Non lethal bonus is 5000 points. marginal. Non-lethal =/= combat alerts. Shooting someone also removes them from the field. Volunteers are plentiful and you don't need *that* many guys. Speed is by far a greater factor than non-lethal. Should I upload some videos for you? pick a mission and we will see who scores higher with your loadout vs some random one I pick with no tranqs, magazines, or snipers .
yeah and the benefits of extra soldiers can be rather overstated... extra combat, support, intel, medic, etc don't make that important of a contribution... i mean, really, I play with No Markers and even going back to E or D rank support, intel, etc you're really not that disadvantaged. heck... the game is even more fun that way ;p
my first file was mostly tranq/fulton at least half, maybe upwards of 75%... my new one is basically full rambo, and while i'm 'less advanced' at, say, Mission 10 then my first one, i feel about the same at 'Hour 10' ... progress per hour doesn't seem that much difference. i mean, which is the 'best'? i mean, i dunno... there are so many other things to factor... i mean, also fuel?
farming missions very fast like Rambo also generates a lot more fuel.. so, what's better? faster fultons of B and A rank solders for your intel and support teams, or faster fuel? i'm not convinced that slowly fultoning everyone really unlocks 4/4 MB and FOB or S rank volunteers faster...
and most of those earlier soldiers are all going to be deleted anyhow
you could be better off completing the game 2-3x faster and unlocking S rank volunteers sooner
or just bum rushing through missions and farming fuel to get a 4/4 MB/FOB faster and then worrying about getting 1400 S rank soldiers after you finish the game much faster than if you tried to tranq/fulton everyone
i played about 250 hours or so one way (up to about 515,000 Heroism) basically pick up everything, fulton most ppl, etc and now i'm about 50-75 hours going full rambo... i don't find the difference 'per hour' in 'total progress' (so, story unlocks to higher Rank soldiers... Fuel... MB 4/4 platforms) to be that much... both seem viable.