What does this guide cover?

1. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ up.

Thats it. Got it? Pop quiz! What does this guide cover? If you answered, "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ up", you are correct and one step closer to claiming victory.

Now what does the verb phrase '♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ up' include?

1. Armory
2. Formations
3. Offense
4. Defense
5. Not being scared of the dark (Night missions)
6. Asserting dominance (Taking a base)
7. Protecting yo ♥♥♥♥ (Fending off an alien attack on a country)

Easy enough? Good. I will try to make this as quick and easy as possible.

Also note that this will be updated over time as my attention span is not high enough to make a detailed piece.

Now, lets begin with the basics.



Start by clicking the Veteran button. Because we ain't about that weak normal mode ♥♥♥♥. We are here for a fair fight, and they need all the help they can get. (But you can hit normal or insane if you'd like.)



Then you put your base next to Cairo.



Hire all of your scientists and then make them work on the Interceptor and Rifle. Why rifle? Cause you ganna die quick, and the rifle tech gets you to your first set of armor.

From there, I advise you look up the entire tech tree.

Lets begin with my personal rule of thumb, classes don't really matter a whole lot. Any rifleman can have a machinegun and any sniper can have a shotgun. Most units will have the strength (At least until you have enough armor for everyone) to hold their weapon of choice and a spare for them situational need bes.

Rifles-Your most common weapon. Not much really needs to be mentioned about it other than its burst fire which is most effective at 1-4 squares away. Being so accurate when aimed down, don't be too afraid to put this and a couple of mags in any units backpack.

Pistols-Not too great but not useless. Hand them out to your shields and your weaker rocketeers. Uses very little TU to use and it is very light weight, making it a nice side arm when you need all the men you have to storm a ship after losing a few. I have at least 2 among my 8 holding one in their packs on any given mission.

Shotguns-A very under-rated gun as far as I've seen on the forums. Very high damage at close range and a great Hail Marry for your the units with high TU to pray to. Use with caution! If you send a guy with a shotty into the sights of 2 or 3, they WILL die without proper protection. Give this weapon to units with high TU, as to run in, shoot, and run out. A perfect side-arm to anyone but your designated sniper.

Machineguns-A commonly used loadout to your higher strength units. Not much explanation needed other than its spread. DO NOT, under -m-any circumstances, have -m-any, if any, units in front of someone firing this weapon. They can and will be murdered.

Shields-It's a shield. It blocks, it breaks, and if you are not prepared, will leave a corpse or a useless pistol guy who cowers behind everyone with a real gun. Anyone with a shield needs to be unloved and equiped with an extra weapon in their packs, no exceptions. Don't get them killed for no reason though. They are amazing cover for the 2 units behind them and should be the ones used for spotting long ranged targets for your snipers.

Sniper Rifles-The best gun-type in the game. Hand them out like candy to any good unit with about 64 or higher ACC. Best used by high ACC-high TU to efficiently deal cluck-tons of damage from a distance. Having 2 snipers on your team is almost a must. The only enemy of a sniper, sadly, is terrain. And that brings us to my most love weapon of all-

Rocket launchers!-Have you ever wanted to do away with multiple mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ at once? How about a single mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥? Maybe the broad side of a barn is impairing you and your buddies ability to kill a mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥? Than the rocket launcher is for you! Hand this puppy to your stronger units, rifleman and snipers preferably. Units who primarily use this weapon (although many disagree with even having a full-fledged rocketeer) do not need to be too accurate in their shots, although terrain should be taken into account when other units are in the potential ♥♥♥♥-up range if it hits something closer. Given that it can fire stun gas and that you will almost never use more than 3 shots, go nuts. The only fall-back to this weapon is its TU cost to fire as well as reload. If you are a stingy player who wants ALL the loot, fire the stun gas at any non-robotic enemies.

-Also not that the TU cost of shooting a weapon is determined by the soldier's max TU.-

Your choices of secondary equipment is just as important as your primary. Do not let a single unit go into battle without being armed to the teeth in grenades and med-kits.

