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XCOMUFO & Xenocide

Provoking a base defense mission


slickrcbd

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As crazy as it sounds, I'd like to get a base defense mission ASAP. I want to test a theory on a base defense design.

My hyperwave decode has detected a battleship heading for the general location of the base I want on an "alien retaliation" mission. Hoever, it just flys around the area like the scouts and never attacks.

 

What's the deal with that? I don't have the mind shield. In fact, as this is only a few months in, I don't have any psi. Trouble is except for one medium scout as my very first mission, I've only fought floaters this entire game, and it's March already.

 

That's both good and bad for this base defense mission. Good as reapers are much easier to cope with than cyberdiscs, not to mention that floaters lack psi attacks and can't really use their ability to fly to their advantage in the base. Bad because I can't unlock psionics by capturing the leader or commander.

 

 

Anyways, how do I get the battleship's attention? I've tried launching my interceptors around it, but as one is armed with the cannon for shotting down small and medium scouts while the other has avalance, I'm reluctant to take on the battleship. Besides, I want it to attack the base in this case.

 

My Skyranger is returning from a ground assault mission half-way accross the globe, and doesn't return until after the battleship flys off. However, I have only half my troops and 3/4 of my weapons on the skyranger. I should have plenty of troops to defend the base, especially since it's all the ROOKIES on the Skyranger, armed with pistols while my cannons and rocket launchers are back at the base with the veterans (not psychic or save cheating, it was a medium scout and I thought it would be good training to use pistols & grenades on floaters)

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Sounds like the battleship is doing scouting. They do sometimes send battleships on scouting retaliation missions, though I thought that was only after you are successful at consistently shooting down all the weaker craft.

 

If it's searching your area on a retaliation mission, then you already have their attention, and it's just a matter of time before they find you. You could try pestering the battleship with a single salvo of Avalanches (and hopefully disengaging before the Interceptor is shot down), but it probably doesn't count unless you actually shoot it down. I don't think there's any way to lead it to your base, though (or even leave hints for them). I think you'll just have to wait until they find it: the scout ship has to touch your base to see it (their radar is clearly much inferior to terran radar!).

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The main method of provoking an attack is basically to shoot down enemy craft on general missions as often as reasonably possible. There's a percentage chance that this will provoke a base retaliation mission, and this is also difficulty level adjusted (easier to attract them on superhuman, for example). Also the closer they are shot down to your base, the better. You can't change their missions mid-mission so either shoot them down or let them go.

 

UFOs on a retaliation scouting mission you may want to leave alone and let them do their job of finding the base.

 

- NKF

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What about when they send scoutships? I only got the hyperwave decoders less than a week ago game time, and I've been saving the game when a ship is detected. I try to send a skyranger near where I think it's heading, and perform a daytime ground assault to recover it intact (although I'll do a night ground assault on a tiny UFO/small scout). However, if the UFO flys off without landing or lands only at night, I reload and shoot it down (better than nothing). I think I shot down a few small and medium scouts before the battleship that might have been on a retaliation mission.
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There are two things you need to do to provoke a base defense mission.

 

1) take the advice from field of dreams ie: if you build it t(he)y will come.

2) wait

 

be patient young man they will invade, but like was said earlier, give em a reason to want to, so start doubling your efforts to pot UFOs

 

BTW cyberdisks in base defense are not so bad since their flying abiliy is essentially negated. Just toss a high explosive under it and disk-be-gone. Never fails; NEVER.

 

BTW whats your theory, we may already know the answer?

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Sending the Skyranger directly to assault a landed UFO reduces the chance that they'll mark your base for retaliation, as the game only does the roll to determine if it should set up a retaliation party when UFOs are shot down. So, if you really want them to attack, send in the interceptors first.

 

If you're just wanting to do this for testing purposes, Bomb Bloke's made a base defense toggler that you can use. Grab it from:

 

http://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/base-defense-toggler/

 

- NKF

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for tests I suggest to use Bomb Bloke defence toggler, mentioned by NKF

( you don't have to wait )

 

in short, you must allow aliens to find your base

 

1. shotdown as many ufos as you can,

in the SAME area as your base is build

http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Geoscape_(EU)#World_Regions.2FCountries

 

this will increase alien retaliations in that area

 

2.) IGNORE small and medium scouts which perform alien retaliation missions

in that area

 

3.) and HOPE that they will fly near your base

( scrap mind shields in that base, if you have any )

 

details in

http://ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Alien_Retaliation

 

yarrow

Edited by yarrow
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