Long War - Exalt Tactics

Finally, Exalt Tactics; the guide that almost doesn’t matter, and that nobody asked for.

The problem with Exalt missions is not that they are too easy, but rather that they can flip from too easy to impossible at the drop of a hat grenade. I haven’t written much about Exalt tactics in part because the missions are (usually) a cake walk. But every campaign I seem to have at least one Exalt mission go pear shaped. And so I am reluctantly writing down some thoughts on Exalt. The most salient: It mostly comes down to grenades.

If Exalt decides to throw a few, we take casualties. If they luck into killing the operative, then we are going to lose the mission, and lose it hard. That horde of juiced-up mobsters is actually really dangerous, and they are not so easily slaughtered when their guns actually work.

The only way to beat these guys safely is to keep their guns jammed, and hope those grenades stay on their belts. We don’t have total control here, but there are a few things we can do to significantly marginally improve our odds.

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Covert Extraction Squad Composition

Assaults are great operatives. The primary reason to pick an Assault is for Run & Gun (important to remember that we actually need bullets to use this ability). Assaults can also get steadfast and sprinter (supposing they survive that long).

There are only a few things the other members of the squad can do to help the operative. I like to bring a Scout to clear overwatches. On some maps Exalt drop-ins will be on overwatch. Gunners could suppress the overwatch, but on turn 4 they would need to do so from the extraction zone, which may not be possible.

I also like to bring an officer to grant an extra move to the operative. This is often essential to escape on turn 4.

Other than that, squad composition doesn’t really matter. Assaults, rocketeers, and shooters might be able to pick up some extra kill XP. Prioritize killing the Exalt soldiers that have grenades and rockets. Or just hide the squad near the exit so as not to activate any more pods.

Combat Stims can also be a great item to equip on your operative as it will give him some added mobility and damage reduction.

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Covert Extraction Script

Here is my script for a quick Covert Extraction:

• Turn 1: get the operative as close as possible to the first relay (ideally adjacent) without activating any exalt pods. If we can’t get adjacent to the relay, one move away will probably work.

• Turn 2: Trigger the 1st relay and run the operative as close as possible to the 2nd relay. (the squad can kill/distract Exalt and grab some kill XP while this is going on).

• Turn 3: Trigger the 2nd relay , using Run & Gun if necessary. If the operative has an extra move, then head towards the extraction site. In either case, get the scout in position to clear the path of overwatch fire. Everyone else gets near to the exit.

• Turn 4: Get Out. Officer grants an extra move to the operative if necessary.

This script works about 90% of the time. CE maps have 4 relays; The 2 that need to be activated are chosen randomly. Sometimes the first relay is pretty far away from the operative, and he can’t get within one move of it without triggering an exalt pod. This has happened to me a few times on the map below.¹ I dread this map.

If relay A is not operational then it is exceedingly unlikely the operative can get within one move of BCD without triggering exalt. So what do we do in that situation?

One option is to just run the operative to the relay, triggering Exalt, and hope he survives. That might work, then the script plays out as usual.

Another option is to abandon the 2nd relay (and mission victory). In this scenario, we can pick either relay to hit on our way out, and we don’t need to get the operative within 1 move, supposing that is too dangerous. On the 2nd turn the operative can pop Run & Gun, use both moves to reach the relay, and trigger it. Then, on turn 3, instead of sending the operative to the 2nd relay, just dash for the exit, using the officer to grant an extra move.

Things will also go off script if/when exalt throws grenades. In the late game these do 10+ damage. This is why we train a backup operative. One way to protect your operative is with the Shadow Device. I rarely take it on this mission, but it will give your most vulnerable soldier immunity from attack for a turn.

Now for the most important advice: Be super careful clicking the relay! If we click on it wrong, instead of activating it, our operative will waste a turn moving to the other side - one of the more cruel bugs in the game.

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Data Recovery Squad Composition

Assaults! This is the mission for those CCS assaults. But you already knew that. Here is what I usually bring:

Assault - Motion Detector, High Cap Mags
Assault (Officer) - Alloy Plating, High Cap Mags (or medikit)
Assault (or Marauder) - ...
Scout - Scope, Marksman Scope
Engineer - HE or alien grenades x2
Gunner - Scope, Alloy Plating or Motion Detector
Sniper - Scope, Alloy Bipod or Laser Sight or High Cap Mags
Luggage ( weak soldier to level up) - medikit, grenade or whatever

I usually leave the rocketeers at home. They aren’t terrible on these missions, but they often can’t target the densest group of enemies because that might blow up the encoder.² while engineers can more precisely destroy cover.

4 assaults is reasonable. But I wouldn’t take more than 4, even though that would be a stronger squad. Hell, you can take 8 assaults and that would be the best squad. But what would be the point? We are going to win handily with 3 assaults. Even if one gets KO’d by grenades, we should still win. This happened twice in my latest campaign, and it was mostly fine. Bringing lot’s of assaults means training lot’s of assaults up to higher levels. Do we want that? No. Assaults fall off in the late game. They are mostly optional after storming the Exalt tower, whereas other classes remain indispensable.

Bringing 1 or 2 weak soldiers is a good idea - Data Recoveries are actually great training missions. Just don’t go crazy and bring a weak squad. One or two pieces of carry-on luggage is about right.

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Data Recovery Tactics

Typically I will not activate exalt on the first turn. I don’t want to trigger a relay until I get my whole squad near the edge of activation range. Then I can Run & Gun my assaults in on the next turn.

To get as close as possible I bring 1-2 motion trackers on my main squad plus one on the operative. They aren’t as useful on this mission, but on the first turn they will help prevent triggering exalt pods accidentally while moving aggressively forward.

In the image below I have 3 motion trackers on 3 soldiers; noted A, B, and C. They all triggered the Motion Tracker on turn 1, and then the soldiers at A, and B used leap frog movements to scout out the area near the 1st relay. The operative (at location C) can then make the dash movement shown to get close enough to click it on the next turn.

The rest of the squad (near location X) is going to dash as close as they can to location Y. That path has also been proven safe by the motion trackers.

I like to plan out the order in which the operative taps each relay in advance. If there is a gap between relays, I like to know which turn I will need to use an officer command to help the operative reach it.

The next big concern is preventing Exalt from using explosives… but there isn’t much we can do to stop them.

Priority targeting of the soldier types that carry grenades (Rocketeer, Heavy, Scout, Operative, Sentry, etc.) over the others (Sniper, Defender, Medic) is a good idea. But you probably already knew that.

The only other tip is to spread out the squad. The AI loves to use explosives on multiple targets. Group Up = Get Grenades.

I used to believe that standing next to the Encoder would prevent Exalt from throwing grenades on you, because they shouldn’t destroy the equipment they are trying to hack, right? But no… In this last campaign they bombed one of my assaults that was adjacent to the Encoder, KO’ing my guy, and destroying the device. So that doesn’t work.

and that’s all I’ve got.

Good Luck Commanders!

1. This map has killed a bunch of my men. If relay A is not active, then BCD are often unapproachable without triggering Exalt. The exit is also very far from the relays, making it difficult to extract on turn 4. Exalt Snipers have squadsight - if even one Exalt soldier has eyes on your squad, then each of their snipers will probably get a shot.

2. The encoder is the first MacGuffin, transmitter is the 2nd.