Commander Level After Action Report

Share strategy and tips here.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

I want to talk about how brutal this month was for ADVENT. At Commander level, they receive a 2-legion UFO every 12 days, roughly twice a month. They also get a 4-legion super UFO every 21 days. They only get this if they are 20 points behind, but they will always be at least that far behind after month two or three. So roughly speaking, they are supposed to gain 8 legions a month.

Instead, they actually lost a net legion. I caught the super UFO, one of the normal UFOs, intercepted two convoys, and did a troop ambush.

Look at this picture again:
Image

AVATAR progress slowed by 76%. That's madness. And I'm making steps towards shutting down at least two of their facilities. And I still have a lot of AVATAR reduction waiting in the wings, since I haven't done much of the Golden Path yet. I'm winning the strategy game so hard that the issue isn't really in doubt anymore.

Speaking of havens, what are my plans for the ones that I have?

EastUS: The Free UFO Parking scam is probably over. Strength is too high now. I'll test the waters and see just how bad it really is, but I'll probably pull the plug soon and just run supply. I could also hide, but that seems like a waste. I don't want vigilance to go down faster here, it's dong tons of damage to AVATAR.

But right now, it needs to get rid of those spies already.

West US: It's totally going to get invaded by EastUS, and I'm totally going to have to replace them, and they are totally going to be spies again.


New Mexico: Liberate and run supply. I shouldn't need a third liberation.

New Brazil: Try to keep at or below 12 vigilance so I can keep getting easy GOps. You can't maintain this balancing act forever, but oyu can do it for a month or two.

WestEU: Oh look, it just received a fourth legion from one of its neighbors. I'll try to hover at just below 15 vigilance and keep harvesting those troop columns. Partially for the resources, partially to bleed out ADVENT's global strength.

New AUS: Vigilance is too high for troop columns and can't be burned off without being idle for far longer than it's worth. New AUS will run full Intel, with a tower and a Scientist and everything, and try to harvest rare events until strength just gets too damn high. At that point, it will still be useful as a vigilance pool and ADVENT holding pen.
Last edited by Antifringe on Mon Jul 03, 2017 3:46 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Bava
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2017 10:15 am

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Bava »

Jesus...this is insane. AP slowed down by 76%?
This makes my own C/I run look like an utter and total failure :P
Got adv mag weapons mid-may, then settled for powered armour instead of coil, maybe that was a mistake. Got adv coil 1st of august, I can only imagine how op coil would be at the beginning of july.

Thanks for the detailed write-up, learned a lot!

You can now find me crying in a corner...:P
Icarus
Posts: 151
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:26 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action ReportC

Post by Icarus »

Could you elaborate how the free UFO parking scam is working? Couldn't sift it out of the data just now...
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

Bava: Going Warden first is fine. It keeps its value longer. I wanted Coilguns because I had been pretty sparse in buying lasers and mag weapons.

Icarus: It's not really reproducible, it's just a funny name that I gave to a recurring event. I was running full Intel on a maxed out haven (13 rebels +tower +scientist) and I got a UFO every month for four months.

Part of the reason it worked as well as it did is because of the HUGE delta that EastUS had between strength and vigilance. The local ADVENT commander is screaming for reinforcements, and that attracts reinforcements, including UFOs.

The funny thing is that after they shut down Intel gathering in that region, they also coincidentally tried landed their UFOs in other regions that month, and I caught two of them. This happens when you run Intel all across the globe. It's lucky, but you are also creating opportunities to get lucky. I think that supply, recruit and hide are specialized actions that should only be used in specific circumstances. Intel should be the default, and should be done with every rebel in the region.

