Man, got Incubation, went through first few missions...
Then now this just seems so silly where I am now.
I don't know are there some good tips somewhere but I gave up for now.
The aliens are shooting from afar with better accuracy and just keep on coming and killing some of the soldiers...
ARGH :)
But it's still a great game. The gameplay is just near perfect!

Yes the game is difficult. You must complete perfectly the missions (open all crates, no loss) to make the following easier.
Always save before a mission, use too the fast save often, and make the mission again if you feel you can do it perfect.
And yes it's an excellent game, even when you can play against some mates :)

Thanks! I'll take it carefully then...

+1 Incubation is difficult.
If you make the right purchases and complete the levels well enough (crates, low or no loss), you should be fine, but things can otherwise get very difficult.

another +1 on the difficulty.

I never actually finished it or even got close as always ran out of ammo or didn't have powerful enough weapons etc. It started to feel more like a puzzle game than and tactical shooter and it may be that that's the approach needed.

I'll echo what has been said, Incubation really requires you to not just make sure almost every soldier lives, but you also need to scounge up as many supplies as possible while still completing your objectives.

You need the soldiers alive because they level up and get to use better equipment, and you need to gather supplies to be able to buy that equipment. Also note that sometimes you get to pick a path, one path is going to be better than the other due to a bonus (supplies, soldiers or even actual equipment) for a mission/camp on that path. There's little to tell you which path to take ingame, so you either need multiple playthroughs or looking up a guide. Still, you can complete the game by taking all the inferior paths, it's just going to be tougher than taking the good paths.

And some of the levels do play more like a puzzle than a tactical fight, notably those with shielded enemies that can only be hurt under certain circumstances. Or those where you have to shuttle your crew around while keeping certain enemies occupied.

But the last boss of the main game (ie. not Wilderness Missions) is merely a bullet sponge. That threw me for a loop on my first try at that level, since nothing up until that point had taken anywhere near the amount of damage I did to it before failing.

The original campaign is hard, but very doable if you keep your soldiers alive. If a map seems impossible, try different weapon loadouts (if you buy a new weapon for a soldier, the cost of the old weapon is refunded). The flame thrower and mine thrower can make a huge difference on some maps, while they are near useless on others.
Also, make sure you are not accidentally playing the addon campaign. I beat the original campaign on hard, but can't get through the new one even on easy.

Yes, the game is difficult and, as other people have mentioned before, the secret is to keep your soldiers alive. If you lose a soldier, load a savegame.

Another important thing is that you need to specialise. There is no such thing as the "perfect allrounder" in Incubation. Adapt your soldiers to your playstyle, but it is always a good idea to have one heavy and a sniper. And it is always a good thing to have as many action points as possible.

Make use of additional gear. You can acquire a variety of things and most of it is very useful. Everything that is increasing your action points, for instance, is good. I am not only talking about exo-skelletons, which will increase your action points permanently, but also about combat drugs. The boost might be short, but in a sticky situation they can deliver those one or two direly needed points. Med kids, as many as possible. Explosive charges to seal off entry points.

Keep moving. In most levels you need to stay moving or the enemy WILL swarm you sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Keep in mind that Incubation can be very unforgiving and that the best strategy can and will fail when your machine gun jams or your sniper rifler is overheating. Or when one of your men is missing that one easy shot. So do not plan too many steps ahead without a failsafe or a backup plan. Having a soldier with a flame thrower, for instance, can be very useful. The secondary firemode of the flamethrower allows to seal off an area of 3x3 tiles, immobilizes everything standing in this area and gives permanent damage for three turns.

Know your foe. Different enemies show different behaviour and have different weaknesses.
Gore´Ther Big blue guys with giant yellow pincers. You will (almost) always need a team to kill one of those buggers. They are completely immune to damage when attacked straight on. You will need one team member to attract his attention and at least one other team member that can attack the Gore´Thers back when he turns. Sometimes mines or blasting up explosive barrels behind his back will work as well.

Dec´Ther Little ant like buggers. Annoying, because if you kill them, they will annihilate everything in one tile around them. Use defense mode to keep them off your back.

Ee´Ther Invisible and nasty. Other enemies might be faster or stronger, but those guys here can completely heal between turns. Make sure that you kill them in one turn, otherwise you are just wasting action points and ammo.

