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~~COUNTERINVASION FIELD MANUAL~~ ~~XENOPAEDIA~~ ~~THE HUMAN INFANTRYMAN'S UPLIFTING PRIMER~~ ~~TO SERVE MAN~~ ~~TO SERVE ROOKIES~~ guys this is getting silly, we'll vote on a title later

You have been a soldier in your country's armed forces. However, today you stand with millions of others in the greatest army that has ever existed on Earth, bathed by the light of a common purpose: to prevent our species from becoming a slave race or suffer premature death. It is the highest honour to fight in these same illustrious ranch which have produced some of the most ~~EXALTed heroes...~~ okay, who writes this stuff? The North Koreans?

Look, here's the deal. You've been training all your military career to fight the guys beyond that mountain, or that lake, or that desert, or that sea. Good for you. I'm sure you're great at it. Fortunately, that's not relevant anymore. Unfortunately, that's not the game anymore. We're fighting aliens. We don't know how many there are, but we do know that they have the high ground. They have armored alien bears, attack UFOs, and enough weaponized cyborgs to turn hope into a four-letter word.

The point is: to defeat this enemy, we will have to outsmart it. Given that they came to us rather than the other way round, that won't be easy. Most of you have been taught to fight as a regimented unit following strict protocol; that stops. The only advantage we have is resourcefulness and unpredictability. If you've fought a war of attrition against guerrillas and irregulars lately, now would be a good time to walk over, apologize, and take lessons.

We were here first, damn it.

INTERCEPTION

The alien UFOs have the single-stage-to-orbit capability, and engaging them in the upper atmosphere would be an exercise in futility. Fortunately for us, while they have delta-vee to spare, they are limited to terminal velocity as much as we are; no UFO type seems to have long range weapons, and they have to land to do their dirty work. Given that physics holds for them as well as for us, the best way to engage a UFO is on its terminal approach -- that requires a fast airplane to get there in time, but a slow airplane to get into an actual dogfight with the flying saucer. We recommend the Harrier be put back into full production for this. We also recommend that A-10 and other ground strike craft be positioned strategically, so as to make up for slow speed with ubiquity; damn, if there's any way to put guns back on old warbirds, a P51 in every regional airport would do more good than having one of our interceptors per continent. If it runs away - remember, a UFO that leaves you in the dust is a UFO that didn't get to do any damage.

GROUND COMBAT

After exhaustive research, we've figured out what the nasties are weak against: point-blank annihilation. We recommend shotguns with slug or large-shot shells, 7.62mm firearms, and any large-caliber pistol that happens to be available. Remember that alien plasma weapons will eat through most body armor as if it wasn't there, so you're best served by packing light and hunkering down. The aliens have better night vision than we do, but this means they are more susceptible to flashbangs.

In addition to UFO weaponry being relatively short-ranged, this applies to their personal arms as well. We have seen no strategic weapons, nor long-range engagement capability from the aliens. Snipers, RPGs, drone bombs, and similar weapons can be used to create a one-sided engagement. Honestly I think the unmanned advantage is something we have over the aliens, as well as our interest in strategic weapons. Our purpose in this war is to buy time to develop a strategic weapon to vaporize the alien mothership(s).(As written by Riley August)

The bottom line is -- the aliens' plasma guns will dominate at the ranges in which firefights generally occur. Either keep them far away and plink at them, or close in and pound hard.

DANGLIES

Cyborgs, humanoid upper torsos with boosters strapped on. They look like heavily modified humans, but are not. They are prone to boost upward semi-ballistically in order to quickly flank an enemy; fortunately, this takes all their attention, so they are very vulnerable during this move -- anyone with experience with skeet shooting should do well in dealing with them, assuming that they can be spooked into changing positions.

SECTOIDS

The classic grey aliens from the movies -- we know this species was engineered, since they are all clones of each other, and we suspect that they were made to look like we expected them to. They are able to link their peceptions via some sort of emphatic radio; attacking the rear-guard element of such a link will send the forward element into shock, or possibly even kill it.

SLENDERMEN

These are obviously infiltrators -- don't be fooled by combat footage; every articulation they have is double-jointed, and their unnatural gait is only present when they think their cover has been blown already. At this point, we advise anyone who might look like a Slenderman to never wear sunglasses.... and everyone who sees a suspected Slenderman to check for enlarged, reptilian eyes; if those are not present, please avoid harassing fellow human beings. Slendermen have a poisonous spit that is debilitating but fortunately not lethal. Note that their agility does not translate into strength, and they snap like twigs.

ORKS

Think D&D rather than Tolkien here -- orks are bigger than you, stronger than you, have extra muscles in their back that generate bioelectricity to help power their armors and weapons, have been surgically altered to stop feeling pain past a certain point, and can sit on a grenade and treat the explosion like a wet fart. The good news is that they are easy to provoke into an ambush, and barely understand any tactic more complex than "charge whatever looks the most dangerous and shoot at it point blank because they can't aim" ~~,so pretty much like our Headmaster~~. We do know they have great hearing but poor eyesight.

SECTOID SORCERERS

Sectoids have been known to be commanded by "sorcerers". These creatures are surprisingly more durable than their lesser cousins, so don't be fooled by thinking that the oversized cranium is a handicap. They should be considered priority targets for the simple reason that they can mess with troops' neurology enough to take control of their movements, or induce panic attacks. When one is spotted, focus fire on it or take it down with epxlosives. It seems that while its abilities are radio-based, it must have line of sight to invoke them, so a good way to get rid of one is to hide from sight and throw grenades at it. Note that sorcerers are hard to kill and can cause a lot of havoc, and grenades are cheap. Cases of PTSD after an encounter with a sorcerer are common, and kinetic therapy (punching the corpses) is recommended as soon as the immediate threat has subsided.