Combat icons, indicators, etc.?

[joestallingssr]

I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere, but I've searched everywhere and can't seem to find documentation on this. I'm looking for a guide to the various indicators that appear adjacent to soldiers during combat.

Some of my soldiers have two, 5-bar indicators, and some have three. I know one of these is health. Under these is a shape (that looks kind of like a comic caption) that has some kind of heartbeat animation. I also see some of my soldiers have a green caret shape. And lastly, I notice that when I'm searching out aliens, there is an animation that (I guess) indicates I can hear a sound coming from the indicated direction?

Anywhere online where all of this is explained?

Thanks so much.

[Dies Fourth]

my icon confusion is the little shield looking thing................. some say a minus number next to it and some say 0 while others have a posotive number, ive also searched and never could determine wtf that means lol

[joestallingssr]

I hear you! It is frustrating.

Also, I think the "I hear aliens..." icons/animation has different shapes and colors depending on..something. What does it all mean. :)

[Incunabulum]

bar indicators - armor and health points. They are solid normally and turn into an outline when you lose a point. Some guys have more HP than others so these bars will be different sizes.

Heartbeat animation - generally comes up when a soldier is critically wounded and stays until either he's stabilised/revived or dies.

Carets - Green means that you have some sort of bonus active and red means either a malus or an alien has a bonus vs that soldier.

2 animations - the yellowish/orangish/goldish line points to the direction that an active Meld cannister is in and the 'Shh, I hear something' animation is they hear somethin in that direction.

[Dies Fourth]

Originally posted by Incunabulum:

bar indicators - armor and health points. They are solid normally and turn into an outline when you lose a point. Some guys have more HP than others so these bars will be different sizes.

Heartbeat animation - generally comes up when a soldier is critically wounded and stays until either he's stabilised/revived or dies.

Carets - Green means that you have some sort of bonus active and red means either a malus or an alien has a bonus vs that soldier.

2 animations - the yellowish/orangish/goldish line points to the direction that an active Meld cannister is in and the 'Shh, I hear something' animation is they hear somethin in that direction.

I always thought the " i hear somethoing " animation was blue curved lines if it was a small or like 1 alien and the larger orange lines erant a much larger alien or a group................ from my experiance that holds true on i spot the aliens................... am i wrong ?

still dont know what the shield icon is/does though

[Incunabulum]

Yes you are wrong. The orange line is for Meld.

The shield icon - a half filled shield is Partial Cover and a filled shield is Full Cover. Both provide defense bonuses (ie, help keep your guys from getting shot) with Full Cover providing more Defense.

[Dies Fourth]

Originally posted by Incunabulum:

Yes you are wrong. The orange line is for Meld.

The shield icon - a half filled shield is Partial Cover and a filled shield is Full Cover. Both provide defense bonuses (ie, help keep your guys from getting shot) with Full Cover providing more Defense.

not that shield, the 1 in the soldier list where it says the toons stats, nest o his marksmanship numbers and those other nymbers

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by Dies Fourth:

Originally posted by Incunabulum:

Yes you are wrong. The orange line is for Meld.

The shield icon - a half filled shield is Partial Cover and a filled shield is Full Cover. Both provide defense bonuses (ie, help keep your guys from getting shot) with Full Cover providing more Defense.

not that shield, the 1 in the soldier list where it says the toons stats, nest o his marksmanship numbers and those other nymbers

That's his innate Defense stat. You add that number to the Defense offered by Partial or full cover. So Partial Cover offers 35 Defense, your dude has a Defense Stat of -2 = 32 Defense while in Partial Cover.

[Dies Fourth]

Originally posted by Incunabulum:

Originally posted by Dies Fourth:

not that shield, the 1 in the soldier list where it says the toons stats, nest o his marksmanship numbers and those other nymbers

That's his innate Defense stat. You add that number to the Defense offered by Partial or full cover. So Partial Cover offers 35 Defense, your dude has a Defense Stat of -2 = 32 Defense while in Partial Cover.

ok that makes sence, tyvm

[joestallingssr]

Awesome, thanks for the tips!

[Mhblis]

I was paging through my manual for nostalgia just last night and actually it's explained in there.

[Dies Fourth]

Originally posted by Mhblis:

I was paging through my manual for nostalgia just last night and actually it's explained in there.

I dont think ive bought a hard copy of a game since the 2nd part of Guild Wars came out lol

was that like 8 years ogo ?

[Rawul]

If you select Xcom in your games library, on the right side where the links to the community hub, store page and all that stuff is, you can find a link to a PDF of the game's manual.

[joestallingssr]

Thanks Ravi. I did check the manual, but all it says that there is a "graphical display above them (soldiers) that gives you information about their status." It doesn't say what those indicators actually indicate, unless I'm missing something.

Excluding the manual's table of contents, multiplayer info and tech support, there are only about three pages of actual 'manual' : It's funny, because I remember the manual for Civ II was over 200+ pages. :)