Cy´Coo Huge, immobile, artillery style attack. It is important to move your soldiers every single round when these bugs occur. They will always attack the last known position of anything within reach, so make sure your soldiers have move at least one tile until the last turn. They are also totally immune to damage when in defensive mode, the only way to defeat them is to switch some of your soldiers, preferably with high range weapons, to defense mode. The Cy´Coo will open their shields when it is their turn and become succeptible to defense attacks.

Know your guns.
Light Combat Gun Get rid off it as fast as possible.

Advanced Combat Gun Slightly better. It comes with a bayonet, which helps to bypass its permanent ammo shortage and overheating.

Standard Assault Rifle Good choice for the first 15 or twenty missions, then you will need something with more punch.

Double Fire Good choice for close-to-midrange, IF you can live without a bayonet. In case it jams, you're toast.

Heavy Machine Gun Useful against groups of enemies, but very unprecise. It also uses too many actions points. Hang onto it until you get your hands on something better, then get rid of it and don't look back.

Rapid Fire Machine Gun Best rapid-fire weapon. Good allrounder and very powerful in defense mode.

Sniper Rifle Weak, fast overheating, but you will still find it useful in certain missions.

Flame Thrower You WANT one of those! One of the most useful and versatile weapons in the game. Its only drawback is its low ammo capacity, so give it only to one of your soldiers and make sure he has an adiitional ammo pack equipped. The flame thrower does damage over time, blocks entry points and immobilises enemies.

Grenade Launcher Good against groups of enemies, stronger enemies and for setting traps. In case teamsize is of concern, find a better weapon.

High Energy Laser The only drawback of the Laser is its high heat production - you will need to take a break every now and then, otherwise the weapon will jam (or worse). But then again it comes with unlimited ammunition and a secondary fire mode that can stun enemies for one turn, so what's not to like?

Plasma Gun Just not worth it. Limited ammunition, fast overheating and very unprecise.

Multi Target Destroyer If you want to do it with the biggest bang possible.

IIRC, you must not always take the biggest weapons: keeping few tactical marines with bayonnets, and many action points, can be usefull.

I like digging up the dead.

I played the game at its release and playing it now "in between" so my memories can be wrong.

Almost everything is sayed here, but just wanted to sum it up.

You need one heavy guy, I remember getting stuck, because I didn´t have one.
You have to create saves, that last for about 3 missions, because having bought the wrong equipment can really lead to a dead end.
And as mentioned, you need action points for your team.

OK edit.

Played it once more Incubation + WM . WM really is a different thing.
The Problem with WM is, you have to use your bayonettes and get the right point to power up your weappons.
The Standard assault rifle, I used during main game, isn´t that good at WM.

the main game is actually quite easy

there are key weapons and strategies however for dealing with each creature type that must be followed and certain weapons are essential, otherwise the game is going to be tougher than it needs to be.


the semi transparent green aliens regenerate after every tuen. to kill one you must thrwo everything at it in 1 turn.

the flamer is great for cutting off access for a short while adding a bit of relief to your squads.

the mine layer is pretty much essential later in the game.

sniper rifles at least 1 is essential for long range kills and overwatch firing on those pesky mortar aliens.

high powered energy lasers are essential later on.



the expansion is a lot tougher butonce you get the weapon that can temp take over an aliens mind the game suddenly becomes real easy.

I played it long time ago and there was this strange twist: hard mode was easier than easy. Yes, on hard there was very little equipment points (money), but soldier xp cap was higher per mission. This made it possible to camp vents with bayonets and level your guys quite high in early missions. After that it was a matter of saving enough points to buy decent guns.
I made it on hard, but on easy I never managed to get enough XP to actually equip all this stuff I could buy.

As far as I remember, only one mission in the main game is tough (mission 13 iirc) but the add-on Wilderness missions are very unforgiving and make the base game look like an extended tutorial in comparison. Hardly any margin for error and I have no idea if it's possible to iron man that without trying every missions a dozen times. I abused the quick save/reload option a lot, don't think I would have managed otherwise on some of those add-on missions (Gore coo snipers = nightmare).

It is literally impossible to complete mission 13 of the original campaign. I have 4 guys which are Flamer/MG/Double-Fire/Light-Plas and on turn 4 I already get overwhelmed. It seems impossible. I can't even get to the objective (elevator and the first lever). This is on hard.