Quote Originally Posted by easytarget View Post
I don't know what to make of this one, the only way to shoot at something is in LOS, so there's really no choice but to close on them, and no choice but to take "pot shots" at them because what's the other option? Not shooting at them?

I have the misfortune of no heavies and no snipers, that's just the luck of the draw, I however have assaults and rookies, so you can do the math on what my options are in a four man squad with two rookies and two assaults.

If I go into hunker down there will be no shots, not only do they fire more accurately, their movement range is greater than mine and they can move either to close faster than I can cope with or flank faster.
How many Thin Men are you faced with so early in the game? It makes no sense to not have any classes when Thin Men show up, you've had at least 2 Abduction missions by then, and 95% of the time there's been a 4xSectoid 1xOutsider-UFO mission as well - and this is all assuming a very early council mission outside the standard two scripted ones.

And not shooting is actually not that bad of a choice, if it means Hunkering instead. They shoot their 0-5% shot, now they're not on Overwatch. You can now move to another hardcover and Hunker. Circle the enemy like that and force him to either retreat (which they rarely do, but that could set up a 4xOverwatch trap), move to unfavourable cover, or get flanked. "Unfavourable" can simply mean "cover which a soldier with a grenade is within range of". If he does that, its 3 damage + he's now exposed and your measly 25% shots turn 65% for Rookies. Unless you rush way too aggressively, you should always outnumber Thin Men while you still bring Rookies to missions. Also Assaults with Lightning Reflexes are the absolute hotness on council missions.

On Classic you have to rely on tactics. Just shooting at the enemy is just gonna get you killed. This is mostly relevant once Thin Men become abundant, since on Classic a grenade is a guaranteed insta-kill on Sectoids. So on the first missions you are faced with 8, 10-12 and 4Sectoids+Outsider, meaning that with 4 nades you might not have to shoot anyone at all. Grenading Mind Mergers from a Hunker-advancement is often more viable. Why move without shooting? To advance in Hunker and threaten grenades. Threaten flanks. Leave the enemy optionless except to take an unfavourable firefight, which is to fight coverless against your hardcover. If he still kills someone, well... that's XCOM for you. But almost always you will come out ahead, and losing a guy here and there is acceptable and expectable at higher difficulties - that's part of the challenge.

You should rely on Hunker Down when facing Light Plasma Rifles on Classic, because the game seizes to mess around at that difficulty. If hardcover was unbeatable, the game would be moot. As for the bizarre difficulty curve, it's much reliant on overpowered abilities becoming abundant later on. In vanilla it was Squadsight, Blaster Launchers and Ghost Armor, in EW it's things Mimetic Skin and... Blaster Launchers. I agree, this should be handled by better balancing of the lategame, but if you self-impose a max of 2 of a class per mission, outlaw things like Mimetic Skin and refuse to ever build a Blaster Launcher the game stays somewhat hyper in spikes. It'll work until mods come out that overhaul Berserkers, Muton Elites and Sectopods again. For now, let's be happy that they nerfed Squadsight and HEAT Ammo, and increased research times of weapons and armor. It helps a lot and is all very intelligent rebalancing.

Watch some later EPs of Beaglerush or Marbozir to see how Hunker Down can be utilized.