Dark Events (LW2)
Dark Events in Long War 2 come in two forms: tactical research upgrades and strategic operations. The former represent ADVENT building up the strength of its forces over time, and are permanent once applied; the latter represents the Aliens conducting operations of its own to cripple XCOM at the strategic layer, and last for a designated time frame.
Much like vanilla Dark Events, certain designated missions can be conducted to interrupt and prevent the Dark Event from occurring - but unlike vanilla, you will not be given the opportunity to do so if you do not have contact with the region the Dark Event spawns in. Since the only way to identify them is to increase your resistance network as wide as possible, it is inevitable that some Dark Events will trigger outside of your coverage regardless of how diligent of a commander you are.
Tactical Research Upgrades
Over time, the ADVENT and Alien ground forces will gain increases in combat effectiveness, as denoted by additional perks and equipment. Each upgrade applies to a limited set of enemy types, and only a certain random percentage of enemies will actually have the upgrade.
These Dark Events are permanent once triggered; this system serves as the Long War 2 equivalent of Long War 1's Alien Research, where aliens gain boosts to stats and bonus perks over time. In this case, however, the bonuses are random and tied to interruptible Dark Events, so you have a chance of encountering powerful upgrades early on or of stopping upgrades from occurring.
Tactical Dark Events | |||
---|---|---|---|
Dark Event | Units Affected | Chance | |
Aggression | ADVENT Stun Lancers (Mk3) Archons Mutons |
20% | |
Center Mass | All ADVENT Forces and Aliens | 16% | |
Close Combat Specialist | Archons | 100% | |
Combat Awareness | ADVENT Sentries | 100% | |
Cutthroat | ADVENT Stun Lancers Faceless |
100% | |
Damage Control | ADVENT MECs ADVENT Turrets Codices Gatekeepers Sectopods |
20% | |
Deadshot | ADVENT Avatars (Mk3) Vipers, Najas, & Sidewinders |
50% | |
Hard Target | Archons Codices Vipers, Najas, & Sidewinders |
33% | |
Infighter | ADVENT Stun Lancers ADVENT Avatars (Mk3) |
100% | |
Iron Skin | All Robotic Enemies | 100% | |
Formidable | ADVENT Officers ADVENT Grenadiers ADVENT Avatars (Mk3) ADVENT Rocketeers (Mk2, Mk3) ADVENT Shieldbearers (Mk2, Mk3) Mutons (Mk2, Mk3) |
15% | |
Grazing Fire | ADVENT Officers (Mk3) ADVENT Gunners ADVENT Avatars (Mk3) ADVENT Sentries (Mk3) ADVENT Troopers (Mk3) Mutons (Mk3) |
33% | |
Lethal | All Aliens | 8% | |
Lightning Reflexes | ADVENT Avatars (Mk3) ADVENT Stun Lancers |
20% | |
Resilience | Codices | 100% | |
Sapper | ADVENT Officers (Mk3) Mutons |
25% | |
Shadowstep | Codices | 100% | |
Shredder | ADVENT Gunners ADVENT Avatars (Mk3) Mutons (Mk3) |
15% | |
Tactical Sense | ADVENT Officers ADVENT Avatars (Mk3) |
50% | |
Will to Survive | Sectoids Vipers, Najas & Sidewinders |
15% | |
Viper Rounds | 25% | ||
Template:Greater Faceless (LW2) Greater Faceless | Faceless | 75% |
Strategic Operations
ADVENT will attempt to place severe limitations on XCOM operations at the strategic level, in much the same way that many Dark Events functioned in vanilla. Fortunately, while they are crippling, they are of limited duration.
No information is available.