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 | Project Requirement | Project time to complete | Weight |
Scopes (+5 Aim) | All ADVENT | 33% | None | 21-28 days | 5 |
Laser Sights (+10 Crit) | All ADVENT | 33% | None | 21-28 days | 5 |
Firewalls (+15 Hack Def) | All Mechanicals | 100% | None | 21-28 days | 5 |
Conditioning 1 (+1 HP) | All Enemies | 75% | 4th Month | 7-9 days | 100 |
Conditioning 2 (+1 HP) | All Enemies | 75% | 7th Month | 7-9 days | 100 |
Conditioning 3 (+1 HP) | All Enemies | 75% | 10th Month | 7-9 days | 100 |
Veterans (+5 Aim) | All Enemies | 25% | None | 12-15 days | 5 |
Defense (+5 Defense) | All Enemies | 33% | None | 12-18 days | 5 |
Advanced Servos (+1 Mobility) | All Enemies | 60% | Encountered MEC | 18-21 days | 5 |
Aggression | ADVENT Stun Lancers (Mk3) Archons Mutons |
20% | Encountered Muton | 14-21 days | 5 |
Center Mass | All Enemies | 16% | None | 18-24 days | 5 |
Close Combat Specialist | Archons | 100% | Encountered Archon | 12-16 days | 5 |
Combat Awareness | ADVENT Sentries | 50% | Encountered Sentry | 14-18 days | 5 |
Cutthroat | ADVENT Stun Lancers Faceless |
67% | Encountered Stun lancer | 12-16 days | 5 |
Damage Control | ADVENT MECs ADVENT Turrets Codices Gatekeepers Sectopods |
20% | Encountered Codex | 14-21 days | 5 |
Deadshot | Vipers, Najas, & Sidewinders ADVENT Avatars |
33% | None | ||
Hard Target | Archons Codices Vipers, & Sidewinders |
25% | Encountered Viper | 14-21 days | 5 |
Hunter's Instincts | Vipers, Najas, & Sidewinders ADVENT Avatars |
33% | Encountered Viper | 14-18 days | 5 |
Infighter | ADVENT Stun Lancers ADVENT Avatars |
50% | Encountered Stun lancer | 8-10 days | 5 |
Iron Skin | All Robotic Enemies | 100% | Encountered MEC | 12-16 days | 5 |
Formidable | ADVENT Officers ADVENT Grenadiers ADVENT Rocketeers (Mk2, Mk3) ADVENT Shieldbearers (Mk2, Mk3) Mutons (Mk2, Mk3) ADVENT Avatars |
15% | Encountered Mk2 Officer | 12-21 days | 5 |
Grazing Fire | ADVENT Officers (Mk3) ADVENT Gunners Mutons (Mk3) ADVENT Avatars |
25% | None | 18-21 days | 5 |
Lethal | All Aliens | 8% | Encountered Gatekeeper | 18-21 days | 5 |
Lightning Reflexes | ADVENT Stun Lancers Chryssalids ADVENT Avatars |
20% | Encountered Stun lancer | 14-18 days | 5 |
Resilience | Codices | 100% | Encountered Codex | 10-14 days | 5 |
Sapper | ADVENT Officers (Mk3) Mutons |
25% | Encountered Muton | 12-15 days | 5 |
Shadowstep | Codices | 100% | Encountered Codex | 14-21 days | 5 |
Shredder | ADVENT Gunners Mutons (Mk3) ADVENT Avatars |
16% | Encountered Mk2 Officer | 14-18 days | 5 |
Tactical Sense | ADVENT Officers | 50% | Encountered Mk2 Officer | 18-21 days | 5 |
Will to Survive | Sectoids Vipers, Najas & Sidewinders |
15% | None | 14-21 days | 5 |
Viper Rounds | All ADVENT | 12% | None | ||
Greater Faceless (+4 HP, +2 Mobility, +5 Aim, +5 Def) | Faceless | 75% | Encountered Faceless | 10-14 days | 5 |
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.
Strategic Dark Events | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Dark Event | Description | Duration | Project time to complete | Weight |
Air Patrols | Halves the Avenger's contribution to activity detection | 21-28 days | 8-15 days | 5 |
Rural Checkpoints | Reduces haven supply gathering by 50% | 14-16 days | 10-15 days | 5 |
Counterintelligence Sweep | Reduces haven intel gathering by 50% | 14-16 days | 12-16 days | 5 |
Rural Propaganda Blitz | Reduces haven recruiting by 50% | 14-16 days | 14-16 days | 5 |
Haven Infiltration | Doubles chance of new rebels being faceless | 45-60 days | 10-15 days | 5 |
Minor Breakthrough | Adds one doom to Avatar Project | 15-20 days | ||
Major Breakthrough | Adds two doom to Avatar Project | |||
Midnight Raids | Doubles cost of new recruits | |||
Alien Cypher | Increases intel costs by 33% (25% on Rookie) | |||
Resistance Informant | Reduces detection chance for haven retaliations by 90% | 21-28 days | ||
Alien Infiltrator | Adds Faceless to missions | |||
Infestation | Adds Chryssalids to missions | |||
Rapid Response | Reinforcements arrive more often in missions | |||
Vigilance | Enemies have increased detection range | |||
Show of Force | Increases the number of enemies in missions |