OK so I bought this game in the humble indie pack and immediately it was the first one I wanted to try

I love the concept of this, its so great but a bit confusing when youre new so I thought I might ask you guys a few questions?

1: Firstly, what is B24 I hear everyone speaking about? Is it a version of the game? Do I have the latest version?

2: There are just so many units to choose from! Its brilliant but Ive failed the training mission twice now because I tend to get carried away What are the basic units and weapons you should consider taking?

3: I understand the game is in demo form but was kind of looking for something a bit more so I heard about all these mods and thought brilliant! But I don't want anything that adds weapons or people or whatever as thats confusing enough at the moment! Are there any good map packs or training mods that keep things sorta basic?

4: Are there any basic starting tips you guys could offer about strategy and the liek? I find myself getting 0wnzored by the training map :/

Thanks!

1. b24 is the latest version of the game, if you downloaded Cortex from the HIB page then you have it.

2. If you want something that works well and is decently cheap, try using just a coalition light with a coa. rifle, riot shield, and medium digger. That should keep you relatively powered up while managing your money.

3. Most of the mods around are in fact actors and weapons, but if you head to the scenes section you can preview a bunch of scene packs that need to be converted to b24's new map format. You can, if you like, read up on how to convert them (there should be a few topics about it floating around), or wait for the authors to update.

4. I never really bothered to find a "strategy", I just sort of messed around until I started winning.

Here is a tip, don't get shot [Instead shoot the enemy] , keep the enemies away from your brain [For damn obvious reasons] ... that is basis of most strategies.
Not to mention, there are ways to obtain wealth during a drawn out battle. [Like getting refunds by collecting enemy weapons]

You're losing the tutorial mission? Can you elaborate? Are you trying to beat it with just the training dummies? Are you throwing guys at the other base but you keep getting overrun?

I suggest buying a guy and firing your weapon at the other guy. When he dies, buy a new one ad do the same until you win.

For the tutorial I wouldn't even bother with buying any new soldiers; if you play right all you'll need is a sniper rifle and the ak47 they give you. The drones are formidable fighters at least. So use the Space Crate to drop in a DF Sniper Rifle, or the Heavy Sniper Rifle, and take the enemies out. Then pick up the light digger, and the shotgun the first dummy drops when you kill him. Waltz up to the enemy bunker door, knock knock with the digger, and two shotgun pumps later you're pressin' the space bar ready to take on the zombie cave.

When you finally get the chip out of the zombie cave, you're probably going to wonder how to launch it into space because it took me forever to figure that out. Give the chip to your brain bot, and stand him somewhere that is a decent landing zone for a dropship, like the crater, or the rocks you start on. Go to your buy menu, select one of the dropships as your craft, with no cargo, then have the delivery sent to where your brain bot is standing. When the ship hits the top of the screen press Q and take control of it. Left click to open the bay doors and you'll see little greenish yellow lines come out of the bottom, that means its in suck mode. Suck up the brainbot with the chip, left click, and press W til you reach orbital command.

The tutorial level is really easy like it should be since it's a tutorial, but i can beat it with a coa light and a pistol.