Combat Vehicles

Combat Vehicles can be constructed on the Engineering screen once researched, and can be deployed on combat missions in the place of a soldier. They are fast, tough and carry heavy weapons, but are more expensive than soldiers and do not gain experience. There is a limit on the number of vehicles that can be deployed on each mission, but this is set by the dropship used (more advanced dropships can carry more vehicles).

Robotic units:

• are immune to stun, gas and morale effects
• are vulnerable to EMP damage
• cannot reload their weapons
• do not require their weapons to be built seperately (all of their weapons are available in unlimited quantities).
• if destroyed, can be rebuilt at half the normal cost if their "corpse" (wreckage) item is recovered after the mission

Vehicle Types

MARS Combat Platform

MARS Combat Platform

HP	Armour	TU	Acc	Str	Reflexes	Bravery	Cost	Upkeep
100	15 / 25	80 / 68	50	100	25	100	$250,000	$5,000

The MARS Combat Platform is the intial combat vehicle, unlocked by the starting Combat Vehicles research project. It is much faster and tougher than the soldiers you have access to at the start of the game, and it has the useful ability to crush walls and cover by driving straight through them.

The abysmal Reflexes of the MARS mean it is very effective at drawing out enemy reaction fire that would otherwise be aimed at your squishier soldiers. Bringing a MARS on the various timed Cleaner missions can be particularly helpful (especially with Heavy Armour) because Cleaners often lack the firepower to destroy it quickly.

Common loadouts for the MARS are rockets + autorifle, or the cannon + rangefinder. Heavy Armour should usually be enabled because it provides a significant boost to survivability.

ARES Support Platform

ARES Support Platform

HP	Armour	TU	Acc	Str	Reflexes	Bravery	Cost	Upkeep
100	20 / 30	90 / 78	55	50	40	100	$250,000 20 Alenium 20 Alloys	$5,000

The ARES Support Platform is unlocked from the Antigravity Emitter research, and is an upgraded variant of the MARS that is equipped with an integrated jetpack and improved Armour, Time Units and Accuracy. You should switch to the ARES as soon as it becomes available, as it is a straightforward upgrade over the MARS - although there is no way of turning a MARS into an ARES, so you may want to continue running the older vehicle until it is destroyed.

Sentry Gun

Sentry Gun

HP	Armour	TU	Acc	Str	Reflexes	Bravery	Cost	Upkeep
80	15	40	50	100	75	100	$40,000	$2,000

Sentry Guns are cheap vehicles that can only be used on Xenonaut Base Defence missions. They are inexpensive to produce and do not require Living Space, and benefit from always having free access to high-tier infantry Machinegun weapons (these do not need to be manufactured seperately) - towards the end of the game building the infantry LMG seperately costs significantly more than the sentry gun does. Note that Sentry Guns are not immobile; they have wheels that allow them to move normally.

They are therefore cheap and expendable fodder that can bulk out (or replace) the defensive garrison of a Xenonaut base. Unlike the MARS, they have high Reflexes - making them surprisingly good at overwatch fire!

Vehicle Weapons

The following weapons are fitted to the MARS and ARES platforms, which carry one primary (Cannon or Rocket Turret) and one secondary (Autorifle or Smoke Launcher).

Cannons

Weapon	Damage	Destruction (armor per hit)	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus (per tile)	Capacity (shots)	Fire Modes	Required research
Cannon	68 Kinetic	-4	24	1%	20	Normal Shot (80% Acc, 40% TU) Aimed Shot (120% Acc, 54% TU)	None; available at start
Laser Cannon	80 Energy	-16	24	1%	20	Normal Shot (100% Acc, 44% TU) Aimed Shot (130% Acc, 54% TU)	Heavy Lasers
Gauss Cannon	120 Kinetic	-8	24	1%	20	Normal Shot (80% Acc, 40% TU) Aimed Shot (120% Acc, 54% TU)	Heavy Gauss Weaponry
Fusion Cannon	144 Energy	-10	24	1%	20	Normal Shot (80% Acc, 40% TU) Aimed Shot (120% Acc, 54% TU)	Heavy Fusion Weaponry

Cannons are powerful weapons that usually only fire one shot per turn. Due to the relatively low Accuracy of the MARS, they are usually paired with the Rangefinder to ensure they can hit reliably - and when they do hit, they tend to inflict a lot of damage. Most enemies can be one-shotted in the early game!

