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[olemars]

and they tend to have a weak weapon that you can tank if you had to.

They've generally tried to mind control my guys, which doesn't help much when they're close enough to be gunned down within a turn anyway.

The commander will usually opt for using the pistol over mind tricks if your soldier is out of cover and in line of sight.

[Nadaka]

God damn it. Classic ironman kicked my ass again. Lost 4 good soldiers, including 2 colonels. I am trying to train up at least 10 colonels before I attempt the next story mission, because I expect to face a party wipe, and I want to have enough of a backup that it won't cripple me.

I only have 3 colonels now.

[majikero]

4 colonels is enough. Just send out 2 with others to train up.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I keep having TPKs on my current run. I'm also not making progress very quickly because I can't focus on any story objectives between improving my combat technology and solidifying the satellite network. I'm to the second terror mission and have only just started capturing alliums. So far I've blocked off the Americas but Germany, Egypt, and Australia have become allium-lover scum.

[EnigmaticHat]

Well, its official.  I just beat the game on classic ironman without upgrading my satellite capacity.  And on the second try too.

I went Europe this time so I could build a bunch of workshops and laboratories.  By the end of the second month I had two laser rifles, six squad members, no casualties... and I cleared out the alien base.  Since Xcom has a serious case of unstable equilibrium, this amazing opening carried me through most of the midgame with relative ease.

This style of playthrough takes the late game from "effortless gathering of gear before final mission" to "mad scramble to reach the final mission before 8 nations leave".  With only two satellites its a race against time and worldwide panic, and you have to run a careful balance between advancing through the story, upgrading your weapons, and selling items to overcome your increasingly pitiful monthly funding.  Cyberdiscs and mutons are a serious problem because until the very end you can't have level appropriate armor and weapons, so you face enemies that come dangerously close to one-shotting you without crits, when your squad has lasers or conventional weapons.  My strategy was to have an assault Colonel soak up most of the damage while heavies and snipers provided fire support.

Despite some losses near the end (and failing the final mission twice, which I still count as win since the final mission is BS in some ways) I still managed so save Earth with only one country leaving the council.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I'm officially stuck in the X-Com Meatgrinder. All of my ranking soldiers are long since dead, and my rookies get TPK'd every mission. Thanks to that the alliums have claimed all of Europe. On the bright side, there are now no remaining nations whom are not covered by satellites or xeno-loving scum.

[EnigmaticHat]

I'm officially stuck in the X-Com Meatgrinder. All of my ranking soldiers are long since dead, and my rookies get TPK'd every mission. Thanks to that the alliums have claimed all of Europe. On the bright side, there are now no remaining nations whom are not covered by satellites or xeno-loving scum.

Try going in, getting whatever kills you can with grenades, and then aborting the mission.  That way your soldiers still rank up even if they fail the mission.  I think.

Or get ghost armor.  Even rookies should be able to win with ghost armor.

[Sirus]

Just got my ass kicked up and down the street in a Classic Ironman run. A pretty good start gave me a squad of survivors who were beginning to rank up fairly well, plus several "alternates" which are still better than rookies.

Then I got hit with a terror mission. My best dude got ambushed by two crysallids (overkill: he died in one hit), which then jumped through a hole in the roof to attack my only assault (she missed her close quarters attack somehow and got killed). This left me with a suddenly-useless sniper (she didn't hit a single target in that entire mission) and a support against at least six of the damn things, with more being transformed in the shadows. They were surrounded and torn to shreds, despite making good use of grenades to bring a couple wounded ones down.

Thus began the decline. My alternates were a waste of time, dying in droves until I was down to one man. Seemed like every single mission loved to throw at least six aliens at me simultaneously, all of them Thin Men and Floaters. I managed to rally a little once I built some carapace armor and laser weapons and undertook a last-ditch recruitment drive, finding a team that actually managed to survive two whole missions without a scratch. Then they all died against an army of Thin Men (I counted at least twelve) with high ground, high cover, and plenty of half-cover explosives between me and them.

Country after country left the alliance, but I managed to survive until the end of the month. I cranked out an elerium generator, the Officer Academy, upgraded my weapons; anything I could think of to stave off disaster. None of it mattered, as the Cyberdisks chose this time to show up. TPK after TPK, I was finally left with just four men. The last four men. I couldn't even afford more recruits. It had gotten so bad, I nearly sobbed with relief when the four went on a mission and met Sectoids. I pulled my troops back, hoping to lure the wimpy greys into an ambush. That's when three Thin Men and three Floaters showed up. One man was killed in a single shot, despite hiding behind full cover and from across the maximum visible distance. The other three missed their reaction fire against a single Floater, which critically wounded another.

The last two had a shining moment of glory which I still can't believe happened. Somehow, they each nailed an alien at 25% hit odds on the same turn. Return fire missed entirely! This time, they each made another kill at 65% odds! This was it! These last two survivors were gonna do it!

Cyberdisk shows up. One of the survivors is gibbed instantly. The other panics and hides, prompting a Thin Man to walk up and execute him point-blank. A few days later, XCOM is shut down and the aliens take over.


tl;dr, FUCK YOU, THIN MEN!

[MetalSlimeHunt]

OH MY GOD. I ACTUALLY WON A MISSION. A TERROR MISSION NO LESS. IT COST ME THREE SHIVS AND A SOLIDER, BUT I DID IT.

Good thing too, since the Doom Tracker is at seven. Praise SHIVa.

[OREOSOME]

Meh. I handled a terror mission fine. 1 Civillian loss, no operatives lost. Excellent ratings in all catagories.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

You aren't in the meatgrinder. This game is neigh-impossible if you get torn down to just rookies.

[Nadaka]

You aren't in the meatgrinder. This game is neigh-impossible if you get torn down to just rookies.

If you murder rookies long enough the game will eventually give you a few easy missions. Note that I went through about 55 corpses before that happened.

[Neonivek]

There are a few ways to do missions with rookies.

For one you need the Chitin plate.

[Tarran]

Out of curiosity, if I played Impossible, how much should I be expect my ass to get kicked?

I'm used to playing on Classic, where I do really well, but often teeter on the edge of disaster. My latest run only lost one country before everything was covered with satellites.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Out of curiosity, if I played Impossible, how much should I be expect my ass to get kicked?

You will lose at least three countries every month and there is nothing you can do about it, if you win every mission perfectly.