Psionics and early soldiers, Mechanics of Psi Labs

[Helmount]

Howdy,
In the original I sweated through terror and recovery missions with psi-able aliens. Kill 'em all. I never understood the mechanics of psionics. Are soldiers in the skyranger still training in the lab if assigned there? Should I build psi-labs at my troop bases to take advantage of this? Or should I build a psi-training base with space for fifty down in Antarctica and commit them there. How ruthless should I be in hiring/firing? If I have a soldier with 9 missions and 15 kills who is able to carry a rocket launcher, a sidearm, and four heavy rockets but has a psi of 50, is he sacked? How about at 40, or 30? I already accept slightly lower stat standards for garrison troopers. Is it 'safe' to do so with psi? I haven't found answers to this in the guides and FAQs, but perhaps I have not looked through the appropriate FM. They seem to be questions for my S-1 or S-7 rather than my S-3.
Any light would be appreciated.
Helmount

[Warboy1982]

yes, they continue training even if they go on a mission, make a psi lab at your troop base. as for who gets fired - that's your call, there is no definitive answer on this. the way i see it, if they weren't a liability before, why sack them just because the stat that's been hidden all this time turns out to have been low all along?

[Unknown Hero]

No need to sack your good soldiers with low Psi stats, select them for missions without Psi-able Aliens (Muton, etc., even Sectoid crew without Leader/Commander).

And, if your soldiers are equipped with Power/Flying Suits, you can equip your good soldiers with low Psi stats only with Laser Pistol, Laser Rifle, Auto-Cannon (HE), Heavy Cannon (HE), XCom standard Grenade, even Rocket Launcher (Small Rocket), without too much trouble against Psi-able Aliens. The Aliens will focus on them (waste TUs) and your other heavily armed troops are safe from Psi attacks.

Also, even when your good soldiers are unavailable for long period (wounded) (if you don't sack your unavailable soldiers for long period  ), you can send them to an "inactive" base (no troop transport), or, as you said, to a "psi-training base with space for fifty" for psi training.

[CloseProximity]

Whether or not to sack a low psi soldier is up to you as the commander. Much depends on to what degree OpenXCom replicates the original game when it comes to psionics. I am still playing my first game so I really can't say what a "safe" psionic strength is.

I have played this game since 1994 and the original AI "cheated", in my opinion. If the aliens could see just one soldier, ALL of the others were also at risk. Also, after turn 20, the AI knew where all of your soldiers were - and then the "psi-puppets" came out to play.

Much also depends on the game difficulty because the psionic strength of the aliens increases as the game difficulty increases. A soldier that is reasonably safe at a lower game difficulty may be alien psionic fodder at higher levels.

I guess I'm a heartless and PARANOID commander. In general I do not employ soldiers with a psi strength lower than 50, increasing this to 60+ if playing on higher difficulties. That low psi soldier with high reactions and firing accuracy is a prime candidate to effectively shoot all of his/her teammates in the back.

As for assigning them to base duty, why pay them to sit on their butts? What if that base is attacked? That low psi soldier can just as easily kill many in the base as they can when assaulting a landed UFO.

Only assigning them for missions with no psi capable aliens depends greatly on having a Hyper-wave Decoder. Scouts are the exception. They do not have psi capable aliens until the Ethereals show up.

Lastly, in my opinion, if you can afford it, sack the "psi-puppet" soldiers and get ones with "nerves of steel." If you can't afford it, you may be stuck with a great potential liability until you can.

Remember, in XCom, Murpy is the undisputed "Lord and Emperor!" and sneers at those who fail to understand his law.

[CloseProximity]

And, I forgot to mention, the troop with the Blaster Launcher WILL be MCed!

[BlackLibrary]

The low Psi man on the pole becomes the Psi-Enabled aliens target number one.  I bring him along, with a pistol and some grenades and let him soak up all the paline psi attacks.  His job is to keep the aliens busy while the tough minded chaps plunge into the depth of the alien craft and choke the enemy.

[Helmount]

Thanks!  Good ideas.