Some noob questions

[Squirting Elephant]

I'm on ironman so I rather not face-try it.

1. Can enemy mechs counterattack like Mutons do when I rend/melee them?
2. Do flashbangs work on the Chosen and if so, does this also block their abilities?
3. When a Chosen uses Vanish, he will still be on that very same tile (that turn)?
4. Is it a good idea to use Reapers in stealth to find the Chosen in the map before he finds me?
5. It seems that the resistance (not on all types of missions though) shoots on enemy patrols that I have not triggered yet. While untriggered, the aliens ignore cover completely and just stand there and thus the resistance get's free flank-shots on them for big damage all the time. Is this a bug? I mean they do shoot back at the resistance but they refuse to move and love standing there in the open.
6. Is a "major breakthrough" on the Avatar project reversible? Like is it added to a facility (which means that it can be reversed) or is it added to the project itself (and thus is permanent)?
7. It seems that sustaining sphere procs on my shadow bound clones? I killed the Spectre but my soldier was still on the floor and the clone was still fully functional (and dangerous)... Also does this mean that the sustaining sphere no longer works for my soldier because the clone used it?
8. How to see the Chosen weaknesses in the overworld? Is this even possible?
9. When I EVAC from a mission without completing it after already killing a King or Queen, will the corpse be gone forever?
10. What effects can be applied to the Chosen?
11. Can I farm XP forever by retreating from a story-mission all the time after killing almost everything?
12. What's the min. amount of civilians I need to save? Does civilians killed by me or by environmental explosions give extra penalties?

Answers so far:

1: No.
2: No.
3: Yes & No (it's random, I verified this the hard way)
4: Depends
5: It's odd but working as intended
6: Yes (covert ops and resistance orders)
7: ?
8: Top of Worldscreen -> click red icon left of the Avatar project.
9: No you will get the corpse even if you fail the mission it seems. But I'm not sure if this also applies if none of your soldiers makes it out alive.

10:
Can be applied: Burning, Poison, Talon Ammo, Stasis from an enemy priest.
Can NOT be applied: Stun, Desorient, mental effects, Stasis from an XCOM soldier.
Special cases: Frost Bomb can be applied but will only work partially.
Still unknown: Stasis from a mindcontrolled (by the player) priest.

11: I confirmed that you can farm AP this way but still not sure about XP. Looks like a yes but not really worth it due to getting tired.
12. At least 6 must be saved. A civ death, regardless of how it happened, counts as just 1 regular civ death.

Side-note: friendly resistance members can wound and even kill your soldiers. You get no compensation for this whatsoever.

[SBlack]

1.) no
2.) no

4.) and what is that Reaper going to do when the Chosen is found? You need your whole team (or most of it at least) to engage them. The Chosen will come for you sooner or later anyways, so you can just let it happen

[Pandasaurus]

1. no
2. not sure
3. yes, but i encountered a bug when the chosen used vanishing wind and then it teleported somewhere else. on the very next turn when i tried to flank her, she wasnt there, instead on the other end of the map
4. ideally you let her come to you, while you spread around your squad. she is fast, she can come to you really quick. i dont think reaper has time to come to her
5. not sure, but seems to happen quite often

[Squirting Elephant]

Thanks for the answers.

4. True, but it seems that some Chosen just run into my squad, melee them, then run out again and use vanish. But Reapers should be able to spot them rather safely again so that the rest of my team can snipe/grenade them and then shoot them.
5. So that is not just me then. Okay good.

Another question: Is it a smart idea to send out only Reapers on a Covert mission with a high ambush chance? Because Reapers can just ignore everything and cheese-run to the evac zone or am I missing something?

[Pandasaurus]

yes, you flank them with reaper only after they hit you, so you know where they went to. no use try to find them when they first spawn

[Shuggah]

I don't know if i've been lucky but i've found that sending a reaper in the direction of the chosen spawn point often reveals them as they are crossing the map towards me, giving me the option to focus my attack before they get to attack my squad. I took the assassin out in one round doing this yesterday.

[SBlack]

Normally the AI will cheat and steer pods between you and the objective no matter what you do. So 100% stealth doesn't work in vanilla. In Long War you can do it.

I'm reasonably sure I witnessed that yesterday on an evac mission. My operatives were completely outgunned by an Andromedon and a Codex. And I ran into them anyways when I tried to evade them. One of them died, while the other got lucky and made it out.

[Squirting Elephant]

Yeah that is true I guess. I sometimes even see the Lost spawn in plain sight in the middle of a fully cleared & secured spot.

[AlexMBrennan]

4. Is it a good idea to use Reapers in stealth to find the Chosen in the map before he finds me?

Welll, yes, not blinding walking into an ambush would seem like a good idea. In general, if the enemy is immune to overwatch fire then you should be acting proactively.

5. It seems that the resistance (not on all types of missions though) shoots on enemy patrols that I have not triggered yet. While untriggered, the aliens ignore cover completely and just stand there and thus the resistance get's free flank-shots on them for big damage all the time. Is this a bug?

This has always been the case, and for good reason - for example, missions where you have to defend the objective would be completely impossible if every enemy in range attecked it instead of just 1 guy shooting it per turn. Similarly, retaliation missions would be extremely hard if all the enemy units on the map acted instead of just a few to show the player where the enemies are.

[Squirting Elephant]

Another question: Is a "major breakthrough" on the Avatar project reversible? Like is it added to a facility (which means that it can be reversed) or is it added to the project itself (and thus is permanent)?

Because right now I have 3 VERY bad dark events and 1 hidden.

[SamBC]

Originally posted by Squirting Elephant:

Another question: Is a "major breakthrough" on the Avatar project reversible? Like is it added to a facility (which means that it can be reversed) or is it added to the project itself (and thus is permanent)?

Because right now I have 3 VERY bad dark events and 1 hidden.

Stuff on the project itself is reversible. It comes from there when you do plot stuff, or when you use a covert op or resistance order to reduce avatar progress.

[Squirting Elephant]

Thanks.

I got more questions:

It seems that sustaining sphere procs on my shadow bound clones? I killed the Spectre but my soldier was still on the floor and the clone was still fully functional (and dangerous)... Also does this mean that the sustaining sphere no longer works for my soldier because the clone used it?
This basically makes sustaining spheres VERY dangerous. You lose it's use, you have to kill the clone entirely AND your soldier is down for another turn and you need to revive it (so another soldier also loses half a turn)

How to see the Chosen weaknesses in the overworld? Is this even possible?

[phillip_lynx]

Originally posted by Squirting Elephant:

...
How to see the Chosen weaknesses in the overworld? Is this even possible?

Top of Worldscreen -> click red icon.

[Alkei]

4. Very good for warlock and hunter. I halved their hp with a sniper before they reached my squad. Assassin will get to you in 1-2 turns, so it's better to move your whole squad to the starting corner to avoid enemy patrol interference. Also reaper's Target Definition is a huge advantage when fighting her.

[Squirting Elephant]

Does anyone know if you can put a Chosen into Stasis by a mindcontrolled (by you) priest?

Also:
11. Can I farm XP forever by retreating from a story-mission all the time after killing almost everything?

[SBlack]

Just sabotage the Avatar project with covert missions. There is also a resistance orders that removes one pop at the end of each month. That way you can stretch out the game for a very long time