"Stealthing Network Tower Missions"

[Ithuriel]

So I've heard, and seen everywhere on the forums, that Network Tower missions are often trivial to cheese- just bring a stealth-spec'd Shinobi, sneak your way to the console, hack it, and mop up. However, this hasn't been my experience a single time... Would anybody give me advice on how the hell I'm supposed to stealth through this? http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =889367911

There's a final 5-man pod on the right-hand side of the screen, right of the sculptured ADVENT symbol. Pods are patrolling along the walkway and into the building on the left, as well as on a circuit back and forth on the walkway and occasionally up onto the building on the right. After like ten+ turns of waiting I haven't been able to get any close than this, and all of my other Network Tower missions have gone similarly. What gives?

PS- that building template on the upper left is dumb... there's literally no way to get onto the roof or get past the building without breaking glass. The two doors both face to the right, so I'm forced to go through the right-hand side of the map if I'm trying to sneak; there's literally no way to go over or through the building in concealment. Oh, and just in case I ever make it onto the roof, the entire side of the building facing the ADVENT forces has literally 0 railings or cover. All the other sides do, but this one doesn't, just 'cause.

[Saph7]

Here's how you do a Network Tower.

Squad Setup

Pick your team. My personal preference for Network Tower squads is:

• 1 Stealth Shinobi - Needs Covert, Ghostwalker, and as much mobility as possible. If you have a Spider Suit, give him one (it'll make this mission very easy indeed) but you can manage without.
• 1 DFA Sniper - All Network Tower maps have a high point where you can see pretty much every spot on the map. A good sniper can do a lot of work here.
• 1 Shotgun Assault - Ideally should have Trench Gun. It's worth training at least one Trench Gun Assault just for this purpose.

The remaining two slots should be filled by whatever soldiers you have in your barracks who can best output a very large amount of damage in a very short space of time. You can double up on Snipers/Assaults, but pretty much any class can work except Specialist. Bring your best and make sure they're well equipped, this is a high-intensity mission and everyone needs to pull their weight.

Stage 1 - Infliltrate

Park the combat members of your squad near your arrival point. They're going to be spectators for a while.

This is where your Shinobi earns his pay. Scout forward for the command console. There are generally about 5 pods on the map, one command pod and four patrols: it's worth taking five or ten minutes to sit around and observe their patrol patterns. Look for a weakness. Ideally you should wait until a couple of pods have moved to one side of the map and sneak around the other (you can use the combat squadmembers to keep eyes on them while the Shinobi is out of visual range). Your goal is to get the Shinobi into a position where he's 1-2 moves away from the door into the command building. Getting there can be tough, so be patient. Remember, the timer doesn't start ticking until you break concealment, so take as long as you need and don't be afraid to pull back and wait for a better opportunity.

Once your Shinobi is close enough, activate Ghostwalker and run him in. With Ghostwalker and Covert enemies will have maybe a 2 tile detection range against him, so as long as they aren't actually standing on the walkway you need to use, you should be fine to run straight past. You can either open the doors at the bottom and run in to the corner, or you can go up the ladders and onto the roof. Either way, your end goal is for your Shinobi to finish one blue move away from the command console, hidden in a corner or up on the roof and out of sight. Once you've done this, you can relax a little: hardest part is over.

Stage 2 - Set Up

Now your combat team moves in. Split them up to move them into ideal combat positions: your Sharpshooter wants to be up on the roof with a good field of fire, your Assault wants to be within one blue move of an enemy pod. There are probably 4 pods around the body of the map: ideally you want eyes on all 4 of them before you go loud, but 2-3 is fine. Don't wait too long; these guys aren't stealth-specced, so they won't be able to hide forever. Once you have a decent position, pull the trigger.

Stage 3 - Ambush

Move your Shinobi down (use Ghostwalker again if possible) and hack the console. If you've done it right he'll still be in stealth. Then start him running back to rejoin the rest of your team: his job's done.

