This guide is an extension of my previous guide to Campaign Difficulty and Classes
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3204106078

I have divided the guide into three parts. One part for each playstyle.
It is assumed that the difficulty settings are as in the above guide for each playstyle.

Put your squad out in the open, go make dinner, win.

Your squad takes about a second to kill an alien on average.
If you keep your marines together and not spread out, then only corners and close spaces will be dangerous.

When you get back to the Otago, then just skip days, lots of days, at least 50 days.
Always go on expeditions.
2500 or so materials should be enough for the campaign.

Always buy Pouches on every marine.
This will make your marines able to carry two tools and medkits on a mission.
The difference of having 8 medkits and tools versus only 4 is huge.

Everytime your marines gain a level they can pick one perk among three random.
Pick from the top of this list. If you already have it, pick it again to upgrade it.

1. Sharp Shooter
   
2. Redemption. Only take it if marine has one of these negative traits:
   
   • Bully
     
   • Gloomy
     
   • Jinx
     
   • Poor Health
     
   • Poor Sight
     
   • Rebel
     
   • Tense
     
   • Rusty (If marine lacks the perk Unbreakable Will)
     
   • Unfit
3. Smart Ass (on at least one marine)
   
4. Tough
   
5. Quick Hands
   
6. Dead Eye
   
7. Resourceful
   
8. Enduring
   
9. Mind of Steel
   
10. Bold

For more information see my Guide to Perks
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3206245408

Try to get these classes when you get level 3 on your marines

• Sergeant
  
• Gunner
  
• Gunner
  
• Medic
  
• Gunner

If you lack a class then bring a rookie to get it to level 3
When you can train marines, then just skip days until you have a full A-team.

For more information see my Guide to Campaign Difficulty and Classes
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3204106078

After you have the classes you want in the squad, then only use those marines.
You want your A-Team to reach max level.
After each deployment, skip days until every marine in the A-Team is fresh and ready again.

We are rich. Max everything.
Max tools
Max medkits
Max sentry guns

If any marine gets one of the stress debuffs as shown below, look for a shelter room on the map.





Shelters are marked on the map with a small green house symbol in the middle of the room.









Find a shelter room that has only one exit that is open, and when inside the room, weld that door closed to make it safe for resting.
One debuff is removed per rest. If you need to rest more, then unweld the door and weld it again.

It costs one tool to weld a door.
Tools are for resting.

If you run out of ammo, then just extract your squad back to the Otago and redeploy in a couple of days when everyone is rested and fresh.

Later in the campaign, when more of your marines have gotten the perk Resourceful, you will get ammo just by using a shelter to rest.

Sometimes you expect a swarm of aliens to arrive.
Then it might be a good idea to set up some sentry guns.

This is also a good time to pause the game. Just so you get time to evaluate the best spot.
Try to find a spot so that the aliens will come at you from one direction.

The game saves automatically when completing main objectives, and before difficult events.
You can force the game to create a save by...

• Extracting back to the Otago
  
• Resting in a shelter
  
• Using an elevator

Just to be sure.

Let's Rock!

With normal alien hitpoints, it gets more dangerous.
It will take more bullets to kill and you will often need to spend command points to survive.
As the alien aggressiveness rises, the game may become too difficult to handle in one deployment.
There is now a reason for stealth.

Always buy Pouches on every marine.
This will make your marines able to carry two tools and medkits on a mission.
The difference of having 8 medkits and tools versus only 4 is huge.

Everytime your marines gain a level they can pick one perk among three random.
Pick from the top of this list. If you already have it, pick it again to upgrade it.

1. Unbreakable Will
   
2. Redemption. Only take it if marine has one of these negative traits:
   
   • Bully
     
   • Clumsy
     
   • Gloomy
     
   • Heavy Heart
     
   • Jinx
     
   • Poor Health
     
   • Poor Sight
     
   • Rebel
     
   • Rusty (If marine lacks the perk Unbreakable Will)
     
   • Tense
     
   • Undisciplined
3. Sharp Shooter
   
4. Smart Ass (on at least one marine)
   
5. Quick Hands
   
6. Team Spirit (on 4 marines)
   
7. Dead Eye
   
8. Resourceful
   
9. Mind of Steel
   
10. Hardened

For more information see my Guide to Perks
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3206245408

Try to get these classes when you get level 3 on your marines

• Sergeant
  
• Gunner
  
• Recon
  
• Medic
  
• Tecker

For more information see my Guide to Campaign Difficulty and Classes
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3204106078

Only use the marines on the A-Team and have them reach max level.
That would be nice. But sometimes that may not be possible, because of multiple days with wounds that need healing in the medbay and a DoomClock ticking down.
And if a mission needs multiple deployments, it only adds to the time pressure.

