Datatap Missions

[Nicklopez2005@gmail.com]

So I've been playing the mod quite a bit and i've done about 4-5 datatap missions throughout my playthroughs.. twice now when I start the mission I've had a pod of snakemen spawn directly on top of my datatap. Given that I only had 5 resistence members and my haven adviser, neither time I was able to finish off the pod in turn 1.... they immediately knock my datatap down to 4 hp.... both occasions I've had another pod roll up on me after turn 1 and finish off the datatap. So by turn 2 and the other time by turn 3, it's mission failed. My suggestion to the Pavonis team, can you please not allow them to spawn directly on you from the beginning, or perhaps make the datatap stronger? I sprinted directly across the map with my team out of cover and still couldn't get there in time. It just feels shitty to lose with 1 turn. Both times it's completely railroaded my campaign... which I don't mind a challenge, but this is just absurd lol

[Donkerman]

Take six reaper shinobis with Wraith/spider suits. Problem solved.

But seriously, this has luckily not happened to me I usually have at least two to three turns before a pod makes contact with the relay. By that time I will at least have my one shinobi at the data tap to help protect while the rest of the team sprint across the map.

[Nicklopez2005@gmail.com]

Yeah, the issue wasn't the squad I brought. It was the pod activation immediately at the start of the mission on top of the datatap. I had a squad of 8 geared up troops, but the squad you bring usually spawns a fair distance from the datatap. I sprinted them directly across the middle of the map, but it was over at the start of turn 2. The first time it happened, I assumed it was just bad luck, but now that it's happened twice in a hand full of those missions... I figured I'd make a post. I play on ironman, so having this happen in month two on your starting region when you've made contact with a couple other regions.... it's probably going to be the end of the campaign unless I can somehow manage to liberate shortly before the advent strength overwhelms me.

[Jacke]

Take six reaper shinobis with Wraith/spider suits. Problem solved.

I don't know if you're just trying to be funny, but these damn datatap missions start happening a lot sooner than anyone can have a Shinobi with Reaper or a Spider Suit.

[LordYanaek]

twice now when I start the mission I've had a pod of snakemen spawn directly on top of my datatap. Given that I only had 5 resistence members and my haven adviser, neither time I was able to finish off the pod in turn 1.... they immediately knock my datatap down to 4 hp....

So i take it you never had 2 vipers fire out of yellow alert before you even move your first guy and kill both the advisor and one of your rebels
The nearest pod shouldn't spawn within vision range of the objective, plain and simple, but i suspect fixing this isn't as simple as stating it

[Jadiel]

twice now when I start the mission I've had a pod of snakemen spawn directly on top of my datatap. Given that I only had 5 resistence members and my haven adviser, neither time I was able to finish off the pod in turn 1.... they immediately knock my datatap down to 4 hp....

So i take it you never had 2 vipers fire out of yellow alert before you even move your first guy and kill both the advisor and one of your rebels
The nearest pod shouldn't spawn within vision range of the objective, plain and simple, but i suspect fixing this isn't as simple as stating it

Is that actually possible, or just hyperbole? I've seen aliens activate before my first turn (and even before my squad conceals), but I've never seen them get alert actions. I always assumed it was because they are activating on my turn, but have I really just been getting lucky?

[Jacke]

Is that actually possible, or just hyperbole? I've seen aliens activate before my first turn (and even before my squad conceals), but I've never seen them get alert actions. I always assumed it was because they are activating on my turn, but have I really just been getting lucky?

In xwynns' LW2 Legend video #62 "Pleasant Experience" he had a pod activate on his squad deploying. Despite being concealed, the pod remained active and advanced as an active pod right over his deployment zone. One of his soldiers was trapped and would break concealment if moved and would likely be discovered on the next Alien turn, so he decided to engage them. Having a close pod to his deployment forced his whole mission tactics and there was little he could do about it. The only thing I think was open was moving directly away from the activated pod, but considering they were moving active fast, even that might not have worked. And with mission timers, being forced to waste turns running around can lead to failure all by itself.

I don't know if seeing another pod go active or firing will put a pod on yellow alert, but these datatap missions often have pods just too close to them. It beggars belief that a rebel resistance has such poor operational security that ADVENT can get their troops so close to a vital installation before XCOM can react.

[LordYanaek]

Is that actually possible, or just hyperbole?

