I'm trying to play this game despite the fact that I'm not particularly good at strategy games. So far I've done really well. I'm a little past the first council report and got an A only having lost one guy. So far I've developed a basic strategy that has worked really well but, again, I'm a novice and I would appreciate help or other people's strategies.

So here's my squad loadout right now;

2 Heavies with Arc Throwers

1 Assault with a Grenade

1 Sniper with a Scope

1 Support with a Medkit

I usually have my assault person act as a scout leading ahead of everyone always on overwatch unless I have to dash. My heavies take the far left and right of the field slowly moving up and on overwatch. My support stays a little further back then the heavies in the middle of the field and is always on overwatch. My sniper stays back and in the middle of the field usually with his pistol so that when he moves he can still be on overwatch.

I use the heavies as flankers or to set a weak perimeter while my assault identifies enemies and then suppresses, attacks, or falls back depending on what he finds. My support is a midrange fighter while I position my sniper behind everyone so that I can set up sniping points. I usually set up a perimeter around whatever building or ship I mean to infiltrate and then send my assault guy in to scope. If I mean to capture an enemy I usually kill every other alien first, surround the alien I want to capture, and send in both my heavies on either side of the alien I want to capture. If it all falls apart either my assault or sniper takes the alien out.

When everything falls apart I usually retreat and spread my team apart to set up a net of sorts for the aliens to fall into. I give the aliens a lot of space and set up for long range attacks, launcher shots, and grenades. In these situations I scrape the idea of capturing anyone or really worrying about research. I focus on killing the aliens as fast as possible.

So am I fucking up anywhere? What do the rest of you do?

Can't really speak to if you're doing good or not, as I've been running a completely different setup. First game I played (normal) I had 3 assault 2 snipers and a support, the one I'm playing now (classic) I'm doing 3 sniper, 3 assault, always using scopes unless I want to catch an alien. I usually just hang back with most of my group in overwatch while inching one assault forward (moving the group when things seems clear), hoping that I don't find aliens in my turn but that they roam into my vision during theirs. Then if I find aliens it's either a massacre of overwatch popping (snipers specced for no penalty) or snipers double tapping and assaults run'n'gunning with rapid fire.

It has worked pretty well, only finding myself in real trouble if I run into like 2 or more other groups of aliens when I do my assault rushes. Also it's not that great for the rescue missions due to the immobility of the snipers (although the assaults sorta make up for it). Had one mission yesterday that had 15 chryssalids. Thank god for the close quarter specialist perk.

use pistoles to weaken ennemy before capturing them

your sniper should stay in one place if he's specked with shared vision(I didn't try the other side of the skill tree yet because it's sounds much more risky).

A support with sprinting is better with an arc thrower. He can shield himself from ennemy fire using a smoke grenade or even supressing the target.

My preffered set up is

1 heavy (half supressor half demo man)

1 support medic

1 support overwatch specialist/arc thrower specialist

1 sniper (that one saved my ass countless times)

1 assault killer (lots of crit bonus and rapid fire)

for capture missions

1 heavy (half supressor half demo man)

1 heavy demo man (all explosives all the time) or 1 assault tank (deffence bonuses and no rapide fire)

1 support medic

1 sniper (that one saved my ass countless times)

1 assault killer (lots of crit bonus and rapid fire)

for regular, kill everyone missions

Worked pretty well since I'm near the final mission with 1 casualty and 2 critically wounded across my entire run on normal. Captured every alien to.

metagame-wise, this is how I roll...

infantry firepower >>> satellites >>> infantry survivability >>> airspace firepower >>> officer school >>> engineering >>> research

Infantry firepower is the most important aspect to push, because with powerful enough boomsticks, even recruits can kill bigger baddies - and killing baddies is key to successfully completing missions. Satellite infrastructure has to keep pace with the building alien treat, lest you cannot keep nations from jumping ship (or even retain a sufficient amount of nations in Classic difficulty and higher). As soon as that's on track, I start to worry about increasing survivability of my vets (if I have any at this point). And so forth...

My favorite class in the field are snipers. Followed by assault and heavy. Not digging support all that much. Usually go with a sniperteam on the high ground, and a team of whatever on the ground level.

