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Imperial Ordnance

2019-01-02T04:57:17Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* Frag Cannon */

{{topquote|Infantry win firefights, tanks win battles, artillery wins wars.|Common sentiment amongst the [[Imperial Guard]] senior staff.}}

That's how the saying goes. And it's true. Without the big guns you are doomed to be [[Ork|murdered gruesomely for the lulz of it]], [[Tyranids|get eaten]] or [[Chaos|have your soul used as a condom]] for all eternity. The Imperium knows this and has devised a truly staggering amount of heavy guns dedicated to ruining your shit into next Sunday from anywhere in between half a mile to half a continent away.

== Man-portable Weapons ==
The lightest of indirect support weapons can be carried by individual or paired soldiers. While this makes them tactically more flexible, they have reduced firepower compared to their heavier counterparts.

===Grenade Launcher===
[[File:Grenade Launcher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Grenade Launcher]]
The grenade launcher is a light, man-portable weapon capable of firing small explosive charges. It is primarily employed by the Imperial Guard, with almost every trooper squad featuring at least one of them. Grenade launchers are a common weapon used by Imperial Guard infantry squads thanks to their ability to lob grenades greater distances and with more accuracy than can be thrown.

Their primary duty is to lay down suppressive fire and destroy light vehicles and buildings. It has a choice of two different payloads, anti infantry Fragmentation grenades, and anti-armour Krak grenades.

Space Marines scout bikers utilise a variation of this weapon, the "Astartes pattern" Grenade Launcher. It fires the same rounds, but with an increased rate of fire.
<gallery>
File:CadianShockTroopsGrenadeLauncher.png
image:ScoutBikeGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Scout Bike</center>
</gallery>

===Vengeance Grenade Launcher===
[[File:VengeanceLauncher.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Vengeance Grenade Launcher]]
A grenade launcher only found in the [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Vidya Game of SPEEES MEHREEEEENS!]]

A much more tactical weapon than its assault-orientated cousins.

The Vengeance Grenade Launcher is an experimental Adeptus Mechanicus weapon created on the Forge world Graia just prior to the Ork invasion of Warboss Grimskull. The Vengeance Grenade Launcher is not authorized for use off world, but those Space Marines who have field tested the weapon attest to its effectiveness against a range of targets. The launcher can fire out up to five fusion charges that stick to surfaces and then be remotely detonated.

The current status of this weapon is unknown.

<gallery>
File:TitusVengeanceZoomed.png|Captain Titus holding one of these badboys.
</gallery>

===Grenadier Gauntlet===
[[File:GrenadierGauntlet.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Grenadier Gauntlet]]
Think of it as a heavy grenade launcher or a sawn-off Missile Launcher.

The Grenadier Gauntlet is a type of heavy Grenade Launcher used by Imperial Guard [[Ogryn|Bullgryn.]] Like all Ogryn weapons such as the Ripper Gun, the Grenadier Gauntlet is not meant for accuracy and range, instead it is constructed like a giant baton. The grenade launching mechanism is just a feature for the Bullgryn to launch something explosive at an enemy he can't reach.

The foes are often left reeling and shell-shocked even before the maul-wielding Ogryns charge into their midst and bludgeon the survivors into a red paste.

In terms of the firing mechanism, the Grenadier Gauntlet obviously works like any normal grenade launcher. However it does have a lower set of ammunition due to the Ogryn's natural stupidity and inability to understand the concept of reloading.

Still, as a baton, it is naturally incredibly tough to withstand the immense strength of a rampaging Ogryn as well as simple enough to use for these dumbasses.

<gallery>
image:BullgrynGauntlet.png|<center>Alternate View</center>
</gallery>

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===Grenade Harness===
[[File:GrenadeHarness.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Grenade Harness]]
The Cyclone Missile Launcher of Grenade Launchers.

The Grenade Harness is a type of Grenade Launcher mounted on some Space Marine Terminator Armour. These launchers allow for a barrage of Frag grenades, usually before a charge by the Terminators.

The Grenade Harness has a lower ammunition capacity than a regular Grenade Launcher due to its smaller size. It is thus used tactically in surgical strikes in order to maximize the weapon's potential.

Like the Cyclone, it functions the same way but with an obvious decrease in weapon range and output.

<gallery>
image:GorgonTerminatorGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Gorgon Terminator</center>
</gallery>

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===Balistus Grenade Launcher===
[[File:BalistaGrenadeLauncher.png|150px|right|thumb|Balistus Grenade Launcher]]
A new type of grenade launcher wielded by the [[Adeptus Custodes|Golden Boys in Shining Armor.]]

Balistus Grenade Launchers are potent ranged weapons wielded by the Adeptus Custodes, which excel at piercing armor like a giant [[Bolter]]. The only users of these weapons are the venerable [[Allarus Custodians]]. It is unknown if the more common [[Aquilon Terminator|Aquilon Terminators]] (assuming they still exist) have permission to carry these around.

Like the wrist-mounted bolters carried around by Gray Knight Terminators, the Balistus Grenade Launcher works on the same principle. Except, instead of providing covering/suppressing fire in close to medium range, these things mulch infantry at longer ranges.

It is unknown where the Grenade Launcher stores its ammunition, given the relative size of the barrel in contrast to the size of the weapon itself. Maybe it is a single shot weapon? It is stated to be drum-fed but if it is drumfed, it must be either the galaxy's first invisible drum magazine or the Imperium rediscovered how to make and use pym particles and that tiny stick magazine attached to it is supposed to fit enough ammo to last a battle.

The choice of a grenade launcher as an anti-heavy infantry weapon is also bizarre, as grenade launchers are low velocity guns that fire thin skinned shells which basically make the shell itself relatively harmless for a round of its size if you're just looking at the kinetic energy. A dud round from a grenade launcher might not even hit someone hard enough to kill them, as all the killing power of the round comes from the explosive. You'd think it's some kind of HEAT round, but those focus the force of the blast on a single target by shaping the explosion to launch a jet of molten metal to achieve penetration and so wouldn't have the d3 shot profile given to what used to be small blast weapons.

So the most reasonable theory is that the grenade launcher's rounds are a kind of frag round whose shells are filled with a high grade sort of shrapnel able to shred right through most forms of personal armour in use in the galaxy. Because the shrapnel would be tiny, large monsters and vehicles would shrug it off as the shrapnel would lose energy before cutting too deeply into them, which fits with its not amazing strength characteristic, but infantry would be losing limbs, organs, and organs and power armour, cyborg augmentations, or robotic parts would have their delicate internal components devastated. In other words, basically launching a bomb full of some of the sharpest stuff known to man to reduce people to confetti and thus provide for choppy dakka. Khorne and Gork would be pleased.

<gallery>
image:AllarusCustodianGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Close-up View</center>
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==Heavy Grenade Launchers==
A much bigger variant of the standard grenade launcher that peppers the battlefield with explosive munitions.

===Frag Cannon===
The Frag Cannon is the name of two different weapons. One used by the [[Deathwatch]] and the other mounted on [[Dreadnoughts]] of the [[Blood Angels]]. Regardless we can guess that they both automatic grenade launchers at different calibers. Making them at least 40mm in diameter or larger.

====Deathwatch Frag Cannon====
Fielded exclusively by Space Marine Veterans. This is a belt fed grenade spewing death machine. It's so new that there is no fluff to explain how it works. So we'll have to make guesses based on it's weapon profile. Deathwatch Frag Cannons fire at least two different rounds. The first turns it into a slightly better Heavy Flamer. The other turns it into a short range rocket launcher that hits twice. Becoming a [[Lascannon]] at half range. A Deatwatch Veteran squad can take four of these things. In the same unit as Terminators and other Deathwatch exclusive [[dakka]]. [[Xeno]]s and [[Chaos]] forces should consider themselves lucky that weapons like Barrage [[Plasma Gun]]s, [[Melta|Atomizer Cannons]] and Techxorcism Guns are ultra rare. [[Anal_Circumference|As the Deathwatch can deploy all of them in a single Veteran Squad.]] Whether Frag Cannons originate from an STC or a vaults from one of the many Watch Fortresses is not stated.

====Blood Angels Frag Cannon====

The older larger version exclusively mounted on Furioso Dreadnoughts. Their range is much shorter and lack the versatility of their smaller counterparts. Making up for it with a higher volume of fire.

===Auto-Launcher===
[[File:RepulsorAutoLauncher2.png|200px|right|thumb|Auto-Launcher]]
Resembling a rack/box of grenades, Auto-launchers are vehicle-mounted grenade launchers similar to Smoke Launchers. The [[Repulsor Tank|Repulsor]] is the most infamous user of these weapons.

They are simple, six-barreled – though the ones on the Repulsor have eight, for some reason – weapons mounted on vehicle hulls, firing salvos of either three grenades types at a time: Frag, Krak, and Blind. They are useful for when you are indecisive on whether you want immediate proximity defense or just a simple smoke screen. The Auto-Launcher carries six grenades, all of the same type. Auto-Launchers are best identified by the literal racks of exposed grenade/missiles pointed randomly everywhere. Why the Imperium thought it was a good idea to place these weapons on extremely random places is unknown since these grenades would not be able to hit its targets tactically...[[Awesome|unless those grenades can home on their targets, of course]]. But in all seriousness, this is because the design of these weapons is based on real life active protection systems which spit out slugs, shrapnel blasts, and sometimes even small rockets in the direction of incoming projectiles in order to shoot them down. This being the Imperium, however, they have decided that it will work just as well as an actual weapon, rather than just a defensive tool.

While you'd think them being externally mounted runs the risk of someone shooting at the exposed grenades and causing them to detonate, we should note that all the charges face outward, and so they are not capable of doing damage to the vehicle they are mounted on; and '''B''': they are designed (''assuming they really are based on our active protection systems'') to deal with incoming projectiles, so even if they are pointed the right (''in the perspective of the tank's crew, wrong'') way. the blast would not be able to much damage to the armour... unless the the grenades in question are Kraks.

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===Ironclad Assault Launcher===
[[File:IroncladAssaultLauncher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Ironclad Assault Launcher]]

Like the Fragstorm Grenade Launcher but for [[Centurion Squad|Centurions]] and [[Dreadnoughts]].

The Ironclad Assault Launcher is mounted on the Ironclad Dreadnoughts or Centurions. It projects both offensive and defensive grenades. On the Centurion, they are located on the torso, between the arms and the chest. They are the four squarish pods that house these grenades. On a Dreadnought, it comes in two sets of six like what you can find installed on top of some Land Raiders' tracks. The sets of two variant similar to the Centurion can also be found on the Caestus Assault Ram by the opening hatches, complementing its [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Melta#Magna-Melta Magna-Melta]. Like with the auto-launcher, this is essentially a defensive system being used offensively, spitting out all its grenades in something resembling a shotgun blast from hell to either demolish obstacles, suppress the enemy, or tear them to shreds.

On tabletop, the Ironclad Assault Launchers gives both the Ironclad Dreadnought and Centurions the ability to deal d3 mortal wounds to units within 1" of it after a charge on a 4+, which ensures they'll be softened up when you begin the fight phase.

<gallery>
image:IroncladLauncher.jpg|<center>Centurion Variant</center>
image:CaestusAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Caestus Assault Ram Variant</center>
image:LandRaiderAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Land Raider Variant</center>
image:SpartanAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Spartan Variant</center>
</gallery>

===Fragstorm Grenade Launcher===
[[File:FragstormGrenadeLauncher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Fragstorm Grenade Launcher]]
Think the Grenade Harness for Dreadnoughts.

Fragstorm Grenade Launchers are a type of grenade launcher used by Primaris Space Marines. Like the Grenade Harness, these launchers allow for the firing of a barrage of frag grenades before a charge. However, they can also be used defensively when the Dreadnought is surrounded by enemies and they just need to pepper a targeted radius with shrapnel and explosions.

They are equipped for anti-personnel roles to Aggressor Squads and Redemptor Dreadnoughts.

Their more tank-busting equivalents is the similarly named Krakstorm Grenade Launcher.

And no, despite their appearance, they have in no way related to the Auto-Launcher by function.

<gallery>
image:PrimarisAggressorGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Primaris Aggressor</center>
</gallery>

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===Krakstorm Grenade Launcher===
[[File:PrimarisRepulsorKrakstorm.png|200px|right|thumb|Krakstorm Grenade Launcher]]
It's literally a Fragstorm Grenade Launcher that fires, you guessed it, Krak Grenades.

A Krakstorm Grenade Launcher is a type of Imperial Grenade Launcher usually wielded by the Primaris Space Marines that fires a volley of three aforementioned Krak Grenades at a time upon the enemy. It is deployed for use as an anti-armor or anti-fortification weapon by [[Repulsor Tank|Repulsor grav tanks.]]

Although there is no evidence of it being mounted on the [[Redemptor Dreadnought]], the fact that the ammunition of both the Frag and Krak are superficially similiar means it wouldn't be ''that'' out of the blue if GW decides to update the Dreadnought with these weapons.

Like the Auto-Launchers, the Krakstorm Grenade Launcher carries the same issue of it being awkward to aim, with the only logical explanation if that the Krak grenades themselves have homing features like that of a missile.

In terms of rules, they act as they are named. Good vehicle killers, although the sheer amount of anti-tank weapons that the Repulsor carries means that these weapons are best used for killing any stragglers.

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===Blackstar Cluster Launcher===
[[File:BlackstarCluster.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Blackstar Cluster Launcher]]

An aerial grenade ordnance that fires from the air rather than on the ground. Air superiority and all that.

The Blackstar Cluster Launcher is an array of two six-barreled Grenade Launchers mounted on the rear of [[Deathwatch]] [[Corvus Blackstar]] gunships. These allow the pilot of the Blackstar to sow a hailstorm of munitions in his wake as he strafes the primary target. The launcher is capable of firing either fragmentation or incendiary munitions. If you wanna re-enact a miniature bombing of Berlin, the Blackstar has got your back.

As you can imagine, having a unit that can just fly over and drop what is essentially bombs without the risk of going close to enemy fire on a rather sluggish platform is pretty sweet. Thus, the Blackstar rocks a delightful Blackstar Cluster launcher, which lets you bomb a unit you flew over. For every model in the unit (up to 10), roll a die and, on a 6, that unit takes a mortal wound.

[[Tl;dr]], the Imperium has created a plane that [[Shitstorm|literally shits out bird poop]]....while...[[Bullshit|more like explosive diarrhea.]]

== Mortar ==
A mortar is an artillery weapon that launches shells in a high arc. They tend to have relatively short barrels and fire shells at relatively low velocities. The Imperial Guard uses them in two sizes: the standard man-portable mortar, carried and operated by two Imperial Guard troopers; and the heavy mortar, which can be used in static or towed artillery mounts, or mounted in a Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier. They can destroy light infantry and light vehicles easily enough, but are unlikely to trouble heavy infantry or vehicles with tank-grade armour.

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===Light Mortar===
[[File:CadianMortarZoomed.png|200px|right|thumb|Light Mortar]]
The most common form of Mortars is...well....the Mortar. Some may call it the Light Mortar due to the smaller payload and size but whatever. The Mortar looks like...a basic modern Mortar found in use in today's armies. I guess the design haven't change for over 40,000 years, but hey, if it's not broken, don't fix it.

The Light Mortar fires an explosive shell on a high-arching trajectory capable of flying over the heads of nearby troops and crashing down on the rear ranks of the enemy. Its primary use is in the anti-personnel role, breaking up enemy infantry formations and pinning them down.

Mortars are prized for their ability to lay down a curtain of fire from behind cover, and while not particularly accurate their explosive power makes up for this deficiency. However this indirect-fire capability requires accurate targeting information to be effective and the use of spotters with proper vox-protocols in order to avoid friendly fire. Standard procedures has the spotters locate targets, whether through visual or remote-servitor means, and send a fire request to the mortar crew's [[Imperial Guard Command Squad|Platoon Command Squad,]] which plots a firing solution and relays that information to the mortar teams assembled, adjusting fire as required.

In 8th Edition, the Mortar is now a 48" Heavy D6 S4 AP0 D1 heavy weapon, and may fire indirectly. Down in cost, and along with the [[Nerf|nerf]] to the [[Wyvern]] this brings it back into the realm of 'good' choices. At 11 points a gun team, it's a dirt cheap light and medium infantry muncher. Because of the revision to the way AP works it's in direct competition with the Heavy Bolter; this ALSO means it's in indirect competition with your entire motor pool. Consider this when the challenge of fitting half a dozen kits' worth of mortar tubes into your list is a daunting prospect. Becomes much more viable in games using a lot of scenery or buildings, so take it when you need to lob some pain over that city block or hill that your other heavy weapons can't shoot through.
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===Mole Mortar===
[[File:Mole_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Mole Mortar]]
Basically a reverse Mortar. In that it travels ''underground'' rather than overhead. It's more of a torpedo then a Mortar, but it got 'Mortar' in the name and we need to stick it somewhere.

The missile burrows its way toward its target, bypassing all surface hazards and defenses, emerging from the ground beneath the target. The missile is self-guided and able to track its target through solid rock. [[Mole Mortar Team|As an invention of the]] [[Squats|Sphess Dorfs]], the Mole Mortar soon found its way up the ranks of the [[Imperial Guard]] due to its unorthodox firing methods.

The Mole Mortar was originally developed to destroy enemy tunneling vehicles but was so successful that now used as a [[Wat|short-ranged assault weapon,]] even though such premonitions sounds outright [[Stupid]] let alone suicidal, it is worth remembering that since vehicles have thinner bottom armor if you can get a hit on a tank it's going to be fairly devastating. It is sometimes used to breach fortifications too strong for conventional weaponry to damage. Due to the unique way it operates, the mole mortar is able to circumvent most defenses, striking from below to explode within bunkers and other structures.

Heck, the Mole Mortar was so popular in the Guard that it eventually led to the creation of the Mole Launcher. [[Original character, do not steal|Figures.]]

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===Heavy Mortar===
[[File:Heavy_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Mortar]]
The Heavy Mortar is a larger support version of the standard Mortar used by the Imperial Guard. Its primary advantages are a wide range of ammunition types, a high rate of fire, and simplicity to construct and maintain. However its massive size means the heavy mortar must either be towed into place by a [[Trojan Support Vehicle|Trojan]] or [[Centaur Utility Vehicle|Centaur]]. A special version of this is mounted on the [[Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier|Griffon Mortar Carrier.]]

While they were once quite popular with many Imperial Guard regiments, the use of heavy mortars has fallen out of favor in recent years, since for many commanders it lacks both the heavy firepower and long reach of much larger artillery pieces, limiting its use in box-barrages or counter-battery fire. Towed heavy mortars have become even less popular, being seen as too slow to keep up with advancing mechanized units, and have largely been regulated to PDFs and Siege Regiments.

For all their faults heavy mortars also have a number of advantages. They are an excellent close support weapons for engaging enemy infantry and light vehicles, freeing the heavier artillery for use against more appropriate targets, and can maintain a steady rate of fire for hours. Its versatility also allows it to fulfill a variety of other roles, from launching illumination shells during night battles or laying down a smoke screen before an infantry attack.

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===Karacnos Mortar Battery===
[[File:Karacnos_Nukes.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Karacnos Mortar Battery]]
The [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] have their own mortar and [[Lord of the Rings|it is a mortar to rule them all.]] Called the Karacnos Mortar Battery which is so named after the [[Karacnos Assault Tank|vehicle it is mounted on.]] The Karacnos Mortar Battery is special cause it uses ''[[Fallout|radioactive warheads]]'' [[Awesome|as its armaments!]] You can't get more metal than that! As it is basically firing a barrage of dirty bombs, this mortar fires its radioactive warheads which is designed to sweep an area clear of all organic life.

As you can imagine, these badboys aren't that well liked for those Imperial Commanders who want to have a idyllic and livable planet to prosper. Seriously, a couple of these batteries would turn a city into a uninhabitable wasteland that only a [[Death Korps of Krieg|Krieger from a Death Korps would enjoy.]]

On tabletop ([[Horus Heresy|The 30k rules at least]]), the Mortar is a R60 heavy bolter with barrage, small blast, fleshbane, radphage, Ignores cover and pinning which seems good on paper but with the majority of targets getting armour saves this mostly equates to a longer range Wyvern.

=={{anchor|Leman Russ}} Tank Guns ==

These guns are too large to be carried by infantry (excluding "heavy" weapons such as [[lascannon]]s and [[autocannon]]s), but are still small enough that a heavy vehicle, like the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], can carry and fire them while in the thick of battle. It should be noted that certain [[Autogun|Autoweapons]] are also a form of ordnance. So don't be too surprised if you see a few similiar faces around here.

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===Battle Cannon===
[[File:Battle_Cannon_Leman_Russ.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Battle Cannon]]
The primary weapon of the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], it is the most commonly used tank gun for good reason: the Battle Cannon can pull double duty as both an anti-tank and anti-infantry weapon thanks to its considerable range (72"), strength (S8 AP3 = instant death to [[MEQ]]s and capable of damaging any vehicle) and explosion size (5" blast = blob-killer). The cannon proved so popular that it was made the primary armament of the [[Macharius (tank)|Macharius]] and [[Malcador (tank)|Malcador]] super-heavy tanks, and has been forked into several versions by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]:
{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|name=Battle Cannon (Leman Russ)|range=72|strength=8|ap=3|type=Ordnance|rof=|rules=Blast (5")}}
 

Since the revamping of the AP-system and moving away from "blast template" mechanics, the stats for battle cannons were changed, becoming something of this 
{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile-8|name=Battle Cannon (8th Edition)|range=72|strength=8|ap=-2|damage=D3|type=Heavy D6|}}
It is worth noting that while AP-2 now allowes 3+ and 4+ armour to actually provide at least some save-roll (5+ save for 3+ armour and 6+ save for 4+ armour), 2+ armour (like that of the Terminators) now only get 4+ save instead of 2+.

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==={{anchor|Conqueror Cannon}} Conqueror Battle Cannon===
[[File:LRConq.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Conqueror Battle Cannon]]
Fitted to the [[Leman Russ Conqueror]], this is essentially a lighter and smaller version of the Battle Cannon. Its shorter range and smaller blast radius is more than compensated by the reduced recoil and higher rate of fire, allowing for an even greater damage output than a Battle Cannon. Like the battle cannon the Conqueror cannon is capable of firing high explosive, anti-tank, smoke, illumination, and even Hunter shells, although not infernus rounds. The Forge World Gryphonne IV also designed a special shell just for this weapon, known as the '''Augur Shell'''. While similar to an HE shell when the Augur's impact detonator is triggered the thin shell wall splits open and the soft explosive charge is spread across the target; a microsecond later the secondary detonator in the base of the shell ignites the explosive. This causes cratering and cracking of the target's outer armor, while inside the target it produces spalling capable of damaging internal equipment and wounding or killing personnel (Which sounds extraordinarily similar to HESH ammunition). However the shell was not considered a success and in the end relatively few were produced.

On the tabletop, it's a "Heavy" weapon, as opposed to "Ordnance", which allows the carrying vehicle to fire its sponson weapons at full ballistic skill (though, since the Conqueror is not a heavy tank, that only applies if it holds still...).

In 8th Edition it's just a Battle Cannon with 50% of the range (36").

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=== Macharius Battle Cannon ===
[[File:Malcadorbattlecannon.png|200px|right|thumb|Macharius Battle Cannon]]
The [[Macharius Heavy Tank]] has a twin-barreled variant of the Battle Cannon, because it has a bigger turret and because two barrels are better than one. It also looks like it has a larger bore which means it can fire larger calibers. For all intents and purposes, the Macharius Battle Cannon should be considered as a superheavy weapon if not for the fact that the Macharius itself is not completely in the superheavy category.

It used to actually fire two shots, but that's been changed to a single massive (7") blast in more recent publications similiar to how some video games give sawed-off shotguns a firing mechanism to blows off the two barrels at the same time. Maybe they will get around to making a single massive cannon for it, too. A Macharius Vanquisher Cannon? It exists. But a Macharius with a giant single gun? we wish.

Then 8th Edition drop and we went back to a 2-shot Battle Cannon. Lame.

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==={{anchor|Vanquisher Cannon}} Vanquisher Battle Cannon===
[[File:Vanqcannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Vanquisher Battle Cannon]]
Huge gun, huge range, huge barrel, huge damage. Basically an anti-tank gun fitted on tank destroyers. The Leman Russ Vanquisher has its weapon tooled for only one purpose: to fuck enemy tanks and monsters hard using huge shells.

It sacrifices its blast radius for an improved capacity for armor penetration (AP2, S8 + 2d6 = 10-20 with an average of 15 = roll for the [[anal circumference|circumference]] of the hole that is about to get punched through your armor). The [[Macharius (tank)|Macharius]] can carry twin-linked Vanquisher cannons, and has enough internal space that it can also fire high-explosive shells like the regular Macharius Battle Cannon, so it's like two tanks in one -- and it costs about as much as regular Russ and a Vanquisher put together. 
Worth noting, that the cannon is now somewhat nerfed, being given only S=8,AP-3 while retaining Heavy 1 and gaining D=D6R (the same rule as meltagun, albeit not only when in half-range or less).

The only problem is that the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] lost Tigrus, the only [[Forge World]] that made Vanquisher cannons, to the [[Orks]] in M35 (somehow, you'd think the Imperium would throw so much firepower in defense of such a vital world that nothing could take it), so the only way to make new Vanquisher tanks is to take the cannons off of tanks that have been immobilized -- not a simple feat, given that the cannon is so dangerous to armor and stands out as a priority target for enemies. Two other Forge Worlds, Stygies VIII and Gryphonne IV have stepped up to try and match the old cannons (read: [[Forge World]], the company, has produced two alternate turrets for [[Leman Russ Vanquisher]]s), but they're just not quite there (though it makes no difference on the tabletop, of course). And then Tyranids ate Gryphonne. (It was delicious.)

And it also seems, that as per 6-th edition Astra Militarum Codex and onwards, the fluff was changed to do away with "Vanquisher cannon being rare" altogether - now the Leman Russ Vanquisher is noted as being simply the dedicated anti-armour variant of Leman Russ, often employed as command tank in armoured formations. However, it now also seem that Vanquisher cannon now lost it's ability to fire HE rounds, being able to only fire anti-armour HEAT rounds, something ineffective against infantry formations.

It should be noted that, unlike how many on /tg/ perceive it, the Vanquisher is '''not''' just a Battle Cannon firing specialised Anti-Tank shells. The Guard does use separate specialised HEAT shells for the basic BC, but Imperial Armour shows the Vanquisher Cannon to have a smaller bore than the standard one, while the shells have a greater diameter-to-length ratio and possibly be some form of APFSDS round.

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===Demolisher Cannon===
[[File:Demolisher1Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Demolisher Cannon]]
The Big One. Fitted onto the [[Leman Russ Demolisher]] and packing enough heat to turn [[Terminator|Terminators]] and heavy and super-heavy vehicles inside-out with a single shell, the Demolisher Cannon's short range (24" -- shorter than some infantry weapons) is the only thing that stops it from being a truly amazing weapon.

Even then, it can cause considerable damage (S10 AP2 Large Blast = kiss your everything goodbye) and because it is smaller than the other cannons, is one of the few ordnance weapons used by the [[Space Marines]], mounted on the [[Vindicator]] and [[Land Raider Ares]], and it is used as secondary armament on certain super-heavy tanks, like [[Baneblade]]s and the [[Malcador (tank)|Malcador]].

The Demolisher fires special ammunition much larger than that used in the Battle Cannon, allowing it to punch through layers of concrete and plasteel alike. A Demolisher shell is constructed with an outer layer of standard high explosive and shrapnel, which surrounds a chemical core. Upon impact, the explosive layer detonates, punching a hole in the enemy's armor and spreading shrapnel over a wide area. It also starts a chemical reaction in the core, causing it to super-heat into a jet of plasma, which lances through the compromised armor, spreading molten death over a wide area and literally ripping the target from the inside out. The tremendous recoil produced by firing the cannon is capable of lifting the front end of a tank off the ground and, were it fired while moving, risk causing it to roll over.

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==={{anchor|Nova Cannon}} Eradicator Nova Cannon===
[[File:Leman_Russ_Eradicator_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Eradicator Nova Cannon]]
The Eradicator Nova Cannon fires shells with an unstable "sub-atomic" core (yes, this just might be a tank cannon that fires ''mini-nukes''). These shells are somewhat hazardous to the tank and crew, as they have a non-zero probability of exploding if they get jostled while loading, so most [[Imperial Guard Regiment|regiments]] that use [[Leman Russ Eradicator]]s have a margin for crew losses, and that is without the off chance of radioactive leaks from a faulty shell.

The Eradicator is most effective supporting infantry forces fighting in areas such as cities and jungles, and it is easily replicated on dozens of Forge Worlds. For urban combat however the Eradicator does not feature the additional rear armor found on similar vehicles, leaving it vulnerable to attacks from behind.

They keep using the Nova cannon, though, because the shell's massive blast completely flattens any cover, so unless the targets are power armored, there's no escape for them (S6 AP4 = Instant Death for most standard infantry; less effective for beefier troops). Why a shell that detonates if it's shaken does not go off when it's fired from a freaking cannon is not completely explained by GW.

== {{anchor|Baneblade}} Super-Heavy Tank Guns ==

Technically, these guns can be carried and fired by a vehicle in direct combat, but because that vehicle has to be the size of a [[Baneblade]], they deserve a category of their own.

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===Accelerator Cannon===
[[File:Fellblade_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Accelerator Cannon]]
The main gun of the [[Fellblade]]. It fired armor-piercing explosive ''self-guided'' "darts" via either magnetic acceleration or gravity impellers. It was also twin-linked, though the Fellblade had severely limited ammunition for it, relying mostly on its other weapons until a suitable target presented itself.

This type of cannon used a complex overpressure mechanisms of a special vacuum-based system which can propel heavy shells with greater force than a conventional cannon of similar size. This system is so efficient that they provide very little recoil from every shot, making the Accelerator cannon extremely stable and accurate. The loading mechanism of Accelerator cannon is also highly advanced and served by a special loading mechanism that allows the tank’s commander to switch ammunition type at a little notice.

It was made on the [[Forge World]] of Tigrus (home of the original Vanquisher cannon -- which resembles the Accelerator Cannon quite closely, with the long barrel and large muzzle brake). It can fire high-explosive shells comparable to a super-charged Battle Cannon (S8 AP3 7" Blast) or armor-piercing shells comparable to what would later become the Vanquisher battle cannon (S9 AP2 3" Blast, rolling 2d6 for armor penetration).

Its smaller brother is the Accelerator Autocannon.

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===Macro-Accelerator Cannon===
[[File:MacAccelerator_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Macro-Accelerator Cannon]]
Think of the Accelerator Autocannon on steroids. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is to the Accelerator Cannon in the same way the Accelerator Cannon is to the Accelerator Autocannon (Try and speak that sentence five times in a row).

The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is a large kinetic weapon used by the Primaris Space Marines' [[Astraeus Super-Heavy Tank|Astraeus Super-Heavy Grav Tank]] as its primary armament. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is actually a complex mass driver that uses a potent electromagentic field to accelerate a barrage of high caliber ferro-carbide slugs to extremely high speeds. It is basically an upscaled Imperial railgun. Usually twin-linked, these weapons unleash an onslaught against which even enemy heavy armor cannot stand.

Crunchwise, the fluff seem to match the rules. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is a vicious Heavy 12, S8, AP-2, Damage 3 that ignores all abilities that impose negative hit modifiers when targeting anything with the FLY keyword. Normal vehicles wouldn't even survive a barrage of these and superheavies would take a beating.

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===Baneblade Cannon===
[[File:Banebladecannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Baneblade Cannon]]
The [[Baneblade]]'s primary cannon is an upscaled Battle Cannon, improved in strength, armor penetration, and blast radius (S9 AP2 10" blast = 10" wide [[lascannon]] pie-plate). Its special shells are not propelled by an explosion, but are rather miniature rockets that increases the shell's range and accuracy tremendously. However, this also leads to the danger of a build-up of gasses in the barrel, which can cause serious harm. To combat this the Baneblade Cannon is built with a double-sleeve design with venting ports studded around the cannon's muzzle, allowing these gasses to escape under their own pressure.

When fired the shell leaves the barrel under its own blast pressure with speed maintained whilst the rocket burns, with each booster burning out and falling away as the next one ignites. This means that the Baneblade's Cannon works on a similiar basis to a upscaled Bolter -- a feature that "counterfeit" Baneblades produced on other [[Forge World]]s are unable to reproduce, and so they substitute standard battle cannon rounds for them. There's no indication that they're much, if at all, different, though.

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===Dreadhammer Cannon===
[[File:Dreadhammer.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Dreadhammer Cannon]]
Back in the [[Great Crusade]], [[Perturabo]] asked the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to build him a new cannon that could level buildings with a single shell and be carried at a reasonable speed. Because the [[Horus Heresy]] hadn't happened yet, and they were thus still feeling like innovating now and then, the tech-priests agreed, and built him the Dreadhammer.

It fires shells that weigh several tons, and experiences so much recoil that even the super-heavy [[Typhon Heavy Siege Tank]] has to limit the propellant used (and thus the range) if it wants to fire on the move. At first, people made fun of Perturabo for asking for (and getting) a super-Demolisher, but it has a bigger blast radius and, if the Typhon stays still, a longer range, and it really does shake buildings to their foundations. The appearance, name, and firepower of the Dreadhammer cannon suggest some connection with the [[Baneblade]]-mounted [[#Hellhammer Cannon|Hellhammer cannon]].

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===Hellhammer Cannon===
[[File:Hellhammer_cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Hellhammer Cannon]]
The comically small Hellhammer Cannon is the main weapon of the [[Hellhammer]] tank. Resembling a Baneblade with [[Lulz|micropenis issues]], this gun has spawned numerous compensation jokes at the tank's expense. Still, every nerd has its day and one thing the Hellhammer excels at is in its ability to fire [[Fallout|mini-nukes.]]

The Hellhammer Cannon fires shells with a building-busting sub-atomic charge (like the Eradicator Nova Cannon). Each shell weighs 180 kilograms and is propelled by a rocket motor, with exhaust vents on either side of the barrel allowing for the safe discharge of gas with every firing. Due to the sheer weight of the shells, an automatic loading tray assists the loader, limiting the weapon's rate of fire. The tremendous concussive explosion (S10 AP1 7" Blast) is enough to collapse a building in one shot (Ignores Cover), so crews are trained to fire at the ground floors of structures that need to come down. The short barrel and recoil compensators give the cannon a very short range (a measly 36"). As such, the Hellhammer cannon is only used on tanks that are built for urban combat, like the [[Hellhammer]] super-heavy tank.

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===Quake Cannon===
[[File:Quake Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Quake Cannon]]
What has already been said about the Quake Cannon in the Autogun category has been said here. The Quake Cannon is an [[Awesome]] gun with a [[Stupid]] construction process. The quintessential fortress fucker supreme.

The Quake Cannon is an odd beast; its firepower is not unusual for a weapon of its size (S9 AP3 10" Blast), but it has a longer range than any other tank gun (180", only exceeded by the Earthshaker and Colossus cannons), and is normally an arm weapon for [[Warlord Battle Titan]]s.

It is occasionally mounted on a Baneblade chassis to make the [[Banesword]], essentially a super-heavy self-propelled artillery piece, primarily employed against fortifications. Also, it's ammunition is filled with the echoing shockwave of a world that was subjected to [[Exterminatus]], [[Awesome|and the sound it makes as it flies through the air is said to be the screams of those who died in the exterminatus that powered it.]]

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=== Stormsword Siege Cannon ===
[[File:Stormsword_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Stormsword Siege Cannon]]
The Stormsword Siege Cannon fires big bunker-busting rocket-propelled shells. Unfortunately, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] never considered that crews might want to fire at things other than ground floors of nearby buildings, so the cannon cannot elevate very far (though, if it did elevate too far, the recoil might just rip it out of the turret). It makes up for this by being able to turn entire city blocks to dust with a single shot.

The weapon and vehicle itself is built specifically for sieges and street-fighting, the Stormsword is geared towards providing troops close-quarter support with a variety of heavy weapons whilst its cannon is used to lay waste to entire encamped bunkers and buildings.

It used to be that the [[Stormsword]] just had a Hellhammer Cannon that couldn't swivel, but apparently that made them too similar, so in the sixth-edition version of [[Apocalypse]], GW made the Hellhammer Cannon a 7" blast and left the Stormsword with the 10" pie-plate.

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===Tremor Cannon===
[[File:Tremor_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Tremor Cannon]]
Most cannons launch shells that are fuzed to explode on or shortly before impact. Not the [[Banehammer]]'s Tremor Cannon: after landing it buries into the ground before it detonates. This muffles the blast (S8 AP3 is actually the lowest-strength and worst AP of all the super-heavy tank guns), but it sends a tremendous shockwave through the earth that leaves enemies not caught in the blast stumbling and slowed. The fluff describes this as ''liquifying'' the surrounding terrain.

Imagine the ground under your feet giving way, suddenly having the consistency of water. By the time you've figured out what's happened, you're partially buried in the dirt and have to dig yourself out before the enemy comes and shoots you like a horse with a broken leg. And that's if you're lucky, it's entirely possible to get buried completely and suffocate to death under several feet of earth and rubble. You can see why it would be very, very bad to be on the receiving end of this weapon.

In theory it would also make a decent wall and bunker cracker.

==Artillery==

Sometimes, the Imperial Guard can't get in range to use tanks, or could, but only at a cost that even the [[Departmento Munitorum]] would find staggering, like when they are attacking enemy fortresses. To overcome such obstacles, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] had a brilliant idea: make even bigger guns with a longer range. These guns are so big that they cannot be fired on the move; they are often built into static defensive positions, or for [[Imperial Guard Regiment|regiments]] that need to be more mobile, they may have guns placed on towed platforms, or on self-propelled chassis (see [[Imperial Ordnance Pieces]] for more information).

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===Thunderfire Cannon===
[[File:SM-thunderfire.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Thunderfire Cannon]]
''Not to be confused with the [[Squats|SPESS DORF's]] [[Thunder-Fire Cannon]]. For the full page, [[Thunderfire Cannon|see here.]]''

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===Griffon Heavy Mortar===
[[File:Griffon_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Griffon Heavy Mortar]]
The Griffon Heavy Mortar is the smallest and lightest of the artillery guns. This weapon has been a source of [[Skub]] in-universe.

Critics of the Griffon claim that its main weapon is too small to warrant its vehicular mounting, while tying up fire control and observation assets needed by much larger pieces. For its supporters though, the Griffon is the ideal compromise between weight, firepower, mobility and ease of use. Its heavy mortar is excellent against infantry and light vehicles, freeing heavier artillery for use against more appropriate targets, and can maintain a high rate of fire. The vehicle is also capable of keeping pace with rapid advances for which heavier vehicles like the Basilisk are too slow to maintain.

Its firepower is not impressive (it's S6 AP-1 and ignores cover), and its range is also relatively short (48"), but because it is so small and light, it can sustain higher rates of fire than other guns and, when carried in the heavy chassis of a [[Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier]], it can be fired indirectly and roll two dice dropping the lowest for number of attacks).

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===Stormshard Mortar===
[[File:Stormshard_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Stormshard Mortar]]
Take a mortar and give it the firepower of a machinegun. [[Dakka|You get yourselves a Stormshard Mortar.]]

The Stormshard Mortar is an artillery system commonly mounted in two pairs on Imperial Guard [[Wyvern Suppression Tank|Wyverns.]] These mortars excel in urban warfare, firing shrapnel down on enemy infantry without exposing the vehicle itself to harm. It is a fairly close range weapon for artillery, but it is needed in the heavily tight space of Hive Cities where the chance of an artillery shell hitting the rooftops of some poor hobo's house is actually quite high.

Because of the chance of facing against [[Tyranids|Horde]] [[Orks|Armies]], the Wyvern mounts not one, but ''TWO'' sets of Stormshards. These means that these badboys carry four mortars on one turret. [[Rape|Add to the fact that they can fire on auto and you have a weapon system that eats Swarmers for breakfast.]] All of the fucking yes!

Given it's similarity to the Heavy Quad-Launcher, it is likely the same weapon firing different ammo.

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===Earthshaker Cannon===
[[File:Earthshaker2.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Earthshaker Cannon]]
The Earthshaker Cannon is the [[#Battle Cannon|Battle Cannon]] of artillery pieces: common, highly recognizable and very lethal (S9 AP-3 Dd3 anywhere within twenty feet). It fires its shots further than any weapon except for the [[Manticore Launcher Tank]] and [[Deathstrike Missile Launcher]].

This 132mm caliber weapon has a muzzle velocity of 814 meters per second and fires a 38 kg projectile, hitting targets over 15 km away in under 19 seconds, using the standard five powder charge.

Six and seven powder charges can be used to hit targets well beyond this range, however the additional wear and stress this causes on the barrel limits the number of overcharged rounds to twenty, with authorization for their use required. Only Earthshakers on static mounts can fire these charges, as vehicle mounts are considered too unstable for their use. The most common type of shell fired by Earthshakers are high explosive, but it can also launch incendiary, smoke, illumination, and even diamantine-tipped armor piercing shells. Shells fired by Earthshakers have been known to cause craters fifteen meters in diameter and obliterate infantry in an instant.

The Earthshaker is most often mounted on the [[Basilisk Artillery Gun|Basilisk self-propelled artillery tank,]] though it also appears in static artillery positions as well as built into fortifications.

Amusingly enough despite being depicted as an artillery gun in 40k, the Earthshaker is modeled after the long-barelled WWII German [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41 Flak 88] rather than a field howitzer from the same epoch.

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===Medusa Siege Cannon===
[[File:MedusaGun.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Medusa Siege Cannon]]
The Medusa Siege Gun is an aging siege weapon used by the Imperial Guard both as a towed artillery piece and mounted on the [[Medusa (tank)|Medusa Siege Tank.]] Compared to the Earthshaker Cannon the Medusa fires a much larger shell at lower velocities. This gives it immense destructive capabilities, useful in breaching the walls of an enemy fortress or destroying bunkers in a single shot, but it consequently has a much shorter firing range, even compared to other siege weapons like the Bombard. For this reason they are less useful for harassing and counter-battery fire, but are still prized by many siege regiments for their ability to blast enemy walls, installations, bunkers and trenches.

The Medusa Siege Cannon is the shortest-ranged of the Imperium's artillery weapons at 36" (Breacher shells on the carriage to 48"), but it is not meant to launch munitions over fortified walls; rather, it is meant to shoot fortifications directly and destroy them (which it certainly does, at S10 AP-3 Dd3) -- and when regular shells aren't enough, they can fire special Breacher shells that sacrifice indirect fire for d6 damage to buildings.

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===Colossus Siege Mortar===
[[File:ColossusSiegeMortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Colossus Siege Mortar]]
The Colossus Siege Mortar is huge, cumbersome and highly destructive, and it's so large that its shells have to be loaded by cranes instead of by hand. It fires massive concussive rounds that will turn its target to paste (as long as it's a human wearing something less than terminator armor -- S6 AP-2 Dd3 is good against infantry blobs, not so much for harder targets), even if they are hiding in cover.

Because one cannon wasn't enough, the Imperium built the Dominus Armored Siege Bombard, a variant of the [[CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT]] that carries an automated ''trio'' of Colossus cannons (though the Dominus only costs as much as two [[Colossus Bombard|Colossi]]...which actually makes sense, as the Colossi are built on a Leman Russ chassis where-as the Dominus just has to pay for an extra cannon, not a whole new vehicle to carry it).

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===Dominus Triple Bombard===
[[File:DominusTripleBombard.png|200px|right|thumb|Dominus Triple Bombard]]
Hey! Remember how we said that a certain Imperium vehicle was actually big enough to mount not one, but THREE Colossus Siege Mortars? Well here it is, the Dominus Triple Bombard found only on the DOMINUS ARMOURED SIEGE BOMBARD. This monster is a god damned tarpit cleanser.

An automated battery of three Bombard cannons rigged to fire together in sequence, it can pulverize anything caught within its field of fire. The Triple Bombard has two rates of fire: a slower rate the Dominus is limited to when on the move, and the second a higher rate for sustained fire when it is stationary.

In practice the Dominus throws [[Rape|10d6 S10 ap-3 shots with indirect fire when stationary,]] easily wiping any unit foolish enough to be larger than 5 models. S10 Ap3 is also a serious threat to any armor short of a titan, and the weight of shots pretty much guarantees an overkill of single model targets.

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===Basilisk Magnus===
[[File:SoulstormBasiliskMagnus.png|200px|right|thumb|Basilisk Magnus]]
Get a Earthshaker Cannon. [[Drug|Pump it full of steroids and growth hormones]] and make it big enough to launch an [[Angry Marine]] at full force. Ladies and gentlemen, the Basilisk Magnus is born. Seriously, this thing is the size of a [[Baneblade]].

Exclusive in [[Dawn of War]] or more specifically, the Soulstorm expansion. The Basilisk Magnus is a large artillery platform, defending the 252nd Conservator Regiment's stronghold in the Dussala Precinct on Kaurava I. It fires devastating rounds that creates a wide area of destruction, though it needs a spotter to acquire targets. If the artillery spotter is killed before the Basilisk Magnus' operators receive the targeting information, it will not be able to fire.

This honking piece of [[Rape]] was notorious for hitting something as small as a [[Gretchin]] from one end of the map. Shame there isn't a tabletop conversion....yet.

<gallery>
image:Basilisk_Magnus.jpg
</gallery>

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===Thunder-Fire Cannon===
[[File:Thunder-FireCannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Thunder'''-Fire''' Cannon]]
''Not to be confused with the SPESS MEHREEN's [[Thunderfire Cannon]]. For the full page, [[Thunder-Fire Cannon|see here.]]''

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===Nemesis Quake Cannon===
[[File:99560108206_WarbringerTitanQuakeCannon01.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Nemesis Quake Cannon]]
The Quake Cannon on steroids, or the holy lovechild between a Quake Cannon and a Gatling Blaster, [[Skub|whichever you ask.]] These monsters are possibly the largest gun model ever made by Games Workshop on tabletop....''for now'' at least. Mounted on the new and shiny [[Warbringer Nemesis Titan]]. This giant six-shot revolver of doom is designed to kill enemy Titans on sight, thus in any sensible usage, this weapon is regulated at the back lines as a giant sniper, unfortunately the Imperium [[Herp|lacks any sensibility]] and uses these as front line weapons instead. Nevertheless, having a fast firing Quake Cannon '''''is''''' a boon to any forces as now you have a very quick way to whither down the [[Void shields|Void Shields]] of enemy Titans in a quick and efficient manner rather than risking the time reloading. And seeing how this Titan gained prominence during the [[Horus Heresy]] when [[Emperor Battle Titan|Emperor Battle Titans]] were common enough to be thrown left and right like normal battle tanks, the nature of this weapon makes a whole load of sense. This cannon also works wonders against heavily fortified encampments and any forms of fortifications in general due to the monumental concussive force unleashed as its shell impacts the ground setting off powerful localized earthquakes. Overall, what has been said on the [[Autogun]] page has already been mostly stated here.

However there is a reason why this giant dick cannon is here. It also functions extremely well as artillery. Unlike the more average Quake Cannon which is restricted to purely a superheavy tank gun due to the design of the Banesword; preventing any proper gun elevation, let alone install a proper turret and hit anything beyond 90 degrees. The Warbringer Titan is a big enough platform to not only mount a supersized Quake Cannon, but also spacious enough to install a proper turret module and some proper elevation. This allows the Nemesis Quake Cannon to launch its bullets in an arc and turns it into a supersized Earthshaker Cannon.

Of course, it is a designated Titan-killer first and foremost, but the nature of the Quake Shell also means that - as aforementioned before - it could function amazingly well against fortresses and entire fleets of smaller ground vehicles. The powerful concussive shockwaves would liquefy the grounds of enemy armor, forcing them to halt its advance and even sink them through the ground if the terrain collapse. It could also weaken the foundations of fortress walls and bunkers, causing it to collapse on itself or outright shattering the walls through brute force.

===Goliath Mega-Cannon===
[[File:GoliathCannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Goliath Mega-Cannon]]
A hilariously [[Dick|phallic]] weapon made by [[Squats|They-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named]]. The Goliath Mega-Cannon, both the gun ''and'' [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|the vehicle]] (Don't tell us why they decided to name both weapon and vehicle the same) is one of the largest artillery pieces ever known and fielded.

Basically each shell weighed several tons and was powerful enough to shatter entire fortifications and turn a fleet of Baneblades inside out. These motherfuckers were the Schwerer Gustav in all but name.

Curiously, the gun never really needed any shock absorbers to control the immense recoil. However it could be that the Goliath Mega-Cannon (The vehicle, not the gun) doesn't need one as the vehicle's own base ''is'' the gun's base.

The power of the Goliath means that each cannon fires its own barrage template. A Goliath attack is worth four barrage points plus the roll of a D6, giving a score between 5 and 10. The super heavy shells fired by the Goliath are so good at reducing fortifications to rubble that it ignores hit modifiers for cover altogether.

The Goliath lobs its shells high into the air to achieve its mammoth range, but it can't depress its barrel to hit a very close target. This means a Goliath can't shoot at targets closer than 50cm, so it has a min range of 50cm. They also don't have any self-defense secondary weapons so you need a few Thunder-Fire Cannons to offer cover support and picking off any units near the Goliath.

Of course, all of these rules are now outdated. But it is pretty cool to see the power it once had.

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===Behemoth Cannon===
[[File:Behemoth_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Behemoth Cannon]]
The largest artillery field piece to date. Until GW decides to one-up themselves and invent a even ''bigger'' artillery piece.

The Behemoth Cannon is a massive weapon that is the primary armament of the [[Capitol Imperialis]]. The giant landships that can be mistaken for a city block and is tall enough that a goddamned motherfucking [[Warlord Battle Titan]] can use for cover. The Behemoth Cannon is so large that four [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]s could fit within its barrel (Although the models and artwork definitely disagrees with that statement), and the concussive force of firing the weapon can produce a mushroom cloud and shake the earth itself.

It is basically a land-bound and more mobile version of a Macrocannon.
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{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}
[[Category:Warhammer_40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Imperial Ordnance

2019-01-02T03:25:53Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* Frag Cannon */

{{topquote|Infantry win firefights, tanks win battles, artillery wins wars.|Common sentiment amongst the [[Imperial Guard]] senior staff.}}

That's how the saying goes. And it's true. Without the big guns you are doomed to be [[Ork|murdered gruesomely for the lulz of it]], [[Tyranids|get eaten]] or [[Chaos|have your soul used as a condom]] for all eternity. The Imperium knows this and has devised a truly staggering amount of heavy guns dedicated to ruining your shit into next Sunday from anywhere in between half a mile to half a continent away.

== Man-portable Weapons ==
The lightest of indirect support weapons can be carried by individual or paired soldiers. While this makes them tactically more flexible, they have reduced firepower compared to their heavier counterparts.

===Grenade Launcher===
[[File:Grenade Launcher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Grenade Launcher]]
The grenade launcher is a light, man-portable weapon capable of firing small explosive charges. It is primarily employed by the Imperial Guard, with almost every trooper squad featuring at least one of them. Grenade launchers are a common weapon used by Imperial Guard infantry squads thanks to their ability to lob grenades greater distances and with more accuracy than can be thrown.

Their primary duty is to lay down suppressive fire and destroy light vehicles and buildings. It has a choice of two different payloads, anti infantry Fragmentation grenades, and anti-armour Krak grenades.

