Just started game. My soldiers die in one hit, HELP

[todd77]

I just started the game, and I went on my first mission. My soldiers have armour but they get killed so easily after one hit. Stimpaks run out and green gas drains their health. How do I survive this slaughter?

[GalacticOrigins]

The early part of the game is very hard. Try using the Tank for recon and combat. Stay behind it and use the missile launchers! Be careful against the Fighter craft as they have more aliens to fight. Do not group up your soldiers too tightly, but make certain they operate together. Then, move slowly so you can react to enemies that come into range. Remember, aliens have greater sight range. Also, do not go out at night until you are much better trained.

[todd77]

ok thanks. I noticed when my guys get hit they turn gray and have a red p+ hospital sign. Does this mean they are dead or unconcious till I take them to the base for healing? And I thought the frankenmod makes the soldiers able to die...how is the icon different when they are dead? Just wondering so I know what their status is

[GalacticOrigins]

I am not certain about that mod. If you have the red + sign, then as long as you win the mission you should will get your soldiers back. They will go to the hospital for many days. Again, this is standard without a mod and I do not know how that mod works.

[hdm7k]

When they have the red + sign they are injured. If you quickly win, they will live to fight another day. But if they are badly hurt (with the mods) then they can bleed to death and die if you take too long to win. When they die the red + goes away.

I research for the medkit almost before anything else as I play with the death option. With the medkit, I'll run over and fix the critical hits (with the medkit) on ANY injured trooper and then if allowed I will fix the regular injuries with the stimkits. (The stimkits can be bought while the medkits take up workshop space.) After a round of alien contact, I'll check each trooper (lower left corner, critical injuries show up as a red number) as he/she might have been hit but not yet fallen down. I've not yet studied the advantages of the advanced medkit's more injury healing vs the cost/workshop time to see if it is more cost-effective. (Yeah, I sound like a government bean counter but this game is about resource management.)

In the early game the tank is very necessary as it has more armor than the men. But you have to let the guys have shots and kills or they don't get combat exp to level up. I use it to open up the map, spot the prey, and draw reaction fire before the men take shots. Tanks are expendable since they get little (if any) combat exp.

Moving the guys on the map: I usually try to leave them crouched at the end of the turn with at least 1 snap shot remaining to them. Crouching gives an additional +10% chance to hit at a cost of 6 action points (3 down, 3 up) and in the early game is SO helpful.

And yes, plan your combats so that you are out in the daytime, it's easier on our RL eyes. Even in daytime, always detail at least one guy to cover your six. Way too many times I've had an alien come out of "god knows where" and start trying to goose my guys in the butt. In one fight the six-man got 5 kills, the rest of the team tossed him a party for his efforts. [:)]

I've gotten into the habit that after a round of shooting, I'll pause a turn or two in case there are more aliens right behind that wave that just came in. Better to be crouching with 2 or 3 reaction shots than to be screaming in terror.

In the current game I started all my guys with rifles, no rockets. My thought was that the auto-shot from the rifle would "potentially" give more hits (and thus exp) than the one-shot kill from the rocket (assuming it hits). So far, it seems to be working. I'm continuing with this theme by only bothering to make those weapons that can auto-fire.

As a side note, I had three rookies that were hanging around when I finally achieved the ability to point the plasma pistols properly. (I apparently lost a lot of researchers that kept holding it backwards, I guess.) It was a bad three months with 4 terror raids (amongst other crap) so they weren't allowed out of kindergarden. So I handed them plasma pistols and 5 reloads and sent them out with a laser chaperone PFC. Those three rookies shot the place up, even managing to hit the aliens a few times. The tank learned real quick to hide behind the aliens... [:D]

Howard