Things I wish I knew about LW2 UFO mission

[Belhedler]

To sum it up: don't take this mission lightly. It's even scarier than a HQ mission. Don't stealth it unless that's your best squad.

OK this was my first LW2 UFO mission. Since I'm used to it in vanilla I've gone to it with 110% infiltration Advent force level 1 and a team of not so expert 7 guys with coiled guns. I should have spared some plasma weapons on this one after knowing what happened. The force level 1 is important here because the ennemies found in the UFO are not exactly what you are used to see on a force level 1 mission... So things were going not too bad until I managed to stealth it right into the UFO.

That's when I knew I screwed something badly:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909508063
Actually, I had the possibility to throw Mind Lance on 4 ennemies, including 2 codex, the turn before but here was my issue this psi ops spell does only 4-9 dmg which is inefficient in this case. Actually, offensive spells like this one are underwelming after a while as they are not upgraded contrary to Advent, until very late and the dmg is dramatically low for it to serves a real purpose. As you can see, thanks to many tactical DE, most of the aliens here have more health than most of my guys that have T3 armors and suit. I just understood that on this mission. Btw I think there is no limit to how many DE you can get meaning at one point you won't be able to face them with highest level stuff which is not too far to my current level.

Mind you, if I have known that the time to stop the alarm was huge compared to vanilla I wouldn't have stealthed it at all. It was one of my scariest missions so far, facing Codex and Andromedon (my first one) with absolutely no firepower to take them down, and on top of that all of the doors in the UFO acted like they were not walls after activation. This resuled in ♥♥♥♥♥♥ situation where I was actually trapped thinking I had prepare a trap for them to enter. On top of that multiple activations of Codex and miss-shots that did not use to happen. Things even stranger with 60% hit chance with Assault at point blank on ennemies despite not having any effect on him. The hell?

So in the end no dead, I wonder how but well good, but that was a nightmare for this team:

"Guys, someone has seen my teeth?"
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909507524
Going to rest in barracks for a loooooong time:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=909507646

[Sawrit]

Take a gander at that cluster! Nothing a good flamethrower cant fix

[Belhedler]

My grenadeer is actually behind the pilar on the left. You can see his HP bar. Problem is he does 4/9 dmg and does not have the skill to max it. Flamethrower is even worst. Rocket might have made it but my guys are sitting everywhere in the room, seemed highly risky. And since the codexes were in the damage area I figured things could get uggly with 6 codexes on me while dealing with the rest. Nothing to shoot multiple times either otherwise I would have considered it and hope for luck OW shots. Psi ops was not in a good position on this turn so couldn't use any efficient spell in this urgency. Well waiting to activate them during their turn was probably the best thing that could happen given the circonstances. Look at their level, they are almost noobs!

The elite viper took two grazing shots as I expected. Dealing with the muttons proved to be difficult. I hoped for a (failed) point blank shot by Assault on the one that hide behind the south wall, which I reactivated by officer skill after taking a power gun shot on 3 guys (hoped to touch the two advent guys which were hidding behind the UFO doors but did not happen - grasp). The way I dealt with the mutton was kind of unconventional. I dropped a smoke grenade right on my assault and failed murdered mutton because my Assault was sitting with no cover at all and had at least 3 guys ready to flank shot him (what they tried actually but failed). Turn to work great for both my Assault AND the mutton rofl. I used stasis on the second mutton because my grenadeer was in high danger (and yet took a few major shots and got shaken). The viper failed a flanked shot but the advent soldiers managed to hit and critical hit despite heavy cover... ♥♥♥♥. Smoked mutton failed a sword attack (houray for smoke). Dropped two flashbangs on 4 remaining guys which failed to hit anything on their turn.

Things should have ended not too bad at this point but then the BS with doors and walls not actually being ones happened, I made a few mistakes too and it was really bad for my guys. Andromedon, Advent commando and assault joined the fight after that while one demi codex thrown a disabling shot on 4 of my guys and I was actually dumb enough to not see that two of my guys were sitting to close to be hit by it and thus took massive damage from it next turn. I really wonder how this did not end with a KIA. Considering this was mainly a training squad, I think they did OK but it would have been much better without all this BS at the end.