How "disposable" are Xcom troops to you?

[Taberone]

Just a quick question. How disposable do you think Xcom troops(and by that, I mean Rookies) are? Do you make them disposable only if they are PSI-Weaklings who constantly get mind controlled/PSI Panicked? Do you try to preserve the lives of your troops, no matter how low ranked or Psi-Weak they are?

[kkmic]

I try to minimize casualties, and I always sack soldiers who are PSi weaklings, regardless of rank/other stats.

[Sectoid_Soldier]

Sacking weak soldiers is usually within financial possibility., especially rookies. I try to keep good ones.

Weed out the low psionic types, one needs a psi-facility to weed them out, in general.

Invest in good troopers, and follow their stoies.

[Gifty]

I think of recruits as my one inexhaustible resource, while I think of veterans as the most precious commodity in the game. In the end they've all got a trade value and I don't mind losing anyone if it accomplishes something big, like getting a live commander or blowing up a base.

[kharille]

Very much disposable but I tend to keep the blondes at the back.  I actually value low intelligence.  Once I get the psi lab and now that I can shuffle people around in the line up, I start imposing darwinian preferences..

[yrizoud]

IMO the sentence "sack a psi-weakling rookie" doesn't make sense, because by the time you know a unit's psi stats, you've had him fight and survive for 2 months at least.
Before the entire team is screened, I find it safest to keep the soldier who's always attacked in the team, armed with only weapons that can't hurt teammates. This way the next attacks will target him, not a random soldier who happens to be wielding a heavy plasma.

I used to play by saving every turn and reloading on any death, but in the long run it feels like playing a game of Minesweeper which has an "Undo" button... So now I force myself to take the casualties and keep playing.
I used to sack any rookie who had bad accuracy, then only keep those if they have good reactions. Now I don't sack anyone (until far into the game when money is no longer an issue), any bad soldier is used as a scout to draw fire from aliens. I tag them with a "-" in their name, and they are forbidden to harm aliens, as it would "steal" experience from the precious soldiers with good stats.

[Sectoid_Soldier]

Exposing the sources of alien fire are the job of the best. XCOM troops.

[kharille]

Well, I can always rotate soldiers once they hit squaddie.  I operate from one base but I use all the base slots and need a guard.

[Mr. Quiet]

The last time I played who knows when, maybe a month ago, I didn't pay attention to stats. I was just getting sick of always checking to make sure I have the best shielded behind the awful ones, renaming and so on. So that time I played without ever prioritizing operatives by stats, only kept my high command in the back of the ship. Was really hard I haven't finished that play through, but I'd lose operatives every mission. I was also giving my COs some action and it's funny because they would be the first to die when they shot at something from a safe place.

[blackwolf]

well this is kind of funny,i actually value all my soldier!for example i rename a soldier like myself and try to keep him alive the longest i can,also a bunch of friends are present there (sometimes we hangout just looking a gameplay and laughing about the ramdoness that happens on a mission)..so..i really feel sorry when a soldier dies(at least one who have a couple of mission with me..the newbies are like:"mehh whatever")

[Qpoter]

I value my soldiers a lot. I always take a very good look at the stats of all new recruits. If they can't contribute anything to their squad or just have poor overall stats, I sack them, for their sake and X-COM's sake.

[Branes51]

I automatically sack any soldier with bravery less than 40. Otherwise, they're guaranteed to freak out eventually.
Once psionics come in, I let anyone with less than 40 go, unless they are high level. Then I just leave them behind on missions where I know ethereals will be present. And I give them only smoke grenades and stun launchers. That way, if they get controlled, they're harmless. I never give blaster launchers to anyone with psi strength less than 60.  I don't consider rookies as disposable, but they do get to be point men and scouts. I don't expose them deliberately but they are in the front lines. I only keep rookies with at least 40 bravery and 50 reaction. Other stats aren't really important until psionics. I screen  a lot of recruits to find good ones, so I can't afford to waste any needlessly. I play very cautiously, but even so, on terror missions, alien base assaults and especially battleships, I usually lose a couple. That's Xcom.

[kharille]

If they streamlined it and somehow turned it into real time strategy, I think I'd lose a lot more with wave tactics.....  Wonder if they could ever do 2.0 with apocalypse style rts....

[Sectoid_Soldier]

The squad can be quite fearsome if the troopers mission priorites 'exceed' the cost of a graphical death.

[Taberone]

I automatically sack any soldier with bravery less than 40. Otherwise, they're guaranteed to freak out eventually.
Once psionics come in, I let anyone with less than 40 go, unless they are high level. Then I just leave them behind on missions where I know ethereals will be present. And I give them only smoke grenades and stun launchers. That way, if they get controlled, they're harmless. I never give blaster launchers to anyone with psi strength less than 60.  I don't consider rookies as disposable, but they do get to be point men and scouts. I don't expose them deliberately but they are in the front lines. I only keep rookies with at least 40 bravery and 50 reaction. Other stats aren't really important until psionics. I screen  a lot of recruits to find good ones, so I can't afford to waste any needlessly. I play very cautiously, but even so, on terror missions, alien base assaults and especially battleships, I usually lose a couple. That's Xcom.

I keep the low bravery troops around. Bravery means nothing when you have a Rear Commander with a Mind Probe/Blaster Launcher/PSI Amp, because higher ranking soldiers provide "moral support" over the radio, apparently.