RPS has an interesting write-up by Fraser Brown with a few details I haven’t seen mentioned yet.
You’ve got grenades that can stagger and stun enemies, denying them action points; guns that let units use overwatch, locking areas down and forcing enemies to cower behind cover; and mechs that can pummel enemies from afar with their giant cannons.
With the area free of threats, a new outpost is established. These outposts protect the area, but its the colony that reaps the rewards. When you conquer territory, you essentially attach it to a colony, giving it the benefits of any resources or whatever else you find there. Roads also automatically appear, making travel between colonies and outposts quicker.
Every unit is essentially a simple template that you can customise with weapons, special ammo, jetpacks and even vehicles. Eventually, you’ll be able to cram your commander inside a mech or a tank, if you fancy it. Mods can give your unit a whole range of abilities at the higher tiers, so it affects a lot more than just the amount of damage you can dole out.
Before exterminating the insects, we take a moment to enhance one of our basic trooper units. It’s got two modding slots that can be filled. In one slot, new ammo is added, giving our troopers an advantage against organic enemies, which should help against the bugs. In the final slot, jetpacks are tossed into the mix, allowing our troopers to quickly flank the creepy crawlies. We name our new unit the Bug Killers and the battle kicks off.