ADVENT's Agenda (LW2)

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While ADVENT's primary goal of completing the AVATAR Project is the same in LW 2 as the vanilla game, a number of changes have been introduced on how ADVENT (a.k.a. Strategic AI) will achieve its agenda, and how it will react to XCOM's attempts to stop the project. The major difference now is that ADVENT will conduct specific operations, or Activities, on any of the 16 world regions that will result in missions for XCOM. Each Activity has specific requirements and different results, depending on if ADVENT completes the activity or if the Resistance is able to detect and win the missions generated.

AVATAR Project

The AVATAR project's progress is unknown to the player initially but has been increased from 12 to 20 'pips' required before ADVENT can win the game. To uncover the 'Doom Meter', a player must complete a series of missions to liberate a region for the first time.

In order to generate the necessary research to complete the AVATAR project, ADVENT will build facilities throughout the world that will generate additional pips. XCOM can stop this process by either detecting the initial construction missions and winning them, or by assaulting the facility after it is build. However, the detection of an existing alien facility now requires either receiving a Facility Lead as a mission reward, or by the Resistance personnel on the havens generating enough intel.

ADVENT's Strategy

When determining the Activities that it will conduct on any of the 16 world regions, ADVENT's has 3 main variables: Force (unit quality), Vigilance (unit quantity), and Alertness (alarm caused by Resistance activities), which are further explained below. Each variable can also be expressed as global, reflecting the general situation, or as regional, representing the local values for each of the 16 regions.

Force

Force represents the type of units that ADVENT will deploy during missions. This value has a defined range of 1-20 and it will periodically increase by +1 when ADVENT completes the Activity called 'Scheduled Offworld Reinforcements'.

  • The Force level is always the same for all regions. All regions start with a Regional Force (RF) value of 1, and the Total Force level is the sum of all regions, or 16 at start.
  • A low Force level gives a bonus to the detection of missions at the start of a campaign on Rookie and Veteran difficulties, although this advantage doesn't last long as the Force level gradually increases.
  • The Force level determines when additional soldiers appear on the Black Market, with the 2nd soldier available when Force level 7 is reached and the 3rd soldier unlocked at level 15, making those appearances as reliable indicators for those levels.
  • The cost of Black Market personnel is also increased by 7.5% for each Force level raise of 1.
  • 'Scheduled Off World Reinforcements' appears 21/18/14 days after the start of a campaign, depending on difficulty level. This activity has a cool down period of 16 days, which means that Force level 20 is reached between 325-316 days after game stats.
  • The Force level for each mission can also be modified by certain ADVENT Activities:
    • Scheduled Offworld Reinforcements +1
    • Snare +1
    • Foothold always generates missions with 18 force level, regardless of the Global Force level
    • Rendezvous -2

Alert

Despite its name, Alert refers to the number of troops available for ADVENT to use in missions, or to move to between regions by using the Reinforce Activity. ADVENT will also regularly increase its Alert numbers by bringing regularly emergency offworld reinforcements.

  • The Regional Alert (RA) levels are displayed on Geoscape on each region's name, as 'ADVENT Strength'
  • The RA determines the baseline mission difficulty in each region: each level of alert increases base mission activity level by one category, in addition to mission-specific modifiers.
  • All regions start with a Regional Alert of at least 1, except on Legendary where RA is level 2.
  • The Global Alert (GA) level is the sum of all RAs and it is displayed as 'ADVENT's Legions' on the Resistance Management tab on the Commander's Quarters on the Avenger.
  • Global Alert starting level is 15/20/30/40 for each difficulty level.
  • The Reinforce Activity, which results in a Supply Raid if detected by XCOM, will transfer 1 point of Alert level between regions if the activity is completed successfully. ADVENT will not reinforce a region if its Alert level is already 15 or superior.
  • If XCOM detects and prevents the Troop Maneuvers Activity/Mission, will reduce the region's Alert level by +1.
  • Liberating a region will destroy up to 4 points of the RA value, but any remaining troops will be distributed by the other regions still under ADVENT's control.
  • The Emergency Offworld Reinforcements Activity has a cool-down period of 14/12/10/8 days depending on the difficulty level. It will raise the Alert level by +1 in the region they take place and also +1 on an adjacent region.
  • The Super Emergency Offworld Reinforcements has a cool-off period of 21 days for all difficulty levels and it will give +2 Alert on the region and +1 Alert on 2 adjacent regions.
  • While the flow of ADVENT's reinforcements can be reduced by detecting and winning these missions, it is impossible to win the game by trying to reduce Global Alert to a minimum - ADVENT can always summon more troops than the Resistance can destroy them.
  • The Alert level for each mission can also be modified by certain ADVENT Activities:
    • Scheduled Offworld Reinforcements +1
    • Emergency Offworld Reinforcements +1
    • Super Emergency Offworld Reinforcements +2
    • Snare +1
    • Foothold always generates missions with 12 alert level, regardless of the Global Alert level
    • Rendezvous -2
  • Certain ADVENT Activities will also require specific Alert levels (min and/or max) to be activated

Vigilance

Vigilance represents ADVENT's concern about XCOM/Resistance activities.

