Beginner's Guide

Strategy layer
The world is divided into 6 regions: Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America, Soviet Russia and Africa & Middle East

The strategy layer can run at the following speeds:
 * Slow: 5 seconds pass every real world second.
 * Normal: 5 minutes pass every real world second.
 * Fast: 20 minutes pass every real world second.
 * Fastest: 100 minutes pass every real world second.

The blue circle around a base indicates its radar range. If a UFO flies over a base's radar range it will be detected and can be attacked using interceptors. Shooting down a UFO will prevent it from causing Panic in the local region and if shot down over land it will enable a UFO Crash Site tactical mission that allows recovering valuable alien technology. Once a squadron reaches an UFO it will bring the following options:
 * Commence Attack: Starts an air battle between the interceptors and the UFO.
 * Autoresolve Attack: Automatically resolves the air battle between the interceptors and the UFO. If the outcome is not desired the battle can be tried again as a regular air battle.
 * Tail Target: Interceptors will follow the UFO until they run out of fuel and can attack at any point.
 * Tail Until Over Land: Interceptors will follow the UFO until it travels over land and then re-engage the UFO. This will ensure shooting down the UFO will always enable a UFO Crash Site tactical mission.

Tactical combat
Tactical combat consists of turns during which each team chooses what actions its soldiers will take.

The green bar below a unit's health shows its Time Units, or TU, the starting amount depending on the soldier's Time units attribute. Each action consumes Time Units. Moving, rotating, crouching and uncrouching consumes a fixed number of TUs and most attacks consume a percentage of the TU bar. This means soldiers with higher TU are more mobile and versatile but cannot fire more times per turn. Any TU left at the end of the turn will be spent on Overwatch Fire during the opponent's turn. Time Units are replenished at the start of each turn.

Weapons inflict between 50% and 200% of their Damage value each time they hit, depending on the body part hit. Each weapon has a maximum range, visible during combat with green squares when targeting an enemy. It is possible to fire beyond a weapon's maximum range but its damage and hit chance will be reduced.

Most weapons have multiple fire modes, with varying Accuracy and TU costs. The most expensive fire mode is selected by default but can be changed by right-clicking on the target.

Most forms of cover are destructible. Free Fire mode can be used to manually attack pieces of cover and destroy them.

Soldiers
Each soldier has 6 stats. Hovering over a stat number will display the base value and all bonuses and penalties currently applied.

Each soldier also has a Carry Weight determined by its Strength. Exceeding Carry Weight will decrease Time Units by 1 for each point exceeded.

Medals
Medals are automatically given to soldiers who distinguish themselves over their career. Each medal will increase all soldier attributes by 1. There are 9 models available for each soldier:

Interceptors
Interceptors are used to attack UFOs. Up to 3 interceptors can be assigned on the same attack. Interceptors can be equipped with the following weapons: