Bring a SHIV to escort missions: Escort missions have the extra mechanic of aliens magically falling from the sky, so even if you're placing your units according to your surroundings it may be that an alien drops somewhere you didn't foresee.Don't miss out on shooting guys on patrol. Keep half on overwatch and reload half, then reload the other half next turn. Reload in turns: If some of your soldiers aren't fully reloaded, don't reload everyone on the same turn, even when out of combat and specially on terror missions.It's the same result, but with the added bonus of being able to backtrack to your original cover if you spot something you don't like. Never Dash on a single move: If you're planning on dashing in one action, always move in two steps.
You can also run&gun to a flank, and that will be just as deadly. Equipping your assaults with rifles is incredibly useful. They will be open for attacks, or you could pull an extra group of aliens you hadn't seen before.
Bring two snipers to UFO raids : UFO raids are full of open spaces, so bringing two snipers is key.Its better to bait aliens back to your high cover if there isn't any inbetween, don't ever fight from low cover. So you should stay in high cover unless you're out of combat or flanking. Always use high cover : depending on the alien's aim, they have around 50% to hit you in low cover, and around 25% to hit you in high cover.So you are risking their panic levels to rise again and losing them if you don't wait until the last possible day before assigning them. Don't assign satellites until 1D before the monthly meetup: Assigning a satellite reduces panic immediately on a country, but you only get the added bonuses and money until the end of the month.Satellites are always the priority: Always be building satellites or satellite uplinks, ALWAYS! until you have covered everyone on the map.When you build the officer training school, be sure to get Wet Work and Iron Will relatively soon, as they will increase the rate at which your dudes levelup and how much will they earn per level (increases psionic potential, and less panicking). You really only need a workshop or two tops to finish the game. Europe seemed like a good choice at first, but I went through my whole game without making any labs (until the end when I was raking in the big bucks), you only need more scientists, and you can get those from satellites on any country, or from mission rewards. Don't start in Africa because it only takes 3 satellites to cover Africa and the bonus isn't as good in the first couple of months, it takes 4 to cover Asia so its worth having the perk right off the bat. Consider starting in Asia: Then get Africa, and then North America if you can.Please share stuff you have learned along the way too, specially if you've finished above normal difficulty. I lost three dudes on the last mission, but otherwise I think i'm ready to move to Impossible, here I'll share some tips and tactics to improve your game, hope it helps someone! Finally beat the game on Classic Ironman!