[LW] 4-man Exalt missions: whom to take?

[Bullett00th]

It's my first Ironman LW playthough and while usually I just take all 8 classes on missions, I've found myself thinking about whom to take on a 4-man covert extraction mission.

Mind you that my covert op is a scout, so I already have an overwatch bait with lightning reflexes.

I'm thinking sniper, engineer (4 nades + 2 smokes), assault and gunner (all SGTs).


Very hesitant though:
- feels really unsafe going there without a medic, although I'm playing without Red Fog and practice shows that it's ok to take some damage, but getting downed is a death sentence.
- thinking about replacing the gunner with an infantry guy: better aim, two shots in a row, executioner, but less ammo in a mag obviously.
- maybe I need a rocketeer, but not sure who to replace with him: assault or engie. All explosives are good, but assault is great for flanking and one shot kills, especially with two shots per turn.

Any advice would be highly appreciated!

[Emperor Zeltman]

as it is not your task to kill anything, i would camp my team at extraction point with heavy firepower on hand.
i usually take this:
infantry, rocketeer, gunner, random dude

rocketeer is there to provide free fields of fire, so i leave my shredder guys at home and stick with only explosive rockets. infantry and gunner kill enemies exposed by rockets. if you feel a lone rocketeer might not do the job, bring either a second or a grenadier for more explosions.

move your operative so that in turn 2 he is able to reach first hack, move other guys into good positions but also being able to evac in a single turn.
in turn 2, hack the relay, move further to second relay.
if enemies appear near evac zone, send them some explosives, exploit they cant use their guns to maximize damage. go on this way until your operative is extracted. leave exalt to lick their wounds and go home too.
there are few maps not supporting this strategy, mainly the first map (i think its called deluge) of the psionics mini mission arcs where you have to extract the exalt guy. starting position here is often linked to instant activations so prep your hack before going to fire positions with everyone else

[Red Cat]

In Long War I've found speacilized squads a lot more useful than a mixture of all 8. I usually run with 1 demo squad (rocketeers and engineers), 1 infantry/gunner squad, 1 sniper/marksman squad and 1 assault squad. Based on the circumstances I decide which to take - for covert ops I have seperate pistol-heavy soldiers.

1 rule of thumb - always have a medic and a scout with you to bait overwatch shots and to save people.

[red255]

I take we are legion which bumps these missions up to 6 men.

I take one in the zone sniper. one Jaegar (in the zone) one assault. one scout. one engineer. and one infantry.

and I clear the map.

my Covert operative is an assault with High move and HP. wearing Chitlin, motion sensor, and walker servos. modified in the ini to not give move penalties.

[Red Cat]

Originally posted by red255:

I take we are legion which bumps these missions up to 6 men.

I take one in the zone sniper. one Jaegar (in the zone) one assault. one scout. one engineer. and one infantry.

and I clear the map.

my Covert operative is an assault with High move and HP. wearing Chitlin, motion sensor, and walker servos. modified in the ini to not give move penalties.

I've found Jaegar mechs to be fairly fragile - not suiting my taste. I use Valkyries and Shoguns in order to gun down anything before it reaches me or bombard it from range

[red255]

I'm probably more partial to Pathfinders myself.

the In the zone does less damage every kill and the mech only has 4 rounds. whereas a pathfinder can get lock and load to bump it up to 3 shots and can Fire reload and rapid fire

but the Jeager with a particle cannon can still fry 4 enemies between reloads, I don't have issues with fragilty, I play on Classic. I use the relays to disable.

and I have the mec wearing tac sensors and battle computer and ...sometimes smoke.

[Bullett00th]

thanks for the advice!

I'm far from mecs in the current playthrough so 4 infantry guys only so far.

Originally posted by don_svetlio:

In Long War I've found speacilized squads a lot more useful than a mixture of all 8. I usually run with 1 demo squad (rocketeers and engineers), 1 infantry/gunner squad, 1 sniper/marksman squad and 1 assault squad. Based on the circumstances I decide which to take - for covert ops I have seperate pistol-heavy soldiers.

1 rule of thumb - always have a medic and a scout with you to bait overwatch shots and to save people.

I know that specialized suqads are the way to go, I just can't help my need for variety...

Could you specify which groups you use for which missions?

Particularly interested in anti-terror squad setups

[Red Cat]

Originally posted by red255:

I'm probably more partial to Pathfinders myself.

the In the zone does less damage every kill and the mech only has 4 rounds. whereas a pathfinder can get lock and load to bump it up to 3 shots and can Fire reload and rapid fire

but the Jeager with a particle cannon can still fry 4 enemies between reloads, I don't have issues with fragilty, I play on Classic. I use the relays to disable.

and I have the mec wearing tac sensors and battle computer and ...sometimes smoke.

I've found myself loving the Flame thrower - It's saved my ass on several occassions by forcing half the aliens to panic and run away :D

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

thanks for the advice!

I'm far from mecs in the current playthrough so 4 infantry guys only so far.

Originally posted by don_svetlio:

In Long War I've found speacilized squads a lot more useful than a mixture of all 8. I usually run with 1 demo squad (rocketeers and engineers), 1 infantry/gunner squad, 1 sniper/marksman squad and 1 assault squad. Based on the circumstances I decide which to take - for covert ops I have seperate pistol-heavy soldiers.

1 rule of thumb - always have a medic and a scout with you to bait overwatch shots and to save people.

I know that specialized suqads are the way to go, I just can't help my need for variety...

Could you specify which groups you use for which missions?

