Strategy guide

[Hobbes]

You just have to accept losing soldiers and missions. Losing a team doesn't lose you the game. (Unless it's the first mission. Or, presumably, the last.)

 

*shrug* no different to UFO:EU in that regard.

 

And above all, it's necessary to learn when to retreat to a safer position or even pull out of a mission, if you started on a bad location and completely surrounded with aliens. It took me about 30 games of Classic Ironman before I learned how to cut my losses.

 

It takes a lot of quick thinking and adaptation - you're used to completely dominate the battlefield with your newest armour and weapons - but when you face new aliens that overconfidence and bravado can get you killed since you'll be facing the same situation on the beginning of the game when 1 shot can kill any of your soldiers.

[Thorondor]

Some quick tips for aspiring Commanders are now up at Armchair General here.

[Hobbes]

Some quick tips for aspiring Commanders are now up at Armchair General here.

 

Nice article but he has something incorrect IMO: "The XCOM AI will, nine times out of ten, only fire at the closest soldier the enemy can see."

 

While it's true, this applies first, at least on Classic: "The XCOM AI will, nine times out of ten, fire at the soldier with the lowest/zero cover the enemy can see."

 

The AI looks for the better odds for kills - it doesn't matter if the unit is close or not. It knows how important skilled soldiers are to you...

[Space Voyager]

Very true.

[Knan]

Real pain when the aliens run right up to your cover and for sure and certain blows you away. (And hilarious when they miss _their_ 99% shot once in a while.)

[Hobbes]

Real pain when the aliens run right up to your cover and for sure and certain blows you away. (And hilarious when they miss _their_ 99% shot once in a while.)

 

I'm getting used to CI but one of the most stressful situations is when you start fighting more than 1 pack of Mutons at the same time - you don't want to be on the receiving end of a Muton Blitzkrieg: first one of them does Blood Call giving all in range a +10 Bonus in Will/Aim and +4 Movement; then another throws a grenade to blow your cover and the rest charge you - it's a pleasure and a pain to see the AI play so well in these occasions.

[Space Voyager]

Got utterly fed up with the search for psy soldiers. Than I changed the strategy. Hired a lot of rookies and only kept the ones with will 50 and over. Those are good for testing, the rest are a waste of time.