Indeed it's not a bad game at all.
Just going back to the ongoing HP argument - Another reason I don't use HP is this - they sound really lame when they fire. I'm sorry if that's just me, but aesthaetics come first on my Skyranger.
Still you wouldn't want to mess with The Banshees, my crack team (all made of women, you see), as they fly around in their Lightning with laser rifles and power suits. They're all sergeant or above (sergeant is the lowest, I only have 1 of those and she's getting promoted on the next landing we have). They can take out Battleships that have landed for no casualties, thanks to the leader's mighty stats.
On the other hand, I save every battle I have with these gals to make sure that they all live. When they're not fighting, they're protecting my Arctic Base (200 scientists + 300 engineers
) or training their Psi abilities.
Smoke Grenades work really, really nicely when you have power armour, you can just cover the whole map in smoke so that the aliens run around like headless chickens/collapse from the smoke fumes while your soldiers walk around in Power/Flying Armour (best tactic = cover map in smoke and hide in the skies where they won't find you, on top of Battleships is always nice).
That way, pretty much every alien is stunned, unless they get cheeky and get mowed down by Reaction Fire.