Not an hyperbole, i've had this happen once in my very first abandoned Veteran run.
Pods have 20% (Veteran) or 33% (Commander/Legend) to get a yellow action so it's bad luck when it occurs on the very first pod on Turn 0 (before your first turn) but it definitely happened.

This was 1.0 and it might have been fixed in 1.1 or 1.2 thought.

[Kharneth]

I never saw aliens take actions when activate in mission start too.

Anyway I always see data pad missions one of the most easy in the game. You need too understand how if works, first Alien strength must be at least 4 in the region and you need at least 6 rebels working on Intel, faceless count double. If you meet the conditions put an appropriate adviser on the Haven, at least a Sgt and, my favorite class here is a tecnical or a granadier, you can't harvest corpses anyway and they can blown cover for your Haven soldiers. They are also a lot of help if you suffer a real retaliation

In the mission itself take a group that can quickly reach the data pad, shinoby and assaults shine here. One DFA snipper is good too, because usually can help your rebels from the deployment point. Same for the specialist that can use their aid abilities in any member of the squad and can hack from squadsigh. Granadiers and technicals can also using SMg for good movement while maintain their offensive power.

At the start if a pod activate in the data pad spend all your resources from the rebels like crazy. Blow their cover, use grenades... The usual stuff. If no one pod activate in the data pad, don't move and risk to activate something, put your rebels on ow where they stand and use your shinoby to scout the pod that is usually between your squad and the rebels and blown it.

[LordYanaek]

At the start if a pod activate in the data pad spend all your resources from the rebels like crazy. Blow their cover, use grenades... The usual stuff.

Well, good advice that unfortunately doesn't really work!
Basic grenades on non combat engineer grenadiers are good for blowing cardboard and nothing else. A single tech can't take care of a pod on his own unless you're playing in xwynns mode and you always set them on fire The datatap itself is static and can be easily hit it even by flahsbanged enemies. OP had Viper pods so basic grenades won't kill them all either as they have too much health.

That mission is usually easy but when you have a viper pod active on T1 there isn't much you can do if they decide to shoot at the relay rather that attempt low % shots at your guys when flashbanged. You'll kill a bunch of them, but they can do pretty high damage on the relay.

As for T0 shots, as i said it was in 1.0. Others have reported it as a bug so it might have been fixed.

[gravityd9]

Just wait until it's a hive queen pod that activates on your rebels on turn one rather than just a viper pod. Had that happen twice in a row now. Datatap and all rebels dead by the end of alien's turn two.

[LordYanaek]

Wow, i only had those in Haven Defense missions (those were all aliens drop as reinforcements) and they never had a chance to actually act. Must be really scary as a T1 activation

[Dwarfling]

I'd give you advice but the mission tends to be fairly RNG heavy: even if you don't activate a pod by the beacon right away, they might come at you with yellow alert from an exposed side and blast one of your rebels with a reaction. I mean, a fairly number of datatap retals turn easy enough, but on some you'll get screwed over.

So run those missions at the risk of losing some personel: if your haven isn't large enough to justify the losses just default to 4 intel X hiding to catch a mission here and there or just turn 4 supply X hiding and forget about the region.

[Jacke]

I'd give you advice but the mission tends to be fairly RNG heavy: even if you don't activate a pod by the beacon right away, they might come at you with yellow alert from an exposed side and blast one of your rebels with a reaction. I mean, a fairly number of datatap retals turn easy enough, but on some you'll get screwed over.

So run those missions at the risk of losing some personel: if your haven isn't large enough to justify the losses just default to 4 intel X hiding to catch a mission here and there or just turn 4 supply X hiding and forget about the region.

Also, a soldier haven advisor will go on all haven missions, while a scientist advisor will be on intel raid and an engineer advisor will be on supply raid haven missions. If you don't consider a haven worth defending, pull out the advisor else they will almost certainly die or be captured.

