Basic Build advice?

[Karsk]

I read a bunch of guides and I am not very far into the campaign have restarted a few times. However I was hoping for some advice on how to at least start building my soldiers early to midgame?

Playing on veteran without any dlc enabled for learning btw so I should have plenty of skill points.

[Artek [General]]

Any specifics as to what you need help with / don't understand?
There's not really much of an advice. Unlock your skills, think carefully about talents (wether you need them or not).
You can give people multiple weapons. My assaults never leave the base without an assault rifle AND a shotgun, unless they got a good talent to use something else.
Give any melee you find to heavies. WIth their BASH skill they destroy people if they can get close enough, they can't hit ♥♥♥♥ with their cannon anyway.

[Sheesh]

I always prioritise speed over will over strength and try to go for something like Sp 16/Wi 12-14/St 20 or so early on:
Speed to get into position which is important to actually hit stuff, will for the skills. Strength is only carry weight and HP, so *shouldn't* be a big issue.

I tend to drain my will points without thinking too much about them, some quick aims, dashes or war cries are usually more important than 'saving up, just in case'.

Early skills are all worth taking, esp. bash and war cry on your heavies. War cry reduces AP to 2 which means 3AP attacks cannot be executed (snipers, heavy weapons; if in doubt, use [info] on enemies and hover over their weapons/skills for tooltips) and 2AP attacks happen only if they don't move for the turn.

If you get haven recruitment protocols, look out for Anu priests with the Judgement head mutation which gives the frenzy skill (another 50% movement on all affected for 2 turns - 1st thing to do in any mission).
If you open the haven in question, there's a little white-in-blue info button on recruits which opens their loadout screen.

As for perks, I rarely take them earlier than lvl 5 or 6, unless they provide stat points cheaper than leveling them directly or accuracy buffs.

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by Sheesh:

I always prioritise speed over will over strength and try to go for something like Sp 16/Wi 12-14/St 20 or so early on:
Speed to get into position which is important to actually hit stuff, will for the skills. Strength is only carry weight and HP, so *shouldn't* be a big issue.

Yeah, speed is generally the superior stat. Ability to find a good shooting position, or even get in range for a melee strike is a game changer. 200 HP is usually more than enough for an average soldier to survive a couple of sniper shots. Just try to not be shot by a shotgun.

In late game every big squad of yours should have a Priest with a Frenzy-inducing mutated head. These guys can allow your team to do so much.
Technicians should also be present in every squad. They always end up my dedicated healers and their turrets are OP (especially phoenix' laser one). It basically dishes out cannon levels of DPS with decent accuracy.

[Cast Out Devil]

For early to mid-game, you don't really need to rely on skills from the RNG, just focus on the class-specific skills.

Assault - Get Dash, the extra movement can help getting into firing range or run to/from a supply cache. Then I pump stats, as Sheesh and Artek said, Speed is the best early stat to pump.

Heavy - Get War Cry first. Shutting down the enemy is key. Plus heavies just don't shoot very often (mine don't at least). Dual class to Berserker seems to be the preferred way to go, but I haven't gotten far enough into the game to make the Heavy useful outside of supply cache missions or to jump them into enemies and War Cry.

Sniper - Quick Aim allows you to move AND snipe, must have. Extreme Focus also allows you to move and then still be useful. Pump Speed when you have extra points.

If you pick up a Berserker at a haven, just park them at your main base (have two training facilities to speed up exp gain). Dual class them to Heavy and let them jump pack around the map. Like the heavy, I just don't get much productivity out of them so far.

[Karsk]

Originally posted by Cast Out Devil:

For early to mid-game, you don't really need to rely on skills from the RNG, just focus on the class-specific skills.

Assault - Get Dash, the extra movement can help getting into firing range or run to/from a supply cache. Then I pump stats, as Sheesh and Artek said, Speed is the best early stat to pump.

Heavy - Get War Cry first. Shutting down the enemy is key. Plus heavies just don't shoot very often (mine don't at least). Dual class to Berserker seems to be the preferred way to go, but I haven't gotten far enough into the game to make the Heavy useful outside of supply cache missions or to jump them into enemies and War Cry.

Sniper - Quick Aim allows you to move AND snipe, must have. Extreme Focus also allows you to move and then still be useful. Pump Speed when you have extra points.

If you pick up a Berserker at a haven, just park them at your main base (have two training facilities to speed up exp gain). Dual class them to Heavy and let them jump pack around the map. Like the heavy, I just don't get much productivity out of them so far.

