Difference between revisions of "Infiltration (LW2)"

Revision as of 23:53, 3 February 2017

The infiltration mechanic is the method by which most, but not all, missions are launched. The system is designed to provide a balance between the assignment of your haven personnel on intel gathering, the number of troops and equipment you bring on the mission, and the danger you will encounter on the mission.

Overview

Infiltration missions require you to dispatch a squad several days before the mission so they can study the target and make plans. This is represented by an in-game "infiltration" value which accumulates as the squad spends more time at the mission location. The speed at which a squad infiltrates depends primarily on its size, and to a lesser degree on its equipment. The final infiltration value, at the time you launch the mission, affects several aspects of tactical gameplay. This includes the number and strength of enemies, their detection radius, and the delay before the Skyranger arrives for evac.

Mission rewards and objective timers are not affected by infiltration.

When a mission is discovered you can deploy a squad, selecting soldiers and their loadout just like in the base game. Soldiers and equipment are unavailable while deployed to a mission. Once in place they will begin infiltrating. You can see their progress on the geoscape and you can click the mission bar to view details. From that screen you have the option to launch the mission immediately or to abort infiltration and recall your squad. The only penalty for aborting early is losing the squad's accumulated infiltration progress; you do not forfeit the mission! You can try to re-infiltrate with a newly selected squad if there is enough time left.

Mission Expiration

Most infiltration missions have a limited duration. You must launch the mission before it expires, but you don't have to watch the clock: if you have a squad deployed to infiltrate then the game will prompt you to launch or abort just before the mission expires. The time remaining for a mission is shown in the geoscape and in the top left of mission load-out screen. The load-out screen also displays the time to infiltrate, updated as you add or remove soldiers and equipment. This is how long the squad needs to reach 100% infiltration and eliminate all tactical penalties. If the squad's infiltration time is greater than the mission's time remaining then you won't be able to fully infiltrate. You can still deploy, but the mission will be more difficult.

A mission's expiration timer starts when it is created; the mission is not visible at this time. The local haven must collect enough intel to reveal the mission. Assigning more resistance members to the "intel" job can make missions considerably easier by discovering missions earlier and allowing more time to infiltrate. Most infiltration missions have a base duration of 18 days, which is randomized by a few days each time a mission is created. For more information on generating missions, see the Missions page.

Infiltration Effects

Infiltration is measured as a percentage with a maximum of 200%. An infiltration value of 100% gives no bonuses or penalties. Lower infiltration aids the aliens and higher infiltration aids XCOM, but these effects are not equal: the penalties for a low infiltration level are much worse than the bonuses for an excessive infiltration.

Enemy Strength

Base enemy activity is an estimation of the strength of the enemy forces you will encounter at 100% infiltration. Enemy strength is described as "light", "heavy", etc; these categories roughly correspond to the table below. The actual enemy activity level depends on your infiltration level. At 0% infiltration, enemy strength will be several steps higher than the baseline; at 200% infiltration, it will be a few steps lower, to a minimum of "Extremely Light". Note that the base enemy level is displayed before deploying a squad, and the actual enemy level is displayed when a squad is infiltrating.

Activity Level	Enemy Units
Extremely Light	6-9
Very Light	10-12
Light	13-15
Light-Moderate	16-18
Moderate	19-21
Moderate-Heavy	22-24
Heavy	25-27
Very Heavy	28-30
Extremely Heavy	30-32
Swarming	33+

Skyranger Evac Delay

Several factors affect the evac delay of the Skyranger including infiltration level. source

Base Delay

Rookie: 1 turn
Veteran: 3 turns
Commander: 3 turns
Legend: 4 turns

Squad Size

1-3 soldiers: -1 turn
4-7 soldiers: no change
8 soldiers: +1 turn
9-10 soldiers: +2 turns
11-12 soldiers: +3 turns

Infiltration

0-29%: +3 turns
30-59%: +2 turns
60-99%: +1 turn
100-149%: no change
150-199%: -1 turn
200%: -2 turns

Active Infiltrations

7 or more infiltration missions including the current mission: +1 turn.

Infiltration's Effect on Enemy Detection

At baseline 100% infiltration, enemies will have their normal detection range (the radius at which they spot you in concealment). However, their detection range will increase if infiltration is below 100% and decrease if infiltration is above 100%. Maximum detection range at 0% infiltration is 1.25 x Normal. Minimum detection range at 200% is 0.8334 x Normal (i.e., 1/6 less). The effect scales linearly. For example, at 50% Infiltration, enemy detection range gets a 1/8 bonus (half the maximum bonus of 1/4).