Space Marines scout bikers utilise a variation of this weapon, the "Astartes pattern" Grenade Launcher. It fires the same rounds, but with an increased rate of fire.
<gallery>
File:CadianShockTroopsGrenadeLauncher.png
image:ScoutBikeGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Scout Bike</center>
</gallery>

===Vengeance Grenade Launcher===
[[File:VengeanceLauncher.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Vengeance Grenade Launcher]]
A grenade launcher only found in the [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Vidya Game of SPEEES MEHREEEEENS!]]

A much more tactical weapon than its assault-orientated cousins.

The Vengeance Grenade Launcher is an experimental Adeptus Mechanicus weapon created on the Forge world Graia just prior to the Ork invasion of Warboss Grimskull. The Vengeance Grenade Launcher is not authorized for use off world, but those Space Marines who have field tested the weapon attest to its effectiveness against a range of targets. The launcher can fire out up to five fusion charges that stick to surfaces and then be remotely detonated.

The current status of this weapon is unknown.

<gallery>
File:TitusVengeanceZoomed.png|Captain Titus holding one of these badboys.
</gallery>

===Grenadier Gauntlet===
[[File:GrenadierGauntlet.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Grenadier Gauntlet]]
Think of it as a heavy grenade launcher or a sawn-off Missile Launcher.

The Grenadier Gauntlet is a type of heavy Grenade Launcher used by Imperial Guard [[Ogryn|Bullgryn.]] Like all Ogryn weapons such as the Ripper Gun, the Grenadier Gauntlet is not meant for accuracy and range, instead it is constructed like a giant baton. The grenade launching mechanism is just a feature for the Bullgryn to launch something explosive at an enemy he can't reach.

The foes are often left reeling and shell-shocked even before the maul-wielding Ogryns charge into their midst and bludgeon the survivors into a red paste.

In terms of the firing mechanism, the Grenadier Gauntlet obviously works like any normal grenade launcher. However it does have a lower set of ammunition due to the Ogryn's natural stupidity and inability to understand the concept of reloading.

Still, as a baton, it is naturally incredibly tough to withstand the immense strength of a rampaging Ogryn as well as simple enough to use for these dumbasses.

<gallery>
image:BullgrynGauntlet.png|<center>Alternate View</center>
</gallery>

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===Grenade Harness===
[[File:GrenadeHarness.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Grenade Harness]]
The Cyclone Missile Launcher of Grenade Launchers.

The Grenade Harness is a type of Grenade Launcher mounted on some Space Marine Terminator Armour. These launchers allow for a barrage of Frag grenades, usually before a charge by the Terminators.

The Grenade Harness has a lower ammunition capacity than a regular Grenade Launcher due to its smaller size. It is thus used tactically in surgical strikes in order to maximize the weapon's potential.

Like the Cyclone, it functions the same way but with an obvious decrease in weapon range and output.

<gallery>
image:GorgonTerminatorGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Gorgon Terminator</center>
</gallery>

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===Balistus Grenade Launcher===
[[File:BalistaGrenadeLauncher.png|150px|right|thumb|Balistus Grenade Launcher]]
A new type of grenade launcher wielded by the [[Adeptus Custodes|Golden Boys in Shining Armor.]]

Balistus Grenade Launchers are potent ranged weapons wielded by the Adeptus Custodes, which excel at piercing armor like a giant [[Bolter]]. The only users of these weapons are the venerable [[Allarus Custodians]]. It is unknown if the more common [[Aquilon Terminator|Aquilon Terminators]] (assuming they still exist) have permission to carry these around.

Like the wrist-mounted bolters carried around by Gray Knight Terminators, the Balistus Grenade Launcher works on the same principle. Except, instead of providing covering/suppressing fire in close to medium range, these things mulch infantry at longer ranges.

It is unknown where the Grenade Launcher stores its ammunition, given the relative size of the barrel in contrast to the size of the weapon itself. Maybe it is a single shot weapon? It is stated to be drum-fed but if it is drumfed, it must be either the galaxy's first invisible drum magazine or the Imperium rediscovered how to make and use pym particles and that tiny stick magazine attached to it is supposed to fit enough ammo to last a battle.

The choice of a grenade launcher as an anti-heavy infantry weapon is also bizarre, as grenade launchers are low velocity guns that fire thin skinned shells which basically make the shell itself relatively harmless for a round of its size if you're just looking at the kinetic energy. A dud round from a grenade launcher might not even hit someone hard enough to kill them, as all the killing power of the round comes from the explosive. You'd think it's some kind of HEAT round, but those focus the force of the blast on a single target by shaping the explosion to launch a jet of molten metal to achieve penetration and so wouldn't have the d3 shot profile given to what used to be small blast weapons.

So the most reasonable theory is that the grenade launcher's rounds are a kind of frag round whose shells are filled with a high grade sort of shrapnel able to shred right through most forms of personal armour in use in the galaxy. Because the shrapnel would be tiny, large monsters and vehicles would shrug it off as the shrapnel would lose energy before cutting too deeply into them, which fits with its not amazing strength characteristic, but infantry would be losing limbs, organs, and organs and power armour, cyborg augmentations, or robotic parts would have their delicate internal components devastated. In other words, basically launching a bomb full of some of the sharpest stuff known to man to reduce people to confetti and thus provide for choppy dakka. Khorne and Gork would be pleased.

<gallery>
image:AllarusCustodianGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Close-up View</center>
</gallery>

==Heavy Grenade Launchers==
A much bigger variant of the standard grenade launcher that peppers the battlefield with explosive munitions.

===Frag Cannon===
The Frag Cannon is the name of two different weapons. One used by the [[Deathwatch]] and the other mounted on [[Dreadnoughts]] of the [[Blood Angels]]. Regardless we can guess that they both automatic grenade launchers at different calibers. Making them at least 40mm in size or larger.

====Deathwatch Frag Cannon====
Version exclusively used by Space Marine Deathwatch Veterans. This is a belt fed grenade spewing death machine. It's so new that there is no fluff to explain how it works. So we'll have to make guesses based on it's weapon profile. Deathwatch Frag Cannons fire at least two different rounds. The first turns it into a slightly better Heavy Flamer. The other make it a short range rocket launcher that hits twice. That becomes a [[Lascannon]] at half range. A squad can take about four of these things. In the same unit as Terminators and other Deathwatch exclusive [[dakka]]. [[Xeno]]s and [[Chaos]] forces should consider themselves lucky that weapons like Barrage [[Plasma Gun]]s, [[Melta|Atomizer Cannons]] and Techxorcism Guns are ultra rare. [[Anal_Circumference|As the Deathwatch can deploy these things in a single Veteran Squad.]]

====Blood Angels Frag Cannon====

The older larger version exclusively mounted on Furioso Dreadnoughts. Their range is much shorter and lack the versatility of their smaller counterparts. Making up for it with a higher volume of fire.

===Auto-Launcher===
[[File:RepulsorAutoLauncher2.png|200px|right|thumb|Auto-Launcher]]
Resembling a rack/box of grenades, Auto-launchers are vehicle-mounted grenade launchers similar to Smoke Launchers. The [[Repulsor Tank|Repulsor]] is the most infamous user of these weapons.

They are simple, six-barreled – though the ones on the Repulsor have eight, for some reason – weapons mounted on vehicle hulls, firing salvos of either three grenades types at a time: Frag, Krak, and Blind. They are useful for when you are indecisive on whether you want immediate proximity defense or just a simple smoke screen. The Auto-Launcher carries six grenades, all of the same type. Auto-Launchers are best identified by the literal racks of exposed grenade/missiles pointed randomly everywhere. Why the Imperium thought it was a good idea to place these weapons on extremely random places is unknown since these grenades would not be able to hit its targets tactically...[[Awesome|unless those grenades can home on their targets, of course]]. But in all seriousness, this is because the design of these weapons is based on real life active protection systems which spit out slugs, shrapnel blasts, and sometimes even small rockets in the direction of incoming projectiles in order to shoot them down. This being the Imperium, however, they have decided that it will work just as well as an actual weapon, rather than just a defensive tool.

While you'd think them being externally mounted runs the risk of someone shooting at the exposed grenades and causing them to detonate, we should note that all the charges face outward, and so they are not capable of doing damage to the vehicle they are mounted on; and '''B''': they are designed (''assuming they really are based on our active protection systems'') to deal with incoming projectiles, so even if they are pointed the right (''in the perspective of the tank's crew, wrong'') way. the blast would not be able to much damage to the armour... unless the the grenades in question are Kraks.

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===Ironclad Assault Launcher===
[[File:IroncladAssaultLauncher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Ironclad Assault Launcher]]

Like the Fragstorm Grenade Launcher but for [[Centurion Squad|Centurions]] and [[Dreadnoughts]].

The Ironclad Assault Launcher is mounted on the Ironclad Dreadnoughts or Centurions. It projects both offensive and defensive grenades. On the Centurion, they are located on the torso, between the arms and the chest. They are the four squarish pods that house these grenades. On a Dreadnought, it comes in two sets of six like what you can find installed on top of some Land Raiders' tracks. The sets of two variant similar to the Centurion can also be found on the Caestus Assault Ram by the opening hatches, complementing its [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Melta#Magna-Melta Magna-Melta]. Like with the auto-launcher, this is essentially a defensive system being used offensively, spitting out all its grenades in something resembling a shotgun blast from hell to either demolish obstacles, suppress the enemy, or tear them to shreds.

On tabletop, the Ironclad Assault Launchers gives both the Ironclad Dreadnought and Centurions the ability to deal d3 mortal wounds to units within 1" of it after a charge on a 4+, which ensures they'll be softened up when you begin the fight phase.

<gallery>
image:IroncladLauncher.jpg|<center>Centurion Variant</center>
image:CaestusAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Caestus Assault Ram Variant</center>
image:LandRaiderAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Land Raider Variant</center>
image:SpartanAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Spartan Variant</center>
</gallery>

===Fragstorm Grenade Launcher===
[[File:FragstormGrenadeLauncher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Fragstorm Grenade Launcher]]
Think the Grenade Harness for Dreadnoughts.

Fragstorm Grenade Launchers are a type of grenade launcher used by Primaris Space Marines. Like the Grenade Harness, these launchers allow for the firing of a barrage of frag grenades before a charge. However, they can also be used defensively when the Dreadnought is surrounded by enemies and they just need to pepper a targeted radius with shrapnel and explosions.

They are equipped for anti-personnel roles to Aggressor Squads and Redemptor Dreadnoughts.

Their more tank-busting equivalents is the similarly named Krakstorm Grenade Launcher.

And no, despite their appearance, they have in no way related to the Auto-Launcher by function.

<gallery>
image:PrimarisAggressorGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Primaris Aggressor</center>
</gallery>

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===Krakstorm Grenade Launcher===
[[File:PrimarisRepulsorKrakstorm.png|200px|right|thumb|Krakstorm Grenade Launcher]]
It's literally a Fragstorm Grenade Launcher that fires, you guessed it, Krak Grenades.

A Krakstorm Grenade Launcher is a type of Imperial Grenade Launcher usually wielded by the Primaris Space Marines that fires a volley of three aforementioned Krak Grenades at a time upon the enemy. It is deployed for use as an anti-armor or anti-fortification weapon by [[Repulsor Tank|Repulsor grav tanks.]]

Although there is no evidence of it being mounted on the [[Redemptor Dreadnought]], the fact that the ammunition of both the Frag and Krak are superficially similiar means it wouldn't be ''that'' out of the blue if GW decides to update the Dreadnought with these weapons.

Like the Auto-Launchers, the Krakstorm Grenade Launcher carries the same issue of it being awkward to aim, with the only logical explanation if that the Krak grenades themselves have homing features like that of a missile.

In terms of rules, they act as they are named. Good vehicle killers, although the sheer amount of anti-tank weapons that the Repulsor carries means that these weapons are best used for killing any stragglers.

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===Blackstar Cluster Launcher===
[[File:BlackstarCluster.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Blackstar Cluster Launcher]]

An aerial grenade ordnance that fires from the air rather than on the ground. Air superiority and all that.

The Blackstar Cluster Launcher is an array of two six-barreled Grenade Launchers mounted on the rear of [[Deathwatch]] [[Corvus Blackstar]] gunships. These allow the pilot of the Blackstar to sow a hailstorm of munitions in his wake as he strafes the primary target. The launcher is capable of firing either fragmentation or incendiary munitions. If you wanna re-enact a miniature bombing of Berlin, the Blackstar has got your back.

As you can imagine, having a unit that can just fly over and drop what is essentially bombs without the risk of going close to enemy fire on a rather sluggish platform is pretty sweet. Thus, the Blackstar rocks a delightful Blackstar Cluster launcher, which lets you bomb a unit you flew over. For every model in the unit (up to 10), roll a die and, on a 6, that unit takes a mortal wound.

[[Tl;dr]], the Imperium has created a plane that [[Shitstorm|literally shits out bird poop]]....while...[[Bullshit|more like explosive diarrhea.]]

== Mortar ==
A mortar is an artillery weapon that launches shells in a high arc. They tend to have relatively short barrels and fire shells at relatively low velocities. The Imperial Guard uses them in two sizes: the standard man-portable mortar, carried and operated by two Imperial Guard troopers; and the heavy mortar, which can be used in static or towed artillery mounts, or mounted in a Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier. They can destroy light infantry and light vehicles easily enough, but are unlikely to trouble heavy infantry or vehicles with tank-grade armour.

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===Light Mortar===
[[File:CadianMortarZoomed.png|200px|right|thumb|Light Mortar]]
The most common form of Mortars is...well....the Mortar. Some may call it the Light Mortar due to the smaller payload and size but whatever. The Mortar looks like...a basic modern Mortar found in use in today's armies. I guess the design haven't change for over 40,000 years, but hey, if it's not broken, don't fix it.

The Light Mortar fires an explosive shell on a high-arching trajectory capable of flying over the heads of nearby troops and crashing down on the rear ranks of the enemy. Its primary use is in the anti-personnel role, breaking up enemy infantry formations and pinning them down.

Mortars are prized for their ability to lay down a curtain of fire from behind cover, and while not particularly accurate their explosive power makes up for this deficiency. However this indirect-fire capability requires accurate targeting information to be effective and the use of spotters with proper vox-protocols in order to avoid friendly fire. Standard procedures has the spotters locate targets, whether through visual or remote-servitor means, and send a fire request to the mortar crew's [[Imperial Guard Command Squad|Platoon Command Squad,]] which plots a firing solution and relays that information to the mortar teams assembled, adjusting fire as required.

In 8th Edition, the Mortar is now a 48" Heavy D6 S4 AP0 D1 heavy weapon, and may fire indirectly. Down in cost, and along with the [[Nerf|nerf]] to the [[Wyvern]] this brings it back into the realm of 'good' choices. At 11 points a gun team, it's a dirt cheap light and medium infantry muncher. Because of the revision to the way AP works it's in direct competition with the Heavy Bolter; this ALSO means it's in indirect competition with your entire motor pool. Consider this when the challenge of fitting half a dozen kits' worth of mortar tubes into your list is a daunting prospect. Becomes much more viable in games using a lot of scenery or buildings, so take it when you need to lob some pain over that city block or hill that your other heavy weapons can't shoot through.
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===Mole Mortar===
[[File:Mole_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Mole Mortar]]
Basically a reverse Mortar. In that it travels ''underground'' rather than overhead. It's more of a torpedo then a Mortar, but it got 'Mortar' in the name and we need to stick it somewhere.

The missile burrows its way toward its target, bypassing all surface hazards and defenses, emerging from the ground beneath the target. The missile is self-guided and able to track its target through solid rock. [[Mole Mortar Team|As an invention of the]] [[Squats|Sphess Dorfs]], the Mole Mortar soon found its way up the ranks of the [[Imperial Guard]] due to its unorthodox firing methods.

The Mole Mortar was originally developed to destroy enemy tunneling vehicles but was so successful that now used as a [[Wat|short-ranged assault weapon,]] even though such premonitions sounds outright [[Stupid]] let alone suicidal, it is worth remembering that since vehicles have thinner bottom armor if you can get a hit on a tank it's going to be fairly devastating. It is sometimes used to breach fortifications too strong for conventional weaponry to damage. Due to the unique way it operates, the mole mortar is able to circumvent most defenses, striking from below to explode within bunkers and other structures.

Heck, the Mole Mortar was so popular in the Guard that it eventually led to the creation of the Mole Launcher. [[Original character, do not steal|Figures.]]

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===Heavy Mortar===
[[File:Heavy_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Mortar]]
The Heavy Mortar is a larger support version of the standard Mortar used by the Imperial Guard. Its primary advantages are a wide range of ammunition types, a high rate of fire, and simplicity to construct and maintain. However its massive size means the heavy mortar must either be towed into place by a [[Trojan Support Vehicle|Trojan]] or [[Centaur Utility Vehicle|Centaur]]. A special version of this is mounted on the [[Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier|Griffon Mortar Carrier.]]

While they were once quite popular with many Imperial Guard regiments, the use of heavy mortars has fallen out of favor in recent years, since for many commanders it lacks both the heavy firepower and long reach of much larger artillery pieces, limiting its use in box-barrages or counter-battery fire. Towed heavy mortars have become even less popular, being seen as too slow to keep up with advancing mechanized units, and have largely been regulated to PDFs and Siege Regiments.

For all their faults heavy mortars also have a number of advantages. They are an excellent close support weapons for engaging enemy infantry and light vehicles, freeing the heavier artillery for use against more appropriate targets, and can maintain a steady rate of fire for hours. Its versatility also allows it to fulfill a variety of other roles, from launching illumination shells during night battles or laying down a smoke screen before an infantry attack.

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===Karacnos Mortar Battery===
[[File:Karacnos_Nukes.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Karacnos Mortar Battery]]
The [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] have their own mortar and [[Lord of the Rings|it is a mortar to rule them all.]] Called the Karacnos Mortar Battery which is so named after the [[Karacnos Assault Tank|vehicle it is mounted on.]] The Karacnos Mortar Battery is special cause it uses ''[[Fallout|radioactive warheads]]'' [[Awesome|as its armaments!]] You can't get more metal than that! As it is basically firing a barrage of dirty bombs, this mortar fires its radioactive warheads which is designed to sweep an area clear of all organic life.

As you can imagine, these badboys aren't that well liked for those Imperial Commanders who want to have a idyllic and livable planet to prosper. Seriously, a couple of these batteries would turn a city into a uninhabitable wasteland that only a [[Death Korps of Krieg|Krieger from a Death Korps would enjoy.]]

On tabletop ([[Horus Heresy|The 30k rules at least]]), the Mortar is a R60 heavy bolter with barrage, small blast, fleshbane, radphage, Ignores cover and pinning which seems good on paper but with the majority of targets getting armour saves this mostly equates to a longer range Wyvern.

=={{anchor|Leman Russ}} Tank Guns ==

These guns are too large to be carried by infantry (excluding "heavy" weapons such as [[lascannon]]s and [[autocannon]]s), but are still small enough that a heavy vehicle, like the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], can carry and fire them while in the thick of battle. It should be noted that certain [[Autogun|Autoweapons]] are also a form of ordnance. So don't be too surprised if you see a few similiar faces around here.

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===Battle Cannon===
[[File:Battle_Cannon_Leman_Russ.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Battle Cannon]]
The primary weapon of the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], it is the most commonly used tank gun for good reason: the Battle Cannon can pull double duty as both an anti-tank and anti-infantry weapon thanks to its considerable range (72"), strength (S8 AP3 = instant death to [[MEQ]]s and capable of damaging any vehicle) and explosion size (5" blast = blob-killer). The cannon proved so popular that it was made the primary armament of the [[Macharius (tank)|Macharius]] and [[Malcador (tank)|Malcador]] super-heavy tanks, and has been forked into several versions by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]:
{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|name=Battle Cannon (Leman Russ)|range=72|strength=8|ap=3|type=Ordnance|rof=|rules=Blast (5")}}
 

Since the revamping of the AP-system and moving away from "blast template" mechanics, the stats for battle cannons were changed, becoming something of this 
{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile-8|name=Battle Cannon (8th Edition)|range=72|strength=8|ap=-2|damage=D3|type=Heavy D6|}}
It is worth noting that while AP-2 now allowes 3+ and 4+ armour to actually provide at least some save-roll (5+ save for 3+ armour and 6+ save for 4+ armour), 2+ armour (like that of the Terminators) now only get 4+ save instead of 2+.

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==={{anchor|Conqueror Cannon}} Conqueror Battle Cannon===
[[File:LRConq.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Conqueror Battle Cannon]]
Fitted to the [[Leman Russ Conqueror]], this is essentially a lighter and smaller version of the Battle Cannon. Its shorter range and smaller blast radius is more than compensated by the reduced recoil and higher rate of fire, allowing for an even greater damage output than a Battle Cannon. Like the battle cannon the Conqueror cannon is capable of firing high explosive, anti-tank, smoke, illumination, and even Hunter shells, although not infernus rounds. The Forge World Gryphonne IV also designed a special shell just for this weapon, known as the '''Augur Shell'''. While similar to an HE shell when the Augur's impact detonator is triggered the thin shell wall splits open and the soft explosive charge is spread across the target; a microsecond later the secondary detonator in the base of the shell ignites the explosive. This causes cratering and cracking of the target's outer armor, while inside the target it produces spalling capable of damaging internal equipment and wounding or killing personnel (Which sounds extraordinarily similar to HESH ammunition). However the shell was not considered a success and in the end relatively few were produced.

On the tabletop, it's a "Heavy" weapon, as opposed to "Ordnance", which allows the carrying vehicle to fire its sponson weapons at full ballistic skill (though, since the Conqueror is not a heavy tank, that only applies if it holds still...).

In 8th Edition it's just a Battle Cannon with 50% of the range (36").

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=== Macharius Battle Cannon ===
[[File:Malcadorbattlecannon.png|200px|right|thumb|Macharius Battle Cannon]]
The [[Macharius Heavy Tank]] has a twin-barreled variant of the Battle Cannon, because it has a bigger turret and because two barrels are better than one. It also looks like it has a larger bore which means it can fire larger calibers. For all intents and purposes, the Macharius Battle Cannon should be considered as a superheavy weapon if not for the fact that the Macharius itself is not completely in the superheavy category.

It used to actually fire two shots, but that's been changed to a single massive (7") blast in more recent publications similiar to how some video games give sawed-off shotguns a firing mechanism to blows off the two barrels at the same time. Maybe they will get around to making a single massive cannon for it, too. A Macharius Vanquisher Cannon? It exists. But a Macharius with a giant single gun? we wish.

Then 8th Edition drop and we went back to a 2-shot Battle Cannon. Lame.

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==={{anchor|Vanquisher Cannon}} Vanquisher Battle Cannon===
[[File:Vanqcannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Vanquisher Battle Cannon]]
Huge gun, huge range, huge barrel, huge damage. Basically an anti-tank gun fitted on tank destroyers. The Leman Russ Vanquisher has its weapon tooled for only one purpose: to fuck enemy tanks and monsters hard using huge shells.

It sacrifices its blast radius for an improved capacity for armor penetration (AP2, S8 + 2d6 = 10-20 with an average of 15 = roll for the [[anal circumference|circumference]] of the hole that is about to get punched through your armor). The [[Macharius (tank)|Macharius]] can carry twin-linked Vanquisher cannons, and has enough internal space that it can also fire high-explosive shells like the regular Macharius Battle Cannon, so it's like two tanks in one -- and it costs about as much as regular Russ and a Vanquisher put together. 
Worth noting, that the cannon is now somewhat nerfed, being given only S=8,AP-3 while retaining Heavy 1 and gaining D=D6R (the same rule as meltagun, albeit not only when in half-range or less).

The only problem is that the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] lost Tigrus, the only [[Forge World]] that made Vanquisher cannons, to the [[Orks]] in M35 (somehow, you'd think the Imperium would throw so much firepower in defense of such a vital world that nothing could take it), so the only way to make new Vanquisher tanks is to take the cannons off of tanks that have been immobilized -- not a simple feat, given that the cannon is so dangerous to armor and stands out as a priority target for enemies. Two other Forge Worlds, Stygies VIII and Gryphonne IV have stepped up to try and match the old cannons (read: [[Forge World]], the company, has produced two alternate turrets for [[Leman Russ Vanquisher]]s), but they're just not quite there (though it makes no difference on the tabletop, of course). And then Tyranids ate Gryphonne. (It was delicious.)

And it also seems, that as per 6-th edition Astra Militarum Codex and onwards, the fluff was changed to do away with "Vanquisher cannon being rare" altogether - now the Leman Russ Vanquisher is noted as being simply the dedicated anti-armour variant of Leman Russ, often employed as command tank in armoured formations. However, it now also seem that Vanquisher cannon now lost it's ability to fire HE rounds, being able to only fire anti-armour HEAT rounds, something ineffective against infantry formations.

It should be noted that, unlike how many on /tg/ perceive it, the Vanquisher is '''not''' just a Battle Cannon firing specialised Anti-Tank shells. The Guard does use separate specialised HEAT shells for the basic BC, but Imperial Armour shows the Vanquisher Cannon to have a smaller bore than the standard one, while the shells have a greater diameter-to-length ratio and possibly be some form of APFSDS round.

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===Demolisher Cannon===
[[File:Demolisher1Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Demolisher Cannon]]
The Big One. Fitted onto the [[Leman Russ Demolisher]] and packing enough heat to turn [[Terminator|Terminators]] and heavy and super-heavy vehicles inside-out with a single shell, the Demolisher Cannon's short range (24" -- shorter than some infantry weapons) is the only thing that stops it from being a truly amazing weapon.

Even then, it can cause considerable damage (S10 AP2 Large Blast = kiss your everything goodbye) and because it is smaller than the other cannons, is one of the few ordnance weapons used by the [[Space Marines]], mounted on the [[Vindicator]] and [[Land Raider Ares]], and it is used as secondary armament on certain super-heavy tanks, like [[Baneblade]]s and the [[Malcador (tank)|Malcador]].

The Demolisher fires special ammunition much larger than that used in the Battle Cannon, allowing it to punch through layers of concrete and plasteel alike. A Demolisher shell is constructed with an outer layer of standard high explosive and shrapnel, which surrounds a chemical core. Upon impact, the explosive layer detonates, punching a hole in the enemy's armor and spreading shrapnel over a wide area. It also starts a chemical reaction in the core, causing it to super-heat into a jet of plasma, which lances through the compromised armor, spreading molten death over a wide area and literally ripping the target from the inside out. The tremendous recoil produced by firing the cannon is capable of lifting the front end of a tank off the ground and, were it fired while moving, risk causing it to roll over.

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==={{anchor|Nova Cannon}} Eradicator Nova Cannon===
[[File:Leman_Russ_Eradicator_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Eradicator Nova Cannon]]
The Eradicator Nova Cannon fires shells with an unstable "sub-atomic" core (yes, this just might be a tank cannon that fires ''mini-nukes''). These shells are somewhat hazardous to the tank and crew, as they have a non-zero probability of exploding if they get jostled while loading, so most [[Imperial Guard Regiment|regiments]] that use [[Leman Russ Eradicator]]s have a margin for crew losses, and that is without the off chance of radioactive leaks from a faulty shell.

The Eradicator is most effective supporting infantry forces fighting in areas such as cities and jungles, and it is easily replicated on dozens of Forge Worlds. For urban combat however the Eradicator does not feature the additional rear armor found on similar vehicles, leaving it vulnerable to attacks from behind.

They keep using the Nova cannon, though, because the shell's massive blast completely flattens any cover, so unless the targets are power armored, there's no escape for them (S6 AP4 = Instant Death for most standard infantry; less effective for beefier troops). Why a shell that detonates if it's shaken does not go off when it's fired from a freaking cannon is not completely explained by GW.

== {{anchor|Baneblade}} Super-Heavy Tank Guns ==

Technically, these guns can be carried and fired by a vehicle in direct combat, but because that vehicle has to be the size of a [[Baneblade]], they deserve a category of their own.

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===Accelerator Cannon===
[[File:Fellblade_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Accelerator Cannon]]
The main gun of the [[Fellblade]]. It fired armor-piercing explosive ''self-guided'' "darts" via either magnetic acceleration or gravity impellers. It was also twin-linked, though the Fellblade had severely limited ammunition for it, relying mostly on its other weapons until a suitable target presented itself.

This type of cannon used a complex overpressure mechanisms of a special vacuum-based system which can propel heavy shells with greater force than a conventional cannon of similar size. This system is so efficient that they provide very little recoil from every shot, making the Accelerator cannon extremely stable and accurate. The loading mechanism of Accelerator cannon is also highly advanced and served by a special loading mechanism that allows the tank’s commander to switch ammunition type at a little notice.

It was made on the [[Forge World]] of Tigrus (home of the original Vanquisher cannon -- which resembles the Accelerator Cannon quite closely, with the long barrel and large muzzle brake). It can fire high-explosive shells comparable to a super-charged Battle Cannon (S8 AP3 7" Blast) or armor-piercing shells comparable to what would later become the Vanquisher battle cannon (S9 AP2 3" Blast, rolling 2d6 for armor penetration).

Its smaller brother is the Accelerator Autocannon.

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===Macro-Accelerator Cannon===
[[File:MacAccelerator_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Macro-Accelerator Cannon]]
Think of the Accelerator Autocannon on steroids. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is to the Accelerator Cannon in the same way the Accelerator Cannon is to the Accelerator Autocannon (Try and speak that sentence five times in a row).

The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is a large kinetic weapon used by the Primaris Space Marines' [[Astraeus Super-Heavy Tank|Astraeus Super-Heavy Grav Tank]] as its primary armament. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is actually a complex mass driver that uses a potent electromagentic field to accelerate a barrage of high caliber ferro-carbide slugs to extremely high speeds. It is basically an upscaled Imperial railgun. Usually twin-linked, these weapons unleash an onslaught against which even enemy heavy armor cannot stand.

Crunchwise, the fluff seem to match the rules. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is a vicious Heavy 12, S8, AP-2, Damage 3 that ignores all abilities that impose negative hit modifiers when targeting anything with the FLY keyword. Normal vehicles wouldn't even survive a barrage of these and superheavies would take a beating.

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===Baneblade Cannon===
[[File:Banebladecannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Baneblade Cannon]]
The [[Baneblade]]'s primary cannon is an upscaled Battle Cannon, improved in strength, armor penetration, and blast radius (S9 AP2 10" blast = 10" wide [[lascannon]] pie-plate). Its special shells are not propelled by an explosion, but are rather miniature rockets that increases the shell's range and accuracy tremendously. However, this also leads to the danger of a build-up of gasses in the barrel, which can cause serious harm. To combat this the Baneblade Cannon is built with a double-sleeve design with venting ports studded around the cannon's muzzle, allowing these gasses to escape under their own pressure.

When fired the shell leaves the barrel under its own blast pressure with speed maintained whilst the rocket burns, with each booster burning out and falling away as the next one ignites. This means that the Baneblade's Cannon works on a similiar basis to a upscaled Bolter -- a feature that "counterfeit" Baneblades produced on other [[Forge World]]s are unable to reproduce, and so they substitute standard battle cannon rounds for them. There's no indication that they're much, if at all, different, though.

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===Dreadhammer Cannon===
[[File:Dreadhammer.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Dreadhammer Cannon]]
Back in the [[Great Crusade]], [[Perturabo]] asked the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to build him a new cannon that could level buildings with a single shell and be carried at a reasonable speed. Because the [[Horus Heresy]] hadn't happened yet, and they were thus still feeling like innovating now and then, the tech-priests agreed, and built him the Dreadhammer.

It fires shells that weigh several tons, and experiences so much recoil that even the super-heavy [[Typhon Heavy Siege Tank]] has to limit the propellant used (and thus the range) if it wants to fire on the move. At first, people made fun of Perturabo for asking for (and getting) a super-Demolisher, but it has a bigger blast radius and, if the Typhon stays still, a longer range, and it really does shake buildings to their foundations. The appearance, name, and firepower of the Dreadhammer cannon suggest some connection with the [[Baneblade]]-mounted [[#Hellhammer Cannon|Hellhammer cannon]].

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===Hellhammer Cannon===
[[File:Hellhammer_cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Hellhammer Cannon]]
The comically small Hellhammer Cannon is the main weapon of the [[Hellhammer]] tank. Resembling a Baneblade with [[Lulz|micropenis issues]], this gun has spawned numerous compensation jokes at the tank's expense. Still, every nerd has its day and one thing the Hellhammer excels at is in its ability to fire [[Fallout|mini-nukes.]]

The Hellhammer Cannon fires shells with a building-busting sub-atomic charge (like the Eradicator Nova Cannon). Each shell weighs 180 kilograms and is propelled by a rocket motor, with exhaust vents on either side of the barrel allowing for the safe discharge of gas with every firing. Due to the sheer weight of the shells, an automatic loading tray assists the loader, limiting the weapon's rate of fire. The tremendous concussive explosion (S10 AP1 7" Blast) is enough to collapse a building in one shot (Ignores Cover), so crews are trained to fire at the ground floors of structures that need to come down. The short barrel and recoil compensators give the cannon a very short range (a measly 36"). As such, the Hellhammer cannon is only used on tanks that are built for urban combat, like the [[Hellhammer]] super-heavy tank.

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===Quake Cannon===
[[File:Quake Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Quake Cannon]]
What has already been said about the Quake Cannon in the Autogun category has been said here. The Quake Cannon is an [[Awesome]] gun with a [[Stupid]] construction process. The quintessential fortress fucker supreme.

The Quake Cannon is an odd beast; its firepower is not unusual for a weapon of its size (S9 AP3 10" Blast), but it has a longer range than any other tank gun (180", only exceeded by the Earthshaker and Colossus cannons), and is normally an arm weapon for [[Warlord Battle Titan]]s.

It is occasionally mounted on a Baneblade chassis to make the [[Banesword]], essentially a super-heavy self-propelled artillery piece, primarily employed against fortifications. Also, it's ammunition is filled with the echoing shockwave of a world that was subjected to [[Exterminatus]], [[Awesome|and the sound it makes as it flies through the air is said to be the screams of those who died in the exterminatus that powered it.]]

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=== Stormsword Siege Cannon ===
[[File:Stormsword_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Stormsword Siege Cannon]]
The Stormsword Siege Cannon fires big bunker-busting rocket-propelled shells. Unfortunately, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] never considered that crews might want to fire at things other than ground floors of nearby buildings, so the cannon cannot elevate very far (though, if it did elevate too far, the recoil might just rip it out of the turret). It makes up for this by being able to turn entire city blocks to dust with a single shot.

The weapon and vehicle itself is built specifically for sieges and street-fighting, the Stormsword is geared towards providing troops close-quarter support with a variety of heavy weapons whilst its cannon is used to lay waste to entire encamped bunkers and buildings.

It used to be that the [[Stormsword]] just had a Hellhammer Cannon that couldn't swivel, but apparently that made them too similar, so in the sixth-edition version of [[Apocalypse]], GW made the Hellhammer Cannon a 7" blast and left the Stormsword with the 10" pie-plate.

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===Tremor Cannon===
[[File:Tremor_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Tremor Cannon]]
Most cannons launch shells that are fuzed to explode on or shortly before impact. Not the [[Banehammer]]'s Tremor Cannon: after landing it buries into the ground before it detonates. This muffles the blast (S8 AP3 is actually the lowest-strength and worst AP of all the super-heavy tank guns), but it sends a tremendous shockwave through the earth that leaves enemies not caught in the blast stumbling and slowed. The fluff describes this as ''liquifying'' the surrounding terrain.

Imagine the ground under your feet giving way, suddenly having the consistency of water. By the time you've figured out what's happened, you're partially buried in the dirt and have to dig yourself out before the enemy comes and shoots you like a horse with a broken leg. And that's if you're lucky, it's entirely possible to get buried completely and suffocate to death under several feet of earth and rubble. You can see why it would be very, very bad to be on the receiving end of this weapon.

In theory it would also make a decent wall and bunker cracker.

==Artillery==

Sometimes, the Imperial Guard can't get in range to use tanks, or could, but only at a cost that even the [[Departmento Munitorum]] would find staggering, like when they are attacking enemy fortresses. To overcome such obstacles, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] had a brilliant idea: make even bigger guns with a longer range. These guns are so big that they cannot be fired on the move; they are often built into static defensive positions, or for [[Imperial Guard Regiment|regiments]] that need to be more mobile, they may have guns placed on towed platforms, or on self-propelled chassis (see [[Imperial Ordnance Pieces]] for more information).

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===Thunderfire Cannon===
[[File:SM-thunderfire.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Thunderfire Cannon]]
''Not to be confused with the [[Squats|SPESS DORF's]] [[Thunder-Fire Cannon]]. For the full page, [[Thunderfire Cannon|see here.]]''

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===Griffon Heavy Mortar===
[[File:Griffon_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Griffon Heavy Mortar]]
The Griffon Heavy Mortar is the smallest and lightest of the artillery guns. This weapon has been a source of [[Skub]] in-universe.

Critics of the Griffon claim that its main weapon is too small to warrant its vehicular mounting, while tying up fire control and observation assets needed by much larger pieces. For its supporters though, the Griffon is the ideal compromise between weight, firepower, mobility and ease of use. Its heavy mortar is excellent against infantry and light vehicles, freeing heavier artillery for use against more appropriate targets, and can maintain a high rate of fire. The vehicle is also capable of keeping pace with rapid advances for which heavier vehicles like the Basilisk are too slow to maintain.

Its firepower is not impressive (it's S6 AP-1 and ignores cover), and its range is also relatively short (48"), but because it is so small and light, it can sustain higher rates of fire than other guns and, when carried in the heavy chassis of a [[Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier]], it can be fired indirectly and roll two dice dropping the lowest for number of attacks).

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===Stormshard Mortar===
[[File:Stormshard_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Stormshard Mortar]]
Take a mortar and give it the firepower of a machinegun. [[Dakka|You get yourselves a Stormshard Mortar.]]

The Stormshard Mortar is an artillery system commonly mounted in two pairs on Imperial Guard [[Wyvern Suppression Tank|Wyverns.]] These mortars excel in urban warfare, firing shrapnel down on enemy infantry without exposing the vehicle itself to harm. It is a fairly close range weapon for artillery, but it is needed in the heavily tight space of Hive Cities where the chance of an artillery shell hitting the rooftops of some poor hobo's house is actually quite high.

Because of the chance of facing against [[Tyranids|Horde]] [[Orks|Armies]], the Wyvern mounts not one, but ''TWO'' sets of Stormshards. These means that these badboys carry four mortars on one turret. [[Rape|Add to the fact that they can fire on auto and you have a weapon system that eats Swarmers for breakfast.]] All of the fucking yes!

Given it's similarity to the Heavy Quad-Launcher, it is likely the same weapon firing different ammo.

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===Earthshaker Cannon===
[[File:Earthshaker2.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Earthshaker Cannon]]
The Earthshaker Cannon is the [[#Battle Cannon|Battle Cannon]] of artillery pieces: common, highly recognizable and very lethal (S9 AP-3 Dd3 anywhere within twenty feet). It fires its shots further than any weapon except for the [[Manticore Launcher Tank]] and [[Deathstrike Missile Launcher]].

This 132mm caliber weapon has a muzzle velocity of 814 meters per second and fires a 38 kg projectile, hitting targets over 15 km away in under 19 seconds, using the standard five powder charge.

Six and seven powder charges can be used to hit targets well beyond this range, however the additional wear and stress this causes on the barrel limits the number of overcharged rounds to twenty, with authorization for their use required. Only Earthshakers on static mounts can fire these charges, as vehicle mounts are considered too unstable for their use. The most common type of shell fired by Earthshakers are high explosive, but it can also launch incendiary, smoke, illumination, and even diamantine-tipped armor piercing shells. Shells fired by Earthshakers have been known to cause craters fifteen meters in diameter and obliterate infantry in an instant.

The Earthshaker is most often mounted on the [[Basilisk Artillery Gun|Basilisk self-propelled artillery tank,]] though it also appears in static artillery positions as well as built into fortifications.

Amusingly enough despite being depicted as an artillery gun in 40k, the Earthshaker is modeled after the long-barelled WWII German [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41 Flak 88] rather than a field howitzer from the same epoch.

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===Medusa Siege Cannon===
[[File:MedusaGun.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Medusa Siege Cannon]]
The Medusa Siege Gun is an aging siege weapon used by the Imperial Guard both as a towed artillery piece and mounted on the [[Medusa (tank)|Medusa Siege Tank.]] Compared to the Earthshaker Cannon the Medusa fires a much larger shell at lower velocities. This gives it immense destructive capabilities, useful in breaching the walls of an enemy fortress or destroying bunkers in a single shot, but it consequently has a much shorter firing range, even compared to other siege weapons like the Bombard. For this reason they are less useful for harassing and counter-battery fire, but are still prized by many siege regiments for their ability to blast enemy walls, installations, bunkers and trenches.

The Medusa Siege Cannon is the shortest-ranged of the Imperium's artillery weapons at 36" (Breacher shells on the carriage to 48"), but it is not meant to launch munitions over fortified walls; rather, it is meant to shoot fortifications directly and destroy them (which it certainly does, at S10 AP-3 Dd3) -- and when regular shells aren't enough, they can fire special Breacher shells that sacrifice indirect fire for d6 damage to buildings.

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===Colossus Siege Mortar===
[[File:ColossusSiegeMortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Colossus Siege Mortar]]
The Colossus Siege Mortar is huge, cumbersome and highly destructive, and it's so large that its shells have to be loaded by cranes instead of by hand. It fires massive concussive rounds that will turn its target to paste (as long as it's a human wearing something less than terminator armor -- S6 AP-2 Dd3 is good against infantry blobs, not so much for harder targets), even if they are hiding in cover.

Because one cannon wasn't enough, the Imperium built the Dominus Armored Siege Bombard, a variant of the [[CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT]] that carries an automated ''trio'' of Colossus cannons (though the Dominus only costs as much as two [[Colossus Bombard|Colossi]]...which actually makes sense, as the Colossi are built on a Leman Russ chassis where-as the Dominus just has to pay for an extra cannon, not a whole new vehicle to carry it).

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===Dominus Triple Bombard===
[[File:DominusTripleBombard.png|200px|right|thumb|Dominus Triple Bombard]]
Hey! Remember how we said that a certain Imperium vehicle was actually big enough to mount not one, but THREE Colossus Siege Mortars? Well here it is, the Dominus Triple Bombard found only on the DOMINUS ARMOURED SIEGE BOMBARD. This monster is a god damned tarpit cleanser.

An automated battery of three Bombard cannons rigged to fire together in sequence, it can pulverize anything caught within its field of fire. The Triple Bombard has two rates of fire: a slower rate the Dominus is limited to when on the move, and the second a higher rate for sustained fire when it is stationary.

In practice the Dominus throws [[Rape|10d6 S10 ap-3 shots with indirect fire when stationary,]] easily wiping any unit foolish enough to be larger than 5 models. S10 Ap3 is also a serious threat to any armor short of a titan, and the weight of shots pretty much guarantees an overkill of single model targets.

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===Basilisk Magnus===
[[File:SoulstormBasiliskMagnus.png|200px|right|thumb|Basilisk Magnus]]
Get a Earthshaker Cannon. [[Drug|Pump it full of steroids and growth hormones]] and make it big enough to launch an [[Angry Marine]] at full force. Ladies and gentlemen, the Basilisk Magnus is born. Seriously, this thing is the size of a [[Baneblade]].

Exclusive in [[Dawn of War]] or more specifically, the Soulstorm expansion. The Basilisk Magnus is a large artillery platform, defending the 252nd Conservator Regiment's stronghold in the Dussala Precinct on Kaurava I. It fires devastating rounds that creates a wide area of destruction, though it needs a spotter to acquire targets. If the artillery spotter is killed before the Basilisk Magnus' operators receive the targeting information, it will not be able to fire.

This honking piece of [[Rape]] was notorious for hitting something as small as a [[Gretchin]] from one end of the map. Shame there isn't a tabletop conversion....yet.

<gallery>
image:Basilisk_Magnus.jpg
</gallery>

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===Thunder-Fire Cannon===
[[File:Thunder-FireCannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Thunder'''-Fire''' Cannon]]
''Not to be confused with the SPESS MEHREEN's [[Thunderfire Cannon]]. For the full page, [[Thunder-Fire Cannon|see here.]]''

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===Nemesis Quake Cannon===
[[File:99560108206_WarbringerTitanQuakeCannon01.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Nemesis Quake Cannon]]
The Quake Cannon on steroids, or the holy lovechild between a Quake Cannon and a Gatling Blaster, [[Skub|whichever you ask.]] These monsters are possibly the largest gun model ever made by Games Workshop on tabletop....''for now'' at least. Mounted on the new and shiny [[Warbringer Nemesis Titan]]. This giant six-shot revolver of doom is designed to kill enemy Titans on sight, thus in any sensible usage, this weapon is regulated at the back lines as a giant sniper, unfortunately the Imperium [[Herp|lacks any sensibility]] and uses these as front line weapons instead. Nevertheless, having a fast firing Quake Cannon '''''is''''' a boon to any forces as now you have a very quick way to whither down the [[Void shields|Void Shields]] of enemy Titans in a quick and efficient manner rather than risking the time reloading. And seeing how this Titan gained prominence during the [[Horus Heresy]] when [[Emperor Battle Titan|Emperor Battle Titans]] were common enough to be thrown left and right like normal battle tanks, the nature of this weapon makes a whole load of sense. This cannon also works wonders against heavily fortified encampments and any forms of fortifications in general due to the monumental concussive force unleashed as its shell impacts the ground setting off powerful localized earthquakes. Overall, what has been said on the [[Autogun]] page has already been mostly stated here.

However there is a reason why this giant dick cannon is here. It also functions extremely well as artillery. Unlike the more average Quake Cannon which is restricted to purely a superheavy tank gun due to the design of the Banesword; preventing any proper gun elevation, let alone install a proper turret and hit anything beyond 90 degrees. The Warbringer Titan is a big enough platform to not only mount a supersized Quake Cannon, but also spacious enough to install a proper turret module and some proper elevation. This allows the Nemesis Quake Cannon to launch its bullets in an arc and turns it into a supersized Earthshaker Cannon.

Of course, it is a designated Titan-killer first and foremost, but the nature of the Quake Shell also means that - as aforementioned before - it could function amazingly well against fortresses and entire fleets of smaller ground vehicles. The powerful concussive shockwaves would liquefy the grounds of enemy armor, forcing them to halt its advance and even sink them through the ground if the terrain collapse. It could also weaken the foundations of fortress walls and bunkers, causing it to collapse on itself or outright shattering the walls through brute force.

===Goliath Mega-Cannon===
[[File:GoliathCannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Goliath Mega-Cannon]]
A hilariously [[Dick|phallic]] weapon made by [[Squats|They-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named]]. The Goliath Mega-Cannon, both the gun ''and'' [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|the vehicle]] (Don't tell us why they decided to name both weapon and vehicle the same) is one of the largest artillery pieces ever known and fielded.

Basically each shell weighed several tons and was powerful enough to shatter entire fortifications and turn a fleet of Baneblades inside out. These motherfuckers were the Schwerer Gustav in all but name.

Curiously, the gun never really needed any shock absorbers to control the immense recoil. However it could be that the Goliath Mega-Cannon (The vehicle, not the gun) doesn't need one as the vehicle's own base ''is'' the gun's base.

The power of the Goliath means that each cannon fires its own barrage template. A Goliath attack is worth four barrage points plus the roll of a D6, giving a score between 5 and 10. The super heavy shells fired by the Goliath are so good at reducing fortifications to rubble that it ignores hit modifiers for cover altogether.

The Goliath lobs its shells high into the air to achieve its mammoth range, but it can't depress its barrel to hit a very close target. This means a Goliath can't shoot at targets closer than 50cm, so it has a min range of 50cm. They also don't have any self-defense secondary weapons so you need a few Thunder-Fire Cannons to offer cover support and picking off any units near the Goliath.

Of course, all of these rules are now outdated. But it is pretty cool to see the power it once had.

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===Behemoth Cannon===
[[File:Behemoth_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Behemoth Cannon]]
The largest artillery field piece to date. Until GW decides to one-up themselves and invent a even ''bigger'' artillery piece.

The Behemoth Cannon is a massive weapon that is the primary armament of the [[Capitol Imperialis]]. The giant landships that can be mistaken for a city block and is tall enough that a goddamned motherfucking [[Warlord Battle Titan]] can use for cover. The Behemoth Cannon is so large that four [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]s could fit within its barrel (Although the models and artwork definitely disagrees with that statement), and the concussive force of firing the weapon can produce a mushroom cloud and shake the earth itself.

It is basically a land-bound and more mobile version of a Macrocannon.
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{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}
[[Category:Warhammer_40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Imperial Ordnance

2019-01-02T02:22:11Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* Heavy Grenade Launchers */

{{topquote|Infantry win firefights, tanks win battles, artillery wins wars.|Common sentiment amongst the [[Imperial Guard]] senior staff.}}

That's how the saying goes. And it's true. Without the big guns you are doomed to be [[Ork|murdered gruesomely for the lulz of it]], [[Tyranids|get eaten]] or [[Chaos|have your soul used as a condom]] for all eternity. The Imperium knows this and has devised a truly staggering amount of heavy guns dedicated to ruining your shit into next Sunday from anywhere in between half a mile to half a continent away.

== Man-portable Weapons ==
The lightest of indirect support weapons can be carried by individual or paired soldiers. While this makes them tactically more flexible, they have reduced firepower compared to their heavier counterparts.

===Grenade Launcher===
[[File:Grenade Launcher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Grenade Launcher]]
The grenade launcher is a light, man-portable weapon capable of firing small explosive charges. It is primarily employed by the Imperial Guard, with almost every trooper squad featuring at least one of them. Grenade launchers are a common weapon used by Imperial Guard infantry squads thanks to their ability to lob grenades greater distances and with more accuracy than can be thrown.

Their primary duty is to lay down suppressive fire and destroy light vehicles and buildings. It has a choice of two different payloads, anti infantry Fragmentation grenades, and anti-armour Krak grenades.

Space Marines scout bikers utilise a variation of this weapon, the "Astartes pattern" Grenade Launcher. It fires the same rounds, but with an increased rate of fire.
<gallery>
File:CadianShockTroopsGrenadeLauncher.png
image:ScoutBikeGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Scout Bike</center>
</gallery>

===Vengeance Grenade Launcher===
[[File:VengeanceLauncher.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Vengeance Grenade Launcher]]
A grenade launcher only found in the [[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Vidya Game of SPEEES MEHREEEEENS!]]

A much more tactical weapon than its assault-orientated cousins.

The Vengeance Grenade Launcher is an experimental Adeptus Mechanicus weapon created on the Forge world Graia just prior to the Ork invasion of Warboss Grimskull. The Vengeance Grenade Launcher is not authorized for use off world, but those Space Marines who have field tested the weapon attest to its effectiveness against a range of targets. The launcher can fire out up to five fusion charges that stick to surfaces and then be remotely detonated.

The current status of this weapon is unknown.

<gallery>
File:TitusVengeanceZoomed.png|Captain Titus holding one of these badboys.
</gallery>

===Grenadier Gauntlet===
[[File:GrenadierGauntlet.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Grenadier Gauntlet]]
Think of it as a heavy grenade launcher or a sawn-off Missile Launcher.

