...sensitive to Bio (and Voodoo, said a colleague?) > But 1st thingies 1st.
LANDED CRAFT AS SUCH HOW TO (PLUS MY SO FAR PROVEN COMBAT TACTICS.):
Instead of looking into a crystal ball, get yer Hyperwave Decoders online. 2nd: Get a
Snake Assault Transport and a Fighter that can track fast targets. Maybe this works with other transports as well, I dunno...
When the Shipping Detected message appears:
1) see how big it is - so that you can handle YOUR ground assault (the bigger, the meaner);
2) see WHO is it and Ufopedia find their weaknesses with your RL Smartphone as needed (UFOpedia>piratez>faction>their staff (soldiers, commandos...));
3) see WHERE are they going;
4) Go or no go? If yarr, then;
5) send the tracker fighter after them, equip the Snake Crew as necessary (armors can be changed only in the base), and send the Snake after them;
6) the fast tracker should shadow them long enough for your Snake to get there and land in time. Do not forget to anchor your Fighter once when the enemy ship has landed. Don't lose it, the query. Simply, before they land where they wanna land, switch to 5 sec time, quicksave and anchor near them when they land.
7) Begin your ground assault with the Snake. > On the floor where you begin, leave a well and appropriately heavily armed fast Reactions gall to face the Elevator and guard it, cuz the Enemy be sneaky a-sholes. Get the other gals top floor, facing the elevator. Watch it, however, as the enemy can still hit you through the back wall windows on the mid floor AND through the elevator. Let this be your starting position for every turn. End 1st turn. From 2nd turn on, send 1st gal topside, have her turn a full 360 deg circle to discover ell enemies and kill one if you can. Get her back to her starting pose. Now send them one by one topside like this to scout and kill, maybe like - one finds, gets back, another kills, etc, you get the idea. What is important is to end your turn with all gals in your craft. Fight like this until the enemy is weakened enough for you to go after them.
Now, as for Mercs, I do believe this would work, as I still didn't face them like this. It's about the proven weapons that should be deadly for them...
https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Mercenary_Soldier_(Piratez)
... so... But 1st the Tactics. The above described should work, maybe with ALL the gals on the top floor. OK, now this is what I do believe you should have ready for a Merc ground fight and how to get it
(LANDED MERCS ONLY!!! NO AIR COMBAT WITH MERCS, OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED):
Get your poison arrows and hunting bows and hunt them. Mercs in Melee > Make poisoned Daggers. How? > Go on Blood Rituals missions...
(google it ingame: Base > Research> MMB click on a topic > use the "select topic" bar, type what ya wanna know and proceed as needed)
...and loot there Animal Poison. !!!WARNING!!! There be (often) Werewolves! Very melee dangerous, but very fire weak. Get your Flamers and WP (Willie Pete) grenades. Use 2 WPs per customer. (KEEP YA GALS IN PAIRS AND CLOSE!!! Like that, ya should always be able to throw 2 grenades.)> Make poison Daggers with that Animal Poison. These work well on armor, so Megapol and Mercs will be easier, if you Melee> For a Landed Merc Craft assault, make yer crew of Gals with best Throwing and melee, arm them with Hunting bows loaded with poison arrows, (take 2 spare reloads) and Poisoned Daggers and GO DRINK THEIR BLOOD! YYAAAAARRRR!!!