How important is it to build Proving Ground and Skulljack?

[jztemple]

This might have been discussed before but I missed it. I'm deep in an LW2 campaign and woefully short of supplies after building the Proving Grounds after AWC, GTS and Workshop plus a Power Relay. And now I'm thinking maybe I didn't need to be in such a hurry to get to the Proving Grounds, I only have one region liberated and two in work. Is there an overwhelming need to get to the Skulljack objective quickly?

[trihero]

There is absolutely no rush whatsoever to do the skulljack objective. It sets you back a lot of supplies to get power relay, PG, and research the skulljack, the only "reward" you get is some avatar project reduction but the avatar project is something you should essentially ignore until you have liberated at least 3 regions. You have something like a year or so of in game time (variance due to breakthrough dark events) before it even gets close to full, and even then I believe you have a 20 day final countdown type warning so get your act together.

I made the mistake of chasing after avatar objectives fairly quickly but there isn't any real payoff.

I'd say early game focus on installing laser weapons on most of your troops and some type of armor (whether it's better plating or outright predator armor) with your money. Proving grounds is good for making advanced suppressors but isn't good enough to put ahead of laser weaponry.

[jztemple]

Thanks, that will be good info when I start a new campaign after the 1.1 update release.

[GavinRuneblade]

One counterpoint is that skulljacks give a hacking bonus and many objectives give cool hacking rewards. Like permanent hack bonuses more loot and intel. The skulljack can pay for itself with those rewards if you use it often.

[Arcalane]

You have something like a year or so of in game time (variance due to breakthrough dark events) before it even gets close to full, and even then I believe you have a 20 day final countdown type warning so get your act together.

Given the number of reports from people losing the game out of nowhere and assuming it was a bug, I'm going to say that there is in fact no final countdown warning unless you've already discovered the Doom Tracker.

OP: If you have liberated a region and have the doom tracker up, it's your call on how to proceed. I would recommend getting your act together though, either by finding the blacksite or by chasing any Intel Package missions in search of new POIs and Facility Leads.

Remember that the first time you skulljack an officer, a Codex appears. LW2 hasn't made any changes here! Be prepared for a rough fight.

[trihero]

The doom tracker doesn't even require liberation; as soon as your first network tower mission shows up you also get the doom tracker.

[TheCiroth]

The doom tracker does require the liberation. I did the network tower, but I couldn't do the HQ due to the fact I needed to wait on teams to get back and being hunted by two UFO's. I had no doom counter until I got around to doing the HQ two months later.

[Devon_v]

Liberation does it.

The proving grounds are nowhere near as valuable as vanilla since you can't do the random bombs from day one. You need it eventually, but until you get some good alien corpses to fuel it it's a waste of money and power compared to the GTS and AWC, which I would build in that order.

[LegoMaster]

The doom tracker doesn't even require liberation; as soon as your first network tower mission shows up you also get the doom tracker.

ummm I didn't, and I completed the Network tower.

[trihero]

Maybe it's a difficulty thing, when I first played on rookie I did, but maybe on other difficulties you need to liberate.

[UraniumOverdose]

I would wait on skulljacking an officer anyway. Once you do then Codexes can start appearing in pods, and they are the worst.

[GavinRuneblade]

I would wait on skulljacking an officer anyway. Once you do then Codexes can start appearing in pods, and they are the worst.

Meh. I'd rather a codex over a gatekeeper, sectoid commander, sectopod, any of the upgraded chryssalids, or an alien ruler. They're bad, but not "the worst".

[trihero]

I would wait on skulljacking an officer anyway. Once you do then Codexes can start appearing in pods, and they are the worst.

Not really, that was Vanilla. Codexes appear purely based on time, not having to do with when you skulljack the officer (except the obvious codex from the skulljacking itself). I remember jacking an officer super early in LW2 then I had to wait several months until codexes actually showed up to finish the next part of the chain.

And conversely, in my recent play I didn't even bother skulljacking an officer until really late, I saw codexes before I jacked the officer.