How many lives does it take to save the world?

I am not afraid to admit that I am still learning this game, so hopefully asking these questions will help myself and anyone else who stumbles upon it.

I did a search on the forum, but didn't find the answers I was looking for.

How many soldiers do you usually keep? Logic dictates that you'd have at least one full dropship at each base, but I know from reading the forums this is actually counterproductive. So, do the resident masters of the game only have a full dropship at the main base? How many soldiers do you keep in reserve(if any) for base defense or deaths? Do you only have soldiers in reserve at your main base?

I know the best defense against a base attack is interceptors, but what if all of your interceptors are grounded or chasing other UFOs? The AA guns are not guaranteed to stop an attack.

What happens if your base is taken by the aliens Are you able to liberate from the aliens? If you are do you lose the contents of your storeroom, are all scientists/engineers gone, are any structures destroyed?

Thank you to everyone for any help you can give(or have given in other advice threads) and I hope you enjoyed my click bait title.

I'm hardly an expert player of Xenonauts, but I try to have two dropships from mid-game with overall 20+ soldiers (dropship crew plus some reserve for rotating them in as replacments for guys in hospitals/losses) ready.

Works for me, but seems it's also related to difficulty? Dunno if you can afford that much on the highest level (which I didn't try yet)....

I keep a rotating group of 30+ at my main base - this helps to plug gaps following a disasterous mission and I always have healthy soliders goign into the dropship.

I'm not sure what you're asking in your second question but in your third if you loose a base defence, you loose the base with everything in it.

I know the best defense against a base attack is interceptors, but what if all of your interceptors are grounded or chasing other UFOs? The AA guns are not guaranteed to stop an attack.

So, keeping a fairly high number of soldiers in reserve in your main base is acceptable, but you don't keep any at your other bases? Do you place AA guns in your other bases or in your main base? How many is usually suitable?

In vanilla, a base attack is so rare that I don't bother with either. Then again, I always wait when a wave occurs for all the ufos to appear. The ufo tasked with a base attack will reveal itself fairly quickly and I pounce on that first.

Good to know, thank you. I'm using the XCE, does that make base attacks more likely?

No... there's a 20 day minimum between each base attack attempt.

I'm still a newbie, I'm on my second playtrough, after getting into a really tight situation in the first one due to horrible management (still keep the save as a future challenge), but I think I'm starting to get an idea of how to manage my base.

The dropships can reach anywhere in the world, so I don't see the point in dividing my soldiers. I use my first base as the headquarters and the others as outposts with the bare minimum of max radars and 2 flights of planes. I have a max of 25 soldiers because of the setup I've chosen (there's no room for more), I usually just keep a few on reserve and watch the hire list every now and then to pick up promising recruits. If I'm doing well they pile up, If not, I might have to lower my standards to keep at least one full team on reserve at any time.

As an afterthought... a second dropship would be very useful just in case your other one gets intercepted.

I think as long as you use charlies speed is also a prob - with two on different bases you might cover more missions (since they disappear after a while, so're gone if you don't arrive in time). Of course, it's less important with andvanced, faster ships. Or in general if you just airstrike those further away.

I think as long as you use charlies speed is also a prob - with two on different bases you might cover more missions (since they disappear after a while, so're gone if you don't arrive in time). Of course, it's less important with andvanced, faster ships. Or in general if you just airstrike those further away.

IDK if they last less time on the harder difficulties or with the mods that make the game harder, but I've had no problems waiting over half a day to get a good time window to send a 24+ hours of travel time charlie on normal.

I usually save after dealing with a wave of UFOs and send my dropship to either to the largest crash,if there one isn't larger I'll pick one in an area that has lower funding. After that site has been cleared I try to clear at least one more crash site on the return trip. If one of the crash sites disappear, I'll go back to the most recent save and airstrike whichever ones I can't get to.