I will advice to establish a B-Team. This way you should be able to field a good team every day.
Just have two of each class be at least level 6.
This will most likely mean that not every marine will reach level 10 from pure mission xp.


You might have to turn to the dark side for help...
https://youtu.be/RQgvCRcZ4SY

You can deploy motion trackers around the map to keep track of the aliens.
This is very useful when you need to cross the whole map and want to take a path that no aliens are patrolling. Saves you much time in backtracking to avoid detection.
If you have to deploy multiple times, it is nice to come back to a map that is already full of motion trackers.
It only cost a command point and I have not found any upper limit to how many you can deploy.

The second use is the Overload function to destroy it and create noise that is heard on the whole map. It causes all the enemies that are patroling to head to where the motion tracker is deployed. Extremely useful when you need to pickup much loot in a normally crowded place.
Keep in mind that this will cause the aliens to clump up, and should you be detected they will all arrive at your squad at the same time, so try not to create your own death rush.

Walk when in sight, run when out of sight. Aliens take ages to spot you when you walk. Crouching behind cover makes you invisible unless they walk around your cover.

When an alien is moving away from you, the detection line will also get longer and thus taking even longer time to detect you. But if it is coming towards you, the detection line gets shorter, and it detects you much faster.

The mechanics of noise are somewhat weird.
The aliens react to nearby noise. Meaning inside motion tracker range. So if you want to blow stuff up, then take a quick look at your motion tracker to see that there are no movement on it.
Or else that movement might come looking. And the more suspicious the alien has become, the faster it spots your marines when there is line of sight.

There is no reaction towards deployables killing aliens. Like mines, flames or sentry guns.
Sentry guns may get some aggro from aliens inside same room, but no hunt will trigger from it.

If you manage to kill something without making noise, then it does not matter if an alien stands right next to it when it dies, there will be no suspicion or reaction. Life just goes on.
This makes sniper rifle with silencer immensly powerful in clearing whole rooms of enemies without any hunt or alarm starting.

Alien eggs are a special case. If you make any loud noise, like gunfire or explosion, while there exist a line of sight between the eggs and the center of noise, then you will be spotted. Thats just how it is. So take care to destroy all the eggs in the same blast or you will be spotted. It needs to be from the same blast, two different grenades will not work to keep you undetected. That being said, you could just use the sniper rifle or the flamethrower to take out the eggs silently.

Remember to buy the silencer upgrade.

The Recon needs a clear line of sight to the target. This can be somewhat tricky as default movement is with the whole squad.

I usually pause the game before ordering the squad to move. Then select the other marines one by one and order each one to stop until only the Recon is moving. This will enable the Recon to enter rooms first.
Another way is to stand close to the door, then order the squad to move away and then select the Recon and order it to stop. This will seperate the Recon from the rest. Then move into the room, and as the Recon now is closest, it will enter first.

Spoiler: Video of sniper in action on mission 2
Sniping

Ammo might become a problem.
Especially on missions where you need to deploy multiple times.
Try to not loot every ammo box you see if you already have plenty of clips. Leave some ammo on the map so that the next team you deploy also can get some ammo.

If you are running low on ammo and need to take down some aliens, then you can save ammo by using skills like grenade or shotgun, which cost command points instead.

Later in the campaign, when more of your marines have gotten the perk Resourceful, you will get ammo just by using a shelter to rest. When the whole squad has Resourceful, you trade 1 tool for 4 ammo clips. Another reason why Pouches is important to have on everyone as you can take with you lots of tools that you convert to ammo.

Sometimes you expect a swarm of aliens to arrive.
Then it might be a good idea to set up some sentry guns.
One sentry gun is on average equal to three low level marines in firepower.

If it is a Massive Onslaught, then a quick look on the map will tell you what spawn point they are coming from. The spawn point will be blinking on the map.

This is also a good time to pause the game. Just so you get time to evaluate the best spot.
Try to find a spot so that the aliens will come at you from one direction.
Also try to have a clear line of sight, and no obstructions infront of where you place the sentry guns.

Have at least two marines use the skill Suppressive Fire, so that everyone including your sentry guns get more time to shoot at the aliens. Remember that reloading suspends the slow effect if the marine was doing Suppressive Fire.

You can use the TAB button to cycle each available marine for a task you want done.
This includes looting, carrying people, etc.
Just press TAB, before you confirm the action, to cycle.

