Kir'jaeden

Clearly, the Russians are in league with alien forces.

There are two basic forms of "intelligence" - there's the actual AI code, and there's the "Intelligence" stat.
 
The "intelligence" stat is how many turns an alien "remembers" a unit's position.
 
The AI code is kinda weird. Especially because the TFTD team had no fucking clue what they were doing (the TFTD designers were given the binaries of UFO but not the source code). Xarquid do tend to camp, and often other aliens end up doing it as well. I suspect this is due to bad pathing algorithms rather than intentional; the alien literally can't figure out how to get from A to B, so it stays at A.
 
Regarding the Bio-Drone... you seem to be forgetting that these are AIs that are a few lines of code. The code says "if melee range then use melee attack". So the Bio-Drone does that. The code doesn't account for the Bio-Drone having an accuracy of 0 because the code wasn't written with that in mind. So it keeps using the melee attack. This is normal behaviour for a simple AI put in a situation it's not designed for.
 
I skimmed your post because it's a 2,400-word incoherent stream of consciousness, so I probably missed something. Try rereading and trimming your posts before submitting them if you want me to pay more attention.

Yes, generally it is my strategy. Though I forced to build some modules on default base like spare liv.quarters, spare stores, alien prison. Eventually, staff and equipment move to new specialized bases - soldiers move to the strike bases, scientists and engineers move to "think tank" base.
How it could be possible? In posted savegame, prisons of all bases hold only 2 creatures totally. Additionaly, game kills stunned soldier and DOs, but puts in prison gillman technician. If the prison entry overflow appears, then game would kill all prisoners, right?

I've finally finished version 0.9 of my Area 51 mod (formerly UFO Redux) for OpenXCom, here's a few pics:
 

 

 

 
 
For more images of the new features, please check this album
 
And here's the list of features:
* New monthly Council missions, can consist of 6 different objectives: Defense, Assault, Destroy, Capture, Recovery or Extraction
* New research topic: Bluebook Report, unlocks additional Council missions of Capture/Recovery/Extraction (to gain techs) and also gives tips on future mission locations and new alien species, plus background story
* Terror missions can now appear also as Escape variant, where you need to reach the exit area before a timer expires
* Redesigned Geoscape globe, with new textures, regions, cities and country zones
* Over 100 new terrains for the nearly all the vanilla missions (except Base Defense) and the new Escape/Council missions. Includes Alien Colony, Alien Hive, Area 51, Biolab, Cold Isle, Complex, Downtown, Pyramid, Slums, Siberia and Storm Mountain terrains
* In Escape and certain Council missions, XCom will use the Mudranger APC for deployment/exit instead of the transport craft
* Variable UFO waves, alternative UFO interior designs for the vanilla UFOs & 2 additional new UFOs (Lab Ship and Overseer)
* Alien crews are enlarged to 12 possible ranks and will appear mostly as mixed, although it is still possible to get single race crews
* 17 new aliens and 1 new rank of alien Scientist, 8 enemy humans, 15 allied humans and 73 civilian units
* In Terror and Council missions it is possible to encounter allied soldiers and police officers who will attack the aliens, but they carry only conventional weapons
* Captures of aliens are much more important to unlock research, specially for Cydonia or Bust (Ethereal Commander), Elerium-115 (any Scientist), UFO Power Source (any Engineer) and UFO Navigation (any Navigator). Some of those ranks can only be found in UFO or alien base missions
* New weapons: Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Grenade Launcher, Multi-Launcher, Snubnose Pistol, Combat Knife, LMG, Machine Pistol, AK-47, RPG, Alloy Shotgun, Alloy Sword, Gauss Pistol, Gauss Rifle, Heavy Gauss, Laser Sniper Rifle, Laser Minigun, Plasma Blaster, Plasma Assault Cannon, Gauss Heavy Cannon and Gauss Autocannon, as well as Alloy (upgraded AP) and more varieties of ammo/grenades/rockets
* New armors: Alloy Vest and Combat Armor
* New HWPs: Gauss Tank and Alloy versions of all HWPs
* New craft: Darkstar (airborne radar), Thunderstorm and Stormrider (interceptors) and Blackbird (transport), also 2 new craft weapons - Stormhawk Missiles and Gauss Cannon
* Research and Manufacturing redesigned/enlarged to include new features
 
