Squad Composition and Tactics

Soldiers in X-COM are flexible generic soldiers with no pre-assigned role or duties attached to them. Despite this, they will eventually fall into a variety of roles depending on tactical needs.

Until soldiers hit super-soldier status where they can do anything, they will generally fall into particular roles specializing in scouting, sniping, heavy weapons, psionic support, rear commander, etc. There is a lot of overlap between many of these roles, so there's a great degree of flexibility available to you.

The choice of role will largely be dependent on the soldiers' initial stats. However, a soldier's role can change and may change several times in the course of a single battle.

Assigning Roles

The following sections describe some common roles that your soldiers will fall under, along with some scenarios and tips for these roles.

Scouts

After securing the landing zone during deployment (making sure all nearby aliens are killed, and establishing a front line), you should expand the secured zone using scouts (see Sweeping the Battlescape). Some commanders prefer using trained scouts (high Reactions and TUs); others prefer cannon fodder (poor stats). Aliens will often shoot from unseen locations, making high stats irrelevant, and even a soldier with terrible stats can take advantage of the mutual surprise rule.

Tanks make excellent scouts due to their high mobility (70 or 100 TUs, depending on the type) and relative hardiness. They are also easily replaced, unlike veteran troops. However, in the early part of the game, funds are very limited, and replacing a few rookies is far less expensive than replacing a tank.

In terms of equipment, the key is to keep the scout light but functional, so weapons such as Laser Pistol may come in useful for rapidly clearing terrain on most levels either so the scout can move through it, or check there is nothing behind a wall or hedge. HE and Smoke Grenades also tend to be useful, along with Motion Detectors, but items like heavy weapons and First Aid kits are best left to the troops following up where needed.

The soldiers at the front of the transport must perform scout duties during deployment, which is probably the highest-risk stage of combat. Throwing a Smoke Grenade at the base of the ramp before deploying helps to reduce this risk (do not deploy until Turn 2, after the grenade has detonated). For soldiers with flight capability, it may be also a good idea to deploy a second smoke grenade on the equipment pile to provide a screen if they don't intend to deploy at ramp level.

If alien(s) are visible from the front of the transport, they should be killed immediately.

The order on the Soldier screen back at base determines the order of troop placement in the transport. It is unfortunate to have a highly-skilled veteran at the front of the craft, where they are most likely to get killed. One strategy to prevent this is to reserve the first 6-8 soldiers on the list for base defense duty. As your front-most troops gain experience, you can assign these reserves to the transport; they will be placed up front.

XcomUtil can be used to rearrange the order of your troops.

Spotters

Ideally a role already covered by Scouts, a Spotter is any unit on the front-line that braves the unknown to locate enemy targets. They are primarily used in observational roles, and never engage the enemy unless they really have to.

Snipers

Scout/Sniper tactics are among the most effective tactics in the entire game. Although it is desirable to have snipers with high Firing Accuracy, any soldier which can safely fire upon an alien from beyond visual range is a good sniper.

If your squad has a mix of low- and high-power weapons (generally Laser Rifles, Heavy Plasmas) and Rocket Launchers, give the best weapons to the troops with the highest Firing Accuracy.

Heavy weapons

A heavy weapon's specialist consists of a soldier with high strength and firing accuracy, allowing the use of heavy weapons like the Rocket Launcher.

Although you do not need high strength to operate heavy weapons, high strength will help negate encumbrance penalties and increase throwing distance.

In the early game, heavy weapons duty should be restricted to soldiers that have 40+ Strength. Firing accuracy isn't . A loaded Rocket Launcher with 3 Heavy Rockets weighs 42 units total (see Encumbrance and Item Weights).

Heavy weapons generally involve damage on a wide area of effect. This makes them good for clearing terrain and for attacking heavily-armored units such as Cyberdiscs.

In the later game, your heavy weapons units will probably carry Blaster Launchers. Rear Commanders make effective Blaster troops.