@Seppli said:

metagame-wise, this is how I roll...

infantry firepower >>> satellites >>> infantry survivability >>> airspace firepower >>> officer school >>> engineering >>> research

Infantry firepower is the most important aspect to push, because with powerful enough boomsticks, even recruits can kill bigger baddies - and killing baddies is key to successfully completing missions. Satellite infrastructure has to keep pace with the building alien treat, lest you cannot keep nations from jumping ship (or even retain a sufficient amount of nations in Classic difficulty and higher). As soon as that's on track, I start to worry about increasing survivability of my vets (if I have any at this point). And so forth...

My favorite class in the field are snipers. Followed by assault and heavy. Not digging support all that much. Usually go with a sniperteam on the high ground, and a team of whatever on the ground level.

It's kind of shocking to me that turn-based strategy games in this day and age are STILL just handing out XP for kills. And sure, support guys are fine on offense, but it seems like using a medkit or even just damaging an enemy should be worth SOMEthing, and it would make recruits easier to beef up in later missions where sectoids, thin men and other low-health enemies become rarer.

Something to bear in mind, and that I neglected to my own damage, is to keep a good string of recruits coming in. I had nine units and figured that'd be fine until a mission went sour and EVERYone was at least injured if not gravely injured. Suddenly I was short on troops and if I recruited, they'd all be rookie level.

It's one of those things I've found easy to neglect, but keeping a solid B-Team is VERY important because at some point "Difficult" is the lowest difficulty you're going to have on a mission.

That's basically the setup I used except I had my Arc on my Assault (and Support once he could equip 2 items) and both Heavies had Nanoweave. This is because the Assault has a lot of skills that make it less risky to get in close enough to use the Arc whereas you're almost always going to be better served by having your Heavies shooting at shit.

But if you're doing really well, I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep doing well. Different things work for different people.

I prefer to stick my arc throwers on my assaults and I usually run with 2 of them in a my squad. Their power that lets them avoid Overwatch shots makes them invaluable when the enemy bunkers down. Run them in to take the first shot to free up your other guys to allow them to move around and they get a late game power that gives them a ton of health once you have good armour on them. So I let them rush in to take down guys with arch throwers and that allows me to get new guns and not need to waste my money/resources on getting new ones. Plus this will free up your heavies to suppress for a turn to get your assaults in that much closer. 2 assault, 2 heavy, 1 Sniper and 1 support is the ideal set up imho. Though in my current game I have support and only one heavy as I can not seem to get around to making a good heavy gun.

@Undeadpool:

Didn't know the game was only giving out XP for kills, just thought it gives out much more for kills than everything else. Shame - giving XP for every action of value, as well as a xp bonus just for having been on a successful mission, makes so much more sense to me. A nice little HUD/UI pop with +XP gained would also feel very rewarding. Nitpicking, I know, but it'd have been cool nonetheless. Let's just hope Firaxis gets, and wants to, make more XCOM - because I'm digging the hell out of it.

Once you level up snipers far enough to get Double Tap, they become the best units easily. I had 2 max rank snipers with double tap and everything was a breeze.

Sounds like a pretty good setup. Mine is a little different.

1 Heavy w Heavy Plasma/Arc Thrower and Titan Armour

2 Snipers 1 w Ghost Suit 1 w Skeleton Suit and S.C.O.P.E. both still have Laser Snipers working on getting to plasma

1 Assault w Alloy Cannon/Medkit or Chitin and Titan Armour

2 Support both w Plasma Rifles and Titan Armour, one has three medkits and alien grenades and the other has 2x smoke/combat stim and alien grenades.

Basically my Heavy and Assault dudes are the front line, especially with that Alloy Cannon, that thing does crazy damage. I either keep my snipers back or get them on high ground with the grapple hooks if I can. My support guys spread out a bit but I keep them close enough to the front line to get in with medkits if I have to or for smoke grenade support. Smoke grenades are a must. On really big levels UFO's I'll occasionally split my team up, the snipers grapple up high, and I'll send the Heavy and a Support up one flank and the Assault and Support up another. Titan Armour is pretty badass especially with my Assault dude and his ability that gives him bonus health based on his armour. That guy don't never die.

