After the opening cinematic, you'll wake up in the Groom Range army base as it's being destroyed by outsider forces. The opening chapter of the game is an excellent tutorial on the game's mechanics and will teach you about movement, shooting, flanking and giving orders.
Towards the end of the mission, you'll encounter some more difficult encounters particularly on Commander, so use this opportunity to acclimatise to the game's difficulty and controls.
At the end of the mission you will find yourself on a bomb testing platform waiting to be extracted by the Skyranger. This will be your first encounter with outsider drop pods. Drop pods carry at least 2 waves of enemies, and it's possible to destroy them before they can deploy the later waves. However, it takes a lot of damage to do so, so I recommend you ignore them until you gain access to heavier weapons like the Fusion Launcher later in the game.
Once you defeat the outsider drop pods waves, position yourself and your allies on the top landing platform to prepare for an outsider attack once you trigger the bomb countdown. Using weapon fire and your companion's abilities, make sure to kill all the attacking outsiders before jumping in the Skyranger and you'll earn:
Either way, once you extract from Groom Range, you'll earn:
Base visit #1
You will now find yourself in the XCOM base, being given a guided tour by Director Faulke and Agent Weaver. When the tour concludes, you will be in your office with agent De Silva. This is your first chance to complete an investigation for the achievement:
Ask him about your radio to learn about a strange transmission. Then use the radio and look at the note next to it to find out where the transmission if coming from.
Go across the room to speak to Agent Chulski. By using the conversation prompt "I heard a strange signal..." you can give her the required information; range 250, direction north, frequency 892MHz. Investigation complete.
After the discussion is finished, follow the prompts and you will eventually find yourself with Agent Da Silva in the Ready Room. After speaking to him, you will be prompted to use the squad computer to recruit 2 additional agents. Instead, go a little overboard and recruit enough agents that you have 2 of each type. At the same time, customise one of the agents by changing his name, suit or appearance and you will earn:
Continue to follow the prompts and you will eventually end up in Operations launching the next major operation.
The Doctor
This mission takes you to Rosemont, Georgia to rescue Dr Alan Weir, a brilliant theoretical physicist with one of gaming's worst Australian accents.
Proceed through the mission as best you can until you come to a resupply crate left for you by Barnes. Use the crate to swap in one of each type of agent (Commando, Engineer, Recon and Support) and you will pop:
Then go back to your preferred squad makeup and continue with the mission. Eventually you will find the main entrance to the university. Unfortunately it’s guarded by the game's first Muton. Use your explosives and powers and try to stay at range, because the Muton's power slam and scatter laser are deadly up close. If you can't keep him at bay, it's best to circle to the right behind the outsider structure to keep away from him. Once you get him down, you've earned:
After clearing the area, continue through the university. You'll meet Dr Weir's assistant and then continue onwards. You'll find a scatter laser (which functions as a high-tech shotgun), the first laser weapon of the game. Press on and eventually you'll come to a square full of aliens looked over by an enemy laser turret.
On commander difficulty this fight is one of the toughest in the early game. I recommend you do whatever it takes to destroy the turret early or else it will rip your allies apart. Once the turret is down, it's a fairly straightforward fight against the other enemies.
Once you're victorious, scour the area for ammo. You're going to need it. When you enter the next area you'll see a cutscene, and then you'll be in your first fight against a Sectopod and some smaller enemies.
Sectopods are like Mutons in that they have armoured segments that can be weakened individually. They have exhaust vents on the back of the cockpit that are vulnerable to the damage. They also have cockpit glass that can be destroyed to expose the Sectoid pilot.
I found it impossible to take advantage of the exhaust vents during this mission. There are too many enemies, so attempting to flank and turn the Sectopod just results in you or another agent getting killed. Instead, I found it easiest to shelter where you start after the Sectopods cutscene. Use Lift to stop the Sectopod once it gets to optimal range and pour as much fire into the Sectopods cockpit glass as you can. Use mines, grenades and Critical Shot if you have them available. When the glass eventually shatters, continue firing on the pilot until the Sectopod is destroyed.