Video contain spoilers from end of mission 1
Using TAB to select marine

Remember that the Shotgun can kill multiple aliens with one blast.
If you are caught off guard and have an alien or two up close, then a well placed shotgun blast will clear them out. It has no friendly fire, so you can't hit your own marines.
Remember to order your squad to move away from the aliens while at the same time using the shotgun. For maximum effect have more than one marine use it at the same time.

When targeting with the shotgun, use TAB to cycle through every marine carrying a shotgun.

Aliens are afraid of fire. But will run through fire if there is no other way to reach you.
Flames do a lot of damage, most aliens will die after running through the flames.
Though it takes a couple of seconds.

Try to cover every path by holding down button and dragging to select a wider area to cover with flames.

It takes a few seconds to apply the flamethrower, so try and use it before aliens get to close.
The flames last for 30 seconds, so quite long duration.

Also keep in mind that during this time, your marines are not allowed to run over the flames.
Do not block off your own exit if you need one.

Is actually a stealth weapon, as it will not trigger any hunt or raise any suspicion.
Always put one next to an oil barrel for extra effect.

If you feel rich on command points then it is possible to put lots of mines in one spot, infront of a door perhaps, effectively making a block. The mines can be placed almost ontop of each other and will not cause a chain explosion. The mines will detonate one at a time.

I never use it, as I never have a tecker in my squad.
But I have seen it in action on streams.

The drone will not get any aggro from aliens. So you can sit in a safe spot and pilot the drone as it flies among aliens. It has an ability that can be activated to generate noise. The noise radius is very small, but enough that it can lure nearby aliens to follow the drone. You combine this with a pre setup of all your sentry guns in the end of a corridor that you lead the aliens towards. And then your sentry guns slaughter them all. And you will not be detected by this. It even works on eggs.

A totally overpowered vehicle.
If you order it to move somewhere and then block its path with someone from your squad, then you can have it defending you at a place it normally would not be at.

Video contain spoiler from mission 8.
Blocking ARC

When your marines get past 75% stress, look for a shelter room on the map.
Shelters are marked on the map with a small green house symbol in the middle of the room.









Find a shelter room that has only one exit that is open, and when inside the room, weld that door closed to make it safe for resting.

It costs one tool to weld a door.

Resting reduces stress by 100% and takes the marines down one stress level if you had more than 100% stress. If you have more than 175% stress, then just unweld the door and then weld it again to take another rest.

Later in the campaign, when your sergeant has reached level 6, you will have access to the Reprimand skill. Reprimand costs a command point to use. It lasts for 30 seconds and will prevent any stress on your marines for the duration. Activate it when you are detected or just when a hunt has begun to minimize the stress effect.

If any marine gets the stress effect as shown below, then immidiately have that marine eat a pill of naproleve to remove it. You do not want the marine using double the ammo or having reduced accuracy.



Using a pill of naproleve costs one medkit.
If you feel safe, it can wait until you can rest in a shelter.

Traumas are no big deal.
Later in the campaign you unlock the possibility to remove them.
In general they add stress under certain conditions.
It just means you will have to rest more often.

Turn that hunt off, now!

There are some ways to cancel the ongoing hunt.

• Create a shelter by welding
  
• Use an elevator
  
• Enter into a cutscene

When the hunt begins I always pause the game and look for the nearest elevator or shelter room.
Always have a tool available for welding to stop a hunt. Resting is not needed only to weld the door shut.

The game saves automatically when completing main objectives, and before difficult events.
You can force the game to create a save by...

• Extracting back to the Otago
  
• Resting in a shelter
  
• Using an elevator

Just to be sure.

Have fun!
Don't be tempted by the dark side.

Max difficulty settings and increased alien damage.
Maybe only play with 3 marines in squad per deployment or some other fun challenge.
As I write this, I am doing a solo marine challenge on max difficulty and +5 alien damage.

I will assume that you have already read everything in the Casual and Experienced section of this guide.
Now lets dive into the details!

Everytime your marines gain a level they can pick one perk among three random.
Pick from the top of this list. If you already have it, pick it again to upgrade it.

1. Sharp Shooter
   
2. Redemption. Only take it if marine has one of these negative traits:
   
   • Brawler
     
   • Clumsy
     
   • Heavy Heart
     
   • Jinx
     
   • Poor Health
     
   • Poor Sight
     
   • Rebel
     
   • Rusty (If marine lacks the perk Unbreakable Will)
     
   • Tense
     
   • Undisciplined
3. Team Spirit (on 4 marines)
   
4. Smart Ass (on at least one marine)
   
5. Fast
   
6. Quick Hands
   
7. Dead Eye
   
8. Resourceful
   
9. Tough

For more information see my Guide to Perks
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3206245408

Try to get these classes when you get level 3 on your marines

• Sergeant
  
• Sergeant
  
• Gunner
  
• Recon
  
• Sergeant

This will give you one extra command point per sergeant and when you get the perk Team Spirit on four marines it sums up to 7 command points. Later you will max out at 9 command points and regenerate one point every 30 seconds.