 
Here's the download link - expect bugs since its is a huge upgrade over the previous versions

https://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/11351-hard-times/
Breaching is not a cheating.
Mass save/load. That is a cheating. Save/ load is for wussies, that is what I think.
TFTDExtender corrects such issues in some extent. On the other hand, If the aliens would show some cooperation then the colony assault would become impossible. I tried to swap sides in XComUtil. Aliens have enough firepower to mix both squad and transport with seabed in their first turn.

Consider the TFTD CE savegame. Lower decks of cruise liner, mixed crew. There are both a triscene and a xarquid. This is an excellent mission to test your bright startegies.
There are no Xarquids on alien bases. Hovever, TFTD Extender upgrades Hallucinoids corresponding their UFOpaedeia description, arming them with long range paralyzing blast. One well targeted shot into your transport - and half of your squad is laid down!
game_6.rar

Before correction, in vanilla TFTD, they tend to waste their TU on useless melee attack with 0% accuracy. After TFTD Extender correction, they could saw both civillians and your soldiers at once! One of great additions of TFTD are the melee weapons. TFTD extender simply enables the aliens to use its melee weapons and abilities. One aquatoid soldier armed with TL could easily turn your favorite Coelacanth to scrap. Close quarters purging becomes survival horror even for experienced squad.
 
Consider the case: Mixed crew has attacked cruise liner in april 2040.
Make your choise: loose 200-300 rating points or loose entire squad + Triton ?
 
 
Civilians leave neither corpses nor bodies as operable objects like XCOM ones. You could not bear them to safety. However they can be paralyzed and medikit affects on them anyway! Consider the strategy: stun them, purge area, revive them by medikit to get positive score!

https://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/topic/9867-tftd-extender/
 
Read carefully the thread and UFOpaedeia page.
It seems savegames of vanilla and extender not always compartible. I recomennd start new game.
The product is of reverse engeeniring. It patches executable in RAM, not on HDD. So it generates vast number of crashes. But it still cool.

Just some teasers from the upcoming version of my Area 51/UFO Redux mod...
 

 

 
The lonely guy inside the Mudranger is an allied human (aka armed civilian)

The medic cannon's a glitch. Not entirely sure of what causes it, but it seems to be one that pops up now and then. If I remember correctly, it takes the D.U.P. Head as ammo.
 
The launcher. Not the ammo.
 
I don't know if the performance is the same between glitches, but I've seen this thing destroy a Dreadnaught and left no wreckage. Then at other times it does nothing.
 
 
 
Oh - they're bullet sponges all right. Don't underestimate them though, if they do get close they'll rip your aquanauts apart if they are not wearing Ion Armor or better. Even in Ion Armor, they may manage to get a good damage roll when attacking from the left or right sides where armour is weak on Ion Armor. At range they're not much of a threat though, and that's good.
 
The Vibroblade not working well against Hallucinoids is normal. Hallucinoids have moderate armour which soaks up most of the damage that the Vibroblade can produce. The Thermic or Heavy Thermic lance on the other hand have enough damage that they can deal more penetrating damage per attack.
 
On a side note, if you're looking for Xarquids, shoot down alien subs crewed by Gillmen. Go for the larger subs that carry terror units like the Battleship and Dreadnaught. You can find some in T'Leth. Also, Xarquids can be found out of the water later on during Mixed Crew terror missions.
 
- NKF

Finally, aliens realise they need not blasts, kills, terror missions, infiltration fleets etc... Ponification virus does the job well!