- Enemies have weak points that can be deliberately targeted to weaken them, like disabling claws etc. If the enemy has no weapons, they will flee the battle. You don't have to kill everything.
- Vehicles are actually very useful and worth focusing on early. They are strong, and give you lots of mobility in the early game. This is also true for the strategy layer, with aircraft.
- Overwatch is good, but has some caveats. Expanding the radius covers more area, but reduces likelihood of a hit. Going into overwatch from cover delays the shot, as you have to clear the cover to aim, giving the target more time to move.
- Willpower is super important, don't neglect it.
- Don't rush research and building. Costs will balloon faster than you can meet them, and research also makes the enemies progress. Hang out at your current level of tech until you've built a good stockpile and feel ready to step up.
- Synedrion is a great first ally, as they give you a lot of really useful stuff that helps early on, like Helios, long range laser weapons, spider drones etc.
- Mist isn't that big a deal, you can get tech to remove it later.
- Base facilities stack. More med bays means faster healing.
- Missions allow 8 dudes, sometimes 9. If a mission allows 9, it's for a reason and you should not lowball your forces.
- You can send multiple aircraft to one mission to deploy the forces from both into a combined assault team.
- Get a second aircraft ASAP. You can craft one, or steal one from a faction. It hurts relations, but they can be rebuilt.