Let's talk about how we train our agents, how to get the medals and which ones are worth spending extra effort on.
Training stats in combatNot too much has changed from vanilla.
TUs, Stamina, Health, Strength still increase passively. The new stat Sanity is trained the same way.
Training Accuracy is still the easiest and needs no special attention. Same for throwing, except that there will be fewer (sensible) opportunities for throwing stuff at enemies than shooting. A high throwing stat isn't too important, unless you want to use stuff like throwing knives (I very rarely even equip them).
Bravery can now be increased by using healing items (on friends, enemies, neutrals - it all works). A small handful of weapons also train it. The Vibro Blade is the best one I have unlocked so far. There are also actions now, that cost morale, like the Track ability of dogs and rats. In controlled conditions this can also be used to train bravery. All in all, bravery is still a bit of a slog to increase. Thankfully, it is less important now, as psi attacks are very rarely used against you before the aliens show up.
The many missions against exclusively melee enemies provide ample opportunity for reaction training. Give your reaction-deficient agents a weapon with fast snap shot (i.e. pistols) and a melee weapon (many of these train reactions along with melee).
Melee training, see above. More than any other stat, Melee is difficult to train, when it is very low. For that reason, I leave highly Melee-deficient agents in the gym, before I allow them on missions.
Speaking of which:
Training stats in the gymNot much to say here.
As far as I know, training caps are the same as max stats of newly hired agents.
I try to have as much gym space as I have agents, that haven't hit that cap, yet. Once I stop expanding my roster and only buy agents as replacements for losses, I'll dismantle most gyms.
TransformationsAgain, not much to say here. GET THESE. More important than weapon or armour upgrades, in my opinion. Bio-Enhancement especially can be gotten relatively early and will save so many lives.
Commendations/MedalsMany of the commendations listed here aren't shown in the ufopedia from the beginning and must be "found" first by having them awarded to one of your agents.
If you care about such things, then consider this a
!SPOILER WARNING!Original Member, Senior - You have no influence on these.
Elite - Increasing your total stats a certain amount gives you a cool +2 bonus for every stat (not all stats at the same time, but per level). Just play normally and it will increase.
Are stat increases through commendations and transformations considered here?Keystone - This one is increased through mission score and gives Bravery only after several levels. I find advancement to be very slow. Barely any of my agents in mid '98 have reached even level 1. Maybe later missions give much higher score. Not much you can do except doing as many missions as possible.
Solid - Plus 1 Health and Sanity bonus for doing many missions. Nice. Another one, that requires no special attention.
Night Owl - Gives a small night vision bonus for doing many night missions (+1 for every 2 levels). Easy to get for those, that actually enjoy night fighting. I don't. Chucking flares and avoiding light sources is too much of a hassle for me. Easy missions like crop circles I only do at night, though. Few of my agents have received this medal, as a result. Maybe when I have more trace flares. Maybe.
Defender - Plus 1 Health per Base Defense mission. You have little control over who gets this medal.
Stormtrooper - Plus 1 TU per Alien Base assault. Naturally you will never get this for all of your agents. But at least this time you can choose your team.
Warden of {region} - Gives sanity for doing many missions in the same region. Meh. Being warden of several regions doesn't help. Only the highest value counts.
Globetrotter - Gives an awesome +5 TU for doing at least one mission in every region. So far I haven't gotten this even once. Now that I have a large-ish craft with gloabal reach (so no more seperate ground teams in different parts of the world), this might actually happen. Then again, some regions very rarely spawn missions (Antarctica...).
Death Dealer - Awarded for total number of kills. 30 required for level 1 (Friendly kills also count). Pretty steep, especially for people, who prefer capturing enemies alive. At least the reward is good. +1 Psi Strength per level. Probably not worth altering your play style for this one. Well, I should mention, that players on higher difficulty levels will have a much easier time getting this, because they are fighting more enemies. I'm only playing on 2.
Correctional Officer - For non-lethal takedowns. 10 required for level 1. Gives 1 Psi Skill per level. Not very impressive. Another one, that isn't worth any extra effort.
