The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

hello all this is my first achievement post let me know anyway I can make it better thanks sorry for any spelling errors. OK first off you can get this in the DLC hanger 6 RaD as its way easier than the main game plus its way less time to do it. Heres how I did it OFC you must use dasilva then I picked Recon with perks sniper,diversion,armour piercer,fire mission. I then picked a engineer with perks mine,demolitions expert,rocket turret,fortified turrets. with the perks its a cake walk take your time and plan ahead before pushing buttons to carry on the trial you can also as i did get other achievements to e.g conscientious objector,use no alien weapons easy to do as you don't get them to later one anyway. next one is mind blown dasilvas demo charge is your best weapon i bummed it hard getting 60 kills is easy effort also only a man never choose lift,drone,mind control easy as his other perks are dam good you could get other but I didn't any questions please ask away hope this helps. sorry for spelling and grammar I have Dyslexia

Having just finished my Commander playthrough, I thought I might offer my insights to help everybody else, as this game can be challenging and frustrating on this difficulty.

HERE BE SPOILERS!

1. If you are getting frustrated, don't give up - it gets easier. At the beginning, you have your shitty M14 rifle and no skills, and the Outsider soldiers (the basic enemy) shred you. As you level up and gain skills (and especially find some laser/plasma weapons) it gets easier. I found the University (the first Major Operation) to actually be the most difficult mission barring the final boss arena fight). The basic Outsiders stay the same and the crowds get much more manageable. Checkpoints are fast and furious in this game - before and after each arena fight), so don't worry about failing arenas - learn the layout and spawns and plan for the next time.

2. Almost all fights are arena-battles. Apart from two instances in the last op, you will only ever have Outsider grunts (with the possibility of some commander types) and potentially one (and only one at a time) heavy enemy near the end (Muton/Sectopods). Regarding target priorities, you absolutely must kill Drones first - they heal other enemies, lift your guys (where they will get shredded) and fly over cover to flank you. Next up are 'Commander' type enemies (alpha with a Lift/Crit Strike and shooting, see below), especially 'Minion' (spawns drones) and 'Psion' (splits himself and Mind Controls your guys - bad times). Third are Phantoms (Cloaky flanker guys) and Outsider Elites (heavy rush guys). When heavies spawn, they move to the top of the table, barring drones. Use the alpha tips below.

3. Regarding team composition: I found a recon and engineer to be the best team. Their abilities synergize very well with your own. All of Recon's abilities are useful. First is Critical Strike (to quickly kill commander-type enemies - I found lifting lifting them with your power, calling in a CS and then shooting them to be a good way to quickly kill the most dangerous enemies early on). Second is Fire Mission (lift a Muton, call in a FM and hit him with everything you've got). Third is Distraction - if you get the add-on perk for it, this distraction can last for a very long time and draws _all_ fire - great when you start to get crowded. An excellent way to Alpha a Muton or Sectopod is Lift, Fire Mission, Mine (directly beneath them) and blaster launcher shots. You can kill them in one swoop this way and this is very good in later stages.

The Engineer has the Mine (which is great for keeping you from getting flanked, and if you fail a checkpoint, you can place mines all around before triggering the switch or whatever triggers the spawn), and the all important Turret. I recommend the Laser Turret as it is mainly a distraction for when you start to once again, get crowded. I did not use scatter much, but it can be very good if there are a few tough enemies to flush out. Also, when you tend to get rushed on the later stages by Outsider Elites, he has a chance to kill them first with his shotgun-type weapon. Support were just too squishy and their shields get overloaded too quickly (despite the awesomeness of combat stims) and on Commander, the real damage is from you and abilities, not your teammates guns, so Commandos were not particularity effective IMO.

4. Regarding weapons: I found the best combo (for me) to be the M14/Machine Pistol, followed by Laser SMG/M14, followed by Laser Burst Rifle/Blaster Launcher, followed by Plasma Assault Cannon/Lightning Gun. Once you get the Blaster Launcher (an RPG weapon, keep it till the end level where the LG is - you _need_ a heavy weapon for the Mutons/Sectopods/Gunships). In general, I found shotgun weapons bad as you take so much damage so fast that engaging the enemy at close range is very likely to end up with you having to reload the checkpoint.

5. Regarding your own skills: Upgraded lift is crucial for killing Mutons/Sectopods later on, and for immobilizing tough enemies quickly to give you breathing room to run away. Make sure to get the combat drone as you lose health too fast for the heal drone to matter. Keep the blob/drone up at all times to keep the enemy distracted. Once you get Mind Control, make sure to get the damage/health buff - you will love it when you MC a Muton Elite who proceeds to kill most of the wave by himself. A quick note regarding Mind Controlling heavies - only do so if they are in the open nearby other enemies - otherwise they will spend their entire MC period walking slowly towards other enemies and not killing. If they are in a bad spot for MC, the next best targets are Phantoms/Phantom Elites as they are close-in specialists and will usually get a kill or two before getting killed. Don't be afraid to spam heal - your agents tend to lose almost all of their health very quickly, and you often cannot expose yourself to revive them.

6. Regarding positioning, I found it impossible to set up flanking maneuvers and such - my guy would get one Outsider and then be alone too far forward and get shredded. Stay back at the arena entrances (which tend to be quite chokepointy), mine up and whittle them down. In general the fights are over before you run out of ammo, and there is always ammo pickups before the next arena.

