Crash course in XCom: Enemy Unknown?

[Anarion]

I don't see why anyone would want to play the old X-Com now that there is a modern, better version. Better graphics and simpler gameplay, what's the point of the old clunky version?
I am trolling off course : - D

Well-played troll, good sir.

@Obadiah: Isn't it better to have every use their first movement action so you can scope things out and then decide if you want to put everyone into Overwatch?

Nope. The safest possible movement is follow the leader. You have one person use a single movement action. Everyone else follows that one person's exact footsteps, ending one space behind that person in a line. Then you end turn by putting everyone in overwatch. That guarantees that if you trigger a spawn during your turn, you'll have the maximum possible actions to respond to them.

Once you're actually aware of and fighting aliens, you want to position in good cover and set up flanks. On the easier difficulties, you can win a straight up firefight, but as the game gets harder, you end up relying more and more on explosives and flanking positions, as well as the hunker down ability. Even on easier difficulties, the game gets markedly easier if you have good position and advance with hunker down.

Since you're at the alien base, I assume that you've obtained some better equipment and some promoted guys. Snipers are the biggest advantage, as you can carefully move to give them safe shots via their squadsight ability, while the soldier providing vision can hunker down or move back out of sight. Assaults with Lightning Reflexes and Heavies with rockets are also a big game, the first for being able to advance safely when aliens overwatch, and the second for being able to save your butt if you mess up via large rockets.

And I try to have a heavy so I can spot remove nasty opponents if necessary, but I was always running out of weapon fragments. Though arcing things became difficult as soon as the Cyberdiscs and Berserkers showed up; too much health and too much damage to let them live long enough to be captured.

You can't capture cyberdiscs. You can, and should, capture a berserker. Just keep shooting it, it will run into melee anyway and once it's low, you can have several squad members try to arc it.

@Phantom: So waiting makes it difficult? I was kind of just letting it wait until I was fully researched and had a team of six make it to Colonel. ^^;

If, at any time, you have 6 colonels, at least one of whom is psionic, you've basically won the game. I personally would never bring all 6 on the same mission though. Might as well start training up backups and replacement guys, especially since the officer training school upgrades result in new soldiers having higher willpower than your starting team.