Med-kits-They are med-kits. I should not have to explain these past the fact that they cure bleeding. At the very least, 4 units should have one in any given party. Units get shot. Units will bleed. And sometimes, they bleed while being shot at and won't be able to run to cover and heal all by their lonesome. If a unit is shot and is bleeding, have them run back behind everyone else and have someone else heal them.

Flash Grenades-Use to supress every mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥ in the room before you send anyone in to shoot them. Other then that, not the best.

Smoke Grenades-Cover in a can! Useless VS lizard-people! Nuff said!

Regular Grenades-Not all that great before you upgrade them. Dangerous if your pitcher ♥♥♥♥♥ up and only throws it a square in front of him. Oh! They also explode!

Stun Grenades-A must have for every unit on your squad. Disables any non-robotic character, allies included, for the match. It has a number of utilities besides capturing units for research. Basicly kills enemies, and will save the lives of the wounded or misplaced. Do not be afraid to use it to save a unit that you just sent to their death.

Baton-"Useless and dangerous." said me of a few days ago, and let me tell you, boy was I wrong. Not far off, but still wrong. Giving it a bit more of a chance, I reccomend handing this to your high TUs and your Shield guys as for rushing downed UFOs. Preferably in a UFO's second room, the ones with a lot less in the way and usually a lot less resistance. It seems to take about 1-4 hits, and the only circumstance I would ever use this is against the Robits, or against enemies in smoke(Lizards see through smoke) or already suppressed so they can't immediately kill you for trying something so risky. And even then, it should be with a damn good second attack from your other men. But personally, I still find the risk for its reward far from worth it.

C4-Not to be mistaken for his brother, C3. C4 can blow up terrain and ♥♥♥♥. And if your plan to throw it, put an extra turn on it in case the pitcher ♥♥♥♥♥ up. Also, explodes.

I won't spend a great deal of time on this.

Low TU -> Rifleman or shield
High TU -> Anything you want, babeh! Shotgun preferably.

Low HP -> Sniper or Shield
High HP -> Anything you want, sweet cheeks!

Low STR -> Lighter secondary weapons and no heavy weapon primaries.
High STR -> Machine guns and rockets and armored units. Also allows your sniper to have their rockets so they can shoot what blocks their shots.

Low ACC -> Rockets and Shotguns and Shields
High ACC -> Snipers or Rifleman

RFL=Ability to counter-attack

Low BRV -> Don't have this.

I'm sure at one point in your life you have heard something along the lines of, "To best know your enemy, you must first learn yourself." You know, like in those kung fu movies. Well this is a lot like that. Except, believe it or not, you have the advantage.

Think about your weapons and what they are good/bad at.

*The pistol allows for low TU shots with poor accuracy and low damage. Allowing for more movement and a single well placed shot or a series of well placed shots with no movement.
*The rifle is your typical rifle. We usually use it to fire a single shot down range with good accuracy, but without the TU, the accuracy dramatically falls. Alternatively we can fire a 3 shot burst with poor accuracy and another poorly aimed shot, but that leaves very little room to move.
*Snipers are self explanatory. A sniper will mostly try to fire one extremely accurate shot as well as try top find an elevated location for extended range.
*Shotguns are only good at close range.
*Gatling guns and rockets use almost all of our TU and leaves only a few steps to position but allow for ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ up. Gatling guns are also the best way to suppress an enemy and force them to deal with far less TU.


Now why does this matter? Well, in short, our rules extend to the enemy. The only difference between you and those filthy aliens, believe it or not, is that they have visual indications of what they are good at and we have the power of numbers and sure strategies.

So lets go over how we handle each type of weapon.

Rifles/Snipers-
1. Gatling guns can be used to suppress them to force less accurate shots while your men fire down range with greater accuracy.
2. Flanking them with 1-3 men to take care of them effectively at close range while staying out of their line of sight.
3. Against snipers especially; advance from cover to cover, prioritizing movement to garanteed cover like walls, vans, tanks and tall hay bails.

