Missions (LWOTC)

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Overview

Enemy Activity

Enemy Activity refers to the quantity of enemies deployed on a map. Enemy Activity Level is an estimation of the number of enemy units you will encounter at 100% infiltration; the actual number of enemy units depends on your infiltration rate (for more information, see the Infiltration page). In general, at 0% infiltration, the number will be several steps higher than the baseline; at 200% infiltration, it will be a few steps lower. These steps are dependent on mission type and do not necessarily correspond to one Enemy Activity Level per step.

Mission Table

This table compiles the information contained in LW2's configuration files regarding missions. Greater detail of these activities are found in Activity Tables.

Mission	Mission Type	Mission Timer	Max Soldiers	Infiltration	Evacuation	Full Salvage
Hack Workstation	Guerrilla Ops	8 (Objective)	8	Yes	Evac Flare	No
Recover Item	Guerrilla Ops	8 (Objective)	8	Yes	Evac Flare	No
Protect Device	Guerrilla Ops	NA	8	Alerted	Evac Flare	No
Extract	Council	12 (Evac)	8	Yes (No Concealment)	Fixed Exit	No
Rescue	Council	18-24 (Evac)	8	Yes	Fixed Exit	No
Compound Rescue	Council	10 (Security Level)	8	Yes	Countdown Exit	No
Destroy Relay	Guerrilla Ops	12 (Objective)	8	Yes	Evac Flare	No
Sabotage Transmitter	Guerrilla Ops	4 (Objective)	8	Yes	Evac Flare	No
Smash N Grab	Guerrilla Ops	12 (Reinforcements)	8	Yes (No Concealment)	Fixed Exit	No
Supply Extraction	Guerrilla Ops	NA	8	Yes	Evac Flare	No
Neutralize Target	Council	12 (Evac)	8	Yes	Fixed Exit	No
Sabotage ADVENT Monument	Defend	NA	8	Yes	Evac Flare	No
Sabotage Alien Facility	Sabotage	NA	10	100%	Evac Flare	No
Troop Maneuvers	Liberation	NA	8	Yes	Evac Flare	Yes
Supply Line Raid	Supply Line Raid	NA	8	Yes	Evac Flare	Yes
Secure UFO	Supply Line Raid	16 (Reinforcements)	8	Yes	Evac Flare	Yes
Terror	Retaliation	NA	8 + Haven Advisor	Alerted	Fixed Exit	No
Invasion	Defend	NA	10 + Haven Advisor	Alerted	Fixed Exit	Yes
Defend	Defend	NA	8 + Haven Advisor	Alerted	Countdown Exit	No
Jailbreak	Liberation	12 (Evac)	8	Yes	Fixed Exit	No
Rendezvous	Liberation	NA	Haven Advisor + up to 5 rebels	No	Evac Flare	Yes
Intel Raid	Liberation	NA	8 + Haven Advisor + up to 5 rebels	Alerted	Evac Flare	No
Supply Convoy	Liberation	NA	8 + Haven Advisor	Alerted	Evac Flare	No
Recruit Raid	Liberation	NA	8 + Haven Advisor	Alerted	Countdown Exit	No
Assault Network Tower	Liberation	Hidden	5	100%	Evac Flare	No
Assault Alien Base	Liberation	NA	10	100%	Evac Flare	Yes
Ambush	Covert Action	NA	4 + Covert Operatives	Alerted	Fixed Evac	No
Big Supply Extraction	Covert Action	NA	8	Yes	Evac Flare	No
Locate Patrols	Covert Action	NA	6	Yes	Evac Flare	Yes
Chosen Stronghold	Covert Action	NA	5	100%	Not Available	No
Avenger Defense	Defend	NA	12	Alerted	Not Available	No
Chosen Avenger Defense	Defend	NA	10	Alerted	Not Available	No
ADVENT Blacksite	Golden Path	Hidden	8	100%	Fixed Exit	No
ADVENT Forge	Golden Path	Hidden	10	100%	Fixed Exit	No
ADVENT Psi Gate	Golden Path	NA	10	100%	Evac Flare	Yes
Central Network Broadcast	Golden Path	NA	8	No	Not Available	Yes
Assault Alien Fortress	Golden Path	NA	12	No	Not Available	No

