I'm discovering even in early April a strong synergy when having the combined challenge of Infiltration while XCOM soldiers lose Willpower to combat fatigue. Having to send troops out again when they haven't recovered from their last battle. And when the whole barracks is out, getting another Op that will almost certainly either force dropping a planned Op to run thee new one. Or sending out more fatigued troops right after they return.
See below past the spoiler for more on my challenge for 2035 April 9.
Grimy's doesn't work perfectly. Its afflictions don't appear. Has to be used from campaign start to have the vital Bar/Memorial R&R slots.
But getting shot at erodes Willpower, both XCOM and ADVENT. Even just a miss. Grazes, hits, and crits do greater Willpower damage. Crits also affect the other soldiers in the squad.
Soldiers will break and hunker. Low Willpower troops are easy targets for Sectoid's Mindspin.
In XCOM's favour, ADVENT is facing the same loss-of-Willpower from combat. And Hynography which halves ADVENT's Willpower is now a fantastic hack bonus.
As Grimy says, "We Darkest Dungeon Now."
Promotions restore Willpower to max immediately. That helps for awhile. But even going from LCpl to Cpl takes more than one mission. So troops will need time to rest back up. Or face going out again tired.
Have to remember to manually remove soldiers from the Bar R&R slots (where they recover Willpower faster) when they deploy to infiltrate.
Some config adjustment I do: turn off bonus experience and add more GTS upgrades to unlock extra Bar slots. As the campaign advances, weary soldiers will need more R&R to regain lost Willpower faster.
- Spoiler: show
Consider my LW2 1.5 Legendary (heavily modded) campaign. 2035 April 9.
I have a barracks of 25 soldiers. 2 Technicals are Haven Advisors. The other 23 troops are in 4 squads inflitrating 4 GOps. Because I had to send everyone out, 3 soldiers have less-than-max moral (43/51, 43/51, 30/39).
And then a 5th GOps comes up. It's a Very Light recover item from vehicle, find a lead, reward 22 Intel and Liberation Chain. Expires in 7d 17h.
Damn. 1st of the current 4 GOps will launch in 16 hours. 5 soldiers on a Very Light hack a workstation in a facility, reward 24 Intel. Hopefully will go Extremely Light at deadline.
And then those 5 have to come back unharmed. Could swap with the 2 Technicals on Haven duty and send out another 5 after the 5th GOps. Of course, if one of the weary troops "relaxing" on Haven Duty gets a Rendezvous.... Or there's wounds (don't even have Field Surgeon on the Specialist yet).
Or do I cancel one of the 4 current GOps? Decisions, decisions.
Fatigue means all soldiers will have to have down time beyond wound recovery. Infiltration means a battle isn't just a moment in the strategic campaign but takes time, has to be planned. And when other things come up, maybe that commitment to battle has to be cancelled for others.
I can't see making such a challenging campaign with just one of infiltration or fatigue. Infiltration-only is close, but unwounded soldiers can be send out again immediately. That doesn't feel right. Fatigue-only is a simpler campaign to manage as the soldiers form a pool that a squad gets formed from and sent out to immediately resolve a tactical battle. Wounds disqualify soldiers except for Avenger Defense. Fatigue makes soldier less reliable and eventually unable to effectively deploy.
But together infiltration and fatigue really puts the player in the place of the XCOM Commander, directing the prosecution of Earth's insurgency against ADVENT. Actions need planning and don't happen overnight. And using troops wears them out, even if they escape being wounded.