The funnier thing is that right when it started, I had been wavering on the full Intel approach for that region. I was actually running supply, because I was planning on just liberating it, and was hurting for money. But then it turned out that I had two spies and was taking a massive 40% penalty on supply income from that region, so I decided to run full Intel instead. The rest is history. Those two faceless were like strategic advisors or something.
Icarus
Posts: 151
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:26 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Icarus »

Thanks. A quick addendum before I stop derailing this thread: I tried to consciously create such a region by cutting off a region from all its neighbors on alert 3 and spiked vigilance (to about 17), then continued to run full intel. Felt like a huge waste when nothing happened for 1,5 months though, hence my curiosity.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

This month was another bad one for ADVENT. I liberated Mexico, raided a super UFO, and caught two more UFOs, which will be raided next month. I didn't do as many missions, so the log is mercifully shorter

EDIT: screwed up and overwrote the log with the breakdown post. I'll fix it later, but for now, just have the pictures


Image

Image

Image
haha 82%
Last edited by Antifringe on Tue Jul 04, 2017 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

This month was another bad one for ADVENT. I liberated Mexico, raided a super UFO, and caught two more UFOs, which will be raided next month. I didn't do as man missions, so the log is mercifully shorter


August 15: Battlesuits -> Facility Lead (3 days)
August 17: Battlescanners -> Shredstorm Cannons
August 18: Destroy Relay, New Brazil (VL): 30 Intel Lib3 3.11
-ugh terrible luck with my Lib3 missions. Pass
August 18: Hack Workstation on Train, New Brazil (EL): 29 Intel +PoI 11.8
-send four soldiers
-easy mission, and want to save strength for the UFO attack
August 18: Switch New Brazil to Hide
-have both GOps and the liberation mission active. Vigilance is at 11 and two missions are pending, so I want ot make some room for potential Jailbreaks later.
August 18: Rescue VIP from cell, New Brazil (VL): Sharpshooter (SGT), +PoI 3.11
-what?
-I already have a Smash and Grab and ProtectData active here
-OMG that Hack Workstation must be a Snare
-Wait, strength is too low for that. NB only has one point
-WTF?
-Baseline strength is also higher than the other GOp missions in New Brazil
-something is weird about this mission, so I send a team in spite of the bad timer and unimpressive reward
-send four soldiers, will boost to reach 100%
-don't like sending four men on anything else than EL
August 19: Mission: Network Tower, New AUS (L)
+28 Intel +10 Intel (hack) +Lib4 +Core

August 19: Start contacting New Indonesia
August 19: Facility Lead -> Facility Lead (4 days)
-find the facility in New India
August 20: New AUS hits 13 rebels, switch to Intel and assign Scientist advisor
August 20: Mission: Smash and Grab, New Brazil (EL)
+5 Boxes (25 alloy +95 supply) +Core

August 20: Assault HQ, New Mexico (S+)
-send 7 soldiers
-finally have enough troops dto do this and defend against the UFO
-wanted to do this about a week earlier, but that UFO is a problem
August 21: Mission: Rendezvous, New Brazil
+Corpses (Trooperx1, Officerx1, Dronex1, Facelessx2) found 1 spy +Core

August 21: Switch WestEU from Hiding to Intel
-vigilance went back down to 11
August 21: Mission: Rescue VIP, New Brazil (EL) boosted to reach 115%
+Sharpshooter (SGT) +2 Core +10 alloy (hack) +PoI: Clinic (Avenger Power) +UFO Reveal !!!

-was supposed to be VL, not sure why strength went down
-OMG another UFO
-I had forgotten that they can hide themselves as ProtectData-style Rescues. The camoflauge is much more convincing than the hack variants, because they also offer a real PoI.
August 21: UFO, New Brazil (L): Materiel 6.7
-send five soldiers, still have plenty for defense
-console reveals that this was a super UFO
August 22: New AUS: Smash and Grab (VL):Materiel 9.16
-I want to spike vigilance here, anyway, so this is a good mission, but it can wait until the hunter UFO goes away
August 22: Contact New Indonesia. Now one step away from two facilties and the Black Site.
-set New Indonesia to Intel. Stats are (S:2 V:5 Rebels:5)
-assign a spare part SGT as advisor for the passive recruit income

August 22: Facility Lead -> Shieldbearer Autopsy
-I'm just doing whatever right now. Not enough elerium to get plasma rifles
-The third facility is in New Chile
August 22: Mission: Destroy Relay, WestEU (VL) overinfiltrated to 161%
+32 Intel +Lib3 +2 Core

