Advent Strength Force Vigiliance

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willdabeast85
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 26, 2018 3:17 pm

Advent Strength Force Vigiliance

Post by willdabeast85 »

I have read several other posts, so sorry if its beating a dead Muton.

Several statements and questions below. Please answer and correct them. Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

Force happens over time, at the global level. Stronger Advent troops are introduced over time.

Strength applies to a specific region, and represents the number of Legions there. The Sum of all the Strengths from all the regions = Global# of regions.
Strength affects Advent activity level. Does Strength affect the quality of Advent troops? Will an Extremely Light mission in a S1 region be the same as a S4 region? Or will S4 have tougher troops.
What Max Strength level should a region be at for me to reliably run missions. Should I just stick with S1, or should I invest Intel personnel in S2 and S3 regions?
At what Strength level should worry about Retaliations. I know I can keep 4 or less members on the same task, but can I set 8 guys to Intel in a S3 region? S4?

Vigilance is just how much they notice XCOM. Run Missions -> Vigilance goes up -> Advent moves forces -> Strength goes up in target region -> Strength goes down in region that sent legions.
Xenos' Phobia
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Jan 11, 2018 10:43 pm

Re: Advent Strength Force Vigiliance

Post by Xenos' Phobia »

willdabeast85 wrote:Will an Extremely Light mission in a S1 region be the same as a S4 region? Or will S4 have tougher troops.
Force Level is pretty much the only factor that determines type of enemies you will face. Mission schedules (which vary by Activity Level) will also play into the type of enemies you face, but Extremely Light missions in regions of different Strength will be pulling from the same pool of mission schedules. Thus you should face the same types of enemies.
willdabeast85 wrote:What Max Strength level should a region be at for me to reliably run missions. Should I just stick with S1, or should I invest Intel personnel in S2 and S3 regions?
In the early game, I would consider running missions in regions with up to 3 Strength normal. Strength 4 and 5 are the sweet spot for Troop Columns and Supply Raids which are great once you've got some heavy hitters to tackle them. I would avoid Strength 6 and up.
willdabeast85 wrote:At what Strength level should worry about Retaliations.
IIRC, Strength 4 is when retals can start spawning. But mini-retals at Strength 3 also sounds familiar. Can someone else confirm that?

*edit* Mission schedules vary by Activity Level not Strength.
Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: Advent Strength Force Vigiliance

Post by Dwarfling »

willdabeast85 wrote: What Max Strength level should a region be at for me to reliably run missions. Should I just stick with S1, or should I invest Intel personnel in S2 and S3 regions?
Depends on the number and quality of the troops you can bring. And your skill. S2 regions will still give you Ex.Light missions and should be for the most part be considered the same and S1. S3 is where 100% usually nets V.Light. These are still relatively easy depending on the above factors but are harder to sneak because of usually smaller pod sizes (multiple pods of 2). S4 and beyond is when things start getting hairy specially for the missions that start with active RNF because they arrive faster and in bigger numbers. Thing is S4+ regions give you Troop Columns, which are very desirable, so you still want to keep doing Intel. If the infiltration timer allows you to bring 6 or more troops, even Light GOps are doable if the RNF isn't active. Or you can try over-infiltrating with 5 soldiers down to V.Light. After S6 I just stop doing Intel and switch to Supply because even Troop Columns become too much of a risk.
At what Strength level should worry about Retaliations. I know I can keep 4 or less members on the same task, but can I set 8 guys to Intel in a S3 region? S4?
Worry? Retaliations are highly desirable missions. They give you vital XP and provide a chance to instantly promote troops with a Trial by Fire officer. Intel raid, Recruit raid and Terror also give you a chance to gather some loot. They can also be somewhat predicted, if you take notes on when they happen and you're on the lookout for when the cooldown expires (2 weeks I think? there's info somewhere). If you keep the cooldown in mind you can also instigate retaliations in low strenght regions (4-5) while keeping the other higher strenght regions partially hidden, then as the retal is in cooldown you can fully dedicate high strenght regions to a job safely.
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Advent Strength Force Vigiliance

