Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

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nick_abbott
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Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by nick_abbott »

I have a good game going, a few squads on the way to being properly trained. A good facilities build going on the ship, the Shadow Chamber under construction. I have seven engineers and eight scientists and I am handling my missions pretty well. I get an "acceptable" outcome now and then and to be honest when those missions happen I am glad to get out of there with nothing worse then acceptable! I have 16/16 Rebel communications going and three or four radio towers built. I have plenty of Intel. banked but supplies are always a bit lacking...as usual. Sounds fun huh?

Underlying it all is the sinking feeling that I may be losing the campaign. I have no way of knowing where I stand so I just keep trying to make progress. My point is...is this fun? Weighing it honestly I can not answer that question at this time. It is difficult to enjoy my game when I have such a sinking feeling of dread accompanying almost the entire game. I hope that someone at sometime will build a Mod. that would give enough information to make this game feel a bit more like Long War One which I enjoyed in it's entirety without the feeling of dread accompanying my in-game time.
Last edited by nick_abbott on Sat Mar 25, 2017 10:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.
marceror
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Re: Is this fun?

Post by marceror »

The key detail your post doesn't mention is Avatar progress. What is that at, or have you liberated any regions yet? You must liberate at least one region to gain visibility to the Avatar project.

Make sure you are staying on top of that, and not letting Advent progress unchecked. This is how you lose the game.

Is it fun? I can't answer that for you. I'm having fun in my campaign. Fun is subjective.
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nick_abbott
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Re: Is this fun?

Post by nick_abbott »

That is the rub, I have no idea what the Avatar project progress is. I also believe that I haven't liberated a region yet. I have all 16 of the zones liberated and radio towers in several of them and a couple of continent bonuses from the the built radio towers but no liberated regions. I am glad to know that there is a way to view the progress of the Avatar project as not knowing what that progress is...is my point of "is this fun?" I had no idea that there somehow is a way to uncover the enemies progression I just have not found it as of yet. Knowing what that progress is would certainly answer my question, not knowing what that progress is was why I have been asking myself if this is fun or frustrating. I need to find out how to gain this information in my game.
marceror
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Re: Is this fun?

Post by marceror »

nick_abbott wrote:That is the rub, I have no idea what the Avatar project progress is. I also believe that I haven't liberated a region yet. I have all 16 of the zones liberated and radio towers in several of them and a couple of continent bonuses from the the built radio towers but no liberated regions. I am glad to know that there is a way to view the progress of the Avatar project as not knowing what that progress is...is my point of "is this fun?" I had no idea that there somehow is a way to uncover the enemies progression I just have not found it as of yet. Knowing what that progress is would certainly answer my question, not knowing what that progress is was why I have been asking myself if this is fun or frustrating. I need to find out how to gain this information in my game.
Look for the "find a lead" type missions, preferably focusing on a region with lower advent strength so the resistance will be less.

After a couple such missions you will get a "radio tower" mission. Once you complete that, you can assault the regional Advent HQ, which will lead to liberation of that region. The avatar project's progress will become viewable shortly after.

Assaulting Blacksites also works differently in Long War, as you not only need to be in the region (which you already have covered), but you need to locate a facility lead -- sometimes the reward of a "find a lead" type mission.
Jacke
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Re: Is this fun?

Post by Jacke »

nick_abbott wrote:That is the rub, I have no idea what the Avatar project progress is.
I believe you meant to say "I have all 16 of the zones contacted ...."

The goal is to defeat the alien invaders of Earth. The only way to do that is to win through the story arc missions and defeat the Elders and destroy their Avatar Project. To do that you need to build up XCOM both with soldiers, research, and gear, as well as push back ADVENT to gain resources, control, and intelligence. That means using intel to locate missions in zones contacted yet not liberated, selecting which of those missions to run to succeed tactically, train XCOM, and gain resources. Eventually you need to liberate at least one zone to make visible the progress on the Avatar Project and to increase supplies. By working on the progress goals you will eventually get the story arc missions to progress into confronting and defeating the Elders and winning.

It can be a little daunting and confusing to figure that out. And easy to get caught in the weeds and miss a lot of the big picture.
Kyrsoh
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Re: Is this fun?

