So I'm in September in my Rookie game. I'm not really trying to win fast, but liberate the world. I've done so in 3 regions, and contacted 6 more. With 13 haven people + an engineer as an advisor. My liberated regions are now generating about 500 each. My last supply drop was 1700. I believe there is another weapon tier added in there, but I am not 100% sure. It takes 7 scientists to research teir 4 guns, I have barely kitted people out with mag weapons. Missions are getting hard enough that I still like the guns blazing necessity of 6 characters minimum.
Sharpshooters are really out of place in timed missions, at least the sniper tree. However, as you get deeper into the game new mission types have showed up that are really good that are not in the base game and the Sharpshooter can really be a standout.
The notable mission types that I have recently played are as follows.
Haven Defense: I had to hold out 9 turns until you can begin to evac. There are 13 civilians (max) that must be interacted with so that they can actually be hidden and evacuated too followed by all soldiers. Reinforcement portals/drops begin to open on first turn, and each turn a new portal would open around the compound. Was really good. All haven members can die.
Intel Data Tap defense: Also an instant hot drop, to not do this mission is to have a region seize up so you cannot discover missions there from some time. The haven advisor +4~ haven members spawn at a location with a data tap that has about 30-40hp. 8 additional soldiers drop in at least 2 full sprint moves across the map from the tap. On the first turn an enemy pod activates on the tap. So if you don't deal with them well they start hacking up your 4hp haven people. The mission is won when all enemies are eradicated. There are no additional reinforcements via drop or portal, the 3-4 pods seem to have distinct spawn locations relative to the tap with the orders to sprint towards it until they get activated. Fun mission.
Supply Column Defense: Haven advisor + 4-5 civilians one end of truck column, Hot drop in 8 soldiers at the other end of truck column. Enemies drop and portal in for turns until the mission is won.
I have also attacked supply columns, and downed UFO's even though you do not shoot them down you still raid them, and disable the beacon once it goes hot.
Psi soldiers must be used on missions to gain permission to train future powers all the way up. I have opted for the shortest training time option, of the 3 given each and every time so far. I think it saves a lot of total time for the maturity of the soldier.
I have more or less stuck to purely medic specialist leaders, of which I have taken 2 on every Regional HQ assault. The medic branch specialist is a thousand times better than vanilla's equivalent. I'm up to the point where I am ramping up to 6 of them from 4. I still find the game fun and punishing if you fuck around. I still have a lot of enemy types to see I believe. The find a leads, attack the relay, assault the Regional HQ is a nice pace. I think I am up to maybe 6 or 8 dark events active, they are cumulative, but randomly applied to soldiers. So every soldier doesn't get all 8 perks. It definitely keeps some randomness alive. I have 15 predator armor (3hp 1Armor), and 10 warden armor(8hp/2armor). All built items can be sold on the black market.
The Proving Ground I think behaves differently than Vanilla, I seem to remember having to proving ground a random grenade in Vanilla, or an armor suit. In Long War, each research opens clickable building option that is resource limited vs time limited in the engineering area. Weapon mods all have research paths for each quality (basic/advanced/elite) that require 2 of said item. This makes them buildable on demand.
I'm managing around 40 soldiers, which seems crazy, working hard to cycle the max rank ones with the AWC for randomized traits as I get the rest up in level. This plays out in an incredible way to be honest. Lots of good things exposed later in my playthrough. I feel soldier limited still. Crafting winning squads with enough seniority/firepower/control is pretty enjoyable