The rest of your team now goes nuts. Assault runs out and Trench Guns the nearest pod, sniper starts shooting, everyone else lets rip with the highest-damage abilities they have. Rockets, flamethrowers, grenades, Faceoffs, rapid fire, Saturation Fire, whatever. You have 3 full turns (the rest of this turn and 2 more) for which the enemies are stunned and grouped up in their pods and unable to scamper. Take full advantage. You want to kill 60-75% of the enemies on the map in this phase.

Stage 4 - Firefight

Any enemies you didn't kill in stage 3 now get to try to kill you back. Hopefully there aren't enough left for them to succeed. This can be very easy or very hard, depending on how well you did in stage 3. Clean them up, but don't go forward so far that you activate the command pod.

Stage 5 - Cleanup

Time to kill the command pod. If your Shinobi is still stealthed, move him forward and have your sniper pick them off one by one. If not, then advance with your Assault and other combat troops and have them keep the enemies busy while your Sniper whittles them down from behind. As long as you don't activate the command pod until everyone else is dead, this should be pretty easy, though you may take a wound or two.

And that's it, you're done. I lost my first campaign by squadwiping twice on Network Towers, but nowadays I find them fairly straightforward. Hardest part is the maneuvering prior to combat, but if you get it right, it's pretty satisfying.

[LordYanaek]

My personal experience for those missions is that sometimes it's possible to get to the console without breaking concealment but often not. What i try to do is engage the smallest pod blocking the path and while 4 of my guys fight them, quickly get the Shinobi to do the hack. You won't get reinforcements immediately. Also stunned targets (if it's possible) have no detection so you can pass right next to them with your Shinobi without concern.

Yea that building with no doors is a bit dumb. How do ADVENT even get inside. Once you have spider armor at least you can grapple to the roof but looks lie you're not there yet.

[Ithuriel]

Here's how you do a Network Tower.

A few things here. Firstly, how do you know there is a command pod- I didn't think they still existed? If so, how do you tell which one is the command pod?

But more importantly... that's all lovely and well thought-out strategy. But look at the screenshot I linked. With a stealth Shinobi, there has in 20 turns been not a single gap for me to get through- not even close. And while I could put a DfA sniper in that high tower, it's suicide- he only has low cover, and from that position I have to engage like 3+ pods simultaneously. Frankly I don't see how I could stealth this mission even with heavy savescum, let alone without.

...that probably came off a bit harsh. I do seriously appreciate the effort you put into responding to me; thank you. That said, I honestly have no idea how I would apply that in this situation. If I had Spider Armor I might, maybe, be able to pull this off- but I only finished the research when I was about to launch the mission.

[Saph7]

A few things here. Firstly, how do you know there is a command pod- I didn't think they still existed? If so, how do you tell which one is the command pod?

It's the pod in the final building, either wandering around the command console room or hanging out on the roof. It typically has significantly nastier enemies than the other pods (Mutons and such).

But more importantly... that's all lovely and well thought-out strategy. But look at the screenshot I linked. With a stealth Shinobi, there has in 20 turns been not a single gap for me to get through- not even close.

I can't see very easily from the screenshot - I'd need to spin the map around and look a bit. But given that a stealth Shinobi with Ghostwalker has an incredibly small detection radius, it should always be possible to get through unless they are literally camping on the EXACT path that you need. I've done 10+ Network Towers with this strategy and I've never found one that's actually impossible to beat this way. It's possible that you just rolled really unluckily with the map/pod layout, but it's also possible that you just need to wait a long time for a gap to open up in the patrols. Can't tell without more info.

[Ithuriel]

But more importantly... that's all lovely and well thought-out strategy. But look at the screenshot I linked. With a stealth Shinobi, there has in 20 turns been not a single gap for me to get through- not even close.

I can't see very easily from the screenshot - I'd need to spin the map around and look a bit. But given that a stealth Shinobi with Ghostwalker has an incredibly small detection radius, ...

Erm... I find this a tad odd? Because sure, Ghostwalker is good, but at least in my experience enemies still have a ~4-5 square detection radius, which is plenty enough to block off these narrow walkways.