Notes

• Mission Timer
  • This value is increased by + 4 in Rookie difficulty and by +2 in Veteran
  • Objective timers only affect the primary objective. Failing to complete the objective before the timer expires will result in failing the mission but you can still evac your soldiers.
  • Evac timers put an absolute limit on mission duration. Any soldier still on the map when the timer reaches 0 is lost (captured). When the timer reaches 1, the last turn start (there is no "0 turns left" turn).
  • Reinforcement timers are delays before increasingly strong reinforcements start dropping. You can still complete a mission after such a timer reaches zero but it will become harder with each wave. This timer starts only after you break concealment.
  • Security Level timers do not start until you break concealment and it increases once per turn until it reaches 10 and an additional 1 when the squad is revealed. Hacking the door to the VIP or otherwise revealing the VIP instantly sets the security level to 10. When it reaches 10, reinforcements start coming quickly.
  • Several non timed missions (such as the Blacksite and Network Tower) include a hidden reinforcement timer.
• Infiltration
  • Yes - the squad can infiltrate the site to reduce enemy strength
  • 100% - infiltration needs to reach at least this value before mission can be launched
  • No - squad goes directly into combat, skipping infiltration
  • Alerted - mission starts immediately, no squad concealment, enemies start on yellow alert
• Evacuation
  • Evac Flare - squad can call the Skyranger to be able to evacuate the mission
  • Fixed Exit - squad has to reach exit area
  • Countdown Exit - squad has to wait until exit area becomes active
• Full Salvage - if yes, alien corpses and material will be recovered if the battle is won; if no, only actual 'item' loot (such as datapads) is recovered

Generating Missions

Missions spawn automatically as the days pass, and expire after a given window of time. The mission is not visible at this time; the local haven must collect enough intel to reveal the mission. Assigning more resistance members to the "intel" job can make missions considerably easier by discovering missions earlier and allowing more time to infiltrate. A mission's expiration timer starts when it is created, not when it is discovered; most infiltration missions have a base duration of 18 days, which is randomized by a few days each time a mission is created.

Havens each generate "intel points" from having personnel assigned to intel gathering. These points are applied to undiscovered missions in the region at certain update intervals, currently 4 times a day (every 6 hours). Each mission keeps a pool of collected intel points. The difficulty of discovering a certain type of mission is controlled by two numbers: "required intel" and "discovery chance". A mission cannot be detected until you generate intel equal to the "required intel" value. Once the minimum is reached there is a random chance (1/4 of discovery chance) to discover the mission at every update. The probability is based on the mission's "percent chance" stat, multiplied by the number of intel points collected past the required minimum.

There is a flat % detection bonus based on the force level and also based on difficulty. Additionally there is a flat % detection bonus for the first 5 days of a campaign to make detecting the first two missions of a campaign less RNG.

In the table below, a basic level-0 resistance member is defined as one "intel point" per day. A level-1 resistance member is worth 1.5 points, a level-2 is worth 2, and the Avenger scanning is worth 4. A scientist assigned as haven liaison adds an extra 20% bonus to the entire haven. Each faceless reduces overall intel point generation by 3/5/6/7% depending on difficulty (regardless of what job the faceless is doing).

Category	Research	Data	VIP	Prisoners	Liberation 1
Mission Types	Hacking	Hacking, Destroy	Rescue/Extract	Jailbreak	Hacking
Required intel (points)	24	1	12	8	22
Discovery Chance (per point)	0.85%	1.75%	0.9%	1.4%	2%

Example: A haven with six level-0 resistance members and one level-1 assigned to intel, plus a scientist liaison, generates 9 "points" per day. The first mission in the liberation chain spawns. The haven can't detect this mission until it generates 22 points, which takes just under 2.5 days.

One day after that, the haven has an 4.5% chance to detect the mission: it has 9 intel points in the pool (subtracting out the 22 needed for the required intel) times 2 per point, resulting in 18 discovery chance which means you'll have 4.5% chance to detect the mission every 6 hours. One day later, the haven has 18 points and has a 36 discovery chance (9% to detect every 6 hours).

Types of Missions

The type of mission affects a variety of factors: what the primary objective is, what type of rewards will be received, how long the squad has to complete the objective, how strong of a force the enemy will tend to field relative to other missions in the region, whether the squad starts concealed or not, and even where the squad can extract from.

Perhaps the most important factor is whether or not a squad needs to infiltrate or not, and how long the squad has to do it. For more information on infiltration mechanics, see the Infiltration page for details.

Guerrilla Operations

These missions will generate regularly regardless of ADVENT activity in a region. XCOM will infiltrate some city and complete some useful objective, typically acquiring personnel and/or intel in the process.

• Jailbreak – XCOM must infiltrate an ADVENT jail and rescue 3-6 prisoners. The cap for number of prisoners starts at 3 and goes up by 1 after each month has passed until the maximum of 6 prisoners is available. Success on the mission will add resistance personnel prisoners to the region's Haven. At least one prisoner must be saved for the mission to be a success, while any others are optional. Concealed Start.
  • Prisoners are more likely to be new soldiers if the region already has a large number of rebels.

