How to recruit new soldiers in Phoenix Point - a guide to expanding your army
Phoenix Point NEEDS YOU
Phoenix Point puts you in charge of the near-defunct Phoenix Project - an organisation meant to kickstart the recuperation of mankind after the emergence of the deadly Pandoravirus. But to do that, you'll need recruits - and the game really doesn't explain the recruitment process all that well. But hopefully this quick guide will explain to all the newer players how to recruit new soldiers in Phoenix Point, and what you'll need to keep track of in order to successfully expand your army.
Phoenix Point recruiting guide contents:
- How to recruit new soldiers in Phoenix Point
- "Why can't I recruit soldiers?" - Limitations & Prerequisites
Phoenix Point - how to recruit new soldiers
In order to recruit new soldiers in Phoenix Point, you'll first need to research the Haven Recruitment Protocols technology. It's a very early technology, and it won't take long at all to research, particularly if, like me, you tend to build an extra Research Lab at the very beginning.
After this point, if you zoom in closer on the Geoscape view you'll start to see human icons appear next to certain faction havens that you've discovered. This indicates that you can recruit a new unit from that haven. You can see what kind of soldier is in a haven (and how much it'll cost you to recruit them) by clicking on the haven and selecting Haven Info.
How to recruit a new soldier
To recruit a new soldier, all you need to do is send one of your aircraft to the haven in question, then select Haven Info and click the Recruit Soldier button. The new soldier will be automatically placed inside your aircraft, or, if there's no room on the aircraft, it will be magically transported to the nearest Phoenix base.
Simple as that!
Specialist recruits
The other thing worth mentioning is that there are two types of recruits: regular recruits, which are recruited from a haven's Training Center building; and specialist recruits, which are only to be found in a faction haven with an Elite Training building. Specialist recruits offer you the unique soldier classes for that faction - for example, the Infiltrator for Synedrion, or the Berserker for Disciples of Anu. The specialist recruits are distinguishable from the Geoscape view because they will have a star next to their little human icon.
"Why can't I recruit soldiers?" - Limitations & Prerequisites
I already mentioned that before you can recruit soldiers you'll need to research the Haven Recruitment Protocols technology from the tech tree - but that's not the only prerequisite to recruiting a new unit.
One obvious requirement which nonetheless may skip your mind at times is that you need all of the required resources to recruit a soldier. This is always a mixture of Materials, Food, and Tech (and that's in order from most to least costly in almost every case).
But the other big requirement is that you need enough living space to actually accommodate all of your soldiers. You can construct Living Quarters buildings inside any of your Phoenix bases, and each of them, regardless of location, will contribute towards a global soldier capacity resource (that's the first of the yellow icons at the top). In the screenshot above, this capacity is maxed out at 8/8, which means I cannot recruit any more soldiers until I've built extra Living Quarters in my bases.
The final thing to bear in mind is that each soldier uses up 1 Food every day (you can keep track of this at the top of your screen in the Geoscape view as well), which means if you don't stay on top of food requirements then you may land yourself in trouble. Thankfully, Food is very easy to deal with in Phoenix Point, because a single Food Production building is enough to feed 8 soldiers every day, and that's a pretty phenomenal exchange rate which all but ensures your people will never go hungry.
And that's all there is to recruiting new soldiers in Phoenix Point - but if you're still hankering for some more Phoenix Point-related guidance and advice, then why not stick around and take a look below at some of the other guides we have on offer regarding this ambitious turn-based tactics game?
- Phoenix Point guide & top tips - Read our 20 top tips for new players and XCOM veterans alike when starting their journey in Phoenix Point!
- Phoenix Point Classes - All soldier classes and skills explained (including faction specialists), as well as the best options for multi-classing troops!
- Phoenix Point Vehicles & Aircraft - Every faction's vehicles and aircraft explained, with full stats and our opinions on the very best vehicles to use!
- Phoenix Point enemies - Learn how to deal with Sirens, Chirons, Terror Sentinels, Scyllas, and Mindfraggers with our in-depth enemies guide!
- Phoenix Point Factions & Diplomacy - Learn about the three main factions of Phoenix Point, along with independent havens, diplomacy options, and much more!
- How to capture enemies in Phoenix Point - This quick guide will walk you through the tricky process of capturing live Pandorans for research purposes!
- How to recruit new soldiers in Phoenix Point - Here we'll talk about how to recruit more soldiers, find elite specialists, and expand your army!
- Phoenix Point Base Management - Learn which buildings are the most useful to construct in your Phoenix bases, and how to give your bases the best chance of success!
- Phoenix Point Free Aim & Part Damage - Brush up on the intricacies of Phoenix Point's unique Free Aim and Body Part Damage systems!
- Phoenix Point DLC Roadmap - Learn about the first three major planned DLCs for Phoenix Point: Blood and Titanium, Legacy of the Ancients, and Festering Skies!