Tips for Commander, iron man

[Leander.quest]

Any tips?

Had a bad start, then recovered, but lost. After attacking an Alien base I had many tired and wounded soldiers. One day later I had to do the next mission (I never skip them...should I?), had to send rookies and low-XP soldiers...and lost all of them.

Later I had a good mission and everything look ok, but Advent won as I did not know how to attack another Alien base to stop reduce the Avatar project.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2379359903

I could not get there? I contacted other regions, but could not find any other base but this one.

I think I won!? :D
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2379359953

The second of four difficulty levels is so much easier...cannot remember its name. Commander is much harder.

How should I adjust?

Strategy:
Move, attack, last soldier on my turn throw mimic beacon
Next turn, I use my second mimic beacon
Sometimes I have three with me or a frost bomb

Research:
armor, weapons, mimic beacons!

Facilities:
guerilla tactics school, building for more contacts

===========

One my my tired soldiers panicked...although she was wearing a mind shield, but it seems it only protects soldiers against sectoids and not fatigue resulting in panic.

[Narrowmind]

It took me over 65 failures at commander before I went back and practiced veteran a few times and went back to commander. I promised myself I wouldn't quit no matter what. Had some enraging battles, but I was able to pull through.

I suggest you skip the early mission that requires rescuing the vip where the reinforcements crash in.

That may be too much. As painful as it is, give up your reaper if you have to. Many times, the game will help you get two more as replacements, and that is worth the wait.

You'll need a phantom ranger or two to give the reaper a chance to recover between missions. Make sure you get shredding for your grenadiers, long watch for your sharpshooters, and (hotly debated) medical protocol for your specialists, though I always go back for combat, just in case. Generally I'm good enough where I don't need revival protocol, but don't hesitate to take it if you feel too sloppy to risk heading in without it.

Mimic beacons are valuable, but be sure not to engage with more than one group if you can help it, so limit how many you'll need for a fight. Try to keep your reaper out of open combat until the situation is desperate. Lean hard on bluescreen rounds when you unlock them, as well as other ammo.

Don't bother to attack bases unless you have a rested force wielding at least 2nd tier weapons and armor.

Don't use tired soldiers. You must have known that was a mistake to begin with. Always enter battle with a rookie/squad, to make sure you're training up one unit in each battle, just in case. Getting to 5 soldiers is really important. If you cant clear Gatecrasher with all your people without injuries, or at least alive, start over. You can't avoid that set back. The mind shield is only for defense against psionics, and yes, it includes the Warlock.

Personal preference, but I love building the covert ops first. It allows poor soldiers to be trained on missions while you're doing your own missions.

[fewerjungle]

I never skip missions. You just need to manage your roster well. Non-timed missions are the easy ones, so if I have to attack a facility, for example, and feel there's a normal mission coming up right after it, I usually send the B team. That said, if you think not skipping a mission might lead to a squad wipe don't go for it.

On your screenshot you have three facilities active. You just need to be quicker to get to them. Save intel and build relays to make the contact process cheaper (requires resistance radio research). You can also do covert ops, get the skirmisher's sabotage resistance order or do story related stuff, the most immediate one being skulljacking an officer.

As for research go with weapons, armor, then beacons. Weapons first is very important. I usually go mag weapons then resistance comms, gauss, armor, radio, beacons, plasma grenades, etc. etc.

Finally, while a beacon is an excellent item, you should only need it in the most extreme of situations. If you need to rely on it constantly you're lacking firepower, which comes back to your choice of getting armor first. Also remember that beacons are a stalling tactic. Using too many might lead to losing timed missions.

[Leander.quest]

Thanks! I only use intel to buy things on the black market and am careful to keep around 100.

To be honest, I never look up the research order and focus on mimics...on Veteran I never had problems...only the first 5 missions were not easy, but then I did not have a problem. My specialist focusd on hacking mechs and offensive skills. He had a health pack with him, but that was it...no need to heal anyone...on Veteran. :)

[Leander.quest]

Started a new game. One Mexican guy had three kills, making 3 50% shots...and my Swedish lady missed three in a row...72%, 75%, 73%...she is a grenadier now...good for her as she cannot miss with grenades. :)

[fewerjungle]

Good luck.
If you learn the tricks and rules of the game, even commander will seem easy.

Don't overlook research order. You may put your own twist on it, but firepower is always crucial.
And try to have more than 100 intel for mid game. It will save you from avatar project's game over.

[Leander.quest]

Thank you! I watched some videos how to play and found out I don't play that well. Usually, I move, set up an ambush trap, fight and that's it. I never use shadow skills of the ranger and reaper. Moreover, I get too close because I think a weapon is a slingshot with limited range. :) ... and often I only use half cover.