Bane of {faction} - Gives 1 per level of either TU, energy recovery or Psi Strength (nice) for taking out a number of enemies of the same faction. You can influence this somewhat by having separate ground teams for different parts of the world (more than 3 is overkill, IMO), and not transferring agents between teams. This helps because the different cults also concentrate on different parts of the world. Same rule as with warden applies.
Master of the {weapon} - Each level gives +1 of either Accuracy, Throwing or Melee. You have to take out a number of enemies (15 for level 1) with the same weapon, not just weapon type. This one is tricky. The bonuses are certainly nice but you will have to do a lot of planning, if you want to make the most of this. Upgrading to better weapons will naturally throw a wrench into your efforts. Remembering who uses what is also a pain. In my case, the Black Ops Pistol (upgrading to alloy ammo keeps it useful for longer) and the electric club are most likely to get me this medal, since most of my soldiers use them at some point. Built-in weapons also count. Your dogs are most likely to reach high levels of this award.
Overwatcher - Gives bonus Reaction for performing reaction fire a certain number of times. Pretty easy to get, using normal reaction fire training.
Lucky - Plus 1 Accuracy per level for hitting targets despite low hit chance. How low isn't specified. I think it has to be below 20% at least, probably lower
(after playing some more, I believe at has to be under 10% even. I would really like some confirmation on this). This one is easy. Use the minigun. It's a great weapon anyway. Use it standing up and from close range if you have to. It is possible to get several levels of the award in a single mission. Every agent gets to have a go on the minigun until they have reached the 10th award level. Then you give it to the next team member. In the end you will have a whopping +10 acc for every agent. Phenomenal.
Executioner - Plus 2 Stamina per level for performing 5 kills in a single mission. Not too difficult if you focus on it. Probably easier, if you use smaller teams. Also easier on higher difficulties, because you face more enemies.
Exterminator - Same as executioner, but more difficult. Gives 2 Health per level instead of Stamina. Noice! But not an easy feet. On low difficulties this will rarely happen, unless you really put your mind to it. (Does this mod have nukes like in Piratez?)
Ice-Cold Killer - 1 Tu per level for killing 2 enemies in a single turn. A bit similar to the one above. Melee weapons, miniguns and explosives are your friends here. Of course you are very much dependent on enemy placement. Again, players on higher difficulties will have more opportunities to make this happen. A great spot for multi-kills are the gates of cult outposts. Most enemies spawn inside the building and will pour out in large numbers. If you can get into position fast enough, you will catch a great mass of cultists squeezing through the gate.
Battle-scarred - Gives +1 Health per level for receiving wounds in battle. Nice, but not something you want to do on purpose, for obvious reasons. Unless maybe, if you have plenty of reserves and having a large number of agents in the hopsital at the same time doesn't matter to you. Just try not to get anyone killed. Rats are good enemies for that purpose, since their weak but fast attacks cause many wounds, without much risk of killing someone, if you're careful. I'm sure friendly fire also works, but haven't tried it.
Patient - Very similar to the last one but gives faster stun recovery and requires days spent in recovery, rather than wounds themselves.
Cavalier - Save all civilians in a mission and receive 1 Sanity each level and Bravery every third. Only one successful mission required for every level, so advanvement can happen pretty fast. Very cool. Probably the best way to increase Bravery, since there are many missions with civilians in them and it is often quite easy to save them all. Of course, luck still plays a huge role here, as placement of enemies can make your goal impossible, no matter how skilled you are. Higher difficulty levels often make it harder to save everyone. I like this award especially, because it gives you a real incentive to take risks for the sake of saving innocent lives. Of course, as soon as you hear the first death scream, you might as well return to a more cautious playstyle.
Takedown Specialist - Gives +1 of alternatively Strength and Health for taking out many enemies with unarmed attacks. Pretty cool and probably not too difficult to do. Still, unarmed attacks are less efficient than using actual clobbering tools, so I've never gotten around to actually doing this often enough to get an award (10 required for level 1). I should try to remember to punch more often in safe situations, instead of whipping out the trusted electric club.
Incapacitator - Gives +1 Sanity and Reactions for each level. Stun a number of enemies using dedicated stun weapons. Much easier to achieve than the above award. On the other hand, the bonuses are less valuable in my opinion. But you get more stat points in total.
