Soldier Equipment

Soldier loadout

Each soldier can carry an armor, primary weapon, secondary weapon, and whatever pieces of loadout will fit in the 5x5 Tactical Vest grid.

Once the Buzzard Jetpack engineering project has been completed soldiers can be equipped with a jetpack at the cost of 5 Carry Weight.

Armor

Armour can be equipped in either its default "light" configuration, or in a "heavy" configuration that offers additional protection at the cost of extra weight and a -10% Accuracy penalty (however, neither the Stalker and the Colossus have a "heavy" configuration).

Name	Armor (Light/Heavy)	Hardness	Weight	Special Rules	Gas Immunity	Production cost	Prerequisite
Tactical Armor	6 / 12	0	6 / 18		No	Free	None
Warden Combat Armor	14 / 28	5	6		No	$25,000 6 Alien Alloys	Alien Alloys resource
Guardian Battle Armor	20 / 30 25 / 38 (upgraded)	10	8 / 24		No	$50,000 10 Alien Alloys	UFO Hull Plating research
Stalker Stealth Armor	25	12	8	-1.5% enemy hit modifier per tile of range	Yes	$75,000 12 Alien Alloys 5 Alenium	Alien Electronics research
Colossus Battlesuit	50 80 (upgraded)	20	60	100 Strength, -3 Vision Range, -50% Reflexes Can only use machineguns, but 20% reduced fire cost	Yes	$120,000 20 Alien Alloys 8 Alenium	Advanced Alloys research
Vanguard Exosuit	34 / 50	20	10 / 30	+12 Time Units	Yes	$200,000 20 Alien Alloys 12 Alenium	Ultradense Alloys research

Armor provides Armor HP, which absorbs incoming damage before it is applied to the soldier's HP. Keeping your soldiers alive is essential to success in Xenonauts 2, both in terms of winning missions and winning the overall strategic campaign. You'll need an experienced team of soldiers to beat tough missions like the UOO Bridge Assault or Operation Endgame!

However, armour rarely guarantees survival - as weapons have a damage range of 50-150% of their base damage, a high damage roll from an alien weapon can often kill a soldier with a single hit even if they are wearing the best armour you have available. Worse, on Veteran and Commander difficulty, you will lose the suit of armour if the soldier is taken as a casualty (even if they subsequently pass their post-mission Survival check).

Nonetheless, armour is a worthwhile investment for your experienced soldiers. Increasing the survival rate of a plasma bolt from 25% to 75% makes a huge difference to overall outcomes, even if the occasional soldier still gets vaporised once in a while.

Usage

As the starting Tactical Armour is available in unlimited quantities and early-game enemies deal relatively low damage, there are few downsides to issuing most of your soldiers with the Heavy version. Soldiers with low Strength or those who want to avoid the Accuracy penalty may be exceptions, but in general the increased survivability will greatly outweigh the downsides.

Warden Armour can be unlocked early. It's good armour, particularly when you start encountering extraterrestrials and Cleaner Soldiers - but some players prefer to skip it so they can save the money / alloys / research time and instead rush for Guardian Armour (unlocked off Destroyer UFOs). If you attempt this, you'll face a few tough missions where your soldiers are at real risk of getting one-shot by your enemies.

Guardian Armour is the mainline armour for much of the midgame, offering excellent protection for a relatively inexpensive price (and no Alenium requirements). Unlocking Alien Electronics from the Observer UFO allows you to upgrade the Guardian to further boost the protection, which is a no-brainer if you have a lot of them. Guardian Armour falls off heavily once you start encountering alien Fusion weapons, but it's still better than nothing.

Stalker Armour has no heavy variant, and has an excellent statline without the extra weight and Accuracy penalty that is normally needed to achieve it. Best of all, it also has a Cloaking Field that reduces the enemy hit chance by 1.5% for each tile between the attacking alien and your soldier. This makes it excellent for snipers that don't want to lose Accuracy and generally stay far away from the enemy, because the best armour is not getting shot. However, you'd be better off sticking with the cheaper upgraded Guardian for short-range specialists or inexperienced soldiers with high enough Strength.

