X-COM Field Manual 31-1

[NKF]

Probably need to tweak that explanation a bit more, as the aliens can still find your base, even if it's got a mind shield. The shield won't disorient psionic aliens once they've breached your defences and are inside your base.

 

I suppose you could always say that the psionic jamming only works on the exterior of the base, as you wouldn't want to cause any disruptions in the base itself.

 

--

 

Another weapon you might want to issue to problem soldiers when you're all wearing powered armour is the auto-cannon. The AP shells should just bounce off the armour and the HE shells won't do any damage unless it's a direct hit. Your power armour can easily absorb the splash damage (thus making it an excellent close quarters weapon :angel: ), but direct hits can sometimes cause a bit of damage. It shouldn't be too much damage. Nothing that'll kill your soldier outright.

 

If you're feeling a little more adventurous, the heavy cannon and the rocket launcher with small rockets are also good choices. Both, while slightly more powerful, have limited ammunition. This is a good thing if the soldier is under prolonged mind control. Just make sure that everyone else is wearing flying suits, as the all-round +10 armour bonus the straps and buckle give you really helps.

 

As they can all deal some damage (eventually), I suppose you could call them medium-risk weapons.

 

- NKF

[Cadmus]

Yeah, we start with an Earth-only version and just have a big wad of addendums, stuff in '[]' is actual footnotes and stuff is '{}' is my designer notes.

 

Terrestrial Aircraft : SkyRanger

 

The Antonov {1} X-232 Transport Aircraft (the SkyRanger) is a VTOL troop transport jet leased to X-COM from the Russian Government, originally designed for deployments of Special Forces operatives in the Middle East it has found a role in transporting X-COM operatives to and from sites of extra-terrestrial activity. It's most notable feature is its massive operational range, capable of performing a roud trip to any location on the globe on a single load of fuel. The cargo capacity of the SkyRanger is approximately 28m^3 {2}. Facilities on board can be uncomfortable for soldiers, but the SkyRanger will run out of fuel before the crew runs out of rations or other consumables. The SkyRanger also contains a relay unit for HWP transmissions, without this HWPs would not be usable outside of their bases [1]. As all X-COM soldiers are trained pilots there is no need for a crew. HWPs also contain a linkage sytem that allows them fly the SkyRanger, but due to incompatibilities in the sytems involved the Remote System used by HWPs cannot be fitted to SkyRanger, as such the craft can never fly itself back to base, at least one soldier or one HWP must survive in order for the craft not to be lost.

 

[1] Effective tranmission range to an HWP is 500m.

{1} The Antonov is a real Russian transport, feel free to change this bit though

{2} Assuming one BattleScape block is 1mx1mx2m

 

Damn, I wish I had UFO working on my system.

[Cadmus]

Base Facilities : Defence : Overview

 

As X-COM begins to overcome the extra-terrestrial threat it is possible that X-COM bases will come under direct attck by the extra-terrestrials. As all X-COM bases are built underground they are shielded from direct weapons fire, however it is possible that the access lift and the hangar bays could provide an opportunity for a organised group of attackers to gain entry to the base itself. The defence systems listed here are designed to utterly destroy a UFO, but any strikes by these systems would undoubtedly kill some crew and reduce the danger posed by any forces that did manage to gain entry.

 

Base Facilities : Defence : Missile Defence

 

The X-5DM Missile Defence System is the first line of defence against attempts by extra-terrestrials to gain entry to X-COM bases, it consists of what is essentialy a scaled up version of FFAR pods [1] aimed skywards on a gymal mount to allow some amount of targetting, in case of a base ever coming under attack the missile housing will rise above the ground and begin to launch a spread missles, these are similar in construction to Hellfire anti-tank missiles [1] scaled up and fitted with an increased yield.

 

[1]Such as those mounted on military helicopter gunships

[Cadmus]

I was thinking, how about we have the following field manuals:

 

v1.0 All Earth Tech

v1.1 As v1.0 but with initial alien things (up to floaters and P-Rifles)

v1.2 As v1.1 but going up to H-Plasmas and the medium ships

v1.3 As v1.2 but going up to all races and ships

v1.4 As v1.3 but includes everything

 

Also could we not steal the UFOpeadia entries for alien behaviour?

