XCOM EW: Effect of Ignoring UFO Crashes?

I looked around on a couple of other forums and found the following

GameFaqs

I ignored a few shot down ufo and didn't get any negative panic hits.

2K-forums

You didn't lose any points in OG from a crashed ship, you just didn't gain any more points. Just shooting the ship down gives you points and keeps the aliens from getting a complete mission, so they don't get points.

In OG, once I had things settled (month 2-3) I never sent a skyranger to a crashed ship. They usually didn't have a good power core, so there was really no point in going. I only assaulted supply-ships and infiltration missions that were landed.


I have just tested this.

Shot a UFO down over the USA and then did not send a Skyranger to the downed ship.

  1. There was no effect on the USA's panic level.
  2. It did not negatively impact my end of month Council Report.