[Saph7]

Erm... I find this a tad odd? Because sure, Ghostwalker is good, but at least in my experience enemies still have a ~4-5 square detection radius, which is plenty enough to block off these narrow walkways.

You don't run past the walkway they're actually on, you wait for them to move off to the side and get past them. If you've been watching them for a while then you can often predict where they're going to go: each pod has a 'box' that it patrols in.

[LordYanaek]

Does your shinobi have covert or only ghostwalker. This also makes a difference.

Low cover for your sniper shouldn't be an issue as it looks like he has Low Profile. What's making it hard is the inaccessible left path, there is often one side of the map that's easier to sneak due to the patrol paths but if it's the one you can't access

Note, i think you can still evac to cancel the mission and start over, you should get a different map. It will cost you some time of course but you would have spider armor.

[Kharneth]

I always find a way to do networks on stealth too.

One thing, maibe i'm wrong, but by the screenshot i think you have a big detection radius. If you want to stealh the tower always needs to infiltrate 200% in order to have the small detection range.
Also if you have the dark event that increase detection radius active, don't take networks towers. Wait until the event expires, fortunately this one is temporary

[Ithuriel]

Does your shinobi have covert or only ghostwalker. This also makes a difference.

Low cover for your sniper shouldn't be an issue as it looks like he has Low Profile. What's making it hard is the inaccessible left path, there is often one side of the map that's easier to sneak due to the patrol paths but if it's the one you can't access

Note, i think you can still evac to cancel the mission and start over, you should get a different map. It will cost you some time of course but you would have spider armor.

Sorry, a clarification- I wasn't running this strat on this Network Tower mission (this sniper is actually a snapshot sniper- the only reason I justified it was that he rolled Shadowstrike+Faceoff as level-1 perks in the AWC... XD).

[Ithuriel]

I always find a way to do networks on stealth too.

One thing, maibe i'm wrong, but by the screenshot i think you have a big detection radius. If you want to stealh the tower always needs to infiltrate 200% in order to have the small detection range.
Also if you have the dark event that increase detection radius active, don't take networks towers. Wait until the event expires, fortunately this one is temporary

The latter is actually true. It's a tad silly... I think on a rifle soldier I'm looking at something like a 11-square detection radius -___________- That said, I don't see any way this mission is stealthable even without that, just because the pod rotation is so consistent.

[Saph7]

Oh, you have Vigilance running? Yeah, that makes a BIG difference. I've done Network Towers with that, but it's much much harder and you don't have anywhere near as much room for error.

[Dwarfling]

I'd plant my Shinobi behind the right-most ADVENT symbol and wait for an opening, then turn Ghostwalker and dash to the door. If no opening is ever present, I'd try to get the rest of the team on top of the building and engage that MEC pod while trying to sneak the Shinobi thru, but it might now work because they might block your concealment.

Dunno why you brought a Sharpshooter tho, my way to get thru this mission easy is to get Shinobi + 4 AoE damage dealers. Get the Shinobi to the Console, then get 2 others near one pod and 2 others on another pod. Activate the stun, use the 3 turns to throw grenades, rockets, flamethrowers, trench guns, w/e. Usually I'm left with the command pod by the end of the stun, but I try to have one of my Grenadiers close (rocket works too). Give the Shinobi the axe.

[stefan3iii]

I don't like to stealth network towers, even though I stealth everything else in LW2. I think this approach is safer:
1) Bring an assault and an officer with Oscar Mike.
2) Stealth your entire squad safely as far as you can into the map. Usually can make it about half way.
3) Begin combat as usual.
4) If you're losing control of the fight, Oscar Mike + Command + Run And Gun allows the assault to sprint halfway across the map and hit the switch.

The advantage is that you've often killed half the map before you even hit the switch, so the cleanup is simpler. And sprinting in like Forrest Gump to hit the button just can't go wrong like it can when you try to sneak in.

