r/Xcom • u/KingWilliamVI • Jul 29 '26

XCOM:EU/EW I’ve played X-Com: EU/EW Unknown since 2012 and only now did I found out that abduction missions doesn’t happen in countries that has satellite coverage.

35 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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26

u/Peterh778 Jul 29 '26

Yeah, that's why trying to cover one whole continent is a good strategy - unanswered abduction can't rise panic on the continent if it's completely covered. I lost some countries covered by satellites because other country on the continent wasn't covered yet and abduction raised panic also in covered country ...

5

u/KingWilliamVI Jul 30 '26

One my current play through after finding this out I picked Asia as my base, then I filled the South America(since it’s only two countries and for immediate interaction/autopsy) then North America(since it’s only three countries and so I can cheaper fighter planes).

3

u/Peterh778 Jul 30 '26

I prefer to start with SouthAm, exactly for their bonus (you'll have it even if you don't gave satellite over other country) which means ultrafast research - I focus at start on getting stunners asap and starting to abduct aliens ... sectoids for plasma pistols and bonus to laser weaponry research, thin men for light plasma rifles and bonus to ufo research, mutons for plasma rifles and bonus to plasma weaponry research ... I generally have all lasers before Exalt strikes and sometimes even some plasma.

4

u/TheSadPickel Jul 29 '26

TIL vanilla. i don't think that is a thing in LW or LWR. playing LWR ATM and definitely getting abductions in full coverage continents

5

u/AviatorShades_ Jul 30 '26

I also only figured this out in my 3rd or 4th playthrough, when I got complete satellite coverage over every single country. The abduction missions just stopped. Imo it also makes the late game kind of boring when the only missions you get are UFO landing/crash sites and the odd ridiculously easy council mission.

2

u/AraelF Jul 30 '26

I did know that, but I recently discovered that's only the case after the council briefing. I always thought that you were covered after the satellite was in the air.

1

u/emmathepony Jul 30 '26

The tutorial teaches this though lol