Levelling Up Marines

[#GetRektasaurus]

I've played the first mission through to learn the basics of the game etc and now I'm settling into a proper run through, I know marines gain their class at level 3 but first time through I just slapped perks on willy nilly with no thought on the long run.

So basically which common attributes should I be prioritising over others?

Should these attributes be countering marines weaknesses? ie I have a Marine with 25% accuracy, if Sharpshooter appears should that be a must for that marine?

[AfkForCoffee]

Redemption to remove whatever flaw the marine has.

The one that removes the Tired seems useless as does the bravery increasing one since you can just use a Sergeant to stop stress using command points. Looter is useless as there is more than enough resources available at all times unless you intentionally squander them.

Mind of steel is kinda nice since it removes trauma automatically on next day progress(afaik). The critical hit/dismemberment chance is most likely the best one that you want to get for everyone. Team spirit is good as well since more command points equals to more fun. Other than that it's kinda irrelevant in my opinion what you get.

[Flinz]

Some are nice and others pointless.

Top tiers are:
Redemption (sometimes not needed since some you can live with. Always becoming exhausted after mission can countered with unbreakable will and having one less hp is not end of the world.
Unbreakable (If you like to build always going A-team marine, gives immunity for some events and suchs)
Dead eye. (Just generally always useful.)
Mind of steel (Depends if you like to sit marines out or not)
Looter (don't get it over other needed stuff but still sooner, the more you make out of it.)

Alright picks if you do not have to pick anything needed:
Fast (just one per team.)
Team spirit
Sharpshooter
Resourceful

If there is nothing better tier:
Bold (okeyish but having one braver marine hardly makes difference.)
Hardened
Quick hands (mostly gunners only.)

Avoid:
Smart-ass (Looks good but might as well use tech? Gives some option to skip tech class in team but not needed for standard play.)
Toughness (some argue it is better than hardened. Guess it depends little on play style. Armor cannot be healed unlike health but armor has other uses.)
Avenger (I wouldn't want to call it bad but boosting something you mainly use on big battles is low value most of the time.)
Enduring (Something is going wrong if you feel needing this)

[Artimise Flare]

The number 1 to look for is Redemption since it removes any negative trait the marine has

Others have listed good ones, but I would like to highlight Unbreakable will, especially on a well leveled sergeant and recon. if you're good at avoiding injury that would otherwise send your marine to the infirmary for extended periods of time, this is an extremely potent perk that allows you to take at least two of the most useful classes in the game to help level your less experienced marines.

At level 6, the Sergeant has the ability to "freeze" stress buildup via their "reprimand" ability for the cost of 1 CP,

The recons ability to wall hack with their infrared goggles and suppressed sniper rifle to eliminate roaming hostile mobs is also incredibly useful, especially early on. Never having to worry about either of these two classes being tired after a mission and being able to send them right back out again is very potent. Do not underestimate this attribute.

[Goat of Death]

Originally posted by AfkForCoffee:

The one that removes the Tired seems useless

I find this one to actually be the most useful. I'm on hard and after getting schooled in the early levels, I've now got things mostly down. I'm slow, methodical and use my drone to draw agro away from my guys so engage only when I have to or screw up. Most of the time my marines get only lightly wounded, which keeps their recovery times low. With tired not being an issue I keep the same high level guys on mission after mission, with only a couple spares in tow to let them level up. My one gunner without the no Tired perk is the most annoying to me because when I can I like having two gunners on mission and she's normally waiting on tired, not on wounds.

[Proxy]

best quirks are accuracy buff command points buff and removes tired buff. the buff that remove soldier negative is ok but some negatives aren't worth burning a quirk.

[LukanGamer]

Would not worry about it, game is not that hard and the small level buffs are not make or break by any means.
The only 2 that matter are the debilitating things (like uses up X on rests) and the actual class main abailities (ie always get the ability too be stress immune).

[LimeyPolo]

I liked stacking 'Avenger' and anything relating to accuracy, I always had Retribution available and it allowed me to keep a powerful momentum through firefights; stealth was generally unnecessary throughout my playthrough. But, this doesn't seem popular and advised by others - maybe it was a poor investment. People seem to encourage choices which reduce the issues of meta management - trauma and exhaustion.

[FArheinFisch]

I do have 100% on this game, so for me:

Soldier lvl ups:
1) unbreakable will (marine will be available for every mission, never get tired)
2*) Mind of steel (*optional qoL upgrade but i love it, together with 1) you have level 10 in no time)
3) Team Spirit (cmd-points win you the game)
4*) Redemption (*optional qoL upgrade but only some traits need to be removed)
5) Dead eye / sharpshooter / avenger
6) resourceful (getting extra mags is really nice)
7) if you don't like the hacker simply get one of your tireless marines with the smartass trait. 2 sergeants with one smartass are better than 1 sergeant and 1 hacker :)

Upgrades/weapons for materials, prioritized:
1) sniperrifle + silencer
2) sergeants 1st+2nd upgrade (radio upgrades)
2) deep pockets / pouches (bring more tools, sentries, medkits)

Most important progress:
1) get a recon with sniperrifle+silencer (lvl3)
2) sergeant with reprimand (lvl6)

Health+Armor was a non issue for me, if nothing better showed up i prioritized armor. Armor can't regenerate but if you take the xeno-upgrade anti-acid-gel its better b/c as long you have some armor killing aliens in your group is fine even if they acid-explode.
If you keep an eye on your ammoclips quickhand is useless, you could offset it with wider clips (which is more efficient than taking 1 mag more at the start of a mission).

[Vomit]

Why not experiment and find some strategies that work for you?

Why do you play video games?

[Vomit]

Originally posted by FArheinFisch:

I do have 100% on this game, so for me:

And how are we meant to believe you when you have a private profile?

I did Nightmare + no one can hear you scream modifier in the same run and I used a lot of the strats/upgrades that you used (Recon and Sergeant is S tier for sure) so I do believe you have 100% the game but why private profile?

[FArheinFisch]

Originally posted by Vomit:

Originally posted by FArheinFisch:

I do have 100% on this game, so for me:

And how are we meant to believe you when you have a private profile?

I did Nightmare + no one can hear you scream modifier in the same run and I used a lot of the strats/upgrades that you used (Recon and Sergeant is S tier for sure) so I do believe you have 100% the game but why private profile?

Err, uhm, correct. Corrected (now)... *facepalm*
PS: Did have progression bugs on 1st playthrough so i deemed NCHYS as too riskys on the 2nd