Aliens

This page describes mechanics of Alien faction in game. For story spoilers, see Aliens/Lore

Logo of the alien faction

The Aliens, or Hydra as they're sometimes referred after the first autopsy, are a non-playable faction. They have their own set of missions separate from human factions.

Aliens usually start on a Kuiper Belt asteroid (such as Haumea, Makemake, Orcus, or Quaoar) with a tier 3 Base and a tier 3 Habitat. They have 1 councilor on Earth and 5 more on Gunships that will soon crash land on Earth. They also start with a Destroyer that will arrive in early 2024. Aliens will expand from the edge towards the core of the solar system but will generally avoid attacking human fleets or habs until they are provoked.

Alien ships bringing councilors to Earth will create an UFO Crashdown Site visible to everyone. Other alien phenomena are created by alien councilor missions and have the be surveyed. Investigating an alien phenomena site will increase Xenology research by 1%.

Alien Threat Level

Alien threat meter

This panel represents our intelligence section's best estimate about the degree to which the aliens regard our faction as a threat. It is based on our monitoring of pro-alien groups and visible alien activity in the Solar System.

We believe hostile actions against the aliens or their proxies on Earth, and/or a large visible space presence, increases their concern about us, and we may expect the aliens to attack our interests on Earth and in space should the alert monitor reach the maximum level. We also suspect they may launch one-off retaliations in response to direct action by our operatives against them, but they may also lose interest if we avoid opposing them or their proxies on Earth directly for a time.

Our analysts emphasize this is an imperfect estimate. We will correct our estimates when the aliens take direct action against us or by speaking with one of them directly.

The estimate will turn entirely red if we conclude the aliens are in a total war footing against our interests.

~ Terra Invicta Codex, 0.4.85.

Alien Threat meter becomes visible in the Intel panel once the Alien Operations council engineering project has been completed. Alien threat is scored from 0 upwards, with every 10 points increasing the threat level by 1. Alien Threat Level caps at 5, at which point the aliens will start attacking a faction's habs and fleets. The points can go above 50, making it harder to lower it. Gaining threat via hostile actions will worsen relations with The Servants and The Protectorate as well.

See Diplomacy for more details on how threat is gained, reduced, and estimated.

Alien Agents

Alien councilors always have 25 loyalty, high security, respectable espionage and a set of unique missions. While powerful, these alien agents are usually unable to board a plane, forcing them to travel on foot, only moving between adjacent provinces. As the game progresses, regions that are owned or subverted by pro-alien groups may open up their airports, allowing alien councilors to fly between these regions.

Alien councilors are dangerous, and are notoriously difficult to deal with. Killing and detaining them is required to unlock certain research options, and to prevent the devastating outcomes of their activity.

Flight

At the start of the game, Alien Councilors cannot get on planes. They can only travel between adjacent regions, or pairs of regions that are so close that there exists a project that would connect the pair.

An alien councilor can fly from any valid source region to any valid destination region:

Condition	Makes Region a Valid Source	Makes Region a Valid Destination
Region contains a UFO Landing	Yes	No
Region contains an Alien Facility	Yes	Yes
Region is part of the Alien Nation	Yes	Yes
Region's Nation is allied to the Alien Nation	Yes	Yes
Region's Nation's executive is controlled by a faction that has researched Hydra Diplomacy	Yes	Yes

In addition, an alien councilor can also fly to any region within the Alien Nation from any region on Earth.

Note: The only factions that can research Hydra Diplomacy are the three pro-alien human factions, namely The Servants, The Protectorate, and The Academy.

Recruitment

At the start of the game, alien councilors can only be recruited at the alien's starting ground base. So any replacement councilors have to board an alien Transport ship and travel all the way from their starting ground base to Earth, after which the transport ship crashes down on earth to deliver its occupant.

Alien councilors can be recruited on Earth under two conditions:

• An Assault Carrier has landed at any point in the past.
• There is a region on earth for which at least one of the following is true:
  • The region is part of the Alien Nation.
  • The region contains an Alien Facility.
  • The region contains a UFO Landing.

If both conditions are true, then new alien councilors can be recruited directly on earth, with a strong initial location preference for the Alien Nation over Alien Facilities over UFO Landings.

Retaliation

Whenever an alien councilor is killed by a human faction that the alien faction is not at open war with, the alien faction will randomly select up to 3 space assets belonging to that human faction, and mark them for death. Once a space asset is marked for death, the aliens will never stop trying to destroy it, even if they have vented all their hate against the human faction.

Kill Method	Will Retaliate?
Destroy Ship that contains Councilor	Only if Councilor dies.
Destroy Hab that contains Councilor	Only if Councilor dies.
Nuke	Only if Councilor dies.
Hard Target Councilor Trait	Only if Councilor dies.
Assassination Councilor Mission	Only if Normal Success.
Detain Councilor Mission	Never

Alien Activity Investigation

Whenever a faction detects a mission that is performed by an alien councilor, the game places an Alien Activity site in the region where the mission occurred. The faction can then investigate this Alien Activity site by having one of their councilors perform the Investigate Alien Activity mission on it. Crashed UFO sites are also valid targets for Alien Activity investigations.