[Nicklopez2005@gmail.com]

Let me just clarify because I think maybe I confused some. I started the mission and immediately the pod of snakemen(3 snakes & 1 gunner) were activated on my datatap, but they didn't do reaction fire. So I began my first turn with my 5 resistance members and adviser that start at the datatap. I killed one snake and crippled another down to 2hp. So they had 2 snakes and 1 gunner still remaining and I do a mad dash with the squad I brought to the mission, but they're 3 turns away with sprinting directly down the middle of the map... that's with decent mobility(13-16). So during the alien's first turn, the gunner blasts my datatap along with one of the snakemen down to 4HP while the crippled one snatches up a resistance member. At the same time another pod of 6 roll up along the side window and scatter.... they get the reaction fire and finish off the datatap... mission failed at the start of turn 2. The time before it was mission failed at the start of turn 3 in an almost identical scenario. Usually you're squad that you bring to the missions starts a fair distance away... so making it to the datatap even with a mad sprint is very unlikely by turn 2... possible by the end of turn 3... but in both cases, it was over by the start of turn 2 and 3. I only bring this up in a thread, because i've done a hand full of these mission types and now on two occasions it's happened. I figured it was worth bringing to the developers attention and also seeing if others have experienced this or perhaps I'm just super unlucky.

I'm not sure about possible fixes, because I know that in vanilla XCOM 2, the aliens spawning next to datataps is quite common and this isn't an issue with the troops spawning in from the skyranger. I also know that in vanilla the datatap has like 40+ HP and I expect that to be significantly reduced because this is long war! However, I think a pod of snakemen+gunner that dish old lots of dps is rough for this type of mission in the second month of the campaign. Mainly because you almost surely won't have mag weapons at this stage, and so the resistance members aren't using laser weapons yet. I don't recall the exact HP of the datatap, but I'd say it was somewhere around 15-18HP and the snakemen with plasma weapons can wreck the datatap with one shot... and I believe they can even crit the datatap. If you use flashbangs they will almost all surely attack the datatap since they go for the best percentages. There isn't any sort of options to counter this sort of situation that I can think of.

[Autoclave]

Are the pods spawning proximity intentional in this mission? On veteran I activated to huge pods on both flanks. These type of missions are completely out of control for the player. There is no tactics here involved when you sandwiched from the start. Why there is no minimum spawn distance from the starting position? Why is this allowed?

Thank God I am not playing iron man.

[Nicklopez2005@gmail.com]

I hear you autoclave. I always play ironman and don't mind starting over when I fail, but for the first time in ages I actually reverted back to an old version of the save file because of this nonsense. I can't say for sure, but I believe the spawning of enemies for these missions hasn't been modded and they appear as they would in vanilla, which is often right next to the datatap... which makes these missions really unpredictable and completely out of the players hands on whether or not it will likely end in a failed mission and railroad your campaign. I'm not even sure if there's a fix for this sort of thing. The only that I can see to work is to have the datatap get damage immunity for 1-2 turns at the start or increase the HP of the datatap.

[aedn]

Are the pods spawning proximity intentional in this mission? On veteran I activated to huge pods on both flanks. These type of missions are completely out of control for the player. There is no tactics here involved when you sandwiched from the start. Why there is no minimum spawn distance from the starting position? Why is this allowed?

Thank God I am not playing iron man.

These missions are 100% preventable by the player, by managing your haven. They spawn due to having large numbers (more then 4) of people assigned to one job, in higher strength advent regions, in this case intel. having a mission where you have sub-optimal starting positions because you choose not to manage your rebel jobs is perfectly fine imo. Much like regular retaliations they are largely a damage race, where you have to kill aliens fast enough to overcome them prior to losing the mission.

The only issue with the data-tap missions are that some pods start to close to the datatap itself, forcing turn 1 activations which is problematic.

[Jacke]

The only that I can see to work is to have the datatap get damage immunity for 1-2 turns at the start or increase the HP of the datatap.

That's a start, but it's not enough. Especially if ADVENT can tell they can't damage the datatap so they spend the time killing the rebels.

There's a problem in many missions and maps with pods spawning too close to XCOM forces, including being activated at start. This needs to be fixed.

[Nicklopez2005@gmail.com]

Jacke, I would be okay with aliens attacking rebels if the datatap had been immune to damage. They spawned on top of me and activated immediately, but I still had a turn to put the majority of my resistance haven members in cover, and had the datatap been off limits from taking damage, I would've flashbang the aliens and most likely survived until my squad reacted the objective. As far as the datatap mission being preventable, that's not exactly true, given that finding a faceless within your haven is chance based. In other playthroughs, i've found a faceless in week one... in this particular playthrough I hadn't found one leading up to the datatap at the end of the 2nd month. Yes, you can put a higher ranking soldier in the haven to increase the chances, but it's still comes down to a chance. Anyways, I agree that it probably needs fixing. Usually when I lose a campaign I can think back to what I did wrong... this however, has severe consequences to a failed mission early in your campaign and isn't a very fun way to lose