Aborted terror

[sgt caedes]

Later in the game i often get terror ships flying over, but if i dont shoot them down they dont always cause a terror site . Is this because they were heading for a country wich had already signed a pact with them , but the aliens only realised this on their way to the city?

[Zombie]

Terror Ships don't always land, and even if they do, they may not form a Terror Site. See, Terror Ships have a mission plan which is predetermined. If that plan doesn't include a Terror Site, they will not form one.

 

For instance, I frequently get Terror Ships later on in the game in conjunction with Battleships and Supply Ships on a base building and/or infiltration mission. A Terror Ships objective is to provide support to the other ships in this mission - not to form a Terror Site. So even if it lands, nothing will happen.

 

If you have the Hyperwave Decoder, it shows what kind of mission a Terror Ship is on. If it says "Terror", you can bet that ship will land and form a terror site.

[Accounting Troll]

In my experience, a terror mission on superhuman always follows the same plan over the course of 3-5 weeks.

 

First the aliens send in scout ships to check out the region they are interested in terrorising.

 

The final scouting mission is carried out by a terror ship. It never lands anywhere or attacks anybody, and it will quickly dissapear if your interceptors leave it alone. It is usually difficult to detect it until you have global radar/hyperwave decoder coverage.

 

Then comes the actual attack. A terror ship will head for the region and pick a city at random to terrorise if you don't shoot it down first.

 

BTW: when the aliens decide to launch a terror attack, they don't bother checking up on who has signed a pact and you will sometimes see terror attacks in countries that have already Finlandized to the aliens. I still respond because I don't want neighbouring countries to get nervous, creating a 'domino effect'.

[Bomb Bloke]

That second-to-last terror ship has a mission of 'Terror', but won't start a terror site.

 

I've never payed much attention to the boundries. In my experience, losing 1000 points by ignoring a terror site is a bad idea regardless of where the ship landed.