@Seppli: Absolutely! I have a few minor complaints, but I've still poured ~20 hours into the game since getting it at launch (and that includes one all-day session which I haven't done since...Civ V) And I don't know that for a FACT, but I'm pretty sure since I only ever see people earn promotions after kills.

Yup, looks like a sound tactic (given you're doing pretty well). But, as others have pointed out, arcs on the Heavies might not be the best choice. You need a up-in-the-grill class for that (with a fast support/medic just on the cover behind).

I don't know much about the best metagame yet, but my advice for tactics is just to take it slow. Don't be afraid to make half moves and overwatch more often then dash. Make sure it is safe before you commit someone. Hell, don't be afraid to burn an entire turn where most of your entire squad does overwatch while you move that last guy into position. As long as you always think about where the threats are coming from, you will be ready to rock once you have an encounter.

Early / Mid game I run with the following:

2 Support - One is specced leaning towards medkits and the other is smoke grenades. Both have the perk to move 3 extra spaces. The guy who isn't specced medkits carries an arc thrower. He is a alien stunning badass as well as a great scout.

2 Assault - They're pretty much specced the same way. One has rapid fire and one has flush. Flush is great when you have a bunch of troops who see an alien but don't have a high percentage to hit. They carry arc throwers or nanofiber depending on where I'm going

1 Heavy - I use him for suppression and rockets mostly. Nanofiber or scope depending on my mood.

1 Sniper - I chose Snap Shot because Squad Sight isn't useful all the time. This way he can still run and gun. His battle scanner is also great for forming a plan of attack. He uses a scope of course.

I use overwatch excessively, even on terror missions. My standard tactic is to run in with my long range support soldier and fall back if I find any aliens. I move my other guys up and either shoot or put them on overwatch and wait for aliens to come to me. This has lead to my squad collectively one shotting berserkers before they have a chance to get too close. Even if they do get close, I have everyone set up to take them out.

In particular harder missions against the more difficult enemies I found having an assault or support scout way ahead until the enemies are detected and then falling back to where your troops are will sometimes force the enemies to come to you and your group. During that time utilize overwatch to get some decent shots on the enemy as it moves into your zones.

I think 2 heavies is one heavy two many. Their accuracy and mobility aren't great. I keep one heavy on the team for supression and for when I need to blow shit up. I equip an arc throwers and medkits on support classes that have +3 movement and +3 medkits.

I use:

2 supports: one for scouting and capturing and one for medic duty

1 Heavy: for rocket shot and suppression

2 Assaults: For firepower

1 Sniper: For pure domination with squad sight, double tap, and archangel suit

I've been experimenting a bit with different combinations. I've replaced one assault soldier with a Hover Plasma SHIV and that thing is pretty fucking awesome. It can hover above enemies, suppress from the air, overwatch, and it does 11 damage with plasma SHIVs researched. Very handy handy unit and you can repair with arc throwers or just build another one if it gets scrapped.

@Ares42: I have been using one Heavy 2 Snipers and either 2 assaults and a support or two supports and an assault. my heavy is the demo man he blows up cover, lobs grenades, takes out densely packed units etc. My snipers hang back, i usually wait until all other moves are done before I finish my snipers' turns. At first I didn't like the sniper but at major and above they are really powerful. I am thinking about upgrading my pistols and doing a sniper only group. the supports are for battlefield emergencies but I use them like an assault class otherwise. Assaults push the front line forward. I try to keep a decent spread with heavy in the center ready to suppress or blow up something snipers on either wing and assaults\support in flanking positions. when done right I can take out any pack of enemies in a single turn. The only missions that gives me any trouble is the saving citizens missions with the insect looking baddies. I try to have a good mixed squad with one or two newbies and 4 to 5 powerhouses.

That's my tactics as for my strategy I go bigger badder weapons first. taking the enemy out is goal number 1. I also push for satellite coverage. When a nation is panicked being able to plop a satellite over them helps a ton. I keep spots open in my grid and satellites waiting so I can put a satellite down where it is going to reduce a seriously panicked nations um... panic. I also push for early defensive upgrades. the more defense you have the less likely you will have your powerhouses on the injured list.

