Leveling up soldier stats?

[Ⓖ]

There seems to be very little info on the wiki about this. So here are some questions that need answering (I may do some save scumming scientific tests to try to determine the answers as well).

• Time Units:
  Does anything specific affect the leveling of this? Carrying more, draining TU's more, etc?
  
  
• Health:
  Does getting wounded affect health leveling (negatively or positively)?
  
  
• Strength:
  Does carrying at/above their weight limit affect strength leveling?
  
  
• Accuracy:
  Does making (or missing) difficult shots affect accuracy leveling?
  
  
• Reflexes:
  Does performing reflex shots affect reflex leveling, and if so is there a good way to farm them?
  
  
• Bravery:
  1) On the wiki it says bravery is leveled up via medals, soldiers panicing, and them recieving psionic attacks only. Therefore is it possible to farm bravery early on by leaving a single psionic alien alive to have your men "train" against?
  2) How much does each medal boost this stat by, exactly? All I've seen so far just boost it by one.
  
  
• Promotions:
  1) I know promotions are correlated with their stats rising, but do they cause their stats to rise or are they a reflection of their stats rising?
  2) If they are a cause of stats rising rather than caused by them, what affects promotions? Number of kills? Medals? Anything else?

[Chameleon_Silk]

stats go up on kills and mission completes, medals give + bravery and even if you could farm bravery early on something like that would only work for someone cheat saving, also they are capped so you can't get more bonuses in the same mission, you'd have to farm ufo sites and hope he doesn't die.

#1 missions completed
#2 I believe wounding a soldier reduces max health
#3 no, it just makes your soldier useless in that battle
#4 yes, by having them reaction fire at aliens
#5 no because you can't farm a stat forever there is a + limit per mission
#6 +1
#7 its more about the aliens killed
#8 if you had a group of guys that killed 3,2,1 the guy with 3 kills would get the bigger promotion

at least I believe these to be correct #2 and #3 not 100pct sure about and its possible a medal that is more then +1 exists.

[Twelvefield]

I'm pretty sure you level up strength by carrying more weight than the soldier is comfortable with. It can be an ounce or a hundred pounds, it doesn't matter. Even so, it's just +1 per mission.

You get more TU's by expending TU's in battle. You have to expend at least 1 TU in a mission. So, if you left a soldier in the dropship and never touched her, she wouldn't gain. Again, it's just +1 per mission.

That's what I've been led to believe, anyways. I know there's a resource that says this for sure, but where or what it is I forget right now.

[Chameleon_Silk]

that sounds correct

[Half Phased]

The help guide accessible through the launcher has details on levelling. And you don't need to overload soldiers bags to increase strength, just take them up to their carrying limit.

[Ⓖ]

Originally posted by Destructively Phased:

The help guide accessible through the launcher has details on levelling. And you don't need to overload soldiers bags to increase strength, just take them up to their carrying limit.

Thank you. In fact, according to my manual you only need to take them to ≧80% their carry weight.

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

stats go up on kills and mission completes, medals give + bravery and even if you could farm bravery early on something like that would only work for someone cheat saving, also they are capped so you can't get more bonuses in the same mission, you'd have to farm ufo sites and hope he doesn't die.

#1 missions completed
#2 I believe wounding a soldier reduces max health
#3 no, it just makes your soldier useless in that battle
#4 yes, by having them reaction fire at aliens
#5 no because you can't farm a stat forever there is a + limit per mission
#6 +1
#7 its more about the aliens killed
#8 if you had a group of guys that killed 3,2,1 the guy with 3 kills would get the bigger promotion

at least I believe these to be correct #2 and #3 not 100pct sure about and its possible a medal that is more then +1 exists.

Please don't speak definitively unless you have definitive answers. There is so little good/correct information about this game, and so much wrong, bad, or outdated info about this game it's ridiculous. The last thing we need is more bad info. This game is hard enough as it is.

Thank you Destructively Phased for directing me to a place which (unless outdated) should have much more definitive answers. Even if it doesn't answer everything, the rest can much more easily be answered through experimentation now that I have that wonderful base.

