Haven personnel abilities

[felusian]

Hi guys, I tried to search the forum, but I didn't find anything on this, so any help is much appreciated. On haven management, next to each resistance personnel, I can see few icons representing, I think, abilities. I can see these abilities also when I use the resistance personnel in missions (e.g.: kill the infiltrated faceless).
So, questions:
1) How do the personnel get such abilities?
2) Are some of such abilities useful for haven management or are only combat abilities?
3) I can't choose how weapons are assigned to resistance personnel for missions (e.g.: kill the infiltrated faceless) - so combat abilities are in most cases unuseful, am I correct?
4) Is there a way to address which abilities my personnel learn? In case....which abilities would you suggest?
Thanks!

[Zyrrashijn]

Haven Members gain ranks. With each of those, they become more effective on the job they are assigned to and also gain 2 randomized perks they can use on tactical encounters (retals, rendezvous). These ranks are also represented by little star symbols by their names. Haven members can rank up twice.

[LordYanaek]

1) How do the personnel get such abilities?
2) Are some of such abilities useful for haven management or are only combat abilities?

See above. In addition to what was said the roll to gain a rank is made on each supply drop. I don't think having the rebels active/hiding or appear in mission affects the chance. As far as i know it's purely random.

3) I can't choose how weapons are assigned to resistance personnel for missions (e.g.: kill the infiltrated faceless) - so combat abilities are in most cases unuseful, am I correct?

You can't choose their loadout, it's also purely random. That being said some abilities are always useful. Perks like smoker or flashbanger will always help. DGG or Low Cover give you more offense or defense no matter what weapon you have. I don't think there is a single perk that works only with some weapons. Some might be more useful than others but most of the time they are at least somewhat useful.

4) Is there a way to address which abilities my personnel learn? In case....which abilities would you suggest?

Not directly but you can control the "pool" of abilities from which they can learn with some ini editing in case you think some abilities are really crappy on your rebels and want to avoid them (i can find the exact lines if you want)

[felusian]

Thanks, very clear now....didn't know about personnel ranks....an additional good motivation to save as many as you can during retaliations....if killed, they would be replaced by newly recruited ones, who would have no rank.
For combat perks, I'll keep the ones I have....even though I hate randevouz missions - fighting without choosing the team sucks

[LordYanaek]

For combat perks, I'll keep the ones I have....even though I hate randevouz missions - fighting without choosing the team sucks

That's kind of the point of those missions, make you fight with what you have rather than assemble an uber-squad
That's also why they are always vastly easier than any other mission at the same time.
You can choose one member of the squad thought, and that choice makes a big difference. Different people swear by different kind of advisers.

• Sniper Adviser. DfA nest sniper who stays far from the action. The rebels simply spot enemies, flashbang them and hunker to avoid being hit. I never tested it but the idea seem valid. Faceless themselves might be an issue as hunker won't help you from their melee attacks.
• Ranger Adviser. An overwatch specced ranger can just dash to flank the enemies and take 3 easy shots at them. Takes time to build up thought and apart from point-blank on Faceless they are not great until they have their OW perks combo going.
• Technical. Burn baby, burn! The flamer gives you 2 AoE attacks with CC effect and you will face 2 pods. Great effect but you need to finish faceless as their regeneration will negate the burning. Works decently enough and it can be a good way to use your techs when they no longer carry your regular missions. A flamer-tank hybrid also fares pretty well on retaliations (especially intel raids) as they can tank quite a few shots while your regular troops move in.
• Assault. A favorite of mine. Trench Gun from concealment is usually enough to wipe the first pod in a single action, allowing you to prepare for the (usually quick) arrival of the second pod with all your grenades available. Second fight will be harder thought. I like to go tanky after Trench Gun.
• Grenadier. A fun one i recently tested as my grenadiers had a hard time finding a place in regular missions due to short infiltration timers this run (even with 13 rebels on intel i can hardly get past 6 days). A "needle grenades" advisor can really wreak havoc on those weak early pods. They loose a lot of punch when stronger units show up, but less than in regular missions and Plasma grenades will bring their power up again.
• Shinobi. I've seen people mention using a blade shinobi to fleche trough enemies each round. Certainly one of the highest early damage but you need to last long enough to kill all of them so i guess they are more blade/tank hybrids than pure blade.