Total noob question.

[Zombie Horde]

I bought this game on Steam last night, and it is the first X-Com game I have ever played.

When I got to the first battlescape, the aliens killed a few of my soldiers very quickly, and I couldn't kill any of them. I'm even playing on the easiest difficulty.

What am I doing wrong?!

[Renegade51]

Nothing. This game has a difficulty curve that shoots up like a wall after you press New Game. A lot of people loved that about the game, personally I think it was bad design.
Which ever it is you will normally have a REALLY hard time at the start. Shooting the Aliens with normal human weapons does about as much good as yelling at them. Id recommend going on youtube and looking up some beginner videos, that should get you going

[Zombie Horde]

Thanks!

[Deep Six]

Start researching new weapons as soon as you can. This game is incredibly hard.

[Classix]

Game is hard, but so incredibly worth it once you dig into the gameplay. I spent so many hours playing this game, beat it several times growing up, and very few games can still touch this ufo defense on shear challenging and rewarding gameplay. The first time I beat this game, I felt total accomplishment, like I had done something far greater then beating a video game. It is hard, there is a massive learning curve, but far worth it.

[Zombie Horde]

I'm getting better. I made some laser weapons, and they are really helping me out. It is really fun.

[pixel_rice_bowl]

Don't do night missions at first (I tend never to do them at all). Aliens can "see" in the dark, and so they will be able to shoot you from far away without you being able to return fire--unless you carry around and throw those glow sticks.

Try to end your turn with either some reaction fire time and/or in cover (inside a building or at least next to a wall to limit number of potential angles of fire). Ducking helps (especially behind farm walls).

In farm maps, be prepared for aliens to sit around in buildings to snipe at your troopers crossing fields.

A brutal--but cost effective--method of sparing your best troops is to set a couple rookies as fodder. They will go in and scout an area, taking enemy reaction shots and fire, while the rest of the squad hangs back and fires at revealed enemies. (You can use tanks to this effect, but they are expensive.)

Lasers are great. Without spoilers, there is also some other useful tech that will help your soldiers' survivability (help being the operative word, as you can never be invulnerable).

[Zombie Horde]

Thanks for the tips!

[DarkMyau]

Ok a simple tactic to avoid being shot up on the skyranger is to throw a smoke grenade in the first turn and end the turn.

2nd Turn you can deploy and you wont be killed off.......well not at first ;)

[Zombie Horde]

Thanks for the great tip!

[Rhen Vao]

The game is supposed to be hard. They embrace how difficult it can be and how fun it is even when you're getting you ass kicked. I should know because I got it not too long ago and its BRUTAL!!! But I can't deny how much fun I had and how keep coming back for more!!!

[Rank Zero]

Xcom isn't hard, it's just misunderstood. (although i admit alot of my victories have just been crapshoots.)

Here's a tip for every novice commander out there:

Always skip the first turn.

I'm dead serious. Unless you see a deathsquad of aliens right in front of the skyranger, always skip the first turn. Why? Because the aliens will spawn with all of thier time units, so if you move first, you'll walk straight into a wall of plasma fire. Instead, sit tight in the skyranger for the first turn, then on the second turn, the aliens will have been waddling around trying to find you, wasting thier time units in the process. This means that reaction fire will be at a minimun, and you can blast then full of lead with impunity. ;)

[Zombie Horde]

Great tip! Thanks!

[skintsaint]

Auto Cannons with HE is my first choice of weapon....works well, grenades inside the ship if they are standing close to you, throw and run!

[Zombie Horde]

I'll have to check those out.

Sergeant Socialist: I tried your skip-the-first-turn suggestion, and my soldies killed an alien on the alien's first turn! I'm a believer!

[Darlordvader]

also, keep in mind certain alien species are weaker or more resitant to certain weapons. don't want to spoil specifics here but you're gonna be in for a good time if you're willing to experiment with all of the different weapons there are in this game-and trust me, there are a lot