According to my manual pdf file, section 4.9 (at the very end of the manual as of the date of this post), each stat increases as such:

SOLDIER PROGRESSION: Soldiers that survive the battle may receive attribute increases, rank promotions and medals. Skillups are based on performing certain actions, listed below:

• TU: Gained by spending sufficient quantity of TU during the mission.
  
• HP: Increases incrementally based on the number of other skill-ups gained by the soldier.
  
• STR: Gained by spending TU on movement when carrying over 80% of carrying capacity.
  
• ACC: Gained by firing at enemies from within weapon range (you don’t have to hit them).
  
• RFL: Gained by reaction firing at enemies.
  
• BRV: Gained after suffering a morale event like panic.
  
  Rank promotions are based on the total number of skill-ups a soldier has gained.
  A soldier can only gain 2 points in each attribute per battle.
  Medals are granted for specific actions. They do not provide much in-game effect (+1 Bravery each) but are a way to remember the achievements of your soldiers!

Therefore I don't see why you couldn't "farm" bravery by deliberately leaving a psionic (the weak, early game psions in particular - purple shirts) as the last alien alive, then carefully monitoring him with your spread out troops who are largerly unarmed (to prevent berserk damage) and out of reach of physical damage. Later in the game of course this would become difficult to impossible as I don't think that the other psions can be so easily avoided, but early game this could be a big deal - especially when taking more troops instead of a vehicle to deliberately get stats up. I also don't consider this "cheaty" - a cruel but clever commander IRL might deliberately subject his troops to psionic attacks if he thinks they are otherwise safe in order to harden them for later encounters.

As far as training accuracy and reflexes go: this would be harder, but I would imagine that a sebillian (lizard race) non-combatant (using a plasma pistol only) found, forced, or led into a good location might make a suitable training piece at least for a few turns, as it could regenerate damage it recieves. Of course it depends a lot on available expendable armor (vehicles, shields, well armored soldiers), health, and ammo. I will have to test how many reaction shots are needed for reflexes to level up, how many regular shots are needed for accuracy to level up, and whether reaction shots can count towards accuracy leveling up. I would imagine that if you are trying to farm, a sniper rifle might be a good choice for reaction shots if you are concerned about hitting the sebillian too much, and that otherwise a pistol would be the weapon of choice given its poor damage and accuracy. There might be better choices but that's what I'm thinking off the top of my head. A vehicle would probably be very useful in procuring a suitable environment for this, as it would allow you to potentially prevent the target from getting too close by blocking off the only way to your troops' location.
It might also be possible (albeit scary as hell) to use a vehicle to get more farming out of a reaper as an alternative - considering they have no ranged weapons. Of course in both cases the vehicle, your troops, and the target all have a limited amount of health so I doubt there are many, if any situations where an "indefinitely lengthy" situation can be set up. But whatever boost you can achieve may still be very helpful.
I will also have to test whether accuracy can be improved by having your troops fire upon things with a 100% block in the way, or even better by firing upon a land feature (like trees). If firing on a tree does it, that could be one of the easiest stats to increase ever.

Also, I will have to test whether the stat boost given to bravery by medals counts towards the +2 stat up per stat type or whether they are extras outside of it.

Once again I do not consider deliberately producing these situations to be cheaty - it's no different than a coach on a basketball team putting in his second string when there's only a quarter left and they're up by 50 points. If there is only 1 alien left, why not see if you can train away your soldiers' weaknesses in a real (albeit pretty safe) situation? Especially if that's the only way they can improve at all... Granted this is a game of lives, but doesn't that just make it all the more important?

[Chameleon_Silk]

Originally posted by Ⓖ:

Originally posted by Destructively Phased:

The help guide accessible through the launcher has details on levelling. And you don't need to overload soldiers bags to increase strength, just take them up to their carrying limit.

Thank you. In fact, according to my manual you only need to take them to ≧80% their carry weight.