Awesome thanks!

[Karsk]

Also wanted to add a massive thanks to Artek and Sheesh as well!

[Cast Out Devil]

Hopefully Sheesh and Artek can elaborate on the mid-game. Are you dual-classing your assaults into heavies? How are you dealing with the Pure? I keep hitting that wall, where I can't shred their armor, because my tech isn't up to par yet. I find a HUGE gap between the basic troops and when you unlock the priest and technician.

[Karsk]

Originally posted by Cast Out Devil:

Hopefully Sheesh and Artek can elaborate on the mid-game. Are you dual-classing your assaults into heavies? How are you dealing with the Pure? I keep hitting that wall, where I can't shred their armor, because my tech isn't up to par yet. I find a HUGE gap between the basic troops and when you unlock the priest and technician.

Yea that'd be helpful I was JUST about to ask where I can find the priest class lol

[Karsk]

Which airship should I go for I kinda like the Tiamat for extra space and it looks cool

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by Cast Out Devil:

If you pick up a Berserker at a haven, just park them at your main base (have two training facilities to speed up exp gain). Dual class them to Heavy and let them jump pack around the map. Like the heavy, I just don't get much productivity out of them so far.

Berzerkers are amazing once they hit level 7, have a priest accompaying them and have a lot of speed.
The goal is to get into a good postion, do Armor Break > Adrenaline Rush and then slash somebody 3 times with the sword/machete thing, whatever it was called. that's 300+ damage dealt, and 150+ bleed on top, not counting any limbs that might get broken in the process. And oh boy if the guy gets a "strongman" talent. Scyllas better to never approach the lad, or they will eat ♥♥♥♥ real quick.

Originally posted by Cast Out Devil:

Hopefully Sheesh and Artek can elaborate on the mid-game. Are you dual-classing your assaults into heavies? How are you dealing with the Pure? I keep hitting that wall, where I can't shred their armor, because my tech isn't up to par yet. I find a HUGE gap between the basic troops and when you unlock the priest and technician.

I'm not into doing the "meta" stuff and try to keep a healthy diverse cast of units just for the fun.
I usually start dual classing once i feel comfortable with the soldier's current stat situation. 250 health, 15 will and maximized speed? Good enough for me.
Probably doing it too late even. Could be doing it even earlier at like 220 / 12. But max speed is always a priority, just because how useful it is.

Basically every class combo is insane in one way or another due to the way the skills interact with each other with 0 restrictions.
But one of the most popular cross-classes are Assault+Heavies, yes. ESPECIALLY if the guy has Close Quarters, Reckless and/or Speed-related talents.

Had a guy like that last game. CQC + Quarterback (+2 extra speed).
He was an anu assault (their pants give +2 speed), gave him heavy cross class, melee-profficient augmented torso and vuala - best class in the game.
270 damage per baton swing, swing costs 1 AP, kill returns 2.
Under frenzy the guy could cover the entire map and literally solo it if enemies stand close enough to each other and there's not too many units with 260+ health. An absolute bane of any human factions.
It's extremely cheesy and i don't like doing this too often, but sometimes you just get fed up with this game's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, you know?

In the early-mid game i'm just doing whatever. Mostly trying to build enough laboratories and production plants so that i could actually get ♥♥♥♥ done.

One base always becomes a dedicated training center where i send any volunteers. 2-3 training facilities quickly get them to levels where they can do something.
Never recruit people from Phoenix' random recruits. You can, but only first month of the game and only if their talents combinations are THAT good. After that they become worthless because Phoenix recruits start with the worst stats, while haven recruits start with already upgraded ones, especially if they are already of decent enough level (3+).

Yes, the Pure are pure ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (pun intended). They are only countered by overwhelming amounts of explosives (a heavy with boom blast + grenade launcher and a bunch of assaults who can onslaught him for some extra firepower) or a large amount of snipers with a good angle to bypass their BS shields (did you know that they repair their 50 armor each time they get redeployed?).
Note: they are VERY weak to acid. Like, exceptionally so, it's insane.

Originally posted by Steve Spaghetti, The Meme Thief:

Which airship should I go for I kinda like the Tiamat for extra space and it looks cool

IMHO Tiamat is trash. 8 soldiers are great, but the damn thing is so slow - it will literally never make it in time to any haven or base under attack unless it just happened to be passing by. That thing exists only to bring superior fire power to missions that are not time-sensetive. Also it's the only aircraft capable of reaching south pole.
It gets better in festering skies DLC, as there is a ship upgrade that adds raw 100 speed to the aircraft, which in tiamat's case means 40% increase (but its still slow).

