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Rookies Get Free Shield Vests

Each time a new soldier joins XCOM, the game will generate 1 Shield Vest (Series 1) and equip it to the soldier.

Not only are these vests given to you for free, but they can still be sold to the Black Market. AND they will help prevent soldier deaths. So for balance, I have reduced the number of soldiers that XCOM will get:

1) Starting barracks of soldiers (new campaign) reduced from 12 to 6.
2) Starting pool of recruitable soldiers (purchased from barracks) reduced from 10 to 5.
3) Recruitable soldier pool will replenish 2 or 3 soldiers (depending on difficulty) each Supply Drop, instead of 5.

I always found that Soldiers are pretty abundant, so it shouldn't make too much of an impact.

You can still get soldier rewards from missions and scanning points-of-interest - these remain unaffected. You can also still purchase a soldier from the Black Market (which could actually be worthwhile now - I never found them to be worth the 70-85 Intel price, because who cares, I have an abundance of new recruits that I can buy for 25 Supplies)

Reapers cannot start with a Shield Vest because they do not have utility slots (until you get Tactical Rigging or advanced armor - then they will get one).