XCOM: Enemy Unknown

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

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Wet Work

Wet Work

Complete a Very Hard abduction mission in five turns or less on Classic or Impossible difficulty.

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How to unlock the Wet Work achievement in XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Definitive Guide

Though the achievement description suggests that you need to complete a "Very Hard" abduction mission, what is meant is "Very Difficult," just in case there is any confusion.

Abduction missions almost always involve 10 enemies (I've had only 8, but very rarely), usually in four groups (two groups of 3 and two groups of 2), so plan on armament appropriately. Also, since your concentration is quick offense, remove any of those pesky medkits from your packs -- you can always re-do the mission, after you've gotten the achievement, if you lost anyone that you'd rather not lose.

It's important to have a saved game before receiving an Abduction Mission warning, as you'll also want a favorable map to choose to try this achievement on -- therefore, if you get the warning for an Abduction Mission in Mission Control and you performed several actions between the warning and your last save, you may want to cancel out of the mission, re-load your last save, re-perform those actions, and save right before the Abduction Mission warning happens (it will happen again, right about the same time). This way, you can accept one of the missions, see the map, and if it's not to your liking, quit and try again. When choosing, keep in mind the primary qualification, that the mission be "Very Difficult."

Now, the map you're looking for is a relatively open map, with few/no buildings, just cover objects, so alien groups have no places to hide in multi-story buildings from your rocket attacks/snipers with squad sight. I find such maps much easier to navigate quickly for just such an operation.

For my group, I brought along 2 Heavies (2 rocket launchers were key in my mid-level group -- no colonels to double up rockets), 2 sprint-perked Support troops, one Assault troop perked to rapid fire at the end of his dash, and just one Sniper. Had my group been all colonel-level soldiers, I would more likely have brought 2 squad-sight-perked Snipers with the "In the Zone" perk and Archangel armor, and perhaps 2 sprint-perked Support soldiers with Ghost armor, so they might sight out alien groups without activating those groups -- if the aliens don't see the spotters, they don't bother going into hiding, making the "In the Zone" perk of the Snipers quite lethal -- (and, maybe one Heavy and one Assault to round out the 6).

With such an open setup, you might even finish the mission in 3 rounds, not 5. Good luck!

Additional notes: Keep in mind, that as you launch satellites over more countries, those countries will cease to have abduction raids launched against them, so if you reach full satellite coverage before getting this achievement, you may need to achieve this in an earlier save or a new game.
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16 Oct 2012 04:37

17 Comments
For switching difficulties you have to switch the difficulty before the mission starts, switch it again to the higher one in mission (It'll switch itself back to what it was before). Once you complete the mission in whatever difficulty you want it at it should stay at that level. So do a mission in which you changed the diffculty at the start of the mission before the one you need the achievement for.

Changing it mid mission doesn't give achievements related to difficulty but completing a mission at a difficulty will keep your game at that level thus making future missions achievement possible from what I saw.
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By Widowmaker55 on 22 Jun 2016 14:40
You only get abduction missions in countries WITHOUT a satellite.