Post by Kyrsoh »

Nick_abbott: you can't miss the Avatar project if you keep completing objectives. The game clearly asks you to:

1. Build the Resistance
2. Find a Lead
3. LIBERATE a Region from ADVENT control

If you do not liberate a Region you will lose your campaign because this is your objective! Please read all the data files in the game at Commander's Quarters! You have to put your Rebels on Intel jobs to find missions (including the liberation ones). This is not LW1 where the game offers you all missions without your efforts!

In LW1 you worked with the governments of the Regions and they asked for your help. In LW2 you are working AGAINST the government and they try to HIDE the missions from you - because XCOM is a terrorist organization! Every mission you can find needs SPYING on the police and military activity in the given Region. You can do this with your contacted resistance fighters and the Avenger (scanning at a Region).
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nick_abbott
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Re: Is this fun?

Post by nick_abbott »

Home from a long day and I logged in and cancelled "Coil Gun" research when I found out I had in ship's stores 9 alien data caches. One of which is being researched right now.

Thanks for the helpful posts you guys. I will come back to the thread and let you know how things progress from here :)
Kyrsoh
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by Kyrsoh »

Alien data caches will give you Intel. This can be used to boost infiltration at short infiltration timed liberation missions.

You are still not understanding the game mechanics. Please go to the Commanders Quarters on the Avenger, and read all the XCOM Archives about the game!

You have to put Rebels on Intel jobs to find the missions to liberate a Region.
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nick_abbott
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by nick_abbott »

Kyrsoh wrote:Alien data caches will give you Intel. This can be used to boost infiltration at short infiltration timed liberation missions.

You are still not understanding the game mechanics. Please go to the Commanders Quarters on the Avenger, and read all the XCOM Archives about the game!

You have to put Rebels on Intel jobs to find the missions to liberate a Region.
Yeah, I have been banking the Intel. but not making any progress towards the missions that I am looking for. Thanks for the tips, I will get on it.
marceror
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by marceror »

nick_abbott wrote:
Kyrsoh wrote:Alien data caches will give you Intel. This can be used to boost infiltration at short infiltration timed liberation missions.

You are still not understanding the game mechanics. Please go to the Commanders Quarters on the Avenger, and read all the XCOM Archives about the game!

You have to put Rebels on Intel jobs to find the missions to liberate a Region.
Yeah, I have been banking the Intel. but not making any progress towards the missions that I am looking for. Thanks for the tips, I will get on it.
Do you have rebels in your Havens on the Intel job? Ideally try to get at least 8 rebels on that job, 9 or 10 if you can. You can also park your Avenger in a region to get the equivalent of 4 rebels on Intel when you scan there. In your shoes, I would be pushing Intel jobs to the extreme. Since you have all 16 Havens, you should start getting leads. Get that first region liberated ASAP.
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nick_abbott
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by nick_abbott »

I went up to the Command Deck and went into Haven management. I switched almost everyone to Intel. jobs. I switched my research back to Coil Guns and am curiously awaiting the information I need on the aliens progression of their Avatar project.

The previous mistake I made with research is that I thought the missions that said "find a lead" meant that those data caches I picked up on those missions offered the information that I am missing.
marceror
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by marceror »

nick_abbott wrote:I went up to the Command Deck and went into Haven management. I switched almost everyone to Intel. jobs. I switched my research back to Coil Guns and am curiously awaiting the information I need on the aliens progression of their Avatar project.

The previous mistake I made with research is that I thought the missions that said "find a lead" meant that those data caches I picked up on those missions offered the information that I am missing.
Remember that there are really two kinds of leads that you are looking for. Facility leads, which might only become available AFTER you liberate your first region. And liberation leads, which are required to liberate a region. You won't necessarily know which is which at first, so just prioritize getting leads wherever you can.

Once you have achieved "liberation 2" in a region from completing missions there (you will know because two ** will be present next to the region in Haven management), you will get the radio tower mission in that region. Get on that as soon as possible. Once successful, the mission to assault the regional HQ will become available, again, do it as soon as possible.

