How do you handle late game?

[AmberGlowBug]

The late game just seems impossible. Been playing on Challenging, and by the time I'm easily able to handle Fallen and Legion, these ridiculous enemies come along that can kill one or two of my soldiers in a few shots. I hate re-loading each battle until I figure out how to win. It doesn't seem realistic to me, but that late in to the game it's so hard to level anyone up to catch up with my battle group that I might as well just give up if anyone dies.

Any advice on how to handle late game? I run about 2 sniper rifles, 2 melee with nothing but armor + hp mods, and the rest whatever they fit in a 7 man group. Do I need more healing? Better armor than Kevlar or the magic armors that NO ONE seems gets the skill to wear? More explosives? What am I missing?

[listless]

Do you mean scavenging or base defense?

In either case, longer ranged weapons like the Laser Rifle or even Coil Guns can make a big difference.

But you really don't want to go out of your way to attack top-tier locations without Celestial Armor and Crystal Guards and some serious fire power: Beam Cannons, Miniguns, Acid Guns, Guided Snipers, Chainsaws, and stuff like that.

Melee units can be very effective, but managing them is complicated, and they have to have some pretty crazy dps on top of their high armor. Most survivors are usually better off with a Laser Rifle.

If its the base, incorporating some kind of maze makes a big difference.

[Jubeithar]

You have to realise rainyday in order to get all the stuff you mentioned you have to fight tier 4 & tier 5 units with tier 3 gear first unless you have been trading alot which in my opinion is the real key to victory in the late game. The late game is frustrating because all the stuff you need to get tier 4 is mixed up with tier 5 units. Although few in number they have the power to kill your undergeared survivors. and tier 5 stuff is also frustrating to get because there are so many tier 4 & 5 demons on those spots.

Be sure to make good use of cover here is the general rule of thumb when fighting the late game. It's also micro intensive with all those abilities you need to be using.


You going to have to be real carefull what you fight and play it very strategically.

Tier 4 are morax, liches and cerberus

tier 5 are shedams, belials and demongorgons.

Priority is cerberus and liches as liches can hex your survivors on attack fthat reduces the armor and evasion of your survivors. Then shedams and belials . moraxes are dealt by your snipers. Demongorgons by your tanks.


Also your defenders should be able to carry rare armor by now. The best armor for them is gaia's armor. Tier 4 you going to need a paladin's armor or the NXRA vest (the cheaper option). Honestly, the more armor and health the better, evasion tanking is worthless in the late game. Then let your defenders be damage sponges in the best cover there is and let my ranged attackers deal with the enemy. Having 2 melees help a ton and try to make sure the attention is divided between the 2. Be ready to use heals when needed.

[listless]

Yeah, getting that top-tier gear is no joke. That's why I recommended avoiding those locations until the survivors have acquired some decent equipment.

But if it's needed for base defense, looting high value locations is always an option. You can get great weapons like the Laser Rifle or Minigun without fighting - just takes a lot of luck and patience.

I go after those Tech locations with a mystery (?) item. If you target the ones with only three loot crates, you have a 33% chance of getting the Rifle/Goggles. After you flee and return, you have a 50% chance. It isn't easy, though.

The simplest method of acquiring something like a Laser Rifle is by saving up for the Trader.

[AmberGlowBug]

I'm only talking about scavenging missions. Defense is still pretty easy late game with a good wall and maze, though I wish towers could fire over barrel walls.

So you're saying on scav missions to just go full ranged, no melee to tank for the ranged dps?

I also get caught up late game with guns. I can usually trade for an AR or snipers, but my survivors never seem to get themselves the skills to get the good armors or guns unless I get really lucky. Is there a late game gun that doesn't require the specific skills? Or have I been teching wrong?

[listless]

I've never used it, but I've heard other players say good things about the MTAR 21.

Fully specced for dps, also +1 range.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1478453222
Scouts can fully spec for range (+2), but they produce a good deal less dps than a Fighter.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1478453459
And they go down to about 1/2 of the dps if they spec into evasion.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1478453656

You can use melee if you like, I just personally find them to be kind of tricky, and it's rare for me to come across someone ideally suited. Even Defenders don't always make good melee units. As for tanking, I prefer to leave that to ranged units behind cover who are fully specced for evasion. Once the baddies are locked onto them, only then do I send in my melee - that's one of my preferred methods. The best bullet sponges shoot back.

For me the perfect survivor for melee would come with bonuses in Damage and Tools, and maybe even a bonus to movement speed or the ability to equip Holy Armor - though that's asking a lot.

[AmberGlowBug]

So you always spec in to tech weapons to get the coil guns on everyone? I always see a lot of screenshots with people using them, but it seems like no one can.

[listless]

I do spec into tech for a lot of them. Coil Guns and later Beam Cannons are hard to pass up. Even Scouts I'll sometimes invest in Automatic Weapons just to grab the Tech at the end.

Every profession except for Occultists and Priests can use Tech Weapons.
Scouts, Fighters, Academics and Survivalists get the range bonuses, but Fighters have a much higher dps potential. Academics are right behind them since they can wear Mechanized Plates - though that's only feasible for base defense, really.

Regarding melee, I was looking over a few of my saved games, and I seem to always spec one person in each taskforce for melee. A tanky melee unit is really useful for autoresolve since the ones with the shortest range are targeted first, giving the dps units a chance to do their work uninterupted. Sometimes I leave them as melee in manual fights, and sometimes I pop on a Laser Rifle for the range.

[Anastaziel]

Shameless plug of my Ironman playthrough with no loss on Tough. https://www.twitch.tv/collections/H2C2zMjzNRUlDQ

It is a long playthrough but I try to explain everything I do along the way.

Maybe look at the latter videos in the collection to see an example of how to handle late game, besides the advice you already received from @rainyday.