[Hobbes]

Chapter 3. Field Tactics

 

3001 INTRODUCTION

 

The tactics listed on this section of the field manual can be seen as doctrine: they provide

a tested response to a number of situations that can be encountered on missions, allowing for a

quick reaction and to prevent confusion.

 

However, the complexity of combat situations often makes it impossible to apply doctrine to

every mission. Therefore field tactics can be viewed as freedom of action for the leader to execute his mission

in the way he sees fit, rather than being told how to do it. It requires that leaders learn

"how" to think rather than "what" to think.

 

Each tactic shown below aims to demonstrate the mechanics of fighting the extraterrestrials in

several situations. Execution of field tactics requires initiative, resourcefulness, and imagination.

Squad leaders must be resourceful enough to adapt to situations as they are, not as they were

expected to be. Combat situations might require a mixture of those tactics and concepts: it's

up to the leader to decide whose to use and when.

 

3001.1 TIME MANAGEMENT (TUs) - to be added

 

3002 GENERAL TACTICS

 

3002.1. SQUAD MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES

 

Since the nature of X-COM missions involves deploying to a limited area where the presence of hostiles is certain, both squads, fireteams and individual soldiers must learn specific movement techniques. Although there are other types of movements on infantry combat operations, these fall out of the scope of this field manual due to their limited use when fighting extraterrestrials.

 

3002.2. BOUNDING OVERWATCH (ALTERNATE/SUCCESSIVE)

 

Bounding overwatch is used when contact is expected, when the squad leader feels the enemy is near or when a large open danger area must be crossed.

 

a) The squad leader watches the terrain and determines the direction to where the squad will move. An overwatch fire team is set to cover the movement of the other fire team.

 

B) The trailing fire team bounds to the location and sets itself in a position to overwatch the other team's movement.

 

c) Both teams then repeat the movement until they establish contact with the enemy.

 

d) The teams can bound successively or alternately as demonstrated on the figure below.

 

https://www.geocities.com/aadlg/fig2-22.gif

 

e) Heavy Weapons Platforms, if available, can be used instead of a fire team during movement.

 

3002.3. FIRE AND MOVEMENT

 

When a unit makes contact with the enemy, it normally starts firing at and moving toward the enemy. Sometimes the unit may move away from the enemy. That technique is called fire and movement. It is conducted either to close with and destroy the enemy, or to move away from the enemy so as to break contact with him.

 

The firing and moving take place at the same time. There is a fire element and a movement element. These elements may be single soldiers, fire teams, or squads. Regardless of the size of the elements, the action is still fire and movement.

 

a) The fire element covers the move of the movement element by firing at the enemy. This helps keep the enemy from firing back at the movement element.

 

B) The movement element moves either to close with the enemy or to reach a better position from which to fire at him. The movement element should not move until the fire element is firing.

 

c) Depending on the distance to the enemy position and on the available cover, the fire element and the movement element switch roles as needed to keep moving. Usually the fire element is the overwatch team of the bounding technique while the movement element is the trailing team but that might change, depending on the tactical environment.

 

P.S. - I borrowed heavily from US Army's Field Manuals for this part with some adaptations. I used that picture because I can't get images from the game but if anyone could use the idea and get a picture that would replace it....

[Cadmus]

Hobbes, what did you think my contributions? Is that the kind of thing you're after?

[Hobbes]

Cadmus,

 

I think those are nicely done and add a little more than the basic stuff that is on the UFOPedia. As for what we are after here I don't have a clue

When this thing started I was thinking that it would focus on the basics of ground combat but since people want to contribute in other subjects I think that their work should be included also.

 

PS - Apparently Geocities doesn't allow to link pictures directly so I'll just provide the Link to the image I was talking on my previous post.

