Resource Management and Base Building tips

[The Blind Bandit]

I'm rather new to games like this but from what I've played so far I love it. A problem I often run into though is running low on supplies and intel as well as not getting into contact with other regions. I try to get every drop whether it be supplies, intel, engineers, or scientists but this often leads to stuff in the big picture not getting done and time being wasted. Are there drops that should be prioritzed? Is opening up regions paramount?

[ReaperDK]

Prioritise engineers. You need them to build your base.

Contacting new regions gives you money, but don't make too many contacts early. Save you intel for when the dark sites show up and expand to take them out.

Build radio towers to lower the intel cost of contacting new regions.

[Fel]

One of the most important points might be to not spend everything too fast/early.

It's not that problematic if only a few soldiers have the latest equipments (obviously it's better to have more, but it's not an end-all if you don't), because there are soldiers that have less use for a gun, or are less likely to be under fire.

If you spend too much trying to get tier 2 weapons and armours, you might very well not be able to afford the other equipments (special grenades and so on), which can really save your squads.
Even basic flash bangs have so much use despite not doing any damage for example.

I guess one way to put it is that you want to open up what you can do and not overdo one way over the others unless you have a specific plan in mind (like rushing tier 3 equipments and such).


As for contating regions, there are pros and cons, but you definitely want to regularly contact regions because it's the only way to really combat the doom meter.

[Fringehunter7719]

A few tips:-

• Supply drops come every three weeks, under most circumstances if you haven't collected the last one, it just stacks on top (or if you've collected just part of the last one). This means that if you don't immediately need the supplies you can offer let it run over to the next period to double up on scan efficiency, or pick it up as you fly past.
  
• The black market can be a great source of supplies. Elerium sells for a good price, and you can often buy it one supply period for a very modest intel fee, then hold onto it and resell it for a huge premium when it's in high demand in another supply period. It's often more efficient to buy elerium and sell it back immediately for supplies than to buy supplies directly too, so compare prices before you make any transaction.
  
• The black market also resets on a three weekly basis. In any period you haven't checked it out it will be marked with an exclamation mark (as will the HQ).
  
• When checking out the black market, supply drop or HQ it's best to finish what you were scanning in other periods to cut down on flight time. Don't make extra journeys for yourself.
  
• Many corpses can also be sold, but you may want to consult a list if you don't know which ones have uses, or what the "instant research" threshold for them is.
  
• Don't try and get every scan, many of them are trash. Assorted loot is a huge waste of time, supplies also gives poor value per time spent scanning. Other scans like alloys, intel, low ranked soldiers, rookies, avenger power and possibly a few others I'm forgetting are highly situational and usually should be skipped - but you'll have to learn when you need them and when you don't.
  
• You should also never be contacting a region that isn't adjacent to a radio tower, it's a colossal waste of resources and is an absolute last resort to prevent a game over. Normally you should be contacting a region, building a tower, contacting the next region, building a tower. Don't aim for a tower in every zone, but aim to hit the required number for continent bonuses, since you get more income, spend less intel and then get that bonus as an extra.

[arekasama]

Map:

• Intel is a priority most of the time. You use it for lots of different things so it's important to use it wisely. I tend to buy supplies in the early months and any scope, stock or perception chip I find. In fact, I visit the black market each time it refresh, even before I do anything else.
  
• Early on engineers are better than Intel though. Someone needs to dig all that stuff in the Avenger!!!
  
• You don't really need more than 4 scientists, I think, so they are not that important.
  
• Assorted loot can be awesome early on, specially if you don't rush the building to produce ammo/grenades/...
  
• Supplies can be good if you have nothing better or really need some extra. Otehrwise, bad choice.
  
• Alloys and Elerium are not so great unless you really need them or plan to sell them. Intel allows you to buy those on demand, anyway.
  
• If the clock starts ticking, try to break it by completing a quest objective that reduces that Avatar counter instead of targetting a Facility, if possible. It's better to save the facilities as emergency counters.
  
• During the first months you should rush a new region each month so you can have the choice of countering one of the 3 Dark Events. From there you can slow down and see where facilities pop up and/or quest sites appear. From there, you will know where to expand.
  
