One bum's code digging notes

[trihero]

Ok, I did some more code digging with respect to mini-retals, and as I understand it:

- the "base" threshold for a mini-retal to trigger is 6 working rebels (this is from the .ini file)
- each faceless on a particular job does in fact adjust (reduce) the threshold for a mini-retal
- the adjusted threshold for a mini-retal has a low-end cap of 3 depending on how many faceless are working on that particular job in your haven (this part implies it is literally impossible no matter how many faceless are on a particular job to trigger a mini-retal with 2 people on the job)

Thus if you have 5 working rebels on a single job and they are not faceless, it should be impossible to trigger a mini-retal.

If you have 5 working rebels on a single job and 1 of them is a faceless, then it is possible to trigger a mini-retal (6-1 = 5 is the new threshold, and guess what you have 5 working rebels on the job). So it's risky to put 5 on a single job unless you're sure none of them are faceless.

If you have 4 working rebels on a single job and 1 of them is a faceless, then it should be impossible to trigger the mini-retal (this is probably the most reasonable thing you can do with the 1/6 faceless proportion). If 2 of them are faceless then you can get a mini-retal (this explains xwynn's data tap ).

If you have 3 working rebels on a single job and all are faceless, you can trigger the mini-retal.

If you have 2 working rebels on a single job and all are faceless, you can't trigger the mini-retal.

"Proof" or here is the code I found in a .uc file that actually processes the check for a mini-retal

// This is for triggering mini-retals at lower threshhold representing the Faceless leaking information. The 3 constant is so the mini-retals have a minimum number of rebels on the screen)
if (FacelessReduceMinimum)
{
AdjustedMinRebelsOnJob = Max (MinRebelsOnJob - OutPostState.GetNumFacelessOnJob(Job), 3);
}

if (OutPostState.GetNumRebelsOnJob(Job) >= AdjustedMinRebelsOnJob)
{
`LWTRACE ("MinRebelsOnJob Pass" @ string(AdjustedMinRebelsOnJob) @ ActivityCreation.ActivityTemplate.ActivityName);
return true;
}
`LWTRACE ("MinRebelsOnJob Fail" @ string(AdjustedMinRebelsOnJob) @ ActivityCreation.ActivityTemplate.ActivityName);
return false;
}


And a bit of conjecture looking at other related files for the "regular" retaliations; they do NOT seem to check for faceless, and as I posted originally, 5 working rebels in total is the minimum to trigger a retaliation.

Overall, if you have 4 working rebels, you should be immune to regular retaliations regardless of faceless count, and while you are not guaranteed to be immune to mini-retals, you have to be slightly unlucky if you get mini-retals with 4 working rebels since that imples at least 2 of them are faceless.

I don't know if this is a regularly recommended strategy to only have 4 rebels working on an area, but if you're tired of seeing retals then you set 4 to work and rest hide and you should be fine generally. If you're actively hunting for good missions like scientists/engineers/troop columns, you might have to put up with the risk of retal and go high in intel in order to detect those with a good enough timer.

[LordYanaek]

I don't know if this is a regularly recommended strategy to only have 4 rebels working on an area, but if you're tired of seeing retals then you set 4 to work and rest hide and you should be fine generally. If you're actively hunting for good missions like scientists/engineers/troop columns, you might have to put up with the risk of retal and go high in intel in order to detect those with a good enough timer.

That's what some youtuber (i think it was joinrbs) did in his last Ironman Legend campaign (at least a good part of the campaign).

It could probably be a valid strategy to keep a low profile in many of the smaller havens if you don't feel like protecting the entire map. Concentrate on a few, well populated havens to get missions and supplies and try to intercept those "data leaks" missions and lay low in other regions, trying to get some supplies while avoiding advent's attention.

Fun note, if you have 3 rebels on intel (or any job) and trigger a mini-retaliation, try to get your "rebels" killed and laugh as Advent kills their spies

[trihero]

Yeah, but joinrbs himself highly recommends troop column hunting to stabilize your economy and rank up troops. If you get lucky enough with 4 intel rebels I guess it can work, and yes troop columns are easier to find with higher advent strength, but if you really want to farm them with a high degree of safety/success I feel like you'd have to risk poking your head out of the ground with more than 4 rebels.

[GavinRuneblade]

Posted in wrong thread by mistake. Post deleted.