Print this page

Starting Out - A Beginner Primer

First and foremost, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a turn-based tactical strategy game whose focus is squad elements. What that means is that before you head out on each of the missions you will perform that involve your squad (Interceptor Missions involve just the fighter) you will have the opportunity to equip them with the armor, weapons, and kit that you feel is most appropriate for the mission at hand.

The game begins with some CS's in which you see the arrival of the first Alien attack in the form of chemical probes that infect the humans that come into contact with them. In the vicinity of each of the probes you see what is left of the bodies of the people unfortunate enough to be curious to the point of approaching. You then get your assignment, and you see snippets of the kit that has been put at your disposal, and then the game begins with you picking your base point.

Picking Your Base

You can choose from the following locations, each of which has its own bonus associated with it:

• North America (All aircraft and aircraft weapons cost 50% less to purchase, build, and maintain)
  
• Europe (Laboratories and Workshops cost 50% less to build and maintain)
  
• Asia (All projects in the Foundry and the Officer Training School cost 50% less)
  
• South America (Autopsies and Interrogations are completed instantly)
  
• Africa (Monthly XCOM funding increased by 30%)
  

Whichever you decide to choose, bear in mind that if you want to unlock all of the Achievements you are going to need to play through a game starting in each, so you may as well do your first playthrough in Easy Difficulty so that you get the hang of the game.

Your Squad

Initially your squad will consist of four soldiers - you will eventually have the ability to expand that to a total of six soldiers - and for the first mission you do not have control over their kit or composition, you have to play the classes and configurations that are part of that mission.

The initial weaknesses and problems you will run into tend to focus upon overconfidence and mistakes in deployment, so bear in mind the following basic rules for Squad Deployment:

Rule 1: When you move inside the blue markers you can still take action with most of the class types.

Rule 2: When you move past blue into tan, your soldier will move only and cannot take action.

Rule 3: Always move into cover, and from cover to cover.

Rule 4: Always remember when using vehicles as cover that they can and will explode if set on fire. If the vehicle you are using gets set on fire move your squad away from it within one turn of that event or risk taking explosive damage from the vehicle exploding!

Rule 5: Never EVER allow your squad to be flanked. Being flanked is the fastest way to experience casualties and death.

Rule 6: When you lose squad members - and you will - always remember to replace them with a new recruit or three back at HQ.

Rule 7: If you are not sure where the enemy is, use conservative tactics. Move forward in small measures, always taking cover, and never grouping your squad together. Once you come in contact with the enemy you will have a better idea for how the squad should be deployed.

Rule 8: Snipers are Gods. Always have a Sniper and always try to position them above the battlefield if you can safely do so.

First Mission

While the setting and premise for this varies, it will involve taking out between four and six of the first and lowest type of alien, the Grey Men. If at all possible you should try to get through this mission (A) without losing anyone, and (B) without two or more of your troops from taking damage if you plan on unlocking the Achievement “Ain't No Cavalry Comin'” for having one soldier survive every mission in a game.

Note that to unlock that your chosen soldier not only cannot die, but should never be more than lightly wounded, since a heavy wound can prevent them from being available for the next mission!

Back at the Base
Once you complete the first mission and get debriefed, you will end up at your Command HQ and Base, where you will be briefed by Central Officer Bradford, who explains which way up is. The first matter you need to handle in what is an abbreviated tutorial and introduction is any soldier promotions in the Barracks. Basically the soldiers on your first mission who preformed well will get promoted from Rookie to Squadie.

A word on rank and its importance should include the fact that the higher the rank of one or more of your soldiers, the more elements in the Officer Training School you can unlock. These are enhancements to your soldiers, so you will want to pursue an orderly advancement scheme, but you will also want to try to have as many of your soldiers in the Barracks making their way up the chain of rank as you can. The one thing you do NOT want to do is always use the same group of soldiers so that you end up with a lot of Rookies and Squadies and only a handful of noncoms and officers.

The ranks in the game are:

• Rookie
  
• Squaddie (there is a perk you can buy in the School to have all new troops start at this rank)
  
• Corporal
  
• Sergeant
  
• Lieutenant
  
• Captain
  
• Major
  
• Colonel
  

Nationality

You will notice that each of your soldiers has a declared nationality - after all this is a multinational force, right? You will also notice that in addition to their full name in the soldier record you see when you are assembling your squad for a mission, the soldiers who have performed well and thus have a declared Job Type (Sniper, Support, Assault, and Heavy to start with additional types added later once you have moved up the tech tree), once they get a bit of experience and establish their reputation and personality will also get a nickname.