Effects

Investigating Alien Activities provides several beneficial effects for the faction:

Category	Conditions	Effect
Xenology Research	None	+1% per Alien Activity Investigation.
Alien Councilor Detection	Faction is performing Surveil Location mission in region or adjacent region	+1 Strength per Alien Activity Investigation, capped between 1 and 12.
Xenoforming Auto-Detection Threshold	None	65 Xenoflora Growth Levels - 1 per Alien Activity Investigation, capped between 0 and 65.
The Town That Stood Still Event	Picked Option 3	Higher Chance for the Good Outcome.

Increases

The number of Alien Activity Investigations done by a faction is increased by:

• +1 each time one of the faction's councilors performs the Investigate Alien Activity mission.
• +2 each time one of the faction's councilors successfully performs the Assassination mission on an alien councilor.
• +3 each time one of the faction's councilors successfully performs the Detain mission on an alien councilor.
• +10 when the faction gets the Device Demystified event.

Alien Abductions

Our councilor has investigated some of these reported abductions, interviewing residents and local authorities. The local government continues to deny that anything has happened, and in fact has done its best to actively hinder us. Though we have no proof as yet, we suspect that other organizations are pulling strings to block our investigations.

Despite the obstacles, our councilor has confirmed that a small but statistically significant number of people and animals have gone missing in the area since the alien crash-landing. This is disturbing news – many among our faction had clung to the hope that despite their secrecy, the intentions of the aliens towards our species might be benevolent, or at least neutral. These apparent abductions leave little chance of that. But what is their purpose?

~ Investigate Alien Abductions Objective (The Resistance Variant), Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

Effects

Abductions provide several beneficial effects for the Aliens:

Category	Conditions	Effect
Councilor Missions	Xenoform	Gain attack modifier bonus of region abductions × Difficulty Scaling.
	Enthrall Elites Enthrall Org Enthrall Public Enthrall Unaligned Elites	Gain attack modifier bonus of average abductions per region in nation × Difficulty Scaling.
	Enthrall Public	Gain propaganda strength bonus of region abductions × Difficulty Scaling × 4 × region population fraction of nation / number of turns per month.
	Build Facility	Enabled only if >15 Region Abductions.
	Enthrall Elites Enthrall Org Enthrall Public Enthrall Unaligned Elites Increase Unrest	Enabled for Alien Councilors only if Global Abductions > 6.
	Coup Stabilize Nation	Enabled for Alien Councilors only if Global Abductions > 500 or the Alien Nation exists.
Megafauna Miltech Level	None	2 + Global Abductions / 100, capped at miltech 6.
Invader Army Miltech Level	None	6.75 + Global Abductions / 5000, capped at miltech 9.
Enable Random Event	>0 Abductions	Cults enabled.
		Localized Panic enabled.
		Sudden Flowering enabled.
	>1 Abduction	Vigilantes enabled.
		Mysterious Obelisk enabled.
		Terror from the Depths enabled.
	>2 Abductions	Haunted Forest enabled.

The Difficulty Scaling for Abductions is:

Difficulty	Cinematic	Normal	Veteran	Brutal
Difficulty Scaling	0.05	0.15	0.35	0.5

These numbers are also multiplied by the Alien Progression Speed. This is a slider you can adjust in Custom Campaign Settings. It is 100% on Long Campaign mode and 200% on Accelerated Campaign mode.

Furthermore, the Abduction bonuses to councilor missions are capped at 60 Abductions per region. While the aliens can continue to conduct more abductions in the region, the excess abductions do not provide any bonuses to any councilor missions.

Increases

Abductions are increased in the following ways:

Source	Conditions	Added Abductions
Abductions Councilor Mission	Normal Success	2 / (Turns Per Month), rounded up to nearest integer.
	Critical Success	4 / (Turns Per Month), rounded up to nearest integer.
Alien Nation	Each Month Each Region inside the Alien Nation	1
Surveillance Hab Modules	Each Month Each Region outside of the Alien Nation (Sum of Module Tiers)% Chance	1
Invader Army	Occupying Enemy Region Each day it increases occupation	1
Surveillance Fleet	Each Surveillance Operation Each Region (Region Population / 10 million) chance	Number of Ships with Functional Surveillance Module
The Town that Stood Still event	Alien Councilor Nearby At most once every 6 months	0 to 6
Haunted Forest event	>2 Abductions Once Per Faction	0 to 4
Terror from the Depths event	>1 Abductions >25 Xenoflora Growth Levels Region has access to oceans At most once every 6 months	0 to 2

Removal

Abductions can be removed in the following ways:

Source	Conditions	Removed Abductions
Retire Alien Councilor	None	Months Since Recruited / 3, randomly spread over all regions.
Destroy Alien Facility	Using Army or Councilor	20% of Abductions in region, rounded down to nearest integer.
Assault Xenoflora	Using Councilor Critical Success	1

Note: 'Retire Alien Councilor' means make the Alien Councilor stop being an Alien Councilor, by any means. Detain included.