-First Elite Viper
August 22: Mission: Hack Workstation on Train, New Brazil (EL)
+29 Intel +10 Intel from Skullmine +2 Core +Elite Suppressor PoI:Bonfire (Alien Alloy)

August 24: have a lot more soldiers free now
-send 5 soldiers to Smash and Grab in New AUS
-send 5 soldiers to Network Tower in WestEU

August 25: Hack workstation, New AUS (EL): 34 Intel +Counter Dark Event: Hidden 7.11
-I go ahead and pay the 5 Intel fee to see the event (I have hundreds right now)
-it's ANOTHER fucking hunter UFO
-I go ahead and send 4 soldiers, but I'm starting to get understaffed for the defense now
August 25: Hack Resistance Computer, new Indonesia (EL):34 Intel +PoI 9.12
-first mission in the new region, and it's a good one. But not right now
-I really want this stupid hunter to go away
August 25: Rendezvous, EastUS
+Corpses (Trooperx5, Facelessx4) 2 spies caught

-FINALLY
-haven should be clear, only lost 40% when we ran supply last
-had 3 extra rebels, so no need to replace anything
-assign Scientist advisor
-right now, getting Den Mother back into the roster is actually important
August 25: Switch New Mexico to supply
-had hit 14 rebels. Only meant to reach 13, but wasn't paying attention
-odds of one of those being a spy is about 42%
-assign an engineer anyway. If we're infiltrated, I'll switch back to a soldier. The engineer gives back as much as a spy takes, and if there's no spy, it's pure profit.
August 25: Shredstorm Cannon -> Stiletto Rounds
-should have done this a while ago
August 25: Shieldbearer Autopsy -> Plasma Rifle (11 days)
-buy some elerium from the market to make this happen
-hire a scientist while I'm here
August 27: -send four soldiers on the Hack Workstation in New Indonesia
-it's starting to expire, and greed is overtaking caution
August 27: Extract VIP, WestEU (L): Technical (SGT) + PoI 9.8
-I'm paranoid about VIP missions being UFOs now, but this one is actually just a VIP mission
-pass
August 28: Mission: UFO, New Brazil (LM)
+Corpses (Turretx2, Mutonx3, Viperx3, Shieldbearerx1, Trooperx5, MECx8, Dronex1, Stun Lancerx3) +4 Core +26 Alloy +23 elerium +99 supply 1 Wound (9 days)

-still no sectoids :_(
August 28: Switch New Brazil to Intel from Hiding
-vigilance spiked to 15 because of the UFO, going to spike again when Mexico liberates, changing priority to find Lib3 as soon as possible
August 28: Mission: Assault HQ, New Mexico (S+)
+Corpses (Turretx5, Dronex4, Viperx4, Shieldbearerx2, Trooperx12, Mutonx4, Officerx2, Berserkerx1, Stun Lancerx1, Sectoidx2, Chryssalidx3, MECx1) +26 alloy +34 elerium +3 Core +164 supply +5 datapad PoI:Lfesigns (Intel) +Lib5 1 Wound (14 days)

-New Brazil gained another 4 vigilance, all the way up to 19
August 28: Mission: Hack Workstation, New Indonesia (VL)
+38 Intel +Elite Hair Trigger +2 Core +1 Super Conditioning PCS +Counter Dark Event: Hunter UFO 1 Wound (22 days)

-Specialist got surrounded after the hack and had to be carried out
August 29: Smash and Grab, New AUS (VL)
+4 Boxes (13 allot +50 supply +2Core)

August 29: Stilleto Rounds -> Battlefield Medicine
August 29: Recover Item from Vault, New AUS (VL): 25 Intel (UFO) 5.6
-send five will spend intel to reach 100%
-it begins!
August 30: Mission:Network Tower, WestEU (LM)
+29 Intel +10 Intel (hack) +Lib4 2 Wounds (6/9 days)