Shotguns/Pistols-
1. Long range.
2. Shot guns.

Gatling guns-
1. Pull a corner or have them run to the door and open it. As I've noticed, enemies equipped with gatling guns typically run after you and forcing them to burn TU on their move allows you to attack without fear of counter attacks as you prepare an ambush. Keep tabs on them, as they might advance into a range that they can open your door and ♥♥♥♥ you up.

Rockets-
1. This one is tricky. If you are FORCED to advance on enemies equipped with rockets, make sure there are as many barricades between you and their shot to give them the most possibilites to ♥♥♥♥ up.
2. Go the other way.


"But aren't you neglecting our favorite loveable purple alien?"
No, he gets his own ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ public service announcement.

Xenomorphs have stupid amounts of TU, can one shot you, able to jump over barricades and everything they get their dirty impregnating stingers on becomes another one of the bastards. The only warning you get is the disturbing sound they make when they get shot or kills something in hidden movement.

They are, however, relatively easy to kill and the ones that they infect are not full fledged until they are shot.

In the event they are in the mission I advise a few things:
1. Find Jesus.
2. Have you heavy gunner watch your back.
3. Move as a group with EVERYONE close together, crouched, and with reserved TU for their shots.

Some things to note about these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥:
*Smoke grenades decrease their accuracy
*Crouching decreases their accuarcy
*Infected should be dealth with AFTER the host. Infected will only run up and bat you, hosts will 1 shot and infect you.
*Suppressing is your second best option as opposed to killing/burning/detonating.
*They can't infect a tank car.

Alrighty, lets talk about blind shooting...I mean free aiming. Ever get the feeling that if you shoot your machine gun blindly in a direction you might hit something? Click your weapon box and it will allow you to freely aim at any tile or piece of terrain.

It is wise to use such a thing with rockets and such to get the most bodies for your boom. This is also how you can use medpacks, but be sure to click on the wounded person, not their tile or any other tile or object as you will heal said tile or misc. object and cry.

Snipers can also utilize this to fire at an enemy out of sight with the same accuracy as firing upon an enemy you can see. Whether you miss or not isn't effected by the fog of war, just accuracy in general.

You may have come to this guide with the pre-made assumption that you should avoid night missions at all cost, and I'll admit, air-striking rather than losing valuable, half-retarded soldiers to a bad decision would be wise. But here? Well, we ain't about that weak ♥♥♥♥. No sir-ee-bobby, we are not about that weak ♥♥♥♥. Not me, not my men, and not all of their many fallen allies who so GRACIOUSLY volunteered for the experimentation of my tactical inferiority. Because here in Fort Kickass, we don't take tactical genius very kindly.


So, lets start with load outs. I usually have my usual plan of 2 groups of 4, except with one midification; you do no bring snipers. Switch them out for shields or rocketeers. Your goal of night missions is not to hunt, it is to clear the ship and hold. Thats it.




This is my normal night-time gameplay set-up.

Now, Im not going to baby you through this because it is a very simple concept that I use. Throw a flare before you more. BEFORE YOU MOVE! Every 6-8 tiles you move, throw a flare. Let the leading man throw a few, then have the guys behind him move up. NEVER move into a dark area and make sure to put flares on every inch of land in every direction before assuming it is safe.

I usually place a sniper on a high point to cover more of an area and to watch my squads back so no one sneaks up on them as you do see further with elevation.

-A more detailed version is in the works-

Air combat is your #1 source of income. Not only is it to shoot down UFOs for loot and a little extra cash, every UFO you shoot down increases favor in its respective country on top of what you get immediately. But what do you do when it tells you how low of a chance you have of victory?

Well, lets get one thing straight. If it says that you have a 0% chance of victory, you should never auto-engage it. Simply engage and run (The X in the 3 button options you have). Or alternatively, you can prove it wrong by winning the fight with these tips.

You have two types of aircraft, fighters and strikers. Fighters are the Tiers of aircraft like your starting Condors. They are your best option for combating the alien fighter ships, as they are mobile and have a machine gun as a primary which cannot be rolled out of like rockets can. Strikers focus on firepower, as they are equipped only with rockets used to take down less mobile enemies.