[NKF]

My thought is that the first 'issue' of the 1998-1999 manual should cover ground combat, tactics and whatnot. All the good stuff. You could include a few of the lower level alien technologies and autopsies for some of the earlier races that you'll be facing. Nothing terribly specific, in fact, vague first-impressions would probably be apropriate.

 

The addendum will include the new technologies and any strategies that specifically require alien technology and craft (such as mind probes, blaster bombs and specific tactics for different UFOs).

 

By the way, Hobbes, Yahoo!Geocities doesn't even allow a direct link to an image via a hyperlink (of course, industrious posters only need to remove the https:// from the address and put it into the address bar and it usually works). You could just make a simple wrapper html page such as the following and then you link to that:

 

 

thepicture.foo

 

That's what I do these days. They don't mind direct hyperlinks to individual html pages.

 

- NKF

[Spaceman42]

Miniupdate:

 

Have been downloading a bunch of US Army FMs; will try to get something done over Easter Break. Incredibly busy with end-year homework and catch-up with USLA History and IB Chem.

 

FM Selections:

90-5 Jungle Ops

21-20 Physical Fitness Training

21-75 Combat Skills of the Soldier

34-8 Combat Commander's Handbook on Intelligence

90-8 Counter-Guerilla Ops

3-90 Tactics

25-101 Battle-Focused Training [! X-Com fanfic?]

90-10 Combat in Built-Up Areas

34-45 Tactics Techniques & Procedures for Electronic Attack [not really relevant]

34-8-2 Intel Officers' Handbook

3-97.6 Mountain Ops

7-93 Long-Range Surveillance

 

How to Swear in All Languages

[Hobbes]

How to Swear in All Languages

I'd love to see a Field Manual on that..... FM 2-34 Using Foreign Expletives

 

Try also 7-8 Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad

[Spaceman42]

Dang, thought I had that one...

 

No, it's not an FM; however, it's quite comprehensive. Not *everything* you might want to swear, but a lot.

 

[Edit:]

 

Okay, updated the FM a bit. Check the link on page 1 again; I'm too lazy to look for it.

[Spaceman42]

[bump] in case my edit was missed:

 

https://nfact.mspencer.net/XComFM.doc

[JellyfishGreen]

Gosh, I seem to remember it as being longer... I guess Hobbes' posts above have sunk in. Here's some more, numbering system as always can be rehashed by the SpaceEditorMan42.

 

3002.4 TERRAIN TACTICS

 

3002.4.1 Natural Features

 

Firing over the crest of a hill, known as the reverse-slope position, exposes the minimum sight picture to the enemy and provides the greatest protection from return fire. Simply ducking into concealment protects the soldier from all but indirect-fire weaponry [grenades]. Allow time to climb the hill before seeking out the enemy.

 

Soldiers should seek to overwatch from hill crests and move in the protection of valleys or next to slopes.

 

Movement up and down hills takes time so a soldier on flat ground will always outpace a soldier on a slope.

 

Enemies hiding in valleys are best dealt with through grenades or other indirect fire.

 

3002.4.2 Artificial Features: Wooden Structures

 

Wooden frame structures such as barns provide good concealment and some degree of protection. However they are highly vulnerable to explosives [and energy weapons] and can be penetrated by high caliber weaponry.

 

They are excellent for concealing movement and approach but equally conceal the enemy in their windows, doors, and corridors.

Sniping from a high position or window minimizes exposure but the soldier must be prepared for return fire and move to different cover if spotted.

 

3002.4.3 Vegetation

 

Vegetation, especially in jungle or forest environments, provides a high degree of cover. Thick-trunked vegetation can often stop enemy fire temporarily but will quickly be shredded by powerful weaponry.

 

Thick vegetation reduces sight lines and is a dangerous environment to move through. Scouts have to look all around them as each movement can reveal previously hidden areas. Overwatch and support teams will find trees blocking both direct and indirect fire and will have to move closer to the scouts to adequately support them. Paths through the vegetation are not always evident and soldiers may be forced to double back if their path becomes impassable.

