XCOM EU What's the secret to 'Classic Ironman'

[ElementUK]

Never been able to complete this level of difficulty. 'Slingshot' comes along way to early and assumes you have 'levelled-up' troops still alive. It's a lot harder than Classic NON-Ironman even if you don't reload any games...

Tried 20-30 times. Prob for me is researching Beam weapons or Carapace Armour merely triggers off Mutons, Cyberdisc's and Cryssalids and the game assumes you have enough money and Alloys to make them for a 5-6 man squad. Too many missions where you can't 'abort' like 'Terror missions'. It seems pefectly balanced for Normal but Classic...sheesh.

Edited April 4, 2013 by ElementUK

[Thunder_GR]

You can complete the first mission in slingshot with your current troops but do *not* try the second one(the train) until you are well in the game. I kept ignoring it until I had plasma weapons(which was not until the next year).

I started in Asia, concentrated on sattelite coverage for N. America, first(cheaper interceptors and armament), Africa and S. America, next, left Europe to the Aliens(I do not build any laboratories and I only built a couple of workshops if not enough missions where I can get engineers for sattelite uplinks appear) put all my efforts on the sattelite coverage and my research on wepons until I could equip everyone with lasers and then the armor. It was a hell at first, especially if you do not have a HEAT tile for a Thermo-power generator. Explosives are a must use until you can get scopes and a bit more experienced soldiers. After you manage to have coverage, though, things get progressivelly better. Be certain to use clever tactics in battle. Do not feel shame to retreat your soldiers and set up overwatch ambushes. Never take a shot if you are not sure the soldier will survive a miss, even at 99%. Do not set overwatches before the last soldier completes the 1st move. If you run on a group of aliens you may need to retreat on the second move. Never and I stress *never* dash on unexplored areas. Your soldier will be as good as dead if you encounter an aliens group. These are basic guidlines but much more depend on your prefered style of play. I only play Ironman. Never thought it makes any sense to be able to reload a failed mission unless for training purposes. If you need any more tips, I will be happy to help.

[Hobbes77]

First, Mutons (or any alien species) aren't activated by performing specific research. They came at specific times during the game, IIRC you first spot them on May (I'm playing CI with all 2nd Wave options for a long time so I don't recall exactly), afterwards you'll see more of them and on June they switch from LPRs to Plasma RIfles.

 

Regarding CI, there's two aspects, the strategic layer and the tactical combat. On the strategic layer you can try 3 different options

1) place 8 sats in orbit and cover 2/3 continents to secure funding and avoid losing countries to panic, by preventing abductions on those countries. Usually first month you build just 1 sat, then on the 2nd month 3 sats and an Uplink, then repeat on May.

2) Hit the Alien Base and then go for sat coverage.

 

At the same time you'll need to get the OTS up and going (ignore the Foundry until later) and for the second option you might as well take South America as the base location to get the research bonuses from captured aliens (since you'll need to build the Alien Containment facility and the Arc Thrower).

 

Regarding tactical fighting, one key piece of information is knowing how many alien packs are present on each type of mission. On abductions you'l get 2-4 packs, depending on difficulty level, on crashed Small Scouts, 2 packs + Outsider, etc. This helps greatly to know what to expect and what to bring (rookies vs officers) and also when to dash, without activating additional packs.

Also, you need to move your squad as one until you encounter the aliens. This means that one soldier takes the 1st action at a time then another a 2nd soldier takes its first action, the 3rd, etc. This gives you the flexibility to deal with unpleasant discoveries and to coordinate attacks. It is also very important for the whole squad to go Overwatch at the same time, at the end of the turn, as mentioned on the previous post.

Also, very very important - fall back to a better position whenever necessary, specially if you are outgunned and are facing two or three active alien packs.

[5ilent5hadow]

I have found that I could do operation slingshot even with basic gear. The key is to keep your initial soldiers alive.

 

Generally after the first mission (where you kept all your soldiers alive and preferably unhurt) I start my base in North America so I can build a satellite for 100 bucks. Look at your base and see if steam is near the elevator shafts on the 3rd or 4th level, and if there is none, restart. Then buy two med kits for 50 bucks and set research to alien weapons, and when that finishes to alien materials, and to laser weapons after that if you can. Experimental Warfare should also be researched. Building a lab is a good idea as it doubles your effective research in the beginning, meaning you research topics much faster. A workshop isn't a bad idea either if you really need engineers, otherwise avoid. You should also start moving down towards the steam vents and excavating rooms you plan to use. Ignore Arc Thrower Research you aren't ready for it anyway and the doctor won't shut the hell up whenever you kill an outsider you can't catch.

 

I prioritize laser rifles over carapace armor over special laser weapons (snipers, LMGs, pistols, shotguns) because being able to kill your enemy quickly is much more useful than being able to take an extra non-critical hit (assaults and supports use laser rifles while snipers and heavies already deal large damage). Snipers should always have SCOPEs.

 

If you need more cash sell your alien corpses or even UFO power sources and Flight computers, but keep 5 thin man corpses and 7 muton corpses for later foundry projects. Do not bother with Officer training school as A) not enough equipment to go around for 5-6 man squads and B) your soldiers will be too inexperienced for you to buy any good training for them, and C) Officer training school is very expensive (like 125$ to build it with and 50$ for squad size 1, 125$ for wet work, etc.)

 

Keep the satellite in check to use on a panicked nation.

If you managed to keep the nations from panicking, then just before a council meeting use it on either the nation with the highest panic rating or the nation with the most funding.

 

Use the money you get to buy interceptors (if needed) for the satellite you just sent up, to buy a satellite uplink facility and 2 more satellites (or three if you have the money), and to outfit your soldiers with better weapons and armor. Again, keep the satellites in check to use on panicked nations. You can generally get away with ignoring your air fleet.

