GENERAL STRATEGIES
General advice is build satellites and radar stations to get coverage as soon as you can. I often have my base in Africa for the funding bonus and then get satellite coverage in South America for the interrogation bonus. Also, save a satellite for launch at the end of each month (both in radar slots and actual satellites). That way if you have a red nation due to a panic or EXALT attack you can save the nation at the last minute. Even if you don't have a red nation at the end of the month, launch a satellite for coverage over your most panicked nation if you're confident you can get another satellite ready for next month (with appropriate radar stations).

Decide what you want first, armor or weapons. Personally I go harder for weapons than armor.

On the world stage, on missions where Engineers are a reward, I usually go for them, unless the panic levels are too high elsewhere or I desperately need money. Always launch a satellite 1-2 days before the Council meets you at the end of the month. It will lower panic and increase your income.

You could boil the priorities as such: Panic Levels > Engineers > Money > Scientists.

You should be able to get lasers and carapace relatively quickly. Carapace will prevent instant death against Chryssalids. Once you have an alien containment facility built (don't dilly dally on that part), start stunning and autopsying aliens (it can be worth it to wait on interrogations until you get the south America bonus though). On the mission where you have to put decoys on the train, you'll get Mutons early, so you'll have an early chance to stun a Muton and get plasma rifles earlier.

Try to keep like facilities next to each other. Power generators get more power for being placed near other generators. Radar stations can use more satellites when next to each other and so on. You don't have to worry about interceptors much but when you get plasma cannons--UPGRADE! Also build Firestorms when you can. Fusion Lances are optional though. Try to keep at least 2-4 items of everything you collect unless you really, really, really need to sell it to fund something else. Often times you need those recovered items to make exotic equipment or they're used in other research. You can often sell alloys and Elerium when you only need a small amount too.

Finally don't clump your soldiers together too much in XCOM:EU, the AI will blow away cover and hit large groups with grenades when you give them the opportunity. In a lot of ways the XCOM:EW AI is more forgiving than it was in EU.

- build satellites as fast as you can
- build satellite uplinks as fast as you can
- build like buildings as close as you can for bonuses
- focus on satellites and power though
- tech up weapons and armor as fast as you can
- start in africa, cover south america to autopsy and interrogate aliens
- save satellites until the end of the month to lower panic and keep nations
- I prefer assaults, supports, and heavies in my squads and use snipers late game
- early game I go 2 assaults, 2 supports, 2 heavies, until late game where I go 2 assaults, 2 supports, 1 heavy, and 1 sniper



NEWFOUNDLAND MISSION
The Newfoundland Chryssalid mission can be really bad if you do not have at least lasers and carapace armor. If you feel you're not ready, you do not get penalized for flying to the site, and then aborting it. If you ignore the mission altogether, you will take a panic hit.

ARMOR COLORS
You can turn on armor coloration in Enemy Unknown by changing some options in your configuration files. This is not a hack, this ships with the games but there's no menu option for it. You will not get extra armor variations, just the color changes. This makes quickly identifying individual soldiers on the field much easier.

In DefaultGame.ini in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XComGame\Config.

Change these values:
[XComStrategyGame.XGCustomizeUI]
bArmorDecoAvailable=true
bArmorTintAvailable=true

MY PREFERRED ARMOR COLORS
Support - Green (3)
Heavy - Orange (4)
Sniper - White (5)
Assault - Red (6)

SHIVs
SHIVs are mini-tanks that are a leftover from the old game. If you lose a SHIV, it counts against your rating but is not added to the memorial wall. SHIVs do not gain in rank and will not be chosen for the XCOM base defense mission. SHIVs have little downside. Alloy SHIVs can be used as half cover. Hover SHIVs can fly through the air to get hard to reach areas.

Detractions
* Expensive
* Do not earn experience for kills (soldiers will still have to make shots and kills to rank up)
* Cannot use cover
* Will not show in the base defense mission

Benefits
* Faster than normal soldiers (they make good scouts)
* Can take a lot of punishment
* Can be upgraded to laser and plasma weapons
* Good when you're on a tough mission and are down high ranked soldiers
* Generally have high accuracy
* With an upgrade can give reaction fire
* With an upgrade can repair themselves
* Can be used to deactivate bombs like soldiers
* Can be used to rescue civilians like soldiers

On missions that have a lot of Chryssalids, they will sometimes work against you in the sense they will often activate more enemy pods, and thus create a lot of zombies, faster than your ability to deal with them--so on terror missions, be conservative with your SHIV movement.