Helios is a geoscape focused aircraft. It's worthless for ground combat and operations since 5 soldiers is... Sub-optimal. But nothing can explore geoscape or trade between havens faster than this thing.
In festering skies DLC it also makes a great interceptor for hit'n'run tactics.
Remember: best ratios for trading are 4>6, 2>12 and 8>2.
Never do 2>8/9, or 12>2 unless desperate.

Both Manticore and Thunderbird are the golden standarts.
I'm more of a thunderbird man, but unfortunately the thing isn't fast enough to quickly respond to threats on wide continents like Africa and Eurasia, but has no issues keeping watch over one of the americas or australia.

Festering Skies DLC provides a new aircraft (locked behind crap ton of research) which is literally the best in the game. It's identical to Manticore in every stat, except it can carry 8 soldiers instead of 6.

[Sheesh]

The Pure: shredding their armour is key; first thing in a game, I queue up a dozen or so frag grenades since they take 4hrs to build with a single manufacturing plant, once you encounter the Pure you'll need them,
Mind that frags shred each body part they hit, so the 10 shred (which seem a bit underwhelming) can amount to 30-50 across several limbs.
War cry basically disables their snipers and heavies for a turn; and the Pure are also very slow, so dashing in, aiming for their arms to disable their ability to use 2-handed weapons, and breaking line of sight again quite often means they can't get into position to shoot back.
Mind their assaults return fire tho.
If you find Bulldogs or Deceptors, reverse engineer them asap, don't wait until you get the research from NJ , their shred really adds up to soften up targets.

I usually wait with Dual classing until I have them pretty much leveled out (some will and strength to spare) since the 50 SP to just get the weapon proficiency is a bit steep.
That said, it really depends on perks, state of the game etc, I have no set plan for when to do it.

The Tiamat is extremely slow, it's just not worth it unless you'd use it for trading or mining ancient sites. Early game I like to steal 2 Helios from Synedrion (fastest aircraft, 5 seats, you can use both for the same missions to bring 8 operatives or vehicle + 7 - when multiple aircraft are at the same site you can select who to bring on the left hand side in the start mission screen).
Curiously enough, I usually end up allying Synedrion before New Jericho, even when I steal Helios and really try to get NJ on board. I guess the exploration events are skewed quite a bit towards such outcome.

[Sheesh]

Artek beat me to some things lol.
However, to clarify:

Originally posted by Artek General:

[...]IMHO Tiamat is trash.[...] Also it's the only aircraft capable of reaching south pole.

That's usually true when you go via Australia (unless you get very lucky with uncovering points of interest).
I pretty much always go via south america which is no problem even for Helios if you get the base at the southern tip roundabout Cape Horn.

Depending on your start it may take a little longer to uncover enough navigation points, but I'm quite proactive when it comes to opening bases and open them early enough so that I don't run out of exploration sites before the new one is already uncovering new ones. Assuming I start somewhere in Europe/Africa/Asia I go eastwards across the Bering Strait and try to find a route along Alaska-Mexico-Panama(?)-Bolivia-Chile hoping to skip a base or two on the way.

[Karsk]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by Cast Out Devil:

If you pick up a Berserker at a haven, just park them at your main base (have two training facilities to speed up exp gain). Dual class them to Heavy and let them jump pack around the map. Like the heavy, I just don't get much productivity out of them so far.

Berzerkers are amazing once they hit level 7, have a priest accompaying them and have a lot of speed.
The goal is to get into a good postion, do Armor Break > Adrenaline Rush and then slash somebody 3 times with the sword/machete thing, whatever it was called. that's 300+ damage dealt, and 150+ bleed on top, not counting any limbs that might get broken in the process. And oh boy if the guy gets a "strongman" talent. Scyllas better to never approach the lad, or they will eat ♥♥♥♥ real quick.

Originally posted by Cast Out Devil:

Hopefully Sheesh and Artek can elaborate on the mid-game. Are you dual-classing your assaults into heavies? How are you dealing with the Pure? I keep hitting that wall, where I can't shred their armor, because my tech isn't up to par yet. I find a HUGE gap between the basic troops and when you unlock the priest and technician.