The Grenadier Gauntlet is a type of heavy Grenade Launcher used by Imperial Guard [[Ogryn|Bullgryn.]] Like all Ogryn weapons such as the Ripper Gun, the Grenadier Gauntlet is not meant for accuracy and range, instead it is constructed like a giant baton. The grenade launching mechanism is just a feature for the Bullgryn to launch something explosive at an enemy he can't reach.

The foes are often left reeling and shell-shocked even before the maul-wielding Ogryns charge into their midst and bludgeon the survivors into a red paste.

In terms of the firing mechanism, the Grenadier Gauntlet obviously works like any normal grenade launcher. However it does have a lower set of ammunition due to the Ogryn's natural stupidity and inability to understand the concept of reloading.

Still, as a baton, it is naturally incredibly tough to withstand the immense strength of a rampaging Ogryn as well as simple enough to use for these dumbasses.

<gallery>
image:BullgrynGauntlet.png|<center>Alternate View</center>
</gallery>

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===Grenade Harness===
[[File:GrenadeHarness.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Grenade Harness]]
The Cyclone Missile Launcher of Grenade Launchers.

The Grenade Harness is a type of Grenade Launcher mounted on some Space Marine Terminator Armour. These launchers allow for a barrage of Frag grenades, usually before a charge by the Terminators.

The Grenade Harness has a lower ammunition capacity than a regular Grenade Launcher due to its smaller size. It is thus used tactically in surgical strikes in order to maximize the weapon's potential.

Like the Cyclone, it functions the same way but with an obvious decrease in weapon range and output.

<gallery>
image:GorgonTerminatorGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Gorgon Terminator</center>
</gallery>

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===Balistus Grenade Launcher===
[[File:BalistaGrenadeLauncher.png|150px|right|thumb|Balistus Grenade Launcher]]
A new type of grenade launcher wielded by the [[Adeptus Custodes|Golden Boys in Shining Armor.]]

Balistus Grenade Launchers are potent ranged weapons wielded by the Adeptus Custodes, which excel at piercing armor like a giant [[Bolter]]. The only users of these weapons are the venerable [[Allarus Custodians]]. It is unknown if the more common [[Aquilon Terminator|Aquilon Terminators]] (assuming they still exist) have permission to carry these around.

Like the wrist-mounted bolters carried around by Gray Knight Terminators, the Balistus Grenade Launcher works on the same principle. Except, instead of providing covering/suppressing fire in close to medium range, these things mulch infantry at longer ranges.

It is unknown where the Grenade Launcher stores its ammunition, given the relative size of the barrel in contrast to the size of the weapon itself. Maybe it is a single shot weapon? It is stated to be drum-fed but if it is drumfed, it must be either the galaxy's first invisible drum magazine or the Imperium rediscovered how to make and use pym particles and that tiny stick magazine attached to it is supposed to fit enough ammo to last a battle.

The choice of a grenade launcher as an anti-heavy infantry weapon is also bizarre, as grenade launchers are low velocity guns that fire thin skinned shells which basically make the shell itself relatively harmless for a round of its size if you're just looking at the kinetic energy. A dud round from a grenade launcher might not even hit someone hard enough to kill them, as all the killing power of the round comes from the explosive. You'd think it's some kind of HEAT round, but those focus the force of the blast on a single target by shaping the explosion to launch a jet of molten metal to achieve penetration and so wouldn't have the d3 shot profile given to what used to be small blast weapons.

So the most reasonable theory is that the grenade launcher's rounds are a kind of frag round whose shells are filled with a high grade sort of shrapnel able to shred right through most forms of personal armour in use in the galaxy. Because the shrapnel would be tiny, large monsters and vehicles would shrug it off as the shrapnel would lose energy before cutting too deeply into them, which fits with its not amazing strength characteristic, but infantry would be losing limbs, organs, and organs and power armour, cyborg augmentations, or robotic parts would have their delicate internal components devastated. In other words, basically launching a bomb full of some of the sharpest stuff known to man to reduce people to confetti and thus provide for choppy dakka. Khorne and Gork would be pleased.

<gallery>
image:AllarusCustodianGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Close-up View</center>
</gallery>

==Heavy Grenade Launchers==
A much bigger variant of the standard grenade launcher that peppers the battlefield with explosive munitions.

===Frag Cannon===
The Frag Cannon is the name of two different weapons. One used by the [[Deathwatch]] and the other mounted on [[Dreadnoughts]] of the [[Blood Angels]]. Regardless we can guess that they both automatic grenade launchers at different calibers. Making them at least 40mm in size or larger.

====Deathwatch Frag Cannon====
Version exclusively used by Space Marine Deathwatch Veterans. This is a belt fed grenade spewing death machine. It's so new that there is no fluff to explain how it works. So we'll have to make guesses based on it's weapon profile. Deathwatch Frag Cannons fire at least two different rounds. The first turns it into a slightly better Heavy Flamer. The other make it a short range rocket launcher that hits twice. That becomes a [[Lascannon]] at half range. A squad can take about four of these things. In the same unit as Terminators and other Deathwatch exclusive [[dakka]]. [[Xeno]]s and [[Chaos]] forces should consider themselves lucky that weapons like Barrage [[Plasma Gun]]s, [[Melta|Atomizer Cannons]] and Techxorcism Guns are ultra rare. [[Anal_Circumference|As the Deathwatch can deploy these things in a single Veteran Squad.]]

====Blood Angels Frag Cannon====

The older larger version exclusively mounted on Furioso Dreadnoughts. Their range is much shorter than their smaller counterparts and lack the versatility of their smaller counterparts. Making up for it with a higher volume of fire.

===Auto-Launcher===
[[File:RepulsorAutoLauncher2.png|200px|right|thumb|Auto-Launcher]]
Resembling a rack/box of grenades, Auto-launchers are vehicle-mounted grenade launchers similar to Smoke Launchers. The [[Repulsor Tank|Repulsor]] is the most infamous user of these weapons.

They are simple, six-barreled – though the ones on the Repulsor have eight, for some reason – weapons mounted on vehicle hulls, firing salvos of either three grenades types at a time: Frag, Krak, and Blind. They are useful for when you are indecisive on whether you want immediate proximity defense or just a simple smoke screen. The Auto-Launcher carries six grenades, all of the same type. Auto-Launchers are best identified by the literal racks of exposed grenade/missiles pointed randomly everywhere. Why the Imperium thought it was a good idea to place these weapons on extremely random places is unknown since these grenades would not be able to hit its targets tactically...[[Awesome|unless those grenades can home on their targets, of course]]. But in all seriousness, this is because the design of these weapons is based on real life active protection systems which spit out slugs, shrapnel blasts, and sometimes even small rockets in the direction of incoming projectiles in order to shoot them down. This being the Imperium, however, they have decided that it will work just as well as an actual weapon, rather than just a defensive tool.

While you'd think them being externally mounted runs the risk of someone shooting at the exposed grenades and causing them to detonate, we should note that all the charges face outward, and so they are not capable of doing damage to the vehicle they are mounted on; and '''B''': they are designed (''assuming they really are based on our active protection systems'') to deal with incoming projectiles, so even if they are pointed the right (''in the perspective of the tank's crew, wrong'') way. the blast would not be able to much damage to the armour... unless the the grenades in question are Kraks.

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===Ironclad Assault Launcher===
[[File:IroncladAssaultLauncher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Ironclad Assault Launcher]]

Like the Fragstorm Grenade Launcher but for [[Centurion Squad|Centurions]] and [[Dreadnoughts]].

The Ironclad Assault Launcher is mounted on the Ironclad Dreadnoughts or Centurions. It projects both offensive and defensive grenades. On the Centurion, they are located on the torso, between the arms and the chest. They are the four squarish pods that house these grenades. On a Dreadnought, it comes in two sets of six like what you can find installed on top of some Land Raiders' tracks. The sets of two variant similar to the Centurion can also be found on the Caestus Assault Ram by the opening hatches, complementing its [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Melta#Magna-Melta Magna-Melta]. Like with the auto-launcher, this is essentially a defensive system being used offensively, spitting out all its grenades in something resembling a shotgun blast from hell to either demolish obstacles, suppress the enemy, or tear them to shreds.

On tabletop, the Ironclad Assault Launchers gives both the Ironclad Dreadnought and Centurions the ability to deal d3 mortal wounds to units within 1" of it after a charge on a 4+, which ensures they'll be softened up when you begin the fight phase.

<gallery>
image:IroncladLauncher.jpg|<center>Centurion Variant</center>
image:CaestusAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Caestus Assault Ram Variant</center>
image:LandRaiderAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Land Raider Variant</center>
image:SpartanAssaultLauncher.jpg|<center>Spartan Variant</center>
</gallery>

===Fragstorm Grenade Launcher===
[[File:FragstormGrenadeLauncher.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Fragstorm Grenade Launcher]]
Think the Grenade Harness for Dreadnoughts.

Fragstorm Grenade Launchers are a type of grenade launcher used by Primaris Space Marines. Like the Grenade Harness, these launchers allow for the firing of a barrage of frag grenades before a charge. However, they can also be used defensively when the Dreadnought is surrounded by enemies and they just need to pepper a targeted radius with shrapnel and explosions.

They are equipped for anti-personnel roles to Aggressor Squads and Redemptor Dreadnoughts.

Their more tank-busting equivalents is the similarly named Krakstorm Grenade Launcher.

And no, despite their appearance, they have in no way related to the Auto-Launcher by function.

<gallery>
image:PrimarisAggressorGrenadeLauncher.png|<center>Primaris Aggressor</center>
</gallery>

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===Krakstorm Grenade Launcher===
[[File:PrimarisRepulsorKrakstorm.png|200px|right|thumb|Krakstorm Grenade Launcher]]
It's literally a Fragstorm Grenade Launcher that fires, you guessed it, Krak Grenades.

A Krakstorm Grenade Launcher is a type of Imperial Grenade Launcher usually wielded by the Primaris Space Marines that fires a volley of three aforementioned Krak Grenades at a time upon the enemy. It is deployed for use as an anti-armor or anti-fortification weapon by [[Repulsor Tank|Repulsor grav tanks.]]

Although there is no evidence of it being mounted on the [[Redemptor Dreadnought]], the fact that the ammunition of both the Frag and Krak are superficially similiar means it wouldn't be ''that'' out of the blue if GW decides to update the Dreadnought with these weapons.

Like the Auto-Launchers, the Krakstorm Grenade Launcher carries the same issue of it being awkward to aim, with the only logical explanation if that the Krak grenades themselves have homing features like that of a missile.

In terms of rules, they act as they are named. Good vehicle killers, although the sheer amount of anti-tank weapons that the Repulsor carries means that these weapons are best used for killing any stragglers.

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===Blackstar Cluster Launcher===
[[File:BlackstarCluster.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Blackstar Cluster Launcher]]

An aerial grenade ordnance that fires from the air rather than on the ground. Air superiority and all that.

The Blackstar Cluster Launcher is an array of two six-barreled Grenade Launchers mounted on the rear of [[Deathwatch]] [[Corvus Blackstar]] gunships. These allow the pilot of the Blackstar to sow a hailstorm of munitions in his wake as he strafes the primary target. The launcher is capable of firing either fragmentation or incendiary munitions. If you wanna re-enact a miniature bombing of Berlin, the Blackstar has got your back.

As you can imagine, having a unit that can just fly over and drop what is essentially bombs without the risk of going close to enemy fire on a rather sluggish platform is pretty sweet. Thus, the Blackstar rocks a delightful Blackstar Cluster launcher, which lets you bomb a unit you flew over. For every model in the unit (up to 10), roll a die and, on a 6, that unit takes a mortal wound.

[[Tl;dr]], the Imperium has created a plane that [[Shitstorm|literally shits out bird poop]]....while...[[Bullshit|more like explosive diarrhea.]]

== Mortar ==
A mortar is an artillery weapon that launches shells in a high arc. They tend to have relatively short barrels and fire shells at relatively low velocities. The Imperial Guard uses them in two sizes: the standard man-portable mortar, carried and operated by two Imperial Guard troopers; and the heavy mortar, which can be used in static or towed artillery mounts, or mounted in a Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier. They can destroy light infantry and light vehicles easily enough, but are unlikely to trouble heavy infantry or vehicles with tank-grade armour.

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===Light Mortar===
[[File:CadianMortarZoomed.png|200px|right|thumb|Light Mortar]]
The most common form of Mortars is...well....the Mortar. Some may call it the Light Mortar due to the smaller payload and size but whatever. The Mortar looks like...a basic modern Mortar found in use in today's armies. I guess the design haven't change for over 40,000 years, but hey, if it's not broken, don't fix it.

The Light Mortar fires an explosive shell on a high-arching trajectory capable of flying over the heads of nearby troops and crashing down on the rear ranks of the enemy. Its primary use is in the anti-personnel role, breaking up enemy infantry formations and pinning them down.

Mortars are prized for their ability to lay down a curtain of fire from behind cover, and while not particularly accurate their explosive power makes up for this deficiency. However this indirect-fire capability requires accurate targeting information to be effective and the use of spotters with proper vox-protocols in order to avoid friendly fire. Standard procedures has the spotters locate targets, whether through visual or remote-servitor means, and send a fire request to the mortar crew's [[Imperial Guard Command Squad|Platoon Command Squad,]] which plots a firing solution and relays that information to the mortar teams assembled, adjusting fire as required.

In 8th Edition, the Mortar is now a 48" Heavy D6 S4 AP0 D1 heavy weapon, and may fire indirectly. Down in cost, and along with the [[Nerf|nerf]] to the [[Wyvern]] this brings it back into the realm of 'good' choices. At 11 points a gun team, it's a dirt cheap light and medium infantry muncher. Because of the revision to the way AP works it's in direct competition with the Heavy Bolter; this ALSO means it's in indirect competition with your entire motor pool. Consider this when the challenge of fitting half a dozen kits' worth of mortar tubes into your list is a daunting prospect. Becomes much more viable in games using a lot of scenery or buildings, so take it when you need to lob some pain over that city block or hill that your other heavy weapons can't shoot through.
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===Mole Mortar===
[[File:Mole_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Mole Mortar]]
Basically a reverse Mortar. In that it travels ''underground'' rather than overhead. It's more of a torpedo then a Mortar, but it got 'Mortar' in the name and we need to stick it somewhere.

The missile burrows its way toward its target, bypassing all surface hazards and defenses, emerging from the ground beneath the target. The missile is self-guided and able to track its target through solid rock. [[Mole Mortar Team|As an invention of the]] [[Squats|Sphess Dorfs]], the Mole Mortar soon found its way up the ranks of the [[Imperial Guard]] due to its unorthodox firing methods.

The Mole Mortar was originally developed to destroy enemy tunneling vehicles but was so successful that now used as a [[Wat|short-ranged assault weapon,]] even though such premonitions sounds outright [[Stupid]] let alone suicidal, it is worth remembering that since vehicles have thinner bottom armor if you can get a hit on a tank it's going to be fairly devastating. It is sometimes used to breach fortifications too strong for conventional weaponry to damage. Due to the unique way it operates, the mole mortar is able to circumvent most defenses, striking from below to explode within bunkers and other structures.

Heck, the Mole Mortar was so popular in the Guard that it eventually led to the creation of the Mole Launcher. [[Original character, do not steal|Figures.]]

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===Heavy Mortar===
[[File:Heavy_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Mortar]]
The Heavy Mortar is a larger support version of the standard Mortar used by the Imperial Guard. Its primary advantages are a wide range of ammunition types, a high rate of fire, and simplicity to construct and maintain. However its massive size means the heavy mortar must either be towed into place by a [[Trojan Support Vehicle|Trojan]] or [[Centaur Utility Vehicle|Centaur]]. A special version of this is mounted on the [[Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier|Griffon Mortar Carrier.]]

While they were once quite popular with many Imperial Guard regiments, the use of heavy mortars has fallen out of favor in recent years, since for many commanders it lacks both the heavy firepower and long reach of much larger artillery pieces, limiting its use in box-barrages or counter-battery fire. Towed heavy mortars have become even less popular, being seen as too slow to keep up with advancing mechanized units, and have largely been regulated to PDFs and Siege Regiments.

For all their faults heavy mortars also have a number of advantages. They are an excellent close support weapons for engaging enemy infantry and light vehicles, freeing the heavier artillery for use against more appropriate targets, and can maintain a steady rate of fire for hours. Its versatility also allows it to fulfill a variety of other roles, from launching illumination shells during night battles or laying down a smoke screen before an infantry attack.

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===Karacnos Mortar Battery===
[[File:Karacnos_Nukes.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Karacnos Mortar Battery]]
The [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] have their own mortar and [[Lord of the Rings|it is a mortar to rule them all.]] Called the Karacnos Mortar Battery which is so named after the [[Karacnos Assault Tank|vehicle it is mounted on.]] The Karacnos Mortar Battery is special cause it uses ''[[Fallout|radioactive warheads]]'' [[Awesome|as its armaments!]] You can't get more metal than that! As it is basically firing a barrage of dirty bombs, this mortar fires its radioactive warheads which is designed to sweep an area clear of all organic life.

As you can imagine, these badboys aren't that well liked for those Imperial Commanders who want to have a idyllic and livable planet to prosper. Seriously, a couple of these batteries would turn a city into a uninhabitable wasteland that only a [[Death Korps of Krieg|Krieger from a Death Korps would enjoy.]]

On tabletop ([[Horus Heresy|The 30k rules at least]]), the Mortar is a R60 heavy bolter with barrage, small blast, fleshbane, radphage, Ignores cover and pinning which seems good on paper but with the majority of targets getting armour saves this mostly equates to a longer range Wyvern.

=={{anchor|Leman Russ}} Tank Guns ==

These guns are too large to be carried by infantry (excluding "heavy" weapons such as [[lascannon]]s and [[autocannon]]s), but are still small enough that a heavy vehicle, like the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], can carry and fire them while in the thick of battle. It should be noted that certain [[Autogun|Autoweapons]] are also a form of ordnance. So don't be too surprised if you see a few similiar faces around here.

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===Battle Cannon===
[[File:Battle_Cannon_Leman_Russ.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Battle Cannon]]
The primary weapon of the [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]], it is the most commonly used tank gun for good reason: the Battle Cannon can pull double duty as both an anti-tank and anti-infantry weapon thanks to its considerable range (72"), strength (S8 AP3 = instant death to [[MEQ]]s and capable of damaging any vehicle) and explosion size (5" blast = blob-killer). The cannon proved so popular that it was made the primary armament of the [[Macharius (tank)|Macharius]] and [[Malcador (tank)|Malcador]] super-heavy tanks, and has been forked into several versions by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]:
{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile|name=Battle Cannon (Leman Russ)|range=72|strength=8|ap=3|type=Ordnance|rof=|rules=Blast (5")}}
 

Since the revamping of the AP-system and moving away from "blast template" mechanics, the stats for battle cannons were changed, becoming something of this 
{{40k-Ranged-Weapon-Profile-8|name=Battle Cannon (8th Edition)|range=72|strength=8|ap=-2|damage=D3|type=Heavy D6|}}
It is worth noting that while AP-2 now allowes 3+ and 4+ armour to actually provide at least some save-roll (5+ save for 3+ armour and 6+ save for 4+ armour), 2+ armour (like that of the Terminators) now only get 4+ save instead of 2+.

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==={{anchor|Conqueror Cannon}} Conqueror Battle Cannon===
[[File:LRConq.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Conqueror Battle Cannon]]
Fitted to the [[Leman Russ Conqueror]], this is essentially a lighter and smaller version of the Battle Cannon. Its shorter range and smaller blast radius is more than compensated by the reduced recoil and higher rate of fire, allowing for an even greater damage output than a Battle Cannon. Like the battle cannon the Conqueror cannon is capable of firing high explosive, anti-tank, smoke, illumination, and even Hunter shells, although not infernus rounds. The Forge World Gryphonne IV also designed a special shell just for this weapon, known as the '''Augur Shell'''. While similar to an HE shell when the Augur's impact detonator is triggered the thin shell wall splits open and the soft explosive charge is spread across the target; a microsecond later the secondary detonator in the base of the shell ignites the explosive. This causes cratering and cracking of the target's outer armor, while inside the target it produces spalling capable of damaging internal equipment and wounding or killing personnel (Which sounds extraordinarily similar to HESH ammunition). However the shell was not considered a success and in the end relatively few were produced.

On the tabletop, it's a "Heavy" weapon, as opposed to "Ordnance", which allows the carrying vehicle to fire its sponson weapons at full ballistic skill (though, since the Conqueror is not a heavy tank, that only applies if it holds still...).

In 8th Edition it's just a Battle Cannon with 50% of the range (36").

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=== Macharius Battle Cannon ===
[[File:Malcadorbattlecannon.png|200px|right|thumb|Macharius Battle Cannon]]
The [[Macharius Heavy Tank]] has a twin-barreled variant of the Battle Cannon, because it has a bigger turret and because two barrels are better than one. It also looks like it has a larger bore which means it can fire larger calibers. For all intents and purposes, the Macharius Battle Cannon should be considered as a superheavy weapon if not for the fact that the Macharius itself is not completely in the superheavy category.

It used to actually fire two shots, but that's been changed to a single massive (7") blast in more recent publications similiar to how some video games give sawed-off shotguns a firing mechanism to blows off the two barrels at the same time. Maybe they will get around to making a single massive cannon for it, too. A Macharius Vanquisher Cannon? It exists. But a Macharius with a giant single gun? we wish.

Then 8th Edition drop and we went back to a 2-shot Battle Cannon. Lame.

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==={{anchor|Vanquisher Cannon}} Vanquisher Battle Cannon===
[[File:Vanqcannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Vanquisher Battle Cannon]]
Huge gun, huge range, huge barrel, huge damage. Basically an anti-tank gun fitted on tank destroyers. The Leman Russ Vanquisher has its weapon tooled for only one purpose: to fuck enemy tanks and monsters hard using huge shells.

It sacrifices its blast radius for an improved capacity for armor penetration (AP2, S8 + 2d6 = 10-20 with an average of 15 = roll for the [[anal circumference|circumference]] of the hole that is about to get punched through your armor). The [[Macharius (tank)|Macharius]] can carry twin-linked Vanquisher cannons, and has enough internal space that it can also fire high-explosive shells like the regular Macharius Battle Cannon, so it's like two tanks in one -- and it costs about as much as regular Russ and a Vanquisher put together. 
Worth noting, that the cannon is now somewhat nerfed, being given only S=8,AP-3 while retaining Heavy 1 and gaining D=D6R (the same rule as meltagun, albeit not only when in half-range or less).

The only problem is that the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] lost Tigrus, the only [[Forge World]] that made Vanquisher cannons, to the [[Orks]] in M35 (somehow, you'd think the Imperium would throw so much firepower in defense of such a vital world that nothing could take it), so the only way to make new Vanquisher tanks is to take the cannons off of tanks that have been immobilized -- not a simple feat, given that the cannon is so dangerous to armor and stands out as a priority target for enemies. Two other Forge Worlds, Stygies VIII and Gryphonne IV have stepped up to try and match the old cannons (read: [[Forge World]], the company, has produced two alternate turrets for [[Leman Russ Vanquisher]]s), but they're just not quite there (though it makes no difference on the tabletop, of course). And then Tyranids ate Gryphonne. (It was delicious.)

And it also seems, that as per 6-th edition Astra Militarum Codex and onwards, the fluff was changed to do away with "Vanquisher cannon being rare" altogether - now the Leman Russ Vanquisher is noted as being simply the dedicated anti-armour variant of Leman Russ, often employed as command tank in armoured formations. However, it now also seem that Vanquisher cannon now lost it's ability to fire HE rounds, being able to only fire anti-armour HEAT rounds, something ineffective against infantry formations.

It should be noted that, unlike how many on /tg/ perceive it, the Vanquisher is '''not''' just a Battle Cannon firing specialised Anti-Tank shells. The Guard does use separate specialised HEAT shells for the basic BC, but Imperial Armour shows the Vanquisher Cannon to have a smaller bore than the standard one, while the shells have a greater diameter-to-length ratio and possibly be some form of APFSDS round.

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===Demolisher Cannon===
[[File:Demolisher1Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Demolisher Cannon]]
The Big One. Fitted onto the [[Leman Russ Demolisher]] and packing enough heat to turn [[Terminator|Terminators]] and heavy and super-heavy vehicles inside-out with a single shell, the Demolisher Cannon's short range (24" -- shorter than some infantry weapons) is the only thing that stops it from being a truly amazing weapon.

Even then, it can cause considerable damage (S10 AP2 Large Blast = kiss your everything goodbye) and because it is smaller than the other cannons, is one of the few ordnance weapons used by the [[Space Marines]], mounted on the [[Vindicator]] and [[Land Raider Ares]], and it is used as secondary armament on certain super-heavy tanks, like [[Baneblade]]s and the [[Malcador (tank)|Malcador]].

The Demolisher fires special ammunition much larger than that used in the Battle Cannon, allowing it to punch through layers of concrete and plasteel alike. A Demolisher shell is constructed with an outer layer of standard high explosive and shrapnel, which surrounds a chemical core. Upon impact, the explosive layer detonates, punching a hole in the enemy's armor and spreading shrapnel over a wide area. It also starts a chemical reaction in the core, causing it to super-heat into a jet of plasma, which lances through the compromised armor, spreading molten death over a wide area and literally ripping the target from the inside out. The tremendous recoil produced by firing the cannon is capable of lifting the front end of a tank off the ground and, were it fired while moving, risk causing it to roll over.

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==={{anchor|Nova Cannon}} Eradicator Nova Cannon===
[[File:Leman_Russ_Eradicator_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Eradicator Nova Cannon]]
The Eradicator Nova Cannon fires shells with an unstable "sub-atomic" core (yes, this just might be a tank cannon that fires ''mini-nukes''). These shells are somewhat hazardous to the tank and crew, as they have a non-zero probability of exploding if they get jostled while loading, so most [[Imperial Guard Regiment|regiments]] that use [[Leman Russ Eradicator]]s have a margin for crew losses, and that is without the off chance of radioactive leaks from a faulty shell.

The Eradicator is most effective supporting infantry forces fighting in areas such as cities and jungles, and it is easily replicated on dozens of Forge Worlds. For urban combat however the Eradicator does not feature the additional rear armor found on similar vehicles, leaving it vulnerable to attacks from behind.

They keep using the Nova cannon, though, because the shell's massive blast completely flattens any cover, so unless the targets are power armored, there's no escape for them (S6 AP4 = Instant Death for most standard infantry; less effective for beefier troops). Why a shell that detonates if it's shaken does not go off when it's fired from a freaking cannon is not completely explained by GW.

== {{anchor|Baneblade}} Super-Heavy Tank Guns ==

Technically, these guns can be carried and fired by a vehicle in direct combat, but because that vehicle has to be the size of a [[Baneblade]], they deserve a category of their own.

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===Accelerator Cannon===
[[File:Fellblade_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Accelerator Cannon]]
The main gun of the [[Fellblade]]. It fired armor-piercing explosive ''self-guided'' "darts" via either magnetic acceleration or gravity impellers. It was also twin-linked, though the Fellblade had severely limited ammunition for it, relying mostly on its other weapons until a suitable target presented itself.

This type of cannon used a complex overpressure mechanisms of a special vacuum-based system which can propel heavy shells with greater force than a conventional cannon of similar size. This system is so efficient that they provide very little recoil from every shot, making the Accelerator cannon extremely stable and accurate. The loading mechanism of Accelerator cannon is also highly advanced and served by a special loading mechanism that allows the tank’s commander to switch ammunition type at a little notice.

It was made on the [[Forge World]] of Tigrus (home of the original Vanquisher cannon -- which resembles the Accelerator Cannon quite closely, with the long barrel and large muzzle brake). It can fire high-explosive shells comparable to a super-charged Battle Cannon (S8 AP3 7" Blast) or armor-piercing shells comparable to what would later become the Vanquisher battle cannon (S9 AP2 3" Blast, rolling 2d6 for armor penetration).

Its smaller brother is the Accelerator Autocannon.

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===Macro-Accelerator Cannon===
[[File:MacAccelerator_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Macro-Accelerator Cannon]]
Think of the Accelerator Autocannon on steroids. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is to the Accelerator Cannon in the same way the Accelerator Cannon is to the Accelerator Autocannon (Try and speak that sentence five times in a row).

The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is a large kinetic weapon used by the Primaris Space Marines' [[Astraeus Super-Heavy Tank|Astraeus Super-Heavy Grav Tank]] as its primary armament. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is actually a complex mass driver that uses a potent electromagentic field to accelerate a barrage of high caliber ferro-carbide slugs to extremely high speeds. It is basically an upscaled Imperial railgun. Usually twin-linked, these weapons unleash an onslaught against which even enemy heavy armor cannot stand.

Crunchwise, the fluff seem to match the rules. The Macro-Accelerator Cannon is a vicious Heavy 12, S8, AP-2, Damage 3 that ignores all abilities that impose negative hit modifiers when targeting anything with the FLY keyword. Normal vehicles wouldn't even survive a barrage of these and superheavies would take a beating.

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===Baneblade Cannon===
[[File:Banebladecannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Baneblade Cannon]]
The [[Baneblade]]'s primary cannon is an upscaled Battle Cannon, improved in strength, armor penetration, and blast radius (S9 AP2 10" blast = 10" wide [[lascannon]] pie-plate). Its special shells are not propelled by an explosion, but are rather miniature rockets that increases the shell's range and accuracy tremendously. However, this also leads to the danger of a build-up of gasses in the barrel, which can cause serious harm. To combat this the Baneblade Cannon is built with a double-sleeve design with venting ports studded around the cannon's muzzle, allowing these gasses to escape under their own pressure.

When fired the shell leaves the barrel under its own blast pressure with speed maintained whilst the rocket burns, with each booster burning out and falling away as the next one ignites. This means that the Baneblade's Cannon works on a similiar basis to a upscaled Bolter -- a feature that "counterfeit" Baneblades produced on other [[Forge World]]s are unable to reproduce, and so they substitute standard battle cannon rounds for them. There's no indication that they're much, if at all, different, though.

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===Dreadhammer Cannon===
[[File:Dreadhammer.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Dreadhammer Cannon]]
Back in the [[Great Crusade]], [[Perturabo]] asked the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to build him a new cannon that could level buildings with a single shell and be carried at a reasonable speed. Because the [[Horus Heresy]] hadn't happened yet, and they were thus still feeling like innovating now and then, the tech-priests agreed, and built him the Dreadhammer.

It fires shells that weigh several tons, and experiences so much recoil that even the super-heavy [[Typhon Heavy Siege Tank]] has to limit the propellant used (and thus the range) if it wants to fire on the move. At first, people made fun of Perturabo for asking for (and getting) a super-Demolisher, but it has a bigger blast radius and, if the Typhon stays still, a longer range, and it really does shake buildings to their foundations. The appearance, name, and firepower of the Dreadhammer cannon suggest some connection with the [[Baneblade]]-mounted [[#Hellhammer Cannon|Hellhammer cannon]].

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===Hellhammer Cannon===
[[File:Hellhammer_cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Hellhammer Cannon]]
The comically small Hellhammer Cannon is the main weapon of the [[Hellhammer]] tank. Resembling a Baneblade with [[Lulz|micropenis issues]], this gun has spawned numerous compensation jokes at the tank's expense. Still, every nerd has its day and one thing the Hellhammer excels at is in its ability to fire [[Fallout|mini-nukes.]]

The Hellhammer Cannon fires shells with a building-busting sub-atomic charge (like the Eradicator Nova Cannon). Each shell weighs 180 kilograms and is propelled by a rocket motor, with exhaust vents on either side of the barrel allowing for the safe discharge of gas with every firing. Due to the sheer weight of the shells, an automatic loading tray assists the loader, limiting the weapon's rate of fire. The tremendous concussive explosion (S10 AP1 7" Blast) is enough to collapse a building in one shot (Ignores Cover), so crews are trained to fire at the ground floors of structures that need to come down. The short barrel and recoil compensators give the cannon a very short range (a measly 36"). As such, the Hellhammer cannon is only used on tanks that are built for urban combat, like the [[Hellhammer]] super-heavy tank.

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===Quake Cannon===
[[File:Quake Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Quake Cannon]]
What has already been said about the Quake Cannon in the Autogun category has been said here. The Quake Cannon is an [[Awesome]] gun with a [[Stupid]] construction process. The quintessential fortress fucker supreme.

The Quake Cannon is an odd beast; its firepower is not unusual for a weapon of its size (S9 AP3 10" Blast), but it has a longer range than any other tank gun (180", only exceeded by the Earthshaker and Colossus cannons), and is normally an arm weapon for [[Warlord Battle Titan]]s.

It is occasionally mounted on a Baneblade chassis to make the [[Banesword]], essentially a super-heavy self-propelled artillery piece, primarily employed against fortifications. Also, it's ammunition is filled with the echoing shockwave of a world that was subjected to [[Exterminatus]], [[Awesome|and the sound it makes as it flies through the air is said to be the screams of those who died in the exterminatus that powered it.]]

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=== Stormsword Siege Cannon ===
[[File:Stormsword_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Stormsword Siege Cannon]]
The Stormsword Siege Cannon fires big bunker-busting rocket-propelled shells. Unfortunately, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] never considered that crews might want to fire at things other than ground floors of nearby buildings, so the cannon cannot elevate very far (though, if it did elevate too far, the recoil might just rip it out of the turret). It makes up for this by being able to turn entire city blocks to dust with a single shot.

The weapon and vehicle itself is built specifically for sieges and street-fighting, the Stormsword is geared towards providing troops close-quarter support with a variety of heavy weapons whilst its cannon is used to lay waste to entire encamped bunkers and buildings.

It used to be that the [[Stormsword]] just had a Hellhammer Cannon that couldn't swivel, but apparently that made them too similar, so in the sixth-edition version of [[Apocalypse]], GW made the Hellhammer Cannon a 7" blast and left the Stormsword with the 10" pie-plate.

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===Tremor Cannon===
[[File:Tremor_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Tremor Cannon]]
Most cannons launch shells that are fuzed to explode on or shortly before impact. Not the [[Banehammer]]'s Tremor Cannon: after landing it buries into the ground before it detonates. This muffles the blast (S8 AP3 is actually the lowest-strength and worst AP of all the super-heavy tank guns), but it sends a tremendous shockwave through the earth that leaves enemies not caught in the blast stumbling and slowed. The fluff describes this as ''liquifying'' the surrounding terrain.

Imagine the ground under your feet giving way, suddenly having the consistency of water. By the time you've figured out what's happened, you're partially buried in the dirt and have to dig yourself out before the enemy comes and shoots you like a horse with a broken leg. And that's if you're lucky, it's entirely possible to get buried completely and suffocate to death under several feet of earth and rubble. You can see why it would be very, very bad to be on the receiving end of this weapon.

In theory it would also make a decent wall and bunker cracker.

==Artillery==

Sometimes, the Imperial Guard can't get in range to use tanks, or could, but only at a cost that even the [[Departmento Munitorum]] would find staggering, like when they are attacking enemy fortresses. To overcome such obstacles, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] had a brilliant idea: make even bigger guns with a longer range. These guns are so big that they cannot be fired on the move; they are often built into static defensive positions, or for [[Imperial Guard Regiment|regiments]] that need to be more mobile, they may have guns placed on towed platforms, or on self-propelled chassis (see [[Imperial Ordnance Pieces]] for more information).

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===Thunderfire Cannon===
[[File:SM-thunderfire.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Thunderfire Cannon]]
''Not to be confused with the [[Squats|SPESS DORF's]] [[Thunder-Fire Cannon]]. For the full page, [[Thunderfire Cannon|see here.]]''

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===Griffon Heavy Mortar===
[[File:Griffon_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Griffon Heavy Mortar]]
The Griffon Heavy Mortar is the smallest and lightest of the artillery guns. This weapon has been a source of [[Skub]] in-universe.

Critics of the Griffon claim that its main weapon is too small to warrant its vehicular mounting, while tying up fire control and observation assets needed by much larger pieces. For its supporters though, the Griffon is the ideal compromise between weight, firepower, mobility and ease of use. Its heavy mortar is excellent against infantry and light vehicles, freeing heavier artillery for use against more appropriate targets, and can maintain a high rate of fire. The vehicle is also capable of keeping pace with rapid advances for which heavier vehicles like the Basilisk are too slow to maintain.

Its firepower is not impressive (it's S6 AP-1 and ignores cover), and its range is also relatively short (48"), but because it is so small and light, it can sustain higher rates of fire than other guns and, when carried in the heavy chassis of a [[Griffon Heavy Mortar Carrier]], it can be fired indirectly and roll two dice dropping the lowest for number of attacks).

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===Stormshard Mortar===
[[File:Stormshard_Mortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Stormshard Mortar]]
Take a mortar and give it the firepower of a machinegun. [[Dakka|You get yourselves a Stormshard Mortar.]]

The Stormshard Mortar is an artillery system commonly mounted in two pairs on Imperial Guard [[Wyvern Suppression Tank|Wyverns.]] These mortars excel in urban warfare, firing shrapnel down on enemy infantry without exposing the vehicle itself to harm. It is a fairly close range weapon for artillery, but it is needed in the heavily tight space of Hive Cities where the chance of an artillery shell hitting the rooftops of some poor hobo's house is actually quite high.

Because of the chance of facing against [[Tyranids|Horde]] [[Orks|Armies]], the Wyvern mounts not one, but ''TWO'' sets of Stormshards. These means that these badboys carry four mortars on one turret. [[Rape|Add to the fact that they can fire on auto and you have a weapon system that eats Swarmers for breakfast.]] All of the fucking yes!

Given it's similarity to the Heavy Quad-Launcher, it is likely the same weapon firing different ammo.

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===Earthshaker Cannon===
[[File:Earthshaker2.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Earthshaker Cannon]]
The Earthshaker Cannon is the [[#Battle Cannon|Battle Cannon]] of artillery pieces: common, highly recognizable and very lethal (S9 AP-3 Dd3 anywhere within twenty feet). It fires its shots further than any weapon except for the [[Manticore Launcher Tank]] and [[Deathstrike Missile Launcher]].

This 132mm caliber weapon has a muzzle velocity of 814 meters per second and fires a 38 kg projectile, hitting targets over 15 km away in under 19 seconds, using the standard five powder charge.

Six and seven powder charges can be used to hit targets well beyond this range, however the additional wear and stress this causes on the barrel limits the number of overcharged rounds to twenty, with authorization for their use required. Only Earthshakers on static mounts can fire these charges, as vehicle mounts are considered too unstable for their use. The most common type of shell fired by Earthshakers are high explosive, but it can also launch incendiary, smoke, illumination, and even diamantine-tipped armor piercing shells. Shells fired by Earthshakers have been known to cause craters fifteen meters in diameter and obliterate infantry in an instant.

The Earthshaker is most often mounted on the [[Basilisk Artillery Gun|Basilisk self-propelled artillery tank,]] though it also appears in static artillery positions as well as built into fortifications.

Amusingly enough despite being depicted as an artillery gun in 40k, the Earthshaker is modeled after the long-barelled WWII German [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41 Flak 88] rather than a field howitzer from the same epoch.

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===Medusa Siege Cannon===
[[File:MedusaGun.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Medusa Siege Cannon]]
The Medusa Siege Gun is an aging siege weapon used by the Imperial Guard both as a towed artillery piece and mounted on the [[Medusa (tank)|Medusa Siege Tank.]] Compared to the Earthshaker Cannon the Medusa fires a much larger shell at lower velocities. This gives it immense destructive capabilities, useful in breaching the walls of an enemy fortress or destroying bunkers in a single shot, but it consequently has a much shorter firing range, even compared to other siege weapons like the Bombard. For this reason they are less useful for harassing and counter-battery fire, but are still prized by many siege regiments for their ability to blast enemy walls, installations, bunkers and trenches.

The Medusa Siege Cannon is the shortest-ranged of the Imperium's artillery weapons at 36" (Breacher shells on the carriage to 48"), but it is not meant to launch munitions over fortified walls; rather, it is meant to shoot fortifications directly and destroy them (which it certainly does, at S10 AP-3 Dd3) -- and when regular shells aren't enough, they can fire special Breacher shells that sacrifice indirect fire for d6 damage to buildings.

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===Colossus Siege Mortar===
[[File:ColossusSiegeMortar.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Colossus Siege Mortar]]
The Colossus Siege Mortar is huge, cumbersome and highly destructive, and it's so large that its shells have to be loaded by cranes instead of by hand. It fires massive concussive rounds that will turn its target to paste (as long as it's a human wearing something less than terminator armor -- S6 AP-2 Dd3 is good against infantry blobs, not so much for harder targets), even if they are hiding in cover.

Because one cannon wasn't enough, the Imperium built the Dominus Armored Siege Bombard, a variant of the [[CRASSUS ARMORED ASSAULT TRANSPORT]] that carries an automated ''trio'' of Colossus cannons (though the Dominus only costs as much as two [[Colossus Bombard|Colossi]]...which actually makes sense, as the Colossi are built on a Leman Russ chassis where-as the Dominus just has to pay for an extra cannon, not a whole new vehicle to carry it).

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===Dominus Triple Bombard===
[[File:DominusTripleBombard.png|200px|right|thumb|Dominus Triple Bombard]]
Hey! Remember how we said that a certain Imperium vehicle was actually big enough to mount not one, but THREE Colossus Siege Mortars? Well here it is, the Dominus Triple Bombard found only on the DOMINUS ARMOURED SIEGE BOMBARD. This monster is a god damned tarpit cleanser.

An automated battery of three Bombard cannons rigged to fire together in sequence, it can pulverize anything caught within its field of fire. The Triple Bombard has two rates of fire: a slower rate the Dominus is limited to when on the move, and the second a higher rate for sustained fire when it is stationary.

In practice the Dominus throws [[Rape|10d6 S10 ap-3 shots with indirect fire when stationary,]] easily wiping any unit foolish enough to be larger than 5 models. S10 Ap3 is also a serious threat to any armor short of a titan, and the weight of shots pretty much guarantees an overkill of single model targets.

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===Basilisk Magnus===
[[File:SoulstormBasiliskMagnus.png|200px|right|thumb|Basilisk Magnus]]
Get a Earthshaker Cannon. [[Drug|Pump it full of steroids and growth hormones]] and make it big enough to launch an [[Angry Marine]] at full force. Ladies and gentlemen, the Basilisk Magnus is born. Seriously, this thing is the size of a [[Baneblade]].

Exclusive in [[Dawn of War]] or more specifically, the Soulstorm expansion. The Basilisk Magnus is a large artillery platform, defending the 252nd Conservator Regiment's stronghold in the Dussala Precinct on Kaurava I. It fires devastating rounds that creates a wide area of destruction, though it needs a spotter to acquire targets. If the artillery spotter is killed before the Basilisk Magnus' operators receive the targeting information, it will not be able to fire.

This honking piece of [[Rape]] was notorious for hitting something as small as a [[Gretchin]] from one end of the map. Shame there isn't a tabletop conversion....yet.

<gallery>
image:Basilisk_Magnus.jpg
</gallery>

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===Thunder-Fire Cannon===
[[File:Thunder-FireCannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Thunder'''-Fire''' Cannon]]
''Not to be confused with the SPESS MEHREEN's [[Thunderfire Cannon]]. For the full page, [[Thunder-Fire Cannon|see here.]]''

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===Nemesis Quake Cannon===
[[File:99560108206_WarbringerTitanQuakeCannon01.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Nemesis Quake Cannon]]
The Quake Cannon on steroids, or the holy lovechild between a Quake Cannon and a Gatling Blaster, [[Skub|whichever you ask.]] These monsters are possibly the largest gun model ever made by Games Workshop on tabletop....''for now'' at least. Mounted on the new and shiny [[Warbringer Nemesis Titan]]. This giant six-shot revolver of doom is designed to kill enemy Titans on sight, thus in any sensible usage, this weapon is regulated at the back lines as a giant sniper, unfortunately the Imperium [[Herp|lacks any sensibility]] and uses these as front line weapons instead. Nevertheless, having a fast firing Quake Cannon '''''is''''' a boon to any forces as now you have a very quick way to whither down the [[Void shields|Void Shields]] of enemy Titans in a quick and efficient manner rather than risking the time reloading. And seeing how this Titan gained prominence during the [[Horus Heresy]] when [[Emperor Battle Titan|Emperor Battle Titans]] were common enough to be thrown left and right like normal battle tanks, the nature of this weapon makes a whole load of sense. This cannon also works wonders against heavily fortified encampments and any forms of fortifications in general due to the monumental concussive force unleashed as its shell impacts the ground setting off powerful localized earthquakes. Overall, what has been said on the [[Autogun]] page has already been mostly stated here.

However there is a reason why this giant dick cannon is here. It also functions extremely well as artillery. Unlike the more average Quake Cannon which is restricted to purely a superheavy tank gun due to the design of the Banesword; preventing any proper gun elevation, let alone install a proper turret and hit anything beyond 90 degrees. The Warbringer Titan is a big enough platform to not only mount a supersized Quake Cannon, but also spacious enough to install a proper turret module and some proper elevation. This allows the Nemesis Quake Cannon to launch its bullets in an arc and turns it into a supersized Earthshaker Cannon.

Of course, it is a designated Titan-killer first and foremost, but the nature of the Quake Shell also means that - as aforementioned before - it could function amazingly well against fortresses and entire fleets of smaller ground vehicles. The powerful concussive shockwaves would liquefy the grounds of enemy armor, forcing them to halt its advance and even sink them through the ground if the terrain collapse. It could also weaken the foundations of fortress walls and bunkers, causing it to collapse on itself or outright shattering the walls through brute force.

===Goliath Mega-Cannon===
[[File:GoliathCannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Goliath Mega-Cannon]]
A hilariously [[Dick|phallic]] weapon made by [[Squats|They-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named]]. The Goliath Mega-Cannon, both the gun ''and'' [[Goliath Mega-Cannon|the vehicle]] (Don't tell us why they decided to name both weapon and vehicle the same) is one of the largest artillery pieces ever known and fielded.

Basically each shell weighed several tons and was powerful enough to shatter entire fortifications and turn a fleet of Baneblades inside out. These motherfuckers were the Schwerer Gustav in all but name.

Curiously, the gun never really needed any shock absorbers to control the immense recoil. However it could be that the Goliath Mega-Cannon (The vehicle, not the gun) doesn't need one as the vehicle's own base ''is'' the gun's base.

The power of the Goliath means that each cannon fires its own barrage template. A Goliath attack is worth four barrage points plus the roll of a D6, giving a score between 5 and 10. The super heavy shells fired by the Goliath are so good at reducing fortifications to rubble that it ignores hit modifiers for cover altogether.

The Goliath lobs its shells high into the air to achieve its mammoth range, but it can't depress its barrel to hit a very close target. This means a Goliath can't shoot at targets closer than 50cm, so it has a min range of 50cm. They also don't have any self-defense secondary weapons so you need a few Thunder-Fire Cannons to offer cover support and picking off any units near the Goliath.

Of course, all of these rules are now outdated. But it is pretty cool to see the power it once had.

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===Behemoth Cannon===
[[File:Behemoth_Cannon.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Behemoth Cannon]]
The largest artillery field piece to date. Until GW decides to one-up themselves and invent a even ''bigger'' artillery piece.

The Behemoth Cannon is a massive weapon that is the primary armament of the [[Capitol Imperialis]]. The giant landships that can be mistaken for a city block and is tall enough that a goddamned motherfucking [[Warlord Battle Titan]] can use for cover. The Behemoth Cannon is so large that four [[Leman Russ Battle Tank]]s could fit within its barrel (Although the models and artwork definitely disagrees with that statement), and the concussive force of firing the weapon can produce a mushroom cloud and shake the earth itself.

It is basically a land-bound and more mobile version of a Macrocannon.
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{{Template:40k-Imperial-Weapons}}
[[Category:Warhammer_40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Miscellaneous Weapons

2019-01-02T00:35:17Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* Servo-Harness */

Miscellaneous Weapons are weapons that do not fit one particular category or another. These weapons are either obscure or behave differently by function. All of them aren't what you call standard issue firearms and the majority of them are some sort of melee weapon, thrown weapon or a combination of both.

==Imperium==
===Bolas===
[[File:Dhcr-135-bolas.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Bolas]]

A primitive thrown and restraining weapon. Bolas are normally non-lethal (Doesn't mean they can't be changed into [[FATAL|spike balls or explosive pellets]]) and as such are usually employed by bounty hunters or local law enforcement members, where the swirling balls can entangle a target with heavy cords of wire. They can be found all over the galaxy and some styles use up to eight balls.

Due to its mundane nature and utility, Bolas never get to be seen in actual military engagements because the likelihood of you successfully restraining a important target in the middle of a war zone is as likely as you getting chosen to become part of the [[Adeptus Custodes]]. Even in terms of law enforcement, there are much better weapons at restraining a target such as the [[Webber|Webbers]] and certain [[Arc Weaponry|Arc Weapons]] whose charge has been set to stun. Thus, Bolas is only seen being wielded by the most desperate or primitive of societies.

===Sling===
[[File:Rb1-75-sling.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Sling]]

A Sling is a primitive weapon that makes [[Bow Weaponry|Bows and Arrows]] look advance and sophisticated by comparison. Slings are used primarily on feral or primitive worlds. They can be made with any piece of material or leather and simply require momentum provided by the user to launch the projectile. It is commonly used during riots and demonstrations and the ammunition can range anywhere from rocks picked off the ground to specialized metallic balls or even grenades.

Furthermore, Slings have a [[Skub|completely different and ''some may say'' overly-complicated way of shooting/throwing the projectile.]] Unlike Bows and Firearms, Slings depends on the momentum a person swings this weapon overhead in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise motion, before launching the projectile in a forward motion akin to throwing a grenade or your arms acting like a catapult. As you can imagine, accuracy and aiming this thing is a pain in the ass, but when this thing hits, '''''it hits hard''''' for something of such a humble technological background.

<gallery>
File:Dhcr-135-sling.jpg
</gallery>

===Neuro Gauntlet===
[[File:Neuro_Gauntlet.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Neuro Gauntlet]]

The Neuro Gauntlet is a specialized weapon only used by the Eversor Assassins of the Imperium of Man's Officio Assassinorum. The weapon is a glove or gauntlet comprised of a hyper-alloy glove whose fingers end in sharp hypodermic needles that inject a potent neurotoxin into the Assassin's victim.

When the glove strikes an opponent, the needles immediately inject their toxin into the person's bloodstream. The lethal effect is almost instantaneous and causes a horrifically painful death as the victim is completely paralyzed while his organ systems shut down one by one. These toxins will work on Warp entities like daemons, but they are a great deal less effective against such creatures.

In effect, it is similiar to the [[Needler]] in terms of killing the target with poison, although it lacks the secondary laser gimmick.

===Narthecium===
[[File:AST_Hagen_Pattern_Narthecium.png|200px|right|thumb|Narthecium]]

More of a medical tool than a weapon.

The iconic Narthecium of the Apothecaries is a tool which most people can recognize but few can pronounce let alone remember the name. As the Narthecium is a medical field kit, it contains the necessary tools to treat wounded Marines and get them back into action as quickly as possible. Included in the standard kit are:

*Anti-venoms;
*Stim-packs;
*Healing agents;
*Sterile clay for sealing wounds;
*A Carnifex (No, not ''THAT'' [[Carnifex]]) for euthanizing fatally injured Marines;
*Reductor (carbon alloy): a tool for extracting the Progenoid organs (gene-seed) from fallen Marines.

