Game Info[]
Advanced tactical unit of the Information Era. Upgrades from the Paratrooper.
- Special abilities:
- Skyranger: May paradrop with extended range (40 hexes)
- Actions:
- Paradrop (When inside friendly territory, this unit may Paradrop up to 40 tiles away. After doing so, it will still have movement to perform other actions.)
Strategy[]
The XCOM Squad is an elite team of soldiers based on the technology pioneered by the XCOM Initiative. When starting the turn in friendly territory this squad can be dropped up to 40 hexes away. Deploy these units into areas where the danger level is out of this world.
With high combat strength (100) that is only matched by the Modern Armor and outmatched by the Giant Death Robot, the XCOM Squad is the strongest unit that requires no resources. Unlike the other two units, they can use defense, meaning they can form a solid defensive line. However, they lack the mobility of the other powerful late-game units.
The tremendous paradrop range of XCOM Squads makes them fantastic for diversions. One or a few of these units can paradrop far into enemy land to attack weakly defended cities or pillage the area, giving them time to destroy strategic resources and debilitate opposing players' armies before the bulk of their forces can arrive. They can also quickly reach a defensive position, which lets them use their high strength to delay enemy forces at a choke point. And of course, paradropping allows them to quickly reinforce your front line.
The XCOM Squad is particularly effective when preceded by a nuclear strike. Use Nuclear Submarines or Missile Cruisers to fire Nuclear Missiles at an enemy city, then airdrop the XCOM Squad to successfully capture and annex/puppet it.
Although their combat strength is high, XCOM Squads can still be beaten, notably by the Giant Death Robot (which is also much more mobile), or by less advanced units that have ranged support. This may put them in danger if they are unable to retreat. Also, be aware that they cannot drop into hexes that are not under observation by friendly units.
Interestingly, the 9-hex range of the Paratrooper's paradrop ability stacks with the 40-hex range of the XCOM Squad's Skyranger ability, giving XCOM Squads that are upgraded from Paratroopers a massive 49-tile paradrop range. Such XCOM Squads will also retain the Paratrooper's "No Movement Cost to Pillage" ability, giving players a good incentive to train Paratroopers and then upgrade them for the increased paradrop range and ability to pillage tiles without expending 
Movement.
Civilopedia entry[]
Recognizing the potential threat from Giant Death Robots, aliens, and other external threats, the XCOM Initiative was born to protect the populace from enemies known, and unknown.
Trivia[]
- The XCOM Squad comes from the video game XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which was also developed by Firaxis.
- The unit image displays soldiers carrying the Heavy Plasma weapon and wearing the Titan Armor.
- Interestingly, in spite of the XCOM Squad's equipment being developed after extensive research of alien technology and relying on materials captured from the alien invaders, there has been no such alien invasion in the Civilization universe yet (outside of mods and scenarios).
Related achievements[]
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That's XCOM baby!
Have your XCOM Squad go from 100 health to 0 in a single AI turn.
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