The Cost of Neglect: Understanding Retaliation Strikes in XCOM 2

Ignoring a Retaliation Strike in XCOM 2 carries significant and lasting consequences for your campaign. Simply put, failing to respond to a Retaliation Strike will scatter the Resistance in that specific region of the world. This triggers a cascading series of negative effects, severely hindering your progress and requiring substantial effort to recover.

The Immediate Fallout of Ignoring a Retaliation Strike

Here’s a breakdown of what happens when you choose not to engage with a Retaliation Strike:

• Loss of Contact: You will immediately lose contact with the affected resistance region. This means you can no longer access that region’s resources, intel, or conduct any operations there.
• Destroyed Radio Relays: All radio relays located within that region will be destroyed. These relays are crucial for maintaining contact and expanding your network, and losing them sets back your strategic reach.
• Permanent Income Reduction: The region’s income will be permanently reduced, impacting your overall monthly resource flow. This will make it more challenging to fund your operations, research, and equipment development.
• Resistance Dispersion: The resistance fighters in the region are scattered and disorganized, making future attempts at re-establishing contact more difficult and time-consuming.
• Increased Alien Control: The absence of resistance allows ADVENT to tighten their grip on the region, potentially leading to further negative events.

These consequences are not temporary setbacks; they are enduring problems that will require dedicated effort to correct. Ignoring even one Retaliation Strike can severely hamper your momentum and lead to a much more difficult campaign overall.

Time is of the Essence

It’s important to remember that Retaliation Strikes aren’t available indefinitely. They typically have a 22-hour window in which you must deploy your squad. The time it takes to reach the mission site is also factored in. This means you have a short timeframe to assess the situation, gear up, and deploy your team. Ignoring a retaliation mission because you’re scanning somewhere else is a calculated risk you need to take into consideration.

Strategic Considerations

Failing to react to a retaliation mission shouldn’t be a common occurrence. It’s essential to always have a reserve squad that’s well-equipped and ready to go at short notice. This allows you to deal with unexpected threats and maintain your campaign momentum.

FAQs: Digging Deeper into XCOM 2 Mission Management

Here are some frequently asked questions to provide further insight into mission management, consequences and strategic planning in XCOM 2:

What happens if you ignore a Council Mission?

Similar to ignoring a Retaliation Mission, if you skip or fail a Council Mission, you will lose contact with the corresponding resistance region. This underscores the importance of prioritizing both Retaliation and Council missions.

How long can you ignore a mission in XCOM 2?

Council missions typically vanish after a couple of days, while slingshot missions that are missed will reappear the following month. Retaliation strikes are available for about 22 hours factoring in your squad’s travel time to the location.

Can you keep playing XCOM 2 after you beat it?

Yes. After completing the campaign, you can start a new game with the “Ironman” mode enabled for an additional challenge, or continue with the same campaign. There is no forced game ending unless you intentionally trigger the final mission.

Is XCOM 2 never-ending?

Yes, in a sense. The game will continue to spawn side missions indefinitely until you decide to engage in the final mission. There is no automatic game over triggered by time.

Can you play XCOM 2 infinitely?

As long as you prevent the Avatar Project from completing, you can continue playing XCOM 2 indefinitely. By destroying Blacksites and completing Guerilla Ops to combat dark events, you can keep the game going.

What is the final mission glitch in XCOM 2?

A known glitch can occur during the final mission if you eliminate the first Avatar from stealth without triggering the rest of the pod. This will prevent the other avatars from spawning. You will need to revert to a previous save or use the console command to restart the mission.

Can you evac after shooting in XCOM 2?

Yes, if your soldier is standing in the evac zone, they can evacuate even if they have exhausted all their action points.

Can you beat XCOM without losing a country?

Yes, it’s possible to win the campaign without losing a country, although it becomes increasingly challenging as you increase the difficulty settings. The key is to focus on satellites and have luck with abduction targets.

What missions can you ignore in XCOM 2?

You can generally ignore guerilla missions without significant penalty. However, ignoring Council, supply drops, and retaliation missions will result in losing the affected regions.

Does time matter in XCOM 2?

Yes, time matters. Although XCOM 2 is less time-restricted than its predecessor, the aliens have a doomsday meter called the Avatar Project that progresses as they build structures. You must balance completing missions to reduce progress of this project and avoid too many of the penalties that come from ignoring missions.

Who is the hardest Alien Ruler in XCOM 2?

The Archon King, also known as Subject Alpha, is generally considered the most difficult Alien Ruler due to his increased power and abilities.

Can I ignore supply raids in XCOM 2?

Ignoring a Supply Raid will result in you losing contact with that resistance region. In the War of the Chosen expansion, these missions can spawn with additional SITREPs making them even more challenging.

What happens if you use a tired soldier?

A tired soldier is more susceptible to panic during a mission. While they won’t lose additional will from squadmate injuries, they have a 50% chance of panicking. This can lead to a squad member going Berserk, Shattered, or Panicking, and you should try to avoid taking tired soldiers if you can.

Can you lose chosen weapons in XCOM 2?

Yes, the Chosen weapons are unique and cannot be replaced. They are lost if the soldier wielding them dies and is not evacuated from the battlefield.

What happens if the Avatar Project completes in XCOM 2?

The completion of the Avatar Project signals the end of the game as the aliens win. This highlights the importance of keeping the project’s progress in check.

Final Thoughts: Balancing Risk and Reward

Ignoring a Retaliation Strike in XCOM 2 is a costly mistake that can set back your campaign significantly. The loss of contact, destroyed radio relays, permanent income reduction, and scattered resistance all contribute to a challenging recovery. By prioritizing these missions, managing your resources effectively, and always being prepared for the unexpected, you can safeguard your campaign and ultimately liberate Earth from the alien invaders. Being proactive in your mission selection will always be a much more effective strategy than dealing with the consequences of neglecting the resistance that is trying to support your efforts.