Hunter-Killer - Each level increases Accuracy and Reactions by one. Awarded only to AI Units for killing enemies. Yes, AI Units can get awards, too. And not just this one. Pretty cool stuff.
Mauler - Same as above, but for dogs and rats. Gives Melee and Reactions.
Gunslinger - Pistols.
Assaulter - SMGs
Shotgun Surgeon - Shotguns
Trooper - Rifles
Sniper - Sniper rifles
Jungle Mower - Miniguns (Yay! Freebie for Lucky award chasers.)
These are all very similar. Gives 1 bonus Accuracy and 1 bonus of another stat (different for every award) at every level. Achieved by killing a number of enemies with the stated type of weapon. Easier to get than Master of {weapon} and more worthwhile to specialice for, in my opinion. Also because the reward is better. Getting several of these to a high level on a single soldier is highly unlikely. Thinking about it again, I think having a high level on a single commendation isn't any better than having low levels on several ones. In fact, diversifying should give you more bonuses in total, because the kill requirements rise (not quite) exponentially for higher levels. Good, because I don't like assigning my soldiers permanent roles. Too much management required.
The following commendations I have not yet unlocked in my own campaign. Therefore I am using the names as they are found in the commendations.rul file, which are not always the same as in-game.Slavekills - Having mind-controlled enemies kill their brethren. Gives 1 Psi Skill per level.
Quadkill - Same as Ice-Cold Killer and same reward, but more difficult. Requires 4 kills in a turn. Simple grenades won't cut it anymore, you need more boom.
7v7kill - Same again, but even more difficult.
Betrayer - "Awarded" for killing your own agents. Gives Psi Skill, deducts Bravery on every level. Only obsessive completionists want this.
Lone Survivor - For being the last living agent to return from a mission. Gives 1 TU per level and deducts 10 Bravery every third. Sending a lone agent out on a mission doesn't work. Somebody has to actually die. The first 2 levels are actually good, but hardly worth the cost, even if you sacrifice cannon fodder.
Monster - Not exactly sure, but I think it involves using stun damage weapons to kill. It gives you +1 Health and +1 Strength per level. Pretty tempting, especially since the requirements are pretty low (just 2 for level 1). So take out your baseball bats and golf clubs and crack some skulls! Me, I'll rather stick to knives, they're more practical, and surely, there's an award for them as well.
Slasher - Kill 3 enemies in a single turn, using only blades. A difficult task. Enemies need to be close together for this to work. The reward is worth it, though. +1 TUs and +1 Reactions per level.
Rocket Scientist - Rocket launchers
Cannoneer - Cannons
Bombardier - Grenade launchers, mortars
Warrior - Melee weapons (excluding the ones in the next category)
Technician - Tools like stapler gun, wrench, chainsaw, flashlight
Traditionalist - Throwing knives, bows, crossbows (futuristic versions of these also allowed)
Gunner - Machine guns
Purifier - Flame throwers
Grenadier - Grenades
Sorcerer - Magical weapons like Psi-Amp, Storm Rose (Ancient Katana not included
)
Again, weapon type-specific awards. Too many different bonuses to mention but again +1 for 2 skills per each level. Now here are many weapon types, that can also help you to farm multikills.
Out of all the commendations listed here (and I hope I haven't missed any), I think Night Owl, Overwatcher, Lucky and the easier of the multikill awards are worth it to pay special attention to and make them a part of your agents' training regimen. Everything else happens when it happens.
Phew, I think that was all. Tell us, if I've missed something, got something wrong or you have additional wisdom to share.
Whenever the requirement for a medal is taking part in a mission or a number of missions, do aborted missions also count?
Looking into the commendations.rul, only Solid specifies winning as a requirement. Theoretically this could be abused for Stormtrooper, since alien bases don't despawn after aborting the mission. Haven't had the opportunity to test it, yet.
I realise that commendations are supposed to add flavour to your agents and provide for some emergent gameplay, rather than be treated like collectibles or be part of your strategy to train your agents. Some of the approaches outlined here could be considered gamey. Don't let obsessive planning get in the way of a fun experience.
