A few ideas for medals
Could we have another pair of Fallen Soldier medals?
1. Best of Class. 1st/Best of a given rank died. The first time in any mission you lose a particular rank, that casualty gets this medal. Aftwards, the medal is only given to a soldier of the same rank who exceeds the first soldier of that rank to recieve it.
So I recently lost Colenel Meghan Rory, who had 26 kills and 3 stuns over 26 missions. She's not the first Colenel I've lost and she's not the last Colenel I've lost.
Lets say the 1st Col who died was Harry Amos, who had 13 kills. He gets the Best of Class, Colenel version.
Col. Rory gets it because her records exceeds Col. Amos's. Afterwards, only Colenels with a better record than Rory gets that medal. So if Commader Flovio dies (18 kills, 1 stun), he gets it because no other Commander has been KIA. It doesn't matter that his record is less than Rory's because they are not the same rank.
2. Fallen Best Soldier Medal. Regardless of rank, your very best soldier whos fallen to date gets this medal. So when Rory got killed, she gets this medal and no one else until another soldier of any rank dies who had more kills/stuns than Rory.
-For the purpose of determining best, you might use a combination of kills and stuns minus any friendlies killed. Then have a formualas that takes into account psi strength and psi training. Clearly a soldier with 100+ psi training was a guy you put considerable time into perfecting. You might consider crimson and purple hearts as well.
Why have these medals? Because you get attached to your high performers. I am getting rid of every rookie who does have a 75 psi strength or better, but I grandfathered in any squadie or higher. It helps that I have psi on line of sight setting. Otherwise, I would have likely tossed Rory who had a 22 Psi str. Had my Commander died, Flovio, I knew Rory would have gotten the promotion. She was by far my best long surviving soldier. The closest to her is the Commander and even he doesn't compare.
As it is now, I look at my memorial section to see the first time I lost someone of a given rank. These medals are an extension of that tendecy.
Another idea for a medal, 1st contact or 1st mission medal. The first time you fight the aliens, every soldier gets this medal regardless of how much they did.
Again why? I follow more closely my orginal troops; first battle was Jan 7th.. I still have one left, he's a captain, been injured at least twice. I lost 5 people on my first mission but it was worth the price since I captured 2 navigators and an engineer. Rory was the 2nd to last one I had left. Flovia's first mission was Jan 25th.
BTW, if I encounter the grompa stomp bug, I will upload the save.