[i]Updated 0000 hrs, 01 Sept 1979[/i]
[h3]Xenopedia[/h3]
[hider=Xenonaut Aircraft][hider=F-17 Condor][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/jTqKDP6.png[/img][/center]
The F-17 Condor is the primary Xenonaut interceptor aircraft, a general purpose dogfighter derived from the F-16 Fighting Falcon. The Condor's Autocannon makes it well-suited to destroying smaller craft, whilst it also carries Sidewinder light missiles to make it a credible threat to medium-size vessels.

The Condor has broadly similar performance to its parent aircraft but uses a modified airframe built from a titanium/magnesium alloy that gives the interceptor a reduced payload, but significantly longer range and improved durability. The alterations to the airframe have been made based on our studies of F-4 Phantoms damaged during the Iceland Incident. Components containing titanium or magnesium appeared to sustain less damage than those made of aluminum or other materials, suggesting some inherent resistance to alien energy weapons. We hope this reinforced airframe will make our Condors more capable against alien UFOs than interceptors from conventional air forces. 

The increased range is believed necessary - we have rather a lot of planet to protect. This has reduced the payload of the Condor, but it is still able to carry two light missiles and a craft cannon. This is a versatile combination; Sidewinder missiles have been proved effective and reliable against human aircraft, but we do not even know if we will be able to get a missile lock on alien vessels. The cannon has a shorter range and fires powerful shells that should be useful in a dogfight. One of the two weapons should hopefully prove effective against an enemy vessel.[/hider]
[hider=CH-48 Charlie]
[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/UKfn2rW.png[/img][/center]
The CH-48 Charlie is a twin-rotor transport helicopter based on the reliable CH-47 Chinook. It serves the Xenonauts as a dropship, ferrying up to eight men and their equipment to combat zones almost anywhere in the world. 

The Charlie has been heavily modified for Xenonaut use. The operational range of the craft has been vastly increased, allowing it to reach almost any destination in the world on a single tank of fuel (it can also be refueled mid-air if the local government are feeling sufficiently cooperative). It has also been fitted with heavier armor, as our strike teams are expected to "hot drop" into combat areas and may come under fire immediately - losing our dropship to ground fire during landing / the subsequent mission would hardly be ideal. Though necessary, this has unfortunately reduced the carrying capacity down to eight men.

The Charlie is slow and defenseless, making it easy prey for alien craft. Your strike team is likely to take casualties if their dropship is shot down, so it may be worth adding interceptors to the Charlie's squadron if there is any UFO activity in the target area.

[/hider][/hider][hider=Xenonaut Aircraft Weapons][hider=Autocannon][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Mx5VSv6.jpg[/img][/center]
The Autocannon is a variant of the 20mm M61 Vulcan rotary cannon. It is a short-range, high rate-of-fire weapon best suited to dealing with agile craft that are difficult to hit with missiles.

Our F-17 Condor aircraft have this weapon fitted in their integrated cannon bay by default. It will inflict good sustained damage on a target, but it obviously requires the pilot to get close enough to use it - leaving the Condor vulnerable to return fire. If you plan to engage a hostile craft using this weapon, try to avoid the firing arcs of its defensive weapons. Approaching the target from the side or behind is much more likely to result in a successful kill than a head-on attack.[/hider]
[hider=Sidewinder Missile][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/hvjLQGl.jpg[/img][/center]
The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a light air-to-air missile. It has a longer range and will inflict more damage than a burst from the Autocannon, but is a single-use weapon and can be avoided by the more agile enemy combatants. It can be fitted to both Light and Heavy missile hardpoints.

The ability to inflict a large amount of damage relatively quickly make the Sidewinder valuable in a dogfight, as we believe it likely that alien weapons will be significantly more powerful at close range than our cannons. The Sidewinders will allow us to damage the craft before getting into range of their weapons, turning the tide of the battle in our favor. Using multiple interceptors in the same squadron may even allow us to destroy an alien craft in a barrage of Sidewinders without taking any damage ourselves.