Colossus Armour is basically a walking tank. At short-to-medium range it can deal out huge amounts of damage with its machinegun (which has its normal Time Unit fire cost reduced by 20%), and it's extremely tough. But the limitations of the armour (particularly the -3 vision range) and its inability to throw grenades or use accurate long-range weapons mean it's not a great idea to give them to everyone. But the Colossus is still an absolute powerhouse and it remains useful right the way through to the final mission.

Vanguard Armour is the "ultimate" armour, offering excellent protection and a +12 Time Unit bonus without any of the limitations of the Colossus. You'll want to keep some Colossus troopers around, but give everyone else the Vanguard!

Weapons

Ballistics

Weapon	Damage	Armor Pen	Armor Destr	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus	Shots	Reflex Modifier	Fire Modes	Weight	Size	Production cost
Ballistic Pistol	28 Kinetic	0	-2	10	4% per tile (40% adjacent)	15	1.25x	Snap Shot - 55% Acc, 20% TU Normal Shot - 95% Acc, 30% TU	8	3x2	Free
Ballistic Rifle	34 Kinetic	0	-2	20	2% per tile (40% adjacent)	20	1x	Snap Shot - 38% Acc, 24% TU Normal Shot - 72% Acc, 36% TU Aimed Shot - 110% Acc, 48% TU Burst Shot x3 - 40% Acc, 50% TU	16	5x2	Free
Ballistic Shotgun	3x28 Kinetic	0	-2	9	8% per tile (72% adjacent)	8	1.25x	Snap Shot - 36% Acc, 30% TU Normal Shot - 68% Acc, 43% TU	16	5x2	Free
Ballistic Sniper Rifle	40 Kinetic	10	-2	26	none	5	1x	Aimed Shot - 80% Acc, 48% TU Scoped - 160% Acc, 64% TU	18	5x2	Free
Ballistic Machinegun	34 Kinetic	0	-2	20	2% per tile (40% adjacent)	50	0.75x	Burst Fire x3 - 45% Acc, 51% TU Burst Fire x10 - 45% Acc, 75% TU	26	5x2	Free
H.E.V.Y. Launcher	25 Explosive	100	-1	25	+2% per tile (50% adjacent)	4	1x	Normal Shot - 60% Acc, 48% TU Aimed Shot - 105% Acc, 65% TU	24	5x2	Free

Ballistics are the starting weapons available to the Xenonauts. The various types of weapon are well-balanced against one another, with opinions on their strength and weaknesses usually simply coming down to player preference:

• Pistols are surprisingly powerful at close range because of their low fire costs, and are small and lightweight, making them good sidearms or primary weapons for Shield soldiers.
• Rifles don't excel at anything in particular but are very versatile and can fight well at any range.
• Shotguns are absolute monsters at short range, but having to close with the enemy can leave your soldiers exposed.
• Machineguns have high TU costs to fire and usually serve to suppress enemies rather than deal damage, but are very effective at killing things at close range.
• Sniper Rifles have high TU fire costs, but have very long range and are accurate. Once soldiers have high enough Accuracy they can fire two shots per turn using the cheaper fire mode.
• The HEVY is useful for firing grenades over long distances, which can be used to strip cover from enemy units and break their armour before other units attack.