August 31: Smash and Grab, EastUS (LM) 5.7
-nope. They get to keep these
August 31: Rescue VIP from Vehicle, New Indonesia (VL): Technical (SGT) +PoI 4.14
Sept 1: Mission: Hack Workstation, New Indonesia (VL)
+34 Intel +PoI:Battlefield (Supplies) 1 Wound (24 days)

-four man missions can go badly, this one almost didn't make it
Sept 3: Smash and Grab, WestEU (L):Materiel 7.6
-send a single Scout on a zero percent to cycle the GOp
-trying to get that Troop Column
Sept 3: Neutralize Target, New Brazil (VL): 32 Intel +Contact +Lib3 8.11
-perfect
-send five soldiers, have option of overinfiltrating to EL
-switch New Brazil to Hiding
Sept 3: Hack Workstation in Facility, New Indonesia (VL): 35 Intel (probably Lib1) 1.18
-skip
-could be a lucky UFO find, probably not
Sept 3: Begin building Relay in New Indonesia (700 supply)
Sept 3: Rendezvous, WestEU
+Corpses (Trooperx2, Dronex1, Facelessx4, Stun Lancerx1) +Core caught two spies
-had extra rebels, so not need for replacements

-assign Scientist advisor
Sept 3: Battlefield Medicine -> Redscreen Rounds
Sept 3: Mission: Recover Item from Vault, New AUS (EL) bossted to 142%
+25 Intel -25 Intel for boost +Core +UFO Reveal\LWDumpActivityLog
1 Wound (7 days)

Sept 3: UFO, New AUS 6.14
-send five soldiers
Sept 3: Mission: Protect Datatap, EastUS (M)
-since I've been holding back on account of the hunter UFO, I'm ready to go immediately
-aced it
Sept 4: Hack Computer, WestEU (LM):29 Intel (UFO) 5.3
-omg
-turns out it was a super UFO
-send five, will boost down to VL
Sept 5: Rescue VIP from Cell (EL): 32Intel +Engineer +Counter Dark Event: Viper Rounds 11.9
Sept 5: Shadow Chamber finished
Sept 5: Supply Convoy, New Indonesia 0.3
-could probably do this, but I don't like 0% raids
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

So, that will probably be the last report in this series. It's been fun, but it's also been a lot of work. The game is essentially over at this point, and I feel that I've shown the things that I wanted to show. I hope people learned a bit about how to play the strategy game. I'm happy to discuss strategy or field any questions you might have.

I might do one more post summarizing my impressions, in the hopes that one of the devs was reading this. But for now, it's July 4th and I'm going outside!
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by stefan3iii »

Nice write up. Mainly, I'm curious if this can be done on L/I. I don't think I could do so many missions with weak soldiers on L/I, but I also haven't really tried. Maybe the casualties would just end up being worth it? In my 1.4 games I avoid doing anything other than extremely lights, and the occasional very light, and stop sending out rookies after the first few missions. On the one hand I only have a single death in my current campaign in Sept, on the other hand the avatar timer is a struggle, and I feel like I'm riding the knife's edge of losing to it (again). If I can find a single facility lead I think I'll win, but if I don't I'm not sure I'll be able to do the golden path fast enough.
Psieye
Posts: 829
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Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Psieye »

UFO Parking Scam was insane. Not just for the number of UFOs you caught but how all your earlygame regions are at high Str. I currently only have one region at 'high' Str (5). Said region has suffered rebel attrition and is down to 5 guys.

Without viewing vigilance numbers, it'd be harder to manipulate the strategy layer quite as much but your logs show it's more important to keep track of mission spawn cooldowns. "Can a Troop Column spawn at all or is it on cooldown?" is an important question.

Oh question: when you get a full retal, do all faceless automatically get revealed? I assume you have to actually get near them to remove them. As opposed to just clearing the map by killing all the aliens.

