Changing soldier recrutation system

[Surrealistik]

In so far as badges are concerned, if they are implimented in such a way that they grant tangible benefits, it should be up to the player (PHALANX commander) to decide how to distribute them. This level of control would be balanced by the limited availability and quantity of the badges.

That all said, I would like to see some sort of training facility with or without a limited capacity. Each soldier utilizing the facility would train in a number of player selected areas, causing the selected skills to advance slowly over time while the soldier remains at base. The fewer skills selected for training and enhancement with respect to an individual soldier, the faster those selected skills would develop for that soldier (total skill points/experience gained is diffused between the total number of selected skills). Of course, any skill advancement gained during in-base training is identical to skill advancement gained through missions for the purpose of calculating the difficulty of further development. Further, skill advancement via in-base training is subject to the same restrictions and limitations of skill advancement through missions.

[Sophisanmus]

I don't like the idea of just handing out badges, it feels a little too much like distributing "Stat-Berries" in most RPGs.  In my view, it would be better if there were at least limitations as to who could get what badge when.  Perhaps monthly, and only to solders who were candidates (earned through battle performance or skill advancement). 

Love the training idea.  For me, the inclusion of training centers in Apocalypse was a great improvement over the original X-COM.  The only real problem with that in Apocalypse was that there were always opportunities for combat missions, such as raiding the Cult of Sirius or whatever until all your troops were injured.  Hell, it got to the point where I began to wonder how far the cult mentality had spread through the city that they still had plenty of cannon fodder to throw at me... That won't be a problem here, and so training facilities are an excellent idea.

[Surrealistik]

I don't mind restrictions on badge distribution, just as long as their assignment is not random, and subject to some degree of player control.

[TrashMan]

It's a game mechanic. It's intended to let a soldier grow, and at the same time to let the player bond with the character. You can compare it to the parsonality trait system in the Total War games. Each trait incurs some modification to stats. That's how it will be with badges as well.

Iti's daft. A solider should get a badge for outstanding performance, after already gaining increased stats due to it.
Not getting a badge and getting increased stats because of it. Really, there are more sensible mechanics....

[Mayhem]

Don't think of it as "awarding a magic badge", think of it as selecting a soldier for an advanced skills intensive training program, with a badge indicating his succeful completion of that training.

[Sophisanmus]

There may be some downtime involved with said training, to actually have a tangible of the time spent on such training.  Of course, it would only be available to soldiers who had surpassed a certain skill benchmark to even qualify for such training.  Perhaps the training courses involve live-fire with real civilians running around or something.

[phocas]

IMHO the big problem is not the recrutement but the management of the soldier list
(i should say the lack of management tools...)

there's no way to sort the soldier list between the recruted ones and the candidats
no way to look for a speedy_close guy or a replacement sniper without checking the dozens of soldiers
that are waiting after a few month game

or to check a specific caracteristique between the recruts and the candidats

it's really painfull for me to check one by one when in need

renaming the soldier's name by adding codes (C/H/A/S/E...) is a little help