Accelerated

Weapon	Damage	Armor Pen	Armor Destr	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus	Shots	Reflex Modifier	Fire Modes	Weight	Size	Production cost
Accelerated Pistol	32 Kinetic	5	-2	12	2.25%	15	1.25x	Snap Shot (60% Acc, 20% TU) Normal Shot (100% Acc, 30% TU)	10	3x2	$12,500 3 Alien Alloys
Accelerated Rifle	38 Kinetic	5	-2	20	1.5%	20	1x	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)	25	5x2	$20,000 6 Alien Alloys
Accelerated Shotgun	3x32 Kinetic	3	-2	10	6.25%	8	1.25x	Snap Shot (40% Acc, 28% TU) Normal Shot (74% Acc, 40% TU)	25	5x2	$20,000 6 Alien Alloys
Accelerated Sniper Rifle	44 Kinetic	12	-2	30	0%	5	1x	Aimed Shot (80% Acc, 56% TU) Scoped (135% Acc, 70% TU)	25	5x2	$25,000 6 Alien Alloys
Accelerated Machinegun	38 Kinetic	5	-2	20	1.5%	50	0.75x	Burst Fire X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU) Burst Fire 2 X10 (40% Acc, 75% TU)	32	5x2	$25,000 6 Alien Alloys
Cleaner Magnetic Rifle	37 Kinetic	3	-2	20	2%	20	1x	Snap Shot (38% Acc, 24% TU) Normal Shot (72% Acc, 36% TU) Aimed Shot (110% Acc, 48% TU) Burst Shot X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU)	16	5x2	N/A

Accelerated Weapons are an early-game upgrade for Ballistic weapons that increases their Damage and Armour Penetration.

The Cleaner Magnetic Rifle is included in this section because it has very similar (albeit very slightly worse) stats compared to a Xenonaut Accelerated Rifle, and can be obtained for free if you kill and loot the Cleaner Soldiers (the hazmat suit ones) that appear as enemy reinforcements on certain timed Cleaner missions.

On higher difficulty settings players need to choose how much they want to commit to Accelerated weapons vs Laser weapons, as Accelerated weapons are cheaper and initially more effective than Lasers but eventually fall off once Laser weapons start to receive their upgrade projects. It is possible to skip Accelerated weapons entirely and go all-in on Lasers, or to commit to Accelerated weapons while you rush for Gauss weapons, or use a more balanced mix of Accelerated and Lasers.

Lasers

Weapon	Damage	Armor Pen	Armor Destr	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus	Shots	Reflex Modifier	Fire Modes	Weight	Size	Production cost
Laser Pistol	33 Energy	0	-8	12	2.25%	5	1.25x	Snap Shot (60% Acc, 20% TU) Normal Shot (100% Acc, 30% TU)	8	3x2	$25,000 3 Alien Alloys 4 Alenium
Laser Rifle	40 Energy	0	-8	20	1.5%	5	1x	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)	20	5x2	$40,000 6 Alien Alloys 8 Alenium
Laser Shotgun	3x33 Energy	0	-8	10	6.25%	4	1.25x	Snap Shot (40% Acc, 28% TU) Normal Shot (74% Acc, 40% TU)	20	5x2	$40,000 6 Alien Alloys 8 Alenium
Precision Laser	46 Energy	10	-15	30	0%	3	1x	Aimed Shot (80% Acc, 56% TU) Scoped (135% Acc, 70% TU)	20	5x2	$50,000 6 Alien Alloys 8 Alenium
Laser Machinegun	40 Energy	0	-8	25	1.5%	30	0.75x	Burst Fire X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU) Burst Fire 2 X10 (40% Acc, 75% TU)	26	5x2	$50,000 6 Alien Alloys 8 Alenium

Laser Weapons are one of the more interesting weapon tiers, with several interesting features:

• soldiers with less than 65 Accuracy gain a scaling Accuracy bonus while firing Lasers, making them ideal for inexperienced soldiers
• their initial damage is the same as Accelerated weapons (but get an upgrade which increases it)
• they have zero armour penetration, but they are very effective at destroying armour
• they have very low ammo capacity (but get an upgrade that gives them recharging ammo)
• they inflict Energy damage, which makes them much better at removing cover than standard Kinetic weapons

Upgraded lasers can stay relevant for quite a chunk of the game - although they struggle against Sebillians and their 35% Energy resistance!