These missions can be somewhat challenging, so I recommend bringing your A squad to handle them.
LordYanaek
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by LordYanaek »

nick_abbott wrote: The previous mistake I made with research is that I thought the missions that said "find a lead" meant that those data caches I picked up on those missions offered the information that I am missing.
"Find a Lead" is actually the main mission objective for most Guerilla Ops. The "Lead" you recover is actually an abstraction to tell you you got some important information, it will not be an actual item unless it's a Facility Lead. Those missions will require hacking some computer or stealing items from ADVENT.
An important hint, you will see 2 possible rewards for "Find a Lead" missions : either just 25-30 Intel or 25-30 Intel and an "Intel Package". Intel packages will give you PoI (scansites) or be actual Facility Leads allowing you to sabotage ADVENT research on the Avatar project so they are valuable but they will not be the Lead you need for liberation. You get this lead from the missions that have only 25-30 Intel as a reward. If you see a guerilla (green) hack or item recovery mission with Intel only as the reward, do it as it's the first mission in the liberation chain (often called Liberation1).
After you do that mission it's easier to understand as every further mission will have Liberation in the objectives (or maybe reward).

So you are looking to do those missions in at least one region (you must do them all in a single region) :
  • Liberation 1 : Green Guerilla mission with Hack or Item Recovery objective and only Intel as the reward (no "Intel Package")
  • Liberation 2 : White VIP extraction/rescue with "Liberation" clearly indicated as objective or reward. This mission will usually have a shorter infiltration and higher activity than other white missions so you want to detect it early and probably boost.
  • Liberation 3 : Destroy the Relay or Capture/Kill Dark VIP. Killing the dark VIP will progress in the quest, you'll just miss the additional reward but you probably don't need it this far so if you get this mission take a shinobi and sniper and try to snipe the VIP from evac zone; You'll have faceless hidden among the civilians so capture can be hard.
  • Network Tower : Somewhat similar to the Vanilla Tower. You have to hack the emitter and kill everyone. There are threads in the Strategy sub for how to do this one. You will eventually face endless reinforcements until you hack the emitter and this hack will stun every enemy for 2 full turns so you have 3 free turns to kill them.
  • Advent HQ : A long map with lots of enemies but no timer of any sort so take snipers, firepower and eventually a medic and take your time. It's usually not that hard if you don't rush it.
Out of curiosity, what difficulty are you playing and what's the in-game date?
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nick_abbott
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by nick_abbott »

LordYanaek wrote:
Out of curiosity, what difficulty are you playing and what's the in-game date?
Commander-8/30/2035
LordYanaek
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by LordYanaek »

OK. You shouldn't be too late then, i was afraid from other posts you might face an avatar defeat before you complete the liberation quest but you probably have several months left.
You might face a bug in the main quest thought.
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nick_abbott
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by nick_abbott »

I received a pop-up message box (with a yellow border) stating that the Rebels need my help protecting a data tap. We successfully defended the equipment. The downside is that it was in western Europe with a Advent strength of 9. Europe is where I built my first radio towers, I do not know if that has an influence on getting this mission or not. Is this the beginning of the process that I am needing?
chrisb
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by chrisb »

Once strength in a region gets high, you have to be much more careful about the jobs that your rebels are doing, if any.

Without getting all dirty with details, the general rule of thumb most people go for is not having more than 4 rebels on a job if you don't think you can handle the retal right now. For example if all your guys are on important missions, and you don't want a data tap taking out an important region, spreading them out on different jobs, or putting them in hiding will reduce/remove the chance of getting a retal.

You can also work to pull advent strength away from a region by trying to get missions in surrounding regions. This won't happen quickly but over time the strength will reduce. Once it comes down a bit you can try for troop columns to lower it more.

There's also the strat that I tend to go for which is trying to trigger retals on my timing. It works well if you can pull it off, have the A-team ready with a purpose built haven advisor to hold the line. Techs/Assaults tank specced are wonderful for this. The reason I do this is for XP on soldiers as well as putting the retal on cooldown. So if I was on intel, for 2-3 weeks after the retal I'm pretty safe to leave a scientist in there with no chance of mini-retal. Still can proc the big retal though, but it's generally worth the risk if you can farm some troop columns out of it.
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nick_abbott
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Re: Is this fun? edit: Alien data caches. Avatar project progress.

Post by nick_abbott »

Good info. Thanks Chris!
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