Other components may include a chainblade and an apothicarion drill for piercing armor. The Deep Bore version lowers the placement of the chainblade, and replace it with a saw-disc. The main focus of this version is the drill for piercing armor and retrieving gene-seed as quickly as possible. The Hagen pattern drill is larger and stronger, designed to be able to work on Terminator armor as well as standard Space Marine armor.

Its more Primaris-friendly and pistol relative is the [[Reductor Pistol]]. The more Orky equivalent is the 'Urty Syringe.

===Heavy Rock Drill===
[[File:Heavy_Rock_Drill.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Rock Drill]]

The Heavy Rock Drill is a type of construction and mining equipment used by the Imperium. However it can also be utilized as a weapon, most notably by Genestealer Cults. The heavy rock drill is modified by the hybrids so it can be carried into battle as a weapon '''''and''''' it can only be used ''by'' Hybrids due to requiring three arms and all. Its triple grinders can turn even the stoutest enemy champion to gory gobbets of flesh.

In terms of crunch, the Heavy Rock Drill is a 1 damage Power Fist. However, it doesn't have -1 to hit and it can inflict up to 5 extra mortal wounds on a successful wound. Pretty decent in handling tough targets especially if it successfully wounds them on the table.
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===Heavy Rock Cutter===
[[File:Heavy_Rock_Cutter.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Rock Cutter]]

The Heavy Rock Cutter is a type of construction and mining equipment used by the Imperium. However it can also be utilized as a weapon, most notably by Genestealer Cults. The hydraulic shears of heavy rock cutters were [[Noblebright|designed to free trapped mine workers from industrial accidents.]] When the cult rises up, however, their irresistible grip is used not to save, but to kill.

On tabletop, the Heavy Rock Cutter is a Double Strength, AP-4 and two damage weapon which may sound fantastic, but that's not all. If you successfully damage a non-VEHICLE target, beat its remaining wounds on a D6 and [[Fist of the North Star|it dies instantly.]] Goodbye Ogryns, Tyranid Warriors, Terminators and characters.
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===Heavy Rock Saw===
[[File:Heavy_Rock_Saw.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Rock Saw]]

Essentially a hand-held Power Saw.

The Heavy Rock Saw is a type of construction and mining equipment used by the Imperium. However it can also be utilized as a weapon, most notably by Genestealer Cults. The blades of the heavy rock saw are designed to cut through dense boulders of ore – when the time of war comes, they slice through the hulls of enemy vehicles easily.

On 8th edition, the Heavy Rock Saw is the same as the Heavy Rock Cutter, but minus the instant-kill ability and the -1 to hit roll. They are real saws, '''''[[Awesome|the manly saws]]''''' that make chainswords look like pool noodles. Stick a [[Genestealer Primus|Primus]] nearby for effective 2+ to hit shenanigans.
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===Mechadendrite===
[[File:Mechadendrite.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Mechadendrite]]

Humorously called the Noodly Appendage.

More of a tool than a weapon, although it doesn't stop the Techpriests from improvising. A Mechadendrite is a catchall name that covers a variety of tendril-like prosthetics used by [[Enginseer|Enginseers]] and other members of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. It assists in manipulation of objects, micro-construction, maintenance, research and defense. It is connected to the central nervous system of the Techpriest, and so is controlled through thought just like a biological limb.

Mechadendrites are constructed from metallic alloys and have small motors and actuators within their armored structures. They are usually longer than the Techpriest's natural limbs and are with multiple joints (simulating mechanical tentacles) to allow maximum reach and flexibility. Members of the Adeptus Mechanicus from the Enginseer rank and above are known to have mechadendrites, and although they may often only have one fitted, one could have as many mechadendrites as the body will support.

Servitors can also have mechadendrites to assist the Enginseer they are assigned to.

Mechatendrils, the Chaos version only gets a paltry two extra attacks at the users's strength. Along with a back mounted Meltagun and Flamer. A strange instance where the older version isn't superior to its newer counterpart.
The Mecanicus Machinator Array gives its user two additional Power Axe hits plus a Flamer and an Inferno pistol. Since Tech Priests enhancements give them the ability to carry two weapons. This is just icing on the cake during close combat. Quite brutal if paired with [[Radium Weaponry|Rad Weapons]] and the "traditional" Power Weapon.

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===Servo-Arm===
[[File:Servo-Arm_of_Iron_Priest.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Servo-Arm]]

The SPESS MEHREENS' bigger version of the Mechadendrite.

A Servo-arm is used by Space Marine Techmarines to help repair damaged vehicles on the battlefield. Likewise, since it acts like an additional appendage, it can carry or hold up massive equipment whilst more delicate machines can be used to repair much more fragile technologies. It can also be used as a devastating weapon in close combat as its hydraulics and synthetic muscle is more than enough to crack open a human skull.

[[Tl;dr]], it functions a lot like a hydraulic claw, or those forklift claws from Aliens' Power Loaders. Able to easily lift many kilos and even tons of materials in spaces too small and cramp for even a Forklift or a Sentinel Power-Lifter.

On tabletop, the Servo-Arm can be found in both the Mechanicus' and Space Marine's army list. It's a one power fist attack (including -1 to hit) with 1 worse AP but flat D3. For Enginseers and Servitors in the Mechanicum and Techpriests in the Adeptus Astartes. There are much better weapons anyways, so you shouldn't really care about these things unless you really want that particular target die a humiliating way.

===Servo-Harness===
[[File:Mech-arm-pack-solo-800x500.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Servo-Harness]]

When you want to cosplay as [[/co/|Doc Ock]] or because four limbs are better than three. While Mechadendrites are good enough for lower rank Tech Priests and Servo Arms for newbie [[Techmarines]]s. Space Marines Forgemasters decided something less complex than the mecha tentacles would be better for mass production and repairs on some Omnissiah forsaken planet. With tools that double as secondary guns.

[[Tl;dr]], its a mobile and miniature shrine to the Omnissiah, and it really shows.

A Servo-Harness grants a Techmarine two additional Power Fists attacks to back up their Power Weapon during melee. It also mounts a Flamer and a Plasma Cutter. The latter is an Assault 1 [[Plasma Pistol]] mounted on a Servo Arm. Making the pistol quite redundant. Though who takes a handgun when they can have a Combi-weapon? All this gear, plus their own self modified Artificer Armor and Servitor meat shields makes just one Techmarine a force to be reckoned with.

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===Hydraulic Claw===
[[File:HydraulicClaw.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Hydraulic Claw]]

''NOT'' a Power Weapon.

Hydraulic Claws are a type of weapon used by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. Usually mounted on [[Kataphron Battle Servitors]], these weapons are driven not only by powerful pistons, but also sanctified oils that are collected, drip by drip, from God-Machines at rest. The Tech-Priests’ belief is that in maintaining this process, they confer some of the Titan’s strength to their servitors. One who has witnessed the ruin wrought by a hydraulic claw will be hard pressed to refute it.

Despite its name, it is no way related a normal industrial hydraulic claw, as these things are ''definitely'' designed to crush skulls of heretics and xenos alike. Seriously, look at those talons, you ain't gonna handle fragile cargo in a safe manner like that.

On tabletop, the Hydraulic Claw is essentially a power fist with less armor penetration. The weapon isn't bad, what is bad is the Breacher it is mounted on: what it gains in chance to wound it loses in chance to hit, and its meager AP doesn't let it capitalist on the D3 damage (which is the actual strength of power fists, not their strength). Barely better than the Arc Claw, but it also costs double.
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===Powerlifter===
[[File:Powerlifter.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Powerlifter]]

Another weapon that is ''NOT'' a Power Weapon, [[Pretend|despite its name.]]

The Powerlifter is a device used on Imperial Guard [[Sentinel|Sentinels]]. The Powerlifter consists of a pair of strong hydraulic claws, easily capable of crushing a man. Despite this, the Powerlifter is most often used for logistical and hauling duties. The Powerlifter is also equipped with a counterweight mounted on the rear to prevent the Sentinel from tipping forward when it is holding heavy cargo.

Back in the good old days, Powerlifters were surprisingly powerful melee weapons, able to handle entire squads of Assault Marines and win. Although it is honestly quite the hilarious site seeing a Sentinel kick ass in close combat despite how ungainly the Powerlifters were. Nevertheless, it was [[Nerf|nerfed]] because GW hates fun. Yes we know, it is a direct reference to Aliens' Power Loaders.
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===Magna-Grapple===
[[File:Magna-Grapple.png|200px|right|thumb|Magna-Grapple]]

[[Meme|GET OVER HERE!]] the weapon.

The Magna-Grapple (Otherwise known as the [[Grapnel Launcher]] for Dreadnoughts) is a pseudo-Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon used by the [[Furioso Dreadnought|Furioso Dreadnoughts]] of the [[Blood Angels]] Chapter and their Successor Chapters.

The Magna-Grapple is mounted on top of the Dreadnought's chassis. Consisting of potent gravitic emitters and a spooled length of adamantium chain, a Magna-Grapple can clamp onto a vehicle's hull before hauling the Dreadnought towards its target with terrifying speed. The Dreadnought then tears the target apart with its main Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons or fires upon it with its Frag Cannon.

Now if only the Grapnel Launcher could function the same....

===Assault/Siege Drill===
[[File:Siege_Drill.jpg|160px|right|thumb|Siege Drill]]

An Assault/Siege Drill is a weapon used on [[Dreadnoughts|Ironclad Siege Dreadnoughts]] or [[Centurion Squad|Centurions.]] Although they have different names, they function almost the same (Assault Drills for Dreadnoughts, Siege Drills for Centurions). It drills through rock as easily as reinforced ferrocrete, which is the substance usually used when building bunkers. Once the drill has penetrated the wall, a built in Heavy Flamer unleashes an inferno inside the bunker, killing everything within. The drill consists of three ball-shaped grinders which rotate to produce a drill effect.

On tabletop, these things are absolute monsters, the drills deal a whopping S10 AP-4 3 damage, which means that they ''WILL'' hit and they ''WILL'' hurt. For more information you can look up the Centurion Squad page to dissect its giddily goodness. It can be assumed that the Dreadnought version can kick just as much ass as the baby Centurion Squad.

<gallery>
File:Assault_Drill.jpg|Assault Drill
</gallery>

===Seismic Hammer===
[[File:Seismic_Hammer.JPG|160px|right|thumb|Seismic Hammer]]

A [[Grav-weapons|Gravity Hammer]] on a fist.

The Seismic Hammer is a much more common siege weapon than the Assault Drill, due to the simple fact that is a much less complex weapon. Where an Assault Drill is designed to penetrate its targets, the Seismic Hammer batters them into pieces. It is also equipped with an under-slung multi-melta. This siege weapon is only compatible with the Ironclad Dreadnought chassis.

The weapon resembles four small drills that attach and stabilize the weapon to the target structure, then the seismic hammer erupts out from the weapon's center, slamming into the target and causing devastating shock waves. ''Or'' it can resemble a long hammer that is held forwards, with its head resembling that of an eagle; the weapon uses powerful hydraulics to slam the hammerhead forwards with frightening speed, slamming into the target structure and causing massive damage.

On tabletop, this weapon forces a -1 to hit but comes with AP-4 and deals a jaw-dropping 5 damage per attack.
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===Leviathan Siege Drill===
[[File:LevSiege_Drill.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Leviathan Siege Drill]]

The bigger brother of the Assault and Siege Drills.

The Leviathan Siege Drill is a type of Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon designed for use by Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnoughts. It was developed to be even more destructive than most classes of Dreadnought Siege Drills, and can bore straight through the heavy armor of vehicles and fortifications with ease. This Siege Drill incorporates a built-in Meltagun in the palm.

Essentially, it is a Heavy Rock Drill that has been grown to the size of a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon. Seriously, what's up with the Imperium and weaponizing mining equipment for the lols?

On tabletop, the Leviathan Siege Drill is Sx2, AP 2 weapon that has wrecker and armourbane rules. This means that this thing, like the Leviathan Siege Claw is a [[Cheese|S16 weapon]] that can reliably one punch the majority of units up and including Terminators with relative ease. That and the fact that it come automatically in-built with a Meltagun means that most armor including Superheavies aren't safe once this thing is charging headfirst into hell.
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===Leviathan Siege Claw===
[[File:LevSiege_Claw.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Leviathan Siege Claw]]

A Dreadnought Lightning Claw on steroids.

The Leviathan Siege Claw is the standard type of Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon used by Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnoughts, and it was developed to be even more destructive than those of other Dreadnought patterns. A Leviathan Siege Claw is designed to sever flesh and bone, slicing a Leviathan's foe apart in a single cut. Curiously, it is not stated to be a [[Power Weapon]], which if true, means that those claws on the Leviathan is just ''THAT'' sharp.

As with all of a Leviathan Dreadnought's close combat weapons, they also excel at tearing through the walls of enemy fortifications. All Leviathan Siege Claws incorporate a built-in Meltagun. The Siege Claw is certified for definite [[RIP AND TEAR]].

On tabletop, this weapon is a Sx2 AP-3 D3 weapon which re-roll failed wounds against Infantry. [[Rape|Equip your Leviathan with two of these monsters and watch as this thing butchers entire Ork and Tyranid armies into pieces.]]
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{{40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

==Eldar==

===Star Bolas===
[[File:Star_Bolas.png|200px|right|thumb|Star Bolas]]

Remember the Bolas that we talked about earlier? Yeah, it seems that the [[Eldar|Elfdar]] ''somehow'' found a use for these.

A Star Bola, or Tredail as it is known in the Eldar Lexicon, is a close-combat weapon utilized exclusively by the [[Eldar]] [[Harlequins]]. This is a favored weapon of the Harlequin Players, known as Great Falcons, who are mounted precariously on the rear of the lightning-fast Jetbikes known as [[Skyweaver|Skyweavers]]. A Star Bola mounts three weighted plasma charges at the end of mesh-weave cords. These charges arm when the bolas are spun with sufficient vigor. The weapon is designed to be hurled in a scything arc, tangling about its target before its plasma charges explode with the fury of a dying sun. Though Star Bolas are undeniably powerful weapons, their main disadvantage is that [[Derp|they can be hurled but once.]]

Yeah, yeah we know. [[Lolwut|Its pretty jarring for one of the most ancient and advance race in WH40K to still be using one of the most primitive and simplest of weapons as their go-to anti-tank projectiles.]] Sure we can brush it off as Harlequins being massive [[Troll|Trolls]], but come on GW, ''really?'' Of all the tools you could give to the Space Clowns, you give them [[Wat|fucking Bolas!?]] Weapons that are looked down on by the Mon'Keigh as obsolete and even primitive by [[Ork]] standards? [[FAIL|And it can only be thrown once? Seriously who the hell designed the ergonomics of this thing?]]

{{40k-Eldar-Weapons}}

==Ork==
These are any close combat weapons that are neither [[Choppa|Choppas]] (Due to having a more complex system to manufacture) nor a [[Chain Weapon]] (Due to having parts that does not function like a Chain Weapon). Basically, they are any CCW that does not fit a particular niche.

==='Urty Syringe===
[[File:EC-needle-uv-lif.jpg|200px|right|thumb|'Urty Syringe]]

Ork [[Painboy|Painboys]] carry a bewildering variety of mean-looking tools, supposedly designed to aid the Mad Dok in his 'fixin' of wounded Orks. They may include various blunt saws, blades and hammers and other devices which an Imperial medic would never dream of using.

However, his most used tool is the 'Urty Syringe. 'Urty Syringes are huge steel syringes filled with some toxic goo or liquid. When used in combat, they prove to be an extremely powerful weapon although they don't work against opponents with peculiar physiologies, such as daemons or Tyranids.

The 'Urty Syringe as you may already know, is the Ork equivalent of the Space Marine Narthecium.

===Mek's Fixa===
[[File:Fixa.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Mek's Fixa]]

More of a tool than a weapon.

Ork [[Mekboy|Mekboys]] use all kinds of various tools to repair, kustomize and upgrade their vehicles and other unreliable pieces of Ork Technology. They often put them to use right on the battlefield to fix a vehicle that undertook damage in the fighting. Most of the tools used are rather primitive, but some may take a form of unusually sophisticated and bizarre devices.

The most prominent tool of the Mekboy is the Mek's Fixa which is a giant wrench that is basically the Ork's swiss army knife, for it can function as the aforementioned wrench, a hammer, a cutting tool, a screwdriver and much, much more. It can even function as an axe, if the Mekboy feels particularly threatened.

===Tankhammer===
[[File:Tank_Hammer.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Tankhammer]]
The Tankhammer is a ridiculous and suicidal weapon and is what happens when you combine a hammer with a RPG round. The Tankhammer is an Ork close combat weapon for use against enemy armor.

Essentially a rokkit on a pole, it is used by old-fashioned Orks, who don't trust such unreliable devices as rokkit thrusters. The Tankhammer is swung directly into the vulnerable parts of enemy vehicles at close range, although it an be used against infantry with devastating effects. It is most commonly wielded by Ork Tankbustas. [[FATAL|Because it often explodes when struck, most of these Orks don't survive, much to the amusement of much smarter Orks.]]

<gallery>
File:Tankhammer.jpg|If you want to go out in style, the Tankhammer is for you!
</gallery>

===Bangstikk===
[[File:Bangstikk.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Bangstikk]]

The cousin of the Tankhammer and far more sensible. The Bangstikk is essentially the Orkified version of the Imperium's [[Basic Close Combat Weapons#Hunting Lance|Hunting Lance.]]

Nothing more than a rokkit on a stick, a Bangstikk is a Feral Ork weapon. They are long poles with large amounts of explosives attached to the end and used when mounted on a Boar. Most probably used something like a lance, the bangstikk has a similar effect to the Krak Grenade and is used highly effectively against vehicle armour, although being poorly balanced they are not the easiest of weapons to use.

It is not known why the Orks never seem to utilize more of these. It could be because more tech-savvy Orks aren't fans of [[Boarboyz]] and their [[Warboar|Warboars]], therefore the usage of these weapons seem fall out of use in the more Mek dominated areas of Ork control. However the Snakebite clan still utilize these en masse due to being Amish Orks.

===Wyrdboy Stikk===
[[File:Wyrdboy_Stikk.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Wyrdboy Stikk]]

A Wyrdboy Stikk is a copper staff which [[Weirdboy|Weirdboys]] use to safely earth their excess psychic energy. It is usually a personal gift from the Weirdboy's superior, usually the [[Warboss]] himself and is often decorated with bells along with Weirdboy's clothes.

The staff is a great source of comfort to the Weirdboy as it means he can go about his daily life without suffering from sudden and unexpected outbursts of psychic energy. Unfortunately, this doesn't work all the time and Weirdboys still often form the focus for all sorts of unexplained activity. While it might not save his life, the bang may be of a lesser magnitude than it might otherwise have been.

===Killsaw===
[[File:Warhammer-40k-bitz-orks-mega-nobz-killsaw-e1-right.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Killsaw]]

''[[Derp|Not to be confused with the much larger Kill Saw]]''

Killsaw is an Ork close combat weapon sometimes integrated into Mega Armour or used by Ork Mekboys. They are the smallest of the Buzzsaw family. A large variant of the Killsaw can be seen mounted on Mega-Dreads.

On tabletop, the Killsaw is a weapon that trades out the 1d3 damage of the Klaw for a flat 2 damage and an additional point AP (Boosting the total to -4). If you can somehow take two, they give you an extra attack (kind of like lightning claws, or how older Editions' dual-wielding rules worked). It can only be equipped to Warbosses, Meks, Nobz, Painboyz or Meganobz, so it takes a bit of effort to get the most use out of it. In general, stick to the Klaw unless you have a way to get your Mek/Meganobz into melee without being shot at.

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File:7e-meganob-killsaws.jpg
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===Buzz Saw===
[[File:Buzz_Saw.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Buzz Saw]]

The generically named Buzz Saw is a huge, circular sawblade mounted on Killa Kans and Deff Dreads.

The big brother of the Killsaw, the Buzz Saw is a unholy fusion of a powersaw and a power klaw (Without the power part) and are every bit as savage as the Orks that wields them. This means that the Buzz Saw can both grab and slice opponents into fine chunks of flesh.

These weapons may include single large spinning blades, multiple small spinning blades, spinning blades with additional fixed or moving blades or crushing elements, or spinning blades with additional [[Chain Weapon|Chain Weapons]] attached.

Despite this, they are grouped all under the Killa Kan/Deff Dread Close Combat Weapons and thus, all share the same profile of a Dread Klaw/Kan Klaw (Depending on the walker using them). [[Derp|Which means that this non-Power Weapons share the same function as an ''actual'' Power Weapon.]]
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===Drilla===
[[File:Drilla.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Drilla]]

A weapon designed in creating as many holes into a unfortunate bastard as possible.

A large, motorised drill-bit meant to pierce through the toughest armor with contemporary ease. The Drilla is meant for anti-armor purposes whilst the rest of the Killa Kan's/Deff Dread's weapons can be free'd up to focus on mulching infantry.

Despite this, they are grouped all under the Killa Kan/Deff Dread Close Combat Weapons and thus, all share the same profile of a Dread Klaw/Kan Klaw (Depending on the walker using them). [[Derp|Which means that this non-Power Weapons share the same function as an ''actual'' Power Weapon.]]
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===Wrecker===
[[File:Wrecker.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Wrecker]]

A Wrecker (AKA the Wrecking Ball) is a large metal ball attached to an Ork combat walker's weapon arm with a chain. Think of it as a [[Basic Close Combat Weapons#Flail|Flail]] on a much larger scale. These weapons are used to crush buildings and other obstacles to rubble, allowing the Ork forces to move across the terrain easier. Wreckers can be used by both Killa Kans, Deff Dreads and sturdy/powerful Trukks, but are mostly found within urban combat zones.

On tabletop, the Wrecker is a weapon that gives S+1 and AP-1 for a whopping 3 points. Can only hit with this weapon a maximum of 3 times, which is the maximum amount of attacks a Trukk can make, the unit most likely to have one anyway. At 3 points a pop, throwing them onto any Trukks you're running is not a bad way to spend floating points. Can help you actually deal damage if you decide to slam a Trukk into an opponent's shooty vehicles. Puts a Trukk up to S7 (in the first combat profile), which wounds most Space Marine vehicles on a 4+ and reduces their armor save to a 4+. If you charge a Dreadnought, don't expect the Trukk to survive the 'Dread's turn to fight. Frankly since Trukks die so fast it is probably better to get that extra Grot.

===Kill Saw===
[[File:Kill_Saw.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Kill Saw]]

''[[Derp|Not to be confused with the much smaller Killsaw]]''

The annoyingly named Kill Saw is the Killsaw's and Buzz Saw's dad and is possibly one of the most confusing names ever thought out by GW. [[FAIL|When the only way to differentiate between two different classes of weapons is a space between two words, you know you done fucked up.]]

Kill Saws are massive saw-blades that are used by Ork Mega-Dreads and Kustom Meka-Dreads. The pilots of these walkers love seeing them rip through even the strongest of enemy armor. These saw weapons are much larger than the ones found on the smaller Deff Dreads and Killa Kans.

On tabletop, the Kill Saw was a powerful melee and shred weapon. At Strength 10 and AP 2, this monster goes well with the Rippa Klaw at absolutely eviscerating enemy armor and infantry alike. If you have two Kill Saws, you can add +1 attack, you know, so that you can Rip and Tear fully.
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===Rippa Klaw===
[[File:99590103074_OrkRippaKlawArm02.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Rippa Klaw]]

Not specified to be a [[Power Weapon]]. Rippa Klaws are gigantic shear-bladed pincers that are capable of ripping open heavy armor with extreme ease.

Rippa Klaws feature a large pincer with three blades that can grab and crush enemy units. These massive weapons are used by both Mega-Dreads and Kustom Meka-Dreads. Because they are not stated to be a power weapon like the Power Klaw, it can be said that the majority of its cutting power comes from pure hydraulic pressure powered from multiple pneumatic pumps. They are seen as one of the pinnacle of maximum [[RIP AND TEAR]].

In 7th edition, the Rippa Klaw was the go-to Close Combat Weapon for the Mega-Dread due to its high strength and AP value. It is able to handle most vehicles and infantry by itself and is a deadly weapon on its own.

In 8th edition, the Rippa Klaw is a weapon that can attack 5 times, each attack has a AP of -3 with S x2 and dealing D6 damage. If your Mega-Dread is equipped with two of these bad boys, he would have the [[RIP AND TEAR|Rip n' Tear]] ability, which increase the attack characteristics by 1.
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===Stompa Klaw===
[[File:99590103080_OrkStompaClawArm01.jpg|right|thumb|200px|right|thumb|Stompa Klaw]]

Basically the Rippa Klaw's badass uncle. Stompa Klaws are giant Rippa Klaws meant to rip apart enemy Titans up close. Like the Rippa Klaws, the Stompa Klaw may not be a Power Weapon but a weapon where the majority of its cutting power comes from pure hydraulic pressure powered from multiple pneumatic pumps. They maybe more flexible and versatile than the Mega-Choppa, able to both crush and grab things at a whim before throwing it at a group of blobs.

Meks sometimes deploy these giant Rippa Klaws to rend enemy war machines apart at close quarters – all the better to claim the choicest scrap for future projekts. They are seen as one of the pinnacle of maximum [[RIP AND TEAR]].

These weapons can be equipped with giant Buzz Saws to further aid in its cutting power.

Unfortunately, there isn't any rules for the Stompa Klaw despite the fact that fucking [[Forgeworld]] [[Derp|already has the model up and ready.]] You would think that there should be rules for this weapon right? But nope! GW is lazy like that.
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===Krusha Ball===
[[File:Krusha_Ball.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Krusha Ball]]

The Wrecker's grandaddy and a Flail grown to truly Titanic sizes.

Some Stompas feature an unusual weapon, known as the Krusha Ball, a huge chunk of scrap metal on a chain, which is mounted on a Stompa's arm in place of the regular close combat weapon. Its swings cause immense devastation, krushing everything in its path: soldiers, vehicles, buildings and terrain. Like the smaller Wrecker, it is designed to demolish fortifications and buildings.

Krusha Balls are thus, extremely unwieldy and difficult to use, just like a Flail. The large and heavy metal ball is powerful enough to crumple even the tough armor of Titans and Superheavies, whilst being flexible and chaotic enough to be unpredictable and strike on odd angles, hitting weak/blind spots. However, it is not without its risks. If the backswing is too much, [[FAIL|it will smash back into the Stompa, causing immense damage to the Stompa itself.]]

Back in the oldschool tabletop days, trying to use the Krusha Ball was a [[FAIL|over complicated trainwreck.]] Unless you're a genius at math, this thing took way too much time and effort to even ''judge'' if it hits anything. If you actually want to know the details, please continue to read below.

Specifically, the Krusha Ball is a Titan melee weapon that replaces the standard close combat weapon the Stompa is armed with (Mega-Choppa). If the Stompa is not otherwise engaged in close combat, the hefty Krusha Ball can be swung in a vast sweeping arc of destruction. Nominate a direction (It is convenient to mark this with a Scatter dice) and roll 2D6. [[What|This is the number of inches in which the path of devastation travels (Whatever the fuck that means).]] Assume the path is 2" wide and measure directly below the position of your Krusha Ball. Any model in its path takes a single destroyer hit, although a infantry or jump infantry may take an Initiative test to avoid the blow. On a roll of a double 1 the backswing is too much and the Stompa itself takes a single destroyer hit in addition to any targets within 2" arc.

Any terrain touched by the weapon is removed and replaced with rubble.

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===Krusha===
[[File:Krusha.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Krusha]]

''[[Derp|Not to be confused with the similarly named Krusha Ball or the]] [[Chain Weapon#Crusha|Crusha]] [[Rage|(Seriously, what the fuck was GW thinking in using multiple weapons with similiar-as-fuck names!?)]]''

Ork Mega-Gargants feature weapons so big they dwarf even Mega-Choppas. Known as Krushas these are one of the biggest and most deadliest close combat weapons in the Galaxy. Krushas are immense Rippa Klaws that can rip apart the limbs of even Emperor Titans. Through sheer power alone, a Krusha can use its immense hydraulic presses and pneumatic pumps to crush the centimeters thick reinforced ceramite platings of Titans with contemporary ease.

The main downside however, is that Krusha's are large and expensive weapons that is only effective in really close range. These ranges put the weapon at a disadvantage when a Emperor Titan would gun the Gargant down before it even reaches. [[Anal circumference|But when it does reach, than gigantic assholes will be opened up and penetrated.]]

{{40k-Ork-Weapons}}

Miscellaneous Weapons

2019-01-02T00:33:42Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* Mechadendrite */

Miscellaneous Weapons are weapons that do not fit one particular category or another. These weapons are either obscure or behave differently by function. All of them aren't what you call standard issue firearms and the majority of them are some sort of melee weapon, thrown weapon or a combination of both.

==Imperium==
===Bolas===
[[File:Dhcr-135-bolas.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Bolas]]

A primitive thrown and restraining weapon. Bolas are normally non-lethal (Doesn't mean they can't be changed into [[FATAL|spike balls or explosive pellets]]) and as such are usually employed by bounty hunters or local law enforcement members, where the swirling balls can entangle a target with heavy cords of wire. They can be found all over the galaxy and some styles use up to eight balls.

Due to its mundane nature and utility, Bolas never get to be seen in actual military engagements because the likelihood of you successfully restraining a important target in the middle of a war zone is as likely as you getting chosen to become part of the [[Adeptus Custodes]]. Even in terms of law enforcement, there are much better weapons at restraining a target such as the [[Webber|Webbers]] and certain [[Arc Weaponry|Arc Weapons]] whose charge has been set to stun. Thus, Bolas is only seen being wielded by the most desperate or primitive of societies.

===Sling===
[[File:Rb1-75-sling.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Sling]]

A Sling is a primitive weapon that makes [[Bow Weaponry|Bows and Arrows]] look advance and sophisticated by comparison. Slings are used primarily on feral or primitive worlds. They can be made with any piece of material or leather and simply require momentum provided by the user to launch the projectile. It is commonly used during riots and demonstrations and the ammunition can range anywhere from rocks picked off the ground to specialized metallic balls or even grenades.

Furthermore, Slings have a [[Skub|completely different and ''some may say'' overly-complicated way of shooting/throwing the projectile.]] Unlike Bows and Firearms, Slings depends on the momentum a person swings this weapon overhead in either a clockwise or anti-clockwise motion, before launching the projectile in a forward motion akin to throwing a grenade or your arms acting like a catapult. As you can imagine, accuracy and aiming this thing is a pain in the ass, but when this thing hits, '''''it hits hard''''' for something of such a humble technological background.

<gallery>
File:Dhcr-135-sling.jpg
</gallery>

===Neuro Gauntlet===
[[File:Neuro_Gauntlet.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Neuro Gauntlet]]

The Neuro Gauntlet is a specialized weapon only used by the Eversor Assassins of the Imperium of Man's Officio Assassinorum. The weapon is a glove or gauntlet comprised of a hyper-alloy glove whose fingers end in sharp hypodermic needles that inject a potent neurotoxin into the Assassin's victim.

When the glove strikes an opponent, the needles immediately inject their toxin into the person's bloodstream. The lethal effect is almost instantaneous and causes a horrifically painful death as the victim is completely paralyzed while his organ systems shut down one by one. These toxins will work on Warp entities like daemons, but they are a great deal less effective against such creatures.

In effect, it is similiar to the [[Needler]] in terms of killing the target with poison, although it lacks the secondary laser gimmick.

===Narthecium===
[[File:AST_Hagen_Pattern_Narthecium.png|200px|right|thumb|Narthecium]]

More of a medical tool than a weapon.

The iconic Narthecium of the Apothecaries is a tool which most people can recognize but few can pronounce let alone remember the name. As the Narthecium is a medical field kit, it contains the necessary tools to treat wounded Marines and get them back into action as quickly as possible. Included in the standard kit are:

*Anti-venoms;
*Stim-packs;
*Healing agents;
*Sterile clay for sealing wounds;
*A Carnifex (No, not ''THAT'' [[Carnifex]]) for euthanizing fatally injured Marines;
*Reductor (carbon alloy): a tool for extracting the Progenoid organs (gene-seed) from fallen Marines.

Other components may include a chainblade and an apothicarion drill for piercing armor. The Deep Bore version lowers the placement of the chainblade, and replace it with a saw-disc. The main focus of this version is the drill for piercing armor and retrieving gene-seed as quickly as possible. The Hagen pattern drill is larger and stronger, designed to be able to work on Terminator armor as well as standard Space Marine armor.

Its more Primaris-friendly and pistol relative is the [[Reductor Pistol]]. The more Orky equivalent is the 'Urty Syringe.

===Heavy Rock Drill===
[[File:Heavy_Rock_Drill.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Rock Drill]]

The Heavy Rock Drill is a type of construction and mining equipment used by the Imperium. However it can also be utilized as a weapon, most notably by Genestealer Cults. The heavy rock drill is modified by the hybrids so it can be carried into battle as a weapon '''''and''''' it can only be used ''by'' Hybrids due to requiring three arms and all. Its triple grinders can turn even the stoutest enemy champion to gory gobbets of flesh.

In terms of crunch, the Heavy Rock Drill is a 1 damage Power Fist. However, it doesn't have -1 to hit and it can inflict up to 5 extra mortal wounds on a successful wound. Pretty decent in handling tough targets especially if it successfully wounds them on the table.
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===Heavy Rock Cutter===
[[File:Heavy_Rock_Cutter.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Rock Cutter]]

The Heavy Rock Cutter is a type of construction and mining equipment used by the Imperium. However it can also be utilized as a weapon, most notably by Genestealer Cults. The hydraulic shears of heavy rock cutters were [[Noblebright|designed to free trapped mine workers from industrial accidents.]] When the cult rises up, however, their irresistible grip is used not to save, but to kill.

On tabletop, the Heavy Rock Cutter is a Double Strength, AP-4 and two damage weapon which may sound fantastic, but that's not all. If you successfully damage a non-VEHICLE target, beat its remaining wounds on a D6 and [[Fist of the North Star|it dies instantly.]] Goodbye Ogryns, Tyranid Warriors, Terminators and characters.
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===Heavy Rock Saw===
[[File:Heavy_Rock_Saw.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Heavy Rock Saw]]

Essentially a hand-held Power Saw.

The Heavy Rock Saw is a type of construction and mining equipment used by the Imperium. However it can also be utilized as a weapon, most notably by Genestealer Cults. The blades of the heavy rock saw are designed to cut through dense boulders of ore – when the time of war comes, they slice through the hulls of enemy vehicles easily.

On 8th edition, the Heavy Rock Saw is the same as the Heavy Rock Cutter, but minus the instant-kill ability and the -1 to hit roll. They are real saws, '''''[[Awesome|the manly saws]]''''' that make chainswords look like pool noodles. Stick a [[Genestealer Primus|Primus]] nearby for effective 2+ to hit shenanigans.
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===Mechadendrite===
[[File:Mechadendrite.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Mechadendrite]]

Humorously called the Noodly Appendage.

More of a tool than a weapon, although it doesn't stop the Techpriests from improvising. A Mechadendrite is a catchall name that covers a variety of tendril-like prosthetics used by [[Enginseer|Enginseers]] and other members of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. It assists in manipulation of objects, micro-construction, maintenance, research and defense. It is connected to the central nervous system of the Techpriest, and so is controlled through thought just like a biological limb.

Mechadendrites are constructed from metallic alloys and have small motors and actuators within their armored structures. They are usually longer than the Techpriest's natural limbs and are with multiple joints (simulating mechanical tentacles) to allow maximum reach and flexibility. Members of the Adeptus Mechanicus from the Enginseer rank and above are known to have mechadendrites, and although they may often only have one fitted, one could have as many mechadendrites as the body will support.

Servitors can also have mechadendrites to assist the Enginseer they are assigned to.

Mechatendrils, the Chaos version only gets a paltry two extra attacks at the users's strength. Along with a back mounted Meltagun and Flamer. A strange instance where the older version isn't superior to its newer counterpart.
The Mecanicus Machinator Array gives its user two additional Power Axe hits plus a Flamer and an Inferno pistol. Since Tech Priests enhancements give them the ability to carry two weapons. This is just icing on the cake during close combat. Quite brutal if paired with [[Radium Weaponry|Rad Weapons]] and the "traditional" Power Weapon.

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===Servo-Arm===
[[File:Servo-Arm_of_Iron_Priest.jpg|150px|right|thumb|Servo-Arm]]

The SPESS MEHREENS' bigger version of the Mechadendrite.

A Servo-arm is used by Space Marine Techmarines to help repair damaged vehicles on the battlefield. Likewise, since it acts like an additional appendage, it can carry or hold up massive equipment whilst more delicate machines can be used to repair much more fragile technologies. It can also be used as a devastating weapon in close combat as its hydraulics and synthetic muscle is more than enough to crack open a human skull.

[[Tl;dr]], it functions a lot like a hydraulic claw, or those forklift claws from Aliens' Power Loaders. Able to easily lift many kilos and even tons of materials in spaces too small and cramp for even a Forklift or a Sentinel Power-Lifter.

On tabletop, the Servo-Arm can be found in both the Mechanicus' and Space Marine's army list. It's a one power fist attack (including -1 to hit) with 1 worse AP but flat D3. For Enginseers and Servitors in the Mechanicum and Techpriests in the Adeptus Astartes. There are much better weapons anyways, so you shouldn't really care about these things unless you really want that particular target die a humiliating way.

===Servo-Harness===
[[File:Mech-arm-pack-solo-800x500.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Servo-Harness]]

When you want to cosplay as [[/co/|Doc Ock]] or because four limbs are better than three. While Mechadendrites are good enough for lower rank Tech Priests and Servo Arms for newbie [[Techmarines]]s. Space Marines Forgemasters decided something less complex than the mecha tentacles would be better for mass production and repairs on some Omnissiah forsaken planet. With tools that double as secondary guns.

[[Tl;dr]], its a mobile and miniature shrine to the Omnissiah, and it really shows.

A Servo-Harness grants a Techmarine two additional Power Fists attacks to back up their Power Weapon during melee. It also mounts a Flamer and a Plasma Cutter. The latter is a [[Plasma Pistol]] mounted on a Servo Arm. Making the pistol quite redundant. Though who takes a handgun when they can have a Combi-weapon? All this gear, plus their own self modified Artificer Armor and Servitor meat shields makes just one Techmarine a force to be reckoned with.

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===Hydraulic Claw===
[[File:HydraulicClaw.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Hydraulic Claw]]

''NOT'' a Power Weapon.

Hydraulic Claws are a type of weapon used by the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. Usually mounted on [[Kataphron Battle Servitors]], these weapons are driven not only by powerful pistons, but also sanctified oils that are collected, drip by drip, from God-Machines at rest. The Tech-Priests’ belief is that in maintaining this process, they confer some of the Titan’s strength to their servitors. One who has witnessed the ruin wrought by a hydraulic claw will be hard pressed to refute it.

Despite its name, it is no way related a normal industrial hydraulic claw, as these things are ''definitely'' designed to crush skulls of heretics and xenos alike. Seriously, look at those talons, you ain't gonna handle fragile cargo in a safe manner like that.

On tabletop, the Hydraulic Claw is essentially a power fist with less armor penetration. The weapon isn't bad, what is bad is the Breacher it is mounted on: what it gains in chance to wound it loses in chance to hit, and its meager AP doesn't let it capitalist on the D3 damage (which is the actual strength of power fists, not their strength). Barely better than the Arc Claw, but it also costs double.
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===Powerlifter===
[[File:Powerlifter.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Powerlifter]]

Another weapon that is ''NOT'' a Power Weapon, [[Pretend|despite its name.]]

The Powerlifter is a device used on Imperial Guard [[Sentinel|Sentinels]]. The Powerlifter consists of a pair of strong hydraulic claws, easily capable of crushing a man. Despite this, the Powerlifter is most often used for logistical and hauling duties. The Powerlifter is also equipped with a counterweight mounted on the rear to prevent the Sentinel from tipping forward when it is holding heavy cargo.

Back in the good old days, Powerlifters were surprisingly powerful melee weapons, able to handle entire squads of Assault Marines and win. Although it is honestly quite the hilarious site seeing a Sentinel kick ass in close combat despite how ungainly the Powerlifters were. Nevertheless, it was [[Nerf|nerfed]] because GW hates fun. Yes we know, it is a direct reference to Aliens' Power Loaders.
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===Magna-Grapple===
[[File:Magna-Grapple.png|200px|right|thumb|Magna-Grapple]]

[[Meme|GET OVER HERE!]] the weapon.

The Magna-Grapple (Otherwise known as the [[Grapnel Launcher]] for Dreadnoughts) is a pseudo-Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon used by the [[Furioso Dreadnought|Furioso Dreadnoughts]] of the [[Blood Angels]] Chapter and their Successor Chapters.

The Magna-Grapple is mounted on top of the Dreadnought's chassis. Consisting of potent gravitic emitters and a spooled length of adamantium chain, a Magna-Grapple can clamp onto a vehicle's hull before hauling the Dreadnought towards its target with terrifying speed. The Dreadnought then tears the target apart with its main Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons or fires upon it with its Frag Cannon.

Now if only the Grapnel Launcher could function the same....

===Assault/Siege Drill===
[[File:Siege_Drill.jpg|160px|right|thumb|Siege Drill]]

An Assault/Siege Drill is a weapon used on [[Dreadnoughts|Ironclad Siege Dreadnoughts]] or [[Centurion Squad|Centurions.]] Although they have different names, they function almost the same (Assault Drills for Dreadnoughts, Siege Drills for Centurions). It drills through rock as easily as reinforced ferrocrete, which is the substance usually used when building bunkers. Once the drill has penetrated the wall, a built in Heavy Flamer unleashes an inferno inside the bunker, killing everything within. The drill consists of three ball-shaped grinders which rotate to produce a drill effect.

On tabletop, these things are absolute monsters, the drills deal a whopping S10 AP-4 3 damage, which means that they ''WILL'' hit and they ''WILL'' hurt. For more information you can look up the Centurion Squad page to dissect its giddily goodness. It can be assumed that the Dreadnought version can kick just as much ass as the baby Centurion Squad.

<gallery>
File:Assault_Drill.jpg|Assault Drill
</gallery>

===Seismic Hammer===
[[File:Seismic_Hammer.JPG|160px|right|thumb|Seismic Hammer]]

A [[Grav-weapons|Gravity Hammer]] on a fist.

The Seismic Hammer is a much more common siege weapon than the Assault Drill, due to the simple fact that is a much less complex weapon. Where an Assault Drill is designed to penetrate its targets, the Seismic Hammer batters them into pieces. It is also equipped with an under-slung multi-melta. This siege weapon is only compatible with the Ironclad Dreadnought chassis.

The weapon resembles four small drills that attach and stabilize the weapon to the target structure, then the seismic hammer erupts out from the weapon's center, slamming into the target and causing devastating shock waves. ''Or'' it can resemble a long hammer that is held forwards, with its head resembling that of an eagle; the weapon uses powerful hydraulics to slam the hammerhead forwards with frightening speed, slamming into the target structure and causing massive damage.

On tabletop, this weapon forces a -1 to hit but comes with AP-4 and deals a jaw-dropping 5 damage per attack.
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===Leviathan Siege Drill===
[[File:LevSiege_Drill.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Leviathan Siege Drill]]

The bigger brother of the Assault and Siege Drills.

The Leviathan Siege Drill is a type of Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon designed for use by Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnoughts. It was developed to be even more destructive than most classes of Dreadnought Siege Drills, and can bore straight through the heavy armor of vehicles and fortifications with ease. This Siege Drill incorporates a built-in Meltagun in the palm.

Essentially, it is a Heavy Rock Drill that has been grown to the size of a Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon. Seriously, what's up with the Imperium and weaponizing mining equipment for the lols?

On tabletop, the Leviathan Siege Drill is Sx2, AP 2 weapon that has wrecker and armourbane rules. This means that this thing, like the Leviathan Siege Claw is a [[Cheese|S16 weapon]] that can reliably one punch the majority of units up and including Terminators with relative ease. That and the fact that it come automatically in-built with a Meltagun means that most armor including Superheavies aren't safe once this thing is charging headfirst into hell.
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===Leviathan Siege Claw===
[[File:LevSiege_Claw.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Leviathan Siege Claw]]

A Dreadnought Lightning Claw on steroids.

The Leviathan Siege Claw is the standard type of Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon used by Leviathan Pattern Siege Dreadnoughts, and it was developed to be even more destructive than those of other Dreadnought patterns. A Leviathan Siege Claw is designed to sever flesh and bone, slicing a Leviathan's foe apart in a single cut. Curiously, it is not stated to be a [[Power Weapon]], which if true, means that those claws on the Leviathan is just ''THAT'' sharp.

As with all of a Leviathan Dreadnought's close combat weapons, they also excel at tearing through the walls of enemy fortifications. All Leviathan Siege Claws incorporate a built-in Meltagun. The Siege Claw is certified for definite [[RIP AND TEAR]].

On tabletop, this weapon is a Sx2 AP-3 D3 weapon which re-roll failed wounds against Infantry. [[Rape|Equip your Leviathan with two of these monsters and watch as this thing butchers entire Ork and Tyranid armies into pieces.]]
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{{40k-Imperial-Weapons}}

==Eldar==

===Star Bolas===
[[File:Star_Bolas.png|200px|right|thumb|Star Bolas]]

Remember the Bolas that we talked about earlier? Yeah, it seems that the [[Eldar|Elfdar]] ''somehow'' found a use for these.

A Star Bola, or Tredail as it is known in the Eldar Lexicon, is a close-combat weapon utilized exclusively by the [[Eldar]] [[Harlequins]]. This is a favored weapon of the Harlequin Players, known as Great Falcons, who are mounted precariously on the rear of the lightning-fast Jetbikes known as [[Skyweaver|Skyweavers]]. A Star Bola mounts three weighted plasma charges at the end of mesh-weave cords. These charges arm when the bolas are spun with sufficient vigor. The weapon is designed to be hurled in a scything arc, tangling about its target before its plasma charges explode with the fury of a dying sun. Though Star Bolas are undeniably powerful weapons, their main disadvantage is that [[Derp|they can be hurled but once.]]

Yeah, yeah we know. [[Lolwut|Its pretty jarring for one of the most ancient and advance race in WH40K to still be using one of the most primitive and simplest of weapons as their go-to anti-tank projectiles.]] Sure we can brush it off as Harlequins being massive [[Troll|Trolls]], but come on GW, ''really?'' Of all the tools you could give to the Space Clowns, you give them [[Wat|fucking Bolas!?]] Weapons that are looked down on by the Mon'Keigh as obsolete and even primitive by [[Ork]] standards? [[FAIL|And it can only be thrown once? Seriously who the hell designed the ergonomics of this thing?]]

{{40k-Eldar-Weapons}}

==Ork==
These are any close combat weapons that are neither [[Choppa|Choppas]] (Due to having a more complex system to manufacture) nor a [[Chain Weapon]] (Due to having parts that does not function like a Chain Weapon). Basically, they are any CCW that does not fit a particular niche.

==='Urty Syringe===
[[File:EC-needle-uv-lif.jpg|200px|right|thumb|'Urty Syringe]]

Ork [[Painboy|Painboys]] carry a bewildering variety of mean-looking tools, supposedly designed to aid the Mad Dok in his 'fixin' of wounded Orks. They may include various blunt saws, blades and hammers and other devices which an Imperial medic would never dream of using.

However, his most used tool is the 'Urty Syringe. 'Urty Syringes are huge steel syringes filled with some toxic goo or liquid. When used in combat, they prove to be an extremely powerful weapon although they don't work against opponents with peculiar physiologies, such as daemons or Tyranids.

The 'Urty Syringe as you may already know, is the Ork equivalent of the Space Marine Narthecium.

===Mek's Fixa===
[[File:Fixa.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Mek's Fixa]]

More of a tool than a weapon.

Ork [[Mekboy|Mekboys]] use all kinds of various tools to repair, kustomize and upgrade their vehicles and other unreliable pieces of Ork Technology. They often put them to use right on the battlefield to fix a vehicle that undertook damage in the fighting. Most of the tools used are rather primitive, but some may take a form of unusually sophisticated and bizarre devices.

The most prominent tool of the Mekboy is the Mek's Fixa which is a giant wrench that is basically the Ork's swiss army knife, for it can function as the aforementioned wrench, a hammer, a cutting tool, a screwdriver and much, much more. It can even function as an axe, if the Mekboy feels particularly threatened.

===Tankhammer===
[[File:Tank_Hammer.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Tankhammer]]
The Tankhammer is a ridiculous and suicidal weapon and is what happens when you combine a hammer with a RPG round. The Tankhammer is an Ork close combat weapon for use against enemy armor.

Essentially a rokkit on a pole, it is used by old-fashioned Orks, who don't trust such unreliable devices as rokkit thrusters. The Tankhammer is swung directly into the vulnerable parts of enemy vehicles at close range, although it an be used against infantry with devastating effects. It is most commonly wielded by Ork Tankbustas. [[FATAL|Because it often explodes when struck, most of these Orks don't survive, much to the amusement of much smarter Orks.]]

<gallery>
File:Tankhammer.jpg|If you want to go out in style, the Tankhammer is for you!
</gallery>

===Bangstikk===
[[File:Bangstikk.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Bangstikk]]

The cousin of the Tankhammer and far more sensible. The Bangstikk is essentially the Orkified version of the Imperium's [[Basic Close Combat Weapons#Hunting Lance|Hunting Lance.]]

Nothing more than a rokkit on a stick, a Bangstikk is a Feral Ork weapon. They are long poles with large amounts of explosives attached to the end and used when mounted on a Boar. Most probably used something like a lance, the bangstikk has a similar effect to the Krak Grenade and is used highly effectively against vehicle armour, although being poorly balanced they are not the easiest of weapons to use.

It is not known why the Orks never seem to utilize more of these. It could be because more tech-savvy Orks aren't fans of [[Boarboyz]] and their [[Warboar|Warboars]], therefore the usage of these weapons seem fall out of use in the more Mek dominated areas of Ork control. However the Snakebite clan still utilize these en masse due to being Amish Orks.

===Wyrdboy Stikk===
[[File:Wyrdboy_Stikk.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Wyrdboy Stikk]]

A Wyrdboy Stikk is a copper staff which [[Weirdboy|Weirdboys]] use to safely earth their excess psychic energy. It is usually a personal gift from the Weirdboy's superior, usually the [[Warboss]] himself and is often decorated with bells along with Weirdboy's clothes.

The staff is a great source of comfort to the Weirdboy as it means he can go about his daily life without suffering from sudden and unexpected outbursts of psychic energy. Unfortunately, this doesn't work all the time and Weirdboys still often form the focus for all sorts of unexplained activity. While it might not save his life, the bang may be of a lesser magnitude than it might otherwise have been.

===Killsaw===
[[File:Warhammer-40k-bitz-orks-mega-nobz-killsaw-e1-right.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Killsaw]]

''[[Derp|Not to be confused with the much larger Kill Saw]]''

Killsaw is an Ork close combat weapon sometimes integrated into Mega Armour or used by Ork Mekboys. They are the smallest of the Buzzsaw family. A large variant of the Killsaw can be seen mounted on Mega-Dreads.