A Sidewinder cannot be fired until the interceptor has missile lock on the target - this requires keeping the target in range and in front of the interceptor for a couple of seconds. You should also be aware that these missiles are not infallible - it is perfectly plausible that alien craft may be nimble enough to avoid them.[/hider]
[hider=Avalanche Torpedo][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/LeXBTRI.jpg[/img][/center]
The Avalanche Torpedo is a heavy air-to-air missile with an extremely powerful warhead. Though it has a long range, it moves slowly and has a poor turn rate - meaning it is only really useful against large alien craft that are not able to evade it. It can only be fitted in Heavy missile slots.

The Avalanche is essentially a subsonic anti-ship cruise missile re-purposed for use against alien vessels. It can be fired from long range has an armor-penetrating warhead that should make it much more effective against more durable enemy craft, hopefully allowing interceptors equipped with them to fire and withdraw before coming into range of the enemy weapons. Be aware that the time required to obtain missile lock for this weapon is greater than on the lighter Sidewinder missile.[/hider]
[/hider][hider=Extraterrestrials][hider=Iceland Incident][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/mdn9mtU.jpg[/img][/center]
The 1958 Iceland Incident was our first contact with extraterrestrial life. An alien craft entered our atmosphere above the Atlantic in what we now believe was a scouting mission. It was detected and intercepted by NATO jets operating under the assumption it was an experimental Soviet aircraft.

Visual sighting of the UFO rapidly dispelled that myth - the craft was far larger than its radar signature suggested, more akin to an airborne warship than an aircraft. Attempts to communicate elicited a barrage of energy weapon fire that disintegrated half of the squadron and left the remaining jets limping back to base with severe damage. Several subsequent attempts were made by NATO fighter squadrons to intercept the alien vessel, costing them a number of aircraft but inflicting no appreciable damage on the target. When the UFO abruptly changed course and began heading for the eastern coast of the United States, the decision was made to deploy nuclear weapons.

Twenty minutes later, half a dozen nuclear-tipped ICBM ignited the sky above an uninhabited part of Iceland.  Astonishingly, the UFO survived the blast - but it crash-landed, almost intact, shortly afterwards. At this point, the NATO forces made the decision to inform their Soviet counterparts about the alien vessel and seek their assistance in securing the vessel and the technology within. This decision was seemingly motivated more by self-preservation rather than altruism; the Soviets were furious at the large unexplained nuclear detonations and were apparently close to launching missiles of their own.

A joint ground operation was launched to capture the alien craft, but numerous extraterrestrials had survived the crash and put up stiff resistance. Human forces took significant losses during the operation, but slowly secured the area around the craft. What happened next is uncertain - all we know is that the alien craft was destroyed in an enormous explosion, almost certainly caused by the craft's power source. This explosion annihilated the UFO itself and wiped out all ground forces within a ten-mile radius (the only survivors were those at the distant command post). There was nothing left; the UFO was gone and only a handful of those who had sighted an extraterrestrial were left alive.

The aftermath of the Incident involved a large scale cover-up. The official explanation was that of a Soviet invasion of Iceland thwarted by nuclear weapons, with heavy losses on both sides. But behind closed doors, the two superpowers were collaborating - a joint black ops organization was formed, drawing from the resources of both. Unofficially dubbed the "Xenonauts", it was tasked with defending the planet against alien invasion. The absence of an obvious alien threat has made us look rather irrelevant for the past twenty years, Commander - but we had little doubt we would be needed some day. It seems that day has come.[/hider]

[/hider][hider=Xenonauts Weapons][hider=Ballistic Weapons][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/RgwesM7.jpg[/img][/center]
Our ballistic weapons are conventional firearms, provided in unlimited quantities by our backers. We have four main classes of normal weapon (heavy weapons will be discussed separately), and I will provide a brief summary of the strengths and weaknesses of each below:

The [b]Pistol[/b] is a single-handed weapon with a short range and relatively low damage, but one that can be fired very quickly. It is a perfectly capable weapon at close ranges, but is primarily useful as a sidearm (e.g. for snipers) or when the soldier has something else in their other hand (e.g. a grenade or a combat shield). Also, please note that absolutely no combat advantage is gained by dual-wielding these weapons. It is simply childish.

