Best way to approach JA3 as a franchise newbie?

So last summer I bought myself a copy of Jagged 3 for the PS5, and only just recently started playing.

As someone with zero previous experience with the series (or other strategy games of this ilk), I'm wondering how the best way to set up a playthrough as...someone who admittedly has little idea what she's doing so far.

(I.e. which mercs to hire, how to best flesh out their stats, crucial dialog choices, etc)

Thanks. Sorry to randomly show up like this.

(My current team is Steroid, Fox, Ice, Wolf, and Meltdown)