Xcom, very late to the party

[Dry]

Wow, this is an old game. But this was a game I loved.

Let start with early research (I'll try to avoid spoilers and talk only about what was already discussed here previously).

Yes, go for laser tech first. Try to get rid of the old technology rifles asap and research and produce laser rifles for every man of your team.
No ammo means more space for other stuff like grenades (useful early on).
Do not try anything bigger than a small ship, or any terror mission without laser weapons.
Plasma guns will be your next weapon technology, but in the meantime, you are safe with lasers.

Medikits and movement detectors come next.

My team organization:
2 with handguns
12 with rifles.
No heavy weapons.
The only exception to this might well be at the very beginning of the game, before I get lasers. I might use a few (2-4) heavy gunners.

Everybody gets a gun, 1 ammo and 1 grenade.

The handgunners are the scouts for inside the ship (high reaction). They carry 1 extra ammo and maybe flares (for the outside part, just in case). Later, they'll be carrying movement detectors. They enter the spaceship first, after someone else has opened the door. They turn corners, use elevators, enter new rooms first... Remember: have some other idiot opening the door.
The 4 best shooters of the team are my killers. They travel light : 1-2 extra ammo. Always keep enough action points for them for opportunistic fire. They won't go on scouting. The team progression on the field is paced on them.
The 4 best throwers carry 1-2 extra grenades.
The 4 worst team members with no qualifications gets... flares. They help scouting the area (outside), they serve as cannon fodder, door openers...

Each female member also gets a medikit, so I know immediately who carries one.

I split them on the field in 2 independent teams, so if one gets stuck or killed, the other one still has a chance.

[Dis]

good question you made me think of. How is the reaction stat used in the battlefield? Being turn based, I really have no idea.

And about med kits. Are they useful? Often the aliens just kill me in one shot anyways. Perhaps maybe they will reduce the wounded time of my guys (which is considerable).

[Garth Vader]

If a guy has enough time units left at the end of his turn and good enough reactions he will sometimes take a shot if he sees an alien moving on their turn.

Note: Don't try to use this with guys who have crappy accuracy, or rocket launchers, or both!

Med Kits can save lives, and reduce injured time.

[Lord Avalon]

For opportunity fire, assuming a soldier with RX of 45+ (high 40, 50+ preferable - IIRC most of the aliens are too fast for mid-40s to get an opportunity fire chance), I would click the autofire button, so I don't spend too many TUs, and also try to make sure I have enough left for single shot and hopefully kneeling. If they're also strong, I may or may not have them carry an autocannon, and if they do, I would make sure they have clear field of fire. And also not trying for op fire if an alien might pop up at close range.

Also by firing any soldiers of low bravery - 10, 20 and when I get enough braver ones, also 30 (or at least they stay in base) - you reduce the chances of panic. (Of course, if you have high casualties, even brave troops could panic. )

If you don't have armor yet, medikits may not get used in their primary function, as a soldier shot by an alien is most likely KIA; however, they can provide weight for strength training. And eventually you'll have armor, and therefore wounded to treat.

[Dis]

ahh, I wondered why sometimes they didn't seem to opportunity fire. I thought they always got a shot. hmm. I have very little room left in the name field to put an extra stat though lol.

gonna fire it up right now.

[El_Cid]

.................. I'm still not sure if I'll go with a tank. I like to improve my troops. but then again, there are only so many promotions you can get (based on the total number of troops). Your skills don't raise unless they go up in rank. But you pretty much need a tank on the aliens who cause panic/bezerk in your troops I think. That's what I needed on that terror mission.

Actualy Dis your troops skills do improve outside of just promotions. Every succesfull action you take gives that skill a chance to go up some(shoot an alien, your accuracy will go up/throw a greande that kills an alien your throwing skill will go up etc).

One advantage of using a numeric naming system is that you need to go back and change the numbers quite often after each mission, this will let you see that you progress probably more than you thought.

Tanks are great bits of kit - use them as scouts on normal missions(they dont have to shoot - just spot for your guys) and they have very usefull destructive power on Terror missions

[Lord Avalon]

Tanks are good to have, especially early on, when it's hard to come up with 10 good soliders. And second them as scouts.

Plus I like to shoot rockets and blow stuff up - especially stuff that conceals aliens: hedges, walls, buildings. And the explosions make some smoke. (Though I think the game can handle only so many squares of smoke.)

