IF you want to play defensibly and slowly and patiently, while thinking long about every move, play on Impossible. Otherwise play on Classic and have fun (it’s still plenty frustrating for the crappy player!)

• Remember enemies overwatch
• On a PC Y is overwatch key
• Blow up all sharks as SOON as you see them
• Chrysalids and zombies panic when they are burning from a flamethrower and run away-make sure to track em down though
• Chrysalids and Zombies don't care about cover either do seekers when they fade so don't worry about cover on terror missions cept for floaters
• The ? is useful when targeting enemies to find out how bad your chances are in detail
• Healed soldiers still go into infirmary after mission. It's not how much you heal it's how many points they were hit for (the original wound) that counts for time in hospital
• Don't get too cocky with the mec...he has feelings and bruises too (Oh and can die also)
• Anyone can use a healing kit
• Healing kits on your person keep you immune to thin men poison duh
• If you block a single door with soldiers baddies can't run through them. You can trap them in a room ala William Wallace (FREEDOM!!!!)
• Battle scanner reveals hidden seekers-rocket men heavies can also find them and expose
• Mecs cant open doors and cannot lean around to shoot like regular soldiers so they can hide in full cover
• Mecs collateral damage blows up vehicles with 1 shot-but uses up a full ammo clip
• Pay attention to the music to know if you are toast or done
• Escort Missions -don't move the escort till you have the rooftops covered-when enemies drop of course they mostly drop on the roofs
• Usually moving the escort triggers a drop
• Remember enemies overwatch
• Don’t bite on getting that precious meld (especially early) if you are a crappy player like me-just let it be if you have to expose yourself too much. There is plenty later I promise
• Regarding meld-don't get crazy with Gene Mods and Mecs if you haven't been getting it regularly as later upgrades will drain it fast
• I gotta say an Assault with Mimetic Skin, Run and Gun, an Arc Thrower is pretty handy as you can be invisible as a scout behind full cover. Helps with the stunning if you are a stunner
• That same assault with some kind of Shotgun is pretty badass on Exalt missions, especially with Rapid Fire (Double tap for gunners)
• Do not waste time customizing your soldiers right away if you restart 1000 times like me you will get angry (er)
• Maybe it's a cheat (I have no guilt about it) but meld tutorial is easy and gives you squaddies (one of each kind) after mission
• You can survey the area sometimes to see where an enemy is standing-if you see no square when you mouse over-it's a scary person
• Scopes on heavies is not a bad idea
• Alloy Shivs on terror missions don't make you kick your cat or yell at your kids if they die. But you may still also treat them badly if you’re a bad person
• Mecs work well on Exalt missions (especially before Exalt have lasers)-they don't get hurt much from Exalt weapons
• Print out the "Alien Artifacts" page on UFOpedia to make sure you don't sell the wrong corpses
• Interrogating Mutons, Muton Elites, Heavy Floaters and Sectoid Commander gets you Alien Grenades if you got one from a live mob
• Remember enemies overwatch
• If you have an Alien Grenade from a mob, it is reusable on next mission, till you research them (foundry?) then you get them instead of frags
• You can get a Railgun for Mec after researching Heavy Lasers
• Chitin is pronounced KY-Tin.... I was watching National Geographic so I know....
• Man I use a lot of scopes all the way till the end...on heavies
• Watch out for your own feeding frenzy you get when later in game you have a bit of money and a Foundry...and you build all kinds of awesome stuff and run out of weapon fragments (or alloys etc) ...ugh... then you wait for UFO missions (because you are so clever with your full satellite coverage so no mo abductions)
• I said "Roger Dodger" when I was a kid LOL love these guys
• Generally if you are a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ player like me you need to focus on stuff that helps you recover faster (i.e. Rapid Recovery, Defense abilities etc)
• Laser or Carapace first? Hmm I play so badly I found I need armor more (I swear I thought I was being careful) but getting lasers first was also equally good on that play through. (I mean partial play through of course like number 40 or so....
• It is possible to research lasers and then use Exalts lasers for your squad if they have discovered them. .
• Remember when you need the Outsider alive, if you have laser pistols and guns, are on overwatch, or have "Close Combat Specialist" on your assault with a shotgun you will kill him outright. You need him (or her sorry) at like 1 HP to stun-consider Hunker Down in this case as you will know where he is...
• If you are tired being old and grumpy and forget it's a game consider using 1 save only (for start of missions maybe) and doing a hybrid Ironman. Maybe a "Copperman" or "Bronzeman" or something. You can also enable the Second Wave option "Save Scum" to assuage your deep guilt and shame. You will also learn a lot from your mistakes
• Sextoy Commander is immune to a flash-bang (ya its a joke I know but true)
• If you stun aliens without an Alien Containment Facility you do get their plasma weapons intact
• Make a repeating macro that uses "tab" and "y" repeat to have an instant "overwatch all" option. I use a Nostromo gamepad-not sure how brainiacs would do it with a keyboard-many mice are macro-able
• Remember enemies overwatch
• If you do forget enemy overwatch an assault with Lightning reflexes should move first. Perhaps make him/her multicolored so you will remember
• Watch lots of lets plays and hint videos so you can forget every ♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing they taught you when you actually play yourself...
• Mectoids are Sectoids inside. Altoids are for your tummy. Hemmoroids are just as irritating
• If you augment a soldier to be a mec while they are in sick bay -they will only be there for 3 days even if gravely wounded
• Pay more attention to your squad abilities and think about it before you move...i.e. use smoke if ya got it-in fact use smoke every mission no reason not to
• Bring a rookie on alien downed ship missions-equip with grenade and always get them a kill. Otherwise try to get a good squad using same people for a few months.
• If you start in Asia it's really handy after you get a foundry (which is really more valuable in EW than EU with new goodies)
• If you start in Asia you will be broke all the time but Foundry with EW is so much more important and even more importantly OTS upgrades
• Shivs can harvest meld
• Late/mid game if you need meld you should farm it at crashes and abductions with mecs and shivs unless you need to capture aliens-why lose any good soldiers after you have colonels and most research done
• Don’t ever use assaults with rifles-once you get good at not being a crouching hiding pansy you will run and gun face pellet them all the time its soo satisfying
• After you start a million times and if you are really focused on armor, recovery, new squad members in a mission, healing and all the ♥♥♥♥ that happens when you are not patient-just dash sometimes for gods sake! You will “feel” when it’s right. (Classic Mode only-not Impossible)
• NEVER sell weapon FRAGMENTS –I SWEAR YOU WILL BE SORRY. Elerium and Alloys seem to be much more abundant.
• Get a MEC ASAP to be a tank-remember you are not a good player and aren’t clever enough to remember the right moves-so get someone early to scout
• Shivs aren’t talked about much but are smart to have around-make sure if you decide to get them –get the foundry upgrades for them or what’s the point-see above re: Mec scouts
• In Classic-March 1 satellite. Take USA for money. April 3 satellites. Take SA plus 1 panicky country (DON’T WORRY ABOUT ASIA YOU CANT LOSE IT you started there) Do autopsies In May get 3 more. Get A