This is a combined list for Enemy Unknown and Enemy Within research to quickly get what you want:

REWARDS BY AUTOPSIES
Sectoid ---> Uplink Targeting (Aim) (keep 10 corpses for AIM aids, otherwise sell)
Sectoid Commander ---> Psionic Beacon, Psionic Lab, Neural Feedback
Thin Man ---> Improved Medikit, Gas Grenade, Muscle Fiber Density
Chryssalid ---> Chitin Plating, Needle Grenade, Bioelectric Skin
Cyberdisc ---> UFO Tracking (Boost), Secondary Heart
Drone ---> Drone Capture, Sentinel Drone
Seeker ---> Ghost Grenade, Respirator Implant, Mimetic Skin
Muton ---> Ammo Conservation, Adrenal Neurosympathy
Beserker ---> Combat Stims, Neural Damping
Muton Elite ---> Plasma Weaponry
Mechtoid ---> Shaped Armor, Advanced Servomotors
Floater ---> Defense Matrix (Dodge)
Heavy Floater ---> Advanced Repair
Sectopod ---> Advanced Construction
Ethereal ---> Mind Shield

REWARDS BY INTERROGATIONS
Sectoid ---> Credit: Beam Weapons
Sectoid Commander ---> Psionic Labs
Thin Man ---> UFO Technology
Muton ---> Credit: Plasma Weaponry
Berserker ---> Weapons Technology
Muton Elite ---> Armor Technology
Floater ---> Basic Armor Technology
Heavy Floater ---> Flight
Ethereal ---> All Technologies

LASERS: Weapon Fragments -> Beam Weapons
PLASMA: Weapon Fragments + Recover Light Plasma Rifle -> Light Plasma Rifle -> Plasma Rifle
ARMOR: Weapon Fragments -> Alien Materials -> Alien Alloys -> Carapace Armor -> Titan Armor

ADDTIONAL REWARDS
Experimental Warfare -> Unlocks Foundry
Alien Nav Computer -> Unlocks Satellite Nexus, New Fighter Craft, Stealth Satellites

MY PATH
This is generally the order I research various items (this doesn't include autopsies or interrogations, I generally wait until I can get full coverage over South America to make them become instant--except for the Outsider interrogation since that advances the story).

Xenobiology -> unlocks Alien Containment
Weapon Fragments -> unlocks SCOPE (unlocks Beam Weapons)
Alien Materials -> unlocks nanofiber vests (unlocks Carapace Armor)
Beam Weapons -> allows to build laser rifles
Carapace Armor -> allows you to build better armor (YOU WILL NEED this for Chryssalids)
Arc Thrower -> to capture aliens
Experimental Warfare -> unlocks Foundry
UFO Power Source -> unlocks Elerium Generator
Tactical Rigging (Foundry, if available)
Alien Grenades (Foundry, if available)
Improved Medikits (Foundry, if available)
Alien Nav Computer -> unlocks Satellite Nexus
Heavy Lasers -> lasers cannons for Heavies
Laser Pistols -> laser pistols for sidearms
Elerium -> unlocks Titan Armor
Stealth Satellites -> UFOs that aren't shot down can't find sateliites
Plasma Rifles -> allows to build plasma rifles
Titan Armor -> allows you to build titan armor
Ammo Conservation (Foundry, if available)
Improved Arc Thrower (Foundry, if available)
New Fighter Craft -> unlocks the Firestorm fighter, the best in game
Heavy Weapons Platform (Foundry, if available)
SCOPE Upgrade (Foundry, if available)
Outsider Shard -> unlocks alien base assault mission *
Fusion Lance -> best fighter weapon in the game
Sentinel Drone (Foundry, if available) -> SHIVs can repair themselves
SHIV Suppression (Foundry, if available) -> SHIVs can do suppressing fire
SHIV Laser -> SHIV weapons upgraded to lasers
Meld Recombination -> unlocks MECs and Gene Mods for soldiers
Skeleton Suit -> armor that I don't use but to count towards research
Archangel Armor -> armor that I don't use but to count towards research
Heavy Plasma (2 needed) -> build Heavy Plasma for Heavies
Advanced Repair -> shorter repair times
Advanced Flight (Foundry, if available) -> more flight time
Shaped Armor (Foundry, if available)
Blaster Launcher (2 needed)
FOCUS SHOULD NOW BE ABOUT DESTROYING EXALT'S HEADQUARTERS
Alloy Cannon -> unlocks alloy cannons for assaults
ASSAULT THE ALIEN BASE
DEFEND HEADQUARTERS
OVERSEER SHIP MISSION
WORK ON BEATING THE GAME

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MEC SUITS
kinetic strike module
restorative mist
electro pulse

* I do not find squad sight snipers to be of any value unless you have flight armor.
* MEC soldiers are fine, but SHIVs are ultimately more cost effective and combat effective. MEC suits cost way too much Meld. It's better used to making your soldiers genetically enhanced.