Particularly interested in anti-terror squad setups

The game will always give you a bit of info on what the combat zone looks like so I try to base my decisions on that.
Usually - I keep my Assault Squad ready for Bomb-disposal missions since they are usually the most mobal.
For council missions, I prefer to take a marksman squad with long rifles to take accurate shots at the thin men that plague those missions
For Terror attacks - I tend to rely on Valkyrie Mecs with Flamers for the Chryssalids and 2-3 Infrantries to shoot them down before they shoot me down :D
Demo Squads also work with Terror attacks but that way you are more likely to lose civilians but less likely to suffer casualties yourself.
For Exalt missions - I usually take snipers and gunners mostly - I make heavy use of Pistol-focused agents and get any pistol upgrade I can. Once you hit Gauss weapons it becomes a breeze.
For standard abductions I either train recruits or go with whatever.

[happy]

i take 4 rookies, or simply my lowest rank troops so they get some xp

the operative can solo any map(one is a bit tricky(construction "corridor"))

the military base map can lead to one of the rookies having to sacrifice himself, but other than that, on any other map, the extraction team is just here to chill, providing your covert op is an assault

[Red Cat]

Originally posted by happy:

i take 4 rookies, or simply my lowest rank troops so they get some xp

the operative can solo any map(one is a bit tricky(construction "corridor"))

the military base map can lead to one of the rookies having to sacrifice himself, but other than that, on any other map, the extraction team is just here to chill, providing your covert op is an assault

Long War? You can solo an exalt mission with the cover op? Good luck.

[Bullett00th]

@don thanks for the advice!
I'm not likely to have specialized squads because I keep a bare minimum of equipment for each class, that way I can spread the necessary upgrades evenly and just hand over the used equipment to the next squad

Originally posted by happy:

i take 4 rookies, or simply my lowest rank troops so they get some xp

the operative can solo any map(one is a bit tricky(construction "corridor"))

the military base map can lead to one of the rookies having to sacrifice himself, but other than that, on any other map, the extraction team is just here to chill, providing your covert op is an assault

yeah I'm with don_svetilo on this one. I can't boast great skills but doesn't sound realistic.

I've only seen Beaglerush 'solo' an extraction with the covert operative, and even then he got spotted after the second uplink and had covering fire from the rest of the squad to successfully evac

[Red Cat]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

@don thanks for the advice!
I'm not likely to have specialized squads because I keep a bare minimum of equipment for each class, that way I can spread the necessary upgrades evenly and just hand over the used equipment to the next squad

Originally posted by happy:

i take 4 rookies, or simply my lowest rank troops so they get some xp

the operative can solo any map(one is a bit tricky(construction "corridor"))

the military base map can lead to one of the rookies having to sacrifice himself, but other than that, on any other map, the extraction team is just here to chill, providing your covert op is an assault

yeah I'm with don_svetilo on this one. I can't boast great skills but doesn't sound realistic.

I've only seen Beaglerush 'solo' an extraction with the covert operative, and even then he got spotted after the second uplink and had covering fire from the rest of the squad to successfully evac

Where are you spending all your cash? :D

I always end up having more than I can really spend so I buy random junk.

A bit more advice - use the "wear and tear" 2nd wave option - makes the game a lot more fun when your prized possession items break and get you in a pitch xD

Btw - I think Beta 15F might have been nerfed down. I managed to take out a large landed UFO in the 2nd month without any custom gear ._.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by don_svetlio:

Where are you spending all your cash? :D

I always end up having more than I can really spend so I buy random junk.

A bit more advice - use the "wear and tear" 2nd wave option - makes the game a lot more fun when your prized possession items break and get you in a pitch xD

Btw - I think Beta 15F might have been nerfed down. I managed to take out a large landed UFO in the 2nd month without any custom gear ._.

interceptors, gear, building... I never had enough cash for all my needs in vanilla, let alone Long War)
Maybe I'm not a smart spender.

Tried wear&tear, didn't like that items get damaged at random

[Red Cat]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

Originally posted by don_svetlio:

Where are you spending all your cash? :D

I always end up having more than I can really spend so I buy random junk.

A bit more advice - use the "wear and tear" 2nd wave option - makes the game a lot more fun when your prized possession items break and get you in a pitch xD

Btw - I think Beta 15F might have been nerfed down. I managed to take out a large landed UFO in the 2nd month without any custom gear ._.

interceptors, gear, building... I never had enough cash for all my needs in vanilla, let alone Long War)
Maybe I'm not a smart spender.

Tried wear&tear, didn't like that items get damaged at random

Don't buy interceptors - choose 2 continents and have 2 in each, 1 with stingray and 1 with avalance. You can't protect all continents from the get-go. 2 is the max.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by don_svetlio:

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

interceptors, gear, building... I never had enough cash for all my needs in vanilla, let alone Long War)
Maybe I'm not a smart spender.

Tried wear&tear, didn't like that items get damaged at random

Don't buy interceptors - choose 2 continents and have 2 in each, 1 with stingray and 1 with avalance. You can't protect all continents from the get-go. 2 is the max.

I only have one at the moment and I have 6 interceptors guarding it. Most are being repaired, others I use to scare away small and medium UFOs.

[Red Cat]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

Originally posted by don_svetlio:

Don't buy interceptors - choose 2 continents and have 2 in each, 1 with stingray and 1 with avalance. You can't protect all continents from the get-go. 2 is the max.

I only have one at the moment and I have 6 interceptors guarding it. Most are being repaired, others I use to scare away small and medium UFOs.

2 are enough - only target UFOs flying "High" as those are the ones that target satellites and the small scouts. If you deal 50% damage to a scout it aborts it's mission so no bigger brothers to come afterwards. NOE ones are usually bombers or ones that are about to land - those will either generate terror attacks which are best dealt with on the ground, raise panic a bit or land in a forest. Low flyers usually cause abduction missions. Hope that helps :P You should be able to cover 2 continents with 5 interceptors and once you have NA then you can cover a total of 4. 1 will fail, no way to avoid it.