On tabletop, the Killsaw is a weapon that trades out the 1d3 damage of the Klaw for a flat 2 damage and an additional point AP (Boosting the total to -4). If you can somehow take two, they give you an extra attack (kind of like lightning claws, or how older Editions' dual-wielding rules worked). It can only be equipped to Warbosses, Meks, Nobz, Painboyz or Meganobz, so it takes a bit of effort to get the most use out of it. In general, stick to the Klaw unless you have a way to get your Mek/Meganobz into melee without being shot at.

<gallery>
File:7e-meganob-killsaws.jpg
</gallery>

===Buzz Saw===
[[File:Buzz_Saw.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Buzz Saw]]

The generically named Buzz Saw is a huge, circular sawblade mounted on Killa Kans and Deff Dreads.

The big brother of the Killsaw, the Buzz Saw is a unholy fusion of a powersaw and a power klaw (Without the power part) and are every bit as savage as the Orks that wields them. This means that the Buzz Saw can both grab and slice opponents into fine chunks of flesh.

These weapons may include single large spinning blades, multiple small spinning blades, spinning blades with additional fixed or moving blades or crushing elements, or spinning blades with additional [[Chain Weapon|Chain Weapons]] attached.

Despite this, they are grouped all under the Killa Kan/Deff Dread Close Combat Weapons and thus, all share the same profile of a Dread Klaw/Kan Klaw (Depending on the walker using them). [[Derp|Which means that this non-Power Weapons share the same function as an ''actual'' Power Weapon.]]
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===Drilla===
[[File:Drilla.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Drilla]]

A weapon designed in creating as many holes into a unfortunate bastard as possible.

A large, motorised drill-bit meant to pierce through the toughest armor with contemporary ease. The Drilla is meant for anti-armor purposes whilst the rest of the Killa Kan's/Deff Dread's weapons can be free'd up to focus on mulching infantry.

Despite this, they are grouped all under the Killa Kan/Deff Dread Close Combat Weapons and thus, all share the same profile of a Dread Klaw/Kan Klaw (Depending on the walker using them). [[Derp|Which means that this non-Power Weapons share the same function as an ''actual'' Power Weapon.]]
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===Wrecker===
[[File:Wrecker.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Wrecker]]

A Wrecker (AKA the Wrecking Ball) is a large metal ball attached to an Ork combat walker's weapon arm with a chain. Think of it as a [[Basic Close Combat Weapons#Flail|Flail]] on a much larger scale. These weapons are used to crush buildings and other obstacles to rubble, allowing the Ork forces to move across the terrain easier. Wreckers can be used by both Killa Kans, Deff Dreads and sturdy/powerful Trukks, but are mostly found within urban combat zones.

On tabletop, the Wrecker is a weapon that gives S+1 and AP-1 for a whopping 3 points. Can only hit with this weapon a maximum of 3 times, which is the maximum amount of attacks a Trukk can make, the unit most likely to have one anyway. At 3 points a pop, throwing them onto any Trukks you're running is not a bad way to spend floating points. Can help you actually deal damage if you decide to slam a Trukk into an opponent's shooty vehicles. Puts a Trukk up to S7 (in the first combat profile), which wounds most Space Marine vehicles on a 4+ and reduces their armor save to a 4+. If you charge a Dreadnought, don't expect the Trukk to survive the 'Dread's turn to fight. Frankly since Trukks die so fast it is probably better to get that extra Grot.

===Kill Saw===
[[File:Kill_Saw.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Kill Saw]]

''[[Derp|Not to be confused with the much smaller Killsaw]]''

The annoyingly named Kill Saw is the Killsaw's and Buzz Saw's dad and is possibly one of the most confusing names ever thought out by GW. [[FAIL|When the only way to differentiate between two different classes of weapons is a space between two words, you know you done fucked up.]]

Kill Saws are massive saw-blades that are used by Ork Mega-Dreads and Kustom Meka-Dreads. The pilots of these walkers love seeing them rip through even the strongest of enemy armor. These saw weapons are much larger than the ones found on the smaller Deff Dreads and Killa Kans.

On tabletop, the Kill Saw was a powerful melee and shred weapon. At Strength 10 and AP 2, this monster goes well with the Rippa Klaw at absolutely eviscerating enemy armor and infantry alike. If you have two Kill Saws, you can add +1 attack, you know, so that you can Rip and Tear fully.
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===Rippa Klaw===
[[File:99590103074_OrkRippaKlawArm02.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Rippa Klaw]]

Not specified to be a [[Power Weapon]]. Rippa Klaws are gigantic shear-bladed pincers that are capable of ripping open heavy armor with extreme ease.

Rippa Klaws feature a large pincer with three blades that can grab and crush enemy units. These massive weapons are used by both Mega-Dreads and Kustom Meka-Dreads. Because they are not stated to be a power weapon like the Power Klaw, it can be said that the majority of its cutting power comes from pure hydraulic pressure powered from multiple pneumatic pumps. They are seen as one of the pinnacle of maximum [[RIP AND TEAR]].

In 7th edition, the Rippa Klaw was the go-to Close Combat Weapon for the Mega-Dread due to its high strength and AP value. It is able to handle most vehicles and infantry by itself and is a deadly weapon on its own.

In 8th edition, the Rippa Klaw is a weapon that can attack 5 times, each attack has a AP of -3 with S x2 and dealing D6 damage. If your Mega-Dread is equipped with two of these bad boys, he would have the [[RIP AND TEAR|Rip n' Tear]] ability, which increase the attack characteristics by 1.
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===Stompa Klaw===
[[File:99590103080_OrkStompaClawArm01.jpg|right|thumb|200px|right|thumb|Stompa Klaw]]

Basically the Rippa Klaw's badass uncle. Stompa Klaws are giant Rippa Klaws meant to rip apart enemy Titans up close. Like the Rippa Klaws, the Stompa Klaw may not be a Power Weapon but a weapon where the majority of its cutting power comes from pure hydraulic pressure powered from multiple pneumatic pumps. They maybe more flexible and versatile than the Mega-Choppa, able to both crush and grab things at a whim before throwing it at a group of blobs.

Meks sometimes deploy these giant Rippa Klaws to rend enemy war machines apart at close quarters – all the better to claim the choicest scrap for future projekts. They are seen as one of the pinnacle of maximum [[RIP AND TEAR]].

These weapons can be equipped with giant Buzz Saws to further aid in its cutting power.

Unfortunately, there isn't any rules for the Stompa Klaw despite the fact that fucking [[Forgeworld]] [[Derp|already has the model up and ready.]] You would think that there should be rules for this weapon right? But nope! GW is lazy like that.
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===Krusha Ball===
[[File:Krusha_Ball.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Krusha Ball]]

The Wrecker's grandaddy and a Flail grown to truly Titanic sizes.

Some Stompas feature an unusual weapon, known as the Krusha Ball, a huge chunk of scrap metal on a chain, which is mounted on a Stompa's arm in place of the regular close combat weapon. Its swings cause immense devastation, krushing everything in its path: soldiers, vehicles, buildings and terrain. Like the smaller Wrecker, it is designed to demolish fortifications and buildings.

Krusha Balls are thus, extremely unwieldy and difficult to use, just like a Flail. The large and heavy metal ball is powerful enough to crumple even the tough armor of Titans and Superheavies, whilst being flexible and chaotic enough to be unpredictable and strike on odd angles, hitting weak/blind spots. However, it is not without its risks. If the backswing is too much, [[FAIL|it will smash back into the Stompa, causing immense damage to the Stompa itself.]]

Back in the oldschool tabletop days, trying to use the Krusha Ball was a [[FAIL|over complicated trainwreck.]] Unless you're a genius at math, this thing took way too much time and effort to even ''judge'' if it hits anything. If you actually want to know the details, please continue to read below.

Specifically, the Krusha Ball is a Titan melee weapon that replaces the standard close combat weapon the Stompa is armed with (Mega-Choppa). If the Stompa is not otherwise engaged in close combat, the hefty Krusha Ball can be swung in a vast sweeping arc of destruction. Nominate a direction (It is convenient to mark this with a Scatter dice) and roll 2D6. [[What|This is the number of inches in which the path of devastation travels (Whatever the fuck that means).]] Assume the path is 2" wide and measure directly below the position of your Krusha Ball. Any model in its path takes a single destroyer hit, although a infantry or jump infantry may take an Initiative test to avoid the blow. On a roll of a double 1 the backswing is too much and the Stompa itself takes a single destroyer hit in addition to any targets within 2" arc.

Any terrain touched by the weapon is removed and replaced with rubble.

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===Krusha===
[[File:Krusha.PNG|200px|right|thumb|Krusha]]

''[[Derp|Not to be confused with the similarly named Krusha Ball or the]] [[Chain Weapon#Crusha|Crusha]] [[Rage|(Seriously, what the fuck was GW thinking in using multiple weapons with similiar-as-fuck names!?)]]''

Ork Mega-Gargants feature weapons so big they dwarf even Mega-Choppas. Known as Krushas these are one of the biggest and most deadliest close combat weapons in the Galaxy. Krushas are immense Rippa Klaws that can rip apart the limbs of even Emperor Titans. Through sheer power alone, a Krusha can use its immense hydraulic presses and pneumatic pumps to crush the centimeters thick reinforced ceramite platings of Titans with contemporary ease.

The main downside however, is that Krusha's are large and expensive weapons that is only effective in really close range. These ranges put the weapon at a disadvantage when a Emperor Titan would gun the Gargant down before it even reaches. [[Anal circumference|But when it does reach, than gigantic assholes will be opened up and penetrated.]]

{{40k-Ork-Weapons}}

Archeotech

2019-01-01T23:12:28Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95:

{{Wh40k-stub}}
'''Archeotech''' (known by other spellings) is a term from [[Warhammer 40,000]] which refers to any of the vast array of mysterious ancient technologies developed during the Dark Age of Humanity, which the [[Imperium of Man]] still digs up and uses for its own purposes, despite not knowing the slightest bit how they work or how to rebuild them.

Typically speaking, Archeotech tends to be insanely advanced even by the standards of the setting to the point where even the [[Necron]] [[Cryptek]]s would scratch their collective skulls at how it works. Archeotech also tends to include highly advanced materials which cannot be replicated by any faction in the setting, and are so complicated and sophisticated in design that trying to understand the inner workings is an act of madness.

Examples of Archeotech include:

*Archeotech Pistols that were available to the highest ranking officers during the [[Great Crusade]]. These are the most common Archeotech that shows up. Fluff depictions defer but in the 30k Horus Heresy rule books they have stopping power that sits between a [[Bolter]] and a [[Plasma Pistol]]. Only [[Rogue Trader]]s and named characters seem to have them by the 42nd Millennium.
*A gun that cannot miss, not because it is so accurate, but because it manipulates reality so much that it is physically impossible for it to miss. Although it did miss once, thanks to [[Eldar]] psychic powers, reality was rewritten by the gun so it had never missed in the first place.
*A cure-all Panacea that uses quantum certainty/uncertainty to predict diseases that will form and can instantly adapt itself to cure any disease that it encounters.
*A [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)#Castigator Titan|titan]] so advanced it was capable of running, sprinting, jumping, and climbing, despite being bigger than any other Imperial Titan. It also had a gun that shot [[Daemons]] as ammunition.
*A bomb that dropped living green flame that would move across the battlefield to hunt down victims, and seek out weak points on vehicles and buildings to get at the soft meat inside.
*A device that, when activated, shrouded the battlefield in a strange energy that made it so that the enemy couldn't see through an inky blackness even with Autosenes or Preysight while also making it seem bright as noon for the army that used it.

This technology is obviously cheesetastic nightmares. Everyone should be thankful that the Imperuim can't mass deploy such artifacts.

[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Gamer Slang]]

XCOM

2019-01-01T21:00:59Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* XCOM 2 */

{{/vg/}}
{{Oldschool}}

[[Image:Xcom_2.png|thumb|right|]]

This is a [[Dan Abnett|rare treat]]. '''X-COM''', or as it's called across the pond, ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'' (It was released as XCOM in North America, it was ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'' literally everywhere else) is a turn-based strategy game that is, to put it simply, about as close to a game of [[Dark Heresy]] as one can get in isometric 3D. Note that X-COM is significantly older than [[Dark Heresy]], and older than all but the first edition of [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]], so it'd be better to say [[Dark Heresy]] is a lot like X-COM on the tabletop. Dating back to the much-lamented Microprose, it set a gold standard for atmosphere and playability that has, frankly, not been breached in ages.

The game is [[Dwarf Fortress|old as balls]] and in isometric view, which, paired with the Dark Heresy similarities, makes it more /tg/ material than /v/.

==A General Gist==

A general synopsis is that in [[grimdark|the not-so-distant future, there is war - and aliens]]. Aliens are arriving, and they are most assuredly hostile. It falls upon the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, or the eponymous X-COM, a multi-national task-force, to deal with the invasion by blasting the fuck out of the Aliens, stealing their shit, researching their technology, and using it to fucking kill them off, all the while fighting off terror attacks and trying to figure out where in Uranus these fucking things are coming from (as it turns out, from Mars, and if you win, the final mission involves you going to Mars and dropping an [[Exterminatus]] on their asses).

It kicked ass. It was good enough to spawn a sequel, ''Terror From The Deep'', which was basically the same game, but underwater and infinitely harder. Story-wise, the destruction of the Martian base activated a fail-safe in the aliens' system that woke up T'leth, their 'secondary' (and mobile) base buried deep under the seas of Earth. X-Com now again must protect the people while finding out about where exactly T'leth is and go in to blast it to smithereens with extreme prejudice. It was hard. Really hard. Not only do aliens have a major advantage technology-wise at the start and they tear through your recruits with impunity, but later in the game when you catch up they start using a nasty trick to take control of your troopers, leading to sometimes hilarious and [[rage|extreme rage-inducing]] turn one [[TPK]]s as your heavy weapon trooper gets controlled and fires his heavy weapon inside the transport while the team is busy disembarking. Oh, and did we mention that the only way to research the best armour in the game was to capture a live specimen of a rarely-appearing alien? And that to capture a live specimen you had to send a poor redshirt in armed with an oversized cattleprod to stun it in close quarters? And that said alien was [[rip and tear|able to tear a human apart effortlessly]] in close quarters? And (as if all that wasn't bad enough already), that the poor redshirt then had to pick up and to carry the damn unconscious thing back to the human ship praying [[rape|that the specimen didn't wake up with a grudge before he got there and the mission ended]]? Yeah, it was kinda like that.

It then spawned a second, somewhat different but still appreciated sequel, ''X-Com Apocalypse''. Destruction of T'leth fucked up Earth's biosphere and humanity retreated to quickly built mega-arcologies to survive. Unlike the two first game, there's a bigger political aspect to things as you have not only to make sure you deal with the damn aliens coming to fuck your shit up, but remain best buds with the other humans while doing so. It tried to blend Turn-Based & Real-Time strategy into one so you could play it at the speed you wanted. All in all, a decent and ambitious, if not overwhelmingly good game (mostly because a ton of content was cut before release). Basically this time it was one [[Cyberpunk]] city against extradimensional aliens, though the equipment from the first two games gave the player a far greater headstart.

Then Microprose was bought by [[Hasbro|that which must never be named]], who proceeded to nose-dive the IP with games like [[AIDS|X-COM: Interceptor]] and [[Shit Twinkie|X-COM: Enforcer]]. At least Interceptor had a decent backstory and for those with a good eye, explain where the aliens in ''X-Com Apocalypse'' came from.

Fucking [[RAGE|Hasbro]].

Anyway. Combat is a lot like Dark Heresy's in that it's exceedingly lethal; at the game's outset, you have no armor beyond jumpsuits with Kevlar stuffed into them, and your firearms are the best and most powerful weaponry that chemical propelled explosives can provide only moderately capable against alien forces (though quite diverse). In order to properly take these fucking things on anything remotely resembling their own terms, you need upgrades. Upgrades come through research, and research comes by shooting down UFOs, landing a ground assault, killing the surviving aliens, and stripping the UFO like the [[Blood Ravens]] do other chapters' shiny bits. Once brought back to base, your researchers can look into what makes the alien's gear work, research your own weapons and tech, and develop technologies to help in the fight against the Aliens. Eventually, you can load your forces up with [[Space Marine|Power-armored bad-asses]], but starting out, your forces are fragile, and fighting smart is ''vital''. You ''will'' suffer casualties early on - guaranteed - but such is war, and you must press on, allowing the survivors to grow into [[Colonel Greiss|manly badasses]].

The Aliens themselves are diverse, ranging from the Sectoids (conventional "gray" aliens), to Chryssalids (horrifying abominations that inject targets with eggs that turn them into mindless drones which will explosively birth new Chryssalids thereafter). Nightmare fuel = yes. The game manages to be exceedingly creepy for one so simple, and is one of many reasons that X-COM works so well.

==Tales of Heroism==

In accordance with /tg/'s love of war stories about [[your dudes]], several examples of awesome have been compiled:

''Instant'' death doesn't ''always'' happen. Occasionally, one Rookie will be touched by God and succeed against all odds. After that, he will die horribly. [[Just as Planned]].

X-COM agent of note: [[Marc Lecointe]]. Lecointe survived numerous missions, got the highest kill count on most missions, killed a Snakemen leader and his bodyguards (despite losing over half the squad), and got shot in the face and back with plasma and lived. He eventually was hit with return fire in an alley and began bleeding. He returned fire and killed the Snakeman, but bled to death before help could arrive. Lacointe lives on in our hearts.

Another agent of note is Gristle McThornbody, a Rocket-Toting Team-Killing asshole who refuses to die OR be mind-controlled. He's so badass, that even when he has 85% or more to hit on a 2x2 alien, he'll still hit the wall twenty tiles to the left.

== New Stuff and Things ==
According to things [[/v/]] likes to watch on the Internet, a new X-Com game is in the pipes, set to be made in the gameplay and spirit of the old games, with new graphics and updated for the new generation of gamers to be introduced into the X-Com game style. It lost the dash along the way someplace, and got re-named ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown''. This new game, which has spawned joy boners in many on /v/ and /tg/ alike, is believed to stem from the utter, burning [[RAGE|fury]] that was originally spawned from 2K's simply-titled ''XCOM'' game, which, near as we can tell, is an FPS that takes place in the 1960s and has exactly ''nothing'' to do with the actual X-COM franchise. Seriously, don't look into 2K's game if you're a fan of the series on any level - it will cause veterans to spontaneously transform into [[Angry Marines]] and/or [[Khorne|Khornate Berserkers]]. Apparently, those in charge had the wherewithal to note that if they didn't make a ''proper'' X-COM game, [[/tg/]] (and by extension, [[/v/]]) would [[Anal Circumference|leave their asshole in ruins]]. They even went ahead to declare the two games take place in separate universes. If only [[Games Workshop]] had [[Matt Ward|that much sense]]...

== XCOM: Enemy Unknown by Firaxis ==
[[File:XCOMGameplay.jpg|200px|thumb|An in-game screenshot of the new game.]]
And Firaxis came to the rescue, promising to return to the roots of XCOM (note the lack of a hyphen this time around, although the logo ''does'' have a horizontal stripe taken out of the "COM"). Since Firaxis has a lot of ex-MicroProse people, a lot of them have had to do with the original as well, and the original musical score will make a return. Although it's changed a few things to avoid hurting the brains of [[/v/|delicate little console kiddies]] like removing time units, removing ballistic simulation, cutting down on your maximum amount of squad members (4 at the start and 6 maximum) and limiting us to one base (though each base location gives its own unique bonus), it still somehow manages to be a good game in its own right. If the original X-COM is like Mordheim, then XCOM is like Space Hulk: massively simplified and more heavily dependent on the luck of the die, but with less micromanagement and long-term planning required.

If you haven't bought the game and you're a TBS fan, everyone in /tg/ that isn't [[That guy]], would highly recommend you give it a whirl at the modest price of <strike>
$39.99 </strike> $16.49 for all the good remade XCOM games because of our father Gabe Newell on PC,
still is 39.99 for console/Non-Steam or $9.99 on mobile/tablet devices. Like always, we have footage for vidyas: https://youtu.be/qDhuZ4b51hA https://youtu.be/-SKoS5BYVuY https://youtu.be/bxuzLyR-000

===XCOM: Enemy Within===
[[File:MectoidMEC.jpg|200px|thumb|Did we mention melee combat with exosuits?]]
''Enemy Within'' is an expansion pack (and unlike most "horse armor" tier DLCs with the name this one actually deserves it) that completely re-defines how the game progresses, compared to the original one. The game's story still progresses like the original game, but expands on it for a more entertaining experience.

It adds the "meld" resource to the game, a type of alien organic/synthetic-hybrid nanomachine that allows you to unlock two powerful technologies: MEC and genetic modification. MEC allows your troops to interface with a Mechanized Exoskeleton Cybersuit, a heavy exoskeleton that brings the heaviest of weapons to the field (Including the option for a powerfist equivalent called a "Kinetic Strike Module". Yes, make your own faux [[Terminator]] squad! Especially when the Tier-3 Paladin upgrade bulks up your suit's armor that you look vaguely similar to Termies.). Genetic modification allows you to augment your troops using data gathered from dissected aliens, making them killier than ever before. In fact, you can create your own equivalent of an Imperial [[Space Marine]] with the list of available modifications you can do (Two of these specific upgrades are a second heart and the ability of self-regeneration).

It also adds new aliens to the xenos' side, like a cloaking squid robot that chokes your troops to death and their own brand of exosuit troops. It also introduces another enemy into the game: EXALT. EXALT are a bunch of power-mad blokes who sees the alien's invasion as a way to gain power by adapting their technology for themselves, inching them closer to world domination. They see you as an obstacle and are determined to undermine your efforts to defeat the aliens by disrupting your operations through a number of ways and sowing panic amongst XCOM-member nations, generally making your already hectic life even more hectic. You must now defeat this new threat through a combination of [[Ork|cunning brutality and brutal cunning.]] They have most of your technologies to go toe-to-toe with you (Except for their own exosuits) and they are well hidden, so bringing them down won't be an easy affair.

=== XCOM 2 ===
[[File:People%27s_reaction_to_XCOM_2%27s_Vipers.png|200px|thumb|Turns out they ''are'' poison glands. Hee.]]
A direct-ish sequel to EU/EW, XCOM 2 seems to decide that what's canon is not: not "you killed all the aliens, now here's more aliens", but "you know that Impossible Ironman game you played for a laugh and got utterly stomped? That's the canon ending". (The utterly stomping part takes place in the base assault, and it is so bad that two of the most important things got taken: The Commander, and more importantly, central officer Bradford's sweater). The aliens won before humanity even got to laser weapons, taking over the world and unifying humanity (read: ruling over them in a pseudo-utopia "Brave New World"-style), and basically preparing to turn them into another of their slave races (not that most of humanity knows this).

XCOM refused to back down even after the Council of Nations ceased to exist and instead went underground, hijacking an alien supply ship to act as a mobile base for hit-and-run operations against the alien occupiers, in the hopes of toppling the ADVENT (the puppet government aliens've set up) and exposing the true purpose of their supposedly ideal society to the world. So they free the captured Commander (sadly the sweater seems to be shrunk in the wash) and it's guerilla warfare time.

New features include:
The Assault class has been given a makeover to focus even more on [[Rip and Tear]], replacing the sidearm with a sword and changing title to the Ranger. The Sniper has been renamed the Sharpshooter and given a pistol-focused skill-tree-route that turns the soldier into Clint Eastwood (literally, like you can have a stand-off by firing 3 pistol-shots in the same turn). The Support class has been renamed the Specialist and been given a drone to hack, heal, shield and/or zap shit remotely. The Heavy has been given a nice grenade launcher to act as your cover-stomper, and been renamed the Grenadier. Psi-operatives are their own class now as well, and get hate-hair and [[Cadia|purple eyes]] because that makes sense and all psychically talented people look like neo-punks. Troops can be captured, and then rescued, which also reclaims any expensive gear they had on them (but it's never the captured troops you actually need back).
New enemies (without spoilers), including "human" ADVENT security troops (who really love to say "bitch" and pointing towards your soldiers) with magnetic weapons who look like humans till you get their armor off, sectoid-human hybrids with teeth, thumbs, and belly buttons (which can be really creepy if you '''really''' think about it), and Snake-women called Vipers (which is what the Thin Men actually look like without their disguises). Yes, there were snaketits on the thread that announced this to /tg/. Yes, /d/ has drawn porn of them. Yes, it will be added to the gallery.

Moving on.

XCOM 2 also contains an in depth explanation for the aliens' motives that many fans felt was lacking or too ambiguous in Enemy Within. Apparently, the Ethereals have some kind of fatal disease they can't cure, so they've been trekking around the galaxy culminating genes to form the ultimate bodies for themselves, while amassing a genetically supreme army. When the Ethereals found humanity, they found their genes to be so awesome and powerful that just adding some of them to a lowly sectoid turned it from a pathetic 3' tall creature you could kill with basic weapons, to an 8' tall psionic rape machine that could raise the dead and withstand salvos of bullets to the face. They then set up an alien government on Earth so they could discretely process humanity's best genetic material and slowly form new bodies for themselves that don't die called Avatars. And by don't die, we mean have copious amounts of health, teleport every time they're injured, regenerate like crazy, are guaranteed to successfully mind control anything, and are immune to any of your psychic status abilities(ie: panic, disorientation, and mind control, you can still annihilate them with psionic fire). And the boss fight involves killing three of these dick-butts and an endless wave of alien reinforcements. Using human DNA is also where their ADVENT troops came from, they grew armies of human spliced with unspecified aliens to act as their public face to the humans. But humanity wins anyway, because humans are just that fucking awesome.

The game is also notable for abandoning the usual conditions for losing. The norm for the series is for your funding to get cut if too many countries lose faith in XCOM. Since you're fighting a guerrilla war and your support are humans fighting to survive outside the aliens' control zones, that isn't happening. Instead you lose if the aliens complete the Avatar Project, their goal to mass produce the bodies for the Ethereals. If they do you get treated to a scene of almost all resistance being crushed because the Avatars are dangerous enough in small numbers and an army of them would unstoppable. You can slow progress, but can only stop it by finishing the game.

So far there have been recently four DLCs for XCOM 2. "Anarchy's Children" added new customization features for your soldiers, most of which you wouldn't ever really use. "Alien Hunters" adds a new mission, weapons, and alien rulers who you have to hunt down. The alien rulers get to take an action every, single, time, one of your soldiers does(this is changed in war of the chosen,because firaxis realized it was bullshit). This is even more infuriating then it sounds. Some more customization options are added too. "Shen's Last Gift" adds another mission and the SPARK class soldier. SPARKs are robots you have to make in the proving ground. War of the Chosen finally allows players to add modifications to their guns, gave them better aim and a health boost. So now they're worth taking. If your Grenadier is injured or has low morale. While their weapons are much larger and more powerful-looking than the other squad specialized weapons, they don't do more damage than the regular specialized weapons. This is stupid, as an auto-cannon would naturally do much more damage than a 7mm Gatling Gun. They are also prohibitively expensive so you have no choice to do the mission if you want one for cheap. Optional mods have improved their balance to outright making them a super unit if you wish.

And here comes the fun part; if you read the developers blog, their idea of "balance" is to actually nerf plenty of stuff...so the game is harder after having a buffed-up alien lord chase your dudes all over the game. Was old-school really this hard?

You think that's bad, the end game unlocks second wave options, like increasing all Health by 50%, having your guys get worse as they get injured, have their stats rolled at random, so you can make the game even HARDER! Because dying is ''fun''.

Also be careful about which mods you add to the game. [[rage|As they can crash the game or corrupt your save.]] This version of the Unreal Engine seem to have annoying stability issues as well.

====XCOM 2: War of the Chosen====

This brand new expansion gives us three new allies to aid us.

*Reapers: Stealthy hunters who are armed with nothing but a rifle and explosives. It's enough. They wear [[Shadowrun|trench coats and gas masks]]. Have a special ability where they have a chance to not reveal themselves upon attacking. Enemies have vastly reduced detection ranges against Reapers, and Reapers can detonate explosives on the map without revealing themselves. They can also throw an environmental explosive. [[Dakka|They also have an ability that lets them shoot at an enemy until they run out of ammo.]] Long story short, these guys are only slightly less powerful than the Reapers from Mass Effect.

*Skirmishers: ADVENT defectors who are armed with a grappling hook that can pull them to a rooftop and pull themselves to the enemy or vice versa and at max level allows them to have the [[Awesome|alien rulers ability to gain action points every. Time. The. Enemy. Moves.]] Except it only works three times a turn, and doesn't trigger on non-move actions. [[fail|The game doesn't tell you this.]]

*Templars: [[Grey Knights|A resistance group made of only psionics]] that wield psi blades and machine pistols, but you'll probably never use those. They're fast, hard to kill, and hit like a brick. And like any good psi-based unit, they can fry their enemies with lighting from their hands. They're like the [[rip and tear]] half of the Ranger, but with psionic powers. They're also fantastically hammy and roll their Rs.

But these new allies come with a catch as you now have to fight the titular chosen who can adapt to your soldiers' abilities with their own strengths and weaknesses, and the Lost ([[tarpit|zombie swarms]]) that attack both you and ADVENT. Along with these new allies and enemies is trying to get the three resistance groups to work together, as well as a new fatigue and relationship system.

The faction leaders are voiced by actors from [[Star Trek|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]. [[Fail|They do pretty good job except for Marina Sirtis poorly performed lines.]] Good thing the game allows players to switch to a better voice for your first Reaper(and their other soldiers).

====Tactical Legacy Pack====

A mini expansion pack that adds 4 mini-campaigns detailing some of the adventures of Bradford and Lily Shen during the tumultous days of ADVENT's takeover, adds new weapons to your WotC playthrough for each of these mini-campaigns you beat, allows you to choose between three soundtracks, (X-COM 1, X-COM 2, and Legacy Remixes), allows free access to all of the 100 challenges rather than the random daily challenge system, and even allows you to make your own challenge missions.

Free until Dec 3rd, 2018, for all WotC owners.

=== XCOM: Long War ===

What, the new XCOM wasn't complicated enough for you? There's a mod called "Long War" which goes into lots more detail, a bit more like the classic game. Now, the aliens will advance their plans and escalate their forces and assaults based on their own progression system, and the game is rebalanced around the expectation that you will not succeed at every mission (and you won't -- the aliens are plenty tough to see to that).

=== XCOM: The Board Game ===

From [[Fantasy Flight Games]], there's a board game adaptation of XCOM (in fact, ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown'' was quite inspired by board games, with the two-actions-per-turn system instead of the old 'time units'). There's a companion app for smartphones, tablets, and computers which controls the aliens and informs players of events, a bit like a [[Game Master]], but without exposing the players to too much bookkeeping. Amazing what games can do with computers these days -- just imagine if such a thing had been available for [[FATAL]]! On second thought, don't.

Players (1-4) take on different roles in the XCOM organization. The Commander keeps an eye on the budget and allocates interceptors. The Chief Scientist directs research efforts. The Central Officer works the app and solicits input from the others (if there are any) to make decisions (many of which are time-critical). The Squad Leader manages troops and base defense. Together, they need to allocate their resources, judge when to push risky but rewarding avenues (inviting retribution from the aliens if they fail), and defend humanity. Like the games, successes are rare -- a die only has a 1/3 chance of coming up with a success, and tasks may need multiple successes. There is also an "enemy die", a [[d8]] that is rolled against the number of times that task has been attempted. If it rolls equal to or under that number, something bad happens. So, do you pool resources for critical tasks (neglecting anything else, and hoping that your priorities are correct), in order to most likely be successful before the threat level climbs too high? Or do you stay flexible but push your luck? Your call, commander.

=== XCOM 2: Long War 2 ===
If you thought XCOM 2 was ''already'' hard, thanks in part to the involvement of the original Long War modders in the game's development, said modders come back with a sequel mod for the game. Not only does this go even further than the first Long War in going into a lot of detail, such as new graphical touches, significant rebalancing and completely overhauling the global map to be more reminiscent of classic X-com. But the difficulty is amped up even more, with missions even requiring you to send in potentially fatal scouting parties to make sure your ''other'' squads don't die on the spot. Also, rather than launching parties directly into battle, missions spawn on the geoscape with an expiration timer. The player ''can'' launch immediately, but the enemy presence will be drastically increased! Instead, the idea is that the squad can spend time infiltrating, to let ADVENT get complacent and draw troops elsewhere. Having more Resistance folks working Intel increases mission expiration times, but the bigger and heavier the squad, the more infiltration time is required. And vice versa -- short-staffing a squad can allow a player to infiltrate to high percentages on short notice... but now you've only got like four guys on the ground, and that might not be enough firepower if activations go badly...

This mod requires dramatically more strategic thought and care. Weapons, armor, and equipment are all purchased individually, forcing you into decisions like 'do I continue the rollout of my newly available armor-piercing coilguns, or do I buy armor for the two rookies I've trained up?' and 'do I send my last seven man team to secure me an engineer, commit them to a long infiltration to wipe out an advent tower, or hold them in reserve for a better opportunity?' The difficulty is likewise much higher, but you have dramatically expanded options to combat it with special weapons, squad leaders, extra inventory slots packed with flashbangs, veteran troop skills, choosable bonus perks, a psi advancement training regime that makes some actual sense, and many, many more troops and mission opportunities. Minor reinforcement on that last one, in fact: in stock XCOM 2 you'll likely end the campaign with fewer than twenty soldiers, whereas here it's pretty common to have a hundred active-duty troopers at a time.

The Shinobi ([[Derp|all the Ninja IRL schools have closed up shop]]) is the most overpowered class. Making missions easier then they should be as he can [[derp|bypass Overwatch]] and has a very low impact on infiltration. Making missions unrealistic for players who hate RNG and want a pure stealth game.

The Devs of Long War have said there will not be making a Long War for War of the Chosen. As Firaxis added a ton of crap that would take years for Long War Studios to sift through it and make the mod playable. Also, they're making their own XCOM, so they wouldn't have the resources to do both anyways.

== The Bureau: XCOM Declassified ==
Despite having the name XCOM in the title, the game really has little relation to the series. The reason behind this is because 2K passed this game on to the lovely people that brought you Bioshock 2; meaning it was made by a studio that makes more or less decent games. It's supposed to be a prequel, set in the 1960s during the Cold War era. The protagonist, William Carter, was a CIA agent just delivering a suitcase of classified "documents" until an Outsider disguised as a female agent got ahold of it. Not long after that, an alien invasion commenced!

The Bureau is a RPG that plays like Mass Effect, but not as good for a variety of reasons. One reason is in the dialog scene, you're given choices of what to ask/say. They really don't impact the game, nor changes it for the most part, so you can skip a majority of it if you want to. The agents in your squad are pretty dull, sure you can change their names and how they dress, but really doesn't offer any friendship/foe engagements. If they die, you will need to recruit another agent and start him off from scratch, but really, leveling them up isn't fun and customizable, so just restart a checkpoint if they do die.

The agents in your squad have bad AI if you don't babysit them and give commands on what they should do, and their skills at fighting Outsiders are... Well, okay. The best they can offer is their abilities, so spamming them and you taking care of the killing is an effective way to go (Some recommend starters to start their first mission with a Recon to cause critical damage on certain enemies and a Commando for [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|taunting the grunts and make them easy picking for you]]).

There would be more to go on, but if you want to know more about the game, you can search up reviews of XCOM Declassified. In short, it's a decent prequel that fans can find some enjoyment, but it's not as good as Enemy Unknown. Without going into spoilers, there's also a reveal during the last few levels that's surprisingly meta and well-written. Still worth looking into if you can find it for cheap or rent it.

Interestingly enough, turns out that the universe in XCOM Declassified is the same as that of Enemy Unknown/Within's. After the events in The Bureau, all records were wiped. This explains why the player had to start from scratch at the beginning of Enemy Unknown. When the Ethereals of Unknown/Within spoke of their [[Derp|own failure to ascend,]] they really meant that they wanted to be like the Ethereals from The Bureau. Either way, only time will tell exactly [[Grimdark|what the hell they were preparing humanity for.]]

== Xenonauts ==

X-Com coded by [[Reasonable Marines]].

A faithful remake of the original, with time units and all that. Changes a few things (like lack of Psionics on your side) and adds vehicles (yes, blowing up half a building with a rocket jeep is awesome) and controllable dogfights. Basically the alien invasion is during the Cold War and makes everyone shit themselves simultaneously when THOUSANDS of spaceships are openly in orbit and fucks humanity's shit up in creative ways. Every day the UFO's are left wandering, news bulletins full of terror emanate from the screen, worrying you further.

The ending is very creative, particularly concerning the plot of how an inferior species can even bother to defeat a powerful empire. Stunningly well-made, desperate final mission which may result in a glorious ending, or a bittersweet ending where you still win but the assault team is martyred.

Other differences between it and the original include:

Maps are mostly pregenerated, not fully procedural.

Fewer weapon and ammo types. Seriously, you've got the big five (pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, sniper, and LMG) and a rocket launcher. No variant ammo types, although the weapons do have researched tiers (which are simply damage-ups).<s> This means no unfairly powerful weapons like the Rape Launcher or the Stun Grenade Launcher.</s> There *are* a few super weapons but seriously, if you waste a "Singularity Generator" which is an ENTIRE CAPTURED BLACK HOLE (a hot commodity salvageable from alien battleships) for a 50 kilogram (without ammo) glorified grenade launcher that doesn't even one shot its AoE, you are a fucking moron.

More basic inventory control. You don't micromanage producing and storing individual missiles, and you can have as many magazines, grenades, and med-kits as you want, limited by carrying limit. You just build the alien-based laser or plasma gun, base gives you ammo made fashioned from a melted-down alien cells. (Alenium is basically a quantum-grade battery aliens came up with. Usually it powers the alien craft, you simply creatively salvage the spent ones into explosives because [[HFY]].)

Smaller team sizes. Max troop count on a mission is 12, with the best drop-ship.

Fewer oddball items, like the motion scanner or psi-ball, but there is now an assault shield, so your dudes don't immediately die when popping open a UFO. Said shield gets upgraded with Alien alloys, and even the final mission sees use of it. Trust me.

Rookies are better out of the gate, but are still shit compared to your colonels. Still, they have a decent chance of killing an enemy in a turn, doubly so if carrying a missile launcher. No longer to operatives miss the broad side of a barn. They *will* miss the spot but will still shake it badly.

Explosive weapons damage items, lowering the amount of money you receive from selling. This is for the best, because explosives are stupidly powerful and are probably the most reliable way of putting a fool down. Considering Reaper, the expy for Chyrssalids are even faster and crazier, you *are* going to need them.

Saveable, customizable loadouts for all of your troops, and obviously no engine-based limit on the amount of items you can bring into a mission.

Aliens don't really hide in corners or really hard to find spots, which makes flushing them out a lot easier. I said flushing out mind you, as they DO charge out and deal extremely serious amounts of damage before going down, to say nothing of teleporting aliens that burst fire in your face if they are lucky.

Troops remain vulnerable a lot longer. You are never at the point where you can float an invincible army of death-dealing demigods over a cowering cadre of snakemen, raining death and destruction down with maddened glee. Even if you do, weird aliens will teleport close and blow you out of the sky, or your flyer will fry a nerve from psionics.

Country relations are more important than after-mission loot.

You can kick or pistol whip an enemy to death. Cue surrounding an annoying alien marksman and beating him to death with riot shields.

You can call airstrikes to cancel boring UFO raids.

=== Xenonauts 2 ===

Now with 3D graphics! A demo is available through GOG.com, with the release planned to be <s>later in 2017</s> late 2018.

== UFO: Alien Invasion ==

The most detailed opensource version of XCOM based on the Quake 2 engine.

Buildings are not destructible and it doesn't have a great fog-of-war. It doesn't have unmanned vehicles like the current iterations and sadly doesn't have any sort of Chryssalids yet.

Has a better world map than any other XCOM in that you can fully explore it like google-earth, even showing ship movement on the globe in real time. The campaign is more forgiving in that it does not force you through Acts like Enemy Unknown where you can't possible keep everybody happy, or has nations constantly bitching at you for radar coverage like in Xenonauts. Instead you get to bid captured UFOs and give preference to unhappy nations that feel neglected or where you haven't been saving civilians frequently.

The camera is completely free in battlescape mode just like in Enemy Unknown, complete with zoom capabilities. Lots of different weapons, though you will find yourself a fool if you don't immediately start using alien weapons. Also levels tend to have more floors than other iterations, such as one mission in which you're going through an office building or another where you're entering a subway.

The only major problem with the game is that the smoke grenades are so overpowered your guys will be coming out of your drop ship like Snoop-Dogg out of his trailer. Otherwise you'll find aliens are more than happy to shower your guys with plasma from across the map.

After a general huge update smoke is now useless and aliens are much, MUCH more powerful.

Oh, and its free. Still, fuck it. Final version is broken, often locking the game, and developers have been keeping silent, the fucking FAGGOTS.

== Phoenix Point ==

A spiritual successor by Julian Gollop himself. As of the time of this edit, fully funded and in development with a hard-as-balls backer pre-alpha having been released. The basic idea is; some kind of strange virus has been dug up in the permafrost and has had two outbreaks so far, each escalating in severity. Now it's invading the land a third (and fatally final) time, most of humanity is gone (Partly cus of the virus, partly cus of WW3 happening during the second outbreak), and you must defend the survivors from both the creatures and each other, you poor sap.

The virus morphs all life into Lovecraftian horrors. Literally Lovecraftian; it is implied that [[H.P. Lovecraft|Howard the Great]] was inspired by ancient findings describing an outbreak of the same virus a few million years ago. It even came from Yuggoth. Humanity being humanity, there are several factions with drastically different ideas on how to deal with it; there is a faction based around a religion [[Genestealer Hybrids|worshipping the mutations that is also capable of retaining human consciousness despite said mutations]], another is [[Eclipse Phase| high-tech anarcho-communists trying to coexist with the virus and other factions]] while the third faction [[Starship Troopers|Is a high-tech PMC turned militaristic civilization with "Service Guarantees Citizenship" that just wants to destroy the virus and any of its sympathizers]].

So far, the game has managed to gather enough funding and reach one stretch goal for a floating base that will be given as FREE DLC, along with other stretch goals at a later date should the game be successful.

Expected; large bosses, your own mutated soldiers with crippleable limbs, the option of saving a group of people by [[Dawn of War II|landing on a giant creature and injecting it with poison]], Deep Lore, A hybrid of the old TU and new Two-Action system, unique tech trees for each faction (which you can also get in on by either allying with or stealing from them) and randomized global events (a la Crusader Kings 2).
Oh, and there are [[Flamer|flamethrowers]], Shoulder-Mounted missiles, power armor, gauss rifles and other goodies, such as a mutant mount for the cultist faction.

== XPiratez ==

What XCOM 2 was to XCOM: Enemy Within, XPiratez is to X-COM: UFO Defense. Made of pure [[Awesome|awesome]], you lead a crew of female mutants on a quest to kick ass, gain riches, and fuck bitches. A mod for OpenXcom, it's completely free and gets constant updates. Go check it out! Nothing's more satisfying than crushing a pureblood's head in with a sledge hammer and then mowing down his mates with your [[Dakka|custom Boarding gun]]. Basically, post XCOM defeat, humanity is a province in the alien empire, and a long, long time later, you lead a band of mutant female pirates living the pirate life, looting, capturing, ransoming, and eventually enslaving prisoners. More detailed, fanmade, with a morally darker atmosphere for the protagonist faction (apart from turning prisoners from human factions to slaves -miners for men, maids for females, and ahem..."squires" for shota younglings from Cult of Sirius), PirateZ offers a unique experience.

== The Tabletop Game ==

Yes, there was a Tabletop game, made by [[Fantasy Flight Games]], so this article has some direct /tg/ relevance. The problem is, [[Derp | you need a cell phone app to play it]].

==Aliens==
Needless to say, in this game, there are many different types of aliens that your teams are going to have to fight.

===Original Continuity===

====X-COM: UFO Defence====

'''Sectoid''': Doesn't matter what game, these guys are always the first things you face. They're not tough, but they are annoying, and the higher ranked ones (yes aliens have ranks, just like your guys in the old games) can and will successfully mind-control your guys all the fucking time.

'''Cyberdisk''': The original flying, metal pancake, these guys only show up supporting Sectoids. They can take an abusive amount of punishment, and deal it out just as much, before exploding when they are finally disabled. Expect to see your bullets passing over or under it all the fucking time.

'''Floater''': Changed significantly in the remake. Here they're a still mostly intact torso and abdomen mounted on a giant, floaty antigravity ball. They can't fly as freely as the ones in future versions, but they're far less suicidal, and prone to setting up ambushes.

'''Reaper''': Big, spiky dogs that appear alongside Floaters on terror missions. They're dumb as shit and only attack in melee making it easy enough to lure them out and turn your entire fire team against them. Now if that would actually kill them.

'''Snakeman''': Another basic type, these guys are easy pickings on any mission other than Terror Missions. Their autopsy states that they are stuffed full of fertilised eggs so take that "men" part with a grain of salt.

'''Chryssalid''': And these are the reason you'll hate Snakemen on terror missions. They bring Chryssalids with them. Twelve foot tall murder bugs that kill people, plant their eggs into them, turn them into shuffling zombie, which hatch into new Chryssalids unless killed, ''quickly''. Unlike the remake these guys can take a beating, and it's entirely possible to have an entire squad with laser weapons and repeating grenade launchers hit one of these bastards with every shot, and it'll still be standing at the end. You see one of these things, you do not let your squad break apart or approach blind corners.

'''Muton''': As always the aliens' equivalent to your guys, except they're better armoured (despite wearing goofy green jumpsuits), better armed, and just better being as they're not the best janitors all the world's militaries have to offer. Mutons don't have Psionics on their side, so if you want to play with them bringing along your Psi Specialist is a good idea, otherwise they're going to take an absurd amount of punishment to put down. A superhuman grade Muton can take a block of High Explosive to the chest and come out shooting, so bring the plasma, and bring enough it of for a small city block.

'''Celatid''': One of the two terror units found alongside Mutons, it looks like nothing more than a floating kidney bean. It's small, it's fast, and it has the most damaging non-High Explosive attack in the game, which becomes even more destructive against non-armoured targets like your rookies, or civilians. Thankfully this attack works on a lobbed arc so its range is severely nerfed down to 7 tiles, but out in the open that goes up to 16 tiles, and it can attack up to three times in a turn if it doesn't have to move.

'''Silicoid''': The second terror unit that is deployed alongside Mutons, and the most useless alien unit in the game. It crawls along at a speed of 8 tiles a turn, has no ranged attacks, and triggers reaction fire from even the worst of your guys allowing you to use it as a reaction fire training sponge, especially if you use Incendiary rounds as it will not take any damage from fire or incendiary rounds, but your guys will still gain experience. High Explosives work well against it.

'''Ethereal''': Far different from the remake game, Ethereals are packing heat in conjunction with their insane Psi abilities. These cloaked bastards can fly, will rain plasma fire down on your squad, spot for their allies to make their job easier, and at the end of it all, they'll mind control or panic the ragged remains of your squad. Kill them as quickly as you can, preferably from long distance with a Blaster Launcher.

'''Sectopod''': Giant metal murder toads. These guys aren't actually robots, although they come close, they are intact Remote Control murder mechs for the ethereals so that they don't have to get close to you while they turned you into plasma fried Kentucky X-COM rookie. The scary thing about these guys is just how much punishment they seem to take, even from late game weapons; however if you can target their rear armour, and bring laser weapons (which deal x1.5 damage against these guys) you'll be laughing all the way to the ICU. Of course this is going to make your prospects against their Ethereal controllers far, far worse, but hey-ho, win some, lose some.

====Terror From The Deep====

IA, IA, CTHULHU FATAGN

'''Aquatoid''': Genetically, and surgically slap gills and flippers onto a Sectoid, et Voila! You have an Aquatoid. Their commanders still have the Psionic abilities of their land locked cousins, but they call it Molecular Control, because they're fancy like that.

'''Gillman''': Apparently an earth creature, these creatures from the black lagoon were around when DINOSAURS ROAMED THE EARTH!, and submitted to the aliens when they arrived the first time round. They make for 'poor' soldiers (although this being TFTD that just means their only better than your guys by a factor of 1 or so, and not 3) and can take a bit of punishment from basic weaponry, although by the time you get Sonic weaponry, they start dropping like wheat before the scythe. Taking one of these guys in alive, and dead is critical to researching melee weapons (???), and accessing the final mission. So get catching.

'''Lobsterman''': An organic Sectopod, these guys will walk off whatever you throw at them, and then strike back with extreme prejudice. Ironically though they're mostly weak to stunning weapons, making tasers, and stun grenades the best weapon to use against them if you've got them. If you don't, well you can always use drills to pierce their hides, or hope that the tiny plinking of your harpoons cause them to laugh themselves to death.

'''Tasoth''': A clone vat species based off of humanoid velociraptors, these guys would be awesome, if they were on your side. As they are not, they are assholes. In combat they function as Ethereal lite's, unable to fly, and not quite as psionically potent, they make up for this by having much more physical strength, health, and durability.

'''Bio-Drone''': A brain-in-a-jar mounted on a super speaker. Electrical impulses torture the brain and use its screams (without vocal chords, don't ask me) to project a wave of hyper-condensed sound which will melt the victim's brain inside their head. Noise Marines might have stolen this idea for their Doom Siren. Grimdark as fuck because often the brains are made of kidnapped civilians.

'''Calcinite''': A Gelatinous green goop inside an old school diving suit, it might be possible to mistake this thing for one of your guys while you're underwater, but they remain fully suited up while on land, so the helmet is a good indicator. They lack any ranged attacks, and will instead try to run up and claw your agents face off, to add to this, their antique diving suits are tougher than your guys starting body armour (WHY?), nonetheless any weapon will put them down.

'''Deep One''': You'd think this would be the perfect place for some Cthulhu monstrosity, but sadly no. These guys are more "The Fly" than anything else. Humans that have been captured, tortured, and then surgically and genetically altered to become alien shock troops, the only original bit of their humanity left is their eyes. Their primary ranged attack is an arcing electrical burst (which is treated as a Gauss weapon for damage types) which allows them to fire over walls and other obstacles so nowhere is safe.

'''Hallucinoid''': Giant electrical jellyfish. The aliens keep on taking earth creatures and turning them into weapons of war. Although choosing jellyfish may have been a... poor decision. These things aren't particularly aggressive, preferring to just gently float into range when they can be bothered, rather than hunting your agents down. Unfortunately they're still tough enough to weather the storm of fire that their slow approach allows you to unleash on them, and their melee attack is devastating.

'''Tentaculat''': BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T BE A X-COM GAME WITHOUT CHRYSSALIDS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU CALL THEM. THEY CAN FLY NOW SO HAVE FUN! (appearance is directly identical to Grell from [[Dungeons & Dragons]])

'''Triscene''': A mother-fucking T-REX! The aliens brought back a T-Rex, slung two sonic cannons onto its sides, and let it loose in battle. These guys are the sectopods of TFTD, without the sectopod's weaknesses. However they have one glaring flaw, which is they have no under armour, and one well placed grenade will severely hurt them, or outright kill them if powerful enough.

'''Xarquid''': An overgrown Nautilus that swims in reverse, the things act like sniper tanks, preferring to sit in one corner of the map, usually several levels up, and snipe your squad from a safe distance. Other than the reaction fire you'll inevitably take when hunting these things down, they're not particularly dangerous, just use cover and explosives if they're on the ground, or get underneath them and take out their weak underbelly.