If the Sectopod moves around to the side of the stairs you start on, take cover against the side walls behind you. The Sectopod doesn't seem to climb the stairs, so you'll be safe there, although you may need to move your companions around so they don't get killed.
Once the Sectopod is down, you'll earn:
Continue through the university grounds taking out whatever enemies you come across and eventually you'll meet Dr Weir. After discussing his work, you'll escort him outside. Only to be met by a gunship.
You don't have any heavy weaponry at this stage of the game so this combat can be difficult. Your best bet is to immediately head for the columned walkway on your right, and hide your men one-to-a-column. Focus on the ground-based enemies initially so they can't flank you but be careful to constantly reposition your soldiers to ensure that the gunship can't get a clear shot. It'll continually manoeuvre across the sky, so be vigilant.
Once the ground enemies are down, it's a pretty simple task to take out the gunship. When it's firing at you, order your allies to attack. When it's firing at an ally, pop out and pour as much fire into it as you can. Sooner or later the gunship will be done for, and after a short cutscene you'll earn:
Base visit #2
Your second base visit is an opportunity to do two things: embark on your first minor operation and complete another investigation.
Begin by going to the laboratory. Heinrich and Dr Weir will be talking and then Dr Weir will give you the tour of the lab. Once the tour is over, go upstairs to find Heinrich. He will task you with finding Silicoids around the base.
This is a good opportunity to get some easy melee kills for the relevant achievement. Use your melee attack to kill the Silicoids as you find them.
Use your Battle Focus ability to track their glowing trails, or simply continue reading - the Silicoids are always in the same places. The first is in the airlock when you leave the lab. The second is in the male toilets near the Operations Room. This one will flee when you encounter it - don't worry if you don't manage to kill it; it doesn't count as failing the investigation. The last group of them are in the control room overlooking Operations. Head up the stairs to Weaver's office but turn left instead of right. Destroy them all and return to Heinrich to complete the operation.
Next go to the Operations computer and you will see that minor operations are available; Operation Guardian and Operation Grifter. Both missions have a Muton to help you work towards 'What are you Without your Armour' and Silicoids to work on 'Welcome to Earth'. If you're on an Easy playthrough, I recommend doing Operation Grifter second and using it as your mission for:
The mission is relatively easy except for the last encounter, but there is a glitch that can be exploited to make that encounter a cakewalk (see my solution for the achievement).If you're not on an Easy playthrough, do the missions in whatever order you like.
Either way, after completing the first minor operation, you'll receive:
You should also see (before either the first or second minor operation) that a dispatch mission has become available. Send some agents on that mission while you complete the minor operation and once they return you'll earn:
After completing the minor operations and dispatch mission, follow the story prompts and you'll find yourself setting off on the next main mission.
Signal from Beyond
This mission contains a couple of Mutons and a Sectopod, but defeating them should be almost second nature by now.
The Sectopod in particular can be difficult because it drops close to your position. If you have trouble with it, replay the checkpoint and try to reach the alien fortifications in the area before the Sectopod drops. As always, the walkers don't climb stairs and you can pretty safely hide there and nickel-and-dime it until its dead. When I went through the area on commander, both of my allies went down before the Sectopod was even half-dead and I still managed to take it out this way. Don't give up.
Once you reach the outsider's tower and make it inside you'll earn:
At the end of the mission, you'll encounter the game's first and only Titan, a flying ring of doom with unbelievable firepower. Trying to engage in a stand up fire fight with the Titan is suicidal because its ray weapon destroys any cover you’re sheltered in, however full cover will protect you from the blast even as it is destroyed. So run from full cover to full cover and use whatever heavy weaponry you have. Shots directly into the Titan's centre seem to do extra damage. Use whatever distractions you have (turrets, Silicoids, a Recon soldier's Diversion power) to buy yourself time and pour on as much damage as you can. It might take you a few tries, but eventually the Titan will fall and you'll earn two achievements:
Base visit #3
After returning to the base and watching the cutscenes, there are three investigations for you to complete.