Although not strictly a "heavy weapon", equipping two or more soldiers with a Small Launcher during the stage of the game when you are trying to capture an alien Navigator, Leader, or Commander is highly recommended (see Research#The Minimum Three). It can also be used as an incredibly effective anti-large terror unit weapon on the easier difficulty levels.

In open terrain (desert, tundra, not very densely populated rural areas) it may be a good tactic to equip a soldier with a flying suit, rocket launcher and possibly more rockets than they can normally carry. Once the perimeter outside the ship has been secured, the soldier can drop surplus rockets on the ground, then rise to maximum altitude and be used as extremely efficient sniper for even quite long distances - the downward angle causes that most rockets that miss the target hit the ground within a few squares away, catching the enemy in the explosion. Once the soldier runs out of rockets, he can land, resupply and take off again.

Loader

Ammunition can be heavy in the case of autocannon or rocket ammunition. Usually armed with little more than a pistol, the loader's role is to provide extra ammunition for a heavy weapon trooper, often by throwing it. This can allow for more sustained anti-tank fire. During a ufo assault, the loader does not find much use among blaster-launcher troops on account of the indirect nature of the blaster launcher allowing its wielder to provide support from the transport (and thus from a steady ammo source).

Mind Probe Operators

A support role that is commonly performed by reserve troops that are left in the Skyranger. Any soldier in the safety of the ship can operate a Mind Probe to read the vital statistics of any alien spotted in the field.

Probe operators are made redundant when well trained psi-troopers are available.

Grenadier

A variant of the Heavy Weapon specialist, a grenadier is entrusted a large number of grenades than usual (or as many as the grenadier can carry). This role sets out to exploit the grenade's indirect attack ability to its fullest. Strength is the primary stat to consider, as this controls throwing distance. A high initial throwing accuracy also helps although this ability levels up very quickly.

This role is very effective for attacking cover in open terrain, or for taking out clustered enemies. In close-quarters, the blast radius of a grenade can be a liability yet the ability to clear ambush points is still highly valued. The ability to use proximity grenades as an area-denial weapon, or smoke grenades to provide cover lends extra versatility to the grenadier.

In addition to a wide selection of grenades, a grenadier is often armed with a light sidearm like a Laser Pistol as a fall-back weapon when exhausting all the grenades or for emergencies where a floating enemy cannot be hit by an explosion. Good protection is also recommended to allow for close range detonations.

Medic

A medic is a valuable support role for tending to soldiers that are wounded or unconscious.

A medic is generally and additional role than a role of its own. Any soldier that just so happens to be carrying a Medi-Kit is a field medic, as soldiers cannot use the kit on themselves.

If a soldier is in a critically wounded state and has fallen unconscious, a medic needs to tend to the soldier immediately. If the medic is too far away, and time is not on your side, the medic can employ a variant of the Grenade Relay to get the kit into the hands of a soldier that is closer to the patient.

Anti-Psionic Soldiers

Also commonly known as Psi-Sponges.

Before soldiers can be screened scientifically, they can still be equipped to combat psionics. This applies to soldiers who have not been tested in psionic scenarios or have been shown to be weak against psionic attack. These troops can still be valuable. Anti-psionic soldiers absorb psionic attacks that would otherwise assail stronger minds and eventually panic them, and can even kill the psionic alien themselves if for some reason it loses control over them. This also works best if armor is available for all troops.

If there are unarmored soldiers, only give psi-weak soldiers stun rods and smoke grenades. Alternatively, one or more of these soldiers can operate as a heavy weapons crew, as long as the psi-weak trooper is not holding a weapon with ammo at the end of a turn. Other weapons can be handled in this way, but it reduces squad mobility unless two or more can work together, tossing equipment around to each other.

If everyone has at least personal armor, only give psi-weak soldiers standard pistols or incendiary ammunition. These weapons are effective against Sectoids. Alternatively, heavier weapons can passed around and dropped at the end of each turn.

