Is an HQ assault supposed have this many aliens?

[Cyber_Wizard]

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/1740052710083048054/CB93C070E8EF07CAB0458F5D0C9173EE29ACCC41/

If soo, I should have bring a full team. I only got 6 men for the fight.

[joebruce185]

That actually looks a little low for the alien count :)

Yes, you want at least 8 troops. You can bring up to 10, but the infiltration time goes WAY up when you add that 9th and 10th soldier.

It took me a few tries to get used to HQ assaults. Bring a sniper or two and set up on a good building. It's not uncommon to engage the first pod and eventually fight most enemies on the map while you're set up in that initial location.

[Cyber_Wizard]

Originally posted by joebruce185:

That actually looks a little low for the alien count :)

Yes, you want at least 8 troops. You can bring up to 10, but the infiltration time goes WAY up when you add that 9th and 10th soldier.

It took me a few tries to get used to HQ assaults. Bring a sniper or two and set up on a good building. It's not uncommon to engage the first pod and eventually fight most enemies on the map while you're set up in that initial location.

Lol I went into the middle and about 5 pods was there, next to the general. Wow it was quite a fight XD

[2Battlestations]

Take your time, there's no timer.

Also recommend slow scouting. Find a few pods and track them as they head to your killbox.

[Fredericks of Cursewood]

HQ is basically a scout and snipe mission. I usually bring a couple of snipers and at least 1 Scout Shinobi. 6 soldiers is a bit on the low side, but not totally unreasonable. There is typically a Rainbow pod of about 8 troopers that roam the area and then the General's pod of 8 enemies. The rest of the pods should be 3-4 typically and then there usually a couple of pods of 2 drones each. If you can take out the two without engaging the other smaller pods, they are very doable with smaller force of 6-7.

Going with the full 10 man squad early in the game can be close to a month of infiltration without using any intel. Even with intel, it can be 18-20 days which is in most cases is way too long to dedicate those resources on one mission. 6-7 soldier squad will be less than half that time to infiltrate, so not only is it quicker to turn those soldiers on their next mission, the 3-4 that you don't use can be used on a different mission. If that isn't enough, your soldiers will also get more XP and level up faster with smaller squad sizes. It really comes down to how you can get complete the mission with the least amount of soldiers and resources allocated.

[wortkarg]

Advent HQ is one of the easiest missions. There are no timers, so you can activate and eliminate pods one by one. You need a shinobi-scout and 2 sharpshooters, the rest is not so important (7-8 man squad). Take a position near the starting point, so that you don't accidentally activate multiple packs at once, send the scout forward and activate the pods one by one with sharpshooters (just be careful with positioning, don't place the scout between your squad and the activated pod). Start with the nearest pods and after clearing the area, slowly move forward to take a better position for your squad.

Xwynns has once completed this mission with a 3 man squad (shinobi + 2 sharpshooters). The mission was extremely long, but successful. I would not recommend doing so for many reasons, but it's interesting as 'proof of concept'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUHVBZBlZ1Y

[Cyber_Wizard]

Originally posted by wortkarg:

Advent HQ is one of the easiest missions. There are no timers, so you can activate and eliminate pods one by one. You need a shinobi-scout and 2 sharpshooters, the rest is not so important (7-8 man squad). Take a position near the starting point, so that you don't accidentally activate multiple packs at once, send the scout forward and activate the pods one by one with sharpshooters (just be careful with positioning, don't place the scout between your squad and the activated pod). Start with the nearest pods and after clearing the area, slowly move forward to take a better position for your squad.

Xwynns has once completed this mission with a 3 man squad (shinobi + 2 sharpshooters). The mission was extremely long, but successful. I would not recommend doing so for many reasons, but it's interesting as 'proof of concept'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUHVBZBlZ1Y

That's soo cheesy yet amazing. Yea next time I should have done that. I went in brute force, nading the crap out of them (they keep grouping up)

[Fredericks of Cursewood]

A little bit on the flip side. Taking too many turns, will get your squad Tired or worse. I recently had about 4 members of one of my main squads develop phobias because I took too long on HQ Assault. I don't remember this being the case in all versions of LW, but it did happen with the one of the current Dev Builds of LWotC. 20-25 turns should be sufficient to clean up the Aliens most of the time without incurring a lot of fatigue or related mental impairments.

[wortkarg]

Originally posted by Fredericks of Cursewood:

A little bit on the flip side. Taking too many turns, will get your squad Tired or worse.

It's irrelevant for LW2, but this is an important point, if you play LWOTC.

[Cyber_Wizard]

Originally posted by wortkarg:

Originally posted by Fredericks of Cursewood:

A little bit on the flip side. Taking too many turns, will get your squad Tired or worse.

It's irrelevant for LW2, but this is an important point, if you play LWOTC.

ooo I was wondering why I can't see fatigue. I got the dlc but playing LW2 for now.

[wortkarg]

Originally posted by BlackGinger:

ooo I was wondering why I can't see fatigue. I got the dlc but playing LW2 for now.

Yep, there is no fatigue mechanic in LW2 (and no negative traits aka phobias), but LWOTC has both. The fatigue mechanic in LWOTC is not exactly the same as in WOTC, though.

[Mrvecz]

Fatigue in LWOTC is tied to missions lenght and possible injuries and its no longer tied to spotting alien pods as in WOTC.

[Sabaithal]

"Fatigue in LW2" See, that's mainly where LWOTC went wrong. Fatigue only existed in the first long war as a way to balance squad usage out between missions. We already have that in LW2, its called infiltration, and its a much better system.

[wortkarg]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

"Fatigue in LW2" See, that's mainly where LWOTC went wrong. Fatigue only existed in the first long war as a way to balance squad usage out between missions. We already have that in LW2, its called infiltration, and its a much better system.

The fatigue system in LWOTC works as a soft timer for missions without timer. There is almost no impact on GOPs, because the soldiers lose only 3-4 will points per mission. It's actually a good thing, because it makes missions without a timer a little bit more dynamic.

[Sabaithal]

Originally posted by wortkarg:

The fatigue system in LWOTC works as a soft timer for missions without timer. There is almost no impact on GOPs, because the soldiers lose only 3-4 will points per mission. It's actually a good thing, because it makes missions without a timer a little bit more dynamic.

Yes god forbird I take my time to set up an ambush instead of having to rush through it. I'd like to point out nothing in LW original had the player trying to rush through missions individually. The game was about the combat, not a bloody speedrun.

[wortkarg]

Originally posted by Sabaithal:

Yes god forbird I take my time to set up an ambush instead of having to rush through it. I'd like to point out nothing in LW original had the player trying to rush through missions individually. The game was about the combat, not a bloody speedrun.

We have enough time to set up an ambush even on GOPs (e.g. Beaglerush Maneuver), but with timers we need to adapt to the situation and choose the tactic with minimal risks (good tactical variety and tough decisions). Without timers it comes down to overwatch camping, which is repetitive, slow and boring.