Why light (100%) stays at light (175%)?

[Nibelung44]

I'm confused, should I not get a reduction of 2 levels here? Sometime it happens (no change) but I don't know why.

[chrisb]

This seems to be a common misconception that the activity level description is affected directly by infiltration when it is not.

EDIT: Ignore all of this nonsense. fowlJ has the answer below!

Basically what happens is this. When a mission spawns it gets a base number of aliens, i think its something like 5 or 6. The number of actual aliens is modified by the alert level. Each alert level adds a random 1 or 2 aliens to the mission. The alert level is RegionStrength + InfiltrationModifier. Some mission also have an AlertModifier added to them and this cannot be lowered by infiltration. Prime examples are liberation missions, supply raids and UFOs.

From what I've been able to tell, this list of 1-2 aliens is generated when the mission itself spawns. As you infiltrate past a number of breakpoints, the alien numbers are reduced by whatever that alert level added. When asked how many aliens are on the mission, the game basically takes the sum of these numbers up to a given alert level. As you infiltrate further, each 'step' is knocking the numbers down by 1 or 2, depending on how many were added in the first place.

The current activity description is simply telling you within a range how many aliens are being added from this mechanic. Infiltrating from 100 to 200% may only reduce enemies by 3 or may be as much as 6. Either way it does not have any direct effect on the activity description. It will indirectly affect it if the number of aliens reduced goes below the lower bound.

[Nibelung44]

Still confused sorry. Light is 12 to 15. Let say 15 in my example.

As I boost from 100 to 175%, I remove 3 levels. So I would remove from 1 to 2 aliens each time, only? And so if I'm still reading light, it would means I removed thrice one alien, so down to 12 aliens, and this would explain why I still see light?

Except I finished the mission and the after action report told me there was 13 aliens, and no reinforcement arrived.

So... confusing to say the least!

[jfoevv820ueb]

Still confused sorry. Light is 12 to 15. Let say 15 in my example.

As I boost from 100 to 175%, I remove 3 levels. So I would remove from 1 to 2 aliens each time, only? And so if I'm still reading light, it would means I removed thrice one alien, so down to 12 aliens, and this would explain why I still see light?

Except I finished the mission and the after action report told me there was 13 aliens, and no reinforcement arrived.

So... confusing to say the least!

You only crossed two thresholds: 125% and 150%. There is no threshold at 175%, the next is at 200%. So it seems you did roll to remove one alien each time.

[chrisb]

Light is 13-15

Also 175% is not one of the breakpoints. They are 125, 150 and 200.

There is however a probability that you will reach the next breakpoint in between. The probability increases the closer you get to the breakpoint. At 175% there is a 50% chance on the next update that it will change the InfiltrationModifier from -2(150%) to -3(200%)

I'd have to know more about the situation your in. What mission type is it and what is the region strength.

[chrisb]

Still confused sorry. Light is 12 to 15. Let say 15 in my example.

As I boost from 100 to 175%, I remove 3 levels. So I would remove from 1 to 2 aliens each time, only? And so if I'm still reading light, it would means I removed thrice one alien, so down to 12 aliens, and this would explain why I still see light?

Except I finished the mission and the after action report told me there was 13 aliens, and no reinforcement arrived.

So... confusing to say the least!

You only crossed two thresholds: 125% and 150%. There is no threshold at 175%, the next is at 200%. So it seems you did roll to remove one alien each time.

Sort of, though you don't actually 'roll' to remove enemies. The RNG part is when enemies are added, infiltration removes whatever was added.

[Alketi]

karafso made an infiltration calculator that takes into account the Advent strength level, which is the mechanic that sets the floor as to how much or how little activity you will have at 200%.

Make a "copy" of the spreadsheet so you can have it in your own Google account and adjust it with all your parameters.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

[JoINrbs]

Some missions have baseline activity modifiers. A mission with +2 baseline activity could never go below light (if it were at extremely light it'd then apply its +2 modifier and become light).

That's my understanding of this at least.

[Clibanarius]

Some missions have baseline activity modifiers. A mission with +2 baseline activity could never go below light (if it were at extremely light it'd then apply its +2 modifier and become light).

That's my understanding of this at least.

This was my understanding as well.

[chrisb]

Some missions have baseline activity modifiers. A mission with +2 baseline activity could never go below light (if it were at extremely light it'd then apply its +2 modifier and become light).

That's my understanding of this at least.

This was my understanding as well.

So I decided to setup a little test to see if I could debug my way through to finding an answer. I created a mission, set the strength to 4 and used info from the logs to determine the alert level and exact enemies on the mission. Here's the steps I took to set it up.

1. Make a region strength 4. (LWSetAlertLevel 4 WorldRegion_WestNA)
2. Spawn a GOP in that region. (LWSpawnActivity HighValuePrisoner WorldRegion_WestNA true)
3. Record alert and enemy numbers from log.
4. Deploy a squad to the mission. I used 6-8 to get more granular breakpoints.
5. Infiltrate to a certain breakpoint. (slomo <1 to get more precise scanning)
6. Record results at the breakpoint.
7. Repeat 6-7 at each breakpoint.

Here's my results.