If all your soldiers have at least power suits, the psi-weak soldiers can use standard rifles, auto-cannons with HE ammo, and standard grenades with minimal or no risk to other agents. These weapons are highly effective against Sectoids, allowing you to screen a squad against psionics on Medium UFO and Supply Ship raids without taking friendly casualties.

Flying suits reduce the lethality of laser pistols and rocket launchers (especially small rockets). Point blank bursts to the rear or undersides of a flying suit can still be lethal, but these weapons provide more firepower for clearing Sectoid bases and battleships. Careful deployment of troops with these weapons can allow them to be used with minimal risk.

When raiding sites with Cyberdiscs, it is necessary to use HWPs or some heavier troops known to be psi-resistant. These troops can be "discovered" in Sectoid Medium UFO raids using the equipment configurations above. Those UFOs have less firepower than bases and Battleships, and only one or two psionic officers (who can be captured with stun rods).

Ethereal sites should only be assaulted by known psi-resistant troops and heavily armored HWPs. A small element of unarmed psi-weaklings could be taken on smaller raids to train their mental resistances, but only as a peripheral exercise, along with a much more resistant element to ensure mission success.

Psi soldiers

After Psi-training, any soldiers with high Psi Strength (ideally 80+) should be given a Psi-Amp, and kept off the front lines. Other units can be used to spot aliens, and your Psi units can safely attack them from a distance. Once your Psi troops gain high Psi Skill as well, your squad will become nearly invincible. See Psionics for more details.

Super Soldiers

Any unit that stays alive and does consistently well in picking up combat experience in ground missions will eventually peak all of his or her attributes.

With high stats across the board - with the possible exception of Bravery and Throwing Accuracy - this soldier can do practically anything and can specialize in any role you think of.

The difference between Veterans and Rookies

The better stats a soldier has, the less danger you will want to expose him or her to. High-ranking soldiers should be left in or near the transport for Morale reasons (see Rear Commander). a Mind Probe or two can be useful in the hands of Rear Commanders. Soldiers with the poorest stats should be given the most dangerous duty: for instance, they should be the first unit sent into a UFO.

Fireteams

There is safety in numbers: soldiers should generally be moved in groups of 2-4. If one soldier spots an alien, the others can act as snipers. Spotting an alien is useless if it kills your scout and you have no troops available to return fire upon the alien.

Tanks

The choice of soldiers vs. HWPs is highly dependent on play style. In the early game, tanks are much more expensive than rookies, and funds are tight. Later on, tanks come into their own as highly-mobile expendable scouts.

If you adopt an all-soldier roster, especially on the Avenger (26 soldiers!), you will have to work around the 80-item limit. This will necessitate the use of Laser Rifles as your primary squad weapon, as they do not require ammo clips.

Armor

In cases where you do not have enough armor for all of your soldiers, the first soldiers to get armor should be the front-line troops: those at the front of the craft, and all scouts. Additional troops should be armored according to their value in combat. Soldiers with high Reactions are likely to engage in a firefight (particularly if they are used as spotters), and should be armored well.

Although Flying Suits have the highest armor values, a soldier in mid-air is an easy target. Flying soldiers will also fail to benefit from ground-level smoke cover, such as at the base of the transport. Flying Suits may be of greatest benefit to scouts, who need the increased mobility, as well as snipers who can use flight to acquire optimal firing positions. A mix of Power Suits and Flying Suits is probably best overall for your squad.

Alternatly, just micromanage forces in flying suits to keep them on the ground and have the best of both worlds. further, you can attack ships through holes in the sides or roofs with flying suits.

Soldier naming strategies

One useful strategy is to rename all your soldiers alphabetically. This allows you to see which soldiers will be placed at the front of the transport (arm them with smoke grenades; arm the second row with heavy weapons). To rename soldiers, click on their names while viewing them via the Soldier screen on base.

Another naming strategy is to add stats to their names. TUs, Reactions, Firing Accuracy, Strength, and Psi Strength are the most useful stats to display in this fashion. Keep in mind that soldiers' names will have to be updated when they gain stats from experience.