Post by Psieye »

Don't worry, asking for help is always a welcome thread to read - keeps the forum lively.
willdabeast85 wrote: Strength affects Advent activity level. Does Strength affect the quality of Advent troops? Will an Extremely Light mission in a S1 region be the same as a S4 region? Or will S4 have tougher troops.
The initial troops will be the same whether it's Str 1 or Str 4. How fast the reinforcements come IS affected by Str. The size of those reinforcements depends on infiltration %.
willdabeast85 wrote: What Max Strength level should a region be at for me to reliably run missions. Should I just stick with S1, or should I invest Intel personnel in S2 and S3 regions?
Depends on the mission, then on what strategy you'll use on it. A Smash & Grab can be done at higher Str as it just affects how many enemies are around and you can fairly reliably retreat if the first half of the enemies (i.e. before you enter the crate facility) was too much. A "hack this objective" mission can be somewhat reliably done semi-stealthily - where the spec just has to hack and evac out and everyone else is there to make this happen (killing solo drones, flashbangs, smokes, etc). Rescuing prisoners might be possible at higher Str if you're willing to be heartless and sacrifice one of the prisoners as a hunker-bait to delay some pods.

Depending on what kind of squad and equipment you put together, it's possible to do some timed missions at Str 7. Not recommended, but possible. Str 4 should be fine if the squad can output a lot of damage (or semi-stealths). Note that Liberation missions have a Str modifier. Doing a Lib 2 or 3 in a Str 4 region will spawn a mission as if it's Str 7. Liberation missions are some of the hardest to detect. I once (after many futile savescums) sacrificed a GSGT sniper to do a Lib 3 mission (assassinating VIP) at ridiculous Str and the "Faceless civilians" DE.
willdabeast85 wrote: At what Strength level should worry about Retaliations. I know I can keep 4 or less members on the same task, but can I set 8 guys to Intel in a S3 region? S4?
Outdated information: it's max 2 workers (on the same job) to avoid mini-retals not 4 now. There's not really much point having only 2 guys on intel, but 2 guys on recruit can make sense: with a soldier advisor that'd be a recruit roll every 10 days (with 66% chance of getting a rebel, otherwise a rookie for hire). Str 3 is when mini-retals can happen. Str 4 is when full retals happen. You sort of want to be getting retals where possible - once you get used to the initial pod placements (typically surrounding your squad spawn location) and everything being already orange-alerted, you'll get EXP (and maybe loot drops) for no infiltration.
willdabeast85 wrote: Vigilance is just how much they notice XCOM. Run Missions -> Vigilance goes up -> Advent moves forces -> Strength goes up in target region -> Strength goes down in region that sent legions.
Yes, but it's not the full picture. Vig can decay (in regions you've contacted) if X days pass with no mission being won since the last successful mission. For a typical haven, X = 7, though it can go up to 9 I think if you have 13 working rebels. Note that Vig can increase in uncontacted regions (where it doesn't decay)! Vig influences (but is not the sole factor for) the "desired Str" of a region. Neighbours of a hot region will try to give a legion. There are 2 significant, external modifiers for "desired Str":
- "a neighbouring region is liberated from Advent!" = +2
- "this region has a golden path site" = +2 and +1 for its neighbours. GP sites being Blacksite, Forge, Psi Gate

In addition to legions moving by train, legions can drop down from UFOs. Vig again influences where a UFO wants to land but it can land anywhere in the world.

Finally, the more important aspect of Vig is that it blocks off certain GOps (Gureilla Operations - the timed missions that are your bread & butter in the early and midgame). You don't need to go out of your way to manipulate Vig, but it's useful to know that certain missions cannot spawn if Vig is above a threshold. Most notably, HighValuePrisoner (get a Scientist, Engineer or veteran soldier) and PoliticalPrisoners (get some rebels/rookies).
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
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