[Raven Hawk]

This is typically where I get destroyed at Legendary level. But I've learned that the AWC is more important than the Guerilla Warfare Center on Legendary difficulty. It is almost impossible to keep from getting into casualty trouble by this point. If I spent my only engineer on building the Guerilla Tactics School, maybe I'd have my 5th mission slot right now, but early on that's only an extra slot to get somebody wounded or killed. I need to get these experienced veterans back into the fray so they can gain abilities.

The AWC also gives fun bonuses like out-of-class skills. My favorite combination has been when a Ranger got Serial (paired with Reaper at Col. level, these Rangers become killing machines - literally). But other useful things also happen, like non-Grenadier classes getting Shredder or Holo-Targeting - both key skills to have to get through this portion of the game when aliens start showing up with armor points.

My next challenge will be not to go for the Shen expansion mission to early. You typically want to have a Proving Ground and some Bluescreen rounds for that mission. Additionally, the Vahlen expansion mission will be coming up shortly, too. At some point you have to bite the bullet and unleash those nasty bosses on the world, but I like to wait until I have Plated Armor before I take that one on.

Which brings me to . . . these research times and facility build/debris clearing times on Legendary difficulty suck! We're currently at about 32 days to build out Plated Armor. I can't spend resources on something that will take 32 days! I may have to consider spending some intelligence to speed research along - something you really don't need to do on lower difficulty levels.

Thanks for reading along! Please feel free to write in for your characters, I'm happy to incorporate your own story lines into the narrative!