Pandoran Base Attack Prevention?

[Captain Jed]

Is there something to prevent, or at least slow, the constant attacks of Pandorans on Phoenix bases?
It's tiring having to move my guys around nonstop, or stop what I'm doing, specifically because of this happening at seemingly random.

[Artek [General]]

No. There's nothing you can do - only defend it or lose it.
That being said: in my experience Pandoran attacks are fairly rare. Just threat it as a Haven Defense, only its your base instead of a Haven.

Yes, you are meant to rotate your personnel around. That's normal.
If base defense is a problematic occurrence for you - then something else is going wrong with your game.
Ideally you should have 1 squad of 6+ people being stationed at every continent on standby ready to defend anything that needs defending while your A-team of elites are clearing mandatory story missions.
Also - base defenses are very easy if you bring overwhelming firepower. You can deploy very high amount of units for defense and basically grind Pandorans into dust upon entry.
Simply having 2 aircrafts worth of people in any combination (including Helios x5 + Helios x5) is a guaranteed free win.

Later NJ will unlock a research that notably reduces the strength of assaulting forces. It doesn't stop attacks from happening - just makes them much weaker.

[Captain Jed]

Originally posted by Artek General:

No. There's nothing you can do - only defend it or lose it.
That being said: in my experience Pandoran attacks are fairly rare. Just threat it as a Haven Defense, only its your base instead of a Haven.

Yes, you are meant to rotate your personnel around. That's normal.
If base defense is a problematic occurrence for you - then something else is going wrong with your game.
Ideally you should have 1 squad of 6+ people being stationed at every continent on standby ready to defend anything that needs defending while your A-team of elites are clearing mandatory story missions.
Also - base defenses are very easy if you bring overwhelming firepower. You can deploy very high amount of units for defense and basically grind Pandorans into dust upon entry.
Simply having 2 aircrafts worth of people in any combination (including Helios x5 + Helios x5) is a guaranteed free win.

Later NJ will unlock a research that notably reduces the strength of assaulting forces. It doesn't stop attacks from happening - just makes them much weaker.

Fair enough. Thank you for the advice.
I've only been keeping a handful of people around, with one transport worth of a squad at all times flying about. All others being recruits I pick up and send to the lowest garrisoned base. That's probably why I'm encountering issues.
I did see that it's easy enough to funnel the Pandorans into a single area and mow them down with little issue, though, but that's a bit trickier when you get umbra variants walking around in my experience. They've been the cause of a lot of headaches, on that note, and I've been told you can only stop them from appearing with fire, so, I 'unno if that's the only course of action.

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by Captain Jed:

Fair enough. Thank you for the advice.
I've only been keeping a handful of people around, with one transport worth of a squad at all times flying about. All others being recruits I pick up and send to the lowest garrisoned base. That's probably why I'm encountering issues.
I did see that it's easy enough to funnel the Pandorans into a single area and mow them down with little issue, though, but that's a bit trickier when you get umbra variants walking around in my experience. They've been the cause of a lot of headaches, on that note, and I've been told you can only stop them from appearing with fire, so, I 'unno if that's the only course of action.

My solution to umbra problem was turning off Legacy of the Ancients DLC. I find that DLC kinda cringe personally (lame aesthetics, power creep weapons and of course these stupid umbras).

The general rule of how the game should go as that as your zone of influence increases - so should your ability to defend it. Which means: more air carriers.
My late game final staff looks something like this:

1) Manticore Elite A-Team.
They are the ones flying around the world and getting things done;

2) Manticore Back-Up B-Team.
Usually made to stay behind when original A-team leaves to protect local havens and assault pandoran settlements since mechanized squads tend to struggle with anything that isn't a Nest;

3) Helios Reinforcer Team (2 people + 1 Vehicle).
They do not start missions by themselves - instead they join other teams to assist them at overwhelming a mission with full 8/8 squad and even a bonus vehicle if mission allows it (like base defense!).

4) x2 Thunderbirds with Mechanized teams.
Specialized squads of 4 built around supporting / being supported by a vehicle.
Armadillo becomes "The Scavenger" / "Drive by hitman" squad,
and Scarab becomes a nuke squad that usually only exist to drop onto assaulted Haven, blow up the opposition in 2-3 turns and go home.