Anyway, I had a really good start with no casualties and only 1 soldier injured. I am 3 missions in...just met the Chosen for the first time. Some of my soldiers are already tired. Is there something I can do about this?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2380661573

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2380661555

What do do next? Get the engineer? Get supplied? Scan the HQ for intel?
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2380661597

What I have done so far: research alien technology (I read somewhere that this is important...normally I research weapons and armor first), build the guerilla tactics school, an engineer is clearing a room from Alien remainings...built a flashbang and a med kit...

[Vertigo]

Originally posted by Ratlegion:

It took me over 65 failures at commander before I went back and practiced veteran a few times and went back to commander. I promised myself I wouldn't quit no matter what. Had some enraging battles, but I was able to pull through.

I suggest you skip the early mission that requires rescuing the vip where the reinforcements crash in.

That may be too much. As painful as it is, give up your reaper if you have to. Many times, the game will help you get two more as replacements, and that is worth the wait.

You'll need a phantom ranger or two to give the reaper a chance to recover between missions. Make sure you get shredding for your grenadiers, long watch for your sharpshooters, and (hotly debated) medical protocol for your specialists, though I always go back for combat, just in case. Generally I'm good enough where I don't need revival protocol, but don't hesitate to take it if you feel too sloppy to risk heading in without it.

Mimic beacons are valuable, but be sure not to engage with more than one group if you can help it, so limit how many you'll need for a fight. Try to keep your reaper out of open combat until the situation is desperate. Lean hard on bluescreen rounds when you unlock them, as well as other ammo.

Don't bother to attack bases unless you have a rested force wielding at least 2nd tier weapons and armor.

Don't use tired soldiers. You must have known that was a mistake to begin with. Always enter battle with a rookie/squad, to make sure you're training up one unit in each battle, just in case. Getting to 5 soldiers is really important. If you cant clear Gatecrasher with all your people without injuries, or at least alive, start over. You can't avoid that set back. The mind shield is only for defense against psionics, and yes, it includes the Warlock.

Personal preference, but I love building the covert ops first. It allows poor soldiers to be trained on missions while you're doing your own missions.

It's funny I am currently on roughly try 68 on commander/ironman. I don't want to just win, I want to ROLL them and complete everything.

I just had a run with a bunch of flawless missions, I don't think any mission failures, did the blacksite, had the warden armor.. Then flubbed bigtime. I can do it again, I want to do all the alien rulers and get every continent.

[RevolverBigBosselote]

Tips on how to attempt Iron Man on Commander difficulty

Tip #1. Don't.

[crayno]

Get the engineer, getting that or scientist as a scan reward is way better than any of the other scans, especially early game.

[sidewinder_G]

Things that should be purchased/built as soon as possible:

Squad size upgrades
Loot upgrades
XP upgrades
Advanced Warfare Center (heals your dudes at double the time and grants abilities from other classes to them BUT NOT RETROACTIVELY).

Also, if you can, advent facility missions do not require you to kill anyone. Plant the explosives, try to get your guy out if you can, choose the evac and get out.

[Stardustfire]

the problem why the difficulty under commander was easyer for you , was because the game cheats there behind the curtain in your favour, what it dosnt does anymore on commander. commander is the real normal, no cheats for both sides. thats a relic from xcom1, where they needed to implement a very easy mode because they get many rants from kiddys that where to acustomed to games that handhold them to win. however, becasue of this the "normal difficulty" ends up very high in the difficulty list.

you say you got tired soldiers, so you use WotC i guess. havnt build the resistance ring first? (or latest as second after GTS?)
becasue there you can get missions to drop avatar progress.
also acomplishing story goals lowers the progress again.

[Zyrrashijn]

You're wrong, Stardustfire. The game still cheats in favor of the player on Commander difficulty. Only Legend is cheat-free.

[Stardustfire]

nope legendary is with enhanced stats for AI side. also doubled times for recovery and research.
commander is the balanced one.

[mk11]

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

nope legendary is with enhanced stats for AI side. also doubled times for recovery and research.
commander is the balanced one.

From a wiki:

"When a soldier misses, he is given a flat +15 (!) aim bonus on shots over 50% until he lands a hit"

"The game will try to steer inactive enemy pods away as long as the player is fighting at least six enemies"

So commander still has some cheats, the first of the above being most noticeable.

My recommendation for Commander, Ironman is to play with Beta Strike enabled it removes a lot of the randomness.

[Vertigo]

on the missions where they drop the extraction point after a timer, don't have your soldiers converge around a destroyed building. The evac point will show up and then the next turn it will move if it drops on a damaged building. [Or even in an inaccessible area such as the water]