• It's best to build a radio tower in a region near the new region that you want to contact to reduce Intel cost. But if you are short on Supplies and high on Intel, you may consider use the Intel. But try not to unless you really need it and cannot wait.
  
• Dark Events: I try to counter any UFO in the early game. Otherwise, anything that add pips to the Avatar counter (or the facility building counter if not). Everything else can be ignored. Only use Intel to discover hidden Dark Events if you don't see any of the mentioned earlier and you have more than one choice to use Intel. If you don't see those Dark Events and there is only one hidden option, counter that and save yourself some Intel. This strategy can hurt you as you may have to ignore rewards from other missions.
  
• Region abilities are unimportant. If you can afford them, good. But they should be a collateral of your expansion.

Avenger:
I follow a pattern to keep my research in par with my resources and needs. It's a bit slow on the quest side though. Works in Veteran and Commander but is just my playstyle, so surely someone has something better.

• Guerrilla school is my very first to train rookies to squaddies and have early access, once ranks come, to squad size improvements (those are priority, vulture too, rest can wait).
  
• I go for Advance Warfare second to reduce injury times.
  
• Third a power generator (upgrade as needed).
  
• Fourth is the comms room (unlocking this is priority over stuff like weapon mods or magnetic weapons). Upgrade as needed.
  
• Fifth is the... er... ammo/grenades/etc producing room. If possible, built on one of those energy nodes so it doesn't use any actual energy. Building it so late means so scary moments due to delay in quest line but it's ok, specially in Veteran or lower but works ok in Commander too.
  
• Sixth the Psi Lab, if possible over energy node.
  
• Seventh: super duper scanner to see alien numbers and types.
  
• Eight: turrets!!!
  
• Workshop is optional based on engineers and if possible, in a space of optimal usage.
  
• No need for laboratories.
  
• A second comms and power generator when the others are totally upgraded and if you really need them.
  
• In the upgrade realm, rifles always first. Armors are a good second option unless you really need another weapon type upgraded asap. The second type I tend to upgrade first is heavy one. Third is the sniper one and, always last, the shotgun (rangers can do ok with lower tier).
  
• Improve grenade launcher asap, as well as gremlins, medkits (if you use them) and grenades/explosives.
  
• Ammo, grenades, heavy weapons and vests are always produced on a cycle and you cannot get a repeat until you have completed the cycle. So if you get a tracer round first, you won't get another until you get one of the other types. Keep that in mind and don't waste your Elerium Cores. Special ammo interesting is Talon Rounds. Vests: anything goes. Grenades: incendiary and acid ones. Heavy Weapons: none! Powered Heavy Weapons: Blaster Launcher and Shredder Cannon.

[The Blind Bandit]

Thanks all. Will try these out.

[Fringehunter7719]

Originally posted by arekasama:

• Assorted loot can be awesome early on, specially if you don't rush the building to produce ammo/grenades/...

Whilst I'm with you 100% that ammo and grenades are really useful, you don't get ammo or grenades from the assorted loot labelled scans, they come from ones labelled as ammo and grenades. The assorted loot drops are the ones that give you the same as picking up a loot drop in a mission - often a single low grade weapon mod in early game.

[arekasama]

Originally posted by Fringehunter7719:

Originally posted by arekasama:

• Assorted loot can be awesome early on, specially if you don't rush the building to produce ammo/grenades/...

Whilst I'm with you 100% that ammo and grenades are really useful, you don't get ammo or grenades from the assorted loot labelled scans, they come from ones labelled as ammo and grenades. The assorted loot drops are the ones that give you the same as picking up a loot drop in a mission - often a single low grade weapon mod in early game.

Ops. My bad.

[|H|H| Fr3ddi3]

Something i highly recommend, do not finish scanning for a new region within the first month of the campaign, by all means start a scan and get it to within 1 day of completion, but do not actually finish it untill you have done your first Advent Retalliation Mission.

This will force the Retalliation mission to take place in the only sector you cannot actualy lose in the event of failing the mission (which is highly likely, depending on the difficulty level). The penalty is therefore just and handfull of supplies rather than the loss of the contact and by extension both the time and intel it costs rescanning it.