capturing live aliens accidentally?

[Kipjdgammer]

there have been multiple times i have killed every single alien on a map, with no stun batons/bombs and then i end the mission and it says i have some live aliens to bring back. dafuq is going on? are there other ways to capture aliens that i don't know about? so confused!

[Koa-chan~♥]

The damage variance when you hit someone combined with the low damage of ballistic weapons means sometimes, you'll drop their health enough to knock the alien down, but not kill. This is because every hit also does stun damage, and someone kos when the stun damage is higher than current HP.

An alien is dead for sure when they make a noise as they fall over, otherwise you stunned them.

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

Poi is correct. When the aliens shoot one of your guys, you can see that getting shot does both stun and lethal damage. Usually the stun damage is irrelevant but not always.

Additionally, if you're unsure if an alien is dead or just passed out, there is a method you can use to check. Move a trooper into the square with that aliens body and open the inventory screen. Mouse over the alien's body and check it's description. If the item description says something like "Sectoid Navigator", the alien is alive. If the description says "Corpse", the alien is dead.

When an alien is unconsious in the field, I will usually detail a sniper with a with a stun rod to keep an eye on him while everybody else goes into the ufo. That way, if he gets back up, it's a simple matter of zapping the bastard.

[Kipjdgammer]

thx for the replys. it makes sense now. i heard somewhere that smoke can stun them but i don't normally use stun grenades so i was confused. thanks again.

[Koa-chan~♥]

Smoke does NOT actually stun aliens, it will stun your troops though.

[Kipjdgammer]

well that was a lie good thing i was too lazy and impatient to use smoke at all then.

[Uncle TwinkleNutz]

Originally posted by Gunner-Poi~♥:

Smoke does NOT actually stun aliens, it will stun your troops though.

absolutely wrong! the non-robotic aliens are as defenseless against smoke as are your troops..... if an alien spends too much time in smoke, they WILL ko

edit: it doesnt "stun" them tho, they stay active, but they DO eventually become incapacitated the same as your soldiers....... i have used this very tactic many times myself


perfect example : an unfortunate night mission near a farm house / stalls with etherials crawling all over inside.... incendiary if your best friend in these fights (they light up the area as well as create smoke for cover and incap stubborn aliens)

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

No. Smoke does not damage units under alien control. Not even mind controlled xcom units.
http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Smoke

[Koa-chan~♥]

Yeah, smoke does absolutely nothing besides create concealment. And incendiary is almost useless besides as night lights.

The only reason IN shots used to be useful for damage was a combination of the difficulty bug mixed with them doing damage tics whenever another IN shot popped.

[Uncle TwinkleNutz]

it may be a bug or glitch, but ive used it to my advantage many times. blast through a supply ships doors, throw a smoke in and before the enemy will succumb to smoke they will try and get out, get shot in the process or become incapped.



*shrug*

[Colonel Sanders Lite]

You know, it's possible that this is a deviation between open xcom and dos.

[DOOMed]

Smoke grenades on the PSX version will stun your men. However, the amount of stun damage varied on the PSX depending on the smoke and it's density. Shoot a gas pump and it explodes creating a huge, thick cloud of smoke. It does more stun damage (or at least it stuns at a faster rate per turn) to both XCOM units and Aliens.

It was often quite a viable tactic early on if on a terror site to "gas" an alien in this way, especially if still reliant on stun rods as a primary method of capture.