  • The Global Vigilance (GV) level, consisting of the sum of all Regional Vigilance levels, can be accessed through Resistance Management, where it is displayed as 'Global Resistance Threat', with different labels:
    • Low (GV value of -10)
    • Guarded (0)
    • Elevated (10)
    • High (20)
    • Severe (30)
  • GV is determined randomly at game start and it can vary between 16-39
  • Regional Vigilance (RV) decays automatically by 1 every week
  • XCOM successful missions increase RV by 1, failures have no effect
    • If the mission was created by ADVENT's Propaganda Activity, such as a Destroy Monument mission, completing it will increase even more the RV value
    • Some missions, like Supply Raids, Troop Maneuvers or Retaliations, will also reduce RV by 1 if completed successfully, cancelling out the automatic RV increase
    • XCOM failure on the Retaliation missions will also reduce RV by either 2 or 4 points, depending on the mission
  • If a region's Vigilance value exceeds the its Alert value, then ADVENT will try to bring additional troops into the region, either through the Reinforce or the Emergency Offworld Reinforcements activities.

ADVENT Activities Table

The missions in Long War 2 are defined through ADVENT activities, which are performed by the aliens on each regional to achieve their goals, which will then result in tactical missions, if the alien activity is detected by the Resistance.

Each Activity can have several settings or requirements for it to be activated:

  • Priority - weight for mission to be chosen
  • Rebel Income - amount of detection collected by rebels with Intel jobs for the mission to be detected
  • Detection - daily pct of the mission being detected, once the Rebel Income requirement is achieved
  • Force & Alert Modifiers - the effect the activity will have on the ADVENT Force and Alert levels during the mission
  • Min/Max Vigilance - the range of Vigilance values were the activity is available for ADVENT to perform in a region
  • Min/Max Alert - the range of Alert values, as the previous setting
  • Mission Tree - the number and sequence of missions generated by the Activity
  • Mission Families - the type of missions generated
  • Duration - the amount of hours that the mission can be detected, once it is active
  • EVAC Modifier - the number of turns added to Skyranger evacuation
  • Infiltration Modifier - the number of hours added/removed from infiltration requirements
AI Activity Priority Rebel Income Discovery Force Mod Alert Mod Min/Max Vigilance Min/Max Alert Mission Tree Mission Families Duration EVAC Modifier Infiltration Modifier Notes
Protect Region Early 3 110 40 0 Recover, Hack 216 + 24 1
Protect Region Mid 4 135 35 3 0 Extract, Rescue 192 + 48 0
ProtectRegion 5 160 30 3 0 Neutralize, Destroy Object 192 + 48 0
1 Assault Network Tower Infinite 0
2 Assault Alien Base Infinite 0
Counterinsurgency* 30 60 31 4/NA 4/NA 0 Destroy Object 144+48 COIN*
1 Terror, Defend 24+5 Force Activity Detection
Reinforce***** 40 75 4 3 0 Supply Line Raid 144+144
COIN Research 45 95 7 3/NA NA/8 0 Recover, Hack, Destroy Object, Neutralize, Rescue Infinite
COIN Ops 50 65 11 3/NA 3/NA 0 Recover, Hack, Destroy Object Infinite 1
Build Research Facility 10 850 13 NA/5 0 Supply Line Raid 1080+72
Regional Avatar Research 15 Sabotage Infinite 96 Makes Doom
Reinforcements*** 25 100 5 1 1 0 Recover, Hack 120+96 1
1 Secure UFO 144+24
Emergency Reinforcements 38 100 30 1 0 Recover, Hack 120+96 1
1 Secure UFO 144+96
Super Emergency Reinforcements 37 80 34 2 0 Recover, Hack 120+96 1
1 Secure UFO 144+96
Invasion 15 70 0 Supply Line Raid 96+96
1 Invasion 24+0 Force Activity Detection
Propaganda 55 32 NA/8 6/NA 0 Sabotage CC, Neutralize 216+72 -12
Protect Research 50 120 17 NA/10 NA/10 0 Hack, Recover, Rescue, Extract 216+72
Protect Data 55 5 35 NA/12 0 Hack, Recover, Destroy Object, Rescue, Extract 216+96
Troop Maneuvers 55 5 20* 4/15 NA/15 0 Troop Maneuvers 216+72 -24
High Value Prisioner 55 60 18 NA/12 NA/6 0 Extract, Rescue 216+96
Political Prisioners 55 40 28 NA/12 NA/7 0 Jailbreak 216+96
Logistics 55 90 60 NA/12 0 Smash N Grab 216+96
Intel Raid 41 2/NA 3/NA 0 Intel Raid 24+5 Force Activity Detection
Supply Convoy 42 1/NA 4/NA 0 Supply Convoy 24+5 Force Activity Detection
Recruit Raid 43 1/NA 4/NA 0 Recruit Raid 24+5 Force Activity Detection
Snare 26 0 85 1 1 5/NA 7/NA 0 Hack 216+72
Foothold 3 0 70 18** 12** 0 Secure UFO 96+24 -60
1 Invasion 24+5 Force Activity Detection
Rendezvous 2 -2 -2 0 Placeholder 504+168 Special (see below)
1 Rendezvous 24+5 2 Force Activity Detection

Notes.

  • Rendezvous. Normal rebels don't contribute intel towards the detection of the Rendezvous missions, only soldier advisors do. This mission's entry doesn't specify the required Intel Income before you can start detecting it so maybe it's immediate, however the very low discovery chance (the lowest of any mission) makes it quite hard to detect. It's coded as a 2 part mission where you detect the first part (it has the longest duration of any mission) but then the mission immediately moves to the second part which is automatically detected. The final mission is that second part which explain why you never detect Rendezvous with long durations.
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