History Fridge / XComEnemyUnknown

* It's been noted that using the Communication Jammers on EXALT missions will result in the EXALTs being forced to reload. This can be easily chalked up to GameplayAndStorySegregation (presumably, Firaxis wasn't willing or able to make a separate animation [[HilarityEnsues for EXALT operatives desperately banging on their earpieces to get them working again]]), but consider it from the EXALT perspective - the WalkieTalkieStatic they have on their turn is most likely getting orders from the leader of the EXALT Cell in that region, if not EXALT HQ itself, and said leaders would likely instruct their soldiers to ONLY shoot on their explicit command. If communications between the EXALT operatives and their commander went down, [[YouHaveFailedMe they likely wouldn't risk "firing without permission" of said commander]], and so decide the best course of action is to refill their current weapon clip while their coms get unscrambled... just to be safe.

** If it was extermination, humanity would have lasted only the amount of time it took to get a Temple Ship close enough to self-destruct.] And if it was enslavement, all they had to do was churn out Sectopods and Elite Mutons (their manufacturing/cloning capacity is obviously enormous) until every country was overwhelmed. XCOM wouldn't have even been able to slow them down.

*** In fact in ''VideoGame/XCOMChimeraSquad'' you find out this is what happens officially in cannon. 5 years after ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' the ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'' agency has become a multi-species agency, taking in both former enemies and anyone willing to work for the greater good. Also among its goals are 1) find and recover lost tech (alien and other), any tech that can not be used or deemed to dangerous is to be dealt with (contained/destroyed). 2) Find psi sensitive individuals and train them to use their abilities responsibly, and 3) to maintain the peace and encourage co-operation between all the species.

* The aliens seem to make some fairly crucial mistakes, such as leaving the ever-useful Meld out where you can find it, risking their technology being captured, leaving the Ethereal Device ([[spoiler:which provides a psychic link to the Ethereal HiveMind for sufficiently strong psychics]]) out where it can be snatched, etc. Doesn't seem very smart, does it? [[spoiler: Of course, the Ethereals ''wanted'' humanity to get these things, to see what XCOM would do with them. One can only imagine how much the Ethereals themselves were cackling whenever humans captured a minion of theirs or stole another piece of their technology. It is literally not until the very end of the game, when the Uber Ethereal is killed, that the aliens' plan actually goes awry.]]
** This realization will explain a lot of obvious strategic mistakes made by the aliens in a brilliant case of GameplayAndStoryIntegration. Why don't the alien ever send one of their Battleships to intercept and shoot down your unescorted Skyranger on route to missions? Why launch Terror missions instead of just bombarding the cities from orbit? After discovering the location of XCOM's headquarters in ''Enemy Within'', why don't they just keep launching attacks until it's eventually overwhelmed (or just drop a equivalent of a bunker buster on it)? Why do the Ethereals feel obliged to follow the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil, even though this makes no sense strategically (XCOM is clearly the biggest, if not only, military threat they face, so they really should have deployed their elite units right away to overwhelm the alliance in its early stages, not keep them squirreled away on the Temple Ship)? [[spoiler: Because they were just testing humanity's resolve and worth!]]
* Besides gameplay reasons, low-tier enemies such as Sectoids and Thin-men are innacurate and not much of a threat, this could be explained by the way they use their weapons, which is very incorrect (one-handing,bad posture) Outsiders have a combat discipline identical to human soldiers, wich makes them more dangerous even though they use the same equipment as the others.

* Originally, there was a good excuse for the aliens not to directly assault XCOM HQ, [[spoiler:but that changes in ''Enemy Within''. How can their agenda be compatible with such an all out attack? Why, the entire invasion is a SecretTestOfCharacter. If, after taking down the aliens' base, XCOM is unable to defend their own from the same trick, humanity will be another failure in the Ethereals' eyes.]]

* Earlier I was reading the Take That Post where it talks about The Bureau. But wouldn't it make sense that Carter has low Will? [[spoiler:After all, wasn't he under mind control for the majority of the Bureau?]]
* It's mentioned on the main page that the Outsiders [[spoiler: are the only enemies to not show up for the Temple Ship mission. Considering that we find out that they're less crew and more hardware, it's less likely that they'd be there.]]
** Another possibility is that [[spoiler:the aliens can't generate them anymore, after losing the Hyperwave Beacon to XCOM.]]

* The alien's plan seems weird, considering that [[spoiler: they apparently expect you to turn around and submit to them once your team breaches the bridge of the Temple Ship.]] It becomes less weird when you realize that they don't need the Volunteer alive. They don't need ''any'' humans alive. All they need is a sample of the Volunteer's genetic code, and they can clone a human soldier who is massively psionically gifted and ostensibly one of the finest soldiers humanity can muster. The aliens have already proven that they can clone entire armies - the Sectoids are all genetically identical, implying that they're cloned.
** [[spoiler:This is outright confirmed in XCOM 2, where the Avatar Project uses the genetic material from harvested humans to produce artificial bodies for themselves]]

** If it was extermination, [[spoiler: humanity would have lasted only the amount of time it took to get a Temple Ship close enough to self-destruct.]] And if it was enslavement, all they had to do was churn out Sectopods and Elite Mutons (their manufacturing/cloning capacity is obviously enormous) until every country was overwhelmed. XCOM wouldn't have even been able to slow them down.
*** ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' answers this question:[[spoiler:XCOM was steamrolled and Earth governments had capitulated by 2015.]]

* The Thin Men are genetically-modified from a reptillian alien (snake-women to be exact), and resemble [[TheMenInBlack a generic government coverup squad agent]]. The most commonly heard parody conspiracy theory is that lizardmen from space have replaced government officials to prepare us for a more proper AlienInvasion (yes, just like ''Series/{{V}}'').

** [[Character Derailment Only in the second game.]] In the first game, she's simply more optimistic/less worried than Shen. She is canonically horrified by the first terror mission and EXALT gene mods.

** ''VideoGame/XCOM2'' has the Alien Rulers DLC, which shows ''exactly'' what happens when the Commander/you aren't around to keep her in check. [[ThatOneBoss It]] [[SuperSoldier isn't]] [[FromBadToWorse pretty]].

* At first it seemed odd to me that the Thin Man is the only enemy in the game without a super form. But then my brother pointed out that it's possible that there ''is'' a super thin man, but since it's a stealth and reconnaissance unit, we just don't know they're there.

* Speaking of Zhang, as a Council Mission VIP, he has an extra hit point than all other VIPs. As a Heavy class trooper, he has an extra Hit Point compared to other Heavies. Guess he always was a tough guy.