Though I think I was lucky to get an Aquatoid Navigator in the beginning without even using a stun weapon
Did struggle in the beginning to get an Alien Containment, I think that happened in month 3.
Managed to pull off an Alien base attack with just Gauss and allot of melee/stun weapons and got those live Lobster Navigator and Technician in the process. Damn that was a hard mission!
And managed to get a live Naga lord from a ship before I researched Naga Society (though I did not research Naga lord yet, wanted to do the temple mission first)
I was tempted to try and get a live Oct during an artifact site, but didn't want to risk it. Got a live one later though
I do tend to look at the Tech tree to see what I need from time to time. But most of the time it's like the original game. Get enough live aliens.
Though I seem to be missing the Bio-drone corpse. I see they explode when they die. Is this a bug?
I have 2-3 crew with bionic armor but the rest is still using aqua plastic armor. And I have 2 crew with Sonic Cannons the rest is still using Gauss + Acid and in their backpack the best Vibro blade. They seem to be able to handle most missions.
Furthermore I have 3 'main' bases and 4 bases just for radar coverage with sub-pens. nr 1 For crew/research, nr 2 for research and nr 3 for manufacture.