Regarding assaults, I've used my GTS with extreme prejudice creating very lopsided distributions. I only have one belated TSGT Assault and I begin to see what you mean with the explosion point. The rest of my Assaults are spec'd to hang back and contribute during opening fights, only going shotgun-to-face on mop up. My 8-man GOp team has only 2 spots open for 5 classes to squeeze into: it's 'mandatory' that I have 2 specialists, 3 snipers (of which 1 is holo) and 1 tank-shinobi. Cheese you shouldn't get away with at Commander/Legend.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

stefan3iii: I think it will probably work on Legendary, it's just a matter of degree. More is always going to be more, it's just that "more" probably means less on Legendary than on Commander.
Psieye wrote:UFO Parking Scam was insane. Not just for the number of UFOs you caught but how all your earlygame regions are at high Str. I currently only have one region at 'high' Str (5). Said region has suffered rebel attrition and is down to 5 guys.

Without viewing vigilance numbers, it'd be harder to manipulate the strategy layer quite as much but your logs show it's more important to keep track of mission spawn cooldowns. "Can a Troop Column spawn at all or is it on cooldown?" is an important question.
Realizing that GOps are random like cards and not like dice is a very big deal. This is what pushed me to just running Intel, even on new havens. You don't have to get lucky to find a Jailbreak, you can predict when one is coming and devote Avenger time to make it pop. You can reliably find one every month if you are really working that region. And if you can do that, why run recruit? Recruit is for taking advantage of dead space or topping off a region that is already mined out.

By middgame, you are more interested in Troop Columns to help control strength and get valuable salvage. They have a very low detection threshold, so you can almost always find them if you are looking for them.

Oh question: when you get a full retal, do all faceless automatically get revealed? I assume you have to actually get near them to remove them. As opposed to just clearing the map by killing all the aliens.
On defense missions, if there are any faceless left once all the other aliens are dead, they go ahead and transform. On evac missions, this doesn't happen, but any rebels that you don't approach get left behind, so either way you purge your spies.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by stefan3iii »

Antifringe wrote: On defense missions, if there are any faceless left once all the other aliens are dead, they go ahead and transform. On evac missions, this doesn't happen, but any rebels that you don't approach get left behind, so either way you purge your spies.
So I thought this as well. But in my current campaign, I had a full retal, with the fixed evac and already spawned enemies. 1 faceless was revealed during the mission.

When I killed the last alien, the mission ended, and no more faceless were revealed, I had 5 haven members left. A short time later I had a rendezvous pop in that zone, still with 5 haven members, which was confusing, I figured it was "clean" after the retal. So I don't know if I trust retals revealing all faceless.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
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Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by stefan3iii »

Antifringe wrote:stefan3iii: I think it will probably work on Legendary, it's just a matter of degree. More is always going to be more, it's just that "more" probably means less on Legendary than on Commander.
There are a couple of things that slow down the early game on legendary.
1) No liberation missions spawn in the first month.
2) You start with 0 recruitable rookies.
3) Recruits costs 20 supplies, when available.
This makes it a little harder to snowball such a wide roster, and get early lib2 for engineer/scientist.

The biggest difference I see between your approach and my own, is that you do a lot of missions with 4 soldiers, where as I almost always use 5 or 6, because I'm a nancy coward. Would definitely be able to do a lot more missions if I frequently sent out 4 soldier teams, I think I'll try that next campaign. I'd guess at least that any team with a technical in it could easily handle an extremely light with only 4 soldiers.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

Lessons learned and plans changed

I don't think I'll be hiring Engineers on month one anymore. I wanted to get things pushing in the right direction, but clearing space in the Avenger was never a limiting factor, ever.

Psionics just aren't worth it. I really want to like them, but you don't really get more soldiers, you just get soldiers of a different class. It's almost vindictive how stacked the deck is against psionics. The lab is expensive, the upgrade is expensive, you have to lose two scientists, you have to start from Rookie level at a time when TSGT is probably the baseline, and you have to deal with tube time. Their basic gear requires a specific corpse, which no other class has to deal with. You also have to have memorized the prerequisite tree (which is both hidden and unintuitive) or you won't get any of the top tier powers. I don't get it. You're never better off by taking this option. Why does it even exist?