[Dis]

forgot to ask. Do alien alloys have a use later on, or can I sell it? I had to sell some as I was running low on cash. I know not to sell Elerium, though I'm starting to accumulate lots of it now. My cash situation has improved. April was a real bad month (due to not doing terror missions), but May was much improved. I still have more expenses than income, but my manufacturing isn't doing too bad, along with lots of alien stuff to sell.

Did my first terror mission in may. Without a tank even (for some reason the HWP shells wouldn't load onto my tank ) I'm not convinced I need a tank. Long as I don't have a string of bad luck that causes panic... (more on that later). Think I only lost 2 guys on that terror mission, 7 civilians killed, 8 saved, and 1 live lizard man recovered- good score.

I did get lazy on a small ufo landing mission. I figured there was only 1 alien left in the center room. I sent troops in without proper backup and/or cover fire. Then I was only doing snap shots. Those 2 aliens picked my guys off one by one. I think sectoids get better later in the game (maybe they have armor), as one heavy plasma shot couldn't kill them. And they have lots of movement. They wasted like 5 of my 14 guys before I got the last one. Should have been an easy mission with only 1 or 2 losses. I did notice bravery skill actually increased on one of my men! I guess panicing does something lol.

It doesn't seem like skills increase unless they go up in level, I never see the bar extend. I don't bother renaming unless they go up in rank. I'll leave the original first name followed by fa61,st25,br30. Something like that. I don't put in stamina, reaction time, or throwing accuracy usually. If they make squaddie or above I'll take out their first name and put in Sq or Sgt.

As for grenades I just don't like them (I tried keeping a couple guys with decent throwing accuracy but low firing accuracy). I primed the grenade, but then it says I cannot throw to the area I want to throw (despite having the alien spotted). So then I'm stuck with a live grenade. It doesn't seem to go off till next turn anyways. And they often move. I prefer blaster launchers But I'm a ways away from researching that. One time the grenade went off killing two of my guys . The second time I was able to toss it before it went off.

OK now a base is located in India. It's now June 1st. Should I go for it? I can't remember how hard base missions are. I just lost 7 guys to that previous mission mentioned above, so alot of my troops in my Russia base are rookies and squaddies. And I have no tank there. Most have heavy plasma, and a couple laser rifles, and one rocket launcher. No armor yet. Should I do it?

[Alinestra Covelia]

To get the HWP shells to load in, you have to buy enough of them to fill up the tank entirely. I seem to recall it's something like 30 or 40 rounds? But yes, you must have at least one full magazine in the tank, or for some reason the tank will just go in without any ammo at all.

[Dinner]

I remember playing XCOM UFO defense back in high school so I'd say LotM is very late to the party.

[EPW]

Anyone played UFO: alien invasions?

[Dis]

K I'm going to try this base invasion. There's always reload if it goes badly.

[Alinestra Covelia]

I'm in the middle of one. Those damn mind control freaks always get me.

[Quillan]

Dis, alien allow does have a use, though it's not nearly as important as Elerium, and you can manufacture more if you need it. Later in the game you'll be able to make alien tech items, the most important of which is the ship designs. Those will require a lot of alien tech including a bunch of alloy. Pretty much everything alien can be manufactured by you after you research it. The one exception I remember is Elerium, as it does not exist on earth. What you find is all you ever get. Try not to blow up the power plants on the alien ships if you can.

[Dis]

Base missions are pretty easy. Though first one I lost 11 guys. 3 or 4 due to them getting ready to ascend into the control room. A grenade got me. It's tough at this stage of the game as you still want to have backup and cover fire, but they are starting to use grenades and blaster launchers now. And soon there will be mind control.

Second base mission I only lost 2 guys. And last terror mission I only lost 1 guy.

At this stage of the game it gets easier. It's months 2 through 5 that are kinda hard. It's pretty easy now. But the final push is difficult iirc. Lots of mind control and large/extra large ships. I haven't seen that yet. And invading my base. I hate that.

And yeah alien alloy I'm using to build personal armor right now. 4 pieces, so requires a decent amount. I sold some a while back as I was short on cash, but now I accumulate it. Cash isn't too much a problem now.

Soon will be the final push. I'm up to the point of researching alien leaders now. Though I still need the space suit thingies and spacecraft.