I think when the game first launched, you could earn XP from onslaughts and the 2 xeno bosses between the onslaughts, for a total of 5 XP. I think they have changed this and now I only earn 3 XP so I suspect that only the 3 onslaughts generate XP. I'm going to restart the game on a higher difficulty and I plan to try some min/maxing by fortifying an area near the ARC and doing all the onslaughts (if there are any left) before every extraction to earn a little extra XP. Having thought about how the game mechanics work, I think an optimal approach, at least for the early game, might be: - anyone going on a mission must have Pouches and don't bring any tools or medkits unless doing a boss fight. There are usually plenty to be collected on the map. - never bring max turrets as you might find one on the map. - don't extract until you have completed all 3 onslaughts (to get the XP and some xeno bodies) and try to bring home the max number of medkits and tools. - don't collect materials until later in the game when you have Looter skills on a few marines (probably after mission 2) - missions 1 and 2 give you a chunk of materials anyway as part of the story. - push through the story until after mission 2 when you get the Training centre and Psychiatric unit. Put the rookies into intensive training until they get a class. - if you have Looters, send them back to missions 1 and 2 and collect all the materials and any remaining tools and medkits and buy some good gear. Even 20% extra materials is a big help. Otherwise wait until after mission 4 (defend the Otago). I think having a Looter even increases any materials given in the story too. - every time you visit the planet, don't extract until all 3 onslaughts are done. This will require a few tools to Rest and manage stress. - don't complete mission 5 until you have gathered everything from the previous mission sites. The end of mission 5 starts the Doom clock. - but you can't take forever to start mission 5 either - every day spent is increasing the planet infestation and making the later missions harder. And they're already hard enough. - for the random marine traits, prioritise: Looter, Redemption, reducing trauma, never be tired, dismemberment. Of lesser importance are accuracy, bravery, increasing command points, and an ammo clip after each Rest. - when you return to a map, the Aggressiveness is Easy and there are probably no xenos out yet. Figure out where you want to go and get there asap before the xenos start to spawn. - use mines at key junctions, hallways, doors and spawn points to slow the enemy down without raising aggression. I play tested the above a bit and ammo is a real problem. If I can farm an ARC location for onslaughts, I use a motion scanner to pull the xenos, stand out front to get detected and then run and hide and let the turrets and ARC do the damage. The turrets get a lot more bullets per clip than my marines. The number of tools is still limited but I have enough by using Pouches to bring lots home on the early missions. By the end of mission 2, you will have 3 turrets. For a big onslaught I might contribute with Suppression or putting down fire to make the xenos take a longer route through my kill zone. One annoying thing about restarting is we can't skip the tutorials in the first mission or how it forces us to play a certain way. The tutorials are excellent for first-timers but I hope they give the option to remove them in a future patch. If this comment is too spoiler-y or you want to discuss it on another video, you can delete it. I have saved it for myself.
@@dantesgtfo1511 I'm up to mission 8 (Tantalus), playing on Hard. The above approach gave me a great boost to my early game. I have just bought all weapons (after 1 soldier hit L10) and all my active soldiers have no empty skill slots as I have a good supply of materials - not amazing but enough to buy what I need. I made a mistake at the end of mission 2 and left 2 turrets behind near my ARC but I was easily able to afford to buy another 1 and I retrieved them when I was clearing all the maps before completing mission 5. I wouldn't recommend going back to farm onslaughts too often. You are often forced to skip a deployment with the daily events and the planet infestation rate keeps rising. Ammo is now the rarest resource. I've started giving the skill that gives a clip on Rest to soldiers. Having 3 or 4 soldiers with that on a mission is a godsend - lots of free clips if you have a good supply of tools. Doing the onslaught farming got boring real quick - on some maps the xenos seem to rarely spawn or the rate they spawn at slows down. It was good for the first few missions but then I mostly stopped it. Still, 3 extra XP early on makes a big difference when the XP needed for a level up is much lower. And there were a few times when I stayed for an extra onslaught and that 1 XP gave me a level up. Just try not to hit max stress or get wounded as it deprives you of your soldiers for too long and you want at least 1 of them to get to L10 quickly. The game is well balanced in terms of looting, collecting tools and being combat focused - if you go too heavily into one, you'll suffer a bit in the other areas. But having Looter and Pouches was a good start to the game.
It's a tough game to understand all the controls. When the game doesn't explain things that clearly, it makes it hard to play and enjoy. If you miss this system, you'll struggle playing.
I think when the game first launched, you could earn XP from onslaughts and the 2 xeno bosses between the onslaughts, for a total of 5 XP. I think they have changed this and now I only earn 3 XP so I suspect that only the 3 onslaughts generate XP.