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EXALT HEADQUARTERS
No special tricks here. I generally like going on, and attack from, the roof.
Going room to room though, can be just as effective.

ATTACKING THE ALIEN BASE
There are two basic base layouts. Both start similarly and end nearly identically. The first area will have mutons just out of sight, so try not to not end your turn out of cover. You will either face a cyberdisc (often several) and at least one sectopod. The end area is an open arena with raised and lowered floor areas in the middle. At the back of the final room you'll find a Sectoid Commander that will attack you with a plasma pistol, mind fray, panic attack, and mind control. Save Arc Throwers for the commander. It's best to try to corner him with pistols, to lower his health to improve your chances of a capture, and to prevent ally units from turning the big weapons on you if they get mind controlled.

DEFENDING XCOM HEADQUARTERS
Somewhere 10-20 days after the Alien Base mission, XCOM headquarters will be attacked. The highest ranked, non-injured, unoccupied six soldiers will be used throughout the mission. You will not be given a chance to equip them prior to the mission. You must do this in advance in anticipation of the attack. Generally, I try to retreat all personnel to the 2nd floor and along the wall of the entry/exit point of where your reinforcements come in. Many people consider the rookies that show up expendable, but I have found them very useful for getting enemies with grenades or when an enemy has 1-3 HP left. I also keep the rookies pretty close together so Chryssalids don't make zombies out of them. That being said though, I won't revive a fallen rookie if it will in any way expose a soldier. You are going to face 40-50 enemies (depending on difficulty). Losing this mission does not lose the game. It simply restarts the mission. As much as I do not prefer Snipers, a well equipped In The Zone Sniper can easily clean up kills.

FIGHTING SECTOPODS
Sectopods have high amounts of armor that, in this game, are reflected by it's low hit probability and high amounts of health. Once a sectopod shows up in your first mission, most missions, except for bomb disposal missions, will likely have a sectopod in the mission.

Fighting them, higher level Assaults are a godsend.
* They do not go on overwatch, but if an enemy walks in front of it, it will try to attack them with an overwatch like attack
* By having an Assault with Lightning Reflexes, you can trigger this ability keeping others safe since they can only react this way once per turn
* If they are firing off their bombardment attack, they can't react with their normal attack--when the camera focuses on the sectopod, and then another place on the battlefield, the bombardment attack is focusing on the area shown--so get your troops away from that area unless you know for certain you can kill it before the next turn starts
* Alloy Cannons are helpful, along with Rapid Fire, for whittling down Sectopods at close-ish range

Heavies are also a good idea.
* HEAT ammo is good against robotic enemies (Cyberdiscs and Sectopods)
* Shredder rockets lower a unit's armor value and make damaging the enemy easier

FIGHTING AND CAPTURING ETHEREALS
Ethereals are useful dead because you can make Mind Shields from them. Ethereals are useful alive as they give you research credit for all technologies.

* Ethereals will use mind fray, mind control, and their psi storm abilities so spread out attackers
* If you're short of attacking an Ethereal close range or stunning them, switch to pistols for all nearby attackers, and keep Snipers and Heavies just further out. The idea is, if a unit is mind controlled they will use either grenades or the weapon in their hands, and you don't want the big damage dealing weapons used against you. Using the Snipers and Heavies to whittle down the health of the Ethereal (6 or less), swoop in with another unit with the Arc Thrower to stun
* Even if your unit has already moved, you can have them swap their big weapon for the pistol (except for the last unit to move, the game takes control away from you the second the last unit has acted)
* This strategy can also be used against Sectoid Commanders but they are far easier to kill

THE TEMPLE SHIP
Don't fear the Temple Ship. It's a very easy mission. You will have to face 2 sectopods though. Below is my final team (all full colonels, all psionic aware (rank3), and all gene modded (all attributes)):