The change to Sniper/Scout tactics is quite interesting but I think it serves simply to make combat harder on X-COM.
The idea seems to be to avoid using smoke so you can secure more accurate shots, but firing at enemies when they are in view risks them turning around and shooting via reaction fire. I've just accepted the fact my soldiers are going to be more inaccurate and just toss up smoke grenades anyway.
But I've also found, at least for the earlier game enemies, that its actually far more practical to just throw grenades at every and anything that moves, most enemies die to one or two grenades and they are far more accurate than shooting them. You do risk blowing up equipment/bodies though but I'd rather kill the enemy than run the gauntlet of shooting twenty times.
Otherwise as I've said before, I'm quite a big fan of the surface weapon system, its nice to see X-COM decided to actually lookup decent weapons instead of bringing harpoon guns. I still wish there was some kind of early game surface armour, even just for the cosmetics since its a bit amusing/comical seeing soldiers marching to battle on the surface in diving suits.