I'm going to restart the game on a higher difficulty and I plan to try some min/maxing by fortifying an area near the ARC and doing all the onslaughts (if there are any left) before every extraction to earn a little extra XP.
Having thought about how the game mechanics work, I think an optimal approach, at least for the early game, might be:
- anyone going on a mission must have Pouches and don't bring any tools or medkits unless doing a boss fight. There are usually plenty to be collected on the map.
- never bring max turrets as you might find one on the map.
- don't extract until you have completed all 3 onslaughts (to get the XP and some xeno bodies) and try to bring home the max number of medkits and tools.
- don't collect materials until later in the game when you have Looter skills on a few marines (probably after mission 2) - missions 1 and 2 give you a chunk of materials anyway as part of the story.
- push through the story until after mission 2 when you get the Training centre and Psychiatric unit. Put the rookies into intensive training until they get a class.
- if you have Looters, send them back to missions 1 and 2 and collect all the materials and any remaining tools and medkits and buy some good gear. Even 20% extra materials is a big help. Otherwise wait until after mission 4 (defend the Otago). I think having a Looter even increases any materials given in the story too.
- every time you visit the planet, don't extract until all 3 onslaughts are done. This will require a few tools to Rest and manage stress.
- don't complete mission 5 until you have gathered everything from the previous mission sites. The end of mission 5 starts the Doom clock.
- but you can't take forever to start mission 5 either - every day spent is increasing the planet infestation and making the later missions harder. And they're already hard enough.
- for the random marine traits, prioritise: Looter, Redemption, reducing trauma, never be tired, dismemberment. Of lesser importance are accuracy, bravery, increasing command points, and an ammo clip after each Rest.
- when you return to a map, the Aggressiveness is Easy and there are probably no xenos out yet. Figure out where you want to go and get there asap before the xenos start to spawn.
- use mines at key junctions, hallways, doors and spawn points to slow the enemy down without raising aggression.
I play tested the above a bit and ammo is a real problem. If I can farm an ARC location for onslaughts, I use a motion scanner to pull the xenos, stand out front to get detected and then run and hide and let the turrets and ARC do the damage. The turrets get a lot more bullets per clip than my marines. The number of tools is still limited but I have enough by using Pouches to bring lots home on the early missions. By the end of mission 2, you will have 3 turrets. For a big onslaught I might contribute with Suppression or putting down fire to make the xenos take a longer route through my kill zone.
One annoying thing about restarting is we can't skip the tutorials in the first mission or how it forces us to play a certain way. The tutorials are excellent for first-timers but I hope they give the option to remove them in a future patch.
If this comment is too spoiler-y or you want to discuss it on another video, you can delete it. I have saved it for myself.
Thanks for taking a lot of time on that. Some nice ideas in there. Happy to share the thoughts.
Great info, pal! Keep sharing those thoughts!
@@dantesgtfo1511 I'm up to mission 8 (Tantalus), playing on Hard. The above approach gave me a great boost to my early game. I have just bought all weapons (after 1 soldier hit L10) and all my active soldiers have no empty skill slots as I have a good supply of materials - not amazing but enough to buy what I need.
I made a mistake at the end of mission 2 and left 2 turrets behind near my ARC but I was easily able to afford to buy another 1 and I retrieved them when I was clearing all the maps before completing mission 5.
I wouldn't recommend going back to farm onslaughts too often. You are often forced to skip a deployment with the daily events and the planet infestation rate keeps rising.
Ammo is now the rarest resource. I've started giving the skill that gives a clip on Rest to soldiers. Having 3 or 4 soldiers with that on a mission is a godsend - lots of free clips if you have a good supply of tools.
Doing the onslaught farming got boring real quick - on some maps the xenos seem to rarely spawn or the rate they spawn at slows down. It was good for the first few missions but then I mostly stopped it. Still, 3 extra XP early on makes a big difference when the XP needed for a level up is much lower. And there were a few times when I stayed for an extra onslaught and that 1 XP gave me a level up. Just try not to hit max stress or get wounded as it deprives you of your soldiers for too long and you want at least 1 of them to get to L10 quickly.
The game is well balanced in terms of looting, collecting tools and being combat focused - if you go too heavily into one, you'll suffer a bit in the other areas. But having Looter and Pouches was a good start to the game.
Thanks for sharing the experience. 👍
U play the game dont let the game play you
It's a tough game to understand all the controls. When the game doesn't explain things that clearly, it makes it hard to play and enjoy. If you miss this system, you'll struggle playing.
That is so convoluted and unintuitive! Sheesh, Capcom; don’t make a puzzle out of navigating the menu!
I guess this comment was mean for a Street Fighter vid!