Alien Xenoforming

Alien Xenoforming

Scattered and garbled reports of unusual plantlife have now given way to confirmed sightings of vegetation never before seen on Earth. Strange growths have erupted from the affected land, connected by a pulsing lattice of tendril-like roots. Although this unknown flora appears superficially plant-like, its connected nature is more analogous to fungal growth. Furthermore, small movements have been detected among and around these growths, suggesting that whatever has been done to the local environment has enabled other, as yet undocumented, forms of alien life to survive here on Earth.

While these changes remain localized for now, the ultimate purpose of this "xenoforming" is as yet unclear. Do our visitors similarly require it for their own survival, it is to gain some strategic foothold, are they growing something else within the affected environments — or do they seek to transform our entire world into a simulacrum of theirs?

~ Detect Xenoforming Milestone, Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

Effects

Alien Xenoforming provides several beneficial effects for the Aliens, and also some beneficial effects for humanity:

Category	Conditions	Effect
Megafauna Spawning	>100 levels of xenoflora growth	Spawn a Megafauna army and lose 50 growth levels.
Megafauna Healing	>75 levels of xenoflora growth	Allow Megafauna to heal in region.
Invader Army Healing	>75 levels of xenoflora growth	Additional 0.5% HP regen per day for alien armies in the region.
Councilor Missions	Abductions Turn Councilor	Gain attack modifier bonus of region xenoflora growth level / 20 × Difficulty.
	Enthrall Elites Enthrall Org Enthrall Public Public Campaign Increase Unrest	Gain attack modifier bonus of average xenoflora growth level in nation / 20 × Difficulty.
Mission Detection	Alien Councilor	Reduce noise by region xenoflora growth level / 5
Climate Change	Every Month	Remove 0.002875ppm CO2 × average xenoflora growth level.
Unrest Rest Value	Alien Nation	Reduce by average xenoflora growth level in nation / 20
Region Secession	To Adjacent Alien Nation Checked every 4 days	Increase chance by region xenoflora growth level / 10000
Annual Population Growth	None	Reduce by region xenoflora growth level × 0.005%.
Enable Random Event	>0.25 levels of xenoflora growth	Alien Friend enabled.
	>25 levels of xenoflora growth	Hunters enabled.
		Terror from the Depths enabled.
		Indigo Dreams enabled.
		Pretenders enabled.
	Visible to owning faction	Unfriendly Locals enabled.

Visibility

Region Xenoforming is hidden by default. But it automatically becomes visible to a Faction when there are at least 65 Xenoflora Growth Levels in the region. This 65 level threshold is decreased by 1 for every Alien Activity Investigation done by the Faction.

Region Xenoforming can also be discovered by performing Surveil Location missions in the region or adjacent regions. As well as by turning councilors belonging to The Servants.

Increases

Alien Xenoforming is increased by the following:

Source	Can Create New	Can Add to Existing	Conditions	Added Xenoflora Growth Levels
UFO Crashdown	Yes	Yes	None	0.001
Xenoform Councilor Mission	Yes	Yes	Critical Success	11 to 20
			Normal Success	1 to 10
Sudden Flowering event	Yes	Yes	>0 Abductions	23.75 to 78.75 Depends on choice.
Hunters event	No	Yes	>25 Xenoflora Growth Levels, Pick the Pro-Alien option.	23.75 to 26.25
Mysterious Obelisk event	Yes	Yes	>1 Abductions, Pick Observe Obelisk option, 20% Chance	47.5 to 52.5
Pretenders event	No	Yes	>25 Xenoflora Growth Levels, <7 Cohesion, Pick Leave Alone option	23.75 to 26.25
Unfriendly Locals event	No	Yes	Xenoflora visible to owning faction, Region in Australia, Pick Xenofauna Harmony option	100
Daily Xenoflora Spread	Yes	No	>50 to 80 Xenoflora growth levels (Xenoflora growth levels / 2000) chance	0 to 1
Daily Xenoflora Growth	No	Yes	None	Xenoflora Growth Levels (Up to a cap.)

The amount of xenoflora growth levels needed for xenoflora to spread is scaled by region size and type. Specifically, it needs X levels, where X is calculated as follows:

1. Set X = (region area in km2) ^ 0.7 / 250, but capped between 50 and 70.
2. Round X down to the nearest integer.
3. Add 10 to X if the Region is Rugged.

The passive Daily Xenoflora Growth in a region is capped at X levels, where X is calculated as follows:

1. Set X to a random value between 0.025 and 0.065.
2. Divide X by 2 if the Region is Rugged.
3. Divide X by 2 if the Region has Latitude above 50 or below -50.
4. Multiply X by 2 if the Region has an Alien Facility.
5. Multiply X by the amount of atmospheric CH4 in ppm, then divide by 1.5.
6. Multiply X by the amount of atmospheric CO2 in ppm, then divide by 400.