First, head toward the soldier's lounge where you encountered the Silicoid in the toilets. You will meet Heinrich in the corridor with a soldier in a wheelchair. He asks you to find a number of agents in the base that may be infected with the Sleepwalker virus. Use the conversation prompt "What sort of help do you need?"
You must then scan Operations, the Ready Room, the Lab and Engineering using Battle Focus. While in Engineering, Barnes will give you another investigation, so feel free to take it to prevent a round trip. Head next door and speak to the Russian. Use the "work with me" dialogue. Then return to Barnes to complete his investigation.
For Heinrich's investigation, there's one infected agent in the Ready Room and one in the Laboratory. Scanning them allows you to talk to them, and send them to the Infirmary. Once you have scanned all four rooms and spoken to the two infected agents, head to the Laboratory and talk to Heinrich to complete the investigation.
Once both investigations are complete, continue with the story prompts until Agent Weaver goes AWOL. At this point, the third investigation becomes available. Go downstairs and talk to Chulski. She sends you to talk to Agent Percy, who is in the Ready Room. After learning some information from him, head to Weaver's office. Use the painting to reveal a safe. The combination is on the other side of the room, taped to the filing cabinet. Use it to open the safe and read the file inside. Investigation complete.
Follow whatever story prompts remain until you're ready to begin the next story mission. Do Operation Longsword first and send agents on as many dispatch missions as you can, then launch the next story mission.
Not of this Earth
This mission puts you on the trail of alien lieutenant Axis. It features a significant number of aliens with shields, so it's a good time to work on Burst the Bubble. If you've been working towards it for the last few missions, you should pop the achievement by the end of this mission.
Not of this Earth contains both Mutons and a Sectopod (plan your loadout and companions accordingly, but an expert Engineer will come in handy) but there are only two particularly tricky encounters. Part-way through the mission you'll meet up with Agent Weaver and in some encounters after that point, you will able to make use of her special ability (which is essentially the Recon soldier's Critical Shot but with a shorter cool down).
It's also the first mission in which you can find sticky grenades. You'll find them after the fisherman's hut, in the outsider area near the locked gate. They're on a shelf. Make sure you grab them so that they are added to your inventory back in the base.
The first difficult encounter is when you have to hack a gate. Like in the Rosemont mission, this means you'll be without one of your companions for the duration of the hack. The difference this time is that you'll face a veritable horde of harder enemies, culminating in a Sectopod. I found the easiest way to survive the encounter was to take cover on the raised area near the gate and use your Silicoid and drone to distract enemies. If you have the engineer with you, use his turret to create a killing ground in the area in front of the gate. When the Sectopod turns up, try to get around behind it and unload your heavy weapon into its vents.
The other difficult combat is the final showdown against Axis at the end of the level. At the beginning of the fight, he is covered by an impenetrable shield and you need to turn off the 3 shield generators before he becomes vulnerable. As you turn off each generator, additional enemies will spawn. There is no timer in the mission; nor is there a never-ending flow of enemies. Take your time and eliminate each wave before you progress to the next generator. When all three generators are down, you'll fight Axis himself. When the honcho falls, you'll receive:
Base visit #4
Now that you're back at the base, you're going to play with sticky grenades and complete the last two investigations.
Head first to the firing range. Use the computer there to select sticky grenades as your grenade type. Then use the button in the shooting stalls to release a captured Sectoids. Immediately use your Lift power to immobilise it and then line up a sticky grenade throw. You'll know you're on target when the grenade trajectory passes through the Sectoid and the alien lights up (just like when you target them in Battle Focus). Throw the grenade and blow the poor sap up. Do this 10 times and you'll receive:
Next head to Engineering and talk to Barnes. He asks you to use Battle Focus to scan the Avenger and locate fuel leaks. Go down into the bay, and scan the three leaks. Afterwards, you have to seal a number of valves to secure the ship. These three valves are always the same - the first is inside the Avenger; it's the top-left valve. The other two are outside the Avenger on the dock. They are the one on the left and the one on the right.