I barely did any training at the AWC and didn't miss it at all. It doesn't feel like a trap the way that psionics do, because the AWC is actually a helpful building, but I just can't be bothered with remembering which soldiers have which weird perks when assembling my fourth team for the day.

Notetaking is powerful and I will be keeping a very simple mission log during play from now on. All you really need is a chart showing which missions have popped in which regions, and when.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

For any devs that are reading this:

Engineers: These guys stop being a real resource somewhere around month 3 or 4. There's just nothing for them to do. I kind of wish that corpse rendering was a separate throughput, and the speed depended on the number of available engineers. That would actually make me care about both rendering and engineers. Moving rendering to the Proving Ground won't work, because I'll care about projects way more than renderings,a nd because it doesn't actually give your engineers anything to do, since the PG is capped at two engineers.

Workshop: Part of the same problem. There is never a reason to build this. Vanilla had this problem too, and it is exacerbated in LW. It's good that you made go from being -3 power to +1 power, but all that means is that it doesn't actively hurt you, it still doesn't help you. By the time you have an appropriate space cleared for it, you will have excess engineers anyway.

The Voice Overs: Please. Make Shen stop bugging me about idle Engineers. There is literally nothing I can do about it. Also, make Bradford stop bugging me about supplies. They do this every, single, time, that you open the avenger menu, and Shen's compliant is especially long.

Psionics: They work tactically (although most of their powers are bugged, which is frustrating), but strategically, they're horrible. They are expensive for no real reason, and they level up so slowly. SGTs that I hired fresh out of the black market were hitting GSGT in the time it took to gain one promotion on my best psion (she only reached TSGT equivalent). Vanilla had a system where tube time wasn't interrupted by missions. The infiltration mechanic changes this, and psionics needs to change with it. Allowing training to occur simultaneously with infiltration would work, but is really weird, narratively. Quick Learner is a good idea but doesn't address the problem. I have never cared that my psions were behind in AWC or officer levels, I have always cared that they are still SGT/SSGTs when everyone else is at or near MSGT. Maybe a radically different approach, where psions level up normally, and the psilab acts like an AWC that lets you gain a few extra power choices? I dunno, I'm just spitballing here. They need a deep structural change.

Oh yeah, I also really like your mod. It's just that feedback has to be critical to be useful.
Psieye
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Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Psieye »

While I have had one campaign where I needed a workshop just to keep excavating (I only had 2 engineers), that was also a campaign where I didn't do missions all the time. In that sense, spending 100 supply to excavate 100 supply isn't exactly sensible. Maybe they could do more as haven advisors than just "extra supplies". Something like "builds a resistance Mec every 30 days" or "radio tower for free after 60 days". Or straight up gather supplies like a Lv 3 rebel all on their own even if nobody else is doing the Supply job. Or how about "scavenges a weapon mod or PCS every X days"?

As for Psionics, I'm inclined to agree. Sectoid autopsy itself is still useful for other things besides psionics but "you need to construct a building" is itself a huge strategic cost: power, supply, building slot (at a premium in the earlygame). That's before the 2 scientists you'll want to put on there (unless you just want to output rookie psions). I'd accept a nerf to rookie tactical psionics if it means getting them out early without crippling my strategy layer.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by stefan3iii »

I've come to the same conclusion that a workshop isn't actually worth it, better to just buy an engineer if that's what you really want. You do need to hit 7 engineers to unlock shredstorm cannons, though in my campaign I had more research than supply available so I just just did 5 engineers + two rounds of basic engineering.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

Psieye wrote: Maybe they could do more as haven advisors than just "extra supplies". Something like "builds a resistance Mec every 30 days" or "radio tower for free after 60 days". Or straight up gather supplies like a Lv 3 rebel all on their own even if nobody else is doing the Supply job. Or how about "scavenges a weapon mod or PCS every X days"?.
The problem isn't with the advisor job, which plenty powerful, it's that you get more engineers than you could possibly need, and there is no open-ended project for them to be thrown at. I typically had more engineers than I even had havens.

