I will get there 
Maybe I will actually do them first, then melee, explosives and special weapons.
@mcarver2000 I will be leaving out the advice on specific mission types as that is in progress of being changed. Lairs in particular are going to be very different (it was announced on Canny yestreday).
First update, Sirens are in
I missing some info on Psychic Scream and Slasher arms
Next explosives, melee, fire, poison, virus and acid.
Melee
There are two kinds of melee attacks in Phoenix Point, a ābashā with any item and āstrikeā with a dedicated melee weapon.
*Note that both skills benefit from the Close Quarters Specialist third-row skill (Proficiency and 20% damage buff with shotguns and melee weapons)
Striking with a dedicated melee weapon requires to be on an adjacent tile to the target and to be proficient in melee weapons [can anyone confirm that otherwise there is a chance to fumble?]. All melee weapons cost 2APs to strike with (though in the Blood and Titanium DLC there is a bionic augmentation that allows reducing cost of melee weapons by 1AP, to a minimum of 1AP).
Melee weapons can also be used to bash (which costs only 1AP) but for much less damage.
There is no free aim, or body part targeting with melee attacks, which means that some RNG is involved because any body part can receive the hit and different body parts have different armor.
The big advantages of melee weapons are the high damage per strike, which guarantees easily overcoming the toughest armors, that they have some secondary useful property (like armor penetration, or inflicting paralysis, bleeding, or shock damage) and that they are all one-handed weapons.
Best melee weapon
Though there are different melee weapons, in practice there is little (if any) reason to use anything other than Mardukās Fist (a hammer), which does 160 base damage per strike and 200 shock. Note that because of RNG, often whether the target will be dazed or not will depend on the body part that was hit.
*Note that the Neuralizer doesnāt require melee proficiency and costs 1AP to use, but for all other intents and purposes acts like a dedicated melee weapon. Most importantly, to inflict paralysis damage it has to be used to Strike an enemy, not Bash it.
Bashing with an item an adjacent enemy is always available, provided that the soldierās arms have not been disabled (for items requiring 2 arms to operate, both arms are needed to bash with the item) and always costs 1 AP.
The damage of the attack is calculated by multiplying the weight of the item used for bashing by the strength of the character doing it. So a soldier with 15 Strength wielding an Assault Rifle that weighs 3 units will do 3*15=45 damage with the bash.
The item that is used for bashing can also suffer damage [if anyone can shed a light on how the damage to the weapon is calculated, it would be much appreciated; in my experience, it seems to be more likely and higher as the damage to the target from the bash is higher], so brittle weapons like Sniper Rifles make for poor candidates.
(Weapons that get damaged in combat will be automatically repaired after the battle, but not so the weapons that were destroyed).
Because bash scales with strength, it can actually do as much as damage as Mardukās Fist but for half the APs. A character with 32 Strength (that can only be achieved with max Strength and the Resourceful third-row skill) wielding a heavy weapon (e.g. Deceptor, Hel Cannon, Grenade Launcher - all of which weigh 5) will do 32 * 5 = 160. This is a 100% increase in damage per AP, but really anything above 80 damage (that is, with Strength of 17 or more) would seem to make bash preferable to melee.
There are a few caveats, however:
Melee weapons are one-handed while bashing with a heavy weapon requires both hands. This doesnāt seem very importantā¦ Until your heavy has one arm disabled.
Bashing can damage the weapon, and at very high Strength the damage seems to be significantly higher (I have seen up to 42 damage to the weapon from a single bash from a character with 32 Strength), which means that with very high Strength you might get no more than 4 bashes in before the weapon breaks (for example, Hel Cannon and Deceptor have 150 HPs).
Even though the damage per AP is important, when it comes to melee weapons remember that their big advantage over other weapons is the high damage per strike. A basic AR does more damage than a Mardukās Fist (180 vs 160) for the same 2 APs (and over distance, too!). However, AR fires in burst and each shot does only 30 damage, which means that whereas against a target with 50 armor, the AR will do 0 damage, a Mardukās Fist will do 110 damage. Similarly, even though 2 bashes of 90 damage each add to 180 pts of damage, against a target with 50 armor they would only do 80 in total.
