[strunks]

Collapsing from smoke happens too rarely for it to be a concern. Especially if your man hasn't been shot. If he has, then the combination of wounds and the smoke inhalation may knock him out, but it's still unlikely.

I let my rookies die a lot. I play without reloading, so if I have to send someone through a door, it's always some unarmored newb. If he dies, oh well $20000 is chump change and well worth the benefits of knowing that there are aliens lying in ambush. Not every rookie is treated the same though. Some rookies come with exceptional stats, and I armor them up and build them. But the poor suckers with any deficiencies get labelled as fodder and always die first. I never fire a soldier for bad stats. I already paid for him. He's more useful to me if I send him through a door to die. Because my soldiers die, I always keep a few extra around as a buffer so I don't have to wait 3 days for replacements.

I used to use tanks back when I used to reload. I didn't like my troops dieing so I sent the tanks ahead first. I don't usually let the tanks kill anything though unless as a last resort. They're great scouts. Tons of movement and high hitpoints.

But now, I'd rather have 4 rookies than a tank. With the 4 rookies, I have 4 pieces of fodder I can send to check corners and doors instead of just one. And the total cost of 4 rookies is 80 grand instead of whatever the tank costs which I think is more than that.