Reduction

Alien Xenoforming can be reduced in the following ways:

Attacker	Mission	Bonuses	Conditions	Removed Xenoflora Growth Levels
Nuke		None	No Space Defense Facility	All Xenoflora Growth Levels
Region Damage		None	None	Xenoflora Growth Levels × Damage Strength
Space Fleet	Bombard	None	Green Lasers, Railguns, or Coilguns.	Depends on weapon.
Army	Assault Alien Asset	None	Normal Success	Xenoflora Growth Levels × Army Militech / 10
			Critical Success	Also Halve Xenoflora Growth Levels.
Councilor	Assault Alien Asset	None	Normal Success	(20 to 40) / (Turns per Month)
		Remove 1 Abduction	Critical Success	(40 to 80) / (Turns per Month)
Unfriendly Locals Event		Various Event Bonuses/Penalties	Xenoflora visible to owning faction, Region in Australia, Did not pick Xenofauna Harmony option	100
Alien Friend Event		Various Event Bonuses/Penalties	>0.25 Xenoflora Growth Levels, Picked Terminate Friend option	23.75 to 26.25
Pretenders Event		Various Event Bonuses/Penalties	Picked Humanity First unique option	23.75 to 26.25
Indigo Dreams Event
Haunted Forest Event
Terror from the Depths Event		Various Event Bonuses/Penalties	>25 Xenoflora Growth Levels, Region can access oceans, Picked Naval Warfare option (Needs a navy)	23.75 to 26.25
Hunters Event		Various Event Bonuses/Penalties	>25 Xenoflora Growth Levels, Picked Anti-Alien option	23.75 to 26.25

The Xenoflora Defoliants, Xenological Culls, and Invasive Species Containment projects each multiply the damage done by Armies and Councilors against Xenoflora by 125%, compounding. So researching all three will almost double the amount of xenoflora growth levels reduced by army and councilor assault alien asset missions.

Notably, with all 3 projects, an army only needs 5.12 militech to clear out a entire region full of xenoflora with every assault.

Megafauna

Alien Megafauna

Where previously the land altered by the alien visitors was almost eerily still, now mountainous and monstrous silhouettes move through the unearthly vegetation. There were, until now, still those who refuted the presence of extraterrestrial beings on our world, but the startling footage of these immense new entities is something to demolish the convictions of even the most staunch unbeliever.

Their titanic bulk blots out the light; the land trembles at their step. Trees and buildings are pushed aside as if they were tissue paper, or are uprooted by vast tendrils as if they were mere seedlings, and, even miles away, the very air seems to bend at their deafening cry. All the world knows it now: giants are among us.

~ Alien Megafauna Spawns Milestone, Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

A Megafauna is an army that can only fight other armies and cause damage to regions. It cannot occupy regions, or oppress unrest. Nor can it be attached to a navy, or cost a nation Investment Points to upkeep.

The Miltech level of a Megafauna army is 2 + Global Abductions / 100, but capped at 6. So it only takes 400 total abductions (slightly more than 1 per region) to reach the miltech cap of 6.

• When in battle with other armies, a megafauna is not that different from any normal army.
• When in battle with a region, a megafauna simply does its miltech × its health % / 2000 damage to the region every day.
• Outside of battle, megafaunas can only heal in the Alien Nation or in regions with >75 Xenoflora Growth Levels.

In practice, megafaunas deal fairly negligible amounts of damage. Their inability to heal properly means they quickly exhaust their health and die before causing too much destruction.

That can change significantly after the Alien Nation is created, which gives megafaunas a safe harbor to recover in, and rampant xenoflora growth can lead to giant hordes of hundreds of megafaunas.

The following projects help to handle the megafauna threat:

• The Megafauna Necropsy and War Dog Necropsy projects each multiply damage done to megafaunas by 125%, compounding.
• The Urban Armoring project reduces the damage done by Megafaunas to your regions by 50%.
• The Xenofauna Harmony project, which is only available to The Servants and The Protectorate, completely eliminates all damage done by Megafaunas to your regions, and encourages them to move to other regions.

All Human Factions complete the Alien Megafauna Spawns milestone when the first Megafauna spawns. Killing a Megafauna completes the Access Alien Megafauna milestone and unlocks the Destroy Megafauna Achievement.

Alien Surveillance

Earth Surveillance Fleets

Survey human behavior from a close Earth orbit. Grants the equivalent of one abduction in every Earth region.

~ Earth Surveillance Fleet Operation Description, Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

Conditions

An alien fleet can perform an Earth Surveillance operation under the following conditions:

Category	Requirement
Location	The fleet must be in an Earth Interface Orbit
Not Busy	The fleet cannot be in combat or in transfer.
Ship Module	The fleet must contain at least one ship with a functional Alien Surveillance Module.