For bash to compete with melee in damage, a serious investment in Strength is required. (This is not too big of an issue currently, as with the latest change to character progression you will have more than enough SPs to completely max out the stats of your veterans by late game.)
If you have the DLC, you can augment your soldiers with the melee bionic torso, which reduces the cost of melee attacks by 1AP.
Conclusion: The big advantage of bash is that it costs 1 AP and that with high enough Strength it can do as much as damage as a dedicated melee attack that costs 2 AP. This makes it ideal for Heavies (who have the Brawler skill - LVL2 Passive Heavy Skill, adds 50% damage to bash and melee attacks), that can jetpack to an enemy and club it (which is the best thing they can usually do after jetpacking anyway). It is also very useful for other builds, to take care of worms and mindfraggers. However, a dedicated melee fighter can be devastating, especially when considering all the buffs available to melee and that they donāt need to care about accuracy.
Valygar, how can I help you migrate the guide to the wiki (and reorganize it in the process)?
Rather than putting the guide here, where it will be lost to the passage of time, Iād recommend submitting it to gamefaqs.com.
I did that with my walkthrough guide.
Heās asking about getting it included into the official Wiki that weāre working on.
Thanks!
The problem with putting it into a pdf is that this is always a WIP and works best when other players read it and make comments, so that I can plug them directly into the guide.
Also, Iām usually doing this while multi-tasking on the phone. (Like literally right now, while Iām watching the kids).
Iāve been doing that with my FAQ. Adding to it overtime as I learn and experience more in the game.
Hi @VOLAND ! I can do it myself. Just tell me when is it final, checked, and reorganized. You can either write a new forum post or edit this one (it is the first 3 posts right plus some more right?) or make Google Docs document or PDF (but make sure I can copy it :)) and share it with me.
Here is a link to the WIKI: http://phoenix.server317.com/Main_Page. I think I will make a new column on the right with Player Guides as there will probably be more of them later.
I was thinking to make your guide in a similar way as factions are right now (http://phoenix.server317.com/New_Jericho). So it will start with a table of contents and will have multi-level clickable headlines.
Thanks a lot, will do!
There are still a few things I want to add, and first run them by the community here.
This was a good guide, in the beginning. Some parts are still relevant but most went the way of the dodo bird as PP was upgraded, changed, revamped, nerfed, etc, etc, etcā¦ I still enjoy the game, but I think Snapshot got way too ambitious. Itās too busy. This is suppose to be a game, games are suppose to be fun, this went from fun to tedious almost from the start. Again let me reiterate, I still enjoy the game, but there is so much to learn and because they aināt done making changes, there is still so much to learn, again. There are things about this game that I will probably never be ok with, like resource management and cost, but I will continue to plug away and relearn as game continues to morph. Eventually Iāll post likes and dislikes, but until all the polishinā is done Iāll wait.
Funny you should say that, as Iām currently very busy doing the second edition 
I will have it done before the Steam release, and when I do I will post the link here.
It would be best to include it in game, as PDF
Iāll be very interested in looking it over. Donāt be surprised though if you end up having to do a Third Edition or more. With the future DLC and continued game tweaks just when you thought it was safe to go back in the waterā¦ 
Just created an account to say thanks for your effort. Really appreciated
The comprehensive guide is now the Phoenix Mentaculus http://wiki.phoenixpoint.com/Getting_Started#Baby_steps_on_the_Geoscape
now with colors and moving pictures! 
And integrated into the official wiki http://wiki.phoenixpoint.com/
Comments, criticisms and suggestions all welcome. You can post them right here. Or create a new post and ping me, as you wish.
Iāve been reading it recently and noticed a couple of spelling errors. Because its locked what would be the best way to get the issues corrected? Very comprehensive guide, its impressive.
Create an account and I will give you edit rights. Voland can also do it.
EDIT: I see that you already have an account so I gave you rights.
Is the āmost likely to hit near the ringā thing still true? Some quick looks at the stats suggested it was no longer any sort of interesting curve and just chooses the spread angle uniformly. (Along with of course choosing the rotation angle uniformly) Thereād be some nonlinearity because uniform in angle doesnāt mean linear along the target line, but thatās a very different effect and small for actual spread values.