Warlock

[Aphex]

So i just had the retaliation mission with the Warlock. I have to deal with mindcontrolled soldiers, faceless and the warlock teleporting one of my rangers on top of my other soldier one hit killing him. This is some next level bs.

[Shodan's husband]

Originally posted by Aphex:

So i just had the retaliation mission with the Warlock. I have to deal with mindcontrolled soldiers, faceless and the warlock teleporting one of my rangers on top of my other soldier one hit killing him. This is some next level bs.

Is it the first retaliation mission? And the first chosen that showed up in that campaign?

[Aphex]

Originally posted by Shodan's husband:

Originally posted by Aphex:

So i just had the retaliation mission with the Warlock. I have to deal with mindcontrolled soldiers, faceless and the warlock teleporting one of my rangers on top of my other soldier one hit killing him. This is some next level bs.

Is it the first retaliation mission? And the first chosen that showed up in that campaign?

Yeah, oh and i also somehow have to save the civilians....
Edit.: I managed to do it by just running away and soloing him with my templar.

[Shodan's husband]

Originally posted by Aphex:

Originally posted by Shodan's husband:

Is it the first retaliation mission? And the first chosen that showed up in that campaign?

Yeah.

You dont gain all that much trying to win that mission. All youll get is a bit more supplies each month. And xp of course.

Usually you would lose contact to a region if you fail to protect enough civilians. Thats not the case with the first retaliation mission. The only bad thing that will happen if you would just abort as soon as the mission starts is to lose 15 to mayb 25 supplies each month.

As the negative conseques of losing that mission are neglible and the benefits hardly measure up to the severe risks of fighting a full map, with some sort of timer (civilians getting killed) on top of the chosen this mission isnt really a good deal four your soldiers.

The most important very early game resource isnt intel or supplies. And not even winning missions. Not engineers or scientists. The most valuable asset in the first maybe 5 missions is safe xp for your soldiers. The first retaliation mission is a good example. You basicalyl dont lose anything by failing that mission. But you could lose everytihng by desperately trying to win.

A good way to use this knowledge to your advantage is to just drop into the map, find one or two pods that you easily take out without much trouble and to then gtfo.

You want xp to get to a sergeant. Screw the chosen and the timer and the civilians. Your primary objective is to get a bigger squad and to extend and conserve your roster.

Even use all explosives or the reapers claymore to take out a few easy pods and then jsut leave. You might even get loot from the first or second pod. If you take out one pod and then see that theres two pods close to each other and the Warlock might even spawn his psi zombies next turn then that might not be worth it. FIgthing potentially 7 enemies with a 4 man squad is a bad deal. And especialyl bad if you dont even get much for taking such a hard early game engagement.

[Shodan's husband]

Originally posted by Aphex:

Originally posted by Shodan's husband:

Is it the first retaliation mission? And the first chosen that showed up in that campaign?

Yeah, oh and i also somehow have to save the civilians....
Edit.: I managed to do it by just running away and soloing him with my templar.

Good for you. Just dominating the chosen works too of course :)

[Perplex]

When i get the Warlock first i always let him steal intel from my guys as his MC BS early game is just too annoying.

[Shodan's husband]

Originally posted by Perplex:

When i get the Warlock first i always let him steal intel from my guys as his MC BS early game is just too annoying.

Experimental weapons (specially boltcaster but also the rest) + Reaper's claymore are very effective vs early Chosen. If chosen is exposed (cover removed via explosives) and is hit with frost grenade and boltcaster its usually a guaranteed hit.

[HVS5b]

Mindshields are your friend vs the Warlock.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by HVS5b:

Mindshields are your friend vs the Warlock.

You aren't going to have Sectoid Autopsy completed by the first retaliation mission.

[The Bored Chairman]

Yeah, Warlock is pretty rough to roll as the first Chosen, you don't have the tools to deal with him and he's immune to Mental Impairments (Flashbang). Can be pretty bad if he rolls some annoying traits too.

Anyone know if Flashbang removes MC from friendly soldiers? As a bit of a workaround? Either that or freeze them with Frost Grenade, I think that removes it too.

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by The Bored Chairman:

Anyone know if Flashbang removes MC from friendly soldiers?

No. It does still make them less dangerous though.

[Shodan's husband]

Originally posted by The Bored Chairman:

Yeah, Warlock is pretty rough to roll as the first Chosen, you don't have the tools to deal with him and he's immune to Mental Impairments (Flashbang). Can be pretty bad if he rolls some annoying traits too.

Anyone know if Flashbang removes MC from friendly soldiers? As a bit of a workaround? Either that or freeze them with Frost Grenade, I think that removes it too.

Not entirely true. Getting the Warlock as first chosen means you dont start the campaign with the story missions. Meaning, you can choose one of the faction soldiers. Reaper is a formidable tool vs any of the chosen. Even without the experimental weapons. Chosen go up on high ground pretty often as well. Blowing the warlock up with a claymore + fall dmg is quite nice. Even a few rookies could finish him off or almost take him out. Since hell prolly not shoot you, you can then take him out in the next turn.

There are some potentially very hard early chosen scnearios but not all of them. It would be hard if you have no scouting, no reaper and no phantom ranger, no experimental weapons and maybe even some rookies and on top of that chosen is immune to OW. That wouldnt be a good fight for an early 4 man squad.

But if you have the reaper and dont clumsily activate more stuff on top of the warlock then the odds are actually stacked on your side.

[The Bored Chairman]

Originally posted by Shodan's husband:

Originally posted by The Bored Chairman:

Yeah, Warlock is pretty rough to roll as the first Chosen, you don't have the tools to deal with him and he's immune to Mental Impairments (Flashbang). Can be pretty bad if he rolls some annoying traits too.

Anyone know if Flashbang removes MC from friendly soldiers? As a bit of a workaround? Either that or freeze them with Frost Grenade, I think that removes it too.

Not entirely true. Getting the Warlock as first chosen means you dont start the campaign with the story missions. Meaning, you can choose one of the faction soldiers. Reaper is a formidable tool vs any of the chosen. Even without the experimental weapons. Chosen go up on high ground pretty often as well. Blowing the warlock up with a claymore + fall dmg is quite nice. Even a few rookies could finish him off or almost take him out. Since hell prolly not shoot you, you can then take him out in the next turn.

There are some potentially very hard early chosen scnearios but not all of them. It would be hard if you have no scouting, no reaper and no phantom ranger, no experimental weapons and maybe even some rookies and on top of that chosen is immune to OW. That wouldnt be a good fight for an early 4 man squad.

But if you have the reaper and dont clumsily activate more stuff on top of the warlock then the odds are actually stacked on your side.

There's a way to pick your faction squadmate? Besides restarting until you roll the right one?

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by The Bored Chairman:

There's a way to pick your faction squadmate? Besides restarting until you roll the right one?

Yes, one of the advanced start options allows you to pick your starting faction if you don't do the tutorial.