Yeah, lasers would make this easier...
My current standard loadout would be:
- One grenadier -- laser rifle (primary) / grenade launcher (for extreme FIBUA, like harvesters). No reaction fire, so fire/retreat is a must.
- One flamethrower -- laser rifle / FT. FT is even moreso for CQB only. A 12 TU Inferno will kill many aliens... but is not guaranteed, so save TU to retreat. In FT mode, is normally standing for faster movement.
- Two laser rifles / plasma pistol. The plasma pistol is very rarely drawn, but is faster than reloading. LRs have some chance for RF, being among the faster-firing weapons.
- Two heavy lasers / plasma pistol. Heavy lasers do a fair bit of my killing at range; the damage advantage over LRs is significant because of the way armor works, but they're not as good as RF due to higher TU cost.
- Two snipers / plasma pistols.
Medikits, nanocomposite armor for greater survivability. IR goggles for all. Aliens do not currently regenerate or use medikits, as far as I can tell, so the long-term hurt-each-other game works in your favor as long as you don't actually die -- pull your wounded back and fix them up ASAP, while the aliens accumulate wounds (and inaccuracy penalties). Ammunition is cheap.
Those who aren't the GL or FT folks tend to carry two grenades but rarely use them.
General --
- Save the harvester for last, at least if it's intact. If it's intact, there's only one two-door bay where they can emerge, anyway. You'll occasionally have LOS to somebody in the cockpit, but AFAICT you can't actually *shoot* them (nor they you).
- Typically I'll have the sniper + heavy lasers sweep close to the outside starting with the cockpit (1 sniper + 1 HL each side), stopping every few squares to use IR to find the aliens. The good case is that they're all in the first floor. If I do find aliens far forward, I'll detach one sniper by them to give the aliens something to fixate on -- they can see you through the walls and behave accordingly.
- Sniper(s) + HL sweep *wide* around the exits moving slowly so that they can ever more see more of the tricky zone right by the entrance, but that they're far away that the aliens' generally worse weapon spreads matter slightly. IR goggles used to see anybody near. LR + FT + GL hug the exterior of the ship, waiting for SR+HL to provide cover. If there's a single alien in striking distance, FT may rush, Inferno, and then dodge back out of LOS.
- Breaching team is FT backed in LR in one door, GL backed by LR in another. HLs may or may not be used to maintain perimeter, if not detached already SRs are detached to IR scanning.
- Aliens stuck in the cockpit are quite vulnerable because there are niches in the hallway, and corners closer to the entrances, while you can bombard them with GL fire if they approach. The hard phase is if there are multiple aliens upstairs; then you want FT + LRs. A patient player can wait around for some of them to every so often attempt the stairs.
- Frequent pauses for IR... and to let aliens go berserk and stupid.