Try not to get too attached to these guys and gals, because a lot of them are going to die before victory is obtained. Just saying.

Note that part of promotion is selecting the skill that they will have, which is only a default one for the first rank but beyond that will split into two branches that you can choose, with each branch choice effecting the next set, which allows you to build unique soldiers with unique training.

Once you promote your troops and familiarize yourself with their details, you will notice that you are being constantly paged to visit the research labs. Head their next.

After you leave the Barracks you will get the Debrief Screen that shows you what artifacts were recovered as well as what new research is available to you.

The Research Labs

The Doctor in charge of the Labs will greet you and brief you, and you will learn what the preliminary findings are for your first mission, and will be then able to set the first research project for the team of Scientists under your command.

The choices you have are Xeno-Biology, Weapon Fragments, and Alien Materials. Choose whichever you like, you will be researching all of them anyway so the order is up to you.

Once you do that you will be paged to visit Engineering.

The Engineering Department

Here you will meet the head of Engineering, who is your go-to guy for obtaining new kit. The first item you are able to build is the Medkit - you should build several of them - and the other is Satellites - and it is wise to start one as soon as you can but before you can do that you need to build a new Satellite Uplink.

Access the Build Facilities Menu and you will be briefed on that - if you started on one of the lower difficulties you should already have an Officer Training School, a Satellite Uplink, and Access Lift with a few excavated chambers here and there on the different levels. It would be an idea to start the second Satellite Uplink now and maybe excavate one of the slots to the right as well, since all this takes time.

You are now being paged to go to Mission Control. To do that back out to the top menu and hit the “Y” Button.

Mission Control

Here you see the world and you can scan it for Alien activity. Once you start to scan it you will trigger an Alien Abduction Mission and this will mark your first true mission in the game in which you get to choose your team and do battle with the enemy on your terms!

Note that you will be presented with three missions, with three rewards and different difficulties. The rewards will be x4 Engineers, x4 Scientists, and a reward of money. You have to decide what your focus is for this game, whether you want to build the Scientists, the Engineers, or go for the money...

Right now you do not have much kit customization you can do but be sure to equip at least two of your squad with Medkits. It would be an idea to take as many Rookies as you can on the easier missions to help them rank up - that and try not to let any die!

When you cannot easily bring your squad members into direct contact, your best tactic is to place them in cover where they have a field of fire where the enemy may move, and then put them in Overwatch status, so that they will automatically fire on any enemy that crosses into their sights.

Once this mission is over you will return to the base and get Debriefed, learn what new stuff you have obtained, and have the chance to review your troops.

Back at the Base
Once you fly home you will repeat the earlier process - promotions in the Barracks - and then be called to the Situation Room. If you chose Engineers you will be notified that a new facility is available - the Workshop - and if you chose Scientists as your reward, it will be Laboratories.

Note that the Debriefing screens will notify you that panic has increased in the two countries where you did not go for the mission - yes, the choices you make have consequences, and you want to try to control high panic since it can cause that nation to leave the alliance. Sometimes the panic level will force you to take a mission you don't necessarily want to based on its reward, but them is the apples mates.

The Situation Room

This is where you meet with the Council as well as access the Grey Market, Launch Satellites, and fulfill special requests from the member nations. The first thing you should do is deploy your existing Satellite if you have one. It is almost always a good idea to deploy your Satellites in countries with higher panic, since doing so reduces the panic level.

You can also view the XCOM Finances here to get a better idea of what you are spending money on and what your income level is.

First UFO Encounter

On your next scan session you should encounter a UFO - and dispatch one of your fighters to take it down. This will be a small UFO so you can safely send out more Rookies if you like. Taking on the Aliens at a crash site is a lot different than the previous missions you undertook - mostly more dangerous since cover is not optimal and to complete clearing the site without getting people killed takes patience and solid tactical awareness.

Chances are pretty good that you will come back with a wounded squad member or two, but you should be able to manage this without any deaths. It might be a good idea to save when you arrive and save at key points if you are successful without taking hits so you can revert to those saves as needed if things to pear-shaped.