 

Clearings should be exploited as rally points and kill zones. Soldiers concealed in vegetation on the edges of a clearing have the best combination of concealment and field of fire. High explosive can be used to clear vegetation as necessary.

 

3002.4.4 Artificial Structures: Concrete [1]

 

Concrete and masonry structures are generally impervious to man-portable weaponry. The commander has two choices: siege or storm.

 

Sieging has the benefit that time is on the commander's side, so forces can be arranged in good concealed positions with good fields of fire. All exits from the structure should be covered. Avoid placing units directly in line with exits or windows as these units will be the first ones attacked when the enemy ventures forth. The enemy will hide from a barrage but will hopefully become curious enough, if all is quiet and movement unopposed, to reveal themselves. This then allows your marksmen to engage them.

 

Sending forward a scout is risky but can fool the enemy into revealing themselves to shoot at the presented target.

 

Sieges succeed through attrition of the enemy as they reveal themselves. A resolute enemy with adequate supplies, however, can choose to remain hidden indefinitely. So eventually the structure will have to be stormed.

 

Storming these structures is always hazardous because no amount of "target softening" can guarantee them clear of enemy presence before the assault. The first soldiers in will always be in harm's way. [2] Single file entry is often required so the assault team must enter quickly and spread out again to maximize effectiveness. Assault teams should carry weapons with high rate of fire and high stopping power. Armor is a must. Stun rods can also be useful.

 

Training must emphasize prioritizing targets.

 

a) An enemy facing the soldier and in line with the entryway, should be handed off to a following soldier or even to a support sniper outside the entryway. If neither of these are practical (due to blocked lines of fire) then engage at short range with burst fire (autofire).

B) An enemy facing the soldier, but not in line with the entryway, must be engaged. At short range, use three-shot burst fire (autofire).

c) If enough time remains to take cover and let a following soldier engage the enemy, but not enough time to both fire on the enemy and take cover, then take cover.

d) An enemy facing away from the soldier should be engaged only if time permits or if no other soldiers can move into position to take the shot. Stun rods are best used on this presentation of target.

e) Enemies packed into a corridor are best engaged with burst fire. Use of explosives in such situations is unpredictable given the close range and risk of secondary explosions.

 

Motion detectors are invaluable in gaining information about the enemy in such a structure. The soldier with the motion detector does not have to be a member of the assault team but should be moved up next to the structure.

 

...more comments welcomed. There's another UFO topic covering UFO assault.

 

[1] "Addendum: Alien ship hulls appear to provide a similar level of protection to reinforced concrete and should be handled by this doctrine."

[2] ooc Gosh, SWAT teams get thick full length shields for this sort of thing. We get ... rookies.

[Spaceman42]

The thing is, I'm doing the manual sequentially to ensure unity throughout, or something. Basically I'm going to go through 1000, then 2000, pasting and editing - when I have time, of course. Like over the Easter break.

 

* wonders how much longer the downloads of all those FMs will take *

[Hobbes]

You seriously don't need to get and read all of them for an X-Com Field Manual. There's lots of interesting stuff there if you're into military matters but most of them are too much technical and precise to be of any use in the game due to the small size of the terrain and the squads.

 

If you want some advice on what to read try those ones:

 

21-75 Combat Skills of the Soldier

7-8 Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad

3-90 Tactics

90-10 Combat in Built-Up Areas

90-5 Jungle Ops

 

The rest is fairly useless since the game isn't that well developed and even those FMs above only contain a couple of bits of information that can be of any use during the game.

[Spaceman42]

I wasn't intending on using *all* of them; I downloaded / am downloading 'em out of interest.

 

The other thing is that WinMX runs like molasses on my computer - or more precisely, all the other programs do. Ah, well. I'll let it run overnight or something.

[Spaceman42]

Okay, input time. Basically, the Table of Contents in that FM is a skeleton outline for the entire FM. I'm not sure whether further sub-topics should be added, what they should be, what should be cut, etc.

