The sections describe how to contend with the next level threat and producing best rescue outcomes!

Note: Two new challenges presents themselves in this mission as both the Viper and Faceless enemies have high HP with the prior having dodge ability.

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3232797806
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2803040578
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3269083608
I enjoy helping others by writing about technical topics to a higher standard and provide key findings for a higher chance of success!

The guide is for everyone, but much friendlier to new players. Everything will be explained to be on the same level as those who are the most experienced. The writing will be easy to follow with plenty of screenshots for those who are too lazy to read everything!

The first Retaliation mission will present its own unique challenges but manageable.

Resuming from the third vanilla mission guide:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3274595427

The projected reward is an additional 15-20 monthly supply income, regardless of extra rescues.
Hence, the soldiers can take their time when advancing while meeting the minimum 6 civilian requirement.

Note: There is no Advent Security Tower or any other object that will provide additional rewards.

No research needs to be switched as there will be no opportunity for any other reward.
If a soldier has reached Sergeant rank, the Squad Size I will be available but the supplies need to be spent on hiring another Scientist and Engineer first.

The event occurs approximately in 24 hours or less after the supply drop.


Or

The squad has no concealment and loses first strike ability to conduct any brutal ambush.

The concealed Ranger will need to rescue as much civilians out of harm's way, as each pod needs to be quickly engaged with or without setting up any ambush.

The enemy will shoot a nearby civilian at the end of every turn and has a chance to miss.

The execution can be paused when either rescuing the civilians that are close to the active enemy pods or engaging the very last one.

Note: The general location of the remaining enemy pod(s) is briefly revealed every time.

The Ranger needs to actively scout first as the rest of squad have no concealment.
Civilians can be rescued on the way without triggering any enemy pods.
The general direction will be towards the center of the map while providing squadsight for the Sniper to make any opportunistic shot.

The Viper is the next tier ranged unit that is supposed to appear next month in April.
The new enemy wrecks havoc by ensnaring and poisoning soldiers while armed with the late-stage Plasma rifle!

Note: The Viper is not in a full pod and will be easier to focus fire on.

The Grenadier needs to deliberately alert the enemy after the Ranger locates them.
The unusual first move forces the enemy to come much closer and within grenade range.
Such maneuver is specifically useful against the next tier enemy that needs to be focus fired.

The enemy has 33 dodge and needs the cover destroyed to not make the situation any worse.
The dodge ability has a 1 in 3 chance of being triggered that considerably reduces damage.
A low DPS soldier like the Support needs to shoot first before using anyone with high DPS.

The Sniper will be ideal in dealing the Coup de Grâce!

The first Faceless enemy will be near the first pod and most likely be the 3rd or 4th civilian.
A grenade is the best initiating attack when its rescue circle is too far.
The soldier who needs the next promotion must deliver the final Coup de Grâce!

Note: The Grenadier or Sniper can deal significant damage to soften up any high HP enemy beforehand. The Ranger's sword is the most damaging Tier 1 weapon but only use it when breaking concealment.

The Faceless disguises self as a civilian and transforms when injured or being rescued.
The first debut is an exception and can randomly change into its true form when a soldier is within its vision range versus its rescue blue circle.

Note: This unusual phenomenon is severely adverse as it will also attack on the same Alien's turn.

Battle scanners can be used to detect the Faceless but are limited by 2 uses that cannot screen all the 10+ civilians. Save-scumming will be much more effective in identifying them but also not waste valuable resources in the early game.

To bypass Ironman restrictions, copy both the profile and save files to redo any turn. It is best to have only one single active campaign to avoid confusion.

Their location is: C:\Users\<userid>\Documents\My Games\XCOM2\XComGame\SaveData

The concealed Ranger scouts the next pod while still rescuing civilians.
The Sniper can initiate the next battle and the attack will most likely be lethal.
The Sectoid should be saved for last as their type prefers Psionic attacks over weapon use.

The Ranger must initiate the attack if concealment is still active for free critical strikes.
The rest of the squad will be on Overwatch to inflict as much lethal damage.
The last pod will most likely be fought head-on without the benefit of a concealed Ranger.

Any remaining Faceless enemies will automatically spawn and charge at the soldiers.
The squad should move to higher ground for safety and setup multiple Overwatches.
Any Faceless enemy will be severely weakened and can be taken out on the next active turn!

The Resist HQ should be visited immediately to hire the Scientist first for faster research.
The scanning of the Supply Drop must be completed if it hasn't to hire the Engineer.

Note: The next territory that has the Advent Black Site should be scanned unless there is a high value rumor like Scientist/Engineer or an extra mission.

The same early goal remains to keep soldiers healthy to achieve rapid promotion for more abilities and earlier squad size increase.

In a few days, the Magnetic Weapons research will be completed but after the Counter Dark Event mission.


Click here to see the next mission!
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3292709684

Best way to support the guide is through🎖️,👍,🌟,and 💬!

This guide was written by Laguna Queen et al. (2024) on Steam, and not to be republished without crediting the authors and gaining their permission. We can be reached through the the guide comment section below.

We have no guide sites outside of Steam and please contribute to the actual creators, not plagiarism websites!

Here are other detailed guides that are not only comprehensive but tailors different themes and challenges:

https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2793028492
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2782133378
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1871229945
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2806468945
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1996086549
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=742714265

The subscription is in the details of the top most announcement in our Church of Lina group.

To join, simply search for the group or click the link below to see the full list of written guides:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/groups/ChurchofLina