[Captain Jed]

Originally posted by Artek General:

Originally posted by Captain Jed:

Fair enough. Thank you for the advice.
I've only been keeping a handful of people around, with one transport worth of a squad at all times flying about. All others being recruits I pick up and send to the lowest garrisoned base. That's probably why I'm encountering issues.
I did see that it's easy enough to funnel the Pandorans into a single area and mow them down with little issue, though, but that's a bit trickier when you get umbra variants walking around in my experience. They've been the cause of a lot of headaches, on that note, and I've been told you can only stop them from appearing with fire, so, I 'unno if that's the only course of action.

My solution to umbra problem was turning off Legacy of the Ancients DLC. I find that DLC kinda cringe personally (lame aesthetics, power creep weapons and of course these stupid umbras).

The general rule of how the game should go as that as your zone of influence increases - so should your ability to defend it. Which means: more air carriers.
My late game final staff looks something like this:

1) Manticore Elite A-Team.
They are the ones flying around the world and getting things done;

2) Manticore Back-Up B-Team.
Usually made to stay behind when original A-team leaves to protect local havens and assault pandoran settlements since mechanized squads tend to struggle with anything that isn't a Nest;

3) Helios Reinforcer Team (2 people + 1 Vehicle).
They do not start missions by themselves - instead they join other teams to assist them at overwhelming a mission with full 8/8 squad and even a bonus vehicle if mission allows it (like base defense!).

4) x2 Thunderbirds with Mechanized teams.
Specialized squads of 4 built around supporting / being supported by a vehicle.
Armadillo becomes "The Scavenger" / "Drive by hitman" squad,
and Scarab becomes a nuke squad that usually only exist to drop onto assaulted Haven, blow up the opposition in 2-3 turns and go home.

Wasn't aware that it had been Legacy of the Ancients that introduced them.
Is it a similar situation to Festering Skies, where if I disable it, I'd miss out on game changing mechanics? Or can it be safely disabled on a new game to avoid stuff such as the umbra issue?

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by Captain Jed:

Wasn't aware that it had been Legacy of the Ancients that introduced them.
Is it a similar situation to Festering Skies, where if I disable it, I'd miss out on game changing mechanics? Or can it be safely disabled on a new game to avoid stuff such as the umbra issue?

LotA introduces ability to build a special facility that allows you to create probing drones (or whatever they are called) and shoot them around the geoscape in order to find ancient alien manufacturing facilities.

If you can get a hold of those facilities including BOTH the ones that acquire materials AND the ones that refine them - you'll get a chance to create some of the most overpowered weapons in the game (best stats in the entire game, infinite ammo, hard to destroy).

However getting there is very grindy, the ancient automatons that defend these cites are pretty cringe to fight against and on top of all of that Pandorans get some upgrades as well - including Umbra enemies and Golden Sirens. Not sure what the deal is with last ones. Superior armor or something?

[bomansi]

There is a way to stop a base attack. If you manage to destroy the Pandoran Base that is launching the attack before the timer runs out, the attack won't happen. As Pandoran attacks are always launched from one of their bases, destroying Pandoran Bases will also make their attacks less frequent. To locate Pandoran Bases, you need to have Satellite Uplinks in your bases and researched Pandoran Colonies. The research is unlocked by destroying any Pandoran Base (Nest, Lair, or Citadel).

[Artek [General]]

Originally posted by bomansi:

There is a way to stop a base attack. If you manage to destroy the Pandoran Base that is launching the attack before the timer runs out, the attack won't happen. As Pandoran attacks are always launched from one of their bases, destroying Pandoran Bases will also make their attacks less frequent. To locate Pandoran Bases, you need to have Satellite Uplinks in your bases and researched Pandoran Colonies. The research is unlocked by destroying any Pandoran Base (Nest, Lair, or Citadel).

Oh right, i forgot about that mechanic.
Although it doesn't really seem to be intended or supported, since the pandoran attack timer doesn't disappear with base destruction but only once timer runs out, so you'll still have to have someone there in case another base sent that attack.

[Muton]

Well, to make base defense a lot easier, especially on higher difficulties, you should bring fire grenades and throw them into and beyond the choke point they have to get through to get to you.. Maintain this inferno with another grenade etc. This will force all the enemies to walk through fire to get to you. And overwatch the entrance / choke point. The fire will weaken them, clear out any mindfraggers, and your overwatch will kill any pandoran coming through. Not quite as simple as that but you get the strategy.