Aliens travel more than 6 squares.... Why?

[GreenDot]

Thanks guys for the very nice game. I am going through the tutorial campaign (doing Lockdown scenario now) and I've noticed that often aliens travel more than 6 squares (not including turns), often 8-10 and that's after they've been "discovered" and shown on the little map as bright dot, so I know exactly how far they went.

Is that because aliens somehow able to accumulate unused AP, or is that because its tutorial and not real campaign, or for some other reason?

I've read that it is recommended to leave at least 6 spaces between spartans and aliens, but in my case, I aim for more like 8-9 spaces because of the above and even that many is often not enough.

[GreenDot]

Sorry to reply to myself, but I guess it might be that aliens, like spartans, can travel diagonally and, hence, my count was off.

[Niklas]

Correct, the can move diagonally. And turning does not cost anything, unless it is a 180 degree turn.

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

Yep, once you take diagonal into account it's all clear.

[Killgore85]

If you check out the manual it has pretty detailed info including notes. A lot of the tactics have been put in there too.
http://www.teardown.se/forum/showthread.php?t=1677

Standard aliens have 6AP, can move (including diagonally) for 1AP and turn for 0AP.

Blips may get an extra space closer depending on:
1 whether or not the outer ring of the blip is hidden because it's in LOS
2 how many aliens are in the blip
3 where they are randomly placed when they are revealed.