Strategy

The breakpoints for infiltration percentage are the following:

200%	150%	125%	100%	92%	84%	75%	67%	59%	50%	42%	34%	25%	17%	9%	0%

Each breakpoint below or above 100% corresponds to an increase or decrease in Enemy Activity Level, respectively. Being above a breakpoint gives you a chance to reach the next Enemy Activity Level, with the chance increasing as you approach the next breakpoint. For example, consider a mission with Very Light baseline enemy activity. Above 92% infiltration you are guaranteed to receive at worst Light enemy activity, with an increasing chance to get Very Light enemy activity as you approach 100% infiltration.

There are many more breakpoints below 100% than there are above it which means missions will quickly become more difficult at under 100% and you should try your best to reach this percentage. Similarly the difference between 150% and 200% is very small and may not be worth the squad strength cuts needed to attain 200%.

Sources

Remaining Distributions (JoINrbs)

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 == Mission Expiration ==
 Most infiltration missions have a limited duration. You must launch the mission before it expires, but you don't have to watch the clock: if you have a squad deployed to infiltrate then the game will prompt you to launch or abort just before the mission expires. The time remaining for a mission is shown in the geoscape and in the top left of mission load-out screen. The load-out screen also displays the time to infiltrate, updated as you add or remove soldiers and equipment. This is how long the squad needs to reach 100% infiltration and eliminate all tactical penalties. If the squad's infiltration time is greater than the mission's time remaining then you won't be able to fully infiltrate. You can still deploy, but the mission will be more difficult.
-A mission's expiration timer starts when it is created; the mission is not visible at this time. The local haven must collect enough intel to reveal the mission. Assigning more resistance members to the "intel" job can make missions considerably easier by discovering missions earlier and allowing more time to infiltrate. Most infiltration missions have a base duration of 18 days, which is randomized by a few days each time a mission is created.
+A mission's expiration timer starts when it is created; the mission is not visible at this time. The local haven must collect enough intel to reveal the mission. Assigning more resistance members to the "intel" job can make missions considerably easier by discovering missions earlier and allowing more time to infiltrate. Most infiltration missions have a base duration of 18 days, which is randomized by a few days each time a mission is created.  For more information on generating missions, see the [[Missions (LW2)| Missions]] page.
-=== Mission Discovery ===
-Havens each generate "intel points" from having personnel assigned to intel gathering. These points are applied to undiscovered missions in the region at certain update intervals, currently 4 times a day (every 6 hours). Each mission keeps a pool of collected intel points. The difficulty of discovering a certain type of mission is controlled by two numbers: "required intel" and "percent chance per day". A mission cannot be detected until you generate intel equal to the "required intel" value. Once the minimum is reached there is a random chance to discover the mission at every update. The probability is based on the mission's "percent chance" stat, multiplied by the number of intel points collected past the required minimum.
-In the table below, a basic level-0 resistance member is defined as one "intel point" per day. A level-1 resistance member is worth 1.5 points, a level-2 is worth 2, and the Avenger scanning is worth 4. Faceless are worth negative 0.5 points. A scientist assigned as haven liaison adds an extra 20% bonus to the entire haven.
-{|class="wikitable"
-|'''Category'''
-!Research!!Data!!VIP!!Prisoners!!Liberation 1
-|-
-|'''Mission Types'''
-|Hacking
-|Hacking, Destroy
-|Rescue/Extract
-|Jailbreak
-|Hacking
-|-
-|'''Required intel''' (points)
-|24||1||12||8||22
-|-
-|'''Discovery Chance''' (per point)
-|0.85%||1.75%||0.9%||1.4%||2%
-|}
-'''Example:''' A haven with six level-0 resistance members and one level-1 assigned to intel, plus a scientist liaison, generates 9 "points" per day. The first mission in the liberation chain spawns. The haven can't detect this mission until it generates 22 points, which takes just under 2.5 days.
-One day after that, the haven has an 18% chance to detect the mission: it has 9 intel points in the pool (subtracting out the 22 needed for the required intel) times 2% per point. One day later, the haven has 18 points and has a 36% chance.
 == Infiltration Effects ==