I thought the tutorial covered most of the basics in as much as how the tactical system works, but I admit I played it once when the game came out and could have forgotten.

The tradeoffs on the foundry/production...

I dunno, I don't think any of that is that critical, until you want to play on impossible.  Even on classic it's not that hard to get through the game without losing a single nation.

Not that that matters actually, but if you are a perfectionist then you may feel as though you 'lost' when you have any setback.  The game is much more enjoyable on ironman (which is how they intended it to be played, so that's why they didn't tell anyone how to save ) where you really do suffer from mistakes or just a run of bad luck.

You can take whatever 2nd wave options you want.  Marathon makes it longer, not necessarily better, but it does slow things down a bit so that you might have a reason to use lasers instead of jumping straight to plasma.  Not created equal makes the game easier in my opinion.  Red Fog is a good one, it makes it harder.  Random rewards and country values is interesting as it throws a bit of a wrench into how you would normally go about your base building/sat strategy.

The rest of them are fine.  The one that spirals up the sat costs is a total killer though.  It does make the game harder, but not necessarily in a more interesting way in my opinion.  I never bother with AA since I feel it allows for super cheesy tactics, i don't even usually bother with the skeleton suit honestly.  I also never use SHIVs, though they can be quite useful in various situations.

All in all if you're enjoying it you're doing it right

I'm just a bit of a purist when it comes to Ironman

Hover shiv with all upgrades is pretty amazing.

If i am not mistaken it is 90 aim, constant 40 defense(pretty much like running around with high cover), 21 HP, can fly, hits like a heavy plasma.

On a map with all crysalids you could just put them all in the air and shoot all day lol.

I seriously recommend training roulette. Without it once i have 6 to 8 top level soldiers i just don't bother leveling up new guyz. With this second wave option entire game turns into a quest for the perfect specimen lol. You never know what you will get next(except for some levels) and it makes you excited every time a soldier ranks up.

I had some crazy soldiers in my last game, Assault with Extra conditioning, rapid fire, close and personal, and deep pockets with grenadier. He could carry up to 6 alien grenades if i wanted to. You can have some very sick combinations. The downside is that you can also have some very mediocre soldiers because they get some lame abilities you would otherwise never use.

That one went right over my head....  

Not Funny.

2 months in classic iron man all second wave options apart from damage roulette.

My Corporal heavy (97 offense)  took a crit 9 from  a thin man, I can see you but you can't see me.

So gutted, I just glared at my monitor for 10 mins.

Mass suicide.

Never, has a game made me curse and question my decision making to this extent.

After getting over the loss of my best heavy solider, I was forced to take 3 rookies, along with my newly promoted squad site sniper, to an abduction mission.

First rookie moved and uncovered 3 sectoids. All dashed into half cover too far to grenade.

Took the furthest one out with my sniper.

Moved second rookie up for better shot. Took out second sectoid.

Moved third rookie up. Took a low percent shot, did 2 damage.

One shot left, one uncovered alien with one health. All my squad with full health in half cover.

What could possibly go wrong?

Took that last low percent shot, its hit.

But wait, the animation has triggered 3 thin men. WTF!!!

They dash for cover. 1 had gone awol.

Its their turn. First shot is a miss.

Second, shoots through car setting it on fire, hitting rookie for 2 damage.

Rookie panics and runs to flaming car.

Rookie 2 already by flaming car panics and shoots rookie 3 dead.

You can guess what happened on my next turn.

BOOM and the quarter backs are toast!

THAT'S XCOM BABY!!!!!

Actually though learning to manage the activations is critical.  As you gain more understanding of just how critical high cover is these incidents will decrease in regularity.

Early game is mostly about figuring out your best use of grenades or rockets.

Use them to blast cover so the rest of your squad can kill things.  Thin Men are indeed a PITA, but you just need to learn their tricks and take them out ASAP.  Falling back is often warrented if you can force them to advance into low cover while you remain in high cover.  They will spit... but unless you're at 1hp already (or playing with red fog) the spit is more manageable than their +10% accuracy light plasmas.

On the other hand, you should applaud the aliens sometimes and take your lumps.  Heck, how much fun is a war when it's completely one sided???