Are there benefits to over-infiltrating Regional HQ?

[Aether]

Since I already have a pretty long base infiltration on the regional HQ with a 10-man team, I'm planning on launching at 100%. I'm assuming that there are already going to be a ton of enemies and that spending extra infiltration time isn't going to reduce this. Is this the correct strategist decision or am I off base here?

[Jadiel]

I'm pretty sure you get the same benefits from over infiltration on hqs as you do on regular missions, i.e. 5-6 fewer enemies, lower spotting distance while concealed and lower evac timers. However, infil times on 10 man squads are so high that it's not usually worth it. 5 fewer enemies doesn't make much of a difference when you're fighting 40+, and if hq is vulnerable, the ai will rapidly reinforce the region.

I had 1 hq which was str 7 when I started infiltrating, but had got to 11 when I launched the mission 10 days later

[cmdrspyker92]

I had 1 hq which was str 7 when I started infiltrating, but had got to 11 when I launched the mission 10 days later

Like lambs to the slaughter

[Devon_v]

Yeah, it gives you benefits, but they're kinda pointless given the nature of the mission. You're going to drop the flare after the first pod and there's over a dozen turns of combat after that. You can't stealth the mission so concealment range is meaningless. 5-7 fewer enemies is pointless since the increase in ADVENT Strength as they move to reinforce the HQ will actually make the mission harder anyway.

[marceror]

Yeah, it gives you benefits, but they're kinda pointless given the nature of the mission. You're going to drop the flare after the first pod and there's over a dozen turns of combat after that. You can't stealth the mission so concealment range is meaningless. 5-7 fewer enemies is pointless since the increase in ADVENT Strength as they move to reinforce the HQ will actually make the mission harder anyway.

Is this because increased "strength" results in better quality enemy units? What strength exactly affects still isn't completely clear, but quality of units is what I'm suspecting -- in addition to affecting certain enemy missions that become available at high strength.

[trihero]

strength = quantity of units, not quality
quality goes up over time on a regular basis, nothing to do with strength (there are a couple types of missions which adjust quality level up or down a little bit, but it's not related to advent strength)

[marceror]

strength = quantity of units, not quality
quality goes up over time on a regular basis, nothing to do with strength (there are a couple types of missions which adjust quality level up or down a little bit, but it's not related to advent strength)

Hi Trihero, that's what I originally thought, but if that's true the below statement is confusing.

5-7 fewer enemies is pointless since the increase in ADVENT Strength as they move to reinforce the HQ will actually make the mission harder anyway.

If we can reduce enemies by 5 - 7 from over-infiltrating, but Advent strength increases will add enemies... how would we end up with a harder mission? 5 - 7 is a big reduction, so I would think maybe it would be a wash?

[Devon_v]

strength = quantity of units, not quality
quality goes up over time on a regular basis, nothing to do with strength (there are a couple types of missions which adjust quality level up or down a little bit, but it's not related to advent strength)

Hi Trihero, that's what I originally thought, but if that's true the below statement is confusing.

5-7 fewer enemies is pointless since the increase in ADVENT Strength as they move to reinforce the HQ will actually make the mission harder anyway.

If we can reduce enemies by 5 - 7 from over-infiltrating, but Advent strength increases will add enemies... how would we end up with a harder mission? 5 - 7 is a big reduction, so I would think maybe it would be a wash?

Because if you remove 5, and in the meantime ADVENT added 10, you're at +5 and going backwards.

[marceror]

strength = quantity of units, not quality
quality goes up over time on a regular basis, nothing to do with strength (there are a couple types of missions which adjust quality level up or down a little bit, but it's not related to advent strength)

Hi Trihero, that's what I originally thought, but if that's true the below statement is confusing.

5-7 fewer enemies is pointless since the increase in ADVENT Strength as they move to reinforce the HQ will actually make the mission harder anyway.

If we can reduce enemies by 5 - 7 from over-infiltrating, but Advent strength increases will add enemies... how would we end up with a harder mission? 5 - 7 is a big reduction, so I would think maybe it would be a wash?

Because if you remove 5, and in the meantime ADVENT added 10, you're at +5 and going backwards.

So what you're indicating is that increased strength during infiltration is always going to scale up faster than the reduced enemy readiness will?

If so, good to know. There are lots and lots of mechanics to be understood here.

EDIT - Grammar correction

[Devon_v]

Hi Trihero, that's what I originally thought, but if that's true the below statement is confusing.



If we can reduce enemies by 5 - 7 from over-infiltrating, but Advent strength increases will add enemies... how would we end up with a harder mission? 5 - 7 is a big reduction, so I would think maybe it would be a wash?

Because if you remove 5, and in the meantime ADVENT added 10, you're at +5 and going backwards.

So what you're indicating is that increased strength is always during infiltration is always going to scale up faster than the reduced enemy readiness will?

If so, good to know. There are lots and lots of mechanics to be understood here.

I'm not sure that it's required to, but it seems that completing the network tower makes ADVENT want to reinforce the region quite a bit. Since it can easily take two weeks or more to get a full squad in, that's a lot of opportunities for troop transfers. I guess if you had really strong Intel, like multiple level 2 rebels and the Avenger scanning, you might go for it and try to pick off the transfers as they came in, thus gaining loot and making progress on the HQ. I still feel that it's safer to just go at 100%

[marceror]

Fair points. I've seen "Swarming" result in anywhere from 38 enemies to 51 on HQ assaults, so clearly Swarming has a lot of variation depending on Advent strength.

[mattprice516]

It's just that the scale doesn't go past Swarming, heh. Advent strength and the enemy number reductions from higher infiltration are two different modifiers to the same number - the number of enemies on the mission is determined by the advent regional strength, the modifier for that mission type, and the infiltration modifier (ranges from +12 to -3). What people are saying is just that if you go from 100% to 200% infiltration (which will give you a -3 modifier to strength) but advent dumps 5 legions into the region during that time, you've had a net gain of 2.

[trihero]

So what you're indicating is that increased strength during infiltration is always going to scale up faster than the reduced enemy readiness will?

Not always, but it can happen, especially on legend when they have regular reinforcements coming in every 8 days. In general, over-infiltrating will make the mission a little easier, but if your team is well equipped to handle 46 mobs, it can probably handle 51 mobs is what I would say.

To me the real reason I just hop in at 100% is because when you bring in a 10 man team, the infiltration time is a blistering 20+ days. If you wait for 200% it doubles that, for comparatively little gain. So I just boost whatever the minimum is to hit 100% and do it asap to get my men unlocked from infiltration.