C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

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redsky14
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Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2017 8:43 am

C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by redsky14 »

Well, my 3rd save and i lost again. i think it was July, i had 5 countries and tried to take HQ assault m. Advent str was 8 i think.

So in my squad where 1 assault, 1 shinobi, 1 ranger, 1 sharpshooter, 2 granadiers , 2 specialists with great hacking and shooting, 1 technicial and 1 gunner.

All laser weapons , predator suit..

In the end, had 5 soldiers left, no more medic help, 3 of them hurt so bad shooting. I thought i could make it because just 3 more aliens left, but 2 of them Centurions and Berserker.. i thought im close to 50% to win it.. I was sure i killed 35-38 of them.

Then i moved my ranger and opened ( i guess ) last pod. :( My God what was that ? All elite aliens and some advent officer with 40 something health. :( I managed to escape with my sharpshooter , i saw i killed 36 aliens from 45..

Now im depressed, any tips how to play this mission ? Maybe bring more gunners ? Also playing with red fog (all )is really hard on missions with 45 aliens, but i like realistic playing.


P.s. I dont watch youtube JoINrbs like videos ( because i hate spoilers and i like to play my way ) , but i really need some tips before i start to play again.
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Devon_v
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Re: C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by Devon_v »

When I did the HQ assault I brought a ShinobI for scouting, three Grenadiers, two Technicals, two Rangers, an Assault, and a Sharpshooter. I used a grenade to open the first major pod, Javalin rockets for the next two, mop up with the Rangers and Assaults, flashbang anything that lives. The command pod got a rocket, the General got the frost bomb, then I hit him with a flamer and focued on the rest of the enemies while he froze and burned simultaneously.

You have to take your time. There are too many enemies to rush it, but at the same time explosives are very powerful due to the tightly packed enemy groups. You'll lose some corpses, but I consider that preferable to losing the game.
redsky14
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Re: C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by redsky14 »

Tnx! Just i have regular granades, dont know what is frost bomb ( i have just S. gift dlc, , dont have rulers dlc ) . Or i can make frost bombs without rulers dlc ?

Also i didnt do many suply raid missions, because i read somewhere that is 2 easy if you play a lot of them to get many resources ( sounded like cheating) . So for many things i didnt had money to buy or research.
Dwarfling
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Re: C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by Dwarfling »

Well, I think you failed because of your composition.

First up, you're trying to do the mission basically with -2 people because the Shinobi is mostly stealthed for the whole mission, and if revealed is mediocre, the Assault is mostly ineffective because you don't want to drag more pods, same if the Technical is flamer build, or if it's a rocketeer then you run out of consumibles fast and you end up with a glorified rookie.

HQ Assaults basically devolve into picking a defensible spot, ambusing the nearest pod, and waiting for the nearest pods to come to you. Then you overwatch frogleap until you meet the ADVENT General. So you want a very shooty squad with as many Gunners as you can afford to Hail of Bullets the priority stuff and you want to take it slow enough to refresh your cooldowns between pods. Oh, and bring all your hair triggers.
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Devon_v
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Re: C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by Devon_v »

Supply raids are a part of the game. They're how you keep ADVENT strength in check. If you don't do them, you make every mission harder.

Red Fog is actually good on missions with lots of enemies because you can use explosives to do damage to a whole pod (6-8 guys generally) have debuffs all over even if most of them survive.

The Frost Bomb is in the Alien Hunters DLC, yes. It's not crucial, but it's a very nice tool. The Hunter's Axe as quite nice as well, and the Shadowkeeper is interesting now that anyone can use it.

IMO you use a Shinobi to know where all the pods are, what's a safe move and what isn't. Without timers I do concede that an army of Hail of Bullets gunners would be very strong. I use Walk Fire + Center Mass which easily finishes damaged enemies. I like it because you can use Light 'em Up to try the RNG, then use your accurate shot where it counts. It's also available every turn. Both Barrels is fantastic when something big charges your line, and it makes quick work of bosses.
Daergar
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Re: C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by Daergar »

You want one shinobi to spot with, at least one sharpshooter to activate pods from far away (two or three shooters is better) and then soldiers that do not run out of consumables (rangers, gunners, well-used assaults). A specialist using haywire on drones is also an excellent way of triggering and luring pods out into the open.

There is no timer, meaning HQ assaults can be run as a pure overwatch trap shooting-gallery for as long as you need to get the job done. Camp on top of a building with good sight-lines well away from the enemy, have assaults hiding out of sight slightly forward and to the side if possible. Everyone on overwatch while your sharpshooters plink away at the enemy that cannot see you, triggering a barrage of bullets when they get close, mop up with assaults and grenades as needed.

Let your abilities with cool-downs reset between pods (fall back, tick away a few turns, get back into position).

tl;dr Take your time, absolutely no point in rushing anything, overwatch and sharpshooters.
gimrah
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Re: C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by gimrah »

I've done one on Commander and found it a breeze. I also took 8 soldiers (takes too long otherwise) but my advent strength was lower (about 4). I also infiltrated to 150% to knock a few off. Not sure how much difference that really made but I think I got it down to 'very heavy'. I had about 30 enemies including 2 pods of 8 and the rest smaller.

My formula was go slow, take the pods one at a time to the extent possible, abuse the hell out of squadsight, save consumables where possible, take AP rounds on multiple people so I didn't get bogged down with tougher enemies. My squad was:
- 1 shinobi officer, who stayed stealthed until the very end
- 2 death-from-above sharpshooters, who did a lot of work (map tends to have good vantage points throughout the map)
- 2 gunners with Hail and Demolition, who were also great, providing cover destruction, crowd control and killing
- 1 rifle spec ranger for added shootiness
- 1 support grenadier, who laid down some flash in the bigger fights
- 1 technical, who didn't do much

In retrospect I might have taken a specialist instead of the technical. On a long mission revival protocol would have been nice insurance. Hacking a drone can be a nice answer to a bad situation. And the other skills would have come to bear. Whereas I didn't want to charge in with my technical to flame in case I activated and the one rocket was probably not worth the seat in the skyranger (it shredded the general's armour, which was nice, but that's about it).
redsky14
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Re: C/I, red fog (all) on, lost again HQ Assault tips ?

Post by redsky14 »

Tnx Daergar and others! Ill try that . I was calm , didnt rush forward, but some pods from side opened without my help, in the middle of the shooting. :(

I had bad selection of few of my soldiers. For example, my shinobi had really bad shooting even he was high rank. And yes, now i think that i brought too many granadiers and techs ( 3 ) . especially because i had just normal granades. Next time more shooters. Got it!
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