But what are good matchups to ensure maximum carniage at your disposal? Well, let me say that a 2xFighter and 1xStriker is your go to trump card for EVERY engagemant and should be your only loadout used to take down a cruiser that has 2 escorts. So building enough room for 2 sets of those is highly effective, even as a lone base to cover a large amount of air space. But you won't always have that. For lone cruisers (non-combat specialized UFOs designated by the icon having a face), can easily be taken out by 2xStrikers of an equivilant tier size. Fighters can typically beat UFO fighters at a 1 for 1 ratio. And in the event that there is a fighter squadron coming after your aircraft, as long as you have the same number of aircraft or higher, you can win.

Now, lets go over basics.



Looking on the right, you see the list of planes at your disposal. Starting from the top down, your basic commands are; Thrust, roll (Only able to perform as a fighter jet), and disengage. Below those are your weapons which you can click on to turn off, which you should do at the beginning of every fight so that you do not shoot and miss.

As you can see in the screenshot, I am engaging with a striker and therefore at a disadvantage as he can roll and dodge both of my shots. The only ways to hit him is to rush his front and shoot him point blank, which will probably result in my death, or circle around him at an angle and fire from the sides. He would then roll sideways, giving me a straight shot.





If I had more than 1 plane, I could simply split up. The enemy will usually only target one aircraft in a firefight, so breaking up will easily grant me a better position:



But what if you mess up and are out of position? Lets say, in a 3v3. Thats where the thrusters come in. Use them to get away, duh, but also use them to jolt through their line of sight through the side:

This will grant you an oppurtunity to fire with your other ship as they target the one in front, as well as allow your runner-by to pivot around and be at their rear.



AIR SUPERIORITY IS KEY TO HAVING GOOD ECONOMICS

You may, at first, see this little blue dot on your map and say, "Yeeeeeuh boyeeee! Alien base means hella easy money!" but you will soon find this to be quite the contrary.

Let's first go over what they -are-. These sons-uh-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ are gauntlets for your A-Team to go into in a suicidal attempt to keep your pay check a-rollin. Although your first few might be found by getting an alert and the automatic destination, they can very well be there without your knowing (Thats kind of what happened to South America in the screenshot). You can alternatively fly planes over busier areas and possibly find them.

If left alone, they will be the centre of a hotspot of UFOs that will terrorize a continent, resulting in loss of favor and may result in their loss altogether. They also progress the alien invasion at a faster pace, making it a necessity of taking them out ASAP so you aren't overwhelmed.



Now, lets talk about how we approach them. The picture above shows your spawning room, where you can strategically place your little suiciders however you'd like before starting the mission. I generally bring 2 shields and only 1 sniper, 1 assault, 2 heavys and a rocketeer. Each having extra ammo and possibly a rifle for the larger rooms. Extra ammo is a must if you plan on clearing the base for the loot (As little as it is).


Please note that if you want to abort or if you chose to blow up the base and choose to end it, you must stand on the spawning tiles or your soldiers will be marked as MIA.

Besides this room, there are 3 others worth of note. The control room with the holographic globe, if cleared out (sometimes the aliens just leave the room and it activates it), will grant you vision of the entire base through the fog of war. The second is the teleporter room, the one with 4 blue circles that when stepped on will bring you to an identical room in another part of the base. This is dangerous to use if you have not found and secured the other room.



The last is the power core. If you don't think you can make it through killing everything in the base, you have the option of blowing this puppy up and making your way back to the spawning room. Throw a C4 on it and it should be taken care of. Once you see the room full of smoke, that is the indicator that it is completely destroyed.




Throughout the base you may see vents like these. You can shoot the wall tile they are placed on to open a corridor that you can walk through into another room. Take advantage of this if you want to flank an alien that may be hiding behind cover that you can't easily shoot from the door.



