LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

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vohich
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:41 pm

LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by vohich »

I got this mission at New Chile. Advent strengh 8, infiltration 200%

I play on C/I

I sent tsg sniper, tsg tech, tsg shinobi, 2 tsg assalts, spark with bombard, tsg specialist (medic)

I faced 4 times 7-8 units pods one by one. Normally there were: commando, roketeer, grenadier, engineer, heavy lancer, chryssalids, some snakes. Once codex, andro, mutons and chrys, then I found, no, they found me: gatekeeper with 6-7armor and 53 health, 2 andro armed, 2 centurions armed, 3 mutons armed, najas and chryssalids

Is it normal for 200% infiltration?? I lost 4 guys and evacuated the rest

That was my 73rd mission during this attempt (8th already)

Do I need to train only grenadiers and equip them into EXO? How to fight against so OP pods of enemies?
Exquisitor
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 4:50 pm

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by Exquisitor »

Looks like you were lacking some shooters in your squad composition. I play mostly on veteran but I'd have sent 2 sharpshooters, 1-2 rangers, 1 shinobi, a support grenadier (sting grenades are a blessing), and then maybe a gunner or assault. I think the idea is to hang back and delete a pod at a time using your sharpshooters in overwatch traps. Your shinobi has to be mindful of chrysallids due to their detection ability.
Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by Dwarfling »

Should have sent 9 people and boosted.

Your team however, was weak for this mission. First of, you're playing with 6 if you don't reveal the Shinobi. Right there you're at a disadvantage against every pod because of numbers. Second, this is a long range map, with seemingly high density of enemies close to the first half of the map. Going close quarters with a technical and two assaults is not a sound strategy, you'll trigger a second pod, probably also a chrissalid. You need rifle Rangers, and maybe a second Sharpshooter. And yeah, you want long ranged AoE. Grenadiers and EXO, at this point of the game probably with Shredstorm.

You didn't even have a Grenadier with Stings, how did you ever hope to survive a multiple pod encounter? Suppression? At this point of the game? 200% infiltration won't do much against enemy numbers in the 40's.
vohich
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:41 pm

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by vohich »

Good strategy, but what to do with heavy armored guys?


Exquisitor wrote:Looks like you were lacking some shooters in your squad composition. I play mostly on veteran but I'd have sent 2 sharpshooters, 1-2 rangers, 1 shinobi, a support grenadier (sting grenades are a blessing), and then maybe a gunner or assault. I think the idea is to hang back and delete a pod at a time using your sharpshooters in overwatch traps. Your shinobi has to be mindful of chrysallids due to their detection ability.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by stefan3iii »

vohich wrote:Good strategy, but what to do with heavy armored guys?
I would be using shredstorm cannons at this point in the game, and for a mission like Psi Gate I'd send 8 shredstorms. Not only would it handle the armor, it would wipe out multiple pods in a turn.

Other stuff people mentioned was good.
1) Need a sting/incendiary grenadier for CC. A high level psi could also be pretty effective CC with stasis + domination.
2) DFA Sharpshooters are ideal for this mission.
3) Need GSGT Rangers, MSGT Gunners, or TSGT Assaults. Ie classes at ranks that do a lot of damage. You had assaults, but need more damage at range, I would only bring 1 assault at most for a mission like Psi Gate.
4) Leave the technical at home. Technicals aren't very strong at this point in the game, and are especially bad on long missions where you'll use up your consumables quickly.
5) Medical specialist should be replaced by anything else. Another shooty class would be good. A specialist with gremlin 2, skullmine, and then support from his team with redscreen rounds and bluescreen sting grenades is effective if you want a specialist, as capturing a good robot is a huge boost. If you're worried about chrysallid poison, put hazmats on everyone, or bring a couple of medkits.
6) I would bring 8 or 9 soldiers.
Exquisitor
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed May 10, 2017 4:50 pm

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by Exquisitor »

For the DfA sharpshooter - OW strategy, the idea is to spot pods with your concealed shinobi, then engage them from a distance with your sharpshooters. The other troopers stay in overwatch close to your sharpshooters and finish off any members of the Advent pod that enter range. After you've deleted a few pods, you can safely move up and engage the gatekeeper in the same fashion. I've even had a few of these missions where the sharpshooters didn't move once they were in good spots with clear lines of sight. Rangers with high aim and shredder ammo make short work of most advent that make into range.

If you keep your specialist on high ground with good LoS, they can hack the mecs, either slowing them down or taking them over. Beware cautious with the latter (control) because the controlled mecs can alert other pods that you may not be ready to engage.
vohich
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:41 pm

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by vohich »

Dude, what do you think about assalts in general?

What type of missions is good for them? All the time they just attract new pods for me...