The operation will take 192 days to complete. During this time, any combat would force the operation to abort. Progress is not saved, so the fleet would have to restart the operation from the beginning.

Effects

For each region on Earth, there is a (region population / 10 million) chance that the aliens will gain X Abductions in the region, where X is the number of ships in the alien fleet that have a functional Alien Surveillance Module.

Every ship in the alien fleet then exhausts their Alien Surveillance Module, which means they need to return to an alien space dock to restore its functionality.

Earth Surveillance Habs

As the Campaign progresses, the aliens will attempt to found a Surveillance Platform, Orbital, and Ring hab within the Earth-Luna planetary system. These habs serve the same role as their earth surveillance fleets.

Earliest Creation

The aliens are not allowed to found these Surveillance Habs until a certain number of years have passed. The exact number of years depends on the campaign settings:

Hab	Cinematic	Normal	Veteran	Brutal
Surveillance Platform	13	9	3	1
Surveillance Orbital	15	11	5	2
Surveillance Ring	17	13	7	3

These numbers are also divided by the Alien Progression Speed. This is a slider you can adjust in Custom Campaign Settings. It is 100% on Long Campaign mode and 200% on Accelerated Campaign mode.

Effects

Every month, for each region on Earth, there is an X% chance that the aliens will gain 1 Abduction in the region, where X is twice the sum of alien surveillance hab module tiers. If the region is part of the Alien Nation, then X is set to 100 instead.

Alien surveillance habs have static designs, so X is easy to compute:

• The Alien Surveillance Platform has exactly one Alien Observation Post, so it adds 2 to X.
• The Alien Surveillance Orbital has exactly two Alien Surveillance Arrays, so it adds 8 to X.
• The Alien Surveillance Ring has exactly two Alien Watchtowers, so it adds 12 to X.

So if the aliens have built all three, then each region has a 22% chance each month to gain 1 Abduction. Unless it is part of the Alien Nation, in which case the region has a 100% chance each month to gain 1 Abduction.

Alien Coordination

This group has determined the aliens are of divine origin and has declared itself their heralds ... and defenders.

~ Encountering The Servants, Terra Invicta, 0.4.88.

As The Servants progress through their storyline, they begin to provide the alien agents with more support on their alien missions:

Alien Coordination Mission Modifier at each level of The Servants' progress.

The Servants' progress	Total Value of Attack Modifier
Start of Campaign	0
Researched Alien Signatures	1
Researched Alien Methods	2
Researched Alien Operations	3
Researched Alien Movements	4
Completed Alien Diplomacy Milestone	6
Researched Hydra Diplomacy	10
Researched The Alien Nation	14

Note: Prior to version 0.4.86, this bonus was capped at 4 because of a bug that prevented any progress beyond Alien Movements from increasing the attack modifier.

Alien Enthrall

The situation is worse than we had feared.

All of the countries with high abduction rates are now showing aberrant political trends. We have tracked rapid swings toward pro-alien views in ways that are extremely concentrated by geography, spreading in ways that more closely resemble infectious disease vectors than communications networks. These changes are being accompanied by sharp shifts in policy, with key officials and leaders either being replaced with pro-alien figures or – more disturbingly still – abruptly changing their beliefs and publicly expressing conciliatory views toward the alien presence on our planet. Multiple independent reports have noted sudden and uncharacteristic behavioral changes in these individuals, describing them as aloof, phlegmatic, and disinterested in any issues other than human-alien relations. None of our sources were able to offer any explanation for these changes.

~ Research Alien Operations Objective (The Resistance Variant), Terra Invicta, 0.4.88.

The Abductions. The Xenoforming. The Surveillance. The Coordination.

Each of these actions, while providing some benefits of their own, serve one primary purpose: increasing the power of Alien Councilor Enthrall missions:

The Alien Enthrall Missions

Enthrall Mission	Human Analogue	Effect
Enthrall Elites	Purge	Takes the target control point from another faction, giving it to The Servants.
Enthrall Public	Public Campaign	Increases public support for The Servants in the target nation. Does not need to be performed in the nation's capital region.
Enthrall Org	Hostile Takeover	Takes the target org from another faction. The org is not given to The Servants.
Enthrall Unaligned Elites	Control Nation	Takes the target empty control point, giving it to The Servants.

• Alien Coordination buffs all enthrall missions.
• The average Abductions per region in a nation buffs all enthrall missions.
• The average Xenoforming per region in a nation buffs all enthrall missions except for Enthrall Unaligned Elites.

Alien Terrorize

Alien forces are attacking civilians in the ■■■■■ region of ■■■■■, causing widespread damage. Authorities there are pledging to seek conciliation with the aliens to prevent further attacks.

~ Terrorize UI Notification, Terra Invicta, 0.4.88.

Note: This section assumes that The Protectorate faction exists. If it does not exist in the chosen Campaign Settings, then The Servants will be used instead of The Protectorate.