Here's the ToC so far:

 

 

Chapter 1. Platoon Organization and Makeup

 

1001 INTRODUCTION

1002 HISTORY

1003 GENERAL PLATOON ORGANIZATION

1004 GENERAL SQUAD ORGANIZATION

1005 SPECIALIZED SQUAD ORGANIZATION

Light / Recon Squad

Heavy / Demo Squad

Sniper Squad

Communications Squad

HWP Squad

Other Squads

 

Chapter 2. Initial Deployment

 

2001 INTRODUCTION

2002 HAZARDS

2003 DEPLOYMENT TACTICS

2004 ADDITIONAL NOTES

 

Chapter 3. Field Tactics

 

3001 INTRODUCTION

3002 GENERAL TACTICS

3003 CLEAR TERRAIN

3004 FORESTED / JUNGLE TERRAIN

3005 HILLY / MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN

3006 URBAN TERRAIN

3007 COMBAT IN MILITARY FACILITIES

 

 

 

Chapter 4. Clean-Up and Recovery

 

4001 INTRODUCTION

4002 CLEARING AN AREA

4003 CONDUCT TOWARDS CIVILIANS

4004 TREATMENT OF CAPTURED ALIENS

4005 ALIEN ARTIFACT RECOVERY

 

Appendix

 

5001 APPENDIX A : PYROTECHNICS USAGE

AND DEPLOYMENT

5002 APPENDIX B : SPECULATIVE COMBAT

SCENARIOS

5003 APPENDIX C: SPECULATIVE ALIEN

STRENGTH ASSESSMENT

5004 APPENDIX D : SPECULATIVE FUTURE

TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS

 

 

So, yeah. Do you think anything should be taken out? Put in? Rearranged? Post it.

 

Another thing: It would probably be a good idea to "divvy up" the sections of the FM. Yeah, I can write the Introduction and History things, but I'm not the best at pulling it all together. Anyone want to volunteer to do certain sections and such? I can upload the FMs I have to my webspace, if they're needed.

 

So, yeah, that's it for today. Any comments or questions?

[Munkeylord]

well i know you guys have been working on a field manual, but i never put any imput in. just wondering if its working out for u as well as it should, or how far along you got so far. i'm just curious. :xmas:

[Hobbes]

Right, this is how I've been organizing the stuff I've done so far. I've included here also most of the entry about the HWPs that JellyfishGreen has wrote. I also want to include some of NKF's entries here but I haven't started working on them yet.

 

Chapter 1. Squad Organization and Makeup

 

1003 General Squad Organization

1003.1 Individual Skills

1003.2. Battleteams and Fireteams

1003.3. Heavy Weapons Platforms (HWPs)

1003.3.1 HWP main roles

1003.3.1.1 Scouting

1003.3.1.2 Bounding

1003.3.1.3 Forced Entry

1003.3.1.4 Hostile Area Deployment

1003.3.1.5 Heavy Weapons Support

1003.4. HWP vs. human fireteam *

1004. Types of Specialized Squads

1004.1 General Squad

1004.2 Light Squad.

1004.3 Assault Squad.

1004.4 Heavy Squad

1004.5 HWP Squad *

 

Chapter 2. INITIAL DEPLOYMENT

 

2001. INTRODUCTION

2002. DISEMBARKING TACTICS

2002.1. THE FRONT ROW FIRETEAM

2002.2. THE OTHER FIRETEAMS

2002.3. USE OF HWPS ON LANDINGS

2003. REORGANIZING AND DEPLOYMENT

2003.1. LANDING ZONE POSITION

2003.1.1. CORNER LZ

2003.1.2. SIDE LZ

2003.1.3. CENTRAL LZ

2004 ADDITIONAL NOTES *

 

Chapter 3. Field Tactics

 

3001 INTRODUCTION

3002 TIME UNITS (TUs) MANAGEMENT *

3003 GENERAL TACTICS

3003.1. SQUAD MOVEMENT TECHNIQUES

3003.2. BOUNDING OVERWATCH (ALTERNATE/SUCCESSIVE)

3003.3. FIRE AND MOVEMENT

3003.4. NIGHT OPERATIONS *

3003.5. TACTICAL WITHDRAWALS (RETREATS) *

3004. MISSION OBJECTIVES AND TACTICS *

3004.1 ENEMY SUPRESSION (killing all aliens)*

3004.2 ARTIFACT/POW RETRIEVAL (recovering equipment/aliens)*

3004.3 SEARCH AND DESTROY (destruction of a alien base command center)*

 

The * means that I haven't finished/started the work on them yet.

