Conventional Weapons

XCOM operatives with mostly conventional weapons - the assault trooper and snipers carry Laser Pistols.

Conventional Weapons serve as the default weapons for XCOM soldier in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

These human-manufactured weapons include:

• Assault Rifles
• Frag Grenades
• LMGs
• S.H.I.V.-mounted Minigun
• Pistols
• Rocket Launchers
• Shotguns
• Sniper Rifles
• Minigun ^EW (utilized by MECs)

Despite being relatively primitive in comparison to the plasma weaponry used by the alien invaders, these Level 1 weapons still pack a punch in the hands of well-experienced soldiers in combat. As the game progresses, more advanced weaponry can be researched which can deal heavier damage against the alien invaders.

Other than Frag Grenades and Rocket Launchers, conventional weapons are incapable of destroying terrain, a weakness compared to the laser and plasma weaponry that follows. This puts XCOM's initial forces at a further disadvantage in combat, as the alien's weapons are capable of destroying a soldier's cover, while the humans cannot.

The conventional weapons are bulky in design and would appear to have relatively high weight. For example, the Assault Rifle has an over-sized barrel and forward assembly, while the Rocket Launcher has much more than just a simple iron sight for aiming.

In the XCOM: Enemy Within expansion, EXALT agents have access to a similar arsenal when they first appear. However, they don't utilize shotguns (likely for balance), pistols, or either variant of the minigun; to balance this lack of a handgun, both variants of the EXALT sniper have access to the Snap Shot ability.

Gallery