Ok, I am a little angry at the game now. Had the command center of an UFO surrounded, and was smart enough to throw in that sniper thingy that shows what's in there. Saw an ethereal and an muton elite right behind the door. Thought I was being clever by throwing in a grenade to do some damage before they notice me. The grenade explodes, nothing happens. Alien turn starts, I get a little cut scene of the ethereal (why? not the first time I saw one) and unharmed, but now aware of my presence the ethereal moves out of the room and mind controls 3 of my dudes. By a miracle only one of my soldiers gets permanently killed and I manage to kill the ethereal with my trusty sniper, but that was just bullshit. Crap like this is not fun 20 hours deep into an ironman campaign.

Now I am wondering if this strategy can work, and that it was just the mandatory cutscene that screwed me up. Or should I never try to grenade guys that haven't seen me yet?

@jozzy: Using the sensor/grenade combo definitely works and dudes that haven't spotted you yet, I've done it. Were you trying to throw it down through a hatch? I've had the layers screw up on me a few times and a grenade that should have gone down a floor landed outside. It's pretty irritating. Aside from that, not sure what the issue might have been, that sounds like a pretty raw deal.

Arcs on heavies are a waste, especially 2 of them. Bring a max of 1 arc per mission and best to stick it on a support with extra inventory slots. Heavies tend not to have great aim, so either give them scopes or nanoweave armor. Or if they have an extra grenade perk a grenade, heavies can also get dmg and area bonuses to them.

Heavies have 3 main uses: suppression with holo targeting (and later mayhem) to pin down and debuf tough enemies making them miss and increasing your chance to hit with the rest for the squad. Area of Effect destruction, several rockets and grenades for either clumps of enemeis, or denying enemy cover. Finally they are beasts against all mechanical enemies.

Assault should be wearing either nanoweave armor or chrysalid armor as extra items. Their best use is a forward flanker. They are the both the forward meat shield and the tip of the spear. They fight best in up close with shotguns so every extra bit of protection serves as an insurance against a bad hit or a fuckup. A grenade is unnecessary due to assaults being able to flank via run and gun very easily.

My setup I'll just paste from another thread:

I have a basic rule of having at least one of each class as my base to work with. The other 2 slots are flexible to take one of some other class each. I never roll with 3 of a single class ever. Adopting a flexible approach means I'm used to all the basic variations on it and never out of my element with a weird squad setup.
Snipers are amazing precise long range killers, and later in the game become great (safe) scouts with stealth armor and sensor grenades (forgot the actual ability name). Get a leveled sniper the jetpack armor and they're wrathful gods, combine with a stealthed sniper and you have a 2 man team that will take out enemies before they even get their free turn to seek cover, which almost feels like cheating.
Heavies are there for massive area of effect damage when shit gets tough, or when you need to get rid of enemy cover, and their suppression has many synergies with other abilities and later on works great against certain types of enemies. Hitting a sectopod for 20 dmg non crit is hella nifty. Or the fact that suppression can become a guaranteed 6 points of damage (regardless of range or cover) on any mechanical on top of all it's debuffs and a later opportunity shot. Berserkers are funny to exploit with suppression as their counter move instantly triggers it.
Support are great at well support, eventual 10 point heals with 3 medpacks, 2 item slots, great mobility, and buffed up smoke grenades when you find yourself facing a nasty counterattack. I also frequently give them an arc thrower because of the extra slot and fast movement.
Assault are the rock solid front line, with their defense bonuses, hp buffs. Give these guys titan armor and chitin plating and you have dudes with more hp then a Muton Berserker. A Chrysalid will barely scratch them. Run and gun is the bread and butter of flanking with marmalade. Flank an enemy point blank and unload a double shotgun burst to the face, gg.

@TheSouthernDandy said:

@jozzy: Using the sensor/grenade combo definitely works and dudes that haven't spotted you yet, I've done it. Were you trying to throw it down through a hatch? I've had the layers screw up on me a few times and a grenade that should have gone down a floor landed outside. It's pretty irritating. Aside from that, not sure what the issue might have been, that sounds like a pretty raw deal.

Aah, good to know that tactic can actually work. Not sure what happened then, I guess it was the cutscene that the game needed to trigger for some inexplicable reason.

