Retaliations

[Redjac]

I just lost a game due to one Retaliation mission.

I lost most of my squad and all ten of the haven rebels. This was not a bug, (this was not the bug where I "saved 9 of 10 rebels" and they all died anyway), I simply could not fight and rescue them at the same time. There were reinforcements every turn. 4 of my 8 soldiers were dead or bleeding and none of the rebels had even been saved. The province was not liberated but I was waiting on one soldier to heal to launch the HQ Assault mission. (He had one more day in the Med Bed).

A few questions for the forum.

1) I had no warning for the Retaliation. Could I have set all my rebels on the Intel job and seen Advent coming with the Retaliation?

2) If I had knowledge of the Retaliation mission coming, would then setting the Haven Rebels to Hiding done any good? Or is it too late?

3) Would knowledge of the Retaliation mission at least lowered or slowed down the every turn Advent reinforcements?

4) When should I set Haven Rebels to Hiding? I know about Vigilance (a little) but that is not a stat displayed in game. So what strategy can I use to minimize Retaliations in the future?

Any help or comments is appreciated. Any specific guidance on what jobs to set rebels to in havens and when to do so would be a big help.

Redjac

[Biasface]

IIRC you can't detect retaliations. However, ADVENT can only carry them out if you have more than 5 rebels "working" (doing non-hiding jobs). Because of this, you don't want to have too many working rebels in regions you can't afford a retaliation in. Vigilance is a stat that increases when you succeed in missions, prompting ADVENT to reinforce the region with a UFO or supply raid. You can do dark VIP and monument destruction missions to try to divert ADVENT attention to other regions.

[Redjac]

Thanks,

That helps.

Redjac

[trihero]

1) You can detect "regular" retaliations - the precursor mission will be something like destroy the alien relay to prevent a "data leak."

You cannot detect mini-retaliations, the ones that are specific to a rebel job (intel, recruit, supply).

2) too late

3) no, either you do the precursor mission and win it (which makes the retal not happen) or the retal happens.

4) if you are scared of retaliations, have a total of 4 working rebels and you should mostly be fine (there is a possibility that if 2 of the 4 workers are faceless, that you can still face a mini retal, but you can't face full retal with 4 working rebels)

[LordYanaek]

In addition to what was said. There are now 2 different Retaliation missions, 3 "min-retaliations" and full invasions.

• Normal retaliations target havens in non liberated regions and need at least 5 working (non-hiding) rebels on all jobs (faceless or not) to be triggered as well as ADVENT str of 4 or more (IIRC). In both Retaliations your rebels are unarmed and not under your control and you need to protect them. Your soldier haven advisor will join you with his current equipment and help on those missions so you have one more guy. Faceless rebels will always reveal themselves if you move close to them so be aware you can face them as you did in vanilla. You start out of concealment except for Phantom soldiers who can be very useful to scout and gather rebels (but beware of faceless revealing you)
  • Stop Retaliation (i think it's still called this) is the old style retaliation, you start with ADVENT pods all over the map and rebels scattered around. You need to get the rebels to the Evac or kill every ADVENT to win. ADVENT tend to focus on the objective more than in Vanilla so it can be hard to avoid loosing rebels but you can be slightly more aggressive with your troops. Bring lots of firepower and CC. Sting grenadiers can be very useful.
  • Protect Haven (or something like this) is a new mission. You start with rebels all over the map and no ADVENT, they will drop every turn as reinforcements (it sounds like it's the mission that killed you). Since there is no ADVENT on the map at T0, you can run to find rebels as much as you want. Overwatch specced Specialists and Rangers will shine on this mission being able to run to rescue rebels and still fire 2-3 shots at the dropped pods. Nest Snipers will also do great work to provide coverage on all the map. Once you learn how they play, they are not that hard and you can usually get most (if not all) your rebels back.
• Mini-Retaliations (raids) target one specific job (like intel) and need 6 rebels on a specific job but faceless count double (so 5 is still risky, 4 relatively safe, 3 and retaliation means all your guys were faceless).
  • Intel raid is the old Protect the datatap mission but your intel rebels and non engineer advisor will start near the datatap. Rebels are armed and will help you but their equipment will always be worse than yours (except very early) so don't hope for miracles. Pods will converge on the datatap and often start somewhere at the sides of your squad. There is a large thread discussing this mission and strategies. Usually you want to move your fast and hard hitting squad towards the objective quickly while entrenching your rebels. CC with the rebels if needed (they have flashbangs/smokes/grenades) and you should be fine except that one mission in a while where a nasty pod (such as vipers or later cryssalids!) starts within LoS of the objective, activate at T1 and there isn't much you can do.
  • Supply Raids start without enemy pods and they will drop regularly until the "pool" is depleted. They play on a long road map with your squad at one side and the armed rebels (plus non scientist advisor) at the other. Your first goal si probably to regroup them (there is an incoming pod at the end of the first turn) then overwatch and wait for pods to drop. They don't drop each turn unlike the full retaliation. This mission is usually not that hard due to no pods at the start but you need to quickly dispatch each wave before the next one comes. I find the first drop is usually the hardest one, later you have all your guys grouped.
  • Recruitment raids play on small town (or maybe slums) maps. There are some pods on the map and more coming as reinforcements. You have your rebels but they are unarmed and you must move them all the way to a pre-placed evac! This mission can be pretty brutal. You must deal with the first reinforcement before moving and then try to cross the map carefully but not slowly to reach the evac!
• Full Invasions occur only on liberated regions. They play like an old school retaliation but on city center map (it's now yours) and in addition to pre placed pods, you must destroy a relay like in Avenger defense missions. Reinforcements will drop with ever increasing power until you destroy the relay. It's not that hard to win this mission but it's hard to avoid loosing some (quite a lot) of your rebels (now temporary government). This mission can't occur until 21 days after liberation and need an adjacent region with str 8 or more.

[Redjac]

Thanks for the explanation on retaliations. Knowing that retaliations do not happen until Advent is strength 4 in a region is very useful information.

I did not know there were so many types of retaliations. Thanks again for the information.

Redjac