I myself use:
- One or two (depending on transport ship available) HWPs. Plasma if available, if not the other non-explosive choice; I prefer the HWPs to be more versatile since they have plenty of HWP and can be anywhere, and I leave the fireworks to the men.
- The fireworks guy, with blaster launcher or the best technology available. Also a conventional weapon in the backpack. (With "conventional" I don't mean puny armor piercing, I mean anything which is neither explosive nor stunning; the heavy plasma is my favourite choice.)
- The two psi-strongest (and most trained) men get psi-amps in their left hands. If the blaster launcher is available then one of these is also the fireworks man, since the accuracy penalty for not having both hands free is irrelevant for this weapon, being automatically targeted as it is. If the BL is not available then on the contrary, since accuracy is most critical with these weapons if only one man is equiped.
- The two men with best shooting accuracy wield stun bomb launchers if available, and carry conventional weapons in their backpack. When I don't seek to capture new aliens alive, then they wield the conventional weapons and the launcher is now in the backpack. When the stun bomb launcher is not available then the two men with most TUs get stun rods.
- The two most worhless guys (poorest shooters) are equiped with medikits and so, so if I've got to use something that's not a weapon it's done by the guys who would do less good with one.
- All the men (there are up to ten men in a squad) wield conventional weapons except the fireworks guy, which nonetheless has one in the backpack and will use it if he runs out of explosive ammunition, and the two best shooters, who may wield conventional weapons or stun bomb launcher as explained above. The conventional weapons are the most powerful ones available, heavy plasma (which has in addition a very good snap shot accuracy rating) once available. I myself don't bother with human-developed weapons, they're less powerful, and after all the aliens don't either.
Strength must also be taken into account so that none of the specially equiped soldiers is too slowed down. If he's slowed down just a little then don't worry, he'll get stronger in no time.
Hope this helps, or at least doesn't misguide. I'm not saying it's the optimum configuration, it's just the one I use.