====X-COM: Apocalypse====

'''Brainsucker''': Because Facehugger was already taken. Why is the first alien you encounter in this game another GOD-DAMNED CHRYSSALID? FOR FUCK'S SAKE! These guys are fairly weak, and can be dealt with simply in RT mode, in TB however, their movement speeds enough to take them from outside your field of vision and into attack range, considering that their melee attack is a one hit kill keep enough time units back for reaction fire.

Multiworm

Hyperworm

Chrysalis

Anthropod

Psimorph

Spitter

Megaspawn

Popper

Skeletoid

Micronoid Aggregate

Queenspawn

Overspawn

===Reboot Continuity===

The reboot continuity has its own array of different monsters, with some changes in variety between the first and second game.

====X-COM Enemy Unknown / Enemy Within====

'''Sectoid''': Tiny little grey men in the first game, these are the first Psionic enemy you'll meet, with the ability to boost each other in combat. This can be rather nasty giving them an extra hit point and a +10 to hit and dodge, although if you kill the booster, you'll kill whatever Sectoid they're boosting as well thanks to Psychic feedback.

'''Sectoid Commander''': Only in the first game, these guys are Sectoids on psychic steroids. You'll see one on the tutorial mission and get a taste of what they can do, even if you don't fight it. They're stronger, tougher, and more psionically powerful than the basic sectoid, and are the first unit that can possess your guys mid-firefight.

'''Thin Man''': Apparently an "Infiltrator Unit" nobody (other than the Ethereals) would mistake these guys for human at close distance as they have snake scales running up their necks, and are skinny enough to make a supermodel jealous. Apparently they were made from genetically modifying Snake-women as they can spit clouds of poison at great distance, and will explode into one when they're killed. Otherwise they're real flimsy.

'''Muton''': How you know the aliens are stepping up their game. Everything up till now has been child's play (for a particularly psychotic child), then these guys come along. Big, tough, cunning, brutal, and dangerous, these guys will mulch a squad equipped with regular weapons and armour without breaking a sweat, and capturing one of these guys alive brings one of the better upgrades. Have fun.

'''Muton Berserker''': Ha, ha, ha. These girls are melee monsters, capable of soaking up bullets by the magazine, and slowly getting angrier and angrier as they do. If they can get in close they'll unleash the melee hurt, but thankfully they're not amazingly fast. Thankfully, their instinctive charge of the last person who shot them means you can set them up to run a gauntlet of Overwatch fire, with a bit of luck.

'''Muton Elite''': As much health as the Berserkers, plus armor, and lacking the berserk charges. Instead, they carry heavy plasma cannons.

'''Floater''': Apparently reject Mutons, stripped down to an upper torso and fitted up with cybernetic implants, mainly a jetpack. They're your first hint that the aliens may not be one big happy family, as they have an idle animation consisting of them ripping at their flesh and bionics until blood spurts. They're basically the fastest unit in the game, great Overwatchers, and pack about as much punch as a standard Muton. They have a special ability that sacrifices all their actions for the turn to instead fly to any single spot on the map, which they love to use to get the drop on your team.

'''Heavy Floater''': A tougher, armored version of the standard Floater, with a bigger gun. Basically just replace floaters in the late game to keep them competitive, but they've got no new tricks up their sleeves.

'''Outsider''': Strange "digital" lifeforms that serve as the technicians of the alien forces. You need to capture one of these in order to advance the game. They're wimpy, but their light plasma rifles are deadly accurate, so they can gun down whole teams if you're careless.

'''Sectopod''': The aliens' equivalent of a tank; an enormous, heavily armored killer robot with insanely high health, high armor, a 50% damage reduction ability with the Enemy Within expansion, and the ability to blaze away with both a fuck-off huge laser and to launch showers of cluster bombs. They also blow up when you kill them. Your most hated enemy.

'''Cyberdisk''': A ridiculously fast flying robot that can shapeshift between a flying saucer-like flight-mode (in which it's harder to hit) and its unfurled combat mode. Not quite as killy as the sectopod, but still really adept at ruining your day.

'''Drone''': Small flying robots that basically zip around like laser-spitting wasps. They don't do much damage, but they can repair mechanical aliens and they explode like a grenade when killed. And they're extra-hard to hit, for added nuisance factor.

'''Chryssalid''': An absolute fucking nightmare, just like the original series. These bugs are lightning fast, vicious, and if they kill anyone they'll automatically plant an egg in the corpse, which will turn into a zombie before hatching a new chryssalid three turns later. And these zombies are tough enough to weather several turns of shooting. One of the standout points of Enemy Within is a pre-baked mission where you get to investigate a whaling ship that crashed ashore in Newfoundland after being infested by Chryssalids who turned the catch into their personal hive. Your job is to first investigate the area, and then light the place up for your bombers so they can carpet bomb the place into fire and rubble, running your squad away the whole time.

'''Ethereal''': The leaders of the alien forces, physically frail but masters of [[psionics]], which they can use to ''really'' fuck up your day.

'''Seeker''': A relatively weak squid-like robot that uses camouflage to sneak up on its prey and then tries to crush it to death with its tendrils. They like to go after isolated members of your squad, which can be used to bait them into going after Assault troopers with Close Combat Tactics for hilarious effects.

'''Mechtoid''': An armored exoskeleton piloted by a sectoid, carrying twin plasma mini-cannons. Sectoids can use their mind merge ability to give a layer of shielding to mechtoids; killing the sectoid removes the shield and causes some damage to the mechtoid.

====X-COM 2 / War of the Chosen====

'''ADVENT'''

The end results of what the Ethereals want to do with humanity. Puppet soldiers controlled by a series of psionically linked chips that feed back to command nodes. It's stated that the commander was supposed to be one of these before XCOM manages to rescue him in the tutorial mission.

*'''Trooper''': The grunts, they come in three flavours, with increasing HP, Dodge, and Accuracy. Challenging only in numbers, and then only thanks to the fact that a shot will hit you at some point, and they can take fire away from the actual threats.

*'''Officer''': These guys aren't a threat on their own, however they can Holo-Target one of your guys for free, granting their allies a +10 to hit against that soldier. either take out everyone around them, or take them out, before that becomes a problem.

*'''Shield-Bearer''': The most annoying ADVENT type in the base game, these guys can pop a shield that gives every ADVENT and Alien soldier in range +3 or +5 temporary HP. Combined with their armour these guys can take a licking and keep on ticking. Taking them out will drop the shield on everybody else, so they should be a target priority otherwise the fight is going to take far longer than it should. They also kinda look like Robocop so they have that going for them.

*'''Stun-Lancer''': Melee focused, these guys are noticeable by the fact they were far less armour than any other ADVENT soldier. They'll charge forwards if in range, and attempt to stun your guys for a turn with their Melee beatsticks. Otherwise they've just got regular ADVENT Rifles.

*'''Priest''': Introduced in WotC, these guys are the ADVENT Psions, they can boost another ADVENT soldier, much like Sectoids could in Enemy Unknown (and like that game if you kill the priest the soldier will suffer psionic feedback and die), or they can put one of your guys in Stasis for a turn, preventing them from doing anything. Advanced and Elite priests have additional tricks that allow them to Mind-Control your guys, and place themselves in Stasis if they would be killed, instead staying around with 1 HP for another turn.

*'''Purifier''': Flamethrower wielding ADVENT troops that only appear in WotC. The guys are kept "secret" from the public (despite that fact they can appear in any mission if the RNG says so) as they are supposed to hunt down and kill the lost in the old, abandoned cities. As stated they use flamethrowers, alongside incendiary grenades, and when you kill them there's a good chance they will explode, so don't kill them with melee unless you want to lose your eyebrows. Although that can lead to some hilarious chain reactions if you're lucky.

*'''General''': Only appears in assassination missions in WotC. Essentially just a beefed up Officer with a shit ton of HP, and the ability to throw Flash-Bangs.

*'''MEC / Heavy MEC''': The first truly heavy ADVENT Unit. These things come with an absurd amount of HP for the early game, and multiple armour pips. They're not particularly smart however and do not use cover at all, instead relying on their durability to weather your shooting so take advantage of this. Remember not to bunch your guys up as they have a shoulder mounted missile launcher that they will use on your guys if they're clustered together. MECs can also use suppression at the end of their turn if they can't target a group. The Heavy MEC is just tougher and more accurate, you can think your way through this fight. The best way to deal with them is hacking or anti-machine equipment such as EMP rounds and grenades.

*'''Turrets / Heavy / Superheavy''': It's a turret. What more do you want? They have some armour and a decent amount of HP, but they can't move, and are fairly easy to hack to your side. If all else fails tossing a frag grenade at it is a guaranteed kill. As they are never encountered on the ground and will almost always be mounted on top of buildings. With few exceptions.

*'''Sectopod''': The final, and toughest ADVENT unit. It's just as much of a nightmare as it was in the first game. With the ability to shoot and enter overwatch, extend its legs to give itself a height advantage while standing on the ground, and use a charged-up laser blast that will kill anyone it hits. When they are finally defeated it will explode. Likely killing or injuring any unit for months next to them. As with any robotic unit they can be hacked by a properly specced specialist, although its nearly impossible to turn these guys to your side, so settle for stunning them for several turns. Anti mechanical weapons and equipment a must for defeating Sectopods if you don't have Plasma Weapons.

'''Aliens'''

*'''Sectoid''': Tougher than you remember due to the infusion of human DNA. Now have the ability to resurrect dead troopers - yours and ADVENT - as zombies, and all sectoids from the get-go can lay a mind whammy on your troops, randomly panicking, disorientating or controlling them.

*'''Chryssalid''': Because why the fuck wouldn't the Ethereals keep their most effective terror weapon. These guys have changed from scuttling horrors to burrowing, venomous, scuttling horrors, capable of turning anyone they kill, either with their venom or their claws into a slowly metamorphosing cocoon that, if it reaches maturity, will spit out '''THREE''' new chryssalids, because Firaxis hates you. They are rendered mostly harmless by being set on fire, so if you think you're going to run into them bring incendiary rounds, fire bombs, and hell weave vests.

*'''Viper''': The most famous of the new aliens because they look like [[serpentfolk|humanoid snake-women]] with [[furry|nice tits and a sweet pair of hips]]. Appear pretty early in the game; not much tougher than sectoids, but quite annoying. They can drag you out of cover with their tongue whip attack, spew toxic clouds like the Thin Men, and strangle you in melee like a Seeker. These gals represent the true form of the Thin Man alien from the last game.

*'''Andromedon''': One of the cooler new alien designs, it could almost have been ripped out of the old X-COM series. It looks like a combination of an old diving suit and an iron lung, filled with green sludge, and a single pickled alien who apparently needs that sludge to live. When you kill it the first time the suit reboots and come to life by itself, dropping its heavy plasma cannon and charging into melee. In its first form, an Andromedon is a tough customer, with more armour & health than a Muton while packing the same firepower. In its second form it will only ever try to hit you with its fists, but it leaves behind trail of acidic and poisonous sludge that hurts your guys if they try to move through it (because jumping isn't a thing, despite the ability to haul yourself up drainpipes) which makes navigating the battlefield a hassle, especially in densely packed urban missions. Thankfully their second form will be easier to deal with. As these Powered Armor wearing little shits will Overwatch to hamper squad mobility and toss Acid Bombs at [[your_dudes]] if not killed ASAP.

*'''Faceless''': A new enemy that should only appear in Terror Attack missions. Shapeshifters that look like ordinary humans until your troops get too close, then they turn into ''fucking huge'' moaning melted-wax men with claws the length of shotguns. Can take quite a beating and will literally tear down houses to get at your troops. They can be seeded in regular missions if you pull the Dark Event that allows them to mingle with the regular citizens during missions. Isn't that lovely.

*'''Muton''': Remaining as the ethereal's shock infantry, these Mutons have apparently been crossbred with humanity, making them smaller, faster, and deadlier. Apparently, they're smarter too, but considering just how badly the A.I can flub up sometimes, you have to wonder about that. They aren't packing any more HP, but they're now armoured, so they'll soak up more damage unless you can shred their armour with heavy weapons and explosives. They'll still be a threat until you get Plasma weapons, and 3rd tier armour, but once you're there, they pretty much become chaff beneath the scythe. They also like tossing grenades if they don't have a direct line of sight on your troops. Along with the ability to use suppression if a Muton can't get into melee. Making them an annoyance well into the late game.

*'''Berserker''': Now visually more distinct from the regular muton instead of just having a fancy costume. Still the same extremely tough melee combatants with the same instinctive berserker charge. Apparently, these are actually the muton ''women''. Gives a whole new meaning to the term [[amazon]], huh?

*'''Codex''': A replacement for the Outsider, but far more annoying. The Codex first appears when you Skulljack an ADVENT officer, and it looks like a weirdly sexy woman made of pure energy, but with a cybernetic brain & spinal column. They can teleport around the battlefield, and when struck by an attack that fails to kill them, they split into two Codexes with half of their remaining health. They can also create temporary zones of energy that suck all the ammo out of your guns, and then close with deadly force. Naturally you want Snipers or Magnetic/Plasma Weapon chain attacks to kill them quickly. Which you should have by the time of encountering them. Unless of course you rush the skull-jack out in your first run, and get one of these while you still have conventional weapons, in which case... have ''fun''.

*'''Specter''': Another WotC specific enemy. These guys look like the Codex if they were made out of Necron Scarabs rather than pure energy. It's fitting too as they are a collection of Psionic nanobots that can grab your guys, stun them, and create a shadowy doppelgänger with all of your guy's skills and gear, and none of their bad luck. Thankfully killing the Specter will also kill this doppelganger and bring your guy back into the fight, but if you're not ready losing a guy and the enemy gaining that guy can turn the tides right back against you. Oddly, attacks that harm biological targets without requiring a will test can harm the Specter.

*'''Gatekeeper''': A giant, floating, psionic ball. No, we're not joking. For all the goofiness of trying to summarise this thing, it's a shockingly vicious threat. That big metal ball containing a psionic powerhouse in the shape of several fleshy tentacles, which if it gets close will shed its armour, and proceed to bitchslap your soldiers into the ground. And you'll want it to do this because it has 4/5 pips of armour that need to be shredded away depending on difficulty. It also has the ability to mind control your guys, raise the dead, and fire an insanely powerful laser beam, and it'll try to use cover despite being a 2x2 giant, floating, metal, psychic ball of doom. One of them is are always encountered during the Psi Gate and will likely be the first time seeing them. As a final FU, when killed they explode with a blast that will reach all tiles around them, heavily wounding or outright killing any of your squad next to them. So melee units should be kept far away unless they're a fully upgraded Templar. Hilariously these tiny Eldritch Abominations can be mind controlled by Psi Operatives. Another way of dealing with them is using explosives and heavy weapons that shreds their armor. These would be the first targets to use Frost Grenades on if you encounter them early in the maps. You should have Magnetic or Plasma Weapons by the time Gatekeepers start showing up or they will be nearly impossible to defeat.

*'''Archon''': So someone in the Aliens' side realized that having a heavily mutilated torso mounted on jetpacks, which actively tore at its implants and constantly mounted suicide charges so it could be put out of its misery was bad for PR, so they replaced the Floaters with these guys. They look almost angelic, and their design incorporates a lot more white and gold and less obviously chop-shop cybernetics. The nigh-constant pain going away has made them far smarter too. They still like to jump around the battlefield, but now they can also use a new ability called Blazing Pinions to rain rockets down on your guys after a turn's delay and will actually take advantage of cover.

*'''Avatar''': The Ethereals' plans are revealed when you discover these creatures. Avatars are genetically engineered lifeforms created from the genes of the most psi-capable humans, crafted to house the essence of the Ethereals, whose own bodies are breaking down irrevocably. Extremely tough, powerful psionics, kill on sight. The Commander gets one of his own at the end of the game. This is because they plugged him/her into their psionic network and never bothered to remove or change anything after XCOM recovered them. [[Fail|As the Ethereals are really quite stupid despite claiming to be a superior race.]] While lacking the full skill set of the Psi Operative. They have useful abilities. Their equivalents doing more damage or allowing multiple uses of mind control. Avatars also come with a pretty cool gun that ignores armor values and can be acquired through modding.

'''The Alien Rulers''':
If you played the previous game, you may have been wondering: "what happened to Dr. Valen?" Well, the first DLC for XCOM 2, "Alien Hunters" reveals that she went off and set up her own base in an abandoned alien genetics lab, where her experiments in undoing the genetic suppressants on three cryogenically suspended subjects created three amped-up alien variants so powerful that the Ethereals couldn't control them. Great work, doc! Alien Rulers have a huge health bar and many unique abilities, but one of their more bullshit traits is that they get a free turn in reaction to ''every'' action your troops take. The best way to deal with is using Venom Bombs that damages them every turn and prevents them from taking an action. Along with abilities that allow your troops to take use multiple attacks that count as one action. Something you should have before facing them in mid to late game. Because fuck these guys. While you could choose to face them as early as your first Blacksite mission in WotC. Doing so means missing out on controlling Bradford and seeing his gun with [[cheese|every possible upgrade in action.]] The only real way to use it outside of the Alien Ruler introduction mission is through using game mods.

*'''The Viper King:''' The only male Viper in existence, this creature shows why the Ethereals removed the male gender from the viper species with how rampantly he set about fertilizing every female viper he could encounter, filling an entire base with a huge array of hatchling vipers you have to fight through. His unique abilities allow him to spit a freezing gas instead of the normal venom. The weakest of the Alien Rulers, the Viper King is usually the first one you encounter. If you manage to tag 'n' bag Subject Gamma, you can turn his carcass into a unique Spider Suit, the Serpent Suit, that can scare the scales off of normal vipers and lash out with freezing whips.

*'''The Berserker Queen:''' Even bigger and scarier than normal Berserkers, Subject Beta can not only unleash a howl that can panic your whole squad, but is equipped with cybernetically integrated hammers she can use to create earthquakes. From her carcass, you can build the R.A.G.E Suit, which not only terrifies mutons and berserkers, but lets your trooper make a berserker-style charge attack themselves.

*'''The Archon King''': Subject Alpha is the nastiest Alien Ruler in the game, and has the most health. His special attack "Devastate" is a version of Blazing Pinons (the Archon's "shower an area with rockets" ability) that does less damage, but which can also disorient, stun and knock unconscious. Worse, it hits on the next Ruler Reaction, meaning you have no chance to get away from it the way you do from Blazing Pinions. He also has a unique attack where he grabs a trooper, hauls them into the air, and then power dives them into the floor. If you can take down this asshole, his corpse can be refashioned into the Icarus Armor, a superior Warden Armor suit that grants the Vault ability and the ability to pull off the Archon's "move to any point on the map you wish" twice per mission. Give it to your best Sniper. As this allows them to keep up with the rest of the squad and find the nearest vantage point.

'''The Chosen''':
The new Dragons aka Second in Command below the Ethereals. Coming with a bunch of BS abilities that can wreck your troops at lower levels. You also want to find their base ASAP as they gain upgrades through the game like you do and can hurt your income. Getting their OP shit is also a nice bonus.

When first encountered they'll attempt to stun and capture one of your troops. If they appear during a Blacksite mission, The Chosen AI will just straight up murder a squad member. [[Rage|Despite the game not giving hints to this change in behavior.]] So if you're counting on manipulating their AI into kidnapping a soldier who is near death during those missions. The Chosen will just slaughter your squad like the rest of Advent. Because all bets when are off when your trying to kill mommy? and/or err daddy? Shklee? Maybe?
Thankfully, the game rolls to give them permanent weakness, along with an arch enemy who will deal extra damage to a Chosen among the new Hero classes. They will also roll for one immunity and a special ability, though the immunities are things that many players will hardly ever use against a boss regardless. The special power can either be meh, or fuck you right over. Good thing for the player the summoning powers are mutually exclusive and can't gain strengths that counter most of their weaknesses.

They can also be countered by researching Mindshields, your own (fully upgraded) Psi operatives and the buffed Sparks. When you have the latter two the Mindshields are redundant as the last two are right out immune to being stunned and mind controlled. Too bad there aren't new lines for a Spark with Julian's voice. As hearing a GlaDOS expy with the attitude of Bender snark back at The Chosen would have been hilarious.

*'''The Assassin''': The first of the Chosen you'll meet if you're playing the "Lost and Damned" mission to introduce yourself to the new mechanics introduced in WotC, the Assassin is a dark reflection of the Ranger class. The biggest [[Weeaboo|weeb]] in all of Advent. She attacks mostly with her Katana (although she does have a rarely used shotgun called Arashi, and you'll thank the programmers she rarely uses it), striking out of concealment to stun one of your guys (Who you'll then have to revive or risk them getting kidnapped), before running away. In the same turn. Because the Bad Guys get to move, shoot, move, but the player doesn't get nice things. To top this all off she's immune to overwatch so you either have to try and escape from the current mission, or take the fight back to her just as hard. Oh yeah, and avoid bunching your guys up, or she will stun half the squad at a time with an area of effect special attack, but don't get too spread out or you won't be able to revive stunned soldiers before she kidnaps them. Thankfully, her concealment works by the same rules as yours, and it'll break if one of your guys flanks her, so if you've got a good idea of where she is, you can move someone in to reveal her, and then light her up with the rest of the squad. To make her easier to deal with make sure to take a Specialist with Scanning Protocol. After killing The Assassin you can build Arashi and her Katana. Though many will find her Katana redundant after they have tier 3 Axes and late game Templars.

*'''The Hunter''': While you would expect a roided up [[Space Wolves|Craven the Hunter cosplaying furfag]] by name alone. He is instead a more or less a [[Vindicare|hit man armed with a pistol and sniper rifle]] with an Affably Evil personality. He's also known to have team killed some of the weaker Advent aliens when he got bored. Unlike his siblings he outright admits that he is a psychopath who likes killing things. The Hunter's abilities are a bit mundane compared to the other Chosen. While still being effective none the less. His Tracking Shot can aim at your troops from the other side of the map, and if they don't move he will kill them the next. This makes mind controlling Advent and hacking MECs for recon useful for once. He also come with a grappling hook with no cool-down, stun grenades and pistol tranq shots that never miss. So don't be stupid and send in a lone Reaper. Even if he rolls them as a weakness. As they don't put out enough damage to out snipe him and will end up killed or captured instead. His Sniper rifle Darklance and pistol Darkclaw are obviously weapons that are meant for your Snipers. So Reapers can't use it.

*'''The Warlock''': Probably the most dangerous of The Chosen, if you don't have Mindshields. If you do he's about as dangerous as the final boss of the game. If you don't he's damned near impossible as he'll mind control your entire squad a once. Otherwise he'll summon waves of exploding spectral zombies, or psionic copies of Stun Lancers. On his direct offense he has a buffed up plasma rifle that will do extra damage to psionics (i.e. your Psi Operative and Templar), a mind bullet that will split off to affect up to two additional targets, and the ability to teleport his own allies into flanking positions. Sometimes his AI does some stupid shit such as teleporting an Advent next to him. Bonus points if said Advent is the target your supposed to kill during the mission. Once you get his Disruptor rifle, it has every possible upgrade in the game. Though only Rangers, Psi-Operatives and Specialist can take it. A waste on the latter two as by the time you get it. Their late game abilities and equipment make giving them a 3.5 tier weapon redundant.

'''The Lost'''

*'''Regular''': Introduced in WotC, these are the zombie horde style enemies of the game. They have a unique mechanic where if you kill one, you get a free action point to continue killing. A soldier with decent Aim, an auto-loader, and an extended mag can decimate entire swarms if lucky.

*'''Dasher''': Faster, and with slightly more HP (4-5, as opposed to 2-3) these guys aren't exactly more of a threat than the regular lost. They're just more likely to pull off a successful ambush.

*'''Brute''': These guys have a lot of HP for a Lost, and can actually deal some melee punishment, and will start coming out in decent numbers by endgame. Then again, by endgame you'll have the best weapons and armour, so once again... only really a threat if you're unlucky, and there's a lot of them.

== See Also ==

*[[X-Com Play By Post]], experimental rules for playing X-Com on a forum.
*[[XCOM: Tomorrow's War edition]], a conversion of [[Tomorrow's War]] for playing X-Com on the tabletop.

== Gallery ==
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</gallery>

== External Links ==

* [http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page UFOpaedia.org], a wiki dedicated to X-COM (and sequels, and mods, etc.).
* [http://openxcom.org/ Open Source engine for the original game]
* [http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=269&enmi=XCOM:%20The%20Board%20Game Fantasy Flight Games's official X-COM game.]
* [http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/88/? Long War main page.]
* [http://ufoai.org/wiki/About UFO: Alien Invasion]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BqoEJUWKVRFSKXOA2Ks3Ce7Kvphmg0kAFKcuXJHgmr0/mobilebasic?pli=1 Things X-COM operatives are not allowed to do], a list in the vein of Mr. Welch's list. Occasionally hilarious
* [https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=5026.0] A 40k mod for openxcom NO idea as to why it hasn't shown up here.
[[category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]

XCOM

2019-01-01T20:58:24Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* XCOM 2: War of the Chosen */

{{/vg/}}
{{Oldschool}}

[[Image:Xcom_2.png|thumb|right|]]

This is a [[Dan Abnett|rare treat]]. '''X-COM''', or as it's called across the pond, ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'' (It was released as XCOM in North America, it was ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'' literally everywhere else) is a turn-based strategy game that is, to put it simply, about as close to a game of [[Dark Heresy]] as one can get in isometric 3D. Note that X-COM is significantly older than [[Dark Heresy]], and older than all but the first edition of [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]], so it'd be better to say [[Dark Heresy]] is a lot like X-COM on the tabletop. Dating back to the much-lamented Microprose, it set a gold standard for atmosphere and playability that has, frankly, not been breached in ages.

The game is [[Dwarf Fortress|old as balls]] and in isometric view, which, paired with the Dark Heresy similarities, makes it more /tg/ material than /v/.

==A General Gist==

A general synopsis is that in [[grimdark|the not-so-distant future, there is war - and aliens]]. Aliens are arriving, and they are most assuredly hostile. It falls upon the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, or the eponymous X-COM, a multi-national task-force, to deal with the invasion by blasting the fuck out of the Aliens, stealing their shit, researching their technology, and using it to fucking kill them off, all the while fighting off terror attacks and trying to figure out where in Uranus these fucking things are coming from (as it turns out, from Mars, and if you win, the final mission involves you going to Mars and dropping an [[Exterminatus]] on their asses).

It kicked ass. It was good enough to spawn a sequel, ''Terror From The Deep'', which was basically the same game, but underwater and infinitely harder. Story-wise, the destruction of the Martian base activated a fail-safe in the aliens' system that woke up T'leth, their 'secondary' (and mobile) base buried deep under the seas of Earth. X-Com now again must protect the people while finding out about where exactly T'leth is and go in to blast it to smithereens with extreme prejudice. It was hard. Really hard. Not only do aliens have a major advantage technology-wise at the start and they tear through your recruits with impunity, but later in the game when you catch up they start using a nasty trick to take control of your troopers, leading to sometimes hilarious and [[rage|extreme rage-inducing]] turn one [[TPK]]s as your heavy weapon trooper gets controlled and fires his heavy weapon inside the transport while the team is busy disembarking. Oh, and did we mention that the only way to research the best armour in the game was to capture a live specimen of a rarely-appearing alien? And that to capture a live specimen you had to send a poor redshirt in armed with an oversized cattleprod to stun it in close quarters? And that said alien was [[rip and tear|able to tear a human apart effortlessly]] in close quarters? And (as if all that wasn't bad enough already), that the poor redshirt then had to pick up and to carry the damn unconscious thing back to the human ship praying [[rape|that the specimen didn't wake up with a grudge before he got there and the mission ended]]? Yeah, it was kinda like that.

It then spawned a second, somewhat different but still appreciated sequel, ''X-Com Apocalypse''. Destruction of T'leth fucked up Earth's biosphere and humanity retreated to quickly built mega-arcologies to survive. Unlike the two first game, there's a bigger political aspect to things as you have not only to make sure you deal with the damn aliens coming to fuck your shit up, but remain best buds with the other humans while doing so. It tried to blend Turn-Based & Real-Time strategy into one so you could play it at the speed you wanted. All in all, a decent and ambitious, if not overwhelmingly good game (mostly because a ton of content was cut before release). Basically this time it was one [[Cyberpunk]] city against extradimensional aliens, though the equipment from the first two games gave the player a far greater headstart.

Then Microprose was bought by [[Hasbro|that which must never be named]], who proceeded to nose-dive the IP with games like [[AIDS|X-COM: Interceptor]] and [[Shit Twinkie|X-COM: Enforcer]]. At least Interceptor had a decent backstory and for those with a good eye, explain where the aliens in ''X-Com Apocalypse'' came from.

Fucking [[RAGE|Hasbro]].

Anyway. Combat is a lot like Dark Heresy's in that it's exceedingly lethal; at the game's outset, you have no armor beyond jumpsuits with Kevlar stuffed into them, and your firearms are the best and most powerful weaponry that chemical propelled explosives can provide only moderately capable against alien forces (though quite diverse). In order to properly take these fucking things on anything remotely resembling their own terms, you need upgrades. Upgrades come through research, and research comes by shooting down UFOs, landing a ground assault, killing the surviving aliens, and stripping the UFO like the [[Blood Ravens]] do other chapters' shiny bits. Once brought back to base, your researchers can look into what makes the alien's gear work, research your own weapons and tech, and develop technologies to help in the fight against the Aliens. Eventually, you can load your forces up with [[Space Marine|Power-armored bad-asses]], but starting out, your forces are fragile, and fighting smart is ''vital''. You ''will'' suffer casualties early on - guaranteed - but such is war, and you must press on, allowing the survivors to grow into [[Colonel Greiss|manly badasses]].

The Aliens themselves are diverse, ranging from the Sectoids (conventional "gray" aliens), to Chryssalids (horrifying abominations that inject targets with eggs that turn them into mindless drones which will explosively birth new Chryssalids thereafter). Nightmare fuel = yes. The game manages to be exceedingly creepy for one so simple, and is one of many reasons that X-COM works so well.

==Tales of Heroism==

In accordance with /tg/'s love of war stories about [[your dudes]], several examples of awesome have been compiled:

''Instant'' death doesn't ''always'' happen. Occasionally, one Rookie will be touched by God and succeed against all odds. After that, he will die horribly. [[Just as Planned]].

X-COM agent of note: [[Marc Lecointe]]. Lecointe survived numerous missions, got the highest kill count on most missions, killed a Snakemen leader and his bodyguards (despite losing over half the squad), and got shot in the face and back with plasma and lived. He eventually was hit with return fire in an alley and began bleeding. He returned fire and killed the Snakeman, but bled to death before help could arrive. Lacointe lives on in our hearts.

Another agent of note is Gristle McThornbody, a Rocket-Toting Team-Killing asshole who refuses to die OR be mind-controlled. He's so badass, that even when he has 85% or more to hit on a 2x2 alien, he'll still hit the wall twenty tiles to the left.

== New Stuff and Things ==
According to things [[/v/]] likes to watch on the Internet, a new X-Com game is in the pipes, set to be made in the gameplay and spirit of the old games, with new graphics and updated for the new generation of gamers to be introduced into the X-Com game style. It lost the dash along the way someplace, and got re-named ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown''. This new game, which has spawned joy boners in many on /v/ and /tg/ alike, is believed to stem from the utter, burning [[RAGE|fury]] that was originally spawned from 2K's simply-titled ''XCOM'' game, which, near as we can tell, is an FPS that takes place in the 1960s and has exactly ''nothing'' to do with the actual X-COM franchise. Seriously, don't look into 2K's game if you're a fan of the series on any level - it will cause veterans to spontaneously transform into [[Angry Marines]] and/or [[Khorne|Khornate Berserkers]]. Apparently, those in charge had the wherewithal to note that if they didn't make a ''proper'' X-COM game, [[/tg/]] (and by extension, [[/v/]]) would [[Anal Circumference|leave their asshole in ruins]]. They even went ahead to declare the two games take place in separate universes. If only [[Games Workshop]] had [[Matt Ward|that much sense]]...

== XCOM: Enemy Unknown by Firaxis ==
[[File:XCOMGameplay.jpg|200px|thumb|An in-game screenshot of the new game.]]
And Firaxis came to the rescue, promising to return to the roots of XCOM (note the lack of a hyphen this time around, although the logo ''does'' have a horizontal stripe taken out of the "COM"). Since Firaxis has a lot of ex-MicroProse people, a lot of them have had to do with the original as well, and the original musical score will make a return. Although it's changed a few things to avoid hurting the brains of [[/v/|delicate little console kiddies]] like removing time units, removing ballistic simulation, cutting down on your maximum amount of squad members (4 at the start and 6 maximum) and limiting us to one base (though each base location gives its own unique bonus), it still somehow manages to be a good game in its own right. If the original X-COM is like Mordheim, then XCOM is like Space Hulk: massively simplified and more heavily dependent on the luck of the die, but with less micromanagement and long-term planning required.

If you haven't bought the game and you're a TBS fan, everyone in /tg/ that isn't [[That guy]], would highly recommend you give it a whirl at the modest price of <strike>
$39.99 </strike> $16.49 for all the good remade XCOM games because of our father Gabe Newell on PC,
still is 39.99 for console/Non-Steam or $9.99 on mobile/tablet devices. Like always, we have footage for vidyas: https://youtu.be/qDhuZ4b51hA https://youtu.be/-SKoS5BYVuY https://youtu.be/bxuzLyR-000

===XCOM: Enemy Within===
[[File:MectoidMEC.jpg|200px|thumb|Did we mention melee combat with exosuits?]]
''Enemy Within'' is an expansion pack (and unlike most "horse armor" tier DLCs with the name this one actually deserves it) that completely re-defines how the game progresses, compared to the original one. The game's story still progresses like the original game, but expands on it for a more entertaining experience.

It adds the "meld" resource to the game, a type of alien organic/synthetic-hybrid nanomachine that allows you to unlock two powerful technologies: MEC and genetic modification. MEC allows your troops to interface with a Mechanized Exoskeleton Cybersuit, a heavy exoskeleton that brings the heaviest of weapons to the field (Including the option for a powerfist equivalent called a "Kinetic Strike Module". Yes, make your own faux [[Terminator]] squad! Especially when the Tier-3 Paladin upgrade bulks up your suit's armor that you look vaguely similar to Termies.). Genetic modification allows you to augment your troops using data gathered from dissected aliens, making them killier than ever before. In fact, you can create your own equivalent of an Imperial [[Space Marine]] with the list of available modifications you can do (Two of these specific upgrades are a second heart and the ability of self-regeneration).

It also adds new aliens to the xenos' side, like a cloaking squid robot that chokes your troops to death and their own brand of exosuit troops. It also introduces another enemy into the game: EXALT. EXALT are a bunch of power-mad blokes who sees the alien's invasion as a way to gain power by adapting their technology for themselves, inching them closer to world domination. They see you as an obstacle and are determined to undermine your efforts to defeat the aliens by disrupting your operations through a number of ways and sowing panic amongst XCOM-member nations, generally making your already hectic life even more hectic. You must now defeat this new threat through a combination of [[Ork|cunning brutality and brutal cunning.]] They have most of your technologies to go toe-to-toe with you (Except for their own exosuits) and they are well hidden, so bringing them down won't be an easy affair.

=== XCOM 2 ===
[[File:People%27s_reaction_to_XCOM_2%27s_Vipers.png|200px|thumb|Turns out they ''are'' poison glands. Hee.]]
A direct-ish sequel to EU/EW, XCOM 2 seems to decide that what's canon is not: not "you killed all the aliens, now here's more aliens", but "you know that Impossible Ironman game you played for a laugh and got utterly stomped? That's the canon ending". (The utterly stomping part takes place in the base assault, and it is so bad that two of the most important things got taken: The Commander, and more importantly, central officer Bradford's sweater). The aliens won before humanity even got to laser weapons, taking over the world and unifying humanity (read: ruling over them in a pseudo-utopia "Brave New World"-style), and basically preparing to turn them into another of their slave races (not that most of humanity knows this).

XCOM refused to back down even after the Council of Nations ceased to exist and instead went underground, hijacking an alien supply ship to act as a mobile base for hit-and-run operations against the alien occupiers, in the hopes of toppling the ADVENT (the puppet government aliens've set up) and exposing the true purpose of their supposedly ideal society to the world. So they free the captured Commander (sadly the sweater seems to be shrunk in the wash) and it's guerilla warfare time.

New features include:
The Assault class has been given a makeover to focus even more on [[Rip and Tear]], replacing the sidearm with a sword and changing title to the Ranger. The Sniper has been renamed the Sharpshooter and given a pistol-focused skill-tree-route that turns the soldier into Clint Eastwood (literally, like you can have a stand-off by firing 3 pistol-shots in the same turn). The Support class has been renamed the Specialist and been given a drone to hack, heal, shield and/or zap shit remotely. The Heavy has been given a nice grenade launcher to act as your cover-stomper, and been renamed the Grenadier. Psi-operatives are their own class now as well, and get hate-hair and [[Cadia|purple eyes]] because that makes sense and all psychically talented people look like neo-punks. Troops can be captured, and then rescued, which also reclaims any expensive gear they had on them (but it's never the captured troops you actually need back).
New enemies (without spoilers), including "human" ADVENT security troops (who really love to say "bitch" and pointing towards your soldiers) with magnetic weapons who look like humans till you get their armor off, sectoid-human hybrids with teeth, thumbs, and belly buttons (which can be really creepy if you '''really''' think about it), and Snake-women called Vipers (which is what the Thin Men actually look like without their disguises). Yes, there were snaketits on the thread that announced this to /tg/. Yes, /d/ has drawn porn of them. Yes, it will be added to the gallery.

Moving on.

XCOM 2 also contains an in depth explanation for the aliens' motives that many fans felt was lacking or too ambiguous in Enemy Within. Apparently, the Ethereals have some kind of fatal disease they can't cure, so they've been trekking around the galaxy culminating genes to form the ultimate bodies for themselves, while amassing a genetically supreme army. When the Ethereals found humanity, they found their genes to be so awesome and powerful that just adding some of them to a lowly sectoid turned it from a pathetic 3' tall creature you could kill with basic weapons, to an 8' tall psionic rape machine that could raise the dead and withstand salvos of bullets to the face. They then set up an alien government on Earth so they could discretely process humanity's best genetic material and slowly form new bodies for themselves that don't die called Avatars. And by don't die, we mean have copious amounts of health, teleport every time they're injured, regenerate like crazy, are guaranteed to successfully mind control anything, and are immune to any of your psychic status abilities(ie: panic, disorientation, and mind control, you can still annihilate them with psionic fire). And the boss fight involves killing three of these dick-butts and an endless wave of alien reinforcements. Using human DNA is also where their ADVENT troops came from, they grew armies of human spliced with unspecified aliens to act as their public face to the humans. But humanity wins anyway, because humans are just that fucking awesome.

The game is also notable for abandoning the usual conditions for losing. The norm for the series is for your funding to get cut if too many countries lose faith in XCOM. Since you're fighting a guerrilla war and your support are humans fighting to survive outside the aliens' control zones, that isn't happening. Instead you lose if the aliens complete the Avatar Project, their goal to mass produce the bodies for the Ethereals. If they do you get treated to a scene of almost all resistance being crushed because the Avatars are dangerous enough in small numbers and an army of them would unstoppable. You can slow progress, but can only stop it by finishing the game.

So far there have been recently four DLCs for XCOM 2. "Anarchy's Children" added new customization features for your soldiers, most of which you wouldn't ever really use. "Alien Hunters" adds a new mission, weapons, and alien rulers who you have to hunt down. The alien rulers get to take an action every, single, time, one of your soldiers does(this is changed in war of the chosen,because firaxis realized it was bullshit). This is even more infuriating then it sounds. Some more customization options are added too. "Shen's Last Gift" adds another mission and the SPARK class soldier. SPARKs are robots you have to make in the proving ground. War of the Chosen finally allows players to add modifications to their guns, gave them better aim and a health boost. So now they're worth taking. If your Grenadier is injured or has low morale. While their weapons are much larger and more powerful-looking than the other squad specialized weapons, they don't do more damage than the regular specialized weapons. This is stupid, as an auto-cannon would naturally do much more damage than a 7mm Gatling Gun. They are also prohibitively expensive so you have no choice to do the mission if you want one for cheap. Optional mods have improved their balance to outright making them a super unit if you wish.

And here comes the fun part; if you read the developers blog, their idea of "balance" is to actually nerf plenty of stuff...so the game is harder after having a buffed-up alien lord chase your dudes all over the game. Was old-school really this hard?

You think that's bad, the end game unlocks second wave options, like increasing all Health by 50%, having your guys get worse as they get injured, have their stats rolled at random, so you can make the game even HARDER! Because dying is ''fun''.

====XCOM 2: War of the Chosen====

This brand new expansion gives us three new allies to aid us.

*Reapers: Stealthy hunters who are armed with nothing but a rifle and explosives. It's enough. They wear [[Shadowrun|trench coats and gas masks]]. Have a special ability where they have a chance to not reveal themselves upon attacking. Enemies have vastly reduced detection ranges against Reapers, and Reapers can detonate explosives on the map without revealing themselves. They can also throw an environmental explosive. [[Dakka|They also have an ability that lets them shoot at an enemy until they run out of ammo.]] Long story short, these guys are only slightly less powerful than the Reapers from Mass Effect.

*Skirmishers: ADVENT defectors who are armed with a grappling hook that can pull them to a rooftop and pull themselves to the enemy or vice versa and at max level allows them to have the [[Awesome|alien rulers ability to gain action points every. Time. The. Enemy. Moves.]] Except it only works three times a turn, and doesn't trigger on non-move actions. [[fail|The game doesn't tell you this.]]

*Templars: [[Grey Knights|A resistance group made of only psionics]] that wield psi blades and machine pistols, but you'll probably never use those. They're fast, hard to kill, and hit like a brick. And like any good psi-based unit, they can fry their enemies with lighting from their hands. They're like the [[rip and tear]] half of the Ranger, but with psionic powers. They're also fantastically hammy and roll their Rs.

But these new allies come with a catch as you now have to fight the titular chosen who can adapt to your soldiers' abilities with their own strengths and weaknesses, and the Lost ([[tarpit|zombie swarms]]) that attack both you and ADVENT. Along with these new allies and enemies is trying to get the three resistance groups to work together, as well as a new fatigue and relationship system.

The faction leaders are voiced by actors from [[Star Trek|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]. [[Fail|They do pretty good job except for Marina Sirtis poorly performed lines.]] Good thing the game allows players to switch to a better voice for your first Reaper(and their other soldiers).

====Tactical Legacy Pack====

A mini expansion pack that adds 4 mini-campaigns detailing some of the adventures of Bradford and Lily Shen during the tumultous days of ADVENT's takeover, adds new weapons to your WotC playthrough for each of these mini-campaigns you beat, allows you to choose between three soundtracks, (X-COM 1, X-COM 2, and Legacy Remixes), allows free access to all of the 100 challenges rather than the random daily challenge system, and even allows you to make your own challenge missions.

Free until Dec 3rd, 2018, for all WotC owners.

=== XCOM: Long War ===

What, the new XCOM wasn't complicated enough for you? There's a mod called "Long War" which goes into lots more detail, a bit more like the classic game. Now, the aliens will advance their plans and escalate their forces and assaults based on their own progression system, and the game is rebalanced around the expectation that you will not succeed at every mission (and you won't -- the aliens are plenty tough to see to that).

=== XCOM: The Board Game ===

From [[Fantasy Flight Games]], there's a board game adaptation of XCOM (in fact, ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown'' was quite inspired by board games, with the two-actions-per-turn system instead of the old 'time units'). There's a companion app for smartphones, tablets, and computers which controls the aliens and informs players of events, a bit like a [[Game Master]], but without exposing the players to too much bookkeeping. Amazing what games can do with computers these days -- just imagine if such a thing had been available for [[FATAL]]! On second thought, don't.

Players (1-4) take on different roles in the XCOM organization. The Commander keeps an eye on the budget and allocates interceptors. The Chief Scientist directs research efforts. The Central Officer works the app and solicits input from the others (if there are any) to make decisions (many of which are time-critical). The Squad Leader manages troops and base defense. Together, they need to allocate their resources, judge when to push risky but rewarding avenues (inviting retribution from the aliens if they fail), and defend humanity. Like the games, successes are rare -- a die only has a 1/3 chance of coming up with a success, and tasks may need multiple successes. There is also an "enemy die", a [[d8]] that is rolled against the number of times that task has been attempted. If it rolls equal to or under that number, something bad happens. So, do you pool resources for critical tasks (neglecting anything else, and hoping that your priorities are correct), in order to most likely be successful before the threat level climbs too high? Or do you stay flexible but push your luck? Your call, commander.

=== XCOM 2: Long War 2 ===
If you thought XCOM 2 was ''already'' hard, thanks in part to the involvement of the original Long War modders in the game's development, said modders come back with a sequel mod for the game. Not only does this go even further than the first Long War in going into a lot of detail, such as new graphical touches, significant rebalancing and completely overhauling the global map to be more reminiscent of classic X-com. But the difficulty is amped up even more, with missions even requiring you to send in potentially fatal scouting parties to make sure your ''other'' squads don't die on the spot. Also, rather than launching parties directly into battle, missions spawn on the geoscape with an expiration timer. The player ''can'' launch immediately, but the enemy presence will be drastically increased! Instead, the idea is that the squad can spend time infiltrating, to let ADVENT get complacent and draw troops elsewhere. Having more Resistance folks working Intel increases mission expiration times, but the bigger and heavier the squad, the more infiltration time is required. And vice versa -- short-staffing a squad can allow a player to infiltrate to high percentages on short notice... but now you've only got like four guys on the ground, and that might not be enough firepower if activations go badly...

This mod requires dramatically more strategic thought and care. Weapons, armor, and equipment are all purchased individually, forcing you into decisions like 'do I continue the rollout of my newly available armor-piercing coilguns, or do I buy armor for the two rookies I've trained up?' and 'do I send my last seven man team to secure me an engineer, commit them to a long infiltration to wipe out an advent tower, or hold them in reserve for a better opportunity?' The difficulty is likewise much higher, but you have dramatically expanded options to combat it with special weapons, squad leaders, extra inventory slots packed with flashbangs, veteran troop skills, choosable bonus perks, a psi advancement training regime that makes some actual sense, and many, many more troops and mission opportunities. Minor reinforcement on that last one, in fact: in stock XCOM 2 you'll likely end the campaign with fewer than twenty soldiers, whereas here it's pretty common to have a hundred active-duty troopers at a time.

The Shinobi ([[Derp|all the Ninja IRL schools have closed up shop]]) is the most overpowered class. Making missions easier then they should be as he can [[derp|bypass Overwatch]] and has a very low impact on infiltration. Making missions unrealistic for players who hate RNG and want a pure stealth game.

The Devs of Long War have said there will not be making a Long War for War of the Chosen. As Firaxis added a ton of crap that would take years for Long War Studios to sift through it and make the mod playable. Also, they're making their own XCOM, so they wouldn't have the resources to do both anyways.

== The Bureau: XCOM Declassified ==
Despite having the name XCOM in the title, the game really has little relation to the series. The reason behind this is because 2K passed this game on to the lovely people that brought you Bioshock 2; meaning it was made by a studio that makes more or less decent games. It's supposed to be a prequel, set in the 1960s during the Cold War era. The protagonist, William Carter, was a CIA agent just delivering a suitcase of classified "documents" until an Outsider disguised as a female agent got ahold of it. Not long after that, an alien invasion commenced!

The Bureau is a RPG that plays like Mass Effect, but not as good for a variety of reasons. One reason is in the dialog scene, you're given choices of what to ask/say. They really don't impact the game, nor changes it for the most part, so you can skip a majority of it if you want to. The agents in your squad are pretty dull, sure you can change their names and how they dress, but really doesn't offer any friendship/foe engagements. If they die, you will need to recruit another agent and start him off from scratch, but really, leveling them up isn't fun and customizable, so just restart a checkpoint if they do die.

The agents in your squad have bad AI if you don't babysit them and give commands on what they should do, and their skills at fighting Outsiders are... Well, okay. The best they can offer is their abilities, so spamming them and you taking care of the killing is an effective way to go (Some recommend starters to start their first mission with a Recon to cause critical damage on certain enemies and a Commando for [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|taunting the grunts and make them easy picking for you]]).

There would be more to go on, but if you want to know more about the game, you can search up reviews of XCOM Declassified. In short, it's a decent prequel that fans can find some enjoyment, but it's not as good as Enemy Unknown. Without going into spoilers, there's also a reveal during the last few levels that's surprisingly meta and well-written. Still worth looking into if you can find it for cheap or rent it.

Interestingly enough, turns out that the universe in XCOM Declassified is the same as that of Enemy Unknown/Within's. After the events in The Bureau, all records were wiped. This explains why the player had to start from scratch at the beginning of Enemy Unknown. When the Ethereals of Unknown/Within spoke of their [[Derp|own failure to ascend,]] they really meant that they wanted to be like the Ethereals from The Bureau. Either way, only time will tell exactly [[Grimdark|what the hell they were preparing humanity for.]]

== Xenonauts ==

X-Com coded by [[Reasonable Marines]].

A faithful remake of the original, with time units and all that. Changes a few things (like lack of Psionics on your side) and adds vehicles (yes, blowing up half a building with a rocket jeep is awesome) and controllable dogfights. Basically the alien invasion is during the Cold War and makes everyone shit themselves simultaneously when THOUSANDS of spaceships are openly in orbit and fucks humanity's shit up in creative ways. Every day the UFO's are left wandering, news bulletins full of terror emanate from the screen, worrying you further.

The ending is very creative, particularly concerning the plot of how an inferior species can even bother to defeat a powerful empire. Stunningly well-made, desperate final mission which may result in a glorious ending, or a bittersweet ending where you still win but the assault team is martyred.

Other differences between it and the original include:

Maps are mostly pregenerated, not fully procedural.

Fewer weapon and ammo types. Seriously, you've got the big five (pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, sniper, and LMG) and a rocket launcher. No variant ammo types, although the weapons do have researched tiers (which are simply damage-ups).<s> This means no unfairly powerful weapons like the Rape Launcher or the Stun Grenade Launcher.</s> There *are* a few super weapons but seriously, if you waste a "Singularity Generator" which is an ENTIRE CAPTURED BLACK HOLE (a hot commodity salvageable from alien battleships) for a 50 kilogram (without ammo) glorified grenade launcher that doesn't even one shot its AoE, you are a fucking moron.

More basic inventory control. You don't micromanage producing and storing individual missiles, and you can have as many magazines, grenades, and med-kits as you want, limited by carrying limit. You just build the alien-based laser or plasma gun, base gives you ammo made fashioned from a melted-down alien cells. (Alenium is basically a quantum-grade battery aliens came up with. Usually it powers the alien craft, you simply creatively salvage the spent ones into explosives because [[HFY]].)

Smaller team sizes. Max troop count on a mission is 12, with the best drop-ship.

Fewer oddball items, like the motion scanner or psi-ball, but there is now an assault shield, so your dudes don't immediately die when popping open a UFO. Said shield gets upgraded with Alien alloys, and even the final mission sees use of it. Trust me.

Rookies are better out of the gate, but are still shit compared to your colonels. Still, they have a decent chance of killing an enemy in a turn, doubly so if carrying a missile launcher. No longer to operatives miss the broad side of a barn. They *will* miss the spot but will still shake it badly.

