Base invasion

[OmniscientQ]

I'm not sure what everyone is talking about with the AI not being aggressive enough... The aliens automatically know where your troops are and will make a bee-line straight for them. Positioning your troops at the bottom of some surface-access point with reaction fire and flamers will take care of just about everything. Just be sure the aliens can find a way down to your troops. The one time I actually had to sweep my own base to find the last alien, it's because I had left an injured soldier hiding safely in the living quarters. It took forever, but when I finally found the last alien, it was standing directly above my wounded soldier. The alien got as close to his target as he could, but couldn't figure out that he'd have to go several turns out of his way to get to the stairs. Now, I bring all my soldiers to the main entrance when I do a base defence mission. I just leave the injured ones directly below the ramp so that they can't be shot, but they still lure the aliens in.

[parjlarsson]

Just had a Bloodspider sit on the other side of the map doing nothing in full view of my troops, for several turns. Harvester ships are notorious for having the last alien on the map just hang around the top level until you're actually inside the ship with him. Sure it's fun the first five times, but eventually it gets a bit old.

Straight beeline aggressive AI leads to gameplay that heavily favours just making a skirmish line and sitting in react fire - I don't think anyone wants that. What might work best is having an AI that gives "points" to an alien that finishes a turn in some proximity to another alien. Giving this too much weight would of course wreck the whole AI with aliens just clustering around each other singing "Kum-ba-yaa". I'm guessing this is already implemented (I tend to have smart ideas after other people do) and just needs tweaking here and there.

At the same time, there's been numerous times in base defenses that I've had to clear the entire base down below and then send people up top to clear the above-ground area. Not fun. That's not an issue with aliens not getting close enough - it's as you said, an issue with the AI not figuring out it has to be able to get a free path.

In addition, I forget which base map tile it is - single-person wide staircase leading up from right to left, where I'm always unable to walk up the stairs. Bug, I guess.

The real simple solution to this conundrum is not very drastic and doesn't require messing with AI or behaviour. Just put a fricking doorway into the middle of the tilesets that have walls to prevent you from seeing and walking in a straight line through each tileset. BAM. Problem solved. Now you can just run from one end of the base to the other in a straight line ...almost, anyway.

As it stands, I skip a base defense unless it's a small base. Too much headache and not enough fun. There's too many "average" always-the-same gameplay missions as is.

[YVN]

I draw a 5*5 grid on a piece of paper and keep track of where I've been through, then just send one guy through each square with react fire. Yeah - it takes an hour or more.

My vote would be to just plain have the bases max out at 4*4, unless you can make the alien AI start actually sweeping the base offensively.

Also - workers, pilots and scientists should be present as civilians and possibly die, and all have some stats so you could use them if not enough soldiers were around (think 1/2 of a trained soldier).

Mainly it's an AI problem - they're not aggressive and don't move much if there's no enemy units nearby.

If pilot are present and scientist we should be able to command them and to equip them with weapons.

[Nutter]

REMFs are packed into the shelters under every barracks and they're not coming out till the all clear is sounded. The only good they'd do in a fight would be meatshields without training and quite frankly, I'm pretty sure the folks behind your funding wouldn't appreciate them dying.

[ptbptb]

My top tip on base invasions is to design your base right first.  Aliens usually come down through the Large Hanger or the Entrance. If you make sure the Large hanger is next to the Entrance and all the Living Quarters are near the Entrance your soldiers will be in a good position at the start and the aliens will charge down to get shot.

[Duque Atreides]

My top tip on base invasions is to design your base right first.  Aliens usually come down through the Large Hanger or the Entrance. If you make sure the Large hanger is next to the Entrance and all the Living Quarters are near the Entrance your soldiers will be in a good position at the start and the aliens will charge down to get shot.

Exactly. This is a strategy game, so... it must be played in that way. Only build your entrances away from the rest of the base.

[TrashMan]

There are two things base defense mission need:
1) selecting defending troops (if aline ships was detected on radar)
2) selecting the living quarters from which to start.


I got a sado-randomizer combo - the HQ was auto-generated with the power plant and command center right next to the entrance.
When the aliens attack, my wounded and reserves were selected for defense (despite my dropship being loaded with troops who were hogging all the good equipment).
Lastly, my starting position was on the other side of the base.

Had the aliens actually tried to blow up my power plant, it would have been a game over immediately.

[homunculus]

Had the aliens actually tried to blow up my power plant, it would have been a game over immediately.

do the aliens blow up anything at all in the base at the moment?

we don't have civilians in the base defense, maybe we should have some immobile civilians that "look exactly like" some equipment in command center or in power plant (the models exist already...), so that the aliens might target those.

[bluereaper75]

I always set my base up so that only the entrance connects to the hangars, with the storage room between the entrance and my bunk rooms. perfect chokepoint

[kurja]

What are the entry points in 2.4? Main entrance and large hangar, anything else?

[ChemBro]

What are the entry points in 2.4? Main entrance and large hangar, anything else?

(Small) radar. Don't know, if the workshop door is fixed in 2.4.

[Jon_dArc]

I got a sado-randomizer combo - the HQ was auto-generated with the power plant and command center right next to the entrance.
When the aliens attack, my wounded and reserves were selected for defense (despite my dropship being loaded with troops who were hogging all the good equipment).
Lastly, my starting position was on the other side of the base.

I thought some troops were guaranteed to spawn in the Command Center in 2.4. Certainly I always make sure to stick the Command Center next to the entrance (because it needs to be built early and is a soldier spawn point).

~J

[RealSpirit]

Base design to perfectly handle base assaults:

align all hangars + entrance at once side, spread all quarters (usually not exceeding 3 except science base possibly) close to it, concentrated on the middle of the base map. to design the base like that could mean a little more waiting constructing a new base, but imho its worth it on any assault. choose other more open buildings (like stocks) to finish the coverage of hangars and so on, so that 1-2 soldiers at least can observe that area. avoid complicated buildings like quarantine close to it as you'd need 3 soldiers at least to cover it. the rest is done by some waiting near the entrances.

[kurja]

(Small) radar. Don't know, if the workshop door is fixed in 2.4.

large hangar, entrance, radar.

does anyone know about the workshop?

[Battlescared]

Exactly.  Three pages to get the most basic solution; design your bases for defense.

Aliens only come in through the entrance, large hanger, and the basic radar tower.  Rebuild your radar to advanced later to get rid of one more spot, though the radar tower can be an excellent sniper spot.  Early on I try to get a couple guys there fast to start picking them off at the entrance, because radar is often near the entrance.  Your troops often spawn in your living quarters, so build 2 close to the entrance.  Use the entrance as your choke point.  This means you lose a few spots of area to build in, but it's worth it for the ease of defense, and you can always build more bases.  Most of the time, they come in through the entrance.  I haven't had any spawn inside the command center or anywhere inside the base.

Once the attack starts, get your guys to the entrance choke point and stake out all corridors coming from it, if designed right, will not be more than 2.  Deal with any aliens as they come down, try to entice them if you can.  While you deal with them, send 3 or 4 of your guys on ahead to try to take the radar tower or large hanger so you can flank the ones at the entrance.  If you've designed your base right, there won't be very many corridors and a 2x2 squad arrangement for them will get you there without leaving any place unsearched.

Base defense is simple if you plan for it.  Should take no longer than any other mission.

EDITED: Troop spawn points.