Solution for 0% column ambush/supply raids.

[Thrombozyt]

How about adjusting the force level for under-infiltration? It would be reasonable, that immediately following an incident the elite is sent to investigate being later replaced by the regular guys as the shock troops move on.

Giving a 0% supply raid a +4 modifier on force level would lead to an exponential scaling of difficulty (as both numbers and quality of opponents increase). Chances of being overwhelmed are much higher when you cannot clear each pod in 1 round due to HP being just too high. With a flat bonus, it would hurt the most in the initial stages preventing XCOM from ever jumping massively ahead of the curve in the first place.

The goal of making 0% supply raids difficult is to improve the risk/reward ratio. To get a great reward, you have to do something very, very risky.

In XCOM2 and LW2, a lot of researches and proving grounds projects require certain alien corpses to do. If you can just do a 0% mission to unlock those technologies early, then you can get powerful technologies months early if you are good enough to do it. This makes the next 0% mission (and all other missions) even easier.

The result is that while you are increasing the risk of doing those missions, you are also increasing the reward in a gamebreaking way. This would make 0% raids even more desirable and make a great divide between those that can break the game (and thus make it more boring for themselves) and those that can't.

Given the fact, that you get similar corpses to the same supply raid done 2 month later, I don't see the problem or massively breaking the game by providing rare corpses. How does a Muton corpse after 1 month help you? You don't have the prerequisites to autopsy at that point and you don't even have a proving ground. Name a specific corpse that you are worried about.

In most cases, you will encounter the same kind of alien just with a higher quality and the amount of supplies you get from selling corpses won't be much more. The few supplies that you get extra for a Muton over a Sectoid is negligible.

However, picture yourself in the first supply raid that comes in early april. You have 1-3 Sgt soldiers as your best and still conventional weapons. However, instead of the central pod consisting of an officer, a stun lancer, a gunner, 2 sentries and 3 troopers - your typical early rainbow pod at force level 3 - you have a MK2 officer, a shield bearer, a Rocketeer, a heavy gunner, a guardian, a MEC and 2 MK2 troopers. The alien pod of 4 you encounter isn't the Viper leader with a sentry and 2 troopers (FL3) but rather a Muton, a Viper and 2 Sectoids (FL7).

I would put a successful mission against 25+ of those enemies into the realm of 'impossible'. Even under-infiltrating to 60% is still a MASSIVE risk as +2 FL at that point introduces scouts, MECs, Najas, Mutons plus sectiods and vipers as followers instead of leaders. Things you are not prepared to handle at that level. From what I have seen, doing those raids requires you to control and dispatch pods before the next are pulled.

[Saph7]

How about adjusting the force level for under-infiltration? It would be reasonable, that immediately following an incident the elite is sent to investigate being later replaced by the regular guys as the shock troops move on.

Higher strength Supply Raids have a powerful command pod now. It's not quite the same as an increase in force level, but it'll definitely leave a mark when you run into it.

[Thrombozyt]

Higher strength Supply Raids have a powerful command pod now. It's not quite the same as an increase in force level, but it'll definitely leave a mark when you run into it.

From what I have seen/experienced in these kind of missions, a single more powerful (= larger??) pod would increase the risk only slightly. If you hit that central pod early, you are probably in trouble. Once you have cleared your corner and set up, your sharpshooters still reign supreme with a single concealed scout.

A across-the-board FL increase would mean that you won't be able to establish your foothold without major casualties on a 0% raid.

[Saph7]

From what I have seen/experienced, a single more powerful (= larger??) pod increases the risk only slightly. If you hit that central pod early, you are probably in trouble. Once you have cleared your corner and set up, your sharpshooters still reign supreme with a single concealed scout.

It's possible. Give it a try and see how it goes. I suspect you'll be a bit less dismissive of those command pods once you try fighting them.

[Tuhalu]

I didn't say it was easy. Plenty of players weren't good enough to beat v1.2 0% supply raids. Plenty of other players were. v1.2 0% supply raids, broke the strategy game for those players.

Giving corpses ahead of schedule just breaks the game in even more ways for the few that can do it.

[Thrombozyt]

I didn't say it was easy. Plenty of players weren't good enough to beat v1.2 0% supply raids. Plenty of other players were. v1.2 0% supply raids, broke the strategy game for those players.

Giving corpses ahead of schedule just breaks the game in even more ways for the few that can do it.

Please give me an example where "corpses ahead of schedule just break[s] the game in even more". Which corpses are a problem when they appear too early?

@Saph7
I'll give it a try - unfortunately the change log says nothing about how the command pod is more difficult. Is it larger or does it contain more advance enemies or both? Also it triggers at high alert levels - I'm unsure if the infiltration level directly modifies the alert level of a region for that specific mission.

[chrisb]

I think 0% supply raids are fine now. I'd guess there are maybe a handful of people at best that can 0% supply raids on anything above Veteran. Tuning it anymore than it is will only be affecting those handful that have the chops and skills to actually pull them off. Not to mention you likely will take deaths on these missions now and it becomes a tradeoff of getting soldiers killed for the rewards. I would say they are tuned enough that the only people capable of doing them are also capable of house-ruling them to not break their own game. I really don't think this needs more attention.