Bear in mind that you are quickly stacking up research materials, so be sure to stay on top of that, and to resupply things like Medkits as needed.

Officer Training School Review

Now would be a good time to visit the Officer Training School in the Barracks Menu to become familiar with what it can offer you. This is a lesson in why you want to get your soldiers ranked up as well, since you can see the benefits of doing so below, in the special training you can unlock.

The special training includes:

• Squad Size I ($50) Requires Sergeant - Increases Squad to 5 Soldiers
  
• Wet Work ($125) Requires Sergeant - +25% XP from kills.
  
• Rapid Recovery ($150) Requires Lieutenant - Soldiers heal twice as fast.
  
• Squad Size II ($75) Requires Captain - Increses Squad to 6 Soldiers
  
• New Guy ($250) Requires Major - New Soldiers automatically get Squaddie Rank and Specialization.
  
• Iron Will ($200) Requires Major - Soldiers get larger Will Bonus upon promotion.
  
• Don't Die on Me ($275) Requires Colonel - Higher the rank, less likely to receive a crit instead of kill.
  

Those can be some very valuable perks, so you will want to try to stay on top of them as best you can with each new rank obtained.

The Gray Market

After each mission you should check the Gray Market for any items that are flagged in green text as having no research value. Those you can sell to constantly raise extra funds to buy the things you want and need.

Capture Briefing

Once your Scientists have obtained basic knowledge of the Alien biology they have a special request - they want you to capture a LIVE Alien! To do that though you are going to need to add some Engineers and Scientists, build some new facilities like the Alien Containment Facility, and then build the shock device that you can use to capture an Alien and then, well, do it!

The ARC Thrower device (the Alien Shocker) is a Priority Tech, so you will want to try to get that build as fast as you can...

Chances are pretty high that you will have to do another mission before the ARC Thrower is ready, but once it is, until you have build the Containment Facilities there is really no advantage to building one of the ARC Throwers. Something to think on.

Once the ARC Thrower research is complete you should do any Autopsies you have available, since that adds to your knowledge of the enemy, then Alien Materials would seem to be the likely choice for the next research.

Council Mission

You should receive a Council Mission (Special Mission) on your next scan - remember you are still participating in the tutorial in the game at this point... Chances are good it will be the Bomb Disposal Mission, which is one that crops up a lot.

Basically what you need to do is locate the Alien Bomb and disarm it. To do that though you have to locate the Power Units and disarm THEM to increase the time you have to find the Bomb. Oh, and all of those are defended by Aliens, so you have to defeat them as well!

The rewards for this include staff for your base, money, and a large reduction in panic for the area that the mission takes place in, which can be pretty much anywhere.

Ongoing Research

The point to the current research goals is to bring you up to where you can capture a live Alien and Interrogate them, that being one of the last tutorial elements, so what you should be doing is working towards that set of goals. Build the Containment Facilities as soon as you can, but bear in mind that once you get to that point you also need to be thinking about base expansions and additional power plants, because you will be close to your capacity at this point.

New Terror Attacks

At some point as you progress the Aliens will alter their tactics and begin shelling and invading major cities. Once that CS plays out you will be tasked with dealing with the Terror Attack in a random major city... This is NOT the sort of mission you want to send Rookies on - make sure that you send your experienced team in, any officers and non-coms and the rest being Squaddies with at least some kills under their belts.

Ideally the team you send in should consist of x1 Support, x2 Heavy, x1 Sniper, and x1 Assault (assuming you have unlocked the 5th Squad Slot which you should have).

My go at this was in Perth, Oz, which while not my favorite city back home certainly does not deserve to be leveled by Aliens. I mean sheesh! What is in Perth that has the Aliens upset?

As soon as you can - once the Containment Facilities are built, add an ARC Thrower to your Squad and capture one of the Sectoids as they are the easiest to flank and stun or so it seemed to me. Also capturing one of the Sectoids alive gains you the Plasma Pistol, a nice bit of tech that your eggheads can reverse engineer.

The Interrogation of the Sectoid will kill it of course, but your eggheads learn a fair bit in the process - though just what they have learned is not completely clear...

That Wraps the Starter Portion of the Game

Having accomplished your first Alien Interrogation you have pretty much completed all of the different activities that you need to be doing, now you just need to repeat the process for each type of Alien, all the while working on researching the different tech, ranking up your troops, and unlocking the perks! Go you!