Occasionally, an alien agent may choose to forgo subtlety and simply attempt to terrorize a region into submission. When successful, the leftmost control point that is not already owned by The Servants or The Protectorate will be given to The Protectorate. The executive can never be targeted unless it is the only control point in the nation.

If a faction's CP is taken away by the Terrorize mission, then the faction completes the Targeted By Terror Mission Milestone.

Depending on the outcome of the Terrorize mission, Propaganda for The Protectorate may automatically be performed on the nation. The strength of the propaganda is:

• 40 on Critical Success
• 20 on Normal Success
• 0 (no propaganda) on Normal Failure
• -10 on Critical Failure

Regardless of the Mission outcome, the region will suffer damage of strength between 0.01 and 0.07.

Alien Habs

Alien habs primarily serve two roles for the aliens: mining and building ships. Their nanofactories also produce antimatter, though as of 0.4.86 this antimatter is not used for anything (except maybe trade).

But for the human factions, the alien habs are full of goodies, just waiting to be cracked open and harvested. Bombarding an alien hab does not give anything. Destroying an alien hab just gives 10% of the resources used to build the hab as salvage and completes the Access Alien Tech milestone. But capturing an alien hab may give several rewards depending on the type of capture and mission outcome.

Different Hab Capture Methods and Success Level

Success Level	Capture Method	Can Happen to Alien Habs?
-1	Normal Success on a Marine Assault.	Yes
0	Critical Success on a Marine Assault.	Yes
1	Normal Success on a Councilor Assault Enemy Space Asset mission.	Yes
2	Normal Success on a Councilor Control Space Asset mission.	No
	Hab defects to faction in a random event.	No
3	Critical Success on a Councilor Assault Enemy Space Asset mission.	Yes
4	Critical Success on a Councilor Control Space Asset mission.	No
5	Hab traded to faction.	No

Rewards for Capturing an Alien Hab

Reward Category	Reward Amount	Minimum Success Level	Conditions
Reveal all Alien Councilors to Capturing Faction		-1	None
Complete Access Alien Tech milestone		-1	None
Complete Access Griffin Corpus milestone		-1	None
Reset Estimated Alien Hate Level		-1	None
Gain Salvage	Hab Build Cost × (2 + Success Level) / 10	-1	None
Gain Bonus Exotics	Hab Tier × (1 + Success Level) × (2.4 to 3.6)	0	None
Gain Bonus Exotics from Under Construction Ships	Ship Exotic Cost × Success Level / 4	1	Hab is currently building Ships
Gain Intel on Alien Faction	5 × Hab Tier × (1 + Success Level)	0	None
Complete Access Hydra Corpus milestone		-1	>1 Hab Tier
Complete Access Live Griffin milestone		3	None
		-1	Hab contains Space Dock or Point Defense module
Complete Access Live Hydra milestone		3	>1 Hab Tier
		-1	No Alien Councilors on Earth
Complete Access Salamander Corpus milestone		-1	None
Complete Access Live Salamander milestone		-1	None
Complete Access War Dog Corpus milestone		-1	Hab contains Barracks or T2+ Point Defense Module
Complete Access Alien Ship milestone		-1	Hab is currently building Ships

Alien Ships

Days needed to build a ship without any shipbuilding speed bonus.

Human				Alien
Ship Hull	Shipyard Module Tier			Ship Hull	Shipyard Module Tier
	1	2	3		1	2	3
Gunship	60	51	29.4	Gunship	64	48	16
Escort	90	76.5	44.1	Escort	96	72	24
Corvette	90	76.5	44.1	Corvette	96	72	24
Frigate	120	102	58.8	Frigate	128	96	32
Monitor	180	120	84	Monitor	384	256	128
Destroyer	202.5	135	94.5	Destroyer	384	256	128
Cruiser	270	180	126	Cruiser	480	320	160
Battlecruiser	270	180	126	Battlecruiser	540	360	180
Battleship	450	300	200	Battleship	540	360	180
Lancer	540	360	240	Lancer	540	360	180
Dreadnaught	540	360	240	Dreadnaught	720	480	240
Titan	607.5	405	270	Titan	1,080	720	480
				Carrier	1,080	720	480
				Mothership	1,152	768	512

Killing an Alien ship in combat completes the Access Alien Ship milestone if the battle is won.

Alien Assault Carrier

An alien transport has set down in the ■■■■■ region in ■■■■■. Reconnaissance imagery shows it disgorging what appear to be troops and war machines. We believe we only have 30 days to stop it.

Any attempt to assault the landing using armies will surely be regarded as a declaration of war upon the aliens and their interests on Earth.

~ UFO Landing UI Notification, Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

An Alien Assault Carrier is a slow transport ship that carries 3 Invader Armies to Earth. This is usually the first serious threat that a player has to face:

• Shooting down the Assault Carrier generates 30.72 to 46.08 alien hatred, lighting the spark for a long and grueling war in space.
• Yet that is usually preferable to letting it land, because the aliens gain significant benefits from landing assault carriers on earth.