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

stats go up on kills and mission completes, medals give + bravery and even if you could farm bravery early on something like that would only work for someone cheat saving, also they are capped so you can't get more bonuses in the same mission, you'd have to farm ufo sites and hope he doesn't die.

#1 missions completed
#2 I believe wounding a soldier reduces max health
#3 no, it just makes your soldier useless in that battle
#4 yes, by having them reaction fire at aliens
#5 no because you can't farm a stat forever there is a + limit per mission
#6 +1
#7 its more about the aliens killed
#8 if you had a group of guys that killed 3,2,1 the guy with 3 kills would get the bigger promotion

at least I believe these to be correct #2 and #3 not 100pct sure about and its possible a medal that is more then +1 exists.

Please don't speak definitively unless you have definitive answers. There is so little good/correct information about this game, and so much wrong, bad, or outdated info about this game it's ridiculous. The last thing we need is more bad info. This game is hard enough as it is.

Thank you Destructively Phased for directing me to a place which (unless outdated) should have much more definitive answers. Even if it doesn't answer everything, the rest can much more easily be answered through experimentation now that I have that wonderful base.

According to my manual pdf file, section 4.9 (at the very end of the manual as of the date of this post), each stat increases as such:

SOLDIER PROGRESSION: Soldiers that survive the battle may receive attribute increases, rank promotions and medals. Skillups are based on performing certain actions, listed below:

• TU: Gained by spending sufficient quantity of TU during the mission.
  
• HP: Increases incrementally based on the number of other skill-ups gained by the soldier.
  
• STR: Gained by spending TU on movement when carrying over 80% of carrying capacity.
  
• ACC: Gained by firing at enemies from within weapon range (you don’t have to hit them).
  
• RFL: Gained by reaction firing at enemies.
  
• BRV: Gained after suffering a morale event like panic.
  
  Rank promotions are based on the total number of skill-ups a soldier has gained.
  A soldier can only gain 2 points in each attribute per battle.
  Medals are granted for specific actions. They do not provide much in-game effect (+1 Bravery each) but are a way to remember the achievements of your soldiers!

Therefore I don't see why you couldn't "farm" bravery by deliberately leaving a psionic (the weak, early game psions in particular - purple shirts) as the last alien alive, then carefully monitoring him with your spread out troops who are largerly unarmed (to prevent berserk damage) and out of reach of physical damage. Later in the game of course this would become difficult to impossible as I don't think that the other psions can be so easily avoided, but early game this could be a big deal - especially when taking more troops instead of a vehicle to deliberately get stats up. I also don't consider this "cheaty" - a cruel but clever commander IRL might deliberately subject his troops to psionic attacks if he thinks they are otherwise safe in order to harden them for later encounters.

As far as training accuracy and reflexes go: this would be harder, but I would imagine that a sebillian (lizard race) non-combatant (using a plasma pistol only) found, forced, or led into a good location might make a suitable training piece at least for a few turns, as it could regenerate damage it recieves. Of course it depends a lot on available expendable armor (vehicles, shields, well armored soldiers), health, and ammo. I will have to test how many reaction shots are needed for reflexes to level up, how many regular shots are needed for accuracy to level up, and whether reaction shots can count towards accuracy leveling up. I would imagine that if you are trying to farm, a sniper rifle might be a good choice for reaction shots if you are concerned about hitting the sebillian too much, and that otherwise a pistol would be the weapon of choice given its poor damage and accuracy. There might be better choices but that's what I'm thinking off the top of my head. A vehicle would probably be very useful in procuring a suitable environment for this, as it would allow you to potentially prevent the target from getting too close by blocking off the only way to your troops' location.
It might also be possible (albeit scary as hell) to use a vehicle to get more farming out of a reaper as an alternative - considering they have no ranged weapons. Of course in both cases the vehicle, your troops, and the target all have a limited amount of health so I doubt there are many, if any situations where an "indefinitely lengthy" situation can be set up. But whatever boost you can achieve may still be very helpful.
I will also have to test whether accuracy can be improved by having your troops fire upon things with a 100% block in the way, or even better by firing upon a land feature (like trees). If firing on a tree does it, that could be one of the easiest stats to increase ever.

