Shooting the right way | Turn-based combat system XCOM: Enemy Unknown Guide

Last update: 11 May 2016

XCOM: Enemy Unknown offers a very well-thought and simple combat system. In most cases, the chance of hitting an opponent located at an average distance on the open filed will be equal to the Offense statistic (F1 in combat) of a soldier. However, the game in which each soldier hits the target with the same frequency would not be exciting. Therefore, the game contains certain types of modifiers that increase or decrease the accuracy of our soldiers.

 

77% chance of hitting - this is probably the last turn for this alien.

The first and most important is the cover modifier. A soldier or an alien can be located in three different locations: in the open air, behind a light cover and behind a heavy cover. As mentioned earlier, the chance of hitting a target in the open field is equal to the Offense statistic. Cover reduces this chance depending on its quality cars, flower pots, low walls, i.e. a light cover, reduce the chance of hitting a character hidden behind it by around 20%.Hard cover (high walls, corners, trucks) is even more effective, as the a chance to hit an enemy hidden behind it drops by 40%. To see what elements affect your accuracy you can press the F1 key when aiming at an alien.

 

Summary (F1) of the chance to hit from the previous image.

In order to benefit from the protection from an element of the battlefield, you can use one action point to hide a soldier directly behind it. A shield that appears half-full or completely full means a weaker or better protection received by a soldier standing at a given position. A soldier not directly in contact with the cover is considered being in the open field!

An example of using the elements of the terrain: heavy and light cover.

The effectiveness of cover can be increased by using Hunker Down maneuver. The soldier that uses it will not be able to do anything else in the round, but in this way he obtains a double bonus to hiding: light cover reduces enemy fire accuracy by 40%, while the hard one by 80%. This means that virtually all of the shots will miss. Hunker Down maneuver is a great solution when your soldier meets an overwhelming enemy force and will not be able to withdraw. There's a good chance that he will survive to the next turn and you will save him.

 

Soldier performing a Hunker Down maneuver, which doubles the effectiveness of a nearby cover and grants immunity to critical hits!

Problems begin when an alien is hiding around the corner of the building or a car wreck and shoots accurately, while your soldiers are not able to hit him. There are several methods to reach such an enemy, the most commonly used is flanking. If you flank an alien from a side in such a way that the cover behind which he is hidden will not stand in your way, the soldier will be able to give a clean shot. Yellow shield icon over the alien will tell you that you're in a good position to shoot. The yellow-head icon has the same meaning.

 

Yellow shield and icon-head: the target is flanked and does not receive bonuses from the shield.

Although the cover is the most common modifier of the chance to hit, it is not the only factor affecting the accuracy of our shots. Another important factor, depending on your current weapon, is the distance from the enemy. Rifles quickly lose accuracy with increasing distance, while in the case of sniper rifles the situation is reversed: the target of a sniper that is located closer will be more difficult to hit than the one in the distance. Rifles and machine guns are the most versatile in this regard, since the purpose of being in the firing line of sight does not reduce the chance to hit. Moreover, in the case of the two abovementioned types of weapons and shotguns, reducing the distance improves their accuracy: standing next to an alien we have an almost guaranteed shot.

 

100% chance to hit - this alien is already dead.

Equally important is the height at which your soldier is located. Attacking an alien in advance you will receive a bonus 20% chance to hit, and therefore we should always try to climb a nearby roof when possible. Even better if you put a sniper out there: he will almost always hit the target.

The next three factors that reduce the accuracy of our soldiers are shooting while in Overwatch mode (-10%), shooting to a dashing target (-20%) and to an opponent who is in the air (-20%).Flying armor or sprint are able to increase the survival rate of our soldiers. They cumulatively lower the accuracy of the enemy and allow us to run by an alien guarding the site.

Other modifiers are directly related to gear used and skills of our soldiers. SCOPE, laser and plasma rifles, or abilities such as Tactical Sense or Damn Good Ground increase the defense of your squad members. Some of them will be described in the following sections of the guide.

Equipment can also affect the accuracy of our soldiers.