Gauss Weapons

Weapon	Damage	Armor Pen	Armor Destr	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus	Shots	Reflex Modifier	Fire Modes	Weight	Size	Production cost
Gauss Pistol	50 Kinetic	10	-4	12	2.25%	12	1.25x	Snap Shot (60% Acc, 20% TU) Normal Shot (100% Acc, 30% TU)	8	3x2	$50,000 6 Alien Alloys 6 Alenium
Gauss Rifle	60 Kinetic	10	-4	20	1.5%	16	1x	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)	20	5x2	$80,000 8 Alien Alloys 8 Alenium
Gauss Shotgun	3x50 Kinetic	10	-4	10	6.25%	6	1.25x	Snap Shot (40% Acc, 28% TU) Normal Shot (74% Acc, 40% TU)	20	5x2	$80,000 8 Alien Alloys 8 Alenium
Gauss Sniper Rifle	70 Kinetic	20	-4	30	0%	4	1x	Aimed Shot (80% Acc, 56% TU) Scoped (135% Acc, 70% TU)	20	5x2	$100,000 10 Alien Alloys 10 Alenium
Gauss Machinegun	60 Kinetic	10	-4	25	1.5%	40	0.75x	Burst Fire X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU) Burst Fire 2 X10 (40% Acc, 75% TU)	26	5x2	$100,000 10 Alien Alloys 10 Alenium

Gauss Weapons are the third set of weapons you can unlock after researching Gauss Weaponry. They inflict more damage and pierce through armor, making them ideal weapons in the later stages of the game as you slowly encounter more stronger aliens that wear armor, although they have smaller ammo size than the Ballistic and Accelerated weapons. Can be upgraded to improve their damage output.

Fusion Weapons

Weapon	Damage	Armor Pen	Armor Destr	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus	Shots	Reflex Modifier	Fire Modes	Weight	Size	Production cost
Fusion Pistol	63 Energy	15	-5	10	4%	8	1.25x	Snap Shot (55% Acc, 20% TU) Normal Shot (95% Acc, 30% TU)	6	3x2	$100,000 6 Alien Alloys 6 Alenium
Fusion Rifle	77 Energy	15	-5	20	2%	12	1x	Snap Shot (38% Acc, 24% TU) Normal Shot (72% Acc, 36% TU) Aimed Shot (110% Acc, 48% TU) Burst Shot X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU)	12	5x2	$160,000 12 Alien Alloys 12 Alenium
Fusion Shotgun	3x63 Energy	15	-5	9	8%	6	1.25x	Snap Shot (36% Acc, 30% TU) Normal Shot (68% Acc, 43% TU)	12	5x2	$160,000 12 Alien Alloys 12 Alenium
Fusion Sniper Rifle	90 Energy	30	-5	26	0%	6	1x	Aimed Shot (80% Acc, 48% TU) Scoped (160% Acc, 64% TU)	14	5x2	$200,000 12 Alien Alloys 12 Alenium
Fusion Machinegun	77 Energy	15	-5	20	2%	30	0.75x	Burst Fire X3 (45% Acc, 51% TU) Burst Fire X10 (45% Acc, 75% TU)	18	5x2	$200,000 12 Alien Alloys 12 Alenium

Fusion Weapons are the final and most powerful set of soldier weapons, unlocked by researching Fusion Weaponry (which requires Ultradense Alloys and the interrogation of alien Fusion weapons). They deal Energy damage with strong armour penetration, making them effective against even the most heavily armoured late-game enemies.

Melee Weapons

Weapon	Damage	Armor Pen	Armor Destr	Range (tiles)	Reflexes Modifier	Weight	Fire Modes	Size	Production cost
Combat Knife	30 Kinetic	0	-2	1	1.25x	10	Melee (65% Acc, 25% TU)	3x1	Free
Energy Knife	50 Kinetic	5	-20	1	1.25x	10	Melee (65% Acc, 25% TU)	3x1	Upgrade: $100,000, 10 Alloys, 10 Alenium
Stun Baton	20 Stun, 30 EMP	25	0	1	1.25x	12	Melee (65% Acc, 25% TU)	3x1	Free
Electroshock Baton	30 Stun, 45 EMP	35	0	1	1.25x	12	Melee (65% Acc, 25% TU)	3x1	Upgrade: $150,000, 35 Alloys
Power Fist (Colossus)	60 Kinetic, 40 Stun	40	20	1	1x	0	Melee (85% Acc, 25% TU)	N/A	Built into Colossus

Melee weapons are surprisingly viable in Xenonauts 2. They use a different hit formula to normal weapons, with the Hit Chance being the Accuracy of the attack (usually 65%) plus the difference in Reflexes between the attacker and the target (which can be negative). Soldiers with high Reflexes will therefore have high melee hit chances against most aliens, especially as Suppressed enemies lose half their Reflexes for the remainder of the turn!

