Interception

Aircraft hangar

Air combat

The blue circle around a base indicates its radar range. If a UFO flies over a base's radar range it will be detected and can be attacked using interceptors. Interceptor squadrons have a very small radar range themselves. If an UFO flies beyond base radar range the interceptor squadron will have the option to head to the UFO's last known position in hopes of finding it again.

Shooting down a UFO will prevent it from causing Panic in the local region. In addition, if an UFO is shot down over land it will enable a Crashed UFO mission that allows recovering valuable alien technology. Once a squadron reaches an UFO it will bring the following options:

• Commence Attack: Starts an air battle between the interceptors and the UFO.
• Tail Target: Interceptors will follow the UFO until they run out of fuel and can attack at any point.
• Tail Until Over Land: Interceptors will follow the UFO until it travels over land and then re-engage the UFO.
• Autoresolve Attack: Automatically resolves the air battle between the interceptors and the UFO. If the outcome is not desired the battle can be tried again as a regular air battle. This option is only available if the Allow Autoresolve Air Combat option was selected in the campaign options.

Air combat

Air combat takes place in real-time. Interceptors can execute the following maneuvers.

• Evasive Roll: Interceptor attempts to dodge incoming weapons fire. Certain weapons prevent the interceptor from rolling.
• Afterburners: Increases movement speed but disables weapons and evasive rolls.
• Retreat: Interceptor flies away from the UFO until 3 in-game seconds have passed, ending the encounter.

Interceptors equipped with missiles or torpedos will display each missile beneath their portrait until they are deployed. By clicking one of these missiles, you can force the aircraft to hold fire on these missiles until re-enabled. This can be useful for ammo conservation, or for staggering the launch of missiles to reduce the risk of an enemy UFO evading an entire missile volley.

Losing Aircraft

If an interceptor reaches 0 health during an encounter, it is immediately forced to disengage and return to base. Afterwards it will need to be "overhauled" before being airworthy again. This takes 9 days, but is free of charge. If you wish, you can reduce the remaining repair time to 24 hours for a fee of $75,000.

Interceptors

Interceptors are used to attack UFOs. Up to 3 interceptors can be assigned on the same attack.

Interceptor	Health	Armor	Speed (km/h)	Acceleration (m/s)	Turn Rate (deg/sec)	Range (km)	Hardpoints	Upkeep	Cost
X-25 Angel	100	0	2160	0.02	60	2232	11 Payload 3 slots	$100,000	$500,000
X-55 Phantom	150	5	3600	0.03	90	7500	13 Payload 4 slots	$80,000	$500,000 40 Alien Alloys 25 Alenium

| please provide X-120 Gemini || 200 || 15 || 4800 || <0.03? || <90? || 10560 || 16 Payload
4 slots || $80,000 || ? |}

Weapons

All interceptors can hold 4 hardpoints. Gun weapons always cost 2 hardpoints; Light guns weigh 5 and the lance weighs 6. Missiles always use 1; light missiles weigh 2, torpedoes 4. Armor uses 3 weight but no hardpoints. Fuel is unupgradable and provides +20% range for 1 weight.

Weapon	Damage	Penetration (armor)	Destruction (armor)	Reload Time (sec)	Range	Fire Arc	Ammo	Evasive Roll	Required research project
Autocannon	5	0	-0.5	0.25	3	30	100	Enabled
Sidewinder Missile	25	0	-1	0.25	20	90	1	Enabled
Skylance Torpedo	16	20	-10	1	20	90	1	Disabled
Accelerated Cannon	7	1	-0.5	0.25	3	20	100	Enabled	Alien Magnetic Weapons
Laser Lance	15	0	-4	1	6	12	99	Disabled	Heavy Lasers
Alenium Missile	40	0	-2	0.25	20	90	1	Enabled	Alenium Explosives
Alenium Torpedo	25	25	-15	1	20	90	1	Disabled	Alenium Explosives
Gauss Blaster	15	1	-3	0.25	3	20	100	Enabled	Heavy Gauss Weaponry
Fusion Missile	60	0	-3	0.25	20	90	1	Enabled	Fusion Explosives
Fusion Torpedo	40	30	-22	1	20	90	1	Disabled	Fusion Explosives