Once all three valves are closed, return to Barnes to complete the investigation.
Once you're finished in Engineering, head to the Laboratory talk to Heinrich. He will send you to speak to Doctor Hara. Doctor Hara is upstairs in the laboratory. Hara will explain that he's working on a way to reverse the effects of the Sleepwalker virus, and will ask you to talk to a soldier infected with the Sleepwalker virus. If Agent Da Silva survived the Signal from Beyond mission, he is the person you speak to. Otherwise it'll be a random soldier.
To successfully bring the Sleepwalker around, use the conversation options "Time to Wake Up", "We're about to win the war" and "Come on, it's me, Carter." Once the victim comes to, head back to Heinrich to complete the investigation and receive your reward:
When you next visit Operations, there should be two minor operations waiting for you: Operation Hawkeye and Operation Firestorm. Do them in whatever order you consider appropriate and send your spare agents on whatever dispatch missions are available.
After completing those mission, follow the prompts and launch the next major operation.
Crack in the World
The opening section of this mission is relatively easy but eventually you'll make it inside a giant dam, and the section in the catwalks can be extremely challenging on Commander difficulty. Don't hesitate to use grenades and other explosives, and throw out Silicoid, drones and Diversions as early as you can. It's easy to get flanked and overrun here because you start of scarily close to the enemy, so engage with extreme prejudice.
Eventually you'll get through that session and you'll be tempted to breathe a sigh of relief. Don't. There's worse to come.
After some more battles that aren't overly taxing, you'll find yourself on the Outsider planet. They welcome you in style with a three-phase battle involving a Muton Elite , a gunship and numerous other nasties. This battle is extremely long and one of the hardest in the game, so make sure to move around as much as you can to keep ammo within reach. If you get cornered, you'll run out of ammo.
The trick to this battle is that the Muton Elite flees when you reduce him to 2/3 hit points, so it's imperative that he do so as soon as possible. If you leave him alone he'll jump-pack to your location and at that point it's pretty much a guaranteed game over. Once the Muton Elite flees, a dropship will appear and disgorge further outsiders. Don't both wasting ammo on the dropship. Just avoid its fire for a while and it will fly off. Take out the outsiders to start the sequence again.
When he reappears, reduce the Muton Elite to 1/3 hit points and he'll flee again. Again the dropship will deliver more outsiders but then leave. Drop them to move to the final stage of the battle.
The Muton Elite reappears, but this time he's supported by a Minion Commander. This guy needs to die ASAP or he'll summon drones that heal the Muton Elite. Once he's down, drop the Muton Elite ASAP and then mop up the survivors.
After everyone is down, activate the nearby console and you'll finish the mission, earning:
Base visit #5
You are essentially free to do what you wish in the base by this point in the game, because you've completed all the investigations. There should be another minor operation available in the Operations computer and at least 1 Dispatch mission.
When doing the minor operation (Operation: Angel), choose your squad carefully. Your companion agents should all be rank 5 by now so if you've followed the advice on the previous page you should have all the available powers to choose from. However, after the start of this minor operation there are only three other opportunities to change your squad makeup. It's therefore important that you think carefully about what powers you need to use before the end of the campaign to get
Most powers can be used anywhere and at any time, but some require a target (Disrupt and Weaken from the support soldier, Critical Strike from the recon soldier, and Taunt from the commando soldier) so consider taking one of more of these types of soldiers with you on Operation Angel. Avoid taking two support soldiers because it can lead to a lack of offensive oomph, and if you take one now there'll be opportunity later on to work one into your squad without having them both there at the same time.
Once you've figured out how you'll approach the remaining targeted powers, do the minor operation and assign agents to the dispatch mission(s) and you'll earn two achievements:
At this point, be aware that launching the next major operation is the game's point of no return. There's no coming back to the base and no opportunity to do further minor operations or dispatch missions. If there's anything you need to do at the base, do it now. Then launch the next major mission.