Stun Batons and Electroshock Batons are the most useful of the melee weapons, and arguably the best stun weapons in the entire game. The fact they inflict EMP damage against robotic enemies means they are also extremely effective against Androns - they are easy targets to hit due to their low Reflexes, and their combination of high Armour and low HP makes them very vulnerable to EMP damage (which ignores Armour).

Knives are more niche weapons. They are actually quite effective if you put on a Rebreather module, throw a Smoke Grenade at an enemy, then charge towards them and start stabbing - but in most cases you'd be better off just shooting the target with a gun instead. Knives make short work of Symbiotes, but then so will Pistols!

Weapon	Damage	Penetration (armor)	Destruction (armor per hit)	Range (tiles)	Hit Bonus (per tile)	Capacity (shots)	Weight	Fire Modes	Size	Ammo Size	Production cost
Stun Gun	16 Stun 22 Emp	25	0	6	+4.5%	3	8	Snap Shot (60% Acc, 20% TU) Normal Shot (100% Acc, 30% TU)	6	1	$20,000
Electroshock Pistol	35 Stun 40 Emp	0	-2	8	2.25%	3	8	Snap Shot (45% Acc, 20% TU) Normal Shot (80% Acc, 30% TU)	6	1	$35,000 20 Alien Alloys
Electroshock Rifle	45 Stun 50 Emp	0	-2	16	2.5%	3	20	Snap Shot (38% Acc, 24% TU) Normal Shot (72% Acc, 36% TU) Aimed Shot (110% Acc, 48% TU) Burst Shot X3 (40% Acc, 50% TU)	12	1	$50,000 35 Alien Alloys

Equipment

Healing Items

Equipment	Use Cost (TU)	Weight	Size	Effects
Medikit	25	25	3x2	Heals lost HP and Bleeding Wounds
Advanced Medikit	12	20	3x2	Heals lost HP and Bleeding Wounds

Grenades

Grenades are thrown in an area at the cost of 51% TU. The distance where they can be thrown depends on the soldier's Strength. All grenades have a weight of 6. All grenades have a size of 1 except charges which have a size of 4.

Tier 1				Tier 2				Tier 3
Grenade	Damage	Destruction (armor)	Blast Radius (tiles)	Grenade	Damage	Destruction (armor)	Blast Radius (tiles)	Grenade	Damage	Destruction (armor)	Blast Radius (tiles)
Smoke Grenade	1 Stun	0	4
Flashbang Grenade	0	0	2.5	Electroshock Grenade	25 Stun 45 Emp	0	2.5
Fragmentation Grenade	35 Kinetic	-2	2.5	Alenium Grenade	50 Kinetic	-3	2.5	Fusion Grenade	75 Kinetic	-5	2.5
Demolition Charge	25 Explosive	-12	2.5	Alenium Charge	32 Explosive	-20	2.5	Fusion Charge	40 Explosive	-28	2.5

Modules

Modules add various stat bonuses to the soldier. They can be upgraded via engineering projects and are always unlimited. All modules have a size of 2x2 and a weight of 12. A soldier can only have one of each modules.

Tier 1		Tier 2		Tier 3
Module	Bonus	Module	Bonus	Module	Bonus
Steel Plates	+3 Armor	Alloy Plates	+5 Armor	Reinforced Plates	+8 Armor
Tactical Module	+4 Accuracy	Advanced Tactical Module	+8 Accuracy
Must be researched	Must be researched	Automed Module	+3 HP per turn