The [b]Shotgun[/b] fires shells that break into several shots, making it most effective when the spread is small and all of the shot strikes a single target. It can be fired relatively quickly and does considerable damage at short-range, but it is completely ineffective at long range. It is best used as a breaching weapon and for close-quarter work, where it can bring down hostile units faster than our other weapons.

The [b]Assault Rifle/Carbine[/b] is the most versatile of our weapons, accurate at all ranges and capable of burst fire. It cannot be fired as quickly as the Pistol / Shotgun and it does not do as much damage as other weapons, but it is useful in practically any situation. It is always worth having a backbone of rifle-armed troops on combat missions.

The [b]Precision Rifle[/b] is a marksman's rifle. It does additional damage per shot than the Rifle and is more accurate, but takes additional time to aim and cannot use burst fire. It is not a very efficient weapon at short range, but it is king where there are large open spaces and good sight lines.[/hider]
[hider=Heavy Ballistics][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/ekfPdIB.jpg[/img][/center]
The Xenonauts are trained to use two main heavy weapons, the Machinegun and Rocket Launcher. Both of these suffer from recoil and a severe accuracy penalty if the user is not stationary when they attempt to fire the weapon. They are also, quite literally, heavy weapons - they will limit the amount of armor and equipment a soldier can carry into battle before being encumbered.

The [b]Machine-gun[/b] is a weapon that fires bursts of powerful ammunition at the target. It is not particularly accurate, but has a long range and can be very effective at suppressing the enemy. It has significant recoil, making it most accurate in the hands of our stronger soldiers. Naturally, it is possible to inflict heavy damage on our enemies with this weapon (particularly if they have been caught out in the open or are in a large group) but it should be considered primarily as a support weapon that will pin them in place.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the [b]Rocket Launcher[/b] fires rockets at our enemies. Each one is heavy and must be carried into battle individually, but is effective for both killing enemies and flattening battlefield terrain. However, be aware that killing units with explosives will not leave much behind that is recoverable.[/hider]
[hider=Breaching Charge][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/fHFmv7p.png[/img][/center]Executive Summary: Preliminary UFO Analysis

While the alien craft downed during the Iceland Incident was destroyed before it could be recovered, the research team has spent considerable time collecting and examining reports from eye-witnesses along with aerial photographs of the crash site before the explosion. Among other things, this analysis suggests that the alien craft may possess one or more weak-points in their outer hulls which our operatives might exploit during tactical missions using specially designed explosive charges.  By breaching the hull of the alien craft, our operatives will be afforded superior access to the vessel and therefore be better placed to overpower any extraterrestrial defenders.

The breaching charge we have designed for this purpose is simple to use.  The charge uses electromagnetic clamps to secure itself to the hull of the alien craft.  Once deployed, an operative need only set the detonator and retreat a few paces to ensure they are not caught in the blow-back.  The device is highly precise and the collateral damage it causes is minimal.  This should avoid the unnecessary destruction of alien artifacts and allow operatives to deploy close to the intended breach site.[/hider]

[/hider][hider=Xenonauts Armor][hider=Basic Armor][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Cm6tAP0.jpg[/img][/center]
Basic Armor is standard-issue equipment for our strike teams. It does not offer much in the way of protection, but does not encumber the wearer in any way nor reduce his situational awareness.

It has been designed primarily for function; providing the soldier protection from the elements and enough carrying space to hold all of his equipment. The only concession to protective equipment is the steel helmet, which offers a measure of protection against shrapnel or other flying debris. We know little about extraterrestrial weapons at this point in time, so there is little point in slowing our men down with protective equipment that may well have no effect at all. A few of your men have remarked on the visibility of the fetching blue used, too - it is highly unlikely that the aliens see in the same visual spectrum as we do, so camouflage is likely wasted effort. Better our men know exactly where their comrades are at all times.

We should be able to design protective equipment tailored to defend against alien weapons once we have captured and studied a few examples. In the meantime, the men will be relying on your tactical abilities to keep them out of harm's way.[/hider]

[/hider]