 

Basically, this strategy aims to save all nations and focuses on training the initial 4 recruits (who each start specialized in a unique class) into sergeants with a preference to firepower over armor.

 

As the commander, you should do one of two things: Kill everything as quick as possible, or get your team into very nice cover.

 

General Combat Tips:

• Grenades may not kill the enemy, but they will destroy their cover giving most soldiers a 70% chance to hit.
• If the enemy has a better position than you, try falling back out of their sight. The A.I. has no idea how to scout and will advance units into squares with poor or even no cover, enabling you to pick them off.
• Half cover subtracts 10% to aim so always go for full.
• Always take two med kits so everyone can be saved if hurt or critically wounded.
• If you are in a bad position and can't retreat, then go fully aggressive and get out of there. The aliens have much better aim than you do and will pick you off if you stay there.
• If you must advance under fire, dashing is the way to go as it offers a small amount of defense. Follow units up with hunker down and overwatch to get closer more safely.
• The A.I. is afraid of overwatch and will generally not move even if flanked.
• Advancing up the sides of a map limits the paths for flanking, for you and the aliens.
• Keep your team spread out. You will be flanked less and can flank more. 2 two man teams work very well with each other, especially on downed UFOs.
• SHIVs are generally worse compared to corporals+ soldiers, but they are immune to psi abilities and are much more expendable.

Terror Missions don't arrive for about 2.5 - 3 months. By then you should have laser weapons and maybe a couple suits of carapace armor.

 

To handle Operation Slingshot (and I highly suggest you do it) you need to have your initial 4 recruits promoted to at least corporals through UFO and abduction missions. By now you may not even have a couple of laser rifles and that's fine if you have a decent squad with one of each class.

 

Loadout for the first mission should look like this:

• Assault w/ assault rifle and a grenade or a SCOPE
• Support w/ assault rifle and medkit
• Heavy w/ LMG and medkit
• Sniper w/ S rifle and a SCOPE

 

Operation Friends in Low Places is the easiest. Go up the left side and keep Zhang (who should have kept his damn pistol) out of sight. Overwatch is your friend here and will help to counter the many thin men dropping from the sky. If you are having trouble nailing the bastards use your sniper to shoot at them while the team hunkers down. Keep the assault behind the heavy and the support (who have medkits = immunity to TM poison) for extra support when you need it. The sniper should always fire first to save support and gunner ammo. This should get you through for the most part except when the chrysalid shows up, whom you must take down with combined gunfire possibly aided by a rocket. Zhang should always be with the sniper who is near the rear taking shots/reloading. Remember that you can go at your own pace as alien drops are triggered by you moving up, so be sure you're ready.

 

Operation Confounding Light is the hardest to complete. I recommend taking your assault, gunner, sniper, and Zhang who is also a very experienced gunner (somehow). Both gunners should have the bullet swarm skill to deal with the enemies here.

 

Loadout should look like:

• Assault w/ Laser Rifle and either a SCOPE, a nanoweave fiber vest, or a medkit
• 2 Gunners w/ LMGs and medkits
• Sniper w/ S. rifle and a SCOPE

This mission is all about speed and power, so make your sniper dash for the left towards the other side near the ad signs. The rest should all dash up inside the train and work their way up from there. Keep moving, use rockets if needed but try not to destroy the assault's future cover. The assault will place most of the transponders while the sniper and gunners cover him. You will have to deal with thin men in front and mutons dropped in. Use your gunners to deal with the mutons and try to keep them near the assault soldier. Your sniper should move up the left to the elevated platform where s/he will kill mutons and hard to hit thin men. Overall, resistance is sporadic, but constant. You will have to keep moving to win. Be aware that after the transponders are placed, you will need to move a soldier (probably your assault) to the front of the train to end/win the mission. Aim for a transponder every 2 turns.

 

Operation Gangplank is also a hard mission (but not as hard as the 2nd) you basically have to clear a long corridor of enemies. Your Gunners will be the most helpful (try to have at least one with the Heat Ammo skill).

 

Loadout should look like:

 

Assault w/ Laser Rifle and a SCOPE or a Medkit

2 Gunners w/ LMGs and SCOPEs or MedKits

Support w/ Laser Rifle and a Medkit

 

Your approach should be to steadily move up, clearing the ship of hostiles as safely as you can. Don't waste rockets on the generators, you can disarm them easily enough. Snipers are not very useful in this map due to line of sight issues so don't bring one. After the canyon-esque first room, keep your Gunners on the left to deal with a Cyberdisk (with suppression and heat rounds this is easily done). Move and Overwatch to deal with the occasional dropped in thin men. Turn off the generators as you go and you'll win. Yay.

 

You may be wondering why you should do Operation Slingshot what with all the dangers and difficulty it has, it's because of the resources and experience. All said and done, you get around 200$, 200 Alloys, 200 Elerium, however much weapon fragments from dead enemies, multiple UFO power sources (75$ each) (depending on how many you shut down instead of blowing up), multiple UFO Nav Computers (40$ each), two Fusion Cores (125$ each or early research for blaster launcher), and a few scientists and engineers. All in the first few months of the game which is a huge help outfitting soldiers and building facilities early on with little world funding (thanks assh0les!). Also if you opted to not do Op. Slingshot then you could get a council mission you are not ready for, like bomb disposal.

 

By now you should have a competent squad so start getting the foundry or the officer training school. Also start training replacements on the UFO and Abduction Missions (bring one rookie or 2 if you have 6 sized squads). Keep Upgrading equipment and you will win the game for sure. Classic is a hard difficulty, just don't make stupid mistakes and play it smart.