Starting Your Shadowy Paramilitary Organization

A Handy Cut-Out Guide
Fighting back the alien hordes is a demanding and stressful job. Many new Commanders feel overwhelmed by the task, and lose sight of the many tasks vital to the smooth operation of a covert agency of the secret world government. With this in mind, your paymasters have prepared this brochure to help you get a handle on the day-to-day operations of your clandestine private war.

Happy hunting!

Day One: Hit the Ground Running

1. Start on the low difficulty level. If this is your first time managing a secret agency, please be realistic about your expectations. While many commanders may think themselves superhumans from day one, in reality it takes a great deal of experience to defend the earth. Save the hard work for later forays.
2. Place Your Base The thing to keep in mind when placing your first base is that you want to protect the countries that are supplying your funding. Worrying about the fate of sub-Saharan Africa is a noble thing, but Sub-Saharan Africa is not going to pay your bills, at least not until someone strikes oil there. With this in mind, you want to place your first base to protect as much of your funding as possible. So, you're looking to put your base where its sensors can cover as much of your sponsorship as possible. The USA is your single largest contributor, while Europe contains a large collection of sponsors as well.
3. Become Acquainted with your facilities. Upon receiving control of your secret underground headquarters (be sure to store the deed in a safe place!), you should take a tour of the facilities and get a feel for your new lair. Note the possible points of entry, particularly the hangars and the access lift-- which have been scattered to every corner of the base, allowing an invader to enter from every side, without the hassle of defensive choke-points or bottlenecks. This is what happens when you contract to the lowest bidder.
   • Want to tighten up security some? Look into Overhauling The Starter Base.
   • In addition, you will almost certainly require other facilities. A large radar system is always useful, as is alien containment for housing anything you bring back from the crash site that's still breathing.
4. Get your staff working. You have a sparkling-new research facility and a crew of scientists, freshly recruited from some supervillian's doomsday project. Get them working immediately, and keep them working! Research facilities are too important to lie idle. As soon as you have new designs to produce, keep your engineers busy as well. If you don't need equipment of your own, have them manufacture items for sale on the international black market.
   • Laser weapon research isn't a bad place to start. All reports indicate that the aliens have heavy firepower at their disposal, and it might be useful to even the odds some. In addition, there is always a high demand for armaments, especially if you don't ask questions about the buyers. Manufacture these high-tech wonders for your own use and for sale!
   • Stop reading newspapers. I'm sure those reports about the rebels being scorched with some new weapon are unfounded. The Generalissimo is too benevolent a dictator to use lasers on his own people.
5. Organize Your Arsenal. As an anonymous leader of a conspiratorial organization, a great variety of military hardware is available to you. Many quartermasters will try to buy one of everything for their armory, but the smart commander will standardize his weapons layout for easy logistical management.
   • Early in the game, experimentation with various weapons is a good thing, but before long you should settle on a stanrdard set of personal firearms and heavy weapons.
   • You should also give thought to how much non-weapon equipment your troops need. There is limited room on a troop transport, and not everyone has to carry everyhing.
   • Remember to keep sufficient ammunition on hand for your weapons.