Since I have insomnia, let's go with these good-intended tips...
#1
Pure BS
#2
Pure BS. It didn't work in any UFO game, in OXCom it makes the aliens angrier and more prone to suicidal maneuvers, usually involving high explosives.
#3
Use the biggest, most accurate, longest-range weapons to win. I'd never think of that! It works, naturally. Massive damage always works.
#4
Technically true, but impossible to implement in the field other than in a very general manner. Too many unknowns to win by maths. Sure it tells you to leave full TU if you want to have bigger chance of shooting first, but the moment you start relying on your Reactions alone, soldiers start dying. Not every shot hits. Not every hit kills. You might have several people crowded in a defensive position. Said alien can have a grenade...
Reactions are for 2 things: 1. some people prefer risks associated with opportunity fire over the risks associated with storming UFOs/Access Lifts/other tight spaces, possibly infested with chryssalids (not an insensible approach). 2. Desperate Measures (a huge topic unto itself...)
#5
The fact that you think you're facing the alien doesn't mean its shots will always hit front. I'd rephrase it: if all else fails, try to face the alien with your last TUs, the armor is always thickest there, plus you will die like a man. Actuallty TFTD armors have a critical weakness; very high frontal armor offset by the fact that some shots will inevitably hit your sides.
#6
Yes the reapers are weak to Incendiary, but a Heavy Cannon HE shell is a guaranteed kill while Incendiary isn't. Cyberdiscs can be killed by Heavy Rockets but actually are better engaged with lasers or plasma (too heavy armor for your puny grenades). Or if you lack anything that powerful, fire kills them over time, and stun damage takes them out quite fast too. Why kill stunned mutons? Lobsters are very, very resistant to everything but Sonic (Massive Damage) and melee (stun works too). Melee is the way to go with them. Apoc turns into Easy Mode when you invent gas grenades, especially against humans who don't have any resistances. Shooting them with needless is of course possible but pointless in the light of the above. Unless you want to train reactions or whatever.
#7
True, but the odds of these things happening are astronomically low. You either shoot everything and a kitchen sink at these Brainsuckers or suddenly have a soldier braincontrolled. It's much more often (still rare) when Brainsucker's attack simply fails.
#8
No, it's neither realtime or radar. It counts alien score, generated mostly by landings and completed missions. Your craft will usually arrive post-facto and fail to catch anything. It might stumble upon the next wave, but the chances aren't high. The graph is good for occassional sweeps to find alien bases, though. You COULD watch the alien graph every 30 game minutes for any changes and able to use it pretty well to detect UFOs, yeah... thanks but no thanks, there are better things to do with one's life.
#9
As there ever was an area where you shouldn't expect aliens
But yeah, Mutual Surprise is the way to go. Just don't forget that running away counts as "doing something" and unless there is cover 1 tile away, the alien is going to fry your ass (assuming your main force doesn't take him out as they should).
#10
Use blaster bombs to win. Yeah, great tip
As one of the veterans summed blaster "tactics" up, "nuke large rooms first". Actually it's easier to kill your own squad with Blaster Bombs than to die from alien fire once you have a ready supply of these beauties. Btw you usually need to catch Commanders alive, and panic can be easily raised by killing large amounts of low-ranked aliens in a small amount of time...