For more information see my Guide to Campaign Difficulty and Classes
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3204106078

We don't expect to take much or any damage on deployments.
Only one team is needed.

Ammo will not be a problem. There will be very few fights.
And later we have the perk Resourceful if we want to spend some ammo.

Just snipe everything that moves. Snipe those that don't move as well.

If you have made noise, then some new noise elsewhere will be prioritzed.
Just lob a grenade down the hallway and aliens will be satisfied to check that spot out.
This goes for overloading motion trackers as well, but that brings the whole map.

Video contain spoiler from mission 2
Mission 2

As mentioned before, aliens will not detect you if there is no line of sight at the time of impact.
So lob grenades, just remember to duck or close the door.

Video contain spoiler from mission 3
Mission 3

Sometimes an RPG will keep you undetected.
Video contain spoiler from mission 10
Mission 10

Having the perk Fast on everyone and a Recon level 6 makes the squad run more than 30% faster. Makes running to a shelter, to weld doors to stop a hunt, much faster. Or reaching that elevator.

We will not use the flamethrower to kill aliens, rather make aliens go elsewhere.
While undetected aliens will almost never enter the flames and will turn around and leave.

Video contain spoiler from mission 2 and mission 7
Flamethrower

Most maps are divided into sectors containing an alien spawn point or two.
The game has a max number of alive aliens per sector. Usually one or two aliens.
Sometimes it is better to leave those aliens alive, so you can loot stuff close to their spawn point without being afraid of a surprise spawn.

Retaliation, the command point bank. When enabled it contains 5 command points.
Maxed out it contains 15 command points.

Since it only increases by taking damage, coma or death, it is really great that it also increases for each stress level your marines gets.
4 stress levels to enable it, 10 stress levels to max it.

Imagine deploying 25 mines in a hallway or chain spamming an alien boss with grenades.

Retaliation requires stress levels.
We want stress, lots of stress, the more the better.

Sometimes the game hands you stress as a gift. You can just duck behind cover forever and have that stress for free.
Video contain spoiler from mission 2
Gaining stress


Of course it costs us a tool to rest in a shelter afterwards, but considering Tactical Analysis is 2 command points per tool, it is a real bargain. It gets even better when you get the extra marine later in the campaign. Or if playing NG+, your sergeants will boost the stress reduction from resting so much that you can remove two debuffs by only resting once.

Or you could just eat some naproleve pills.
Medkits are for pills anyways.

Yes, please! Pyrophobia for everyone on the A-Team.
Maxed out it increases stress by 45 points per use of flamethrower or setting oil on fire.
Pyrophobia only takes 5 uses of flamethrower to max Retaliation by having 10 stress levels from your full squad.
Paranoid is also good, but takes way longer to raise stress.

After you get the PCU on the Otago, then skip days and always select to give a marine a trauma from the events. Soon every marine will have a trauma. When you get something other than Pyrophobia on your A-Team, just have them treated in the PCU. Now only your A-Team will get that event.
It may take many days, since there are 9 different traumas.
Never take Mind of Steel on anyone ever. As this would make this method take much much longer, since those with Mind of Steel would be available to get the event forever.

When everyone on your A-Team has Pyrophobia, just go to Dead Hills and lay down some flames to get Pyrophobia maxed out.

Here is a short video clip of how it should look like.
Video contain spoiler from mission 6
https://youtu.be/TLTfh3Vfrcw?list=PL_NKLZwuyXz_RABx1X_J4JE7v7ilvUaE_

Easiest part of the game, considering all the firepower your squad has from sentry guns.
But if you are on some kind of challenge run, then some flames may help.

Aim every defense in the same direction and use the flamethrower to block off the other paths to you.
Leaving only one path open. Creating a chokepoint, perfect for grenades.
Video contain spoiler from mission 5
Creating chokepoint

There is no such thing as overkill! :)





Happy Gaming!

Guide to Campaign Difficulty and Classes
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3204106078


Guide to Weapons
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3214857204


Guide to Perks
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3206245408


Guide to Stealth
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3232146428


Expert Guide on stress
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3193340311


Guide for Max DPS Squad
https://steamproxy.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3216824877