Alien Rulers on regular missions, without DLC active or The Nest done. Why???

[randomkeith]

Help!!!!!!

What's going on???

What can I do?????

Why has this happened???

[Arcalane]

Do you have the DLC installed? If yes, then it is active. The only way for it to not be active is if you opted not to install it in Steam. If you didn't check the box for it when starting the campaign, that just means it skips the narrative content and unleashes it on you from Day 1.

[nmkaplan]

That being said, I've played a decent amount and I've seen the Viper King 2 times - a tower mission (since disallowed by 1.1) and a troop column ambush.

I was thinking that hopefully rulers were only allowed to show up on missions without timers. Has anyone seen a ruler show up on a timed mission? That'd be brutal.

[NephilimNexus]

Oh it can be deactivated on Steam. Make sure game is set to not auto-update. Go into the game files, move the DLC folders into ZIP files, delete folders.

[Arcalane]

Oh it can be deactivated on Steam. Make sure game is set to not auto-update. Go into the game files, move the DLC folders into ZIP files, delete folders.

...there's a much easier way to do this that doesn't involve changing the game's update settings or moving files around manually.

1) Change the Library view into Detailed mode (with the column of games on the left and splash for the selected game in the center)
2) Select XCOM2.
3) Scroll down to the 'DLC' block below Achievements.
4) Uncheck any DLC you want to disable.
5) Steam will autoupdate, deleting the DLC from XCOM2.

Now, keep in mind it may be impossible to keep playing that campaign save if you disable the DLC mid-campaign. Removing cosmetic content (e.g. Anarchy's Children) this way is no big deal, but the Alien Hunters content is a little more intertwined with the game systems.

[randomkeith]

Thanks, this happened in April as well, is that normal seems a little early????

I was able to defeat him without loss, eventually.

Also marks the first time I used a flame thrower in this game.

[Sines]

I haven't even encountered The Nest mission yet. So either they show up without the mission much earlier, or you've got a bug. I know that v1.1 changed when the DLCs start, however.

Also, good note about the flamethrower. Rulers are particularly weak to fire (thanks to them burning every action), but there's not many sources of fire damage in Vanilla. Now there's a whole class that can do it twice, as a fresh squaddie. Naturally, they're never going to show up on missions where I have Technicals, of course.

[Arcalane]

...that reminds me, everyone remembers that incendiary grenades to like 9-11 damage up front now and disable everything but moving and hiding, right?

Man, that's gonna ruin a Ruler's day.