Interception

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. 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.

If an UFO is shot down over land it will enable a Crashed UFO mission that allows recovering valuable alien technology.

Air combat

Air combat takes place in real-time. Interceptors can execute the following maneuvers.

• Evasive Roll: Interceptor attempts to dodge incoming weapons fire. Certain weapons prevent the interceptor from rolling.
• Afterburners: Increases movement speed but disables weapons and evasive rolls.
• Retreat: Interceptor flies away from the UFO until it escapes the combat map.