If you have already placed satellites in every possible country, you will need to start a new game to finish this.
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By BLUEBERRYPETE on 16 Oct 2012 23:00
I guess, one might let the aliens destroy a satellite, if one didn't want to restart a new game? I've not tested to see if the game re-allows abduction raids in nations that have lost a satellite, though.
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By RougeRogue1 on 17 Oct 2012 01:02
doubtful. i think you have to start a new game like stated above.
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By UNeakOne on 20 Oct 2012 07:35
Excellent guide! Learned a few strategy tips for choosing class perks as well! Never occurred to me to pair a sprint scout with ghost armor with a squad sighted sniper. That is just sick and wrong...I am going to have to try it.
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By Kirkless on 20 Oct 2012 16:14
Ah, I wish I had known about the satellite thing before going for this. It doesn't mention that in the above guide. I tried letting the aliens shoot down my satellites, but I had the stealth satellitesI And they won't let you remove your satellite uplinks. Sucks.
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By TS Ghost on 27 Dec 2012 01:07
achievement will pop seconds after the last kill, prior to the loading screen that hides behind the skyranger flyover.
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By bryan dot exe on 27 Feb 2013 05:14
Also this is one big vote for snipers. I had 3 snipers, heavies, one assault all equipped with plasma weapons and alien grenades. My In The Zone sniper was my MVP. Alien grenades could blow cover and then he'd just rattle off shots until the clip ran dry. I also paired In The Zone with the mutator that garentees critical hits on any flanked target. Highly recommend for any non ironman game type. However because the enemy recieves the same effect, it might be a little unforgiving for your ironman run.
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By bryan dot exe on 27 Feb 2013 13:03
Is there a known glitch in this achievement? I've done this five times on Classic, on different maps, from the same original Game 8 save... and it hasn't unlocked. The panic level for the mission site was 1, but the challenge said Very Difficult. angry
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By Judge Nerd on 13 May 2013 02:22
I've not heard of any glitch for affecting this achievement -- I'm assuming that you are, indeed, doing this on an "Abduction" mission, not a "Terror" mission? Also, I have no idea whether changing the difficulty level up to 'Classic' might affect getting this, but I'm also assuming that you've been playing 'Classic' all along? Did a quick internet search for potential problems with this achievement, but found nothing, I'm afraid.
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By RougeRogue1 on 13 May 2013 18:34
@Judge Nerd
If you complete the mission once in more than 5 turns, you cannot load a save from that mission and complete it again even if it is then completed in less than 5. You have to reload a save from before the alert has even come up. I don't know if that's your problem, however.
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By PerpetualMindG8 on 17 May 2013 04:53
Did it on the second chance to my frustration it was extremely close, grenades and rockets are wonders. i wrote down my saves for which one was each wave and on my 5th wave had 3 to kill off with a nade and a snipe job done. I am glad i did it on impossible and not classic saves are a god send.
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By Quickdraw1988 on 02 Jun 2013 00:55
It may also be worth noting that regardless of leaving a country without a satellite, abduction missions cease to emerge after month 4. I've still got Mexico without a satellite at month 6 (August), and I've not had an abduction mission through all of July, or been able to get one by fast forwarding through August.
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By Alangelus on 10 Jan 2014 13:55
I never got this during my classic or impossible run, so here is what I did. Set up an easy game. Only placed satellites over countries when absolutely necessary. Take the base as soon as it pops up to settle panic. I waited till I had good armor and plasma weapons - approximate month 6 August - I still had 9 countries without satellites. Then switched the game to classic. Saved at geoscape often until an Abduction Mission popped. Key point comes from Judge Nerd, so pay attention to it.
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By NicholiGinavaef on 22 Jun 2014 02:38
Alangelus, two satelites need to be aviliable for abductions to appear.
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By Ditto51 on 08 Mar 2015 20:24
I can confirm Widowmakers55's method.
You CAN switch difficulties as long as you complete any mission on the desired difficulty prior to the the actual abduction mission (also works for the "Lone Wolf" achievement).
I can also invalidate the hypothesis that abduction missions cease to appear after month 4.
Abduction missions will still appear as long as there are countries without satellites left.

My successful attempt was based on an easy-playthrough.
I switched to classic, completed a terror mission on classic, followed by the "very difficult" abduction mission (in game month 6, August), netting me the "Wet Work" achievement.

Just for reference, I am playing on Xbox One.
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By SirScatterbrain on 27 Jun 2016 18:30
Okay, just for the people wondering Nicholi's method does not work, I just tried it by taking one of my normal games and adjusting it to classic over a month in game before the mission popped. I completed the mission in 4 turns and didn't get it. I know it took 4 turns because I had my assults use run and gun first turn and then after not being able to use it for turns 2 and 3 (2 turn cooldown) I used it again on turn 4 to finish the mission and no achivement popped.
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By Ditto51 on 08 Mar 2015 22:32
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I got this naturally in Classic Ironman at the service station. The small service station with an attached building where you start at the pumps, not the truck yard. A group of mostly Squadies with no double tap sniper, so I think this will come naturally for most people in Classic. I moved a heavy into rocket range of the building in turn 1 and positioned the rest of my squad for crossfire. Blew the building open with a shredder (there was already a group or two of mutons/beserkers moving in), and had the entire map aggroed by turn 2 or 3. I think we were clear after 4. This was month 4 or so and the entire squad had plasma weaponry. I'm guessing mutons are your friend for this achievement since they like to make half moves and blood call when running away instead of full retreats or liftoffs. Scopes instead of defensive items should be a no brainer.
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20 Oct 2012 18:21

