in 2.3 I just hire 1 soldier for each base. Don't even need guns. Just auto the base defense, and you'll win almost every time. I don't think I've ever seen a loss.
And that is simply wrong and shouldn't be that way. It may not be a bug, but it's certainly a design flaw.
Personally I find base invasion missions overly tedious. The bases are huge and it takes far too long, especially when you can't save. Hunting for that last bloody alien has got to be the most boring part of the game.
Absolutely. I'd love to see a larger amount of aliens per mission overall, and especially in later base defense missions - coupled with a more aggressive map-wide AI that actually has the aliens *drum roll please* ...HUNTING YOU.
Or smaller bases. Or redesign the base map tiles to all, every single damn tile - have a clear path E-W and N-S. There shouldn't be a single base tile that you'd need to take a tortuous path through, especially given that there are sometimes four levels to the damn thing. I'll clear a section of the base and then wonder - did I really clear that bathroom or the downstairs portion - or what if the alien was right on top and then dropped down below my sweeping skirmish line?? One single little unlucky miss with an alien in an out-of-sight spot could conceivably lead to having to sweep all three levels of the base, AGAIN.
Unlikely, but could happen if an alien got stuck demoralized and didn't move much right as you sweep past.