Explosive weapons damage items, lowering the amount of money you receive from selling. This is for the best, because explosives are stupidly powerful and are probably the most reliable way of putting a fool down. Considering Reaper, the expy for Chyrssalids are even faster and crazier, you *are* going to need them.

Saveable, customizable loadouts for all of your troops, and obviously no engine-based limit on the amount of items you can bring into a mission.

Aliens don't really hide in corners or really hard to find spots, which makes flushing them out a lot easier. I said flushing out mind you, as they DO charge out and deal extremely serious amounts of damage before going down, to say nothing of teleporting aliens that burst fire in your face if they are lucky.

Troops remain vulnerable a lot longer. You are never at the point where you can float an invincible army of death-dealing demigods over a cowering cadre of snakemen, raining death and destruction down with maddened glee. Even if you do, weird aliens will teleport close and blow you out of the sky, or your flyer will fry a nerve from psionics.

Country relations are more important than after-mission loot.

You can kick or pistol whip an enemy to death. Cue surrounding an annoying alien marksman and beating him to death with riot shields.

You can call airstrikes to cancel boring UFO raids.

=== Xenonauts 2 ===

Now with 3D graphics! A demo is available through GOG.com, with the release planned to be <s>later in 2017</s> late 2018.

== UFO: Alien Invasion ==

The most detailed opensource version of XCOM based on the Quake 2 engine.

Buildings are not destructible and it doesn't have a great fog-of-war. It doesn't have unmanned vehicles like the current iterations and sadly doesn't have any sort of Chryssalids yet.

Has a better world map than any other XCOM in that you can fully explore it like google-earth, even showing ship movement on the globe in real time. The campaign is more forgiving in that it does not force you through Acts like Enemy Unknown where you can't possible keep everybody happy, or has nations constantly bitching at you for radar coverage like in Xenonauts. Instead you get to bid captured UFOs and give preference to unhappy nations that feel neglected or where you haven't been saving civilians frequently.

The camera is completely free in battlescape mode just like in Enemy Unknown, complete with zoom capabilities. Lots of different weapons, though you will find yourself a fool if you don't immediately start using alien weapons. Also levels tend to have more floors than other iterations, such as one mission in which you're going through an office building or another where you're entering a subway.

The only major problem with the game is that the smoke grenades are so overpowered your guys will be coming out of your drop ship like Snoop-Dogg out of his trailer. Otherwise you'll find aliens are more than happy to shower your guys with plasma from across the map.

After a general huge update smoke is now useless and aliens are much, MUCH more powerful.

Oh, and its free. Still, fuck it. Final version is broken, often locking the game, and developers have been keeping silent, the fucking FAGGOTS.

== Phoenix Point ==

A spiritual successor by Julian Gollop himself. As of the time of this edit, fully funded and in development with a hard-as-balls backer pre-alpha having been released. The basic idea is; some kind of strange virus has been dug up in the permafrost and has had two outbreaks so far, each escalating in severity. Now it's invading the land a third (and fatally final) time, most of humanity is gone (Partly cus of the virus, partly cus of WW3 happening during the second outbreak), and you must defend the survivors from both the creatures and each other, you poor sap.

The virus morphs all life into Lovecraftian horrors. Literally Lovecraftian; it is implied that [[H.P. Lovecraft|Howard the Great]] was inspired by ancient findings describing an outbreak of the same virus a few million years ago. It even came from Yuggoth. Humanity being humanity, there are several factions with drastically different ideas on how to deal with it; there is a faction based around a religion [[Genestealer Hybrids|worshipping the mutations that is also capable of retaining human consciousness despite said mutations]], another is [[Eclipse Phase| high-tech anarcho-communists trying to coexist with the virus and other factions]] while the third faction [[Starship Troopers|Is a high-tech PMC turned militaristic civilization with "Service Guarantees Citizenship" that just wants to destroy the virus and any of its sympathizers]].

So far, the game has managed to gather enough funding and reach one stretch goal for a floating base that will be given as FREE DLC, along with other stretch goals at a later date should the game be successful.

Expected; large bosses, your own mutated soldiers with crippleable limbs, the option of saving a group of people by [[Dawn of War II|landing on a giant creature and injecting it with poison]], Deep Lore, A hybrid of the old TU and new Two-Action system, unique tech trees for each faction (which you can also get in on by either allying with or stealing from them) and randomized global events (a la Crusader Kings 2).
Oh, and there are [[Flamer|flamethrowers]], Shoulder-Mounted missiles, power armor, gauss rifles and other goodies, such as a mutant mount for the cultist faction.

== XPiratez ==

What XCOM 2 was to XCOM: Enemy Within, XPiratez is to X-COM: UFO Defense. Made of pure [[Awesome|awesome]], you lead a crew of female mutants on a quest to kick ass, gain riches, and fuck bitches. A mod for OpenXcom, it's completely free and gets constant updates. Go check it out! Nothing's more satisfying than crushing a pureblood's head in with a sledge hammer and then mowing down his mates with your [[Dakka|custom Boarding gun]]. Basically, post XCOM defeat, humanity is a province in the alien empire, and a long, long time later, you lead a band of mutant female pirates living the pirate life, looting, capturing, ransoming, and eventually enslaving prisoners. More detailed, fanmade, with a morally darker atmosphere for the protagonist faction (apart from turning prisoners from human factions to slaves -miners for men, maids for females, and ahem..."squires" for shota younglings from Cult of Sirius), PirateZ offers a unique experience.

== The Tabletop Game ==

Yes, there was a Tabletop game, made by [[Fantasy Flight Games]], so this article has some direct /tg/ relevance. The problem is, [[Derp | you need a cell phone app to play it]].

==Aliens==
Needless to say, in this game, there are many different types of aliens that your teams are going to have to fight.

===Original Continuity===

====X-COM: UFO Defence====

'''Sectoid''': Doesn't matter what game, these guys are always the first things you face. They're not tough, but they are annoying, and the higher ranked ones (yes aliens have ranks, just like your guys in the old games) can and will successfully mind-control your guys all the fucking time.

'''Cyberdisk''': The original flying, metal pancake, these guys only show up supporting Sectoids. They can take an abusive amount of punishment, and deal it out just as much, before exploding when they are finally disabled. Expect to see your bullets passing over or under it all the fucking time.

'''Floater''': Changed significantly in the remake. Here they're a still mostly intact torso and abdomen mounted on a giant, floaty antigravity ball. They can't fly as freely as the ones in future versions, but they're far less suicidal, and prone to setting up ambushes.

'''Reaper''': Big, spiky dogs that appear alongside Floaters on terror missions. They're dumb as shit and only attack in melee making it easy enough to lure them out and turn your entire fire team against them. Now if that would actually kill them.

'''Snakeman''': Another basic type, these guys are easy pickings on any mission other than Terror Missions. Their autopsy states that they are stuffed full of fertilised eggs so take that "men" part with a grain of salt.

'''Chryssalid''': And these are the reason you'll hate Snakemen on terror missions. They bring Chryssalids with them. Twelve foot tall murder bugs that kill people, plant their eggs into them, turn them into shuffling zombie, which hatch into new Chryssalids unless killed, ''quickly''. Unlike the remake these guys can take a beating, and it's entirely possible to have an entire squad with laser weapons and repeating grenade launchers hit one of these bastards with every shot, and it'll still be standing at the end. You see one of these things, you do not let your squad break apart or approach blind corners.

'''Muton''': As always the aliens' equivalent to your guys, except they're better armoured (despite wearing goofy green jumpsuits), better armed, and just better being as they're not the best janitors all the world's militaries have to offer. Mutons don't have Psionics on their side, so if you want to play with them bringing along your Psi Specialist is a good idea, otherwise they're going to take an absurd amount of punishment to put down. A superhuman grade Muton can take a block of High Explosive to the chest and come out shooting, so bring the plasma, and bring enough it of for a small city block.

'''Celatid''': One of the two terror units found alongside Mutons, it looks like nothing more than a floating kidney bean. It's small, it's fast, and it has the most damaging non-High Explosive attack in the game, which becomes even more destructive against non-armoured targets like your rookies, or civilians. Thankfully this attack works on a lobbed arc so its range is severely nerfed down to 7 tiles, but out in the open that goes up to 16 tiles, and it can attack up to three times in a turn if it doesn't have to move.

'''Silicoid''': The second terror unit that is deployed alongside Mutons, and the most useless alien unit in the game. It crawls along at a speed of 8 tiles a turn, has no ranged attacks, and triggers reaction fire from even the worst of your guys allowing you to use it as a reaction fire training sponge, especially if you use Incendiary rounds as it will not take any damage from fire or incendiary rounds, but your guys will still gain experience. High Explosives work well against it.

'''Ethereal''': Far different from the remake game, Ethereals are packing heat in conjunction with their insane Psi abilities. These cloaked bastards can fly, will rain plasma fire down on your squad, spot for their allies to make their job easier, and at the end of it all, they'll mind control or panic the ragged remains of your squad. Kill them as quickly as you can, preferably from long distance with a Blaster Launcher.

'''Sectopod''': Giant metal murder toads. These guys aren't actually robots, although they come close, they are intact Remote Control murder mechs for the ethereals so that they don't have to get close to you while they turned you into plasma fried Kentucky X-COM rookie. The scary thing about these guys is just how much punishment they seem to take, even from late game weapons; however if you can target their rear armour, and bring laser weapons (which deal x1.5 damage against these guys) you'll be laughing all the way to the ICU. Of course this is going to make your prospects against their Ethereal controllers far, far worse, but hey-ho, win some, lose some.

====Terror From The Deep====

IA, IA, CTHULHU FATAGN

'''Aquatoid''': Genetically, and surgically slap gills and flippers onto a Sectoid, et Voila! You have an Aquatoid. Their commanders still have the Psionic abilities of their land locked cousins, but they call it Molecular Control, because they're fancy like that.

'''Gillman''': Apparently an earth creature, these creatures from the black lagoon were around when DINOSAURS ROAMED THE EARTH!, and submitted to the aliens when they arrived the first time round. They make for 'poor' soldiers (although this being TFTD that just means their only better than your guys by a factor of 1 or so, and not 3) and can take a bit of punishment from basic weaponry, although by the time you get Sonic weaponry, they start dropping like wheat before the scythe. Taking one of these guys in alive, and dead is critical to researching melee weapons (???), and accessing the final mission. So get catching.

'''Lobsterman''': An organic Sectopod, these guys will walk off whatever you throw at them, and then strike back with extreme prejudice. Ironically though they're mostly weak to stunning weapons, making tasers, and stun grenades the best weapon to use against them if you've got them. If you don't, well you can always use drills to pierce their hides, or hope that the tiny plinking of your harpoons cause them to laugh themselves to death.

'''Tasoth''': A clone vat species based off of humanoid velociraptors, these guys would be awesome, if they were on your side. As they are not, they are assholes. In combat they function as Ethereal lite's, unable to fly, and not quite as psionically potent, they make up for this by having much more physical strength, health, and durability.

'''Bio-Drone''': A brain-in-a-jar mounted on a super speaker. Electrical impulses torture the brain and use its screams (without vocal chords, don't ask me) to project a wave of hyper-condensed sound which will melt the victim's brain inside their head. Noise Marines might have stolen this idea for their Doom Siren. Grimdark as fuck because often the brains are made of kidnapped civilians.

'''Calcinite''': A Gelatinous green goop inside an old school diving suit, it might be possible to mistake this thing for one of your guys while you're underwater, but they remain fully suited up while on land, so the helmet is a good indicator. They lack any ranged attacks, and will instead try to run up and claw your agents face off, to add to this, their antique diving suits are tougher than your guys starting body armour (WHY?), nonetheless any weapon will put them down.

'''Deep One''': You'd think this would be the perfect place for some Cthulhu monstrosity, but sadly no. These guys are more "The Fly" than anything else. Humans that have been captured, tortured, and then surgically and genetically altered to become alien shock troops, the only original bit of their humanity left is their eyes. Their primary ranged attack is an arcing electrical burst (which is treated as a Gauss weapon for damage types) which allows them to fire over walls and other obstacles so nowhere is safe.

'''Hallucinoid''': Giant electrical jellyfish. The aliens keep on taking earth creatures and turning them into weapons of war. Although choosing jellyfish may have been a... poor decision. These things aren't particularly aggressive, preferring to just gently float into range when they can be bothered, rather than hunting your agents down. Unfortunately they're still tough enough to weather the storm of fire that their slow approach allows you to unleash on them, and their melee attack is devastating.

'''Tentaculat''': BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T BE A X-COM GAME WITHOUT CHRYSSALIDS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU CALL THEM. THEY CAN FLY NOW SO HAVE FUN! (appearance is directly identical to Grell from [[Dungeons & Dragons]])

'''Triscene''': A mother-fucking T-REX! The aliens brought back a T-Rex, slung two sonic cannons onto its sides, and let it loose in battle. These guys are the sectopods of TFTD, without the sectopod's weaknesses. However they have one glaring flaw, which is they have no under armour, and one well placed grenade will severely hurt them, or outright kill them if powerful enough.

'''Xarquid''': An overgrown Nautilus that swims in reverse, the things act like sniper tanks, preferring to sit in one corner of the map, usually several levels up, and snipe your squad from a safe distance. Other than the reaction fire you'll inevitably take when hunting these things down, they're not particularly dangerous, just use cover and explosives if they're on the ground, or get underneath them and take out their weak underbelly.

====X-COM: Apocalypse====

'''Brainsucker''': Because Facehugger was already taken. Why is the first alien you encounter in this game another GOD-DAMNED CHRYSSALID? FOR FUCK'S SAKE! These guys are fairly weak, and can be dealt with simply in RT mode, in TB however, their movement speeds enough to take them from outside your field of vision and into attack range, considering that their melee attack is a one hit kill keep enough time units back for reaction fire.

Multiworm

Hyperworm

Chrysalis

Anthropod

Psimorph

Spitter

Megaspawn

Popper

Skeletoid

Micronoid Aggregate

Queenspawn

Overspawn

===Reboot Continuity===

The reboot continuity has its own array of different monsters, with some changes in variety between the first and second game.

====X-COM Enemy Unknown / Enemy Within====

'''Sectoid''': Tiny little grey men in the first game, these are the first Psionic enemy you'll meet, with the ability to boost each other in combat. This can be rather nasty giving them an extra hit point and a +10 to hit and dodge, although if you kill the booster, you'll kill whatever Sectoid they're boosting as well thanks to Psychic feedback.

'''Sectoid Commander''': Only in the first game, these guys are Sectoids on psychic steroids. You'll see one on the tutorial mission and get a taste of what they can do, even if you don't fight it. They're stronger, tougher, and more psionically powerful than the basic sectoid, and are the first unit that can possess your guys mid-firefight.

'''Thin Man''': Apparently an "Infiltrator Unit" nobody (other than the Ethereals) would mistake these guys for human at close distance as they have snake scales running up their necks, and are skinny enough to make a supermodel jealous. Apparently they were made from genetically modifying Snake-women as they can spit clouds of poison at great distance, and will explode into one when they're killed. Otherwise they're real flimsy.

'''Muton''': How you know the aliens are stepping up their game. Everything up till now has been child's play (for a particularly psychotic child), then these guys come along. Big, tough, cunning, brutal, and dangerous, these guys will mulch a squad equipped with regular weapons and armour without breaking a sweat, and capturing one of these guys alive brings one of the better upgrades. Have fun.

'''Muton Berserker''': Ha, ha, ha. These girls are melee monsters, capable of soaking up bullets by the magazine, and slowly getting angrier and angrier as they do. If they can get in close they'll unleash the melee hurt, but thankfully they're not amazingly fast. Thankfully, their instinctive charge of the last person who shot them means you can set them up to run a gauntlet of Overwatch fire, with a bit of luck.

'''Muton Elite''': As much health as the Berserkers, plus armor, and lacking the berserk charges. Instead, they carry heavy plasma cannons.

'''Floater''': Apparently reject Mutons, stripped down to an upper torso and fitted up with cybernetic implants, mainly a jetpack. They're your first hint that the aliens may not be one big happy family, as they have an idle animation consisting of them ripping at their flesh and bionics until blood spurts. They're basically the fastest unit in the game, great Overwatchers, and pack about as much punch as a standard Muton. They have a special ability that sacrifices all their actions for the turn to instead fly to any single spot on the map, which they love to use to get the drop on your team.

'''Heavy Floater''': A tougher, armored version of the standard Floater, with a bigger gun. Basically just replace floaters in the late game to keep them competitive, but they've got no new tricks up their sleeves.

'''Outsider''': Strange "digital" lifeforms that serve as the technicians of the alien forces. You need to capture one of these in order to advance the game. They're wimpy, but their light plasma rifles are deadly accurate, so they can gun down whole teams if you're careless.

'''Sectopod''': The aliens' equivalent of a tank; an enormous, heavily armored killer robot with insanely high health, high armor, a 50% damage reduction ability with the Enemy Within expansion, and the ability to blaze away with both a fuck-off huge laser and to launch showers of cluster bombs. They also blow up when you kill them. Your most hated enemy.

'''Cyberdisk''': A ridiculously fast flying robot that can shapeshift between a flying saucer-like flight-mode (in which it's harder to hit) and its unfurled combat mode. Not quite as killy as the sectopod, but still really adept at ruining your day.

'''Drone''': Small flying robots that basically zip around like laser-spitting wasps. They don't do much damage, but they can repair mechanical aliens and they explode like a grenade when killed. And they're extra-hard to hit, for added nuisance factor.

'''Chryssalid''': An absolute fucking nightmare, just like the original series. These bugs are lightning fast, vicious, and if they kill anyone they'll automatically plant an egg in the corpse, which will turn into a zombie before hatching a new chryssalid three turns later. And these zombies are tough enough to weather several turns of shooting. One of the standout points of Enemy Within is a pre-baked mission where you get to investigate a whaling ship that crashed ashore in Newfoundland after being infested by Chryssalids who turned the catch into their personal hive. Your job is to first investigate the area, and then light the place up for your bombers so they can carpet bomb the place into fire and rubble, running your squad away the whole time.

'''Ethereal''': The leaders of the alien forces, physically frail but masters of [[psionics]], which they can use to ''really'' fuck up your day.

'''Seeker''': A relatively weak squid-like robot that uses camouflage to sneak up on its prey and then tries to crush it to death with its tendrils. They like to go after isolated members of your squad, which can be used to bait them into going after Assault troopers with Close Combat Tactics for hilarious effects.

'''Mechtoid''': An armored exoskeleton piloted by a sectoid, carrying twin plasma mini-cannons. Sectoids can use their mind merge ability to give a layer of shielding to mechtoids; killing the sectoid removes the shield and causes some damage to the mechtoid.

====X-COM 2 / War of the Chosen====

'''ADVENT'''

The end results of what the Ethereals want to do with humanity. Puppet soldiers controlled by a series of psionically linked chips that feed back to command nodes. It's stated that the commander was supposed to be one of these before XCOM manages to rescue him in the tutorial mission.

*'''Trooper''': The grunts, they come in three flavours, with increasing HP, Dodge, and Accuracy. Challenging only in numbers, and then only thanks to the fact that a shot will hit you at some point, and they can take fire away from the actual threats.

*'''Officer''': These guys aren't a threat on their own, however they can Holo-Target one of your guys for free, granting their allies a +10 to hit against that soldier. either take out everyone around them, or take them out, before that becomes a problem.

*'''Shield-Bearer''': The most annoying ADVENT type in the base game, these guys can pop a shield that gives every ADVENT and Alien soldier in range +3 or +5 temporary HP. Combined with their armour these guys can take a licking and keep on ticking. Taking them out will drop the shield on everybody else, so they should be a target priority otherwise the fight is going to take far longer than it should. They also kinda look like Robocop so they have that going for them.

*'''Stun-Lancer''': Melee focused, these guys are noticeable by the fact they were far less armour than any other ADVENT soldier. They'll charge forwards if in range, and attempt to stun your guys for a turn with their Melee beatsticks. Otherwise they've just got regular ADVENT Rifles.

*'''Priest''': Introduced in WotC, these guys are the ADVENT Psions, they can boost another ADVENT soldier, much like Sectoids could in Enemy Unknown (and like that game if you kill the priest the soldier will suffer psionic feedback and die), or they can put one of your guys in Stasis for a turn, preventing them from doing anything. Advanced and Elite priests have additional tricks that allow them to Mind-Control your guys, and place themselves in Stasis if they would be killed, instead staying around with 1 HP for another turn.

*'''Purifier''': Flamethrower wielding ADVENT troops that only appear in WotC. The guys are kept "secret" from the public (despite that fact they can appear in any mission if the RNG says so) as they are supposed to hunt down and kill the lost in the old, abandoned cities. As stated they use flamethrowers, alongside incendiary grenades, and when you kill them there's a good chance they will explode, so don't kill them with melee unless you want to lose your eyebrows. Although that can lead to some hilarious chain reactions if you're lucky.

*'''General''': Only appears in assassination missions in WotC. Essentially just a beefed up Officer with a shit ton of HP, and the ability to throw Flash-Bangs.

*'''MEC / Heavy MEC''': The first truly heavy ADVENT Unit. These things come with an absurd amount of HP for the early game, and multiple armour pips. They're not particularly smart however and do not use cover at all, instead relying on their durability to weather your shooting so take advantage of this. Remember not to bunch your guys up as they have a shoulder mounted missile launcher that they will use on your guys if they're clustered together. MECs can also use suppression at the end of their turn if they can't target a group. The Heavy MEC is just tougher and more accurate, you can think your way through this fight. The best way to deal with them is hacking or anti-machine equipment such as EMP rounds and grenades.

*'''Turrets / Heavy / Superheavy''': It's a turret. What more do you want? They have some armour and a decent amount of HP, but they can't move, and are fairly easy to hack to your side. If all else fails tossing a frag grenade at it is a guaranteed kill. As they are never encountered on the ground and will almost always be mounted on top of buildings. With few exceptions.

*'''Sectopod''': The final, and toughest ADVENT unit. It's just as much of a nightmare as it was in the first game. With the ability to shoot and enter overwatch, extend its legs to give itself a height advantage while standing on the ground, and use a charged-up laser blast that will kill anyone it hits. When they are finally defeated it will explode. Likely killing or injuring any unit for months next to them. As with any robotic unit they can be hacked by a properly specced specialist, although its nearly impossible to turn these guys to your side, so settle for stunning them for several turns. Anti mechanical weapons and equipment a must for defeating Sectopods if you don't have Plasma Weapons.

'''Aliens'''

*'''Sectoid''': Tougher than you remember due to the infusion of human DNA. Now have the ability to resurrect dead troopers - yours and ADVENT - as zombies, and all sectoids from the get-go can lay a mind whammy on your troops, randomly panicking, disorientating or controlling them.

*'''Chryssalid''': Because why the fuck wouldn't the Ethereals keep their most effective terror weapon. These guys have changed from scuttling horrors to burrowing, venomous, scuttling horrors, capable of turning anyone they kill, either with their venom or their claws into a slowly metamorphosing cocoon that, if it reaches maturity, will spit out '''THREE''' new chryssalids, because Firaxis hates you. They are rendered mostly harmless by being set on fire, so if you think you're going to run into them bring incendiary rounds, fire bombs, and hell weave vests.

*'''Viper''': The most famous of the new aliens because they look like [[serpentfolk|humanoid snake-women]] with [[furry|nice tits and a sweet pair of hips]]. Appear pretty early in the game; not much tougher than sectoids, but quite annoying. They can drag you out of cover with their tongue whip attack, spew toxic clouds like the Thin Men, and strangle you in melee like a Seeker. These gals represent the true form of the Thin Man alien from the last game.

*'''Andromedon''': One of the cooler new alien designs, it could almost have been ripped out of the old X-COM series. It looks like a combination of an old diving suit and an iron lung, filled with green sludge, and a single pickled alien who apparently needs that sludge to live. When you kill it the first time the suit reboots and come to life by itself, dropping its heavy plasma cannon and charging into melee. In its first form, an Andromedon is a tough customer, with more armour & health than a Muton while packing the same firepower. In its second form it will only ever try to hit you with its fists, but it leaves behind trail of acidic and poisonous sludge that hurts your guys if they try to move through it (because jumping isn't a thing, despite the ability to haul yourself up drainpipes) which makes navigating the battlefield a hassle, especially in densely packed urban missions. Thankfully their second form will be easier to deal with. As these Powered Armor wearing little shits will Overwatch to hamper squad mobility and toss Acid Bombs at [[your_dudes]] if not killed ASAP.

*'''Faceless''': A new enemy that should only appear in Terror Attack missions. Shapeshifters that look like ordinary humans until your troops get too close, then they turn into ''fucking huge'' moaning melted-wax men with claws the length of shotguns. Can take quite a beating and will literally tear down houses to get at your troops. They can be seeded in regular missions if you pull the Dark Event that allows them to mingle with the regular citizens during missions. Isn't that lovely.

*'''Muton''': Remaining as the ethereal's shock infantry, these Mutons have apparently been crossbred with humanity, making them smaller, faster, and deadlier. Apparently, they're smarter too, but considering just how badly the A.I can flub up sometimes, you have to wonder about that. They aren't packing any more HP, but they're now armoured, so they'll soak up more damage unless you can shred their armour with heavy weapons and explosives. They'll still be a threat until you get Plasma weapons, and 3rd tier armour, but once you're there, they pretty much become chaff beneath the scythe. They also like tossing grenades if they don't have a direct line of sight on your troops. Along with the ability to use suppression if a Muton can't get into melee. Making them an annoyance well into the late game.

*'''Berserker''': Now visually more distinct from the regular muton instead of just having a fancy costume. Still the same extremely tough melee combatants with the same instinctive berserker charge. Apparently, these are actually the muton ''women''. Gives a whole new meaning to the term [[amazon]], huh?

*'''Codex''': A replacement for the Outsider, but far more annoying. The Codex first appears when you Skulljack an ADVENT officer, and it looks like a weirdly sexy woman made of pure energy, but with a cybernetic brain & spinal column. They can teleport around the battlefield, and when struck by an attack that fails to kill them, they split into two Codexes with half of their remaining health. They can also create temporary zones of energy that suck all the ammo out of your guns, and then close with deadly force. Naturally you want Snipers or Magnetic/Plasma Weapon chain attacks to kill them quickly. Which you should have by the time of encountering them. Unless of course you rush the skull-jack out in your first run, and get one of these while you still have conventional weapons, in which case... have ''fun''.

*'''Specter''': Another WotC specific enemy. These guys look like the Codex if they were made out of Necron Scarabs rather than pure energy. It's fitting too as they are a collection of Psionic nanobots that can grab your guys, stun them, and create a shadowy doppelgänger with all of your guy's skills and gear, and none of their bad luck. Thankfully killing the Specter will also kill this doppelganger and bring your guy back into the fight, but if you're not ready losing a guy and the enemy gaining that guy can turn the tides right back against you. Oddly, attacks that harm biological targets without requiring a will test can harm the Specter.

*'''Gatekeeper''': A giant, floating, psionic ball. No, we're not joking. For all the goofiness of trying to summarise this thing, it's a shockingly vicious threat. That big metal ball containing a psionic powerhouse in the shape of several fleshy tentacles, which if it gets close will shed its armour, and proceed to bitchslap your soldiers into the ground. And you'll want it to do this because it has 4/5 pips of armour that need to be shredded away depending on difficulty. It also has the ability to mind control your guys, raise the dead, and fire an insanely powerful laser beam, and it'll try to use cover despite being a 2x2 giant, floating, metal, psychic ball of doom. One of them is are always encountered during the Psi Gate and will likely be the first time seeing them. As a final FU, when killed they explode with a blast that will reach all tiles around them, heavily wounding or outright killing any of your squad next to them. So melee units should be kept far away unless they're a fully upgraded Templar. Hilariously these tiny Eldritch Abominations can be mind controlled by Psi Operatives. Another way of dealing with them is using explosives and heavy weapons that shreds their armor. These would be the first targets to use Frost Grenades on if you encounter them early in the maps. You should have Magnetic or Plasma Weapons by the time Gatekeepers start showing up or they will be nearly impossible to defeat.

*'''Archon''': So someone in the Aliens' side realized that having a heavily mutilated torso mounted on jetpacks, which actively tore at its implants and constantly mounted suicide charges so it could be put out of its misery was bad for PR, so they replaced the Floaters with these guys. They look almost angelic, and their design incorporates a lot more white and gold and less obviously chop-shop cybernetics. The nigh-constant pain going away has made them far smarter too. They still like to jump around the battlefield, but now they can also use a new ability called Blazing Pinions to rain rockets down on your guys after a turn's delay and will actually take advantage of cover.

*'''Avatar''': The Ethereals' plans are revealed when you discover these creatures. Avatars are genetically engineered lifeforms created from the genes of the most psi-capable humans, crafted to house the essence of the Ethereals, whose own bodies are breaking down irrevocably. Extremely tough, powerful psionics, kill on sight. The Commander gets one of his own at the end of the game. This is because they plugged him/her into their psionic network and never bothered to remove or change anything after XCOM recovered them. [[Fail|As the Ethereals are really quite stupid despite claiming to be a superior race.]] While lacking the full skill set of the Psi Operative. They have useful abilities. Their equivalents doing more damage or allowing multiple uses of mind control. Avatars also come with a pretty cool gun that ignores armor values and can be acquired through modding.

'''The Alien Rulers''':
If you played the previous game, you may have been wondering: "what happened to Dr. Valen?" Well, the first DLC for XCOM 2, "Alien Hunters" reveals that she went off and set up her own base in an abandoned alien genetics lab, where her experiments in undoing the genetic suppressants on three cryogenically suspended subjects created three amped-up alien variants so powerful that the Ethereals couldn't control them. Great work, doc! Alien Rulers have a huge health bar and many unique abilities, but one of their more bullshit traits is that they get a free turn in reaction to ''every'' action your troops take. The best way to deal with is using Venom Bombs that damages them every turn and prevents them from taking an action. Along with abilities that allow your troops to take use multiple attacks that count as one action. Something you should have before facing them in mid to late game. Because fuck these guys. While you could choose to face them as early as your first Blacksite mission in WotC. Doing so means missing out on controlling Bradford and seeing his gun with [[cheese|every possible upgrade in action.]] The only real way to use it outside of the Alien Ruler introduction mission is through using game mods.

*'''The Viper King:''' The only male Viper in existence, this creature shows why the Ethereals removed the male gender from the viper species with how rampantly he set about fertilizing every female viper he could encounter, filling an entire base with a huge array of hatchling vipers you have to fight through. His unique abilities allow him to spit a freezing gas instead of the normal venom. The weakest of the Alien Rulers, the Viper King is usually the first one you encounter. If you manage to tag 'n' bag Subject Gamma, you can turn his carcass into a unique Spider Suit, the Serpent Suit, that can scare the scales off of normal vipers and lash out with freezing whips.

*'''The Berserker Queen:''' Even bigger and scarier than normal Berserkers, Subject Beta can not only unleash a howl that can panic your whole squad, but is equipped with cybernetically integrated hammers she can use to create earthquakes. From her carcass, you can build the R.A.G.E Suit, which not only terrifies mutons and berserkers, but lets your trooper make a berserker-style charge attack themselves.

*'''The Archon King''': Subject Alpha is the nastiest Alien Ruler in the game, and has the most health. His special attack "Devastate" is a version of Blazing Pinons (the Archon's "shower an area with rockets" ability) that does less damage, but which can also disorient, stun and knock unconscious. Worse, it hits on the next Ruler Reaction, meaning you have no chance to get away from it the way you do from Blazing Pinions. He also has a unique attack where he grabs a trooper, hauls them into the air, and then power dives them into the floor. If you can take down this asshole, his corpse can be refashioned into the Icarus Armor, a superior Warden Armor suit that grants the Vault ability and the ability to pull off the Archon's "move to any point on the map you wish" twice per mission. Give it to your best Sniper. As this allows them to keep up with the rest of the squad and find the nearest vantage point.

'''The Chosen''':
The new Dragons aka Second in Command below the Ethereals. Coming with a bunch of BS abilities that can wreck your troops at lower levels. You also want to find their base ASAP as they gain upgrades through the game like you do and can hurt your income. Getting their OP shit is also a nice bonus.

When first encountered they'll attempt to stun and capture one of your troops. If they appear during a Blacksite mission, The Chosen AI will just straight up murder a squad member. [[Rage|Despite the game not giving hints to this change in behavior.]] So if you're counting on manipulating their AI into kidnapping a soldier who is near death during those missions. The Chosen will just slaughter your squad like the rest of Advent. Because all bets when are off when your trying to kill mommy? and/or err daddy? Shklee? Maybe?
Thankfully, the game rolls to give them permanent weakness, along with an arch enemy who will deal extra damage to a Chosen among the new Hero classes. They will also roll for one immunity and a special ability, though the immunities are things that many players will hardly ever use against a boss regardless. The special power can either be meh, or fuck you right over. Good thing for the player the summoning powers are mutually exclusive and can't gain strengths that counter most of their weaknesses.

They can also be countered by researching Mindshields, your own (fully upgraded) Psi operatives and the buffed Sparks. When you have the latter two the Mindshields are redundant as the last two are right out immune to being stunned and mind controlled. Too bad there aren't new lines for a Spark with Julian's voice. As hearing a GlaDOS expy with the attitude of Bender snark back at The Chosen would have been hilarious.

*'''The Assassin''': The first of the Chosen you'll meet if you're playing the "Lost and Damned" mission to introduce yourself to the new mechanics introduced in WotC, the Assassin is a dark reflection of the Ranger class. The biggest [[Weeaboo|weeb]] in all of Advent. She attacks mostly with her Katana (although she does have a rarely used shotgun called Arashi, and you'll thank the programmers she rarely uses it), striking out of concealment to stun one of your guys (Who you'll then have to revive or risk them getting kidnapped), before running away. In the same turn. Because the Bad Guys get to move, shoot, move, but the player doesn't get nice things. To top this all off she's immune to overwatch so you either have to try and escape from the current mission, or take the fight back to her just as hard. Oh yeah, and avoid bunching your guys up, or she will stun half the squad at a time with an area of effect special attack, but don't get too spread out or you won't be able to revive stunned soldiers before she kidnaps them. Thankfully, her concealment works by the same rules as yours, and it'll break if one of your guys flanks her, so if you've got a good idea of where she is, you can move someone in to reveal her, and then light her up with the rest of the squad. To make her easier to deal with make sure to take a Specialist with Scanning Protocol. After killing The Assassin you can build Arashi and her Katana. Though many will find her Katana redundant after they have tier 3 Axes and late game Templars.

*'''The Hunter''': While you would expect a roided up [[Space Wolves|Craven the Hunter cosplaying furfag]] by name alone. He is instead a more or less a [[Vindicare|hit man armed with a pistol and sniper rifle]] with an Affably Evil personality. He's also known to have team killed some of the weaker Advent aliens when he got bored. Unlike his siblings he outright admits that he is a psychopath who likes killing things. The Hunter's abilities are a bit mundane compared to the other Chosen. While still being effective none the less. His Tracking Shot can aim at your troops from the other side of the map, and if they don't move he will kill them the next. This makes mind controlling Advent and hacking MECs for recon useful for once. He also come with a grappling hook with no cool-down, stun grenades and pistol tranq shots that never miss. So don't be stupid and send in a lone Reaper. Even if he rolls them as a weakness. As they don't put out enough damage to out snipe him and will end up killed or captured instead. His Sniper rifle Darklance and pistol Darkclaw are obviously weapons that are meant for your Snipers. So Reapers can't use it.

*'''The Warlock''': Probably the most dangerous of The Chosen, if you don't have Mindshields. If you do he's about as dangerous as the final boss of the game. If you don't he's damned near impossible as he'll mind control your entire squad a once. Otherwise he'll summon waves of exploding spectral zombies, or psionic copies of Stun Lancers. On his direct offense he has a buffed up plasma rifle that will do extra damage to psionics (i.e. your Psi Operative and Templar), a mind bullet that will split off to affect up to two additional targets, and the ability to teleport his own allies into flanking positions. Sometimes his AI does some stupid shit such as teleporting an Advent next to him. Bonus points if said Advent is the target your supposed to kill during the mission. Once you get his Disruptor rifle, it has every possible upgrade in the game. Though only Rangers, Psi-Operatives and Specialist can take it. A waste on the latter two as by the time you get it. Their late game abilities and equipment make giving them a 3.5 tier weapon redundant.

'''The Lost'''

*'''Regular''': Introduced in WotC, these are the zombie horde style enemies of the game. They have a unique mechanic where if you kill one, you get a free action point to continue killing. A soldier with decent Aim, an auto-loader, and an extended mag can decimate entire swarms if lucky.

*'''Dasher''': Faster, and with slightly more HP (4-5, as opposed to 2-3) these guys aren't exactly more of a threat than the regular lost. They're just more likely to pull off a successful ambush.

*'''Brute''': These guys have a lot of HP for a Lost, and can actually deal some melee punishment, and will start coming out in decent numbers by endgame. Then again, by endgame you'll have the best weapons and armour, so once again... only really a threat if you're unlucky, and there's a lot of them.

== See Also ==

*[[X-Com Play By Post]], experimental rules for playing X-Com on a forum.
*[[XCOM: Tomorrow's War edition]], a conversion of [[Tomorrow's War]] for playing X-Com on the tabletop.

== Gallery ==
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== External Links ==

* [http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page UFOpaedia.org], a wiki dedicated to X-COM (and sequels, and mods, etc.).
* [http://openxcom.org/ Open Source engine for the original game]
* [http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=269&enmi=XCOM:%20The%20Board%20Game Fantasy Flight Games's official X-COM game.]
* [http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/88/? Long War main page.]
* [http://ufoai.org/wiki/About UFO: Alien Invasion]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BqoEJUWKVRFSKXOA2Ks3Ce7Kvphmg0kAFKcuXJHgmr0/mobilebasic?pli=1 Things X-COM operatives are not allowed to do], a list in the vein of Mr. Welch's list. Occasionally hilarious
* [https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=5026.0] A 40k mod for openxcom NO idea as to why it hasn't shown up here.
[[category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]

XCOM

2019-01-01T20:57:25Z

2601:147:4300:1949:20D0:9E8B:FBD3:DE95: /* XCOM 2: War of the Chosen */

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[[Image:Xcom_2.png|thumb|right|]]

This is a [[Dan Abnett|rare treat]]. '''X-COM''', or as it's called across the pond, ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'' (It was released as XCOM in North America, it was ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'' literally everywhere else) is a turn-based strategy game that is, to put it simply, about as close to a game of [[Dark Heresy]] as one can get in isometric 3D. Note that X-COM is significantly older than [[Dark Heresy]], and older than all but the first edition of [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]], so it'd be better to say [[Dark Heresy]] is a lot like X-COM on the tabletop. Dating back to the much-lamented Microprose, it set a gold standard for atmosphere and playability that has, frankly, not been breached in ages.

The game is [[Dwarf Fortress|old as balls]] and in isometric view, which, paired with the Dark Heresy similarities, makes it more /tg/ material than /v/.

==A General Gist==

A general synopsis is that in [[grimdark|the not-so-distant future, there is war - and aliens]]. Aliens are arriving, and they are most assuredly hostile. It falls upon the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit, or the eponymous X-COM, a multi-national task-force, to deal with the invasion by blasting the fuck out of the Aliens, stealing their shit, researching their technology, and using it to fucking kill them off, all the while fighting off terror attacks and trying to figure out where in Uranus these fucking things are coming from (as it turns out, from Mars, and if you win, the final mission involves you going to Mars and dropping an [[Exterminatus]] on their asses).

It kicked ass. It was good enough to spawn a sequel, ''Terror From The Deep'', which was basically the same game, but underwater and infinitely harder. Story-wise, the destruction of the Martian base activated a fail-safe in the aliens' system that woke up T'leth, their 'secondary' (and mobile) base buried deep under the seas of Earth. X-Com now again must protect the people while finding out about where exactly T'leth is and go in to blast it to smithereens with extreme prejudice. It was hard. Really hard. Not only do aliens have a major advantage technology-wise at the start and they tear through your recruits with impunity, but later in the game when you catch up they start using a nasty trick to take control of your troopers, leading to sometimes hilarious and [[rage|extreme rage-inducing]] turn one [[TPK]]s as your heavy weapon trooper gets controlled and fires his heavy weapon inside the transport while the team is busy disembarking. Oh, and did we mention that the only way to research the best armour in the game was to capture a live specimen of a rarely-appearing alien? And that to capture a live specimen you had to send a poor redshirt in armed with an oversized cattleprod to stun it in close quarters? And that said alien was [[rip and tear|able to tear a human apart effortlessly]] in close quarters? And (as if all that wasn't bad enough already), that the poor redshirt then had to pick up and to carry the damn unconscious thing back to the human ship praying [[rape|that the specimen didn't wake up with a grudge before he got there and the mission ended]]? Yeah, it was kinda like that.

It then spawned a second, somewhat different but still appreciated sequel, ''X-Com Apocalypse''. Destruction of T'leth fucked up Earth's biosphere and humanity retreated to quickly built mega-arcologies to survive. Unlike the two first game, there's a bigger political aspect to things as you have not only to make sure you deal with the damn aliens coming to fuck your shit up, but remain best buds with the other humans while doing so. It tried to blend Turn-Based & Real-Time strategy into one so you could play it at the speed you wanted. All in all, a decent and ambitious, if not overwhelmingly good game (mostly because a ton of content was cut before release). Basically this time it was one [[Cyberpunk]] city against extradimensional aliens, though the equipment from the first two games gave the player a far greater headstart.

Then Microprose was bought by [[Hasbro|that which must never be named]], who proceeded to nose-dive the IP with games like [[AIDS|X-COM: Interceptor]] and [[Shit Twinkie|X-COM: Enforcer]]. At least Interceptor had a decent backstory and for those with a good eye, explain where the aliens in ''X-Com Apocalypse'' came from.

Fucking [[RAGE|Hasbro]].

Anyway. Combat is a lot like Dark Heresy's in that it's exceedingly lethal; at the game's outset, you have no armor beyond jumpsuits with Kevlar stuffed into them, and your firearms are the best and most powerful weaponry that chemical propelled explosives can provide only moderately capable against alien forces (though quite diverse). In order to properly take these fucking things on anything remotely resembling their own terms, you need upgrades. Upgrades come through research, and research comes by shooting down UFOs, landing a ground assault, killing the surviving aliens, and stripping the UFO like the [[Blood Ravens]] do other chapters' shiny bits. Once brought back to base, your researchers can look into what makes the alien's gear work, research your own weapons and tech, and develop technologies to help in the fight against the Aliens. Eventually, you can load your forces up with [[Space Marine|Power-armored bad-asses]], but starting out, your forces are fragile, and fighting smart is ''vital''. You ''will'' suffer casualties early on - guaranteed - but such is war, and you must press on, allowing the survivors to grow into [[Colonel Greiss|manly badasses]].

The Aliens themselves are diverse, ranging from the Sectoids (conventional "gray" aliens), to Chryssalids (horrifying abominations that inject targets with eggs that turn them into mindless drones which will explosively birth new Chryssalids thereafter). Nightmare fuel = yes. The game manages to be exceedingly creepy for one so simple, and is one of many reasons that X-COM works so well.

==Tales of Heroism==

In accordance with /tg/'s love of war stories about [[your dudes]], several examples of awesome have been compiled:

''Instant'' death doesn't ''always'' happen. Occasionally, one Rookie will be touched by God and succeed against all odds. After that, he will die horribly. [[Just as Planned]].

X-COM agent of note: [[Marc Lecointe]]. Lecointe survived numerous missions, got the highest kill count on most missions, killed a Snakemen leader and his bodyguards (despite losing over half the squad), and got shot in the face and back with plasma and lived. He eventually was hit with return fire in an alley and began bleeding. He returned fire and killed the Snakeman, but bled to death before help could arrive. Lacointe lives on in our hearts.

Another agent of note is Gristle McThornbody, a Rocket-Toting Team-Killing asshole who refuses to die OR be mind-controlled. He's so badass, that even when he has 85% or more to hit on a 2x2 alien, he'll still hit the wall twenty tiles to the left.

== New Stuff and Things ==
According to things [[/v/]] likes to watch on the Internet, a new X-Com game is in the pipes, set to be made in the gameplay and spirit of the old games, with new graphics and updated for the new generation of gamers to be introduced into the X-Com game style. It lost the dash along the way someplace, and got re-named ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown''. This new game, which has spawned joy boners in many on /v/ and /tg/ alike, is believed to stem from the utter, burning [[RAGE|fury]] that was originally spawned from 2K's simply-titled ''XCOM'' game, which, near as we can tell, is an FPS that takes place in the 1960s and has exactly ''nothing'' to do with the actual X-COM franchise. Seriously, don't look into 2K's game if you're a fan of the series on any level - it will cause veterans to spontaneously transform into [[Angry Marines]] and/or [[Khorne|Khornate Berserkers]]. Apparently, those in charge had the wherewithal to note that if they didn't make a ''proper'' X-COM game, [[/tg/]] (and by extension, [[/v/]]) would [[Anal Circumference|leave their asshole in ruins]]. They even went ahead to declare the two games take place in separate universes. If only [[Games Workshop]] had [[Matt Ward|that much sense]]...

== XCOM: Enemy Unknown by Firaxis ==
[[File:XCOMGameplay.jpg|200px|thumb|An in-game screenshot of the new game.]]
And Firaxis came to the rescue, promising to return to the roots of XCOM (note the lack of a hyphen this time around, although the logo ''does'' have a horizontal stripe taken out of the "COM"). Since Firaxis has a lot of ex-MicroProse people, a lot of them have had to do with the original as well, and the original musical score will make a return. Although it's changed a few things to avoid hurting the brains of [[/v/|delicate little console kiddies]] like removing time units, removing ballistic simulation, cutting down on your maximum amount of squad members (4 at the start and 6 maximum) and limiting us to one base (though each base location gives its own unique bonus), it still somehow manages to be a good game in its own right. If the original X-COM is like Mordheim, then XCOM is like Space Hulk: massively simplified and more heavily dependent on the luck of the die, but with less micromanagement and long-term planning required.

If you haven't bought the game and you're a TBS fan, everyone in /tg/ that isn't [[That guy]], would highly recommend you give it a whirl at the modest price of <strike>
$39.99 </strike> $16.49 for all the good remade XCOM games because of our father Gabe Newell on PC,
still is 39.99 for console/Non-Steam or $9.99 on mobile/tablet devices. Like always, we have footage for vidyas: https://youtu.be/qDhuZ4b51hA https://youtu.be/-SKoS5BYVuY https://youtu.be/bxuzLyR-000

===XCOM: Enemy Within===
[[File:MectoidMEC.jpg|200px|thumb|Did we mention melee combat with exosuits?]]
''Enemy Within'' is an expansion pack (and unlike most "horse armor" tier DLCs with the name this one actually deserves it) that completely re-defines how the game progresses, compared to the original one. The game's story still progresses like the original game, but expands on it for a more entertaining experience.

It adds the "meld" resource to the game, a type of alien organic/synthetic-hybrid nanomachine that allows you to unlock two powerful technologies: MEC and genetic modification. MEC allows your troops to interface with a Mechanized Exoskeleton Cybersuit, a heavy exoskeleton that brings the heaviest of weapons to the field (Including the option for a powerfist equivalent called a "Kinetic Strike Module". Yes, make your own faux [[Terminator]] squad! Especially when the Tier-3 Paladin upgrade bulks up your suit's armor that you look vaguely similar to Termies.). Genetic modification allows you to augment your troops using data gathered from dissected aliens, making them killier than ever before. In fact, you can create your own equivalent of an Imperial [[Space Marine]] with the list of available modifications you can do (Two of these specific upgrades are a second heart and the ability of self-regeneration).

It also adds new aliens to the xenos' side, like a cloaking squid robot that chokes your troops to death and their own brand of exosuit troops. It also introduces another enemy into the game: EXALT. EXALT are a bunch of power-mad blokes who sees the alien's invasion as a way to gain power by adapting their technology for themselves, inching them closer to world domination. They see you as an obstacle and are determined to undermine your efforts to defeat the aliens by disrupting your operations through a number of ways and sowing panic amongst XCOM-member nations, generally making your already hectic life even more hectic. You must now defeat this new threat through a combination of [[Ork|cunning brutality and brutal cunning.]] They have most of your technologies to go toe-to-toe with you (Except for their own exosuits) and they are well hidden, so bringing them down won't be an easy affair.

=== XCOM 2 ===
[[File:People%27s_reaction_to_XCOM_2%27s_Vipers.png|200px|thumb|Turns out they ''are'' poison glands. Hee.]]
A direct-ish sequel to EU/EW, XCOM 2 seems to decide that what's canon is not: not "you killed all the aliens, now here's more aliens", but "you know that Impossible Ironman game you played for a laugh and got utterly stomped? That's the canon ending". (The utterly stomping part takes place in the base assault, and it is so bad that two of the most important things got taken: The Commander, and more importantly, central officer Bradford's sweater). The aliens won before humanity even got to laser weapons, taking over the world and unifying humanity (read: ruling over them in a pseudo-utopia "Brave New World"-style), and basically preparing to turn them into another of their slave races (not that most of humanity knows this).

XCOM refused to back down even after the Council of Nations ceased to exist and instead went underground, hijacking an alien supply ship to act as a mobile base for hit-and-run operations against the alien occupiers, in the hopes of toppling the ADVENT (the puppet government aliens've set up) and exposing the true purpose of their supposedly ideal society to the world. So they free the captured Commander (sadly the sweater seems to be shrunk in the wash) and it's guerilla warfare time.

New features include:
The Assault class has been given a makeover to focus even more on [[Rip and Tear]], replacing the sidearm with a sword and changing title to the Ranger. The Sniper has been renamed the Sharpshooter and given a pistol-focused skill-tree-route that turns the soldier into Clint Eastwood (literally, like you can have a stand-off by firing 3 pistol-shots in the same turn). The Support class has been renamed the Specialist and been given a drone to hack, heal, shield and/or zap shit remotely. The Heavy has been given a nice grenade launcher to act as your cover-stomper, and been renamed the Grenadier. Psi-operatives are their own class now as well, and get hate-hair and [[Cadia|purple eyes]] because that makes sense and all psychically talented people look like neo-punks. Troops can be captured, and then rescued, which also reclaims any expensive gear they had on them (but it's never the captured troops you actually need back).
New enemies (without spoilers), including "human" ADVENT security troops (who really love to say "bitch" and pointing towards your soldiers) with magnetic weapons who look like humans till you get their armor off, sectoid-human hybrids with teeth, thumbs, and belly buttons (which can be really creepy if you '''really''' think about it), and Snake-women called Vipers (which is what the Thin Men actually look like without their disguises). Yes, there were snaketits on the thread that announced this to /tg/. Yes, /d/ has drawn porn of them. Yes, it will be added to the gallery.

Moving on.

XCOM 2 also contains an in depth explanation for the aliens' motives that many fans felt was lacking or too ambiguous in Enemy Within. Apparently, the Ethereals have some kind of fatal disease they can't cure, so they've been trekking around the galaxy culminating genes to form the ultimate bodies for themselves, while amassing a genetically supreme army. When the Ethereals found humanity, they found their genes to be so awesome and powerful that just adding some of them to a lowly sectoid turned it from a pathetic 3' tall creature you could kill with basic weapons, to an 8' tall psionic rape machine that could raise the dead and withstand salvos of bullets to the face. They then set up an alien government on Earth so they could discretely process humanity's best genetic material and slowly form new bodies for themselves that don't die called Avatars. And by don't die, we mean have copious amounts of health, teleport every time they're injured, regenerate like crazy, are guaranteed to successfully mind control anything, and are immune to any of your psychic status abilities(ie: panic, disorientation, and mind control, you can still annihilate them with psionic fire). And the boss fight involves killing three of these dick-butts and an endless wave of alien reinforcements. Using human DNA is also where their ADVENT troops came from, they grew armies of human spliced with unspecified aliens to act as their public face to the humans. But humanity wins anyway, because humans are just that fucking awesome.

