Soldiers to recruit.... elite....

[pilot00]

This has always been my opinion.  I mean, I'm the leader of a (somewhat) prioritized multi-national defense force.  Are you telling me I can't even see the soldiers I can get before they arrive?  I'd expect to at least be able to see a list of potential candidates before I decide who I recruit, and not just settle for whatever dregs the governments scrape off the bottom of the barrel (even if it IS the very nicest of barrels).  Then I can pick who I need based on priority.  Maybe increase the range of both caps, so if I want that guy who can thread a needle with a bullet, I have to accept the fact that his target can run a marathon before the shot ever comes. My thought was more to have a set number of candidates each month, and the next month replace them with new applicants, or maybe just fill in the gaps.  If you use all up your wannabes before then, then you DO have to accept whatever random guys (and gals) the feds can conscript to your cause.  Although I do like the idea of adding one (or some) more each day.  Either way works, really.

Oh, and as for the "Stats improve more when they're lower or not" debate, you have to be more specific.  Primaries (accuracy, reactions) don't, but your secondaries DO improve faster at lower levels (statistically speaking, of course).

I remember that at a time, there was a reoccuring joke among the player base, that X-COM was not intentionally created to succeed. That it was actually funded just to give the impression that it did something and nobody of the funding nations actually expected any results. One guy had suggested that the ground troop equiment contractor was the one offering the less costs and less quality (hence why a rifle would sometimes shoot in complete illogical angles and miss terribly) and that the soldiers were drop outs, or psichopaths.

[Solarius Scorch]

I'm sticking to the idea that X-Com operatives are recruited from among the government agents, not soldiers.

[kikimoristan]

i'm pretty sure they are soldiers but not fresh recruits but seasoned soldiers that have been in battle before like peacekeeping missions or wars etc.

they pick best soldiers from all over the world to fight aliens.

elite soldies should be augmented, cyber-solders, alien-human dna soldiers, genetically engineered soldiers. there are no better soldiers than the best soldiers from all over the world.

they are deff NOT government agencies like FBI, CIA, KGB etc.. they little war training and mostly solve cases , do spy/intelligence work stuff. 

to fight aliens you need marines , you need fighters, soldiers, warriors that can use weapons and not afraid to die not smarty pants.

[Solarius Scorch]

i'm pretty sure they are soldiers but not fresh recruits but seasoned soldiers that have been in battle before like peacekeeping missions or wars etc.

they pick best soldiers from all over the world to fight aliens.

elite soldies should be augmented, cyber-solders, alien-human dna soldiers, genetically engineered soldiers. there are no better soldiers than the best soldiers from all over the world.

they are deff NOT government agencies like FBI, CIA, KGB etc.. they little war training and mostly solve cases , do spy/intelligence work stuff. 

to fight aliens you need marines , you need fighters, soldiers, warriors that can use weapons and not afraid to die not smarty pants.

Yes, that's how it should be. But I'm betting on the possibility that X-Com is extremely secretive and unwilling to hire outside people, being surrounded by alien spies, MiBs and so on. Therefore they send their field agents who are initially more accustomed to investigations and paper pushing than real combat.

I know it's not overly realistic, but I think it's cool.