But hey, lets talk tactics. Let me first state that you should not be here with low grade gear and that they get harder as the invasion progresses. Tier 1 bases should be handled preferably with a few sets of wolf armor and a full set of laser weaponry with EMP grenades being recommended but not entirely required. You will also need to be ready for all types of hostiles, from non-combatants to high tier commanders along with Terminators, Death Roombas, and Purple Nightmares aplenty.

You should treat your spawning room like a hot zone, often times there will be 2 or 3 in the hallways adjacent to the room that will run in, shoot, run out and then the damn door closes and you would have to man a doorman to take your shots. So, do that. Place your shield men next to the door while everyone else readies a shot. I usually wait in that room at least 10 turns...just to be sure.

The rest should be treated with as much care and patience as taking hold of a UFO. Except you will need to keep in mind, that alien bases are where you will encounter the most aliens out of any other mission. Open a door, peek inside, if you see a hostile retreat behind your door and prepare everyone to run in and take cover if you don't have a clear shot from the door. Maybe head another way if a room is too populated. And for the love of Talos, don't try to rush in and do ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Please also keep in mind that sometimes you will just need to blow up the base and leave. Thats okay, you don't get paid much anyways, at least not in the early games.

Base building. One of the more simpler parts of the game.

First off, you always need 1 med bay and 1 storage room. No more, no less.

You will need AT LEAST 1 radar. Their range grows for every radar built after, but maxes at 3. You will want to place your bases to have their range cover an entire continent, so place accordingly.
-Side note: You can see how far the next radar build's range is by looking at the dotted circle around your already existing radar circle.

And of course, one bed room. Unless you place it on Australia, which has significantly less surface area to down a ship. "But won't I waste money if I can't loot a crash?" No, you wont. Because you are working for favor to pay your bills, and just shooting down and air striking rakes in plenty of it.

Now, as for everything else, it is subjective. On my new bases, I always try to fit 4 hangars right off the bat. Later on, maybe a garage for a tank. Labs and workshops should only be built when you find that you have a significant increase in your paycheck, which coorilates with your air force. ALWAYS build them on your older bases that have veterans to defend them. If you lose a lab/workshop, it will slow you down and give them more of an opportunity to speed things up. That said, don't have a base that has more than 1 of both. So, at the max, have 3 out of the 2 options.

And, for all intents and purposes, build 2 or 3 AA batterys. The more you have, the less will land if they do manage to get past them. I start with one, so I don't lose 500k right off the bat, and add another at about the same time I get an upgrade to my weapons (So when you get laser rifles and plasma, add 1 accordingly).


"But that isn't telling me what the BEST layout is!"
Trust me, it doesn't matter. By the time they are being attacked directly, your soldiers should be well prepared to kick them out.

Here are a few examples:

Oh, these mother huggers ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up! Attacking your base? Boy oh boy, a battle of the century! Your ganna have a scout car and every single sold-what's that? I can only bring a dropships worth? But I hired 20 of these ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, where the hell would they be? This is their base!

Oh well. We don't need them anyways. So let's go over the basics of the battle.


You spawn in the middle room and can place your soldiers as you see fit.


The commie suns-uh-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ come from these little rooms.

Your job is to defend the middle room from being uncontested or they win. They also win when you die. And if they win, your entire base is destroyed. Their job is to wreck your home, if they wreck enough in a room then you will have to rebuild it afterwards.


Note that some household products such as gas canisters are explosive. Use these to your advantage and don't use them or anything nearby as cover.


Now lets talk about what you are dealing with. These are higher grade enemies, mostly guards or officers in the early stages. Hear that? Mostly. I got 6 guards, 2 officers and 4 low grades. So these aren't easy pickens.

But how should we deal with this? Well, you want to make one of the adjacent rooms a firing range, positioning 2 or 3 riflemen to fire onto them at a longer range. The closer door of the same room, I set up my heavy gunner protected by 2 shields.
For the other room, I set up my 2 assaulters to play ball in the showers and shoot anyone who disturbs them along with a riflemen looking through the big doors to help them know when they can run out and shoot something.