[Ithuriel]

I'd plant my Shinobi behind the right-most ADVENT symbol and wait for an opening, then turn Ghostwalker and dash to the door. If no opening is ever present, I'd try to get the rest of the team on top of the building and engage that MEC pod while trying to sneak the Shinobi thru, but it might now work because they might block your concealment.

Dunno why you brought a Sharpshooter tho, my way to get thru this mission easy is to get Shinobi + 4 AoE damage dealers. Get the Shinobi to the Console, then get 2 others near one pod and 2 others on another pod. Activate the stun, use the 3 turns to throw grenades, rockets, flamethrowers, trench guns, w/e. Usually I'm left with the command pod by the end of the stun, but I try to have one of my Grenadiers close (rocket works too). Give the Shinobi the axe.

You don't seem to realize... my Shinobi can't get halfway across the roof without being detected >.< It may be easy for you, but I've never once been able to stealth this mission- so I took the squad loadout that I thought was most likely to kill its way through the mission. (Also the Sharpshooter is a pistoleer with Snap Shot+Shadowstrike+Faceoff). Do you play on Ironman to stealth these missions? I'm playing Bronzeman, so even a small slipup means either get shooty or restart- plus the pod patrol routes seem to be affected by my movement, frustratingly.

That said, this was pretty neat: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =889382477 Handy that both of my pistol-trained soldiers were on that mission.

[Tuhalu]

My experience thus far is that about 1 in 4 tower missions are not stealthable in any reasonable fashion. As others have said, there are some requirements for a successful stealth:

• Shinobi with Ghostwalker and Covert, equipped with an SMG (3 stackable ways to reduce detection radius). This means you should have at least Sergeant level troops.
• No Vigilance DE (+3 detection radius is BAD).
• Infiltrate to 200% (minimum enemies and reduced detection radius).

However, even with all that, sometimes you'll have a light-moderate or worse tower mission and the layout is really bad (buildings with no doors or at least no doors on the correct sides). That's the 1 in 4 where you just have to push in as far as you can and go very loud and fast.

[chrisb]

For my tower runs I typically take a very yolo approach. Seems to work well. I take 2 assaults with trench gun and 2 grenadiers with only 3 grenades as well as the fastest SGT shinobi I have. No utility items on anyone except the grenadiers.

I put my shinobi either in the left/right side of the command room, there seems to be a safe spot behind the tables in the back left/right corners that pods never flank. Getting there always seemed rather trivial as with Ghostwalker up I typically have a 1-tile detection radius.

Once I have my shinobi in place I wait for the 2 pods at the start of the map to wander off, then bring as many people mid-map as I can, hopefully getting 1 assault close as possible. Wait for everything to be in view and hopefully clumped up, hit the button, then nuke from orbit, collect loot and then prep for HQ.

It does take a lot of patience and watching patrols to pull this off. It's not uncommon for my tower missions to get up close to 100 turns by the time I'm hitting the button, then it's over in 2-3.

[SouthpawHare]

Yea that building with no doors is a bit dumb. How do ADVENT even get inside.

Considering that the towers are many floors tall, I think it's implied that there are stairs/elevators that the enemies take up and down to work on the top floor. It's possible that the interior of that section is only reachable from the floor below (which we don't see in gameplay), not from the walkway.

[Ithuriel]

For my tower runs I typically take a very yolo approach. Seems to work well. I take 2 assaults with trench gun and 2 grenadiers with only 3 grenades as well as the fastest SGT shinobi I have. No utility items on anyone except the grenadiers.

I put my shinobi either in the left/right side of the command room, there seems to be a safe spot behind the tables in the back left/right corners that pods never flank. Getting there always seemed rather trivial as with Ghostwalker up I typically have a 1-tile detection radius.

Once I have my shinobi in place I wait for the 2 pods at the start of the map to wander off, then bring as many people mid-map as I can, hopefully getting 1 assault close as possible. Wait for everything to be in view and hopefully clumped up, hit the button, then nuke from orbit, collect loot and then prep for HQ.

