LeFire

Very useful tip! Will test this once I clear my Impossible Ironman (don't want to mess something like that up). I'm just about to hit the final mission. As for the equipping problem, slot 6 is meant to stay garbled upon hitting the mission. You only ungarble it the first visit at the squad screen, to select your 6-man main team. Your 2nd visit will garble it again, but the 6-man team will stay. Here is a visual explanation. Imagine that your 4 preferred deepstrikers (soldiers D1 to D4) are on top of the soldier roster, and your 6 preferred mainteam troops are after these 4 (M1 to M6). Step 1: Ensure all 10 troopers have been equipped, via the soldier roster (NOT the squad selection screen). Step 2: (Select the mission. On 1st visit to squad screen) Slot 1: D1 Slot 2: D2 Slot 3: D3 Slot 4: D4 Slot 5: M1 Slot 6: M2, M3, M4, M5, M6 (Slot 6 will look "garbled", with names of 5 troops mixed up in it.) Step 3: (Upon degarbling Slot 6, deselecting D1 to D4 troopers, and selecting M1 to M6) Slot 1: M1 Slot 2: M2 Slot 3: M3 Slot 4: M4 Slot 5: M5 Slot 6: M6 Step 4: (Upon backing out of squad select, then selecting mission again, thus 2nd visit to squad screen) Slot 1: M1 Slot 2: M2 Slot 3: M3 Slot 4: M4 Slot 5: M5 Slot 6: M6, D1, D2, D3, D4 (Slot 6 will look garbled. This is normal. Ungarbling it will release the D1 to D4 troopers, and leave you with just M1 to M6 in the mission. Start the mission) Step 5: Use the activated console mod by hitting backslash, select a position near spawn, hit "TATC" (teleport all to cursor), and it should work. Now if only we manage to find a way to automate all that.

I have managed to find a limited method of using an increased squadsize in a controlled manner. My tests give the same results as pointed out by a previous poster... Extra squad members are either stuck offmap or under the map, or spawn in a 'pile' within sight of the aliens (the first guy to move will trigger the alien freemove). One way to get around this, is to repeatedly reload the map until a unbugged map is used (obviously impossible for Ironman play). I have taken to calling the original 6-man squad the "Relief team" and the extra men the "Deep strike" team, due to how the missions typically play out... Which the deep strike team often having to fortify and hold a position (sometimes even inside the UFO itself!) while the relief team fights its way to them Black Hawk Down style. Also found a method of controling who ends up in the original 6-man team (the "Relief" team) and who ends up in the 4-man extra team ("Deep strike" team). 1.) As previously pointed out by another poster, the first 10 persons in your roster (for squadsize 10) are loaded into the map. EQUIP ALL 10 IN THE BARRACKS FIRST! 2.) When a mission comes, go to the squad equipping screen. Replace everyone from Positions 1 to 5 with whom you want in the Relief team. Slot 6 is special and always bugged... you'll need to remove soldier multiple times for Slot 6, which will be slightly bugged in showing the wrong soldier / name match (as the game is trying to stuff details for 4 soldiers into that slot). 3.) Once Slot 6 is emptied out, fill it with the last Relief team candidate. 4.) Exit the squad selection screen. DO NOT START THE MISSION! Go back to the Geoscape. 5.) Load the squad equipping screen again. The 6 handpicked as the Relief team will stay... but the highest 4 soldiers in your Barracks (usually veteran officers who aren't in the Relief team) who have not been selected in the Relief team, will now be automatically added into the Deep Strike team. 6.) Exit the squad selection screen and save the game (as you will need to reload to find a unbugged map) 7.) Enter the squad selection screen again. 8.) Launch the mission. Reload if bugged map (Deep strike team stuck offmap or in the ground). Using the above steps, you can outfit your Relief team with lighter / higher mobility armour and gear meant for open ground combat, while having your Deep Strike team staffed with shotgun Assault kitted out with the heaviest armour and vests (note: Snipers have a hard time in the Deep Strike team). The deep strikers wipe out the closest aliens and dig in, while the Relief fights towards them. I am testing with my current playthrough if one can 'unstick' stuck Deep Strike soldiers in bugged maps using Archangel flight armour or Grapple. I heard that bugged movement from Archangel flights have been known to get men stuck underground, so it seems possible that the reverse may come true! Will update.