Earliest Creation

The aliens are not allowed to build Assault Carriers until a certain number of years have passed. The exact number of years depends on the campaign settings:

Difficulty	Cinematic	Normal	Veteran	Brutal
Years since Campaign Began	16	12	6	0

These numbers are also divided by the Alien Progression Speed. This is a slider you can adjust in Custom Campaign Settings. It is 100% on Long Campaign mode and 200% on Accelerated Campaign mode.

Effects

The aliens appear to have moved to the next stage of their plan for Earth. This is no midnight visitation or surreptitious abduction: This is an open declaration that they are here, and they are powerful. We believe they are preparing to deploy an army of alien war machines -- our visitors having dispensed with all attempts at subterfuge, and arriving on Earth en masse, in plain sight and conspicuously well-armed. Whether this show of force is intended to be a deterrent or is but the vanguard of a full-scale invasion may well depend upon humanity's response to it.

~ Aliens Land Army Milestone, Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

As soon as the first Assault Carrier touches the Earth, the Aliens Land Army milestone is completed for all human factions. Simultaneously, the ManyAliensOnEarth flag is permanently set to true. This flag is used for many purposes, but its primary role is serving as one of two conditions needed for the alien faction to recruit their councilors directly on earth. Consequently, any attempts to remove all alien councilors from Earth are henceforth significantly more difficult.

The region that the Assault Carrier landed in also becomes a valid source region for Alien Councilors to fly away from, since it contains a UFO landing marker. This UFO landing site can be attacked and destroyed by armies, councilors, and fleets.

If the ship is destroyed by an army or a councilor, the responsible faction may complete the following campaign milestones:

Needs Critical Success?	Milestone	Conditions
No	Access Alien Ship	None
	Access Alien Tech	None
	Access Griffin Corpus	None
	Access Hydra Corpus	Faction can see Alien Councilors
Yes	Access Live Griffin	None
	Access Live Hydra	Faction can detain Alien Councilors

If the ship is not destroyed within 30 days, then the UFO landing marker disappears and is replaced by 3 Invader Armies that start at 50% health but will quickly recover to full if not immediately engaged in combat.

Invader Armies

An Invader Army mainly differs from normal armies in the following ways:

• It does not cost any Investment Points to upkeep.
• Its miltech level is not attached to any nation. Instead, it is 6.75 + Global Abductions / 5000, but capped at 9. So it takes 11250 Global Abductions to reach the miltech cap of 9.
• Whenever it occupies a region, the region is immediately annexed by Alien Nation.
• It takes far less splash damage from nukes. Though the nuke will still automatically kill the strongest army in the region.
• Whenever it increases its occupation of an enemy region, it also conducts 1 Abduction .

A nation that is being invaded by Invader Armies may find its Abductions increasing once per day per Invader Army. So even if the Invader Armies eventually fail to conquer the nation, the sheer number of Abductions generated may open the doors for the Alien Councilors to enthrall the nation's elites, handing it over to The Servants.

Killing an Invader Army unlocks the Destroy Alien Army Achievement, and completes the following milestones:

• Access Alien Tech
• Access Salamander Corpus
• Access War Dog Corpus
• Alien Army Destroyed
• 40% Chance: Access Live Salamander

Alien Facility

The aliens are moving forward with whatever their plans are for Earth and are establishing fixed, defended installations in what they must consider their territory.

~ Alien Infrastructure Milestone, Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

Effects

An Alien Facility provides several beneficial effects for the Aliens:

Category	Effect
Mission Detection	-6 Mission noise for alien councilors in the region.
Flight	Allow alien councilors to fly to and from the region.
Xenoflora	2x cap on daily xenoflora growth in the region.
Invader Army Healing	Additional 1% HP regen per day for alien armies in the region.
Alien Nation	Allows The Servants to give the nation to the aliens via the Assume Control councilor mission.

Creation

An Alien Facility is built wherever and whenever the Build Facility councilor mission is performed. All alien councilors can perform this mission. The Servants unlock a special org that grants them this mission after researching The Alien Nation project.

The following conditions need to be true for the Build Facility councilor mission to be used:

Category	Requirement
Cost	500 Money must be paid by councilor's Faction.
Reach	The councilor must be able to travel to the target region.
Unique	The region cannot already have an alien facility.
Nation Control	The Servants or Aliens must own every control point in the nation.
Abductions	The region must have at least 15 Abductions.
Occupation	The region cannot be occupied or being occupied by war enemies.