Rocket Turrets

Weapon	Damage	Destruction (armor per hit)	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus (per tile)	Capacity (shots)	Fire Modes	Required research
Rocket Launcher Turret	36 Explosive	-10	25	1%	6	Normal Shot (120% Acc, 50% TU) Salvo Fire X3 (120% Acc, 60% TU)	None; available at start
Alenium Rocket Turret	52 Explosive	-15	25	1%	6	Normal Shot (120% Acc, 50% TU) Salvo Fire X3 (120% Acc, 60% TU)	Alenium Explosives
Plasma Rocket Turret	80 Explosive	-20	25	1%	6	Normal Shot (120% Acc, 50% TU) Salvo Fire X3 (120% Acc, 60% TU)	Fusion Explosives

Rocket turrets hold six large rockets that inflict significant damage in a large blast area. These weapons inflict Explosive damage, so are extremely effective at removing cover and terrain. They also cause significant armour shred on any units caught within the blast.

Although a 3-rocket burst will usually outright delete any early-game threat, the rockets usually serve a support role - they will injure any enemies in the blast area, strip their armour, and remove their cover (making them easy to finish off with other weapons). They are effective at long range due to their large blast radius, and can also be used to demolish buildings or cover that the player wishes to remove (such as the front hatch of a UFO).

The main downside of the rocket turret is that they only hold six rockets. Players therefore usually pair this weapon with an Autorifle, giving the MARS a secondary weapon with a large magazine that it can fall back on if the rockets run dry.

Autorifles

Weapon	Damage	Destruction (armor per hit)	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus (per tile)	Capacity (shots)	Fire Modes	Required research
Ballistic Autorifle	34 Kinetic	-2	20	1.25%	100	Snap Shot (45% Acc, 24% TU) Normal Shot (80% Acc, 36% TU) Aimed Shot (120% Acc, 48% TU) Burst Shot X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU)	None; available at start
Laser Autorifle	40 Energy	-8	20	1.25%	100	Snap Shot (45% Acc, 24% TU) Normal Shot (80% Acc, 36% TU) Aimed Shot (120% Acc, 48% TU) Burst Shot X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU)	Heavy Lasers
Gauss Autorifle	60 Kinetic	-4	20	1.25%	100	Snap Shot (45% Acc, 24% TU) Normal Shot (80% Acc, 36% TU) Aimed Shot (120% Acc, 48% TU) Burst Shot X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU)	Heavy Gauss Weaponry
Fusion Autorifle	77 Energy	-5	20	1.25%	100	Snap Shot (45% Acc, 24% TU) Normal Shot (80% Acc, 36% TU) Aimed Shot (120% Acc, 48% TU) Burst Shot X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU)	Heavy Fusion Weaponry

Autorifles have similar stats to an infantry Rifle of the same weapon tier, so make effective secondary weapons. However due to the relatively low Accuracy of the MARS they are not particularly useful for long range sniping.

Support

Weapon	Damage	Destruction (armor per hit)	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus (per tile)	Capacity (shots)	Fire Modes	Required research
Smoke Launcher	None	0	12	12%	4	Normal Shot (45% Acc, 20% TU) Aimed Shot (80% Acc, 28% TU)	None; available at start

The Smoke Launcher is a utility secondary that fires smoke grenades (and can do so over quite some distance). Smoke is an extremely valuable tool for keeping your units alive, but the extra defensive utility has to be weighed against the offensive benefits of the Rangefinder or Autorifle.

Vehicle Armors

Armour can also be fitted with Heavy Plating, an optional module that raises the armour value (shown in brackets below) by +10 / +15 / +20 / +25 by tier, at the cost of -12 Time Units. Sentry turrets cannot use the heavy armor option.

Armor	MARS/Sentry Armor (Heavy)	ARES Armor (Heavy)	Armor Penetration Reduction	Required Research
Steel Plating	15 (25)	20 (30)	0	None; available at start
Alloy Plating	25 (40)	30 (45)	5	UFO Hull Plating
Ceramite Plating	35 (55)	40 (60)	10	Advanced Alloys
Shielded Plating	45 (70)	50 (75)	20	Ultradense Alloys