Retreat area position should always be near the soldiers on the first move.
I have tried to defend a haven (extremely difficult mission) and right on the start my soldiers were spawned in the center of the map surrounded by enemy with retreat area too far away. Only assault class soldiers could reach it with two dashes. Imo this is not normal, units should always spawn right beside retreat area (if not ambushed ofc). I understand missions must increase difficulty over time, but to put me in the position where I am surrounded from the start with no chance to escape is not ok.
Edit:
Just to be clear, this was not ambush mission, this was haven defence mission.
This (as far as my experience has been) only happens on the hard/extreme threat level missions. I suppose it’s meant to represent a hopeless situation. Once you’re in, you have to win or desperately fight your way out
Yes, it was extreme threat mission. But it is still not ok. If mission is extreme threat then most logic thing is to approach it carefully, not to be put by game mechanics in most unfavorable position. Who in a normal sense would drop a pack of extremely valuable soldiers in the center of 3x numerous enemies. In this way game is artificially increasing difficulty and imo this is bad game mechanics.
The real problem is the game can create such situation, lost a full team, and no real way to endure and manage it. I won’t say it’s easy to fix, but it’s quite a problem in a roster game. Myself I would load back “before” the mission, but I think this game wants aims too other type of plays more Ironman like.
I usually play x-com on ironman. If I have to reload after I have lost half of the team, then game is not interesting to me anymore.
Basically, before the mission I have no idea how many enemies are there. I am using my second (weaker) team because my top team is far away. I decide to go down (start the mission) just to see what an extreme mission looks like, and most likely retreat on the first sign of trouble. But no, game is rigged from the start and I have to lose half of the team in retreat or whole team in fight.
I’m fine with being dropped in an unfavourable positions. We’re fighting a war, things won’t always go to plan.
I think what could be done however, is to determine the player’s starting position by how long they choose to spend scouting a location before going in. Spend the full time searching and you’ll be in a safer drop zone, however if you skip the search and just go in then you take the risk of being in a tricky spot.
This was not scouting/explore mission, this was haven defense mission. Things in war won’t always go to plan, but you can be careful and not drop soldiers in the middle of enemies.
I agree that it would be good thing to choose where to deploy. For example, if you deploy on the end of the map more turns will pass for you to reach and protect the objective (more risk to objective). If you deploy closer to the objective it is more risky for the troops.
That I agree with, I’d even like to see it there on the map when you embark/to embark from (similar to Xenonauts) which is not to say that you might not walk straight into a hail of bullets.
And of course then it would also need to be destructible
Dunno, I’ve had a few where I’ve looked at the enemy and thought I was outmatched, then looked for the evac point and realised I stood no chance of getting there without killing everything that moves.
If the mission isn’t ambushed, the evac point should be where the troops are set down.
It might be interesting to have it move during the game if Pandorans get to within a certain number of tiles of it…
I don’t do it but in practice a flee with sacrificing a soldier should work or soldiers got legs broken. With a dash (all AP in move) it should be enough to allow multiple turns without attacks or few. With last nerf Siren will be less a problem. This let bombard Chiron but on start they are special, dunno. This also let Scylla case, will need be killed before a long flee, but sacrifice a soldier should help gain some time.
Solution of calling evac and wait 3 turns wouldn’t work better.
If location is compromised than group of enemies should be really near starting position. Till now I have never seen that case in haven defense missions.
I personally most hate situation when game puts me on the top of the building in which Anu generator is, in the center of the map. If surrounded by launcher arm artrons that position is a dead trap. My problem with that situation is: If my soldiers just leaved the craft and landing area is on some end of the map, how my troops teleported on the top of that building.
I agree, but in tactical game if I sacrifice a soldier I like that to be result of my error or gamble.
Most valuable soldiers (imo heavy/snipers) don’t have dash. If you lose them when main team is on lvl 5 it is serious handicap for further play.
Scyla and exploding chiron are manageable when you have lvl 7 team, but earlier in the game if you can’t retreat it is probably half of the team lost. Late in the game when there are multiple teams that is not such a big deal to lose few people in one mission, but early when you have only one team it is crippling.
I’ve yet to see a situation where the drop zone was under immediate
threat. The evac zone should be the drop zone until it can’t be, when it
should move elsewhere. Better yet, why not implement a mechanic where
the player nominates an evac zone and then have to defend it for two
turns before evac arrives…