Unfortunately, my guys are not as strong at the moment, so I can not benefit from all their perks

To my shame all my specialists are more medics rather than hackers as I am playing with Ironman I have to keep my guys healthy

stefan3iii wrote:
vohich wrote:Good strategy, but what to do with heavy armored guys?
I would be using shredstorm cannons at this point in the game, and for a mission like Psi Gate I'd send 8 shredstorms. Not only would it handle the armor, it would wipe out multiple pods in a turn.

Other stuff people mentioned was good.
1) Need a sting/incendiary grenadier for CC. A high level psi could also be pretty effective CC with stasis + domination.
2) DFA Sharpshooters are ideal for this mission.
3) Need GSGT Rangers, MSGT Gunners, or TSGT Assaults. Ie classes at ranks that do a lot of damage. You had assaults, but need more damage at range, I would only bring 1 assault at most for a mission like Psi Gate.
4) Leave the technical at home. Technicals aren't very strong at this point in the game, and are especially bad on long missions where you'll use up your consumables quickly.
5) Medical specialist should be replaced by anything else. Another shooty class would be good. A specialist with gremlin 2, skullmine, and then support from his team with redscreen rounds and bluescreen sting grenades is effective if you want a specialist, as capturing a good robot is a huge boost. If you're worried about chrysallid poison, put hazmats on everyone, or bring a couple of medkits.
6) I would bring 8 or 9 soldiers.
vohich
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:41 pm

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by vohich »

Good idea about specialist on high ground, but I did not face any single MEC during that mission lol

Exquisitor wrote:For the DfA sharpshooter - OW strategy, the idea is to spot pods with your concealed shinobi, then engage them from a distance with your sharpshooters. The other troopers stay in overwatch close to your sharpshooters and finish off any members of the Advent pod that enter range. After you've deleted a few pods, you can safely move up and engage the gatekeeper in the same fashion. I've even had a few of these missions where the sharpshooters didn't move once they were in good spots with clear lines of sight. Rangers with high aim and shredder ammo make short work of most advent that make into range.

If you keep your specialist on high ground with good LoS, they can hack the mecs, either slowing them down or taking them over. Beware cautious with the latter (control) because the controlled mecs can alert other pods that you may not be ready to engage.
stefan3iii
Posts: 319
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:49 am

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by stefan3iii »

vohich wrote:Dude, what do you think about assalts in general?

What type of missions is good for them? All the time they just attract new pods for me...

Unfortunately, my guys are not as strong at the moment, so I can not benefit from all their perks

To my shame all my specialists are more medics rather than hackers as I am playing with Ironman I have to keep my guys healthy
I only play L/I, and I don't use healing. I would bring 1 medkit on psi gate, since it's a long mission and if the worst happens I could stabilize a high value soldier. The best way to keep your guys healthy is to never let the aliens take good actions, you do this by killing or CCing all of them each turn.

Every turn basically you start out by deciding if you're going to fire a sting grenade. The rest of your soldiers than kill everything that isn't stunned if possible, and you fire additional sting/incendiary grenades to shutdown whatever is left over. Obviously, tactics can be more advanced than that, but that's the rough outline. In the worst case if you can't kill everything, park your SPARK where the aliens can see him, they'll probably shoot him.

I think assaults are very strong the entire campaign, from squaddie to MSGT. When you first start reaching TSGT, assaults will be your strongest class, being able to deal immense damage with Close Encounters. But yes, they require care to not activate too much. Know when you're on the last pod and can safely go all out, listen to audio cues to figure out where enemies are, use shinobi to scout. If you decide to make a risky move with them, do it early in the turn, so the rest of your soldiers can compensate if you activate. Psi gate is a densely packed map, so they're going to be more difficult to use safely.
vohich
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2017 1:41 pm

Re: LW2: Psi Gate Mission is tooo complicated

Post by vohich »

Fully agree it wasnt strong team, it was like mixed squad B and squad C

Squad A was infiltrating Black site

To be honest I was too confident in 200% infiltration and did not expect too many armored guys

So, I really hoped to win lol - I did not even doubt I would have to survive

Spark, 2 stuns of assalts and tech guy were good during war with first 2 pods, later I realized that I was in deep a...s

Now I even think that I dont need assalts any more as they are just additional pod attractors for me and going to send them to some suicide missions. Dont like them anymore


Dwarfling wrote:Should have sent 9 people and boosted.

Your team however, was weak for this mission. First of, you're playing with 6 if you don't reveal the Shinobi. Right there you're at a disadvantage against every pod because of numbers. Second, this is a long range map, with seemingly high density of enemies close to the first half of the map. Going close quarters with a technical and two assaults is not a sound strategy, you'll trigger a second pod, probably also a chrissalid. You need rifle Rangers, and maybe a second Sharpshooter. And yeah, you want long ranged AoE. Grenadiers and EXO, at this point of the game probably with Shredstorm.

You didn't even have a Grenadier with Stings, how did you ever hope to survive a multiple pod encounter? Suppression? At this point of the game? 200% infiltration won't do much against enemy numbers in the 40's.
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