This ‘guide’ is for those that simply look for information about the medals/decorations every soldier in Xenonauts can earn. If you find errors or miss something, feel free to comment.


What are those decorations?

They are tokens your soldiers can earn based on their performance on missions.


Where do I find out which decorations my soldiers already possess?

You will find them on the character sheet. In the beginning there are 9 empty slots that will be filled once your soldier was rewarded the appropriate decoration.


What is the point of decorations?

Every decoration grants a small bonus to ‘Bravery’. This will help the soldier to better defend against psionic attacks. Besides that decorations are eye candy, and an incentive for players with OCD.


Which decorations can be earned?

I will list them in the order on the character sheet from left to right.

1. Service Medal (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for active participation in ten combat missions.

Tier 2: Long Service Medal (+3 Bravery, twenty combat missions)
Tier 3: Distinguished Service Medal (+3 Bravery, thirty combat missions)

This decoration is fairly easy to earn. Simply participate and survive missions. There is one oddity though. The decorations are rewarded after 11/21/31 missions.


2. Order of Gallantry (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for elimination of five extraterrestrial units in combat.

Tier 2: Order of Merit (+2 Bravery, 10 eliminations)
Tier 3: Order of Terra (+3 Bravery, 20 eliminations)

Again, an easily earned decoration. Just kill enough bad boys.


3. Citation for Courage (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for courage demonstrated in combat during the successful defense of a city against extraterrestrial terror forces.

This decoration can be earned during an alien attack on a city. You will get a popup message and a red/white alien logo on the world map. Send a drop ship and eliminate all aliens. In case you have already air superiority established, make sure to have the ‘Quantum Cryptology Center’. This will give you information about all UFOs in range. Find one with the task ‘Terror’ and ignore it until a city is attacked. Do not mistake it with the bomber UFOs. Those are countered by your air force. Be aware that the city locations are sometimes a bit off. E.g. I had a terror attack on Greenland that was labeled as Reykjavik.


4. Citation for Valour (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for valour demonstrated in combat during the successful capture of an alien base.

For this decoration you will need an event that starts with a popup message and a blue/white alien logo on the world map. Send a drop ship and eliminate all aliens. In case you have already air superiority established, make sure to have the ‘Quantum Cryptology Center’. This will give you information about all UFOs in range. Ignore the one with ‘Base Construction’. Unlike the terror attack event you do not need to react immediately.


5. Citation for Bravery (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for bravery demonstrated in combat during the successful defense of a Xenonaut facility against an extraterrestrial ground assault.

For this decoration the aliens will have to come after you. Again, if you have already air superiority established, make sure to have the ‘Quantum Cryptology Center’. This will give you information about all UFOs in range. Ignore the one with the mission ‘Base Attack’. And make sure your base with all your elite soldiers does not have the missile battery (or upgrades). Because that might shoots down the UFO and the alien attack will be over.


6. Crimson Heart (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for suffering a serious wound in the service of humanity.

Get wounded and survive. Simple enough. Though there seems to be a threshold of how much of your health needs to be lost. A minor wound is not rewarded.


7. Military Cross (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for eliminating five alien combatants in a single operation.

Fairly easy to achieve. It is also possible to send a higher ranked soldier solo to a scout UFO crash site. In that case you will also earn the Survival Medal for the same mission.


8. Crux Solaris (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for successful capture of a live alien command unit.

Get in and knock out the big guy. You will have to wait for bigger UFOs that have the higher ranks on board. Only the soldier that knocked the target will get the reward, not the whole team. So always bring some stun equipment.


9. Survival Medal (+1 Bravery)

Awarded for fortitude shown in successful completion when all other operatives had been killed or incapacitated.

Be the sole survivor. Or send a higher ranked soldier on a solo mission to a scout UFO crash site. That approach usually also rewards the Military Cross.


Note: Once, a soldier was mind-controlled by an alien and that alien was killed in the next turn. In the mission summary sheet the soldier that killed the alien was shown to have been awarded a decoration for this action. Alas, that decoration is not displayed on the soldier’s character sheet. So there might be at least one hidden decoration.