Squad limits for Tower & HQ missions..

[Zyxpsilon]

Much to my surprise, some of the most "pivotal" missions now have serious limits on the MAX number of soldiers we can bring.

As a result.. my very first attempt at a (tough to discover -- already) Liberation/Chain Tower only allowed FIVE on Rookie level. Four of which got severely injured but i somehow managed to win it. Seems HQ allows SIX --duh.

Sooo -- i'm not really here to discuss your philosophy on difficulty features. It's your MOD, JL.

But, i'd have two small requests for any future updates;

1) XC2 storyline Network Tower gave us optional purchases of very slight advantages via Intel. I feel this kind of method would fit quite well in your gameplay systems as well.. after a few fine-tuning decisions about costs/types, etc.

2) The HQ facility is nearly the same principle of XC2 Alien-Facilities assaults... yet, we didn't have ANY restrictions for them. Thus, relatively speaking -- we are enforced to deal with extremely high odds & are not given a real absolute counter-measure. TBH.. just **let** players decide if they want such challenges by offering a similar device as #1. If people enjoy highly variable punishing conditions -- they still can opt to send less soldiers anytime, don't they? Resources accessibility included, in fact. Which adds an extra dimension to the tactical decisions we must (or can't) take.

Currently the hurdles to reach a rational minimal impact on progress (Doom Tracker is ticking.. remember), are beyond balance concerns, IMHO. What you really need in such context(s) is a way to give better ingame "feelings" of true handicaps (solved!) or coincidental (I'll admit) & finely designed advantages (pending!). Strategy is a conscious pool of thoughts -- if my brain is artificially Locked--IN--Place then i simply lose but i just don't know why i failed soooooo bad. Winning the hard way isn't the same as out-smarting our fates.

To me.. this very specific issue should make or break my intention to invest any further play-time on that mod.

Conclusion, since we are in a Modding Forum section and there's no dedicated "suggestions" area...

3) OR -- Give us (or reveal the related files & code spawn mechanics) the INI tricks necessary to actually refine these limitations. I certainly could stand some personal adaptations to the local copy -- when & if.

[Zyxpsilon]

Well... just completed the HQ assault mission & the allowed squad had no limits, so i could actually bring 9 tough necks.
Each were pivotal to match the 41 enemies i had to face including a wild unmasked Advent General which required the Frost-Bomb trick & a few Overwatch hits plus a lucky Chain-Shot double.

The problem still is these Towers @5 only though.

[cerebrawl]

Hmm... I thought the limit on regional HQ missions(liberation finalé) was 8.

Haven't had issues with the tower mission yet, but I suppose worse is to come as time passes and the really tanky enemies start to show.

[Zyxpsilon]

Just found where these limits are pre-defined...
XComMissions.INI.

For the Network Towers ( of Liberation Chain that leads to HQ assaults) near line #13315;
----------
+arrMissions=(MissionName="AssaultNetworkTower_LW", sType="AssaultNetworkTower_LW", \\
MissionFamily="AssaultNetworkTower_LW", \\
MapNames[0]="Obj_AssaultNetworkTower_LW", \\
MapNames[1]="SubSystem_ContinuousRNF", \\
OverrideDefaultMissionIntro=true, \\
RequiredPlotObjectiveTags[0]="AssaultNetworkTower_LW", \\
RequiredParcelObjectiveTags[0]="AssaultNetworkTower_LW", \\
MissionObjectives[0]=(ObjectiveName="Sweep", \\
bIsTacticalObjective=false, bIsStrategyObjective=true, bIsTriadObjective=true), \\
MissionSchedules[0]="Regional_Tower_D1_1_LW", \\
... BLA-BLA-BLA many more schedules!
MaxSoldiers=7 \\
)
----------
It was FIVE.. now it is 7 for my own pleasure & to simply bring enough "strengths" during most early game handicap conditions -- first two or three Liberation attempts.. after that, i'm pretty sure Aliens ForceLevel rates take care of various other situations. I'd rather cheat such a small detail than having to grind into an attrition fest beyond rational tactical skills.

HQ (( defined as "AssaultAlienBase_LW" )).. is being listed as 10 by default on line #13055, btw.

PS; Edit... arrrgggghhh -- it is STILL five. Maybe this can only be applied to new games unless there is a scripted fail-check trick being pulled on us.

[Wisconsen]

Was the mission active when you tested it? Could the value be set when the mission is spawned? I did a super quick search of all the LW2 inis and i didn't see anything else that looked like it would control the behavior. I edited my ini the same as you but i have already done the Network tower in the region and have the HQ spawned. I don't want to start a new game to test it, but i will post back with info from the next network tower/HQ mission that spawns and see if it changed.

[Zyxpsilon]

Yup.. that's most likely what is happening with this.
That try was done on some already spawned Tower/Network.. so, the pre-mission parameters (including the schedule & Map structure) must also put the MaxSoldiers value as declared by the --XComMissions.INI-- file at the time of those usual "reveal" steps.

The only way to find out if my custom value sticks is to get through another fresh Liberation-Chain to obtain a new Mission set, i guess.

Let's be patient for the proper conditions to test anything further or otherwise, just start a new game.

[Wisconsen]

Haven't done another network tower since i changed the missions ini but the HQ assualt change to 10 worked fine. I can't remember if the change was made before or after it was spawned onto the map though. I'll have to check next region i do the liberate chain in to be sure.

[Wisconsen]

Did another network tower, the ini edits do work as long as the mission is not spawned yet just fyi

[Zyxpsilon]

Excellent! Thanks for the confirmation.. just a single more soldier (5 to 6) adjustment would be somewhat reasonable for most people but in my case, 7 or 8 should become the exact safety measure i need to reach a valid "comfort" zone -- specially with higher difficulty levels than Rookie.

PS; Just had the very first "Avenger Defense".. it was an epic battle as expected. The maximum is 12 soldiers.. and we certainly NEED that many -- since Bradford doesn't send random support anymore!!

[Hobbes]

Excellent! Thanks for the confirmation.. just a single more soldier (5 to 6) adjustment would be somewhat reasonable for most people but in my case, 7 or 8 should become the exact safety measure i need to reach a valid "comfort" zone -- specially with higher difficulty levels than Rookie.

I found out that with the Regional Network Tower there are two ways of completing the mission: the hard way, where you blast everything on the tower, and for which you need as many soldiers as possible, and the easy way (which I won't spoil) where 5 soldiers are enough, if they are properly chosen and equipped.e

[Zyxpsilon]

@hobbes,

Oh.. but i *AM* able to deal with that special mission using only the default squads of five -- most of the time without too much injuries or KIA.

The only rational thinking here is that it all becomes a very serious grind of multiple Overwatch "walls" & the whole risk is caused by a tricky timing of the backroom re-inforcement cycles even when i could go for a stealthy inclined intrusion method. Soooo, why put an artificial concern by enforcing delays to the inevitable goal against a tough(_er +/- _est) Aliens presence & wicked patrols?!?

Reaching the console faster doesn't negate the fact the whole map must be cleaned up before leaving which to me is another delay step (for usual Evac calls) but certainly is a reasonably good fairplay rule as it gives a challenge but not a grind of pretty static tactical decisions.
More ammos spent = More kills = More turns to react through.
Less smart thinking = Almost boring = Repetitive combat struggles.

Thus -- there's risk & then, there's somewhat silly exaggeration to the gameplay conditions (as) offered by design based on someone's idea of balance & sufficient flow.. IMHO.
Manual "cheating" edits of 6 or 7 or 8... to the rescue!!