I had 13 engineers by August, and seven havens. I also had four job slots available (five if you count the defense matrix, which you really shouldn't). I had literally no use for engineer rewards anymore. I would have preferred to get rookies, that's how bad it gets.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
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Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

Oh yeah, forgot an item. Propaganda missions. I just don't feel that they work. There is basically never a time when I want to spike vigilance in a low vigilance region. It's good that they were removed from the GOp pool, but I'd like to see about making them viable missions rather than just getting them out of the way.

It might run contrary to the intent, but what about removing the vigilance cap on them and letting them spawn at any level? I never want to burn vigilance in my quiet regions (rather, I want to spend it wisely), but I always want arbitrary amounts of it in my very, very high regions.
Psieye
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Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Psieye »

Antifringe wrote:Oh yeah, forgot an item. Propaganda missions. I just don't feel that they work. There is basically never a time when I want to spike vigilance in a low vigilance region. It's good that they were removed from the GOp pool, but I'd like to see about making them viable missions rather than just getting them out of the way.

It might run contrary to the intent, but what about removing the vigilance cap on them and letting them spawn at any level? I never want to burn vigilance in my quiet regions (rather, I want to spend it wisely), but I always want arbitrary amounts of it in my very, very high regions.
I view Propaganda missions as "I must fail this after farming as many kills as possible". They are nice for that as the reinforcement timer doesn't start while concealed and they have no time limit. Still, their intent is to spike vigilance and we don't ever want to do that in low vigilance regions. It's easy enough to rack up vigilance just by doing profitable missions all the time. We don't ever want to 'make another region hot to lower strength in this region', the meta is designating certain regions as perma-hotspots that should attract all of Advent's attention.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Thrombozyt
Posts: 76
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Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Thrombozyt »

Propaganda would work if it siphoned Vigilance from adjacent contacted regions. Spike Vigilance by 5 but also lower Vigilance in all adjacent contacted regions. That way you could cool down a part of the map you have contacted and more readily force supply raids.

Re: Psions
I'm experiencing a significant strategic cost as well, but more on the research front. Those two scientists hurt early on. But in general I believe that it's a fair trade off. They are pretty potent with lower levels off the bat and the demand less resources in terms of supplies/alloys/elerium as you don't need to upgrade their gear that much. They are fine with left over armor and the psi amp upgrades are cheap in comparison with the higher tier guns.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

Started my first ever Legendary campaign. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. I think the rudest shock for most people is the faster and earlier force clock, but I'm so used to staying with ballistics and kevlar until June that it didn't phase me at all. Everything else are just small incremental increases that I can handle.

"More is more" still works, although I had to let a few missions go because of roster problems. I do treat the missions with a bit more respect and pay closer attention to composition. This is not to say that I won't run some totally janky comps if I have to, mind you. Like stefan said, bringing a technical makes 4 man teams a lot more viable.

I'm not going to do a log. It's actually been a huge relief just being able to play the game. I am convert to the power of notetaking, however, and I keep some basic notes to track GOp cycles, like this

Image

No need to track liberations or dark events or the like, since that information isn't actionable. I do track rendezvous, mostly to remind me whihc havens have had a recent spy check. Look at the two lucky early game rendezvous!
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by stefan3iii »

You got 2 rendezvous in march?? I didn't event think that was possible, I generally hope to get them in early may, and I intentionally use high rank soldiers for advisers, just because clearing out faceless is so important.

You're off to a good start, good luck. With 2 rendezvous down, I assume you have faceless and officer corpses, I'd even consider teching to incendiary + stiletto first. Normally that'd never work because you don't have the corpses.
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by Antifringe »

Yeah, it was amazing. I've only ever gotten a rendezvous in March once, getting two is unheard of. They were just LCPL advisors, placed to there for the passive recruit income. Only got one officer between the two, which is annoying, but it's nice to have cleared out the initial spies.
merkmerk
Posts: 36
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 3:29 pm

Re: Commander Level After Action Report

Post by merkmerk »

I used propaganda missions for exactly the reason they stated - they get advents attention

They lowered vigilance in the main region I was trying to liberate
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