Me, being the slow (and highly unsuccessful, I might add) player that I am, am just tackling the first blacksite. Not the first playthrough, but the first ended up being so rife with bad decisions that I had no way of recovering. I was three pips away from armageddon by the time the second retaliation attack landed, that's gotta be some kind of record.
This time I'm doing a little better, seeing as I'm actually
attacking the damn blacksite instead of loitering around it collecting sidequest loot and waiting for better gear to crop up. I have mag weapons researched, but there weren't any alloys around to build some for the crew. The five-man band (which is 40% women) consists of two squaddies - a Sharpshooter and a Grenadier - and three callsign-wearing Corporals, who are a Ranger, a Specialist, and another Grenadier because I figured I might as well pack extra grenades. Between them all they have two flashbangs (one on each grenadier), one set of AP rounds (given to the Sharpshooter in expectation of having to knock out turrets), and some misc low-level weapon upgrades.
So far, it seems like the team might actually pull through without any fatalities. I savescummed once, where a streak of particularly bad luck coupled with a few of my signature 3-AM-brainpower tactical decisions resulted in a complete squad wipe, so it's actually my
second run through this mission, and this time I'm not taking chances with taking control of turrets. I gave that sniper AP rounds for a reason, dammit.
Of course, the Ranger ended up quickly eating one of them shock lances with his face, so now the squaddie grenadier is having to lug his unconscious ass around, but otherwise everybody's health is at reasonable levels and aside from that early encounter with a few shock lancers and a Viper,
most of the mission was relatively under control. I'm actually starting to get the hang of the new tactical combat options.