@Tennmuerti said:

Snipers are amazing precise long range killers, and later in the game become great (safe) scouts with stealth armor and sensor grenades (forgot the actual ability name). Get a leveled sniper the jetpack armor and they're wrathful gods, combine with a stealthed sniper and you have a 2 man team that will take out enemies before they even get their free turn to seek cover, which almost feels like cheating.

I got that jetpack suit not too long ago, and I don't understand it's use yet beside pretty good +health. I trigger the flight, but he still stays close to the ground and I can only move a couple of squares. I tried to get him up a train and couldn't do it, while my grapple guy could. Is there something I am missing, or do I just need to upgrade it?

For those wondering, my logic for putting the arc on the heavies is that my heavies have more armor and higher defense then the rest of my crew. So if they get hit by the guy I plan to capture it isn't as big of a deal because they are tougher.

@jozzy: Once your soldier is in the air, increase the elevation, then move the soldier, they will fly up.

(i had a bug happen during one mission when my soldier would not fly up for some reason, which might have happened to you)

@Tennmuerti said:

@jozzy: Once your soldier is in the air, increase the elevation, then move the soldier, they will fly up.

(i had a bug happen during one mission when my soldier would not fly up for some reason, which might have happened to you)

Aah yeah. The whole elevation thing works really flaky for me, so it wouldn't surprise me if that was the problem. I probably should switch to a controller. Also when grappling the camera goes totally bezerk when I try to do it with mouse, and sort of works when I try to place it with WASD. I can totally see a sniper flying high in the air with that elevation bonus perk and double tap dominating the field.

My setup after completing the game on Classic Ironman is as follows:

1 Heavy- Specialized in suppression. He had a grenade on him mostly for the guaranteed damage or cover destruction.

2 Supports- Both specialized in suppression and mobility. Smoke grenade was a neat utility but it is mostly about being where they need to be to fuck shit up with their plasma weapons and to deliver healing. When they got second items I gave them SCOPE for like 80+% accuracy at long range.

1 Assault- Specialized in getting in balls-deep and not dying while doing it. I felt like some of the critical strike bonuses were not useful if you were using a shotgun. Run and Gun up into point-blank range with an Alloy Shotgun and then using the double fire will have like 80+% accuracy and about that much critical chance and that will kill pretty much anything. Until I had no need for interrogations or weapons he had the Arc Thrower on and after that he had a Medkit so I didn't have to waste one on other dudes if he got banged up.

1 Sniper- Specialized in sitting still and killing everything. When I discovered the end boss and the cutscene played, he killed the end boss before the boss even had a turn to do anything. Easy.

1 Situational- This ended up being a mobile pistol-focused sniper because it was the only character I had with Psionic abilities at the end of the game, but at times it varied from being a Heavy or an Assault or just a blank Rookie slot to train soldiers up. Heavies in general are not great soldiers to have lots of unless it is a terror mission, as the lack of mobility is not as bad in urban environments, and suppression really helps in those situations.

I equipped all of these soldiers with Titan armor except my heavy, who I gave the Archangel armor. The grapple ability on the Skeleton suit is nice for early-mid game, but later on in the game you need to be able to absorb as much damage as possible. I used the Archangel armor to negate a lot of the heavy's mobility problems, and it makes his accuracy and ability to suppress much less restrictive.

Also as a general tip, it seems like most of the enemies in the game are asleep until you discover them. When Ethereals start to show up all I did was gather my squad around the 1-2 entrances to the room I knew was going to hold the Ethereal and waited. Once it was my turn I would open the doors and unless I got very unlucky they would be cleared out. I feel like once you got Plasma weapons Classic difficulty was almost a cakewalk.

@Undeadpool said:

@Seppli: Absolutely! I have a few minor complaints, but I've still poured ~20 hours into the game since getting it at launch (and that includes one all-day session which I haven't done since...Civ V) And I don't know that for a FACT, but I'm pretty sure since I only ever see people earn promotions after kills.

I think you do get some experience for having survived a mission. I had some rookies get promotions after a few missions with still no kills by them.

@Tennmuerti said:

@jozzy: Once your soldier is in the air, increase the elevation, then move the soldier, they will fly up.

