way of organizing gear and equipping troops quickly. You can create your own, or edit and rename existing loadouts by right-clicking the "role" letter.

[VaeliusNoctu]

Thank you, good to know and i thought why so much Rilfe Soldiers.^^

[Ol' Stinky]

Another note about reaction fire: some weapons have a modifier to reflexes, and so are more or less likely to make reaction shots.

Xenonaut weapons: all pistols and shotguns have a x2 reaction modifier, while the rocket launcher never fires on reaction.

Alien weapons: the alien plasma pistol - used by enemies at light scouts crash site, for example - has a x2 reaction modifier. Explosive weapons, like the alien plasma cannon and the heavy drone never fire on reaction.

Everything else uses the unit's reflexes score.

[Akrakorn]

I'm going to hijack this thread because I have a question and don't want to create a whole thread because of it. Can you change the type of rockets in your rocket launcher while it is loaded? As in, can I unload the explosive rocket and then load a stun rocket?

[Ol' Stinky]

If you're talking about ground combat, yes. Open your inventory and drag the rocket you want to load over the rocket launcher.

If you're talking about the geoscape, the last time I tried that in the base equipment screen it didn't take, causing me to explode a stupid lizardman and lose his loot. Bah. (Frag/alenium/etc. rockets and grenades destroy equipment being carried, meaning you get less money at the end of the mission.)

[VaeliusNoctu]

I have another Question. In Original UFO i can Research Laser Guns from beginning makes much easier im Missions for me, but here i dint found Laser Guns. Must I Explore some Technologies bevor? Or have this Game no Laser Canons?

[EchoFourDelta]

In X-COM, lasers were treated as human technology, and already partly working; we just needed to "jumpstart" it with some research. In this game, humanity's not quite so far along technologically. You must research a couple different alien weapons first.

[Elydo]

I think the research could stand to be jiggered a bit actually. I'm finding I can get to plasmas too soon after lasers, and so lasers are all too skippable.

I'd maybe tie plasma cannons into the plasma research requirements as well, and require some ufo plasma weapons, possibly a reactor in order to get heavy plasmas. It'll shift being able to start the research to roughly when corvettes turn up (the last weapon of the main four I typically encounter is the precision plasma) and you'd need a landing ship (at least) in order to research the heavy/vehicle tier.

Edit: What's key to remember about the OG is that lasers didn't require ammunition, whereas all other weapons needed ammunition to be recovered or manufactured. So by keeping enough lasers for your team you always had a fallback option for equipping soldiers. Here, we have infinite ammo per standard so lasers aren't so distinct. They're just another damage tier.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Elydo

[EchoFourDelta]

Well, the ammunition cost for ballistic weapons was utterly trivial in the original; it was more busy work than anything, and you literally swam in plasma ammunition. The biggest differentiation was the amount of ammunition you had ready to hand in the Battlescape. Whereas you might have 28 shots with the pistol or 40 with a rifle considering a spare mag, laser weapons required no space, and had 255 shots to make use of.

[Elydo]

And were the most accurate tier all round. Perfect rook weapons.

[Wraith_Magus]

Sorry, another new player hijacking the thread, since the manual seems pretty useless, and I hate using Let's Plays as tutorials.

How do I build new bases? I don't see any button for that, anywhere.

[Solver]

Top center of the screen, there are "launch interceptors" and "build new base" buttons.

[Wraith_Magus]

OK, sorry, I'm apparently just blind.

[Commissar Pancakes]

Think nothing of it. Forum members are always happy to help.

Gives the devs access to your acquaintances (and their money).

[Teoes]

1. Research new transports. You'll get the Shrike first, then the Valkyrie; each of these increase the number of troops you can deploy on the battlefield at once after you've researched them as the game progresses.

2. You train troops by using them in combat. Each soldier can gain one point in each stat per battle. Time Units are gained by having a soldier expend 150 time units in a single battle. Accuracy is gained by firing at an enemy at least once anywhere up to 1.5 times the weapon's maximum effective range. Strength is gained by moving your soldiers around with at least 80% of their current maximum carry weight, represented by that bar you see in the loadout menu. Reaction is increased by having a soldier take a reaction shot. You gain Bravery when a soldier loses morale and panics; this can happen due to being wounded or seeing fellow Xenonauts killed, or by killing another Xenonaut with friendly fire. Resilience (health) is gained by accruing 5 points in other stats. You can increase each stat by 1 after every battle, providing the soldier fulfills all of these things ina single landing.

3. Actions taken in view of an alien where the alien can see the soldier taking the action, like firing or moving. They cannot act if you suppress them with gunfire or explosions, however.

Hello everyone. I've started playing Xenonauts at last, having a great time. This post has been quite informative on the nature of the stat increase mechanics, thanks. Regarding the strength increase by carrying at least 80% of the current maximum weight: is there any point therefore in purposefully overburdening soldiers (which of course reduces their available TUs)? I'd watched Yeti's Xenonauts LP and he'd been dumping a little extra weight on his troops to boost their strength but the above suggests this was unnecessary.

Thank you for your time!

Edited September 26, 2013 by Teoes
spelling derp

[Max_Caine]

No, there's no point in overburdening soldiers. Load them up just so they're on the redline. You get your strength boost and keep your APs.

[Wraith_Magus]

Yeah, 80% seems to be 80% of half of your strength... which basically means it's really 40% of your strength is the minimum line. (So at least 24 kg on a 60 str character.)

I've still been just throwing an extra grenade into my guys' inventory every couple missions to keep them just on the line.