I recommend bringing a lot of grenades. EMPs, stun, frags, smokes, flashes. Mostly the lethal ones. They will be jumbled up, so go nuts with chunking everything you have along with a few rockets as a welcoming gift. Remember that grenades can stack on tiles, so if its a big guy, give them more than one.

* Everyone dies. Don't count on a single unit to carry a squad and almost always have a Private in a squad so that you never run out of good units.

* Hunter cars are only good for Terror missions. (The ones where aliens invade and theres a smuck-ton of them) Equip them with rockets so they can bust through buildings and other terrain. Low ammo. Use your shots wisely.

* Unit vehicles do not offer cover. Woops...

* Don't get hunter cars early. Like, don't even research them until you see corvettes.

* Once you see your first T3 ship, always have a rocketeer. Why? Because purple aliens are a thing and they need to die, A-S-A-mother ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ P!

* Aim down your sights. Right-click when in firing mode. Took me way too long to find that out.

* Free aim using R. Useful for firing at units too far to see and too annoying to miss as well as blowing up terrain with rockets.

* Blowing a unit up will lose their loot. Not too bad if its one or two kills, but it can add up.

* Have 2 plane squads. Being able to shoot down more than one ship at a time will rack in all that sweet dough.

*Be cautious when splitting your team. Sometimes, you need everyone to kill a single enemy.

*Concentrate fire and kill the aliens one at a time.

* Stun grenades can knock out friendlies and knocked out friendlies can not be shot by alien scum.

* Alien commanders have grenades and will almost always use at least one before using their guns.

* Knocked out friendlies can be blown up. Woops...

* Never send a transport to intercept a landed UFO that isn't in arms length away from your base.

* Never send interceptors at UFOs when combat-oriented (The ones without the face) can shoot them down on their way back.

* Can you make Wolf armor? Why don't you have 10 yet?

* Build your new bases

* After you see your first corvette, terror missions will be a thing. Always have a second transport, somewhere in the world, on call for terror missions.

* Shooting down more UFOs than you can send squads at? Airstrike them for dat sweet cash!

* ALWAYS have more soldiers than you need.

* No soldier, no matter how crappy, is useless. They will level up and be decent at something. But then again, shields don't need much qualification.

After reading this guide, you may still be lost on how to get better. Sure, this all may lay as groundwork, but it will not become anything of a pathfinder for easy victory. Easy in this game just can't happen. The moment you think you have the aliens by the pelvis area, you will make a mistake. Wether you shoot your own team mate, get blown up, or have your best man turned into a purple freak, remember that ♥♥♥♥ happens.

This is not a game you can bum rush through. Think before you spend your money, as the leaders of the world are stingy bastards. Think before you gamble on a 95% hit chance, sometimes you miss and sometimes they just dont die. Think before you send planes, build bases, or send your A-team. Decisions may not be final since you can just load a save, but the game is a lot easier to commit to if you don't have to redo a mission because of bad luck.

Feel free to comment anything that might be good to know or if you want to just call me out on ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and have a nice, friendly, internet conversation that is totally not an arguement since neither one of us will get mad that YOU ARE A ♥♥♥♥♥♥ AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!

But in all seriousness, throw in what I missed. Corrections to anything I see that I messed up will be changed to keep this guide informative.

Seeing as this has actually been viewed among the other guides, I would like to announce the upcoming Xeno-Fu guide for more advanced tactics. The only issue is that I have yet to put the effort to taking this game seriously enough to actually take notes in my own success.

I plan to go over all of the following:

-Splitting up
-What planes beat which UFOs
-UFO boarding
-Money management
-Saving the ungrateful sons-uh-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that are the people that sign your lowsy paycheck
-Tactics VS each kind of enemy
-The teachings of Cap. Maxim Derando AKA how to kill EVERYTHING as quickly and efficiently as possible
-How to advance


But seeing as I don't really care too much to type up a guide and take the screenshots all at once, it will probably come in smaller pieces. I'll be sure to link it when it is complete so no one has to click too much.

Happy hunting!