It does take a lot of patience and watching patrols to pull this off. It's not uncommon for my tower missions to get up close to 100 turns by the time I'm hitting the button, then it's over in 2-3.

Seriously, how in the hell do you get a 1-tile detection radius? Even with Ghostwalker and an SMG with no Dark Event I have a minimum of ~3 tiles...

[LordYanaek]

Yea that building with no doors is a bit dumb. How do ADVENT even get inside.

Considering that the towers are many floors tall, I think it's implied that there are stairs/elevators that the enemies take up and down to work on the top floor. It's possible that the interior of that section is only reachable from the floor below (which we don't see in gameplay), not from the walkway.

I actually took some time last time i saw one rotating the map in search of an elevator and saw none. No stairs either. Just what looked like some computer servers or something similar. Those things needs some maintenance from time to time right?
I guess Codex are responsible for ADVENT computers maintenance. That or Andromedons and in this case they just knew they would have to replace the windows anyway so they didn't put a door

[dstar3k]

I guess Codex are responsible for ADVENT computers maintenance.

Well, having no way into the server room for anyone who can't teleport _would_ be a good security measure, I guess.

[chrisb]

Seriously, how in the hell do you get a 1-tile detection radius? Even with Ghostwalker and an SMG with no Dark Event I have a minimum of ~3 tiles...

Add on top of that Covert and getting alert status to Vulnerable. I think all combined reduces the radius by 80%? If it's normally 8 tiles that knocks it down to 0.64, rounds off to 1.

[Tuhalu]

SMG, Ghostwalker, Covert, 200% infiltration against a Sentinel. 2 tile detection radius. Against the shieldbearer, 1 tile detection radius. Without Ghostwalker, the Sentinel had a 7 tile detection radius on the Shinobi!

sneaky sneaky.jpg (206.9 KiB) Viewed 33515 times

At the same time, I had a Grenadier with an SMG that had a 9 tile detection radius vs Sentinel and my other guys with shotguns and rifles had an 11 tile detection radius.

IIRC, with only 100% infiltration, a Sentinel has a 13 tile detection radius (2 more than other enemies). Covert and SMG are -20% radius each. Ghostwalker is -40% radius. The benefits seem to round down, so it winds up being -2 (covert) -2 (smg) -5 (ghostwalker) -2 (200% infiltration) = 2 tiles. Normal enemies are -2 -2 -4 -2 with rounding for a 1 tile detection radius.

[SouthpawHare]

SMG, Ghostwalker, Covert, 200% infiltration against a Sentinel. 2 tile detection radius. Against the shieldbearer, 1 tile detection radius. Without Ghostwalker, the Sentinel had a 7 tile detection radius on the Shinobi!
sneaky sneaky.jpg
At the same time, I had a Grenadier with an SMG that had a 9 tile detection radius vs Sentinel and my other guys with shotguns and rifles had an 11 tile detection radius.

IIRC, with only 100% infiltration, a Sentinel has a 13 tile detection radius (2 more than other enemies). Covert and SMG are -20% radius each. Ghostwalker is -40% radius. The benefits seem to round down, so it winds up being -2 (covert) -2 (smg) -5 (ghostwalker) -2 (200% infiltration) = 2 tiles. Normal enemies are -2 -2 -4 -2 with rounding for a 1 tile detection radius.

I have to assume that at this point, your guys have infiltrated so well that they're more disguised than hiding. The sentry probably sees you but is more like, "Hi Bill" and accepts your presence.

[Autoclave]

IIRC, with only 100% infiltration, a Sentinel has a 13 tile detection radius (2 more than other enemies). Covert and SMG are -20% radius each. Ghostwalker is -40% radius. The benefits seem to round down, so it winds up being -2 (covert) -2 (smg) -5 (ghostwalker) -2 (200% infiltration) = 2 tiles. Normal enemies are -2 -2 -4 -2 with rounding for a 1 tile detection radius.

Great screenshot. Ghostwalker is absolutely necessary.