(i had a bug happen during one mission when my soldier would not fly up for some reason, which might have happened to you)

I still don't understand the advantage to flight, though. I guess if there is a long tractor trailer or a building you want to get to the other side of, you can fly over it instead of going around it, but does it do anything else? I'm pretty sure the description explicitly says you don't get a defense bonus for flight (whereas Floaters do), and it doesn't seem to increase your movement that much? Do you get better sight range? Can you throw grenades farther because you're up in the air?

I've tried experimenting a little bit with flight, but I just don't see the point at all, so far.

@BisonHero:

Being up in the air does count as being in half-cover like a Floater does. I also think it gives you the normal benefits of being at a higher elevation. It also makes it so objects don't obstruct vision.

@Seppli said:

metagame-wise, this is how I roll...

infantry firepower >>> satellites >>> infantry survivability >>> airspace firepower >>> officer school >>> engineering >>> research

I'm curious to know how often people actually bother buying stuff for their interceptors. Maybe it's because I'm playing on normal, but it seems like you get about one interception or less per month (which seems ridiculously rare), and while it's risky, the base fighter with slightly improved weapons seems to be able to take down most things (though you may have to abort like 20% of the time).

And since the better fighter costs a bunch and all the good fighter weapons cost a bunch, it just seems like an oddly significant money sink for an event that NEVER seems to happen very often, even when you have satellites everywhere.

@BisonHero:

It's best for snipers with squad sight. Because then the elevation makes sure that nothing is obstructing your shot and any visible enemy can be shot at. You also get an elevation bonus for determining your own shots. Meaning that a flying leveled up sniper is like a finger of god killing everything in sight with their 100% to hit and 80-100% crit.

It makes you invulnerable to melee. It makes terrain and going around it a non issue thereby increasing mobility. A sniper can stay far enough away and not care about cover because of the extreme distance. Also enemies don't get a crit % chance increase like they do when you're out of cover or flanked (tho like the game says you do not get a cover bonus for % to hit against you). Also due to map size an archangel sniper can basically target and entire entire map with a single repositioning, meaning less wasted turns moving and more double tapping.

For extra lulz combine with a stealth suit sniper with sensor grenades, that can reveal enemies without triggering the alert state. Then you are basically killing enemies before they can even move or seek cover.

@Tennmuerti: It seems weird to me that both the Ghost suit and the Archangel suit are basically just aimed at making your sniper LOLZ BROKEN. Is everybody just decking out the other 3 class types with regular-ass armour?

@BisonHero:

They aren't really aimed at it. They just make an already powerful class more powerful with proper situational use. Get a mostly indoor map and the jetpack loses much of it's usefulness.

Stealth suit also works well for assault class because assault is usually your frontline anyway, so if they can double as scouts so much the better, or sneak up on enemies and unload some double shotgun love to the face at point blank range.

The flight suit also works well for havies, because heavies generally have shit aim, so the elevation bonus helps them out greatly in applying that juicy heavy plasma rifle fire. Heavies are also usually the slowest dude in your squad (assaults dash, support has a perk, and snipers are usually in lighter armor) so the extra mobility helps them keep up.

Sniper (Archangel, SCOPE) -Squad Sight and Double Tap

• - Find a spot that gives good line of sight for the whole map, preferably higher up. Use jetpack is necessary. Dude can take out just about anything in one turn with Double Tap, and Squad Sight allows him to weaken or open up spots in the enemy. Distance unit.

Assault (Ghost, SCOPE) -Lightning Reflexes and Close Combat

• - This unit can go almost anywhere. Through overwatch, on hanging platforms, or even deep in the middle of a group of enemies with stealth activated, though I tend to use it more for ambusehes than recon. Flank enemies, run up to their face or close enough and blast em to hell. If they survive and move toward you, Close Combat finishes them off. You can take out Berserkers with just this unit that way. Frontline/flanking unit.

Support (Titan, Med-kit, Vest) -Field Medic, Sprinter, and Savior

• - Heal, heal, heal. Light Plasma Rifle also gives this unit decent use damage wise. Middle unit.

Heavy (Titan, Alien Grenade) -Bullet Swarm and HEAT Ammo

• - This dude can take out a Sectopod in one turn. If you go for Grenadier and Rocketeer you can lay down some serious AOE or damage the environment for flanking. Frontline unit.