Also, I will have to test whether the stat boost given to bravery by medals counts towards the +2 stat up per stat type or whether they are extras outside of it.

Once again I do not consider deliberately producing these situations to be cheaty - it's no different than a coach on a basketball team putting in his second string when there's only a quarter left and they're up by 50 points. If there is only 1 alien left, why not see if you can train away your soldiers' weaknesses in a real (albeit pretty safe) situation? Especially if that's the only way they can improve at all... Granted this is a game of lives, but doesn't that just make it all the more important?

TLDR

what I said was basically the truth, you do a mission and move a soldier your TU can go up.

please don't tell me what to post. thanks.

the two ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ things that matter are kills and missions completed, which is the truth so STFU about definitive answers, in fact I purposely say "I think" or this may be incorrect on purpose to not come off as someone spouting BS and for the community to discuss.

the whole I'm gonna move a soldier on purpose lots to try and get (you only get +1-+2 regardless) stat is stupid, do you not realize how stupid this is? your xenonaut will die unless you are save scumming or playing on easy.... in the grand scheme of things only 2 things matter, you've killed aliens and completed missions with that soldier.

theres a definitive answer for you.

yes you should try and keep them alive to stat them up but you shouldn't be purposely doing anything other then trying to keep them alive.

my point is they should naturally stat up by actually doing the mission not by making them purposely run around a barn at 90pct weight firing low acc shots on purpose. in theory ya you could end every mission with +2s across the board but reality is you will just get shot in your face and reload.

this obsession with "farming" stat increases is bizzare as you are seeking some holy grail for your soldiers to be stronger then usual by gaming the system, the sebs are just gonna rush ya down.

[Ⓖ]

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

TLDR

what I said was basically the truth, you do a mission and move a soldier your TU can go up.

please don't tell me what to post. thanks.

the two ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ things that matter are kills and missions completed, which is the truth so STFU about definitive answers, in fact I purposely say "I think" or this may be incorrect on purpose to not come off as someone spouting BS and for the community to discuss.

the whole I'm gonna move a soldier on purpose lots to try and get (you only get +1 regardless) stat is stupid, do you not realize how stupid this is, your xenonaut will die unless you are save scumming or playing on easy.... in the grand scheme of things only 2 things matter, you've killed aliens and completed missions with that soldier.

theres a definite answer for you.

At the beginning of the game, the easy enemies allow a skilled commander to make some use of this even on harder difficulties. I have already started making use of it in the 3rd month of my normal save. And at the end of the game when preparing for the final mission, it can become very important to know exactly how these stats level up as well - even if you don't "farm" them. In general throughout it is important to know how best to train newbies - in particular if you need them to catch up to fill a hole. Other than the very beginning of the game it's probably mostly just useful for min/maxing, but even that can be crucial - in particular when you have things like 70 strength cutoffs for the proper use of several weapons for the duration of the game and things like that.

Never underestimate the power of knowledge, no matter how little.

And lastly, sorry if I seemed rude, but from your first post's last sentence:

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

at least I believe these to be correct #2 and #3 not 100pct sure about and its possible a medal that is more then +1 exists.

it sounded like the ONLY things you weren't completely sure about were points 2 and 3. If the manual is correct, only ONE of your points was correct, which was neither 2 or 3. It was 4. That doesn't give you a good percentage of correctness.

Furthermore, if the manual is correct then not a single stat is directly related to alien kills or missions as you have been saying, merely to things often done TO kill them. However all stats can be leveled up without achieving a single alien kill (for example if a vehicle gets all kills). And the only way the number of missions is related (other than their specific medals) is because of the cap - again not a direct cause of leveling. In fact it's somewhat the opposite - the number of missions is a stat limiter, not a cause. A unit could go on infinite missions and only get +3 total bravery from the 3 related medals, and nothing else.

The reason I keep saying "if the manual is correct" and haven't upated my title post with the answers is because I haven't tested these yet - much less thoroughly tested other possibilities or explanations to eliminate them as being confused for what the manual says.