I'm not into doing the "meta" stuff and try to keep a healthy diverse cast of units just for the fun.
I usually start dual classing once i feel comfortable with the soldier's current stat situation. 250 health, 15 will and maximized speed? Good enough for me.
Probably doing it too late even. Could be doing it even earlier at like 220 / 12. But max speed is always a priority, just because how useful it is.

Basically every class combo is insane in one way or another due to the way the skills interact with each other with 0 restrictions.
But one of the most popular cross-classes are Assault+Heavies, yes. ESPECIALLY if the guy has Close Quarters, Reckless and/or Speed-related talents.

Had a guy like that last game. CQC + Quarterback (+2 extra speed).
He was an anu assault (their pants give +2 speed), gave him heavy cross class, melee-profficient augmented torso and vuala - best class in the game.
270 damage per baton swing, swing costs 1 AP, kill returns 2.
Under frenzy the guy could cover the entire map and literally solo it if enemies stand close enough to each other and there's not too many units with 260+ health. An absolute bane of any human factions.
It's extremely cheesy and i don't like doing this too often, but sometimes you just get fed up with this game's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, you know?

In the early-mid game i'm just doing whatever. Mostly trying to build enough laboratories and production plants so that i could actually get ♥♥♥♥ done.

One base always becomes a dedicated training center where i send any volunteers. 2-3 training facilities quickly get them to levels where they can do something.
Never recruit people from Phoenix' random recruits. You can, but only first month of the game and only if their talents combinations are THAT good. After that they become worthless because Phoenix recruits start with the worst stats, while haven recruits start with already upgraded ones, especially if they are already of decent enough level (3+).

Yes, the Pure are pure ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (pun intended). They are only countered by overwhelming amounts of explosives (a heavy with boom blast + grenade launcher and a bunch of assaults who can onslaught him for some extra firepower) or a large amount of snipers with a good angle to bypass their BS shields (did you know that they repair their 50 armor each time they get redeployed?).
Note: they are VERY weak to acid. Like, exceptionally so, it's insane.

Originally posted by Steve Spaghetti, The Meme Thief:

Which airship should I go for I kinda like the Tiamat for extra space and it looks cool

IMHO Tiamat is trash. 8 soldiers are great, but the damn thing is so slow - it will literally never make it in time to any haven or base under attack unless it just happened to be passing by. That thing exists only to bring superior fire power to missions that are not time-sensetive. Also it's the only aircraft capable of reaching south pole.
It gets better in festering skies DLC, as there is a ship upgrade that adds raw 100 speed to the aircraft, which in tiamat's case means 40% increase (but its still slow).

Helios is a geoscape focused aircraft. It's worthless for ground combat and operations since 5 soldiers is... Sub-optimal. But nothing can explore geoscape or trade between havens faster than this thing.
In festering skies DLC it also makes a great interceptor for hit'n'run tactics.
Remember: best ratios for trading are 4>6, 2>12 and 8>2.
Never do 2>8/9, or 12>2 unless desperate.

Both Manticore and Thunderbird are the golden standarts.
I'm more of a thunderbird man, but unfortunately the thing isn't fast enough to quickly respond to threats on wide continents like Africa and Eurasia, but has no issues keeping watch over one of the americas or australia.

Festering Skies DLC provides a new aircraft (locked behind crap ton of research) which is literally the best in the game. It's identical to Manticore in every stat, except it can carry 8 soldiers instead of 6.

What would you define as maximized speed? Like literally max out the bar?

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by Steve Spaghetti, The Meme Thief:

What would you define as maximized speed? Like literally max out the bar?

Yes, 20/20.

Speed reads as "how many tiles this character can cross with all 4 APs?"
I.e. character with 15 speed can cover 15 tiles per turn (or ~3 per AP), 20 speed can cover 20 (5 per AP).
Priest's Frenzy increases speed by 50%, turning 20 speed into 30 (7,5 per AP - don't know which direction it rounds it to).

This unfortunately means that heavies and snipers benefit the least from speed.
With their 3 AP weapons they only care about 1st micro-move they can get away with before shooting and the difference between 15 and 20 speed for them is that they can move like 2 extra tiles at best.
So maybe maxing it out for those 2 is not a priority, but still will definetely be helpful. Especially for heavies as its always super annoying when they are just 1 tile away from smashing a crab with a hammer.

[Bobucles]

Don't discount a good burst of heavy speed. Their ability to move/shoot may not be great, but they are very deadly with move/war cry/slap. The heavy weapon is ironically one of the weakest parts of the class. It's absurdly deadly in a few scenarios(common enough to keep one around), but remains mediocre the rest of the time.