As for the rest of the FM, IMHO that it should include the additional sections to those already mentioned in your post or added to this thread by others:

 

3008 ASSAULTS ON ALIEN CRAFT

APPENDIX X - Types of weapons (including the comparisions NKF made between all of them).

 

Phewww, that's it! I don't mind keeping the work on the sections I've mentioned above if that OK with you.

[Spaceman42]

Umm. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Just change the 1000 designations - I inserted Platoon [1003] ahead of Squad [now 1004].

[Hobbes]

Are you sure you want to include platoons on the field manual? I have no problem with it since it might be a way for people to try to mimick the real work on the game but I have also some objections:

 

That information has limited value when playing the game. Platoons usually have an excess of some 25 soldiers. You can bring one to battle with the Avenger but I've tried to use platoons on the tactical menu a number of times and just to have to think of movements of 26 soldiers each turn is too tiring and it slows down the game too much.

Platoon movement involves maneuvering your squads together and the tactical map is too small to perform more than one maneuver and still retain cohesion of the squads (not to mention the fact that there's few space between soldiers - not good if the aliens use grenades on them).

On the other hand, squads act with about 14 soldiers and even with the addition of two or three HWPs, they maneuver better if you deploy them divided as fire or battle teams. And I find more intuitive, thus easy to learn, if you get the gimmicks of the internal dynamic of squads. (although this just reminded me to add another section - how to perform swarm and careless attacks on the aliens - you might use because the aliens just made it personal :hmmm: and decide to %"/!# the aliens who are beating or simply for fun .

 

Well, but then again sometimes I like to organize the 40+ soldiers that I have in my main base into individual squads and add squad designators to their names, just like a platoon.

 

As you can see, I've just contradicted myself, so it's up to you guys

[Spaceman42]

Yeah, I was just thinking about overall organization. Like, you have about 1 platoon at the base, so who do you bring, how to organize them into squads, whatever. More for fun than actual, really - but we're going for realism, no?

[JellyfishGreen]

Assuming you send one squad on the mission, and organize it into fireteams,

would it make sense to say you have a platoon on the base, from which the active squad is drawn? Soldiers rotated in or out due to performance, deaths, or injuries?

 

What would you call the supply of backup soldiers, if not a platoon?

 

I had only 3 or 4 soldiers hanging around, not counting those in the infirmary, which led to some short-handed days after I took more than 4 losses on a mission. What do others typically do?

[Spaceman42]

Umm... keep the base from being destroyed in case of a base raid?

[Fullborg]

About the Skyranger....

 

Antonov actually produced the An-72 "Coaler", a twin jet transport with excellent short, unimproved field takeoff ability back in the 1970s. The upgraded An-74 was also capable of operating for long periods in polar conditions, of which the CCCP had no shortage.

 

https://www.aeronautics.ru/archive/vvs/an72-01.htm was where I got the NATO reporting name of Coaler. (The resemblance between the Coaler and Skyranger is striking)

 

(It's traditional for airplanes designed by Russian firms to put some contraction of the firm's name as the prefix

 

eg

Mikoyan MiG-29

Sukhoi Su-33

Antonov An-225 Myria (used to transport Buran))

 

So... without further ado...

 

Antonov An-95 Uvidimsya (I can't speak Russian, so I just grabbed a title of one of PPK's songs), English nickname "Skyranger"

 

In the mid 1990s, the Ukrainian design bureau, Antonov, heavily upgraded one of their transport designs, the An-72, to serve as a special forces transport.

 

In hindsight, the decision was almost prescient, as the Skyranger fitted the needs of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit almost perfectly.

 

(insert more filler text here)