In part because of the many tweaks and changes it has gone through, this game has the worst case of lack of information and wrong information I have ever seen. So I wouldn't put it past the game to have an outdated manual from a previous version, and in general I've come to not trust any particular source of information because I have yet to see one that is correct or complete on an answer more than about half the time, which is attrocious.

[Dranak]

The number of missions ran and aliens killed are irrelevant, aside from the respective medals.

Reflexes is gained by making a reaction fire check, regardless of whether your unit actually passes. Accuracy is gained by taking a non-0% shot at an alien from either within 150% of effective range of their weapon. HP is gained from gaining 5 other stat points. TUs are gained from spending 250 TUs in missions. Str is gained from moving 20 tiles while carrying 80% of their max unencumbered capacity. Bravery is gained only through medals and after panicing, making it the most annoying to level (although the CE makes it somewhat easier).

By default most stats are clamped to 1 gain per mission, with exceptions for TU (2 points) and HP (no limit). Bonus stats are also gained at Corporal (2 per I believe?).

[Dranak]

Taken directly from gameconfig.xml, and confirmed through more hours of playtime than I care to admit:

<!-- SOLDIER DEVELOPMENT VARIABLES -->
-<soldierDevelopment>

<!-- Soldiers develop their attributes by using them. Each time the soldier performs a certain action, he will gain a "progress point" in that attribute. Once he reaches the "pointsToProgress" value, the attribute will increase by one point. These progress points are cumulative and are stored from mission to mission. -->


<APProgress comment="A progress point is earned every time a soldier spends a TU on a mission" globalMaxProgress="98" maxPointsInSingleBattle="500" pointsToProgress="250"/>

<strengthProgress comment="Points are given when soldier moves one tile while carrying more than strengthCoeff percent of its maximum carry weight" globalMaxProgress="98" maxPointsInSingleBattle="20" pointsToProgress="20" strengthCoeff="80"/>

<accuracyProgress comment="Points are given when a soldier attempts to fire at a valid hostile enemy within weapon range * 1.5" globalMaxProgress="98" maxPointsInSingleBattle="1" pointsToProgress="1"/>

<reflexesProgress comment="A progress point is gained when a soldier performs a Reaction Fire test (it doesn't matter whether he passes or fails it)" globalMaxProgress="98" maxPointsInSingleBattle="1" pointsToProgress="1"/>

<braveryProgress comment="A progress point is earned whenever a soldier panics in battle" globalMaxProgress="98" maxPointsInSingleBattle="1" pointsToProgress="1"/>

<resilienceProgress comment="A progress points is earned every time the soldier gets a skillup in any other attribute" globalMaxProgress="97" pointsToProgress="5"/>

</soldierDevelopment>

[Ⓖ]

Originally posted by Dranak:

The number of missions ran and aliens killed are irrelevant, aside from the respective medals.

Reflexes is gained by making a reaction fire check, regardless of whether your unit actually passes. Accuracy is gained by taking a non-0% shot at an alien from either within 150% of effective range of their weapon. HP is gained from gaining 5 other stat points. TUs are gained from spending 250 TUs in missions. Str is gained from moving 20 tiles while carrying 80% of their max unencumbered capacity. Bravery is gained only through medals and after panicing, making it the most annoying to level (although the CE makes it somewhat easier).

By default most stats are clamped to 1 gain per mission, with exceptions for TU (2 points) and HP (no limit). Bonus stats are also gained at Corporal (2 per I believe?).

Thank you, this is very helpful. AND this is exactly why I didn't just want to rely on the manual (which was apparently wrong about EACH stat having a 2 level-per-mission cap when most have a 1 level cap).

So the HP cap is basically 1.2 levels per mission (which might result in 2 levels seen increase because of how it lines up) not accounting for medals, which might give it more levels?

Also is the globalMaxProgress variable for the max number of levels they can recieve? For example in most stats the globalMaxProgress is 98 (97 for HP). Would this mean that a soldier starting with 50 TUs could potentially progress to 148 TUs? Or is that an overall cap, meaning that the max level for each stat is 98 (rather than 98 plus starting stats)? Or is that something else entirely?

