What do you spend supplies on early game?

[Zehm]

At the start of the game I make it a priority to liberate my starting region as quickly as possible. I don't think it's reasonable to do that without having a team of 6-8 vetted troops equipped with lasers and predator armour. And then you need enough lasers to give to the B-Team for them to remain effective. Buying all that takes almost everything you have, so deciding what, if any, facilities you should invest in is a hard choice to make.

I tried rushing an early lab, but was bottle necked by a lack of alloys so it was pretty useless in the end. I probably got the first few lasers out the gate a bit earlier, but they were so few that it barely made an impact on the arms race. By the time I had the alloys for more, I was at a place where I'd have the research unlocked without the lab anyway.

Comms are no good until after you've liberated the region and know where the blacksite is located. I'm not conviced that contacting a second region at the start is entirely a good idea since you need all the man power you can muster to keep your starting region in check. It's good for training the bottom dwellers of the roster though, at least for a little while before Vipers and all Sectoid pods start appearing, then you need lasers or specialist troops to fight even the "Light" missions.

I got some use out of the Advance Warfare center, more for the medical facilities than the training as it allows you to field your limited starting roster more frequently, making things more managable and gaining levels quicker.

Gurrilla Tactics is too expensive to buy any of the unlocks from IMO, and officers dont seem worth the cost of the facility alone. Training rookies is as easy as sending them on missions (although I do play with the Commanders Choice mod). Stims are too few at this point in the game to make much of a difference.

Workshops and power generators don't have any use at the start.

The Proving Grounds might be a good option now that I think about it. It might be possible to skip researching armour in place of better vests, although I'm not sure how much time that would save since you still need alloys and supplies. The rest of the stuff is useful, but situational.

I've never built the Psi Lab early so I can't comment on its usefulness.

I don't buy troops unless there's a potential recruit who fits the mold for a class I'm short on. Solo shinobi, even solo rookies, can do prison breaks with ease without spreading your forces thin. I do find solo missions tedious though.

Scientists and Engineers don't seem worth buying unless the game really screws you on which ones you get from missions.

With that in mind, I find that with the exception of maybe building the AWC, I spend the first 3-4 months saving my supplies and rendering the few corpses I have so I can pay for research, while twiddling my thumbs waiting for a supply raid/troop ambush or two so I can build the gear I need to assault the base.

It would be nice to try a different opener, so I'd like to hear a convincing way to spend supplies and alloys.

[Darkrage_nl]

Originally posted by Djinn8:

At the start of the game I make it a priority to liberate my starting region as quickly as possible. I don't think it's reasonable to do that without having a team of 6-8 vetted troops equipped with lasers and predator armour.

It is more reasonable to do your first liberation without lasers of armor. The earlier you do it the lower the force level and advent strenght. This means not only weaker enemies but also smaller pods.

Originally posted by Djinn8:

I tried rushing an early lab

Define early? A lab should be build on a power coil. So it is not really a option the first couple of months (and as a result a bit late for lasers).

Originally posted by Djinn8:

I'm not conviced that contacting a second region at the start is entirely a good idea since you need all the man power you can muster to keep your starting region in check.

Send smaller squads and over infiltrate.

Missions have regional cooldowns. So doing a only 1 region strategy means you will do only 1 political prisoner mission (save rebels, rookies or staff from the cell) and 1 extract/rescue vip from vehicle mission every 3-4 weeks.

Also is there very little kill experience and mission experience per soldier decreases with each additional soldier after the third.

So with a 1 region strategy you get A: less experience. B: less staff (scientists, engineer), C: less intel, D: less rookies and rebels (jailbreaks) and E: Lower Global Vigilance what indirectly results in less time to beat the avatar project

Originally posted by Djinn8:

I got some use out of the Advance Warfare center, more for the medical facilities

Stealth more, fight less. Mission experience, not kill experience.

Originally posted by Djinn8:

Gurrilla Tactics is too expensive to buy any of the unlocks from IMO, and officers dont seem worth the cost of the facility alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsuWfAQts_M a example of how useful officers can be. P.S. Do not copy his 1 region until liberation strategy as it is losing him his campaign.

Originally posted by Djinn8:

The Proving Grounds might be a good option now that I think about it. It might be possible to skip researching armour in place of better vests

You will need to research armor eventually. And vests and armor can be worn together. Unless you mean heavy armor what needs to be researched separately.

Originally posted by Djinn8:

I don't buy troops unless there's a potential recruit who fits the mold for a class I'm short on.

Did you not state earlier that you were short on manpower?

Edit: One more thing. You have to pay upkeep for your facility's. If your supply is 0 at the end of the month then you pay 0 upkeep. Sitting on a pile of supplies for months will cost you supplies instead. There are ways to game it by starting the build of a facility and then canceling it. But that is IMHO a bit to gamey.