Strength 4 - Force 1 - Run 1

Code: Select all

Detected Enemy Activity - Very Light - 12 Enemies
0%   - Alert 16 - 32 - Extremely Heavy - Pods(7/7/6/6/6)
9%   - Alert 15 - 30 - Very Heavy - Pods(6/6/6/6/6)
17%  - Alert 14 - 28 - Very Heavy - Pods(5/6/6/6/5)
25%  - Alert 13 - 26 - Heavy - Pods(5/5/5/6/5)
34%  - Alert 12 - 24 - Moderate-Heavy - Pods(5/5/4/5/5)
42%  - Alert 11 - 22 - Moderate-Heavy - Pods(8/8/4/2)
50%  - Alert 10 - 20 - Moderate - Pods(4/4/4/4/4)
59%  - Alert 9  - 18 - Light-Moderate - Pods(2/4/4/8)
67%  - Alert 8  - 16 - Light-Moderate - Pods(8/2/2/4)
75%  - Alert 7  - Did not occur.
84%  - Alert 6  - 14 - Light - Pods(2/5/5/2)
92%  - Alert 5  - 13 - Light - Pods(4/3/3/3)
100% - Alert 4  - 12 - Very Light - Pods(5/3/4)
125% - Alert 3  - 10 - Very Light - Pods(3/3/4)
150% - Alert 2  - 9  - Extremely Light - Pods(3/3/3)
200% - Alert 1  - 8  - Extremely Light - Pods(5/3)

I'll come back to this a bit later, have to run for now, wanted to post these results so far. Going to try spawning more missions and at different Strength/Force levels. But it looks so far like there is some predictability to the aliens per alert. Doesn't look very random so I may have been wrong about the RNG 1-2 per alert.

[fowlJ]

Missions are defined using schedules in XComMissions.ini, which indicate the precise pods used on each mission based on the alert level. For instance:

Code: Select all

+MissionSchedules=(ScheduleID="Extract_D16_1_LW", \\
					MinRequiredAlertLevel=16, MaxRequiredAlertLevel=16, \\
					XComSquadStartsConcealed=false, \\
					IdealXComSpawnDistance=55, \\
					MinXComSpawnDistance=38, \\
					EncounterZonePatrolDepth=12.0, \\
					MaxTurrets=5, \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[0]=(EncounterID="OPNx7_Standard_LW", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=4.0, EncounterZoneWidth=9.0, EncounterZoneDepthOverride=4.0), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[1]=(EncounterID="OPNx7_Standard_LW", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=-14.0, EncounterZoneWidth=36.0), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[2]=(EncounterID="OPNx6_Standard_LW", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=-12.0, EncounterZoneWidth=36.0), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[3]=(EncounterID="OPNx6_Standard_LW", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=22.0, EncounterZoneWidth=36.0), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[4]=(EncounterID="OPNx6_Standard_LW", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=4.0, EncounterZoneWidth=9.0), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[5]=(EncounterID="DKVx1_Chryssalid", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=-11.0, EncounterZoneWidth=10.0, \\
											EncounterZoneDepthOverride=36.0, EncounterZoneOffsetFromLOP=0.0, IncludeTacticalTag="DarkEvent_InfiltratorChryssalid"), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[6]=(EncounterID="DKVx1_Chryssalid", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=-11.0, EncounterZoneWidth=10.0, \\
											EncounterZoneDepthOverride=36.0, EncounterZoneOffsetFromLOP=0.0, IncludeTacticalTag="DarkEvent_InfiltratorChryssalid"), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[7]=(EncounterID="DKVx2_FacelessAndCivilians_LW", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=5.0, IncludeTacticalTag="DarkEvent_Infiltrator"), \\
					PrePlacedEncounters[8]=(EncounterID="DKVx2_FacelessAndCivilians_LW", EncounterZoneOffsetAlongLOP=5.0, IncludeTacticalTag="DarkEvent_Infiltrator") \\
					)

Alert 16, pods 7/7/6/6/6 - I'm guessing the operation you spawned was an Extract VIP mission, as those schedules seem to match all the pod numbers you specified (though there may be others that fit, I haven't read them all).

I don't know the details of LW2's pod code (I know there was a bug where an ADVENT Trooper was being inserted into the Shen's Last Gift mission, so they must mess around with that in some way), but I don't believe there is directly any randomness in the enemy counts (some missions have multiple valid schedules for a given alert level, one of which is chosen at random, but the counts for a given schedule are always the same). The Alert Level itself is the only factor in which mission schedule is chosen (ADVENT Strength 4 with a +0 Infiltration modifier is the same as ADVENT Strength 1 with a +3 Infiltration modifier), and Force Level occasionally results in different pod being used in a position (for instance, some missions have a 'Muton Warband' that varies in size and composition based on the Force Level), but has no effect when those pods are not in use.

Also worth noting, while schedules for most missions stick to a general 'formula' for the number of enemies by Alert Level, this isn't something that is enforced anywhere - were you to ever, say, run a Regional HQ at Alert 1 (Strength 1, +3 Mission Modifier, -3 from 200% Infiltration), it would not be 'Extremely Light' like most mission types are, it would have 26 enemies on it.

[chrisb]

Ah, I was not expecting it to be all hand coded for each level. That must have been a nightmare! Or they more likely have an app that spits them out based on some settings then maybe hand-tweak as needed? I figured there was some sort of 'schedule' but I was expecting the counts and such to be more RNG. This makes sense now, and it's something new I can screw around with. Mutons in March?

[Clibanarius]

I always see a Muton in March. Usually the first supply line raid will have one, and that'll be the last Muton I see for a few months.