[Half Phased]

Since each stat only goes up to 100 on the bar I'm gonna say 98. The 1 point cap per battle for most is surprising I thought it was two.

[Ⓖ]

Originally posted by Destructively Phased:

Since each stat only goes up to 100 on the bar I'm gonna say 98. The 1 point cap per battle for most is surprising I thought it was two.

Yes, it's probably worth testing just in case (I've seen plenty of other games where code is surprisingly just sitting there, ignored), but that sounds right to me. Of course in previous versions I've seen on YouTube, I've seen stats go up by 4 or 5 per mission, but that's part of what makes this game's mechanics so hard to nail down - it's definitely changed a lot.

I will test these as soon as I get time tonight, then post back the results.

[Chameleon_Silk]

hmm i was way to harsh my apologies, I agree with everything your saying about using early months to great benefit.... 100pct on that, I am no fool with the game.

#1 missions completed, as in you have used the troops.
#2 wounding a soldier does reduce max health, i've seen 44 become 41... maybe its not perm (anyone?)
#3 was correct
#4 performing reflex shots does increase reflex
#5 killing aliens is firing at valid targets and does increase accuracy (although I admit I assumed you had to actually hit the target)
#6 I've gotten a lot of medals and i've only seen +1
#7 is correct, you would get a promotion for doing the most killing over other soldiers

I think I had more then 1 right, regardless it is good to know the exact reason its happening... I'm all for exploring the ins and outs of the game.. sorry about my rude posting, never post after waking and before heading off to work!

[Chameleon_Silk]

Originally posted by Ⓖ:

Originally posted by Destructively Phased:

Since each stat only goes up to 100 on the bar I'm gonna say 98. The 1 point cap per battle for most is surprising I thought it was two.

Yes, it's probably worth testing just in case (I've seen plenty of other games where code is surprisingly just sitting there, ignored), but that sounds right to me. Of course in previous versions I've seen on YouTube, I've seen stats go up by 4 or 5 per mission, but that's part of what makes this game's mechanics so hard to nail down - it's definitely changed a lot.

I will test these as soon as I get time tonight, then post back the results.

I thought it was +2 max as well, perhaps only certain stats?

EDIT: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197982962853/screenshot/366282456253857775

timeunits +2

[Ⓖ]

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

hmm i was way to harsh my apologies, I agree with everything your saying about using early months to great benefit.... 100pct on that, I am no fool with the game.

#1 missions completed, as in you have used the troops.
#2 wounding a soldier does reduce max health, i've seen 44 become 41... maybe its not perm (anyone?)
#3 was correct
#4 performing reflex shots does increase reflex
#5 killing aliens is firing at valid targets and does increase accuracy (although I admit I assumed you had to actually hit the target)
#6 I've gotten a lot of medals and i've only seen +1
#7 is correct, you would get a promotion for doing the most killing over other soldiers

I think I had more then 1 right, regardless it is good to know the exact reason its happening... I'm all for exploring the ins and outs of the game.. sorry about my rude posting, never post after waking and before heading off to work!

It's all good, I'm sorry too. I also was doing morning posting... you're probably right.

Originally posted by Chameleon_Silk:

Originally posted by Ⓖ:

Yes, it's probably worth testing just in case (I've seen plenty of other games where code is surprisingly just sitting there, ignored), but that sounds right to me. Of course in previous versions I've seen on YouTube, I've seen stats go up by 4 or 5 per mission, but that's part of what makes this game's mechanics so hard to nail down - it's definitely changed a lot.

I will test these as soon as I get time tonight, then post back the results.

I thought it was +2 max as well, perhaps only certain stats?

EDIT: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197982962853/screenshot/366282456253857775

timeunits +2

How are you getting +1's and +2's instead of it just saying their raw stats? Are you playing the community edition, or is it something in the settings? In my version in the debriefing it just gives their final stats, not how much was added to them which made it annoying to test the 1 time I tried before getting distracted with testing the possibilities of starting stats.