7. While it may be tedious, make sure to do all the Minor Ops - you need the XP to get to level 9/10 and get that all important MC buff (and cooldown reduction which really helps on the last op). Make sure to do all the dispatch missions to level up your other operatives to lvl 5 in case you lose your guys - they need little input and are a good insurance policy. However, in general, if one of your guys goes down in an arena, you should restart the checkpoint, as it is very difficult to beat some of the fights with one or two guys down (the Engineer is okay to go down sometimes, but I found the Recon agent to be quite critical).

8. Keep at it - the fights can get frustrating, but all you need is one good MC on a Muton/Sectopod or 5 minutes of setting up mines to prevail - you can do it!

If I have missed anything (or you have an insight), please reply in the comments and I will update the solution - good luck!

Deathknightmk had the right idea. Play the main campaign on rookie and then get your Commander difficulty achievement on Hanger 6: R&D. Here is how to do it good:

When you get laser and then plasma weapons use them even if your going for the no alien weapon achievement, reload to the chapter you equipped them (Chp.7?) to start fresh with no alien weapon kills an then turn the difficulty down to nil for only human weapons.

Side agents other than Dasilva can be equipped with upgraded alien weapons for your no alien weapon achieve run and it doesn't count for you shooting them. Don't throw any sticky grenades after you reload for the no alien weapons achieve or it is void

Get the backpack that adds 50% area deploy radius to abilities as soon as you can, its right next to Subject 23, spin around him and you'll find it, possibly only after a few battles. Put this on everyone, by that I mean yourself, your engineer and your recon. Refer to deathknightmk for best builds for this duo.

If your going for "only human" then Desilva's deploy mine will be devastating. Take the perk that does more deploy mine damage over area damage and through trial and error learn where drop pods spawn and then take them and the soldiers they spawn out immediately.

Never forget that despite squad damaging abilities (and your recons "mark to attack" hovering drones) your the damager and therefore I found that the best weapons were AK47/Regular Long distance Rifle and then later on when available the assault plasma/laser pulse rifle.

Always stay in cover and bide your time trying every possible battle plan, it only works through trial and error. It is possible. I'm glad I didnt have to do the main campaign commander because of this dlc but I love the franchise and kind of wish that the achieve was exclusive to the main campaign.

Tough one, at least per my standards. So far only 1 unlocks I hope I can join him soon... :))

I would seriosly recommend the first playthrough on Easy, to get all other achivements there, focusing only on survival here.

The major difference vs the lower difficulty levels, is that if your guys are downed, even if you revive them, they will not join the fight until the next checkpoint (which is the end of the current fight). This makes most of the sections nearly impossible, as you'll have no access to their special abilities either, which makes killing large enemies a HUGE pain.

The main focus therefore, is to keep them alive. Progress very, very slowly, always keep them behind you if possible, as they can revive you anytime, while you'd lose them if they die. They tend to wander ahead relentlessly, so pause frequently and order them to stay put and only advance if you are 100% sure that they will be able to survive. Always wait for abilities to recharge if you can afford to stay in cover.

Most useful abilities for me were Lift, Critical Strike, Fire Support, Mind Control, Mine and Rocket Launcher. Cloak can also be useful for hiding them and send them to safe locations. Always deploy your blob whenever you can, its good to annoy them. Same for the drone, but here its a matter of taste: I went for healing only to find out that the healing rate is way too slow to make up for the incoming damage, therefore I think I should have chose attacking drone. If you know that a move will trigger a fight, place several mines (time consuming to wait for the ability to recharge) and try to lure them into the trap.

For weapons, always trade up for the new ones, and try to have once with quick fire rate and one with explosive effect.

Regarding smaller enemies, always kill the flying drones first as they shoot above the covers and once they fly close, you are toast. The healing ones keep on healing even each other, so its important to focus your entire team on a single target all the time. One Critical shot is enough to finish the first one once the encounters start. Next one should be Minion Commander, as they keep on releasing more Drones. After that, focus on Psionic Commanders as they Lift your guys, making them dead very fast. Then its Phantoms, Scouts, Snipers and Shield commanders, they can be equally tough depending on the battle scene setup. All the others are the last to finish.

And now onto the large ones. Battleships are terrible, unless you can find some cover under a roof. In that case you can hide there, finish all enemies in the distance and then even kill the plane with a pistol if you have enough ammo. If no cover, then unleash all you have on it immediately or your dead. Blasters and plasma guns work the best. All this is the same for the Titan as well, 3 Blaster shots then finish with your other gun.

Sectopod is another beast. Aim for the cockpit and once the cover is broken, go for headshots on the pilot. Other than that, just try to hide behind him :)

Gun turretts: At least they dont move, but can mow down you and your team in a split of a second. Sticky grenades are the most useful against them as you can easily land the on the top of them.

Mutons / Elite Mutons are the worst ones. At the beginning I dont have any special strategy other than try to hide and pop-out / shoot / hide back while keeping your team hidden. Later with developed agents, I make sure to have all abilities charged before they spawn, then lift them, place a mine underneath, a rocket launcher to the front of him, call a Fire Strike and a Critical shot on him, and shoot with all guns. This tends to kill them in 3 seconds, the problem is if you cant have abilities charged up before the spawn.

I hope I didnt miss anything, good luck to all for this challenge.