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Is there any benefit to capturing multiples of the same species? For example, say I've captured a Sectoid and researched the related interrogation, and now I've captured another - does anything happen?

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In the original game, Sectoids had jobs, and so a Sectoid Navigator would yield extra info above and beyond that of a Sectoid Soldier. In the origional, getting the Hyper-wave decoder from researching a Navigator early on made your life much easier! – Nick Oct 11 '12 at 18:10
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In original game there was no benefit of capturing already researched soldiers, navigators/medics/commanders would yield different results when researching them multiple times. – vartec Oct 13 '12 at 1:19

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up vote 15 down vote accepted

A few hours into the game, I can't answer the biggest part of the question ("What is Captive [Alien] good for after associated interrogation is done?") except to say that you can't sell them, so I suspect they must serve some purpose down the road, however menial.

However, I've noticed that in the case of Sectoids, for instance, I often get an undamaged Plasma Pistol along with my captive, instead of generic weapon fragments.

Seems like there are pros and cons to capturing instead of killing aliens after the first of each type.

Pros:

  • You do get the captive, which might be useful later.
  • You seem to get better/different items.

Cons:

  • You don't seem to get the experience for the kill.
  • It's often harder (obviously).
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It's a great way to cheaply get plasma weapons in the early game. You still must research them to be able to use them, but it frees up "weapon scrap" and other salvaged materials for other upgrades. – Trent Hawkins Oct 10 '12 at 2:37
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Presumably, once both owner and weapon are delivered back at the base, your scientists can disarm the self-destruct at their leisure. – Shadur Oct 15 '12 at 9:37
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A nitpick: The items aren't always better, per se. A lot of aliens carry light plasma rifles, and if you spend time capturing you will get a lot of them - to the point where you're actually better off killing the alien for the weapon fragments, which are needed for research. Once you get all four highest-tier weapons, the LPRs are mostly obsolete and you won't have any use for them at all except the odd Council request. – jprete Oct 17 '12 at 13:48
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Totally agree with the main point. Since you can't sell them there's never any point to having more than 6 of any particular equipment. However I used a light plasma rifle right up to the end of the game on one of my Support soldiers. The extra 10 aim was more useful for the double reaction shots than the extra 2 or 3 damage from a regular plasma rifle, and I just generally like having a "sure shot" on the team to mop up enemies with a few HP remaining without having to worry about a wasted turn from an unlucky accuracy roll. – gkimsey Oct 17 '12 at 14:58
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@jprete I disagree with the LPR becoming obsolete, they are great to put on squaddies with a scope to make them more accurate so they level up more easily. – spartacus Oct 18 '12 at 13:35
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up vote 4 down vote

You only ever need 1 live alien of a particular type, with the exception of outsiders, of whom you need 2, but they produce items that don't require Alien Containment.

To turn your surplus live specimen, of whom you will likely have a huge buildup if you like free plasma weapons, into useful cadavers, simply demolish your Alien Containment facility - all live specimen will be killed and added to your "inventory". The only downside here is that you will need to reinvest the $85 and 7 days before you can capture new aliens.

Note that you can't find out how many live aliens there are in your base.

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What do you need the second Outsider for? I lucked out and caught the first one I encountered alive (before I'd interrogated a sectoid, even) and I got the key right away. – Shadur Jan 4 at 16:14
@Shadur IIRC you need 1 for reserach and another 1 for building. – kotekzot Jan 5 at 8:24
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No, you don't. One is enough. – Shadur Jan 6 at 9:45

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