Blacksite reinforcement waves

[Legato107]

Just wanting to get a clarification here from somebody in the know. Played the blacksite for the first time tonight, took my time on the first 5 or so pods before entering the facility. Couldn't say how many turns I took, 30+? As I approached the facility I see a reinforcement indicator after several turns of creeping up. Pod of 8, all nasty stuff. Another pod of 8 the turn after with another reinforcement warning. I get the picture, so I reload and try to run through the facility. For the next I think 10 or so turns the game dropped a pod of 8 every turn on me. I end up completely surrounded by 50 or so enemies. I know I was taking the mission slow and maybe not in the spirit of the game, but man that was a brutal and completely unexpected zero to 100.

So I was wondering here, what caused this? Is this an invisible turn timer as I suspect before the game just starts dropping mega pods on you? Or is it a scripted thing special to this mission? And if it's a timer, about how long is it?

[Doglywolf]

I had the same issue , My squad is not strong enough to kill a full pod in 1 turn so im not done cleaning up the drop before the 2nd one comes and it just snow balls , unlike other missions i can't rush the objective because if i get to close without creeping it triggers like 15 guys to activate and they absolutely devastated my squad because im in a zone where advent STR is 9!!!!!
I might not be able to beat this and might lose to the avatar clock!


I have see this post a lot bout black site and tower missions with Reinforcement overkill. But at least tower it pushes you forward and stops once you take over the tower then you just have to do clean up so maybe you sacrifice a shinobi to turn it off or something.

The Reinforcement settings are turned up WAY to high. I mean at least put a mechanism in where if POD Dropped guys are still alive they wont drop another wave for 2-3 turns or something. I understand its supposed to be hard but this is just painful !

[code99]

I too think they overdone the reinforcements rate. Its worse when you get dark events about reinforcements that you cant even counter.

Tower mission is very hard but at least they stop dropping ppl in after you hack the objective but blacksite ...

[Aetherlift]

yeah the difficulty of each reinforcement pod is like insane on blacksite missions... one time i had an andromedon, 4 mecs, and 3 advent, and i hadnt even seen an archon yet at that point! and consider that once they start coming they seem to come literally every turn!! i've found the only way to do it is to stealth the mission. just sneak the squad to the evac and then only fight the pod or two thats guarding the vial and leave before reinforcements start coming.

[infidel901]

Can you guys note what difficulty level you were on, and whether or not you had a DE up that increased reinforcement speeds?

[TechnoMage]

Wouldn't the fact they have advent strength so high be a possible explanation for the ridiculous reinforcements?

[Narcissistic_Martyr]

Hmm... super secret critic research facilty gets attacked... aliens have forces in the area that they rush there... if you aren't gone before they arrive things get much much harder. Sounds about right to me.

Also... as an aside... this sort of thing is where breaching charges can come in handy.

Start a distraction/ fight near an entrance, send a shinobi or two to poke a hole in the wall, set the charges and x4 everything. Reconceal the shinobi, and either go to the original LZ or throw a new one for extraction.

[Legato107]

Can you guys note what difficulty level you were on, and whether or not you had a DE up that increased reinforcement speeds?

Default difficulty, no reinforcement DEs

Wouldn't the fact they have advent strength so high be a possible explanation for the ridiculous reinforcements?

I think the area has 4-5 strength

Hmm... super secret critic research facilty gets attacked... aliens have forces in the area that they rush there... if you aren't gone before they arrive things get much much harder. Sounds about right to me.

The narrative is definitely there, but is it good gameplay?

Where is xwynns? If you're reading this please give me your insight. I watch all your videos!!!!!

[mmCion]

yes, I've noticed that on untimed missions if you take too long the LW guys were nice enough to program doom reinforcements.

I'm pretty sure this is intentional to make you move and get stuff done, even in untimed missions.

I figured it out the hard way. I was mid campaign (so mutons, mecs, etc), and took too long on a blow up the statue mission. suddently 2 doom reinforcements appeared on the same turn, each of around 6-8 units, with Muton Elites, Superheavy Mecs, and I think even a Gatekeeper.

You can safely guess I never again took so long on an untimed mission.

Good luck bro!

[nightwyrm]

You know how some people disliked X2's auto-lose timer and wanted endless reinforcements instead. Now you can have both in LW2!!

[8wayz]

Yep, there is a doom timer hidden from the player on non-timed missions.

I first discovered it on a Tower Assault mission, where you do have regular reinforcements. All of a sudden I started getting one 8-unit pod per turn. With hardlocked 5 soldier squad.

It is a bit overdone though, once it starts, there is no way for you to accomplish the mission.

[Maebalzurakin]

I am wondering if the idea on these missions is just to run away and try to escape?

Maybe think of it like a bank heist? Smash/Grab/Run. If you go with the bank heist comparison, the robbers would never try to outgun the waves of incoming SWAT teams. They would try to avoid and escape.

I am currently infiltrating my first black site now, have not played it yet, but I went in with a lot of heavy guns and sparks. Now I am thinking a small team of shinobi that have conceal. skirt the edge of the map in concealment, grab the vial, conceal again and run for the evac.

I do really enjoy how LW2 is making me rethink my strategies.

[trihero]

I didn't nkow this mission had infinite reinforcements. Does the Forge also have infinite reinforcements that trigger before you reach the objective?

[Hazelnut]

I too have been swamped with reinforcements, and I think it could do with some tuning. I like the concept but the implementation is too harsh right now for me anyway. Having some indication that central have detected incoming reinforcements a couple of turns before the doom timing kicks off would be nice, and also maybe ramp up over 6 turns or so? So you get a drop, 2 turns, drop, 1 turn, drop, drop... etc

I'm scared to do the blacksite but the doom ticker is only 4 pips from being full, and I need to set back avatar really soon. (Nov, and still not at plasma)