Squad composition

[thothkins]

interesting Gromitek. I've found having shotguns as back up in the short time I've played this build to be very useful too. I've been keeping the snipers back to fire into the UFO, so hadn't tried them out with shotguns.

[lemm]

Usually

2 Assault

3 Riflemen

1 Sniper

1 Bazooka

1 Machinegun

If I have a vehicle, get rid of 1 assault and 1 machinegun

If I'm attacking a base, change sniper to rifleman

If it's an early game terror mission, 8 bazookas.

[ViniJones]

Hmm, Ive never used a rocket launcher... Im scared itd be as useless as frag grenades.

I dont use vehicles either, can someone testify theyre actually worth the tons of money?

19.7

Im using more combinations, I find it doesnt really matter, so long as you play smart lol. 19.6 had carbines, those were cool, but I dont find shotguns either reliable or safe(I get reaction-fired with those a lot, while lmgs suppress on occassion)

Charlie 1: 4lmg 2riflemen 2snipers

Charlie 2: 1lmg 6riflemen 1sniper(Ive tried it in 19.7 insane, Waladil and it works...)

When I got shrikes and more bases shit got confused, I also found heavies in predator the only real answer to base missions, thats why I trained 4 heavies at start, you can always add riflemen, but heavies need TUs.

Everyone has a stun baton in case aliens get in your face, which they tend to do(only sebillians did this on 19.6, now all of them do)

Edit: In my 2 playthroughs I didnt get a single terror mission... can the aliens no longer start them with invisible UFOs? I remember I shot down every single one in 19.6 and still got a few terror missions.

Edited August 27, 2013 by ViniJones

[Xintrosi]

I'm one of those people that purposely overloads his troops to make them stronger. Under my regimen they all have 80 strength by the time they hit commander. I also value flexibility; I don't want one soldier's death to mean I'm without a medic/grenadier.

1 Rocketeer - All rockets all the time. Sub in 3 or 4 Stun rockets if I feel like less collateral damage is in order.

2 LMG - LMG, 2 clips, 2 of every grenade type, Stun Baton, and maybe other misc to get as close to weight limit as is viable. No Medkit. First class I give Wolf Armor to. Tend to sub as Beaters.

2 Sniper - Sniper Rifle, 2 clips, 2 or 3 of every grenade, Stun baton, and Med Kit. I may drop 'nades to not be overweight, but I'll be right under the limit.

3 Riflemen - Rifle, 2 Clips, 3 of Every grenade, Med Kit and Stun Baton.

I'm considering dropping frags because I don't ever use them and replacing them with more awesome smoke 'nades. I assault ships by switching to stun batons, smoking the entrance and then flashing the aliens in preparation for my headlong charge to beat down them down. Bases are more complicated, but smoke is still key.

When I upgrade dropships, I make the newbies strength/endurance train in a cleared corner. Until their strength and/or TUs are up, they're useless to me.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Xintrosi

[ViniJones]

I use smokes a lot in 19.7 too, good stuff.

I'm one of those people that purposely overloads his troops to make them stronger. Under my regimen they all have 80 strength by the time they hit commander.

Im always right under the limit, the overencumberance is an interesting idea, ill try that.

When I upgrade dropships, I make the newbies strength/endurance train in a cleared corner. Until their strength and/or TUs are up, they're useless to me.

Yea TUs below 80 are quite useless.

[GizmoGomez]

My solution would be to hire people from the start and cycle them out, so you train them all more evenly. That's what I've been doing.

[OndieJ]

Running with a vehicle and 6 men... 3 snipers, 2 heavy, 1 assault. The assault guy wields a pistol and even though I haven't had any luck with it I still use the combat shield and the vehicle is the main rangefinder with the heavies moving around using that vehicle as cover. Snipers are there to do most of the damage with supressing the enemy so the heavies can pop out and unload.

Only played early game so far but I've found I do much better with snipers and once the enemy has been seen from a greater distance using them to blast away.

[crusherven]

I actually take a lot of rocket launchers. My snipers, LMG's, and shotguns all carry one in their backpack. Even the original rocket is good for destroying cover, it's lethal if it hits, and suppresses on near misses.

[ViniJones]

I actually take a lot of rocket launchers. My snipers, LMG's, and shotguns all carry one in their backpack. Even the original rocket is good for destroying cover, it's lethal if it hits, and suppresses on near misses.

An interesting concept. Ive tried this and I can tell you that on insane, the rockets are not lethal. The cover that rockets destroy can be done away with lmgs, while the rocks that lmgs cant break in a tenday(thats the cover that really bugs me btw, not the crates and stuff that breaks quickly), need like 3 rockets to break. So its much easier to flank the focker.

That said, Ive sometimes encountered 2-3 bastards hold up in a building. Cursing I took no rocket launchers. So yes, I now take one as a secondary, just one or two though.