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[umiman]

The challenge from legend isn't really from the increased hp and whatnot that the enemies have. It's how the game makes everything take longer for you. Exp takes WAY longer. Research takes longer, etc. etc.

So not only do you have to fight things that are significantly stronger than what they're supposed to be (aka: troopers now take 2 - 3 shots to kill instead of 1 - 2), but you have to do it at a glacial pace. I remember my legend ironman run only had a single colonel and like... 2 majors. That was before all the DLC.

[GiglameshDespair]

I'm nearing the endgame.

I have nearly two full squads of colonels. I'm training up a pair of psi troopers. Not much can challenge me at this point.

The Chosen are all dead for keeps, and I have almost complete plasma weapons. I'm a little disappointed at the chosen weapons they dropped. Sure, they're good, but they're just plasma weapons with four mods.

[umiman]

I'm nearing the endgame.

I have nearly two full squads of colonels. I'm training up a pair of psi troopers. Not much can challenge me at this point.

The Chosen are all dead for keeps, and I have almost complete plasma weapons. I'm a little disappointed at the chosen weapons they dropped. Sure, they're good, but they're just plasma weapons with four mods.

They're not. Most of them ignore armour and some do other shit too. It's difficult to see because the descriptive text is below all the mods and you have to wait for it to scroll all the way down to see them.

[EnigmaticHat]

Infirmary is basically 'Do you like having dudes wounded for months or not?' when it comes to gravely wounded. Skipping it sounds like a terrible idea imo.

Oh it is, I didn't do it on purpose.  I absolutely should demolish, my lab or workshop to make room for it.

What I'm saying is, the lategame is kind of more fun without it IMO.  Really forces you to use your whole roster and give those sergeants something to do.

[Draignean]

Oh man, there was one mission near the end of my most recent playthrough that had the 'low profile' modifier. I only had seven people who fit the bill, and one was already on an op. Of those remaining six, only two had ever been on real missions before.

A sergeant, a corporal, three squaddies, and a rookie, went to battle. Ir must have been the best day of their lives. All of the best toys and shiniest gear went to them. A squaddie level ranger got to wield the Katana and Atarashi.  A rookie got to wear a WAR suit and a shredstorm cannon. For a day, they got to pretend that they weren't the benchwarmer team.

[My Name is Immaterial]

Oh man, there was one mission near the end of my most recent playthrough that had the 'low profile' modifier. I only had seven people who fit the bill, and one was already on an op. Of those remaining six, only two had ever been on real missions before.

A sergeant, a corporal, three squaddies, and a rookie, went to battle. Ir must have been the best day of their lives. All of the best toys and shiniest gear went to them. A squaddie level ranger got to wield the Katana and Atarashi.  A rookie got to wear a WAR suit and a shredstorm cannon. For a day, they got to pretend that they weren't the benchwarmer team.

This is probably my favorite of all the stories I've heard shared here. So heartwarming.
So, how many of them died?

[Draignean]

Not one died. Some pretty big boo-boos, mostly on the ranger who slashed a gatekeeper to death and blew up slightly as a result.

I admit, since the mission came with the reduced presence sit-rep, I let them have fun with their toys. The result of that was a fuckton of explosions and a mostly depleted arsenal when the last pod, a gatekeeper and two Archons, popped up. That was kind of a fun fight for them. I mean, honestly, after the war there is now a Ranger who engaged in 1 combat mission, was promoted primarily due to their covert ops experience, but can tell their kids about the scars they got from killing a gatekeeper with a frickin' sword.

Which is that soldier's sole kill. It's the only thing they ever killed in their entire career, and it was a gatekeeper.

[scriver]

"...But most of the time I just hung out in the barracks bar."

[Mephansteras]

I kinda like how a lot of my lower level troops mostly do covert ops missions. Means they really aren't just sitting in the bar the whole damn war like they used to, and they actually perform an important service. Plus it levels them so when I do need them they aren't completely useless.

[Tack]

By the end of the game I was completely unable to play those maps. Because of the tiredness mechanic, my rookies just kept on seeing action despite my best efforts.
I probably could have hired more, but that's money.

[EnigmaticHat]

To counter tiredness I've looked into efficient ways of making weak soldiers useful.  High cohesion rookie + vet bonds are nice, since the rookie is guaranteed one useful turn of AP assist + shoot.  Also works out nicely since most difficult covert ops require an experienced soldier + any soldier.  Psi ops with support skills like stasis, inspire and solace can turn the tide even if underleveled.  Likewise, train a rookie into a specialist in the GTS, use easy missions/covert ops to promote them once, then spend the 10 AP to give them both the medical and combat gremlin skills.  Bam, cheap soldier that should be able to spend both their AP every turn in combat even from beyond LoS.  Granted don't pull the 10 AP out of the Xcom pool unless you really need the manpower.

[forsaken1111]

By the end I had 45 total recruits so tiredness was never an issue. I had two main teams, all leveled to max, and two 'b' teams up to lieutenant. Each team was one spark, one sharpshooter, two rangers, one specialist, one heavy. Anyone not in those four teams was used for covert ops.

To fund all of that I basically hit every single mission that gave bonus supplies, ever.

[Parsely]

So far in my veteran playthrough I've lost one squaddie to a full cover crit, and it's rare to make it through a mission without someone getting wounded. The attrition on 11 men is pretty intense, pretty much the second guys get out of the hospital they're being sent back into combat. This is my first XCOM 2 playthrough and I sense my build order is shit. A few months in and I just got my second engineer as well... I'm wondering what's going to happen if I can't get armor before the game starts upping the difficulty.

[GiglameshDespair]

Early on, at least, engineers are more important than scientists. Getting a GTS for squad size and training rookies and an infirmary is pretty vital.

[Aklyon]

So this is more useful than I thought it would be. Lets you staff the Infirmary and Ring (and Psi Lab) with scientists.