Convoy defence - what just happened?

[gimrah]

This just happened and it seemed rather unfair. Please tell me what I did wrong.

I got a convoy defence. Just after an data defence which was fairly toothless. This said enemy strength unknown. So I couldn't know what was about to happen.

The mission seemed tough but doable as the reinforcement waves came in. In normal missions I'm seeing mutons fairly regularly and getting mostly but not all T2 advent. Then the following 8-pod dropped: 1 HEAVY Mec (1st), 2 regular MEC, 1 HEAVY drone (1st), 2 rocketeer, 1 sentinel, 1 advanced officer. And they kept coming after that even, albeit back to 4-pods. After-mission report said I'd killed 15 of 27 and they were still coming.

As soone as the megapod dropped I went from in control to utterly screwed. Evac took 4 turns to arrive and pretty much everyone was dead by then (couldn't pick up a glitched bleeding soldier and one apparently died in the transport, just for fun). Yes I should have called evac earlier on spec, but it didn't seem remotely necessary until then.

[infidel901]

I don't want that to happen to me. Give more details if you can.

[gimrah]

Presumably vigilance was very high and it was a mistake to think I could divert attention by switching from Intel to supply.

My issue is more the 'unknown' force rating, plus the incredibly high force level for an apparently crucial mission, plus the unprecedented spike in reinforcement pod size and ayy composition.

[Devon_v]

ADVENT can "over infiltrate" missions just like you can. If you've gotten them upset enough that they overload a mission it may not be possible to stop them.

Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and fight another day.

[gimrah]

@Devon_v

Thanks for the tip but are there are any warning signs I didn't pick up on? Like does 'unknown' always mean a swarming?

And can high vigilance lead to boosts in the grade of enemy you see, i.e. those heavy MECs and drones? I also got my first viper serpens and archer MEC on that mission. Was I just unlucky and that's when they were due or can they deploy more powerful enemies on some missions?