Here are some suggestions for improving success.
Squad selection
Starting stats for each squad member are determined completely at random at the start of each mission (see combat mechanics). The optimum strategy, especially on harder difficulty, is to restart the mission over and over until you get good stats all-round. Having one slow movement team member is particularly annoying.
The maximum stats are Endurance 6, Cash 8, Combat Skill 10, Mobility 7, and Defence Factor 3.
Weapon selection
Each squad member’s money is randomly chosen between 3 and 8. There’s no carry-over of money or equipment between missions.
The enemies mainly the same stats as you, modified by difficulty. Their Endurance (i.e. hit points) will range between 1-5 on easy, 2-6 on Normal, 3-7 on Hard, and 4-8 on Mega. Even on Easy you have to hit 1-5 Accurifle shots to land a kill, or 1-3 Lasight SMG hits.
Bazooka is overpriced. It has 1 more range than hand grenade, but deals 1 less damage. They cost the same per shot, but Bazooka takes less inventory space, although this almost never an issue since you only ever have enough money to buy eight items.
Most missions requre explosives, which you must factor into your budget. Grenades are cheapest, and you must factor in the chance of a squad member being killed; it may be wise to equip slower members with explosives. At minimum:
- Operation Spring: 1 to destroy objective.
- Operation Liberator: 1 to destroy objective.
- Operation Blunderbuss: 1 to destroy barrier.
- Operation Deactivator: 3 to destroy objectives.
- Operation Airstrike: 5 to destroy objectives, 1 to destroy barrier.
- Operation Escape: None.
- Operation Camp Steel: None.
- Operation Assassin: None.
The Lasight SMG is good for low Combat Skill squad members. On Normal difficulty with a normal weapon like Plasma at range 4 has 100% chance to hit if you have Combat Skill 9, with a 1/8 chance less for each point below. The Lasight SMG will boost Combat Skill by 5, guaranteeing reliable 2-damage hits with troops Combat Skill 4 or higher.
Because of range bonuses, the Knife on Normal difficulty is a 100% hit at Combat Skill 7. The risk is that a low-Initiative enemy may run after you reach them.
Defensive loadout
Armour adds to Defence Factor. There’s a maximum of Defence Factor 5. This means if you start with Defence Factor 3, the maximum, there’s no point in buying Body Armour 3.
If you can hit Defence Factor 5, the enemies at range 5 on Normal are rolling 1d8 and trying to roll under a modified Combat Skill of between -2 and 5, so their accuracy will be at most 50%, and their overall accuracy at range 5 is 17.86%. Even then, except for grenades, they only shoot 75% of the time, and may not shoot at all with low Initiative. Enemies with Lasight SMG cancel out that Defence Factor 5. You still need to worry about explosive weapons because they auto-hit and deal good damage.
There are mines everywhere. You can use the maps to learn the locations of mines in advance to save money.
Unit movement
Physical obstacles don’t impede enemy line of sight, only range. This makes positioning important. Even if you shoot an enemy from outside their Alertness range, they won’t move.
Enemy Alertness range is 3-12 on Normal difficulty. This means most will not notice you until they’re within your Accurifle range, even if you shoot them, and half within Pistol range. It’s difficult to enter cloes range.
The chance of hitting at Pistol range of 7 on Normal difficulty is a random roll of 2-9 versus Combat Skill. A Combat Skill of 10 guarantees a hit every time. However, it’s only 1 point of damage with the Pistol or Accurifle, and enemies will take 2-6 hits on Normal, so this is a slow method.
You move first, then the enemy moves. This means you can walk into an enemy’s Alertness radius in order to enter your weapon range, which is likely when you want to use something like Lasight. The risk here is that the enemy will flee. If that happens, they can leave your weapon range and then may shoot with a Pistol or Accurifle.
Try to never stand at exactly 5 squares range (6 squares away), especially from Normal enemies, since this can trigger their grenade.
Once you’re already in short range, it’s worth getting as close as possible to increase your attack chance. An exception might be Lasight SMG, where the +5 Combat Skill bonus will guarantee a hit. A good strategy might then be to outfit everyone with Lasight SMG for a guaranteed hit at range 5, while denying the enemy the ability to hit with Plasma or at shorter range with a bonus.
If I understand correctly, enemies will always use their longest-range weapon, meaning they will never use Knife, so you can approach to point blank without additional risk. The exception is if an Android randomly has two knives, which is unlikely.
Mega difficulty
Mega difficulty is extremely difficult, if we look at the numbers. I’m not even sure it’s possible.
Each enemy has Defence Factor of 2, which effectively lowers your players’ Combat Skill range from 3-10 to 1-8. They have Alertness of 5-14, so they can reliably see you approach. Their Combat Skill is 5-12, and with Lasight SMG (a third of Normals and Elites) that becomes 10-17, which at minimum auto-hits unarmoured squad members who have Defence Factor of 1, and the top 50% auto-hit maximum Defence Factor squad with Body Armour 3. This means that within range 5, a substantial proportion auto-hit for 2 damage, which is half or a third of your hit points.
Playing it safe with Accurifle is slow, because of the enemies’ increased Defence Factor and Endurance. Enemies have 4 to 8 Endurance, so they can survive 2-4 Lasight hits or 4-8 Accurifle hits.
Equip the entire squad with Lasight SMG in order to account for the enemy Defence Factor. This ups your effective Combat Skill result to between 6 and 13 versus a roll of 1 to 8. Anyone with a starting Combat Skill score of 7-10 auto-hits at range 5; 6 auto-hits at range 3; 5 auto-hits at range 1. To secure a reliable kill, you will need to reliably bring the entire squad into range 5 and land 2 to 4 hits.
Check the map in advance. Avoid fighting anyone you don’t have to. Carry grenades to take shortcuts by blowing through walls or minefields.
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