I still maintain that TFTD is worthless. Too ridiculous. Again, hunting for the last alien drives me insane. It can be bad enough in X-COM at times, but TFTD takes it to a new level. You can spend an hour playing and end up with only 15 minutes of real gaming - the other 45 are trying to find the shipping container an alien is hiding in.
UFO Defense has everything good that's in TFTD and absolutely none of the bad.
And, personally, I recommend getting attached to the little guys. Maybe wait a few missions before you bother naming them, but when you get a standout it's worth getting attached and then protecting him. Surround him with a few grunts and let them get picked off while he gets the kills and the new stats.
Well, until the psi attacks. Then cry when your commandos turn out to be mental idiots and you're forced to put them down. I occasionally cheat now and raise their psi stats. Sometimes, not always.
I've changed my play style a lot from when I was 14 (I'm 28 now, so that would make sense.) I used to name everyone. I used to revive some (but not all) of them (although I never altered stats other than psi stats.) I used to still go through dozens of soldiers, though. I'd set up two main bases (I rarely have the patience for more than one now) and a third which just bought soldiers and sold any that didn't have very good marksmanship and APs off the bat.