Are the bases above ground in this game?

[RBrim08]

In the original X-COM game, the bases were located underground, since the first thing you had to build was the access lift. As such, the only way for aliens to assault your base was through the access lift or the hangars.

But in Xenonauts, the aliens seem to be able to just attack from wherever, firing breaching pods into the side of your base or something. This raise the question, though, of why they even bother to send in troops in the first place? If they have a giant ship, why don't they just glass the base from the sky?

[Kreny]

maybe they wants prisoners?

[SalsaDoom]

... I always assumed they were underground. Course, the radar shouldn't be there... and hmm. Maybe they are as curious about our reverse engineers guns and technology as we are about their models?

Our warplanes seem to do pretty well against their advanced ships, maybe they thought we'd be using the same tech as we did at Iceland and didn't expect the cold war speed of development.

[GizmoGomez]

Yeah, I believe it's underground. They send little drill-pods or something to enter your base.

Also, the reason the aliens don't glass stuff is because they do want to study us.

[thothkins]

I had assumed they were underground, but the aliens accessing form anywhere +underground radar (not that it stopped EU1994) + lack of an access lift made me think it was above ground.

Currently, I'm thinking the aliens use weapons to tunnel down and in. Although why they don't tunnel straight into the command centre and win is a mystery. Back above ground it is!

[StellarRat]

They're all under movie studios.

[thothkins]

The natural disguise for all secret anti-alien organisations* Unfortunately, it does mean that at 11am, everyone, and I mean everyone, has to stop for a union won tea break**

*and cloud bases, but they aren't as realistic ( ) as secret bunkers 40 ft underground.

** each tea break must be supplied by a kindly lady of indeterminate years***, with a selection of slightly old biscuits.

*** despite the huge egos in the studio between cast and crew, the tea lady in fact knows far, far more about movie making than anyone, and she and her husband discuss it briefly before he goes off to his allotment of an evening.

[SalsaDoom]

They're all under movie studios.

This makes sense. The aliens are fans of the studio, and don't want production of their favorite shows interrupted.

Slowly but surely, we are learning more and more about the invaders.

[OhNoItsNot]

I had assumed they were underground, but the aliens accessing form anywhere +underground radar (not that it stopped EU1994) + lack of an access lift made me think it was above ground.

Currently, I'm thinking the aliens use weapons to tunnel down and in. Although why they don't tunnel straight into the command centre and win is a mystery. Back above ground it is!

I assume because they don't know the lay-out of your base?

The last base defense I did they did have an access point to the command centre so I guess it's random

[Msvknight]

The bases could be camouflaged as a Ice cream factory............................. and the only flavour is ALIEN SKIN

[Xintrosi]

When a Base Defense mission is triggered, it mentions the aliens having entered our "Maintenance Tunnels" (triggered one last night just to see. Turns out having my people at base with an intentional loadout of nothing could be disastrous someday). From this I infer that we are underground. It also seems that aleins can spawn at any "edge" room of the base (that's what I saw, but I can't prove they actually spawned there, or if they did that they were forced to). I wonder if anyone has a lop-sided base they can test whether aliens can start right on/next to the command center?

EDIT: or it may be completely random per previous posts