Girls or Boyz? Which path is better?

[Yirtimd2]

At some point I must choose between "Gals are Superior" and "Male Soldiers" - so, who is better? And what "surprise mechanics" awaits me on them?

[doctor medic]

If you played the W40k mod and selected imperial guards its mostly this,you do get slave soldiers and named dogs earlier with male soldiers as a compensation for having weak individual soldiers and losing the ability to buy gals,while gals are superior lets you recruit warrior gals with better average and minimum stats and cost 100k with a 10k maintance

[Eddie]

To answer the questions which is better, it is "Gals are superior". It has been the consenus of several reports here on the forum that this path is easier to play.

[wolfreal]

The thing with male touch is that slave soldiers are not as strong or start with as much stats than gals, they are more fragile, and the armor selection is not as good as with the gals. After crusader / demolition armor, things get a little more bearable. And you need to get accustomed to lose more troops. It is kinda harsh in the early game. You need to know more the game. Know with which enemies use smoke, have more numbers, been better with different units, take more care of the small number of gals you are going to find. But it is an interesting way to take. I just sacrifice lot of peasants so my other units can get better stats, and then they get very usable. There are some battles where you.want to push above your current level, where gals are going to be better, but the gross of your battle can be done with other units without an excessive hurdle.

[doctor medic]

Still keep an eye out for that research on the future,maybe a new update might bring new stuff that might make male soldiers a viable option

[Rince Wind]

Afaik it is not intended to be equal anyway. It is there if you want the challenge.

[Yirtimd2]

So, "Gals" is for those who play with save/loads and want to create super soldiers, and "Boyz" is for those who play... realistically without time control super power and forced to use cannon fodder for risky moments.

[Rince Wind]

I don't understand your logic. At all.
Just because you use weaker soldiers you save/load less?

The ironman community games here and on bay12 both chose gals, btw.

[Yirtimd2]

Well, what I thought was like "If you use weaker and cheaper male soldiers then you can use them as cannon fodder and don't get butthurt from their deaths instead of expensive Gals." - so it could be good choice for ironman challenge. Also I play it first time so yeah, I ask noob questions.

[Rince Wind]

After a while money stops being very important (at least the amounts neccessary for hiring).
And the crafts that are usable for human waves tactics have other disadvanteges.

[Solarius Scorch]

I would say that the Male Touch is more directed at veteran players, who know the game well. It's not that it's so much more difficult (because I don't think it is), but it relies on having decent knowledge on the mechanics. Playing gals only is more of a no-brainer: they're tough, fast and strong, so you can just brute force most missions. With the guys, it gets more involved, as you need to compensate for not being supermutants with equipment and planning.
Just remember that after you make your choice, you will still have access to most stuff from the other path, just not as easily available (you can't recruit Gals but you can still rescue and then conscript them; or you can't recruit Slave Soldiers but you can still make them from slaves).

[Rince Wind]

And slaves are a renewable resource!

[Ethereal_Medic]

and you can recruit veterans/freaks to get some ubers

[MaxdH]

"girls" lets you buy Girls. Clearly stronger.
 
But "Boys" makes the game more interesting, cause now all the Girls you can get (early game) you have to find in Missions. For example by capturing raider scouts.Or protecting uber girl civilians in Terror Missions.

[Torchwood]

And now we have a third option. With that in mind, here's the skinny on your choices:

Gals are Superior - This is the default path. It has a variety of strong privileges: you get to just buy new uber gals, access to the shakeup to make freshly recruited hands better, or at least braver, and finally the option to put slave soliders in humiliating but potentially useful superhero costumes, culminating in comics-inspired flying power armor for gals. If you haven't won Piratez yet, this is the best choice.

We need Male Touch - This is the challenge path. Instead of hiring gals you get slave soldiers who are cheaper and have no morale decrease, but weaker stats than ubers overall. You can only get new uber through missions, so take good care of the gals you have. Comes with a few slave soldier centric perks, such as sergeant training to enhance improve slave soldiers of boss rank or above, trucks that can carry 12 people and protect your landing zone with a gatling gun turret and iron warrior training to further enhance strong and brave slave soldiers, at the cost of voodoo skill - leave witchcraft to the witches.

Peasant Revolution - An interesting choice. Strong early geoscape advantages, but no additional hiring options. Core features include some new mostly good random events that occasionally get you more recruits and loot, the revolutionary ceremony to improve freshly recruited peasants and slave soldiers, and two very strong features: The revolutionary HQ, a 3x3 building that offers affordable housing and training for a mass army, and the Harvester, which lets you transport a mass army into battle a bit faster than a convoy could. Probably the strongest path if you can keep your ubers alive throughout the early game.