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During the advent base assault I noticed that there were some big pods, and some small pods. As well there was a "command" Pod that was larger and more challenging. What this made me wonder is do some maps/missions have a minimum amount of stuff that is going to be assigned to a command pod and would enemies most likely be pulled out of or added from the non command pods in the case of under/over infiltration. IE is infiltration going to have more impact on non command pods.

Sort of - the way missions work is that they are generated using 'schedules' that define which exact types of pods are on a map at each ADVENT Strength level.

For most common missions, these schedules follow some general rules as to how many enemies there are at each level, but big missions like HQ Assaults don't quite do so - these missions always have a command pod of 8, at least one other pod of 8, and then a bunch of other enemies that vary based on strength and infiltration - unless it changed in 1.3, the lightest HQ schedule has 26 enemies, if you 200% infiltrate the mission in a Strength 1 region, compared to guerilla ops which will have less than 10 even with less infiltration.

On the HQ Base Assault, you'll always have 2 pairs of drones (1 Hunter Drone, 1 Normal in each), 1 command pod of 8, 1 advent pod of 8 and then the rest. The rest of the numbers are made up by smaller pods which range in size from 2 to 7 (depending on the mission schedule).

You get similar effects on Troop Column and Supply Raid missions which will almost always have an advent pod of 8 (not so much if you get them down to very light). Troop Columns tend to have a small command pod as the activity is generally smaller, while Supply Raids tend to be heavier with a large command pod. As you progress into the heavier raids, you'll tend to get multiple 8 man pods rather than more pods.

General missions have 2-3 solo drones, with a tendency towards many small pods over a few large ones.

Smash'n'Grabs have no solo drones and a great deal of variety in pod size (2-4 even at the lowest strength).

Correction: S'n'G *can* have solo drones.

Franzy wrote:Correction: S'n'G *can* have solo drones.

None of the schedules for smash'n'grab have any single entity pods. You can get pods with a drone in them, but not a drone by itself.

If you actually got a smash'n'grab with a solo drone in it in 1.4, then it has to be a bug.

Tuhalu wrote:

Franzy wrote:Correction: S'n'G *can* have solo drones.

None of the schedules for smash'n'grab have any single entity pods. You can get pods with a drone in them, but not a drone by itself.

If you actually got a smash'n'grab with a solo drone in it in 1.4, then it has to be a bug.

Are you sure about that? As far as I can tell, schedule "Guerilla_Revealed_D2_2_LW" has a solo drone in it, and it's a legal schedule for SnG with a modified alert of 2. It could be a mistake, as there don't seem to be solo drones in any other SnG schedules, but I'm pretty sure it's possible to get a solo drone on a SnG in 1.4

OK. That one does currently exist. It's definitely wierd though.

All the other D2s have 9 enemies. All the other D3s have 10 enemies. None of the other schedules overlap in numbers like that and none of the others have a solo drone at all.

I can only assume its in there as a nasty surprise.

I've never ever seen a solo drone on S&G. And i've done quite a lot now.

I think troop columns always have a pod of 8 advent, even on very light.

Supply raids have mini command pods of 5 at effective str 5+ (remember supply raid have +1 effective str) and 8 at effective str 7+. The real kicker is those particular command pods have boosted FL composition. Not in a useful way, like rarer corpses, but just higher tier mecs and mutons.

gimrah wrote:I think troop columns always have a pod of 8 advent, even on very light.

There are actually 3 options at very light with no more than 4 man pods and only 2 options with the 8 man pod. You do have to infiltrate past the two 8 man pod options to get to the three 4 man pod options though!

I did meet solo drones at least twice in SnG missions. Might be a bug, as solo drones on missions with revealed squad are kinda useless from Advent PoV.