Optional Heavy (Titan, SCOPE) -Holo-Targeting, Suppression, Rapid Reaction, and Mayhem

• - First attacker on heavy troops to give bonus to other squadmates on aim. Also used for covering other units. Middle unit

Optional Support (Titan, SCOPE) -Covering Fire, Smoke and Mirrors, Dense Smoke, and Sentinel

• - Also used for covering other units by using overwatch and smoke grenades. Middle unit.

Be sure to have a good spread on your units and good cover in outside areas. Be careful to not get too carried away with trying to spread out and flank, because you might just find yourself encountering more enemy squads doing so. So instead of fighting one easy squad of Mutons you're fighting 3 squads and they're goddamn everywhere.

In tight quarters, move carefully, use overwatch, and be ready to hunker down and pop smokes. Don't be afraid to blow a hole in the wall if you need to get the fuck out, too. And for goodness sake be careful which square you select for movement. Maneuvering the games movement grid inside larger UFOs can be downright unfuriating, so rotate the camera and make sure you're moving where you want and somewhere way off that of course happens to be in the middle of a group of Muton Elites.

@endaround said:

@Undeadpool said:

@Seppli: Absolutely! I have a few minor complaints, but I've still poured ~20 hours into the game since getting it at launch (and that includes one all-day session which I haven't done since...Civ V) And I don't know that for a FACT, but I'm pretty sure since I only ever see people earn promotions after kills.

I think you do get some experience for having survived a mission. I had some rookies get promotions after a few missions with still no kills by them.

I definitely hope that's true.

I think your set up early game is really dependent on who your rookies get specked into. After that you can take a rookie with you into the field if you want to level him up int something I had no snipers for the longest time ( and oddly enough 20 guys and no women )

@BisonHero said:

@Seppli said:

metagame-wise, this is how I roll...

infantry firepower >>> satellites >>> infantry survivability >>> airspace firepower >>> officer school >>> engineering >>> research

I'm curious to know how often people actually bother buying stuff for their interceptors. Maybe it's because I'm playing on normal, but it seems like you get about one interception or less per month (which seems ridiculously rare), and while it's risky, the base fighter with slightly improved weapons seems to be able to take down most things (though you may have to abort like 20% of the time).

And since the better fighter costs a bunch and all the good fighter weapons cost a bunch, it just seems like an oddly significant money sink for an event that NEVER seems to happen very often, even when you have satellites everywhere.

Later on when you're up against the burlier UFOs, the standard fighters straight up don't cut it. They either die or the ship escapes. I for the life of me couldn't do shit with the standard jets and avalanche missiles against an Overseer UFO. Boosting time, aim, or dodge were a waste since the thing either downs my aircraft or escapes with barely a scratch. I thought maybe the damage would carry through into other encounters, and tried using two other Interceptors immediately after and both weren't up to task.

I tried again with a Firestorm and EMP cannon and the thing went down in two hits. After upgrading almost all of my ships to Firestorms with EMP cannons, just about every UFO goes down in one hit, while a few need another zap. Both my Firestorm and the UFO take minimal damage too.

Let it be known that a fully upgraded Sniper with the Archangel Suit is stupid good. Not so much on levels where you have to enter a UFO but any exterior levels you just boost as high up as you can go and with Advanced Flight upgraded you can pretty much just sit up their and rain holy hell on everything below. If you have Squad Sight you're almost firing across the entire map. I have two Snipers, one has Double Tap and the other has In The Zone so they're getting multiple shots a round, 100% accuracy with Plasma Snipers. Anything below Elite Mutons drop like flies.

I roll with:

-2 snipers

-2 assault

-1 heavy

-1 support medic

For me the key was those 2 snipers.

4 Colonel Assaults with all Defensive Focused Traits and Defense Item (Chitin)

1 Colonel Sniper with Scope

1 Colonel Support with Med-Kit and Defense

My general strategy is to use simultaneous Run and Gun/Double-Fire combo Assault combo to clear each wave. The Sniper and the Support stay in the back while the Assault tear shit up. I rarely lose anyone (All characters I have now were recruited during the first month). I equip an Arc Thrower during special missions on a couple of the assaults in order to capture new aliens. I've tried bring a heavy along but they're usually pretty inaccurate and explosives are rarely worth it due to low dmg compared to the higher echeleon shotgun and the loss of dropped items.