My strategy regarding supplies, alloys and crystals in the early game= using them on whatever is available. And when you have liberated you're first region and build up a economy you get all the stuff you need to keep everyone equipped.

Rendering corpses I tend to avoid as much as possible as it delays your research. And stockpiling corpses means that you can occasionaly do several autopsy instantly (at the cost of some additional corpses).

[TheSuit]

My first Liberation was terrifying but I did it without lasers without any issue ( though I did have a psionics ).

Basically I found a nice high spot for my snipers and equipped them with auto reloader, more mags + stock. Both had Damn Good Ground.

I would use a Shinobi to scout the area and set up a kill box infront of an enemy patrol and let my guys stay in overwatch or try to flank. When enemies were low on health or had little HP, I would use my snipers to pick them off, and they usually had great accuracy for being on higher ground + using steady aim after each kill instead of putting them on overwatch.

[Zehm]

Originally posted by Darkrage_nl:

It is more reasonable to do your first liberation without lasers of armor. The earlier you do it the lower the force level and advent strenght. This means not only weaker enemies but also smaller pods.

I find that when the base assault is available, force strength is usually around 5. If I wait until I have the gear it usually isn't any stronger because I've been doing supply raids/column ambushes to keep it in check and gather materials. I'm not sure I trust balistic weapons for the assault. The mission is essentially an endurance test and the difference between basic gear and the tier 2 stuff is massive since you can only use so many items before you have to rely on armaments alone.

A lab should be build on a power coil. So it is not really a option the first couple of months (and as a result a bit late for lasers).

Agreed. I was just testing it out and found it lacking.

Missions have regional cooldowns. So doing a only 1 region strategy means you will do only 1 political prisoner mission (save rebels, rookies or staff from the cell) and 1 extract/rescue vip from vehicle mission every 3-4 weeks.

I didn't realise that. Good to know. I thought it was all based on the power rating of the region.

You will need to research armor eventually. And vests and armor can be worn together. Unless you mean heavy armor what needs to be researched separately.

After trying it out, I don't think vests are a good substitute for armour. They are a good substitute for the AWC medical facility though. But it also means you need more resources to get both vests and armour + build the proving ground, so it ultimatly slows things down a lot.

Did you not state earlier that you were short on manpower?

Yes, but equiping a huge force is impossible and there comes a time when you can't compete with balistics and squaddies. And that time seems to come pretty quickly. More troops are good once you get to tier 3 weapons and can filter your old gear down through the ranks. Spreading your power around just seems to water down your effectivness. I'd rather win two decisive victories, than three phyric ones. Usually I have enough troops for two effective squads + some bench warmers who will eventually form the basis of a third fighting force once I have the economy/equipment to support them.

One more thing. You have to pay upkeep for your facility's. If your supply is 0 at the end of the month then you pay 0 upkeep. Sitting on a pile of supplies for months will cost you supplies instead. There are ways to game it by starting the build of a facility and then canceling it. But that is IMHO a bit to gamey.

Good point, but I'm not sure how much that would save, since you don't have many, if any, facilities at the start. It's probably just going to clear out the spare change that you can't spend on anything. So instead of losing $10 per moth on upkeep, you lose $5 or something.

My strategy regarding supplies, alloys and crystals in the early game= using them on whatever is available. And when you have liberated you're first region and build up a economy you get all the stuff you need to keep everyone equipped.

Yeah it's getting that liberated region though. A sucessful base assualt is probably the biggest finacial gain you can make and it really turns the game around. You can just about equip your entire force with gear from the gains and then you get a boost to income that allows you to start building facilities. You also get to see the bigger picture so you can focus on completing the main objective of the game. It's almost like the game starts in earnest after the first liberation, so it's important that its done as quickly as possible.

Rendering corpses I tend to avoid as much as possible as it delays your research. And stockpiling corpses means that you can occasionaly do several autopsy instantly (at the cost of some additional corpses).

I just render troopers. You're never really short of them, at least in regards to research oppertunities. It's also better to spend a few days rendering corpses so you can start researching the tech you want, rather than waiting weeks for more alloys to come via the field.

[krabdr]

Early game supplies go to AWC, GST, modular weapons, alien biotech, buying 2-4 AP ammos, 2-4 tracer rounds, then laser research.

[Belhedler]

There was definitely a similar thread, if not with the same title. Plenty of players answered that in length.

Edit: http://steamcommunity.com/app/268500/discussions/2/135509823666945076/

[Epithet Lost]

I bought engineers from the black market whenever I can, they pay for themselves quickly by excavating. Autoloaders also are a buy, ammo expenditure in LW2 seems higher than the main game.

My earliest building was actually guerilla school, the difference between squaddies and rookies is huge, so having an unlimited supply of squaddies is great especially when number of troops is higher in LW2.