XCOM: Chimera Squad
- The armor mod "Mach Weave" is absurdly powerful. It turns a lot of what would be full hits into 1-3 damage grazes, and unlike XCOM 1-2, you *will* be taking a lot of shots due to the interleaved turns.
- You get a lot of tools to help you manage district unrest and lower city anarchy (the doom counter), so the game isn't the race against the counter that it first appears to be.
- Purple missions that speed up the reveal of hidden story missions are a trap. You don't want story missions to be revealed earlier, as then they become mandatory earlier, which means less time researching tech and training your team before you have to do them. The rewards are also garbage compared to other missions.
- On that same note, you should ignore story missions for as long as possible - if you ignore a story mission for two days after it becomes available, on the third day it becomes a critical mission and will be the only option on the map that day. Doing story missions before they become critical ensures you'll get an unrest penalty for ignoring the other missions or situations that day.
- If a district is going to have the next story mission, letting it hit max unrest won't trigger an emergency mission like it would for other districts. Emergency missions tend to be tougher and have poor rewards, so keep that in mind when managing your unrest.
- You want to get field teams in every district ASAP, both for the passive income they give you, and because that unlocks the Major Crimes Task Force, which lets you lower city anarchy.
- There are three types of field team, finance/technology/security. When you raise the first team of a type to level 2, you unlock a new type of spec op.
- When you raise the first team of a type to level 3, you unlock a research project to allow a second team member to train, do spec ops, or help research. Not critical early on, but very useful for once you have 7-8 team members.
- Using support items, including grenades, does not cost an action point.
- Some enemies have immunities, but flashbangs and incendiary grenades both prevent enemies from using their special abilities.
- On higher difficulty levels, enemy reinforcements are very serious. On mission types like VIP rescue or evidence collection, you need to move quickly or you'll be overwhelmed.
- Breaching charges and Auto Keycards can only be used from the #1 position of a breach point. Claymore has a skill that gives him a free special Breaching Charge each mission, and Terminal and Patchwork can hack doors without needing a keycard.
- Breach bombs like Flash Bombs and Smoke Bombs can only be used by the person you set as the #2 position in that breach point. Other breaching gear like MediPatches and HoloScanners can be used from any position but #1. If a breaching point only has one slot, you can't use any of it from there.