Thoughts
Like everyone, I have thoughts on the game. I've played a lot. I currently play Grim Horizon (GH), Legendary Iron Man (L/I), on PC/Linux/Steam, No Lost World, Stop Wasting My Time and Reward Decks Refresher. I play with the Alien Hunters DLC, WoTC, with the "balanced" setting that puts the Alien Rulers at the alien research sites. I don't always win, but I win 95% of the time. When I lose, it is usually on Gatecrasher. I don't lose with Reaper starts, at least that I notice. In my most recent game, the aliens took away my shop very early. I countered Alien Cipher by scanning for a guerilla op after that and countered it in an absolutely epic mission, and won much later.
I've been good at it for awhile, but it's an incredible game because I've even gotten better recently, this at the end of a long time playing. That's why I write, not because I'm wonderful, because the game is amazing.
I'll just share random current views. These are all relative to the setup I play - for Beta Strike, etc., they won't hold - I recognize that. The best Templar skill is Lightning Hands, but the other pistol skill is useless. Often, the best ranger gun is the Disruptor Rifle. 3-4 mindshields is enough against anything but a PlaneWalker Warlock. Guardian Angels is the best card in the deck. Templars are mostly useless in the end game except for fighting the first Avatar and can also be very useful acquiring the Psionic gate. Templars shine under the Chosen are all dead. Resource constrained GH games can benefit from many strategies, depending quite a lot on what the game hands you. Modular Cannons, Shotguns, Bullpups are all useful. Modular Rifles and Sniper Rifles are almost useless, because of the Chosen replacements and the costs. In WoTC, I never build 3rd tier sniper rifles, period, and only build Plasma Rifles at the very end, if ever. It is much better to build Powered Armor before powered weaponry. This is because you can almost always get Bomb Squad and long range explosive ambushes are the best strategy. For this reason, exo suits remain useful eternally since powered weapons can be placed on them. Integrated Warfare < Inside Knowledge, but both are to be coveted. Skipping various sword upgrades is quite useful when resource constrained. I used to scan more at Skirmisher HQ, but then I got wiser - intel is much more of a bottleneck in L?I (and GH) than construction time. I almost never go after Archon King. I always get the snake skin and almost always the Berserker Queen armor. Psionics is useless. SPARKs are really fun, but I build them only when they make sense and that is a window of time that, once passed, is simply gone. Bonds are everything. Will debuffs hurt and should be countered. Alien Cypher and Gone to Ground are the worst. Delaying doing main story missions to instead concentrate on the Chosen is always useful, but the game often limits the capability. Two sharpshooters is mostly enough. Put will on reapers and sharpshooters, aim on everything else. Try to add will to skirmishers if they're turning out good - great skirmishers don't always come and don't deserve over investment without Tactical Rigging and some aim, but if they get those things, ideally some will, modular guns, Inside Knowledge, then they might kill the world and are just the funnest units and my favorites. Arashi is mostly nice while you are killing the chosen, especially if resource constrained, while Katana rocks forever. It's amazing how every win finds one with final aim total between 90-93%. Laser guides are for reapers. Sharpshooters should be levelled to sargeant or lieutenant at the start and then mostly sent on covert ops by mid-game to concentrate on the other classes. Once you get them spider suits, blue screen ammo and scopes, you'll be very close to hunters gun - feel free to skip any sniper rifle upgrade to avoid costs. Besides workshops, labs are close to worthless except that they shrink the endgame delay so I do build them late. Defense matrices are mostly worthless. Scanning by specialists is for the purpose of targeting via Blaster Bombs or the other powered weapon that shoots in a cone. If you hit pods with Blaster Bombs inside buildings or otherwise where they can't see you, they won't even scatter and find you. Specialists are mostly useless for the final stage (not useless, but quite suboptimal). Blaster Bombs are the best. Use Bomb Squad and buy powered weapons in sets of 4 (don't start without 400 supplies and 4 elerium canisters (can't remember the name). With 2 Blaster Bombs and a short layout, the funniest thing is to win the Alien UFO attack in 2 blue moves without leaving the Avenger deck. Use Blaster Bombs and the cone shaped powered weapons to destroy UFO signallers in the missions to acquire supplies - that's tight quarters that negates most stealth - yes you can often sneak a specialist to a outer door and defuse it, but honestly why bother for the risk? Tactically, the game is about one pod at a time, everyone knows. But also this - avoid chokepoints/bottlenecks on the tactical levels - the game is "about" xcom alphastriking - xcom is overpowered, but tight spaces negate this. Treat buildings as part of the enemy - xcom does not lose in open spaces - blow up large parts of the board as part of your ethos. 2nd tier Combat Protocol early is part of the key mid-game smarts and then Bluescreen Protocol - gauss can definitely wait. Cannons start out good and stay good and Sharpshooters can be be benched for most missions until they get all the things.
I've done immaculate timing, but I won't again - playing for that is just throwing risk/reward out the window - fun but once done, not again for me. I've seen repeaters fire twice from Skirmisher Waylay on same turn for double kills on overwatch. I've seen Mechs shoot Faceless that were hiding and then got started and ran as civvies and this exposed them. I've beaten the game without seeing the UFO attack (once). I've saved 19/19 civilians when the aliens attack the settlements probably 5 total times - always fun. It's really just the best game.