The game is also notable for abandoning the usual conditions for losing. The norm for the series is for your funding to get cut if too many countries lose faith in XCOM. Since you're fighting a guerrilla war and your support are humans fighting to survive outside the aliens' control zones, that isn't happening. Instead you lose if the aliens complete the Avatar Project, their goal to mass produce the bodies for the Ethereals. If they do you get treated to a scene of almost all resistance being crushed because the Avatars are dangerous enough in small numbers and an army of them would unstoppable. You can slow progress, but can only stop it by finishing the game.

So far there have been recently four DLCs for XCOM 2. "Anarchy's Children" added new customization features for your soldiers, most of which you wouldn't ever really use. "Alien Hunters" adds a new mission, weapons, and alien rulers who you have to hunt down. The alien rulers get to take an action every, single, time, one of your soldiers does(this is changed in war of the chosen,because firaxis realized it was bullshit). This is even more infuriating then it sounds. Some more customization options are added too. "Shen's Last Gift" adds another mission and the SPARK class soldier. SPARKs are robots you have to make in the proving ground. War of the Chosen finally allows players to add modifications to their guns, gave them better aim and a health boost. So now they're worth taking. If your Grenadier is injured or has low morale. While their weapons are much larger and more powerful-looking than the other squad specialized weapons, they don't do more damage than the regular specialized weapons. This is stupid, as an auto-cannon would naturally do much more damage than a 7mm Gatling Gun. They are also prohibitively expensive so you have no choice to do the mission if you want one for cheap. Optional mods have improved their balance to outright making them a super unit if you wish.

And here comes the fun part; if you read the developers blog, their idea of "balance" is to actually nerf plenty of stuff...so the game is harder after having a buffed-up alien lord chase your dudes all over the game. Was old-school really this hard?

You think that's bad, the end game unlocks second wave options, like increasing all Health by 50%, having your guys get worse as they get injured, have their stats rolled at random, so you can make the game even HARDER! Because dying is ''fun''.

====XCOM 2: War of the Chosen====

This brand new expansion gives us three new allies to aid us.

*Reapers: Stealthy hunters who are armed with nothing but a rifle and explosives. It's enough. They wear [[Shadowrun|trench coats and gas masks]]. Have a special ability where they have a chance to not reveal themselves upon attacking. Enemies have vastly reduced detection ranges against Reapers, and Reapers can detonate explosives on the map without revealing themselves. They can also throw an environmental explosive. [[Dakka|They also have an ability that lets them shoot at an enemy until they run out of ammo.]] Long story short, these guys are only slightly less powerful than the Reapers from Mass Effect.

*Skirmishers: ADVENT defectors who are armed with a grappling hook that can pull them to a rooftop and pull themselves to the enemy or vice versa and at max level allows them to have the [[Awesome|alien rulers ability to gain action points every. Time. The. Enemy. Moves.]] Except it only works three times a turn, and doesn't trigger on non-move actions. [[fail|The game doesn't tell you this.]]

*Templars: [[Grey Knights|A resistance group made of only psionics]] that wield psi blades and machine pistols, but you'll probably never use those. They're fast, hard to kill, and hit like a brick. And like any good psi-based unit, they can fry their enemies with lighting from their hands. They're like the [[rip and tear]] half of the Ranger, but with psionic powers. They're also fantastically hammy and roll their Rs.

But these new allies come with a catch as you now have to fight the titular chosen who can adapt to your soldiers' abilities with their own strengths and weaknesses, and the Lost ([[tarpit|zombie swarms]]) that attack both you and ADVENT. Along with these new allies and enemies is trying to get the three resistance groups to work together, as well as a new fatigue and relationship system.

The faction leaders are voiced by actors from [[Star Trek|Star Trek: The Next Generation]]. [[Fail:They do pretty good job except for Marina Sirtis.]] Good thing the game allows players to switch to a better voice for your first Reaper(and their other soldiers).

====Tactical Legacy Pack====

A mini expansion pack that adds 4 mini-campaigns detailing some of the adventures of Bradford and Lily Shen during the tumultous days of ADVENT's takeover, adds new weapons to your WotC playthrough for each of these mini-campaigns you beat, allows you to choose between three soundtracks, (X-COM 1, X-COM 2, and Legacy Remixes), allows free access to all of the 100 challenges rather than the random daily challenge system, and even allows you to make your own challenge missions.

Free until Dec 3rd, 2018, for all WotC owners.

=== XCOM: Long War ===

What, the new XCOM wasn't complicated enough for you? There's a mod called "Long War" which goes into lots more detail, a bit more like the classic game. Now, the aliens will advance their plans and escalate their forces and assaults based on their own progression system, and the game is rebalanced around the expectation that you will not succeed at every mission (and you won't -- the aliens are plenty tough to see to that).

=== XCOM: The Board Game ===

From [[Fantasy Flight Games]], there's a board game adaptation of XCOM (in fact, ''XCOM: Enemy Unknown'' was quite inspired by board games, with the two-actions-per-turn system instead of the old 'time units'). There's a companion app for smartphones, tablets, and computers which controls the aliens and informs players of events, a bit like a [[Game Master]], but without exposing the players to too much bookkeeping. Amazing what games can do with computers these days -- just imagine if such a thing had been available for [[FATAL]]! On second thought, don't.

Players (1-4) take on different roles in the XCOM organization. The Commander keeps an eye on the budget and allocates interceptors. The Chief Scientist directs research efforts. The Central Officer works the app and solicits input from the others (if there are any) to make decisions (many of which are time-critical). The Squad Leader manages troops and base defense. Together, they need to allocate their resources, judge when to push risky but rewarding avenues (inviting retribution from the aliens if they fail), and defend humanity. Like the games, successes are rare -- a die only has a 1/3 chance of coming up with a success, and tasks may need multiple successes. There is also an "enemy die", a [[d8]] that is rolled against the number of times that task has been attempted. If it rolls equal to or under that number, something bad happens. So, do you pool resources for critical tasks (neglecting anything else, and hoping that your priorities are correct), in order to most likely be successful before the threat level climbs too high? Or do you stay flexible but push your luck? Your call, commander.

=== XCOM 2: Long War 2 ===
If you thought XCOM 2 was ''already'' hard, thanks in part to the involvement of the original Long War modders in the game's development, said modders come back with a sequel mod for the game. Not only does this go even further than the first Long War in going into a lot of detail, such as new graphical touches, significant rebalancing and completely overhauling the global map to be more reminiscent of classic X-com. But the difficulty is amped up even more, with missions even requiring you to send in potentially fatal scouting parties to make sure your ''other'' squads don't die on the spot. Also, rather than launching parties directly into battle, missions spawn on the geoscape with an expiration timer. The player ''can'' launch immediately, but the enemy presence will be drastically increased! Instead, the idea is that the squad can spend time infiltrating, to let ADVENT get complacent and draw troops elsewhere. Having more Resistance folks working Intel increases mission expiration times, but the bigger and heavier the squad, the more infiltration time is required. And vice versa -- short-staffing a squad can allow a player to infiltrate to high percentages on short notice... but now you've only got like four guys on the ground, and that might not be enough firepower if activations go badly...

This mod requires dramatically more strategic thought and care. Weapons, armor, and equipment are all purchased individually, forcing you into decisions like 'do I continue the rollout of my newly available armor-piercing coilguns, or do I buy armor for the two rookies I've trained up?' and 'do I send my last seven man team to secure me an engineer, commit them to a long infiltration to wipe out an advent tower, or hold them in reserve for a better opportunity?' The difficulty is likewise much higher, but you have dramatically expanded options to combat it with special weapons, squad leaders, extra inventory slots packed with flashbangs, veteran troop skills, choosable bonus perks, a psi advancement training regime that makes some actual sense, and many, many more troops and mission opportunities. Minor reinforcement on that last one, in fact: in stock XCOM 2 you'll likely end the campaign with fewer than twenty soldiers, whereas here it's pretty common to have a hundred active-duty troopers at a time.

The Shinobi ([[Derp|all the Ninja IRL schools have closed up shop]]) is the most overpowered class. Making missions easier then they should be as he can [[derp|bypass Overwatch]] and has a very low impact on infiltration. Making missions unrealistic for players who hate RNG and want a pure stealth game.

The Devs of Long War have said there will not be making a Long War for War of the Chosen. As Firaxis added a ton of crap that would take years for Long War Studios to sift through it and make the mod playable. Also, they're making their own XCOM, so they wouldn't have the resources to do both anyways.

== The Bureau: XCOM Declassified ==
Despite having the name XCOM in the title, the game really has little relation to the series. The reason behind this is because 2K passed this game on to the lovely people that brought you Bioshock 2; meaning it was made by a studio that makes more or less decent games. It's supposed to be a prequel, set in the 1960s during the Cold War era. The protagonist, William Carter, was a CIA agent just delivering a suitcase of classified "documents" until an Outsider disguised as a female agent got ahold of it. Not long after that, an alien invasion commenced!

The Bureau is a RPG that plays like Mass Effect, but not as good for a variety of reasons. One reason is in the dialog scene, you're given choices of what to ask/say. They really don't impact the game, nor changes it for the most part, so you can skip a majority of it if you want to. The agents in your squad are pretty dull, sure you can change their names and how they dress, but really doesn't offer any friendship/foe engagements. If they die, you will need to recruit another agent and start him off from scratch, but really, leveling them up isn't fun and customizable, so just restart a checkpoint if they do die.

The agents in your squad have bad AI if you don't babysit them and give commands on what they should do, and their skills at fighting Outsiders are... Well, okay. The best they can offer is their abilities, so spamming them and you taking care of the killing is an effective way to go (Some recommend starters to start their first mission with a Recon to cause critical damage on certain enemies and a Commando for [[DISTRACTION CARNIFEX|taunting the grunts and make them easy picking for you]]).

There would be more to go on, but if you want to know more about the game, you can search up reviews of XCOM Declassified. In short, it's a decent prequel that fans can find some enjoyment, but it's not as good as Enemy Unknown. Without going into spoilers, there's also a reveal during the last few levels that's surprisingly meta and well-written. Still worth looking into if you can find it for cheap or rent it.

Interestingly enough, turns out that the universe in XCOM Declassified is the same as that of Enemy Unknown/Within's. After the events in The Bureau, all records were wiped. This explains why the player had to start from scratch at the beginning of Enemy Unknown. When the Ethereals of Unknown/Within spoke of their [[Derp|own failure to ascend,]] they really meant that they wanted to be like the Ethereals from The Bureau. Either way, only time will tell exactly [[Grimdark|what the hell they were preparing humanity for.]]

== Xenonauts ==

X-Com coded by [[Reasonable Marines]].

A faithful remake of the original, with time units and all that. Changes a few things (like lack of Psionics on your side) and adds vehicles (yes, blowing up half a building with a rocket jeep is awesome) and controllable dogfights. Basically the alien invasion is during the Cold War and makes everyone shit themselves simultaneously when THOUSANDS of spaceships are openly in orbit and fucks humanity's shit up in creative ways. Every day the UFO's are left wandering, news bulletins full of terror emanate from the screen, worrying you further.

The ending is very creative, particularly concerning the plot of how an inferior species can even bother to defeat a powerful empire. Stunningly well-made, desperate final mission which may result in a glorious ending, or a bittersweet ending where you still win but the assault team is martyred.

Other differences between it and the original include:

Maps are mostly pregenerated, not fully procedural.

Fewer weapon and ammo types. Seriously, you've got the big five (pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, sniper, and LMG) and a rocket launcher. No variant ammo types, although the weapons do have researched tiers (which are simply damage-ups).<s> This means no unfairly powerful weapons like the Rape Launcher or the Stun Grenade Launcher.</s> There *are* a few super weapons but seriously, if you waste a "Singularity Generator" which is an ENTIRE CAPTURED BLACK HOLE (a hot commodity salvageable from alien battleships) for a 50 kilogram (without ammo) glorified grenade launcher that doesn't even one shot its AoE, you are a fucking moron.

More basic inventory control. You don't micromanage producing and storing individual missiles, and you can have as many magazines, grenades, and med-kits as you want, limited by carrying limit. You just build the alien-based laser or plasma gun, base gives you ammo made fashioned from a melted-down alien cells. (Alenium is basically a quantum-grade battery aliens came up with. Usually it powers the alien craft, you simply creatively salvage the spent ones into explosives because [[HFY]].)

Smaller team sizes. Max troop count on a mission is 12, with the best drop-ship.

Fewer oddball items, like the motion scanner or psi-ball, but there is now an assault shield, so your dudes don't immediately die when popping open a UFO. Said shield gets upgraded with Alien alloys, and even the final mission sees use of it. Trust me.

Rookies are better out of the gate, but are still shit compared to your colonels. Still, they have a decent chance of killing an enemy in a turn, doubly so if carrying a missile launcher. No longer to operatives miss the broad side of a barn. They *will* miss the spot but will still shake it badly.

Explosive weapons damage items, lowering the amount of money you receive from selling. This is for the best, because explosives are stupidly powerful and are probably the most reliable way of putting a fool down. Considering Reaper, the expy for Chyrssalids are even faster and crazier, you *are* going to need them.

Saveable, customizable loadouts for all of your troops, and obviously no engine-based limit on the amount of items you can bring into a mission.

Aliens don't really hide in corners or really hard to find spots, which makes flushing them out a lot easier. I said flushing out mind you, as they DO charge out and deal extremely serious amounts of damage before going down, to say nothing of teleporting aliens that burst fire in your face if they are lucky.

Troops remain vulnerable a lot longer. You are never at the point where you can float an invincible army of death-dealing demigods over a cowering cadre of snakemen, raining death and destruction down with maddened glee. Even if you do, weird aliens will teleport close and blow you out of the sky, or your flyer will fry a nerve from psionics.

Country relations are more important than after-mission loot.

You can kick or pistol whip an enemy to death. Cue surrounding an annoying alien marksman and beating him to death with riot shields.

You can call airstrikes to cancel boring UFO raids.

=== Xenonauts 2 ===

Now with 3D graphics! A demo is available through GOG.com, with the release planned to be <s>later in 2017</s> late 2018.

== UFO: Alien Invasion ==

The most detailed opensource version of XCOM based on the Quake 2 engine.

Buildings are not destructible and it doesn't have a great fog-of-war. It doesn't have unmanned vehicles like the current iterations and sadly doesn't have any sort of Chryssalids yet.

Has a better world map than any other XCOM in that you can fully explore it like google-earth, even showing ship movement on the globe in real time. The campaign is more forgiving in that it does not force you through Acts like Enemy Unknown where you can't possible keep everybody happy, or has nations constantly bitching at you for radar coverage like in Xenonauts. Instead you get to bid captured UFOs and give preference to unhappy nations that feel neglected or where you haven't been saving civilians frequently.

The camera is completely free in battlescape mode just like in Enemy Unknown, complete with zoom capabilities. Lots of different weapons, though you will find yourself a fool if you don't immediately start using alien weapons. Also levels tend to have more floors than other iterations, such as one mission in which you're going through an office building or another where you're entering a subway.

The only major problem with the game is that the smoke grenades are so overpowered your guys will be coming out of your drop ship like Snoop-Dogg out of his trailer. Otherwise you'll find aliens are more than happy to shower your guys with plasma from across the map.

After a general huge update smoke is now useless and aliens are much, MUCH more powerful.

Oh, and its free. Still, fuck it. Final version is broken, often locking the game, and developers have been keeping silent, the fucking FAGGOTS.

== Phoenix Point ==

A spiritual successor by Julian Gollop himself. As of the time of this edit, fully funded and in development with a hard-as-balls backer pre-alpha having been released. The basic idea is; some kind of strange virus has been dug up in the permafrost and has had two outbreaks so far, each escalating in severity. Now it's invading the land a third (and fatally final) time, most of humanity is gone (Partly cus of the virus, partly cus of WW3 happening during the second outbreak), and you must defend the survivors from both the creatures and each other, you poor sap.

The virus morphs all life into Lovecraftian horrors. Literally Lovecraftian; it is implied that [[H.P. Lovecraft|Howard the Great]] was inspired by ancient findings describing an outbreak of the same virus a few million years ago. It even came from Yuggoth. Humanity being humanity, there are several factions with drastically different ideas on how to deal with it; there is a faction based around a religion [[Genestealer Hybrids|worshipping the mutations that is also capable of retaining human consciousness despite said mutations]], another is [[Eclipse Phase| high-tech anarcho-communists trying to coexist with the virus and other factions]] while the third faction [[Starship Troopers|Is a high-tech PMC turned militaristic civilization with "Service Guarantees Citizenship" that just wants to destroy the virus and any of its sympathizers]].

So far, the game has managed to gather enough funding and reach one stretch goal for a floating base that will be given as FREE DLC, along with other stretch goals at a later date should the game be successful.

Expected; large bosses, your own mutated soldiers with crippleable limbs, the option of saving a group of people by [[Dawn of War II|landing on a giant creature and injecting it with poison]], Deep Lore, A hybrid of the old TU and new Two-Action system, unique tech trees for each faction (which you can also get in on by either allying with or stealing from them) and randomized global events (a la Crusader Kings 2).
Oh, and there are [[Flamer|flamethrowers]], Shoulder-Mounted missiles, power armor, gauss rifles and other goodies, such as a mutant mount for the cultist faction.

== XPiratez ==

What XCOM 2 was to XCOM: Enemy Within, XPiratez is to X-COM: UFO Defense. Made of pure [[Awesome|awesome]], you lead a crew of female mutants on a quest to kick ass, gain riches, and fuck bitches. A mod for OpenXcom, it's completely free and gets constant updates. Go check it out! Nothing's more satisfying than crushing a pureblood's head in with a sledge hammer and then mowing down his mates with your [[Dakka|custom Boarding gun]]. Basically, post XCOM defeat, humanity is a province in the alien empire, and a long, long time later, you lead a band of mutant female pirates living the pirate life, looting, capturing, ransoming, and eventually enslaving prisoners. More detailed, fanmade, with a morally darker atmosphere for the protagonist faction (apart from turning prisoners from human factions to slaves -miners for men, maids for females, and ahem..."squires" for shota younglings from Cult of Sirius), PirateZ offers a unique experience.

== The Tabletop Game ==

Yes, there was a Tabletop game, made by [[Fantasy Flight Games]], so this article has some direct /tg/ relevance. The problem is, [[Derp | you need a cell phone app to play it]].

==Aliens==
Needless to say, in this game, there are many different types of aliens that your teams are going to have to fight.

===Original Continuity===

====X-COM: UFO Defence====

'''Sectoid''': Doesn't matter what game, these guys are always the first things you face. They're not tough, but they are annoying, and the higher ranked ones (yes aliens have ranks, just like your guys in the old games) can and will successfully mind-control your guys all the fucking time.

'''Cyberdisk''': The original flying, metal pancake, these guys only show up supporting Sectoids. They can take an abusive amount of punishment, and deal it out just as much, before exploding when they are finally disabled. Expect to see your bullets passing over or under it all the fucking time.

'''Floater''': Changed significantly in the remake. Here they're a still mostly intact torso and abdomen mounted on a giant, floaty antigravity ball. They can't fly as freely as the ones in future versions, but they're far less suicidal, and prone to setting up ambushes.

'''Reaper''': Big, spiky dogs that appear alongside Floaters on terror missions. They're dumb as shit and only attack in melee making it easy enough to lure them out and turn your entire fire team against them. Now if that would actually kill them.

'''Snakeman''': Another basic type, these guys are easy pickings on any mission other than Terror Missions. Their autopsy states that they are stuffed full of fertilised eggs so take that "men" part with a grain of salt.

'''Chryssalid''': And these are the reason you'll hate Snakemen on terror missions. They bring Chryssalids with them. Twelve foot tall murder bugs that kill people, plant their eggs into them, turn them into shuffling zombie, which hatch into new Chryssalids unless killed, ''quickly''. Unlike the remake these guys can take a beating, and it's entirely possible to have an entire squad with laser weapons and repeating grenade launchers hit one of these bastards with every shot, and it'll still be standing at the end. You see one of these things, you do not let your squad break apart or approach blind corners.

'''Muton''': As always the aliens' equivalent to your guys, except they're better armoured (despite wearing goofy green jumpsuits), better armed, and just better being as they're not the best janitors all the world's militaries have to offer. Mutons don't have Psionics on their side, so if you want to play with them bringing along your Psi Specialist is a good idea, otherwise they're going to take an absurd amount of punishment to put down. A superhuman grade Muton can take a block of High Explosive to the chest and come out shooting, so bring the plasma, and bring enough it of for a small city block.

'''Celatid''': One of the two terror units found alongside Mutons, it looks like nothing more than a floating kidney bean. It's small, it's fast, and it has the most damaging non-High Explosive attack in the game, which becomes even more destructive against non-armoured targets like your rookies, or civilians. Thankfully this attack works on a lobbed arc so its range is severely nerfed down to 7 tiles, but out in the open that goes up to 16 tiles, and it can attack up to three times in a turn if it doesn't have to move.

'''Silicoid''': The second terror unit that is deployed alongside Mutons, and the most useless alien unit in the game. It crawls along at a speed of 8 tiles a turn, has no ranged attacks, and triggers reaction fire from even the worst of your guys allowing you to use it as a reaction fire training sponge, especially if you use Incendiary rounds as it will not take any damage from fire or incendiary rounds, but your guys will still gain experience. High Explosives work well against it.

'''Ethereal''': Far different from the remake game, Ethereals are packing heat in conjunction with their insane Psi abilities. These cloaked bastards can fly, will rain plasma fire down on your squad, spot for their allies to make their job easier, and at the end of it all, they'll mind control or panic the ragged remains of your squad. Kill them as quickly as you can, preferably from long distance with a Blaster Launcher.

'''Sectopod''': Giant metal murder toads. These guys aren't actually robots, although they come close, they are intact Remote Control murder mechs for the ethereals so that they don't have to get close to you while they turned you into plasma fried Kentucky X-COM rookie. The scary thing about these guys is just how much punishment they seem to take, even from late game weapons; however if you can target their rear armour, and bring laser weapons (which deal x1.5 damage against these guys) you'll be laughing all the way to the ICU. Of course this is going to make your prospects against their Ethereal controllers far, far worse, but hey-ho, win some, lose some.

====Terror From The Deep====

IA, IA, CTHULHU FATAGN

'''Aquatoid''': Genetically, and surgically slap gills and flippers onto a Sectoid, et Voila! You have an Aquatoid. Their commanders still have the Psionic abilities of their land locked cousins, but they call it Molecular Control, because they're fancy like that.

'''Gillman''': Apparently an earth creature, these creatures from the black lagoon were around when DINOSAURS ROAMED THE EARTH!, and submitted to the aliens when they arrived the first time round. They make for 'poor' soldiers (although this being TFTD that just means their only better than your guys by a factor of 1 or so, and not 3) and can take a bit of punishment from basic weaponry, although by the time you get Sonic weaponry, they start dropping like wheat before the scythe. Taking one of these guys in alive, and dead is critical to researching melee weapons (???), and accessing the final mission. So get catching.

'''Lobsterman''': An organic Sectopod, these guys will walk off whatever you throw at them, and then strike back with extreme prejudice. Ironically though they're mostly weak to stunning weapons, making tasers, and stun grenades the best weapon to use against them if you've got them. If you don't, well you can always use drills to pierce their hides, or hope that the tiny plinking of your harpoons cause them to laugh themselves to death.

'''Tasoth''': A clone vat species based off of humanoid velociraptors, these guys would be awesome, if they were on your side. As they are not, they are assholes. In combat they function as Ethereal lite's, unable to fly, and not quite as psionically potent, they make up for this by having much more physical strength, health, and durability.

'''Bio-Drone''': A brain-in-a-jar mounted on a super speaker. Electrical impulses torture the brain and use its screams (without vocal chords, don't ask me) to project a wave of hyper-condensed sound which will melt the victim's brain inside their head. Noise Marines might have stolen this idea for their Doom Siren. Grimdark as fuck because often the brains are made of kidnapped civilians.

'''Calcinite''': A Gelatinous green goop inside an old school diving suit, it might be possible to mistake this thing for one of your guys while you're underwater, but they remain fully suited up while on land, so the helmet is a good indicator. They lack any ranged attacks, and will instead try to run up and claw your agents face off, to add to this, their antique diving suits are tougher than your guys starting body armour (WHY?), nonetheless any weapon will put them down.

'''Deep One''': You'd think this would be the perfect place for some Cthulhu monstrosity, but sadly no. These guys are more "The Fly" than anything else. Humans that have been captured, tortured, and then surgically and genetically altered to become alien shock troops, the only original bit of their humanity left is their eyes. Their primary ranged attack is an arcing electrical burst (which is treated as a Gauss weapon for damage types) which allows them to fire over walls and other obstacles so nowhere is safe.

'''Hallucinoid''': Giant electrical jellyfish. The aliens keep on taking earth creatures and turning them into weapons of war. Although choosing jellyfish may have been a... poor decision. These things aren't particularly aggressive, preferring to just gently float into range when they can be bothered, rather than hunting your agents down. Unfortunately they're still tough enough to weather the storm of fire that their slow approach allows you to unleash on them, and their melee attack is devastating.

'''Tentaculat''': BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T BE A X-COM GAME WITHOUT CHRYSSALIDS, NO MATTER WHAT YOU CALL THEM. THEY CAN FLY NOW SO HAVE FUN! (appearance is directly identical to Grell from [[Dungeons & Dragons]])

'''Triscene''': A mother-fucking T-REX! The aliens brought back a T-Rex, slung two sonic cannons onto its sides, and let it loose in battle. These guys are the sectopods of TFTD, without the sectopod's weaknesses. However they have one glaring flaw, which is they have no under armour, and one well placed grenade will severely hurt them, or outright kill them if powerful enough.

'''Xarquid''': An overgrown Nautilus that swims in reverse, the things act like sniper tanks, preferring to sit in one corner of the map, usually several levels up, and snipe your squad from a safe distance. Other than the reaction fire you'll inevitably take when hunting these things down, they're not particularly dangerous, just use cover and explosives if they're on the ground, or get underneath them and take out their weak underbelly.

====X-COM: Apocalypse====

'''Brainsucker''': Because Facehugger was already taken. Why is the first alien you encounter in this game another GOD-DAMNED CHRYSSALID? FOR FUCK'S SAKE! These guys are fairly weak, and can be dealt with simply in RT mode, in TB however, their movement speeds enough to take them from outside your field of vision and into attack range, considering that their melee attack is a one hit kill keep enough time units back for reaction fire.

Multiworm

Hyperworm

Chrysalis

Anthropod

Psimorph

Spitter

Megaspawn

Popper

Skeletoid

Micronoid Aggregate

Queenspawn

Overspawn

===Reboot Continuity===

The reboot continuity has its own array of different monsters, with some changes in variety between the first and second game.

====X-COM Enemy Unknown / Enemy Within====

'''Sectoid''': Tiny little grey men in the first game, these are the first Psionic enemy you'll meet, with the ability to boost each other in combat. This can be rather nasty giving them an extra hit point and a +10 to hit and dodge, although if you kill the booster, you'll kill whatever Sectoid they're boosting as well thanks to Psychic feedback.

'''Sectoid Commander''': Only in the first game, these guys are Sectoids on psychic steroids. You'll see one on the tutorial mission and get a taste of what they can do, even if you don't fight it. They're stronger, tougher, and more psionically powerful than the basic sectoid, and are the first unit that can possess your guys mid-firefight.

'''Thin Man''': Apparently an "Infiltrator Unit" nobody (other than the Ethereals) would mistake these guys for human at close distance as they have snake scales running up their necks, and are skinny enough to make a supermodel jealous. Apparently they were made from genetically modifying Snake-women as they can spit clouds of poison at great distance, and will explode into one when they're killed. Otherwise they're real flimsy.

'''Muton''': How you know the aliens are stepping up their game. Everything up till now has been child's play (for a particularly psychotic child), then these guys come along. Big, tough, cunning, brutal, and dangerous, these guys will mulch a squad equipped with regular weapons and armour without breaking a sweat, and capturing one of these guys alive brings one of the better upgrades. Have fun.

'''Muton Berserker''': Ha, ha, ha. These girls are melee monsters, capable of soaking up bullets by the magazine, and slowly getting angrier and angrier as they do. If they can get in close they'll unleash the melee hurt, but thankfully they're not amazingly fast. Thankfully, their instinctive charge of the last person who shot them means you can set them up to run a gauntlet of Overwatch fire, with a bit of luck.

'''Muton Elite''': As much health as the Berserkers, plus armor, and lacking the berserk charges. Instead, they carry heavy plasma cannons.

'''Floater''': Apparently reject Mutons, stripped down to an upper torso and fitted up with cybernetic implants, mainly a jetpack. They're your first hint that the aliens may not be one big happy family, as they have an idle animation consisting of them ripping at their flesh and bionics until blood spurts. They're basically the fastest unit in the game, great Overwatchers, and pack about as much punch as a standard Muton. They have a special ability that sacrifices all their actions for the turn to instead fly to any single spot on the map, which they love to use to get the drop on your team.

'''Heavy Floater''': A tougher, armored version of the standard Floater, with a bigger gun. Basically just replace floaters in the late game to keep them competitive, but they've got no new tricks up their sleeves.

'''Outsider''': Strange "digital" lifeforms that serve as the technicians of the alien forces. You need to capture one of these in order to advance the game. They're wimpy, but their light plasma rifles are deadly accurate, so they can gun down whole teams if you're careless.

'''Sectopod''': The aliens' equivalent of a tank; an enormous, heavily armored killer robot with insanely high health, high armor, a 50% damage reduction ability with the Enemy Within expansion, and the ability to blaze away with both a fuck-off huge laser and to launch showers of cluster bombs. They also blow up when you kill them. Your most hated enemy.

'''Cyberdisk''': A ridiculously fast flying robot that can shapeshift between a flying saucer-like flight-mode (in which it's harder to hit) and its unfurled combat mode. Not quite as killy as the sectopod, but still really adept at ruining your day.

'''Drone''': Small flying robots that basically zip around like laser-spitting wasps. They don't do much damage, but they can repair mechanical aliens and they explode like a grenade when killed. And they're extra-hard to hit, for added nuisance factor.

'''Chryssalid''': An absolute fucking nightmare, just like the original series. These bugs are lightning fast, vicious, and if they kill anyone they'll automatically plant an egg in the corpse, which will turn into a zombie before hatching a new chryssalid three turns later. And these zombies are tough enough to weather several turns of shooting. One of the standout points of Enemy Within is a pre-baked mission where you get to investigate a whaling ship that crashed ashore in Newfoundland after being infested by Chryssalids who turned the catch into their personal hive. Your job is to first investigate the area, and then light the place up for your bombers so they can carpet bomb the place into fire and rubble, running your squad away the whole time.

'''Ethereal''': The leaders of the alien forces, physically frail but masters of [[psionics]], which they can use to ''really'' fuck up your day.

'''Seeker''': A relatively weak squid-like robot that uses camouflage to sneak up on its prey and then tries to crush it to death with its tendrils. They like to go after isolated members of your squad, which can be used to bait them into going after Assault troopers with Close Combat Tactics for hilarious effects.

'''Mechtoid''': An armored exoskeleton piloted by a sectoid, carrying twin plasma mini-cannons. Sectoids can use their mind merge ability to give a layer of shielding to mechtoids; killing the sectoid removes the shield and causes some damage to the mechtoid.

====X-COM 2 / War of the Chosen====

'''ADVENT'''

The end results of what the Ethereals want to do with humanity. Puppet soldiers controlled by a series of psionically linked chips that feed back to command nodes. It's stated that the commander was supposed to be one of these before XCOM manages to rescue him in the tutorial mission.

*'''Trooper''': The grunts, they come in three flavours, with increasing HP, Dodge, and Accuracy. Challenging only in numbers, and then only thanks to the fact that a shot will hit you at some point, and they can take fire away from the actual threats.

*'''Officer''': These guys aren't a threat on their own, however they can Holo-Target one of your guys for free, granting their allies a +10 to hit against that soldier. either take out everyone around them, or take them out, before that becomes a problem.

*'''Shield-Bearer''': The most annoying ADVENT type in the base game, these guys can pop a shield that gives every ADVENT and Alien soldier in range +3 or +5 temporary HP. Combined with their armour these guys can take a licking and keep on ticking. Taking them out will drop the shield on everybody else, so they should be a target priority otherwise the fight is going to take far longer than it should. They also kinda look like Robocop so they have that going for them.

*'''Stun-Lancer''': Melee focused, these guys are noticeable by the fact they were far less armour than any other ADVENT soldier. They'll charge forwards if in range, and attempt to stun your guys for a turn with their Melee beatsticks. Otherwise they've just got regular ADVENT Rifles.

*'''Priest''': Introduced in WotC, these guys are the ADVENT Psions, they can boost another ADVENT soldier, much like Sectoids could in Enemy Unknown (and like that game if you kill the priest the soldier will suffer psionic feedback and die), or they can put one of your guys in Stasis for a turn, preventing them from doing anything. Advanced and Elite priests have additional tricks that allow them to Mind-Control your guys, and place themselves in Stasis if they would be killed, instead staying around with 1 HP for another turn.

*'''Purifier''': Flamethrower wielding ADVENT troops that only appear in WotC. The guys are kept "secret" from the public (despite that fact they can appear in any mission if the RNG says so) as they are supposed to hunt down and kill the lost in the old, abandoned cities. As stated they use flamethrowers, alongside incendiary grenades, and when you kill them there's a good chance they will explode, so don't kill them with melee unless you want to lose your eyebrows. Although that can lead to some hilarious chain reactions if you're lucky.

*'''General''': Only appears in assassination missions in WotC. Essentially just a beefed up Officer with a shit ton of HP, and the ability to throw Flash-Bangs.

*'''MEC / Heavy MEC''': The first truly heavy ADVENT Unit. These things come with an absurd amount of HP for the early game, and multiple armour pips. They're not particularly smart however and do not use cover at all, instead relying on their durability to weather your shooting so take advantage of this. Remember not to bunch your guys up as they have a shoulder mounted missile launcher that they will use on your guys if they're clustered together. MECs can also use suppression at the end of their turn if they can't target a group. The Heavy MEC is just tougher and more accurate, you can think your way through this fight. The best way to deal with them is hacking or anti-machine equipment such as EMP rounds and grenades.

*'''Turrets / Heavy / Superheavy''': It's a turret. What more do you want? They have some armour and a decent amount of HP, but they can't move, and are fairly easy to hack to your side. If all else fails tossing a frag grenade at it is a guaranteed kill. As they are never encountered on the ground and will almost always be mounted on top of buildings. With few exceptions.

*'''Sectopod''': The final, and toughest ADVENT unit. It's just as much of a nightmare as it was in the first game. With the ability to shoot and enter overwatch, extend its legs to give itself a height advantage while standing on the ground, and use a charged-up laser blast that will kill anyone it hits. When they are finally defeated it will explode. Likely killing or injuring any unit for months next to them. As with any robotic unit they can be hacked by a properly specced specialist, although its nearly impossible to turn these guys to your side, so settle for stunning them for several turns. Anti mechanical weapons and equipment a must for defeating Sectopods if you don't have Plasma Weapons.

'''Aliens'''

*'''Sectoid''': Tougher than you remember due to the infusion of human DNA. Now have the ability to resurrect dead troopers - yours and ADVENT - as zombies, and all sectoids from the get-go can lay a mind whammy on your troops, randomly panicking, disorientating or controlling them.

*'''Chryssalid''': Because why the fuck wouldn't the Ethereals keep their most effective terror weapon. These guys have changed from scuttling horrors to burrowing, venomous, scuttling horrors, capable of turning anyone they kill, either with their venom or their claws into a slowly metamorphosing cocoon that, if it reaches maturity, will spit out '''THREE''' new chryssalids, because Firaxis hates you. They are rendered mostly harmless by being set on fire, so if you think you're going to run into them bring incendiary rounds, fire bombs, and hell weave vests.

*'''Viper''': The most famous of the new aliens because they look like [[serpentfolk|humanoid snake-women]] with [[furry|nice tits and a sweet pair of hips]]. Appear pretty early in the game; not much tougher than sectoids, but quite annoying. They can drag you out of cover with their tongue whip attack, spew toxic clouds like the Thin Men, and strangle you in melee like a Seeker. These gals represent the true form of the Thin Man alien from the last game.

*'''Andromedon''': One of the cooler new alien designs, it could almost have been ripped out of the old X-COM series. It looks like a combination of an old diving suit and an iron lung, filled with green sludge, and a single pickled alien who apparently needs that sludge to live. When you kill it the first time the suit reboots and come to life by itself, dropping its heavy plasma cannon and charging into melee. In its first form, an Andromedon is a tough customer, with more armour & health than a Muton while packing the same firepower. In its second form it will only ever try to hit you with its fists, but it leaves behind trail of acidic and poisonous sludge that hurts your guys if they try to move through it (because jumping isn't a thing, despite the ability to haul yourself up drainpipes) which makes navigating the battlefield a hassle, especially in densely packed urban missions. Thankfully their second form will be easier to deal with. As these Powered Armor wearing little shits will Overwatch to hamper squad mobility and toss Acid Bombs at [[your_dudes]] if not killed ASAP.

*'''Faceless''': A new enemy that should only appear in Terror Attack missions. Shapeshifters that look like ordinary humans until your troops get too close, then they turn into ''fucking huge'' moaning melted-wax men with claws the length of shotguns. Can take quite a beating and will literally tear down houses to get at your troops. They can be seeded in regular missions if you pull the Dark Event that allows them to mingle with the regular citizens during missions. Isn't that lovely.

*'''Muton''': Remaining as the ethereal's shock infantry, these Mutons have apparently been crossbred with humanity, making them smaller, faster, and deadlier. Apparently, they're smarter too, but considering just how badly the A.I can flub up sometimes, you have to wonder about that. They aren't packing any more HP, but they're now armoured, so they'll soak up more damage unless you can shred their armour with heavy weapons and explosives. They'll still be a threat until you get Plasma weapons, and 3rd tier armour, but once you're there, they pretty much become chaff beneath the scythe. They also like tossing grenades if they don't have a direct line of sight on your troops. Along with the ability to use suppression if a Muton can't get into melee. Making them an annoyance well into the late game.

*'''Berserker''': Now visually more distinct from the regular muton instead of just having a fancy costume. Still the same extremely tough melee combatants with the same instinctive berserker charge. Apparently, these are actually the muton ''women''. Gives a whole new meaning to the term [[amazon]], huh?

*'''Codex''': A replacement for the Outsider, but far more annoying. The Codex first appears when you Skulljack an ADVENT officer, and it looks like a weirdly sexy woman made of pure energy, but with a cybernetic brain & spinal column. They can teleport around the battlefield, and when struck by an attack that fails to kill them, they split into two Codexes with half of their remaining health. They can also create temporary zones of energy that suck all the ammo out of your guns, and then close with deadly force. Naturally you want Snipers or Magnetic/Plasma Weapon chain attacks to kill them quickly. Which you should have by the time of encountering them. Unless of course you rush the skull-jack out in your first run, and get one of these while you still have conventional weapons, in which case... have ''fun''.

*'''Specter''': Another WotC specific enemy. These guys look like the Codex if they were made out of Necron Scarabs rather than pure energy. It's fitting too as they are a collection of Psionic nanobots that can grab your guys, stun them, and create a shadowy doppelgänger with all of your guy's skills and gear, and none of their bad luck. Thankfully killing the Specter will also kill this doppelganger and bring your guy back into the fight, but if you're not ready losing a guy and the enemy gaining that guy can turn the tides right back against you. Oddly, attacks that harm biological targets without requiring a will test can harm the Specter.

*'''Gatekeeper''': A giant, floating, psionic ball. No, we're not joking. For all the goofiness of trying to summarise this thing, it's a shockingly vicious threat. That big metal ball containing a psionic powerhouse in the shape of several fleshy tentacles, which if it gets close will shed its armour, and proceed to bitchslap your soldiers into the ground. And you'll want it to do this because it has 4/5 pips of armour that need to be shredded away depending on difficulty. It also has the ability to mind control your guys, raise the dead, and fire an insanely powerful laser beam, and it'll try to use cover despite being a 2x2 giant, floating, metal, psychic ball of doom. One of them is are always encountered during the Psi Gate and will likely be the first time seeing them. As a final FU, when killed they explode with a blast that will reach all tiles around them, heavily wounding or outright killing any of your squad next to them. So melee units should be kept far away unless they're a fully upgraded Templar. Hilariously these tiny Eldritch Abominations can be mind controlled by Psi Operatives. Another way of dealing with them is using explosives and heavy weapons that shreds their armor. These would be the first targets to use Frost Grenades on if you encounter them early in the maps. You should have Magnetic or Plasma Weapons by the time Gatekeepers start showing up or they will be nearly impossible to defeat.

*'''Archon''': So someone in the Aliens' side realized that having a heavily mutilated torso mounted on jetpacks, which actively tore at its implants and constantly mounted suicide charges so it could be put out of its misery was bad for PR, so they replaced the Floaters with these guys. They look almost angelic, and their design incorporates a lot more white and gold and less obviously chop-shop cybernetics. The nigh-constant pain going away has made them far smarter too. They still like to jump around the battlefield, but now they can also use a new ability called Blazing Pinions to rain rockets down on your guys after a turn's delay and will actually take advantage of cover.

*'''Avatar''': The Ethereals' plans are revealed when you discover these creatures. Avatars are genetically engineered lifeforms created from the genes of the most psi-capable humans, crafted to house the essence of the Ethereals, whose own bodies are breaking down irrevocably. Extremely tough, powerful psionics, kill on sight. The Commander gets one of his own at the end of the game. This is because they plugged him/her into their psionic network and never bothered to remove or change anything after XCOM recovered them. [[Fail|As the Ethereals are really quite stupid despite claiming to be a superior race.]] While lacking the full skill set of the Psi Operative. They have useful abilities. Their equivalents doing more damage or allowing multiple uses of mind control. Avatars also come with a pretty cool gun that ignores armor values and can be acquired through modding.

'''The Alien Rulers''':
If you played the previous game, you may have been wondering: "what happened to Dr. Valen?" Well, the first DLC for XCOM 2, "Alien Hunters" reveals that she went off and set up her own base in an abandoned alien genetics lab, where her experiments in undoing the genetic suppressants on three cryogenically suspended subjects created three amped-up alien variants so powerful that the Ethereals couldn't control them. Great work, doc! Alien Rulers have a huge health bar and many unique abilities, but one of their more bullshit traits is that they get a free turn in reaction to ''every'' action your troops take. The best way to deal with is using Venom Bombs that damages them every turn and prevents them from taking an action. Along with abilities that allow your troops to take use multiple attacks that count as one action. Something you should have before facing them in mid to late game. Because fuck these guys. While you could choose to face them as early as your first Blacksite mission in WotC. Doing so means missing out on controlling Bradford and seeing his gun with [[cheese|every possible upgrade in action.]] The only real way to use it outside of the Alien Ruler introduction mission is through using game mods.

*'''The Viper King:''' The only male Viper in existence, this creature shows why the Ethereals removed the male gender from the viper species with how rampantly he set about fertilizing every female viper he could encounter, filling an entire base with a huge array of hatchling vipers you have to fight through. His unique abilities allow him to spit a freezing gas instead of the normal venom. The weakest of the Alien Rulers, the Viper King is usually the first one you encounter. If you manage to tag 'n' bag Subject Gamma, you can turn his carcass into a unique Spider Suit, the Serpent Suit, that can scare the scales off of normal vipers and lash out with freezing whips.

*'''The Berserker Queen:''' Even bigger and scarier than normal Berserkers, Subject Beta can not only unleash a howl that can panic your whole squad, but is equipped with cybernetically integrated hammers she can use to create earthquakes. From her carcass, you can build the R.A.G.E Suit, which not only terrifies mutons and berserkers, but lets your trooper make a berserker-style charge attack themselves.

*'''The Archon King''': Subject Alpha is the nastiest Alien Ruler in the game, and has the most health. His special attack "Devastate" is a version of Blazing Pinons (the Archon's "shower an area with rockets" ability) that does less damage, but which can also disorient, stun and knock unconscious. Worse, it hits on the next Ruler Reaction, meaning you have no chance to get away from it the way you do from Blazing Pinions. He also has a unique attack where he grabs a trooper, hauls them into the air, and then power dives them into the floor. If you can take down this asshole, his corpse can be refashioned into the Icarus Armor, a superior Warden Armor suit that grants the Vault ability and the ability to pull off the Archon's "move to any point on the map you wish" twice per mission. Give it to your best Sniper. As this allows them to keep up with the rest of the squad and find the nearest vantage point.

'''The Chosen''':
The new Dragons aka Second in Command below the Ethereals. Coming with a bunch of BS abilities that can wreck your troops at lower levels. You also want to find their base ASAP as they gain upgrades through the game like you do and can hurt your income. Getting their OP shit is also a nice bonus.

When first encountered they'll attempt to stun and capture one of your troops. If they appear during a Blacksite mission, The Chosen AI will just straight up murder a squad member. [[Rage|Despite the game not giving hints to this change in behavior.]] So if you're counting on manipulating their AI into kidnapping a soldier who is near death during those missions. The Chosen will just slaughter your squad like the rest of Advent. Because all bets when are off when your trying to kill mommy? and/or err daddy? Shklee? Maybe?
Thankfully, the game rolls to give them permanent weakness, along with an arch enemy who will deal extra damage to a Chosen among the new Hero classes. They will also roll for one immunity and a special ability, though the immunities are things that many players will hardly ever use against a boss regardless. The special power can either be meh, or fuck you right over. Good thing for the player the summoning powers are mutually exclusive and can't gain strengths that counter most of their weaknesses.

They can also be countered by researching Mindshields, your own (fully upgraded) Psi operatives and the buffed Sparks. When you have the latter two the Mindshields are redundant as the last two are right out immune to being stunned and mind controlled. Too bad there aren't new lines for a Spark with Julian's voice. As hearing a GlaDOS expy with the attitude of Bender snark back at The Chosen would have been hilarious.

*'''The Assassin''': The first of the Chosen you'll meet if you're playing the "Lost and Damned" mission to introduce yourself to the new mechanics introduced in WotC, the Assassin is a dark reflection of the Ranger class. The biggest [[Weeaboo|weeb]] in all of Advent. She attacks mostly with her Katana (although she does have a rarely used shotgun called Arashi, and you'll thank the programmers she rarely uses it), striking out of concealment to stun one of your guys (Who you'll then have to revive or risk them getting kidnapped), before running away. In the same turn. Because the Bad Guys get to move, shoot, move, but the player doesn't get nice things. To top this all off she's immune to overwatch so you either have to try and escape from the current mission, or take the fight back to her just as hard. Oh yeah, and avoid bunching your guys up, or she will stun half the squad at a time with an area of effect special attack, but don't get too spread out or you won't be able to revive stunned soldiers before she kidnaps them. Thankfully, her concealment works by the same rules as yours, and it'll break if one of your guys flanks her, so if you've got a good idea of where she is, you can move someone in to reveal her, and then light her up with the rest of the squad. To make her easier to deal with make sure to take a Specialist with Scanning Protocol. After killing The Assassin you can build Arashi and her Katana. Though many will find her Katana redundant after they have tier 3 Axes and late game Templars.

*'''The Hunter''': While you would expect a roided up [[Space Wolves|Craven the Hunter cosplaying furfag]] by name alone. He is instead a more or less a [[Vindicare|hit man armed with a pistol and sniper rifle]] with an Affably Evil personality. He's also known to have team killed some of the weaker Advent aliens when he got bored. Unlike his siblings he outright admits that he is a psychopath who likes killing things. The Hunter's abilities are a bit mundane compared to the other Chosen. While still being effective none the less. His Tracking Shot can aim at your troops from the other side of the map, and if they don't move he will kill them the next. This makes mind controlling Advent and hacking MECs for recon useful for once. He also come with a grappling hook with no cool-down, stun grenades and pistol tranq shots that never miss. So don't be stupid and send in a lone Reaper. Even if he rolls them as a weakness. As they don't put out enough damage to out snipe him and will end up killed or captured instead. His Sniper rifle Darklance and pistol Darkclaw are obviously weapons that are meant for your Snipers. So Reapers can't use it.

*'''The Warlock''': Probably the most dangerous of The Chosen, if you don't have Mindshields. If you do he's about as dangerous as the final boss of the game. If you don't he's damned near impossible as he'll mind control your entire squad a once. Otherwise he'll summon waves of exploding spectral zombies, or psionic copies of Stun Lancers. On his direct offense he has a buffed up plasma rifle that will do extra damage to psionics (i.e. your Psi Operative and Templar), a mind bullet that will split off to affect up to two additional targets, and the ability to teleport his own allies into flanking positions. Sometimes his AI does some stupid shit such as teleporting an Advent next to him. Bonus points if said Advent is the target your supposed to kill during the mission. Once you get his Disruptor rifle, it has every possible upgrade in the game. Though only Rangers, Psi-Operatives and Specialist can take it. A waste on the latter two as by the time you get it. Their late game abilities and equipment make giving them a 3.5 tier weapon redundant.

'''The Lost'''

*'''Regular''': Introduced in WotC, these are the zombie horde style enemies of the game. They have a unique mechanic where if you kill one, you get a free action point to continue killing. A soldier with decent Aim, an auto-loader, and an extended mag can decimate entire swarms if lucky.

*'''Dasher''': Faster, and with slightly more HP (4-5, as opposed to 2-3) these guys aren't exactly more of a threat than the regular lost. They're just more likely to pull off a successful ambush.

*'''Brute''': These guys have a lot of HP for a Lost, and can actually deal some melee punishment, and will start coming out in decent numbers by endgame. Then again, by endgame you'll have the best weapons and armour, so once again... only really a threat if you're unlucky, and there's a lot of them.

== See Also ==

*[[X-Com Play By Post]], experimental rules for playing X-Com on a forum.
*[[XCOM: Tomorrow's War edition]], a conversion of [[Tomorrow's War]] for playing X-Com on the tabletop.

== Gallery ==
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== External Links ==

* [http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page UFOpaedia.org], a wiki dedicated to X-COM (and sequels, and mods, etc.).
* [http://openxcom.org/ Open Source engine for the original game]
* [http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=269&enmi=XCOM:%20The%20Board%20Game Fantasy Flight Games's official X-COM game.]
* [http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/88/? Long War main page.]
* [http://ufoai.org/wiki/About UFO: Alien Invasion]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BqoEJUWKVRFSKXOA2Ks3Ce7Kvphmg0kAFKcuXJHgmr0/mobilebasic?pli=1 Things X-COM operatives are not allowed to do], a list in the vein of Mr. Welch's list. Occasionally hilarious
* [https://openxcom.org/forum/index.php?topic=5026.0] A 40k mod for openxcom NO idea as to why it hasn't shown up here.
[[category:Video Games]]
[[Category:Software]]