The Last War
You'll spend much of this mission chasing an outsider through the XCOM base. Don't bother wasting your ammunition on him if your get a clear shot: he's invulnerable until the very last encounter.
Relatively early in the mission, you'll come across a resupply crate. If you haven't already done so earlier in the campaign, use it to swap your companion soldiers around and use each of their non-targeted powers. After using the targetless powers, keep soldiers in you squad that have targeted powers you haven't used in the campaign yet. Then press on. If you balanced you powers for Operation: Angel as suggested and you choose soldiers with the one or two remaining targeted powers now, you'll pop They Won't Know What Hit Them in the very next combat.
At the end of the mission you'll have a choice to make. Without wishing to spoil anything, do not choose to 'wait'. If you do, the game will end. Any other decision is fine, and after you make the decision the game will progress and you'll receive:
Base Visit #6
Technically, you'll only really visit the avenger. Speak to any NPCs you want to and look at any collectables that take your fancy, and then begin the next main mission.
The Day the Sky Fell
As befits the final mission of the game, this mission contains some devilishly difficult combats, usually involving overwhelming numbers of enemies. Because every player's squad makeup is different, it's difficult to provide specific advice for each combat. However, as usual you should try to keep your distance from enemies and utilise the kill order I gave on the general tips page. You'll die more than once, but with a bit of perseverance you'll eventually make it through.
Be aware that there are two resupply crates in this mission, and they are your last opportunities to swap soldiers around for the They Won't Know What Hit Them Achievement. If you haven't earned it yet, get it out of the way early so that you can take your preferred (and strongest) combination into the final battles.
You'll know the final battle when you reach it. It takes place in a huge hall with fortifications scattered around and through it and there is a massive glowing orange device at the far end. Hunker down and prepare for a hell of a fight. This battle consists of 6 waves of increasingly difficult enemies. No matter how pressed you think you are, hang onto whatever heavy weapon ammo you have left, because you're going to need it for wave 6.
You'll know that you're close when a wave of two advanced drones and two drones appears. Once they're down, the last wave (consisting of two Tech Commanders, two Minion Commanders, two Muton Elites and a group of Elite Outsiders and Elite Phantoms. As always, take out the Minion Commanders first and then the Tech Commanders. Then focus on whoever gets close enough to cause you difficulty. Most likely that'll be the Muton Elites with their jetpacks. If you get a shot with your heavy weapon, use it, because you want these guys down fast.
Once you have only a few enemies left, you want to begin pressing forward away from your starting position. The reason for this is that when you defeat wave 6, wave 7 will appear. Yes, I said the battle had 6 waves, but that was only half a lie. The last wave consists of 5 Muton Elites that appear in your deployment zone. If you're still standing there when they arrive, you're toast. However, if you've moved to the other end of the hall you have a clear run to the objective; a computer near the base of the glowing orange device. The good news is that you don't need to defeat the Muton Elites.
Activate the device and you've finished the campaign. Sit back and enjoy your rewards:
If this was your Commander difficulty playthrough, you'll also receive:
If you managed to abuse the checkpoint system to ensure than none of your agents died, you'll also receive:
Congratulations on finishing the campaign. If you've followed this walkthrough correctly, you should only have two achievements yet to pop:
Start a new campaign on Rookie difficulty and focus on flanking enemies wherever possible (refer back to the General Hints & Tips page for a refresher on what 'Flanked' means). You should be able to pop Clever Girl by the end of the Rosemont mission or shortly after.
Then use the minor Operation: Grifter to pop Let the Boys Have Their Fun as discussed above and you're finished. Congratulations agent. Bask in the glory of your 1000 GS.
PS. If by some chance you didn't manage to get 15 mind control kills by the end of your Commander playthrough, you don't need to go all the way back through the game. Go into the main menu and load your Commander Campaign. Choose the save slot that it just after you obtained the Mind Control power. Change the difficulty to Rookie and replay the campaign from there with a focus on Mind Control casualties. You'll get it.
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