Council Missions

Council Missions are a mission type in XCOM: Enemy Unknown. These missions are special aid requests made directly by The Council. Like all missions, their names and their locations around the globe are randomized.

Council Mission Types

Unlike most missions, the specific objective of a Council Mission varies among a sub-set of four mission types:

• Target Extraction
• Bomb Disposal
• Target Escort
• Asset Recovery

Acquisition

Council Missions are available at any stage of the game. They are part of each month's "random event pool" but typically occur later in the month. Each new Council Mission is initiated by the player being contacted by The Council via the Situation Room.

Mission Site

Council Missions always take place in urban areas. Depending on the Council Mission type, a specific mission is chosen randomly from a predetermined set of hand-crafted maps for that mission type.

For example: the Target Extraction mission involving Anna Sing always takes place on the map featuring a small park with a fountain and she will always be found in the same location. Enemies tend to be encountered in the same parts of the map (or drop in the case of Thin Men) though the exact numbers and type (see below) tend to vary slightly based on the difficulty level selected and the stage of the game.

Enemy Types

Regardless of the stage of alien invasion and enemies encountered on other missions, the alien forces in Council Missions will typically only ever consist of Sectoids and/or Thin Men. The proportion of Thin Men to Sectoids depends on how much time has progressed since the start of the game; late game, Council Missions will exclusively feature Thin Men. Mutons are encountered in the crashed helicopter Asset Recovery mission and the Slingshot Content Pack missions.

Tactics

Early in the game, Council Missions are just as challenging as other missions or perhaps slightly more challenging due to the forced mobility elements present in a couple of the mission types. Later in the game, Council Missions tend to be much easier due to the limited enemy types being less of a threat versus improved XCOM equipment.

As such, Council Missions provide excellent opportunities to level up Rookies mid to late game where they would otherwise be fodder against more difficult enemies. However, be wary of the Asset Recovery mission facing Mutons (the Street Overpass Map with the downed helicopter); while it's normally a good idea to equip rookie Assaults and Supports with Light Plasma Rifles for their accuracy bonus for most Council Missions, it will take two shots to kill a Muton, so more powerful weapons are advisable. Another advisory is to beware that Rookies may panic if a Muton makes its intimidating growl since their will is lower compared to the pool of your more experienced soldiers which have higher will.

Rewards

The rewards of Council Missions are announced in advance. They typically include credits but can also include panic reduction, engineers, scientists, or a new highly ranked soldier.

Credit Rewards

• Minimum
  • §100
• Maximum
  • Easy/Normal: §253 (§112 for Asset Recovery)
  • Classic: §150
  • Impossible: §140

Other Council Missions

Slingshot Content Pack

• Operation Slingshot
  • A set of narratively linked Council Missions set in China. These three missions offer unique maps, new objectives, and tougher enemy force compositions:
    • Friends In Low Places
    • Confounding Light
    • Gangplank

XCOM: Enemy Within

• Operation Progeny
  • A set of narratively linked Council Missions set in France. These three missions offer unique maps, new objectives, and tougher enemy force compositions:
    • Portent
    • Deluge
    • Furies

• Site Recon
  • A special Council Mission taking place in a small fishing village in Canada that has gone dark.