Temple Ship Assault is one of the mission types in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Acquisition
The mission becomes available after building the Gollop Chamber and successfully activating it with a Psionic soldier equipped in a Psi Armor. This soldier is later referenced to as "the Volunteer" in the game. Activating the Gollop Chamber is a turning point, after which progression in the game is virtually stopped. No time-demanding actions, such as research, projects, or soldier recuperation, can be performed, and no other missions can be undertaken. The Volunteer also becomes unable to take off the Psi Armor.
Mission Site
The Temple Ship layout is pre-determined, and consists mostly of pathways with guardrails that serve as cover. The layout is also very linear, all paths parallel, leading into the same direction. Nearly every area in the ship features multi-elevation environment, which can benefit the player if soldiers are always positioned at higher vantage than the enemy. For a substantial part of the mission, there is a center pathway available that is positioned higher than all pathways around it.
In areas that don't have a central, highly elevated pathway, full cover is available, making it easier to perform frontal assault with close-combat units, such as shotgun-eqipped Assault Class soldiers.
Enemy Types
Unlike every other mission in the game, Temple Ship Assault has a pre-determined amount of enemies of every type. During the assault, the player will encounter groups of every alien troops existing in the game. Their positions are fixed, and they spawn, or become discovered, as the player progresses far enough.
Tactics
During the assault, most enemy groups appear in fixed locations after the squad crosses specific points. When the enemy is engaged, it's preferable to have every soldier in a tactically sound position and with action points available. Due to this, without knowing the spawn points in advance, it's best to move carefully, with regards to possible positioning if the enemy is engaged. However, considering that most enemy troops are not mobile before discovered, if the point man (the first advancing soldier) doesn't alert any aliens, others can usually be positioned behind him / her without regards to cover.
Rewards
Temple Ship Assault is the final mission of the game, and no continuation is possible. As such, the mission doesn't offer any rewards. This might change with the release of future DLC packs.
Gallery
