Nice work Denniz, I was just about to create a post about the same topic. So I'll contribute here instead!
C/I is my preferred difficulty and 5-6 man missions are my preferred style of play. Sneaking reasonably close to the objective. Setting up a quick ambush. Crushing a pod before it knows what hit it. Sending a Shinobi/Specialist/Someone to accomplish the objective. Then fighting towards/defending the evac. It's fun and intense. Every. Single. Time. It's why I love XCOM, but the risk of running a squad like that in LW2 can become crazy, very quickly.
I'll expand of some of Denniz's suggestions, then add a couple of my own...
Stealth vs. non-stealth:
- Add additional rewards for killing all enemies (excluding reinforcements) on mission...
I like the idea of a bonus reward for clearing the map of enemies. I see it working like capture or kill the VIP missions, possibly displaying on the strategy map before the mission is infiltrated. This way you decided in advance how large, and how well equipped, of a squad to launch before hand. Not every mission would have a bonus reward, but could make for some interesting choices when they do.
A few of my own suggestions for rewards: X% of corpses recovered (RNG which corpses are recovered), Data Pads (at a low % chance), a low chance of a random grenade or ammo type (could vary up the load out of early game squads).
0% raids:
- Under-infiltration (<100%) penalties on supply raids and troop columns....
If Pavonis Interactive want to eliminate 0% raids altogether, I think implementing your idea of no recovered loot would definitely do it. Not sure I like the idea though. I haven't run any myself, they're far too risky for how I try to play. But if someone wants to sit on overwatch for an hour and a half to get the job done, that's fine too. Perhaps -50% to loot, under 50% infiltration would be enough deter instantly launching the mission.
A few of my observations and suggestions for early game 5-6 viability...
- First of all, I don't mind permanent DEs. I view it as watching the enemy progress, as you do the same. That said, I feel the temp DE, Vigilance is too strong (works on all enemies, rather than the usual some) and/or appears too early (literally the first DE in my current C/I campaign, mid May). I assume it is supposed to counter stealth ops. But it feels more punishing to 5-6 man squads, since they're getting further debuffed from not all carrying SMGs. 1-2 man (sacrificial) stealth teams, with a perk or two, is one of the best counters to a DE that tries to reduce stealth teams.
Suggestion: Break Vigilance into 3 (or more) smaller DEs that apply the same effect, but only to specific unit types. Some units will still betough to get round, but others would be easier. Guess it might not work since Vigilance is a squad debuff, not an enemy buff, but just a suggestion. At very least I'd like to see it anytime later in the campaign then first DE proc.
- Rapid Response is another temp DE that I'm certain everyone loves, and another that is best dealt with by not activating at all (i.e. small stealth squads). I'm not sure when this DE procs in the timeline, but feel it should, at very least, be tied to the Jammer Officer skill. Once you have an Officer at that skill level, this DE gets add to the pool. I realize this could be exploited, but if someone wants to miss out on cool later skills to avoid 1 DE, so be it.
Well this has gotten plenty wordy, so I'll leave it there. Best of luck to the Pavonis team in polishing up what's looking to be a very promising Long War.
TD;DR - Rewarding killing good, 0% supply raid = 0 supplies bad, Vigilance: 1 to 2 man stealth squads are one of the best ways to counter a DE that tries to reduce stealth squads, Rapid Response: same problem, could be tied the the Jammer Officer skill, to ensure at least one hard counter.