Destruction

An Alien Facility can be destroyed in the following ways:

Attacker	Mission	Bonuses	Conditions
Space Fleet	Bombard	None	Green Lasers, Railguns, or Coilguns.
Army or Councilor	Assault Alien Asset	Remove 20% of Abductions in region (rounded down to nearest integer).	None
		Gain 2.25 to 3.75 exotics.	None
		Complete Access Alien Tech Milestone.	None
		Complete Access Salamander Corpus Milestone	An Assault Carrier has landed
		Complete Access Hydra Corpus Milestone	An Assault Carrier has landed
			Faction can see Alien Councilors
			50% Chance OR Mission Critical Success
		Complete Access Live Salamander Milestone	An Assault Carrier has landed
			Mission Critical Success
		Complete Access Live Hydra Milestone	An Assault Carrier has landed
			Faction can detain Alien Councilors
			Mission Critical Success
			50% Chance

Alien Administration

Flag of the Alien Administration

The aliens have carved a nation out of the former territory of ■■■■■. Through human politicians there, the new alien nation is presenting itself to the world as a unifying force capable of solving Earth's problems.

With the aliens as the power behind the throne, the nation appears invulnerable to usual attempts to assume political control - crackdowns, purges and coups simply will not succeed. Only an internal rebellion or an outright invasion has a chance to remove the aliens from power.

~ Alien Nation Founded UI Notification (war variant), Terra Invicta, 0.4.86.

The Alien Administration is a nation that is created either when an Invader Army occupies a region or when The Servants transfer territory to the aliens. The control points of the Alien Nation are always under the alien faction's control, and ordinary coups cannot succeed. The only ways to remove regions from the Alien Nation are:

Secession

Raising unrest and wrecking cohesion in the Alien Nation can cause non-capital regions of the Alien Nation to randomly break off to form their own nations or to join existing human nations that have claims on them.

Revolution

Once every 4 days, the game checks whether Unrest in the Alien Nation is >9.9.

If so, a revolution occurs. But in contrast to revolutions in human nations, revolutions in the Alien Nation do not change who owns the control points.

Instead, regions within the Alien Nation may randomly break off to form their own nations or to join existing human nations that have claims on them.

And then the aliens will gain 80 hatred, split up among the factions responsible for raising unrest in the Alien Nation.

War

Wars involving the Alien Nation differ from normal wars in that regions are never occupied.

Instead, every time an alien nation's region is occupied, it breaks off to form its own nation or to join an existing human nation that has claims on it.

If the capital of the alien nation is occupied, then all regions within the Alien Nation may randomly break off to form their own nations or to join existing human nations that have claims on them.

And then the aliens will gain 80 hatred, split up among the factions responsible for conquering the Alien Nation.

The creation of the Alien Nation can trigger a massive shift in inter-faction relationships, as humanity recognizes the growing threat that is now in their midst.

If the Alien Nation has >6 Miltech, then killing Human Armies that are under the control of the Alien Nation completes the following milestones:

• Access Alien Tech
• 50% Chance: Access Salamander Corpus
• 5% Chance: Access Live Salamander

Overthrowing the Alien Nation, via revolution or war, completes the following milestones:

• 65% Chance: Access Alien Tech
• 50% Chance: Access Hydra Corpus
• 40% Chance: Access War Dog Corpus
• 37.5% Chance: Access Salamander Corpus
• 25% Chance: Access Live Salamander

If more than one faction was responsible for overthrowing the alien nation, then each of these milestones are given to a random faction, weighted by how much they contributed to overthrowing the alien nation.

Alien Total War

After enough time passes, the aliens are allowed to declare Total War upon human factions. Simultaneously, their Mine Limit is increased.

Difficulty	Cinematic	Normal	Veteran	Brutal
Years before Total War Allowed	25	20	10	0
Original Mine Limit	10	12	18	-
New Mine Limit	10	15	25	35

These year values are divided by the Alien Progression Speed. This is a slider you can adjust in Custom Campaign Settings. It is 100% on Long Campaign mode and 200% on Accelerated Campaign mode.

Note: In some situations, the Aliens may exceed their Mine Limit by up to 50%.

Tier 3 Alien Technology

After enough time passes, the aliens unlock their third tier of ship technology. This new tier includes upgrades to their drive, power plant, lasers, magnetic guns, and missiles.

Years before Aliens get T3 Tech

Difficulty	Cinematic	Normal	Veteran	Brutal
Years	35	25	16	10

These values are divided by the Alien Progression Speed. This is a slider you can adjust in Custom Campaign Settings. It is 100% on Long Campaign mode and 200% on Accelerated Campaign mode.

Alien Progression Rate

Controls the general rate of alien progression in the campaign. Affects invasion speed and aggression towards human factions.

- Alien Progression Rate tooltip, Terra Invicta, 0.4.86

The actual effects of having X% Alien Progression Rate are:

• Exotics Income for the Aliens is multiplied by X%.
• Exotics Salvage from battle is divided by X%.
• Abduction Bonus to Alien Missions is multiplied by X%.
• Research given by Pass Technology councilor mission is multiplied by X%.
• Increase in Alien Maximum Hate per Year is multiplied by X%.
• Alien Passive Hate Gain is multiplied by X%.
• Every "Years Before Aliens Can Do Something" timer has its duration divided by X%.