4 Comments
Yep, rockets are certainly the way to go. 2 colonel heavies should give you 6 rockets total. Add another colonel Sniper with 'In the zone', and youre pretty much ready to go. All you need is a small open map. In my case it was that one with the observatory.
And yes, mutons and especially berserkers are your friend, since they dont care about cover. ;)
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By Basanakin on 30 May 2013 16:03
Wait, abduction missions don't have civilians, the civilians are all encased in green stuff. I think it may be a bit confusing for some people if you're not clear.

Can anyone talk about if the blaster launcher helps immensely with this achievement, I'd imagine it would, but can anyone confirm?
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By Zatosan on 14 Jul 2013 14:19
Completed with 6 low level units (carapace/lasers) on the service station level. It's by far the easiest of the maps for this IMHO.
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By x RepoUK x on 14 Aug 2013 21:11
Zatsosan, that was a total non sequitur on my part and I deleted it. These achievements were still relatively fresh at the time and my brain was spinning from playing so much XCOM.
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By Ursiform on 17 Aug 2013 00:33
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If you are semi-far into the game and have a sniper with "in the zone" you could take two heavies to blow cover, and an assault to aid you in the process of removing them from cover. Once out of cover, the Sniper can do his part pretty easily. Here is a text guide on TrueAchievements xbox section TrueAchievements and here is a video as I am sure my description may not help many.
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28 Nov 2015 00:00

Of course, be sure you're playing on Classic difficulty. I'm sure the trophy can be had on Impossible but if you're that good you don't need this guide anyway. wink

This one was driving me nuts until I was spamming Mission Control looking for UFOs to shoot down (grinding for Shooting Stars) when I had to let one go and eventually lost a satellite. It turns out I had been confusing Terror misions with Abduction missions. It seems Abduction missions only become available in a country without satellite coverage. You won't have to wait long after your satellite goes down for a Very Difficult abduction mission.

Before heading out, set up your loadout for all offense. Scopes and 'nades all around! If your earlier in the game favor Heavies and Assault. Two of each if you can. If it's later on and you have Snipers with In The Zone get them in there. They are absolute gold and they can be good for as many as 4 kills each per turn if you get them positioned right. You'll find clearing out the aliens in five turns is very doable. All in all not a tough trophy once you know what to do.
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27 Jul 2014 00:38

This trophy can be tricky and may take a few attempts. I would suggest attempting this on a map with no buildings. You can save and reload until you get the map you want. Be aggressive and take note of what turn you are on to ensure you do not go over five. I found that Snipers with the "In The Zone" and "Squad Site" bonuses were very useful for this. The earlier in the game you try for this trophy the better. If you are having trouble, consider bringing in more Heavy soldiers or grenades. You can leave your Support troops at the base for this one. Don't worry about being in full cover and spread out to cover more ground more quickly.

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It's OK. Just save at the beginning of the mission and rush forward quickly, forgetting about losses. I lost 2 people, but did it in 4 moves. Then you boot up and that’s it.
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25 Nov 2012 00:02

You can make it much easier for yourself to get this trophy by choosing the right card. If autosave is enabled, the game makes a recording whenever each mission occurs in strategic mode. So you can safely return if the card is unsuccessful.

On a large map, you simply may not have time to reach distant aliens. The most convenient, in my opinion, is construction. It is small in size, plus it has a very good starting position. There are a lot of shelters that, with proper placement of fighters, allow you to turn this mission into a fun shooting gallery. Easily cleared by snipers and attack aircraft with their "run and shoot".

You also need to remember that as soon as you cover the entire earth with satellites, the abduction missions will end. So if you wait a long time and pump up your fighters, you can miss the moment and end up with nothing. But without a trophy =).
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10 Dec 2012 06:58