• Rescue VIP - Two variants;
  • XCOM must lead a VIP (a soldier, scientist, or engineer) to the extraction point. Revealed Start.
  • XCOM must secure a vehicle containing the VIP, free them, then lead them to the extraction point. Concealed Start

• Hack a Workstation - XCOM must hack a particular workstation. Awards intel upon completion. Concealed Start.

• Capture or Kill VIP - XCOM must capture or kill an enemy VIP and then extract from the mission. The VIP has Shadowstep so that they cannot be killed by inadvertent reaction attacks. This mission may or may not contain faceless but we are unable to detect them and won't reflect in the detected baseline enemy activity. Concealed Start

• Smash and Grab - Raid ADVENT warehouses/depots to obtain resources. There are two types:
  • Extract Crates - XCOM must mark crates spread throughout the field so that Firebrand can receive them and then evac once . You must acquire at least 4 crates for the mission to be successful. When the squad is revealed, ADVENT will be marking 2 crates every other turn to recover them but can be overrided with our own marks. After the squad is revealed, ADVENT will continuously send reinforcements after 7 turns to stop you in which you must evac. Concealed Start
  • Seize ADVENT resource cache - XCOM must infiltrate an ADVENT warehouse and recover at least one of 5-6 crates throughout the building. After 12 turns, ADVENT will continuously send reinforcements to stop you in which you must evac to escape. After FL7, there is a 10% chance larger warehouses can be found which will have 2 additional crates to recover. Revealed Start

• Destroy an Alien Relay - XCOM must destroy an alien's relay before it completes transferring data. There are two types:
  • Destroy Relay - XCOM must find and destroy the relay within 12 turns before it completes transferring data.
  • Sabotage Transmitter - XCOM must find and plant an X4 in order to be able to destroy the transmitter before it completes transferring data. There is only 4 turns before it completes but there are small power nodes spread throughout the mission that can be destroyed granting 1 additional turn to get to the transmitter.

Retaliation Missions

Retaliation missions trigger with increasing frequency and severity as XCOM takes action in a particular region and draws attention towards it. Retaliation missions have no infiltration timer. The Haven Advisor of a region, if a soldier, will typically be present at these missions, alongside various resistance personnel outfitted with the basic weapons and equipment that rookie XCOM personnel deploy with.

• Rendezvous: When XCOM rescues or recruits resistance members, there is a chance that they may be Faceless; when Faceless disguised as members of the Resistance is detected as they go to meet with their ADVENT handlers, Resistance personnel from the local haven will deploy to the scene and hunt them down. You will not be able to arm or equip a squad to this mission. XCOM must detect Faceless by stationing a soldier as the Haven advisor. Concealed Start.

• Supply Convoy: XCOM must deploy a squad to defend a supply convoy and its Resistance personnel from ADVENT attacks. No concealment.

• Intel Raid: ADVENT attacks a Resistance listening post and XCOM must deploy a squad to defend its equipment and Resistance personnel. No concealment.

• Recruitment Raid: ADVENT forces attack Resistance recruiters within a region. XCOM must deploy a squad and extract those Resistance members. No concealment.

• Full Retaliation: XCOM must defend the Haven and it's Resistance members against an onslaught of ADVENT forces until the Skyranger can get into position for extraction. This mission usually comes in two parts.
  • Retaliation 1: This will be a destroy the relay mission but the briefing will state that ADVENT is searching for the haven and that you need to prevent a DATA LEAK. Completing this mission keeps the haven safe. (If you don't detect this mission, you go straight to a full retaliation.)
  • Full retaliation (Retaliation 2): XCOM must defend the Haven. This mission comes in two different flavours:

1. Many ADVENT in the AO trying to kill members of your resistance haven. You must rush to kill them to save resistance members. This mission will not yield corpses.
2. ADVENT drops unlimited reinforcements and you must rally all resistance members and soldiers to the EVAC zone to save them. This mission will also not yield corpses.

• Region Invasion: ADVENT attempts to retake a liberated region by assaulting a city center. XCOM must destroy a psionic relay that summons continuous reinforcements, then eliminate any remaining forces. No concealment.

Liberation Missions

As part of its attempts to liberate a region from ADVENT control, XCOM will conduct a set sequence of five operations. The early missions are difficult to detect and the later missions receive an substantial bonus to activity level, over and above the strength value of the region. The liberation missions 1 to 3 are clearly marked with the word "Liberation" (which was not the case in LW2).

• Liberation 1: Hack Objective. Concealed Start.
• Liberation 2: Rescue Defector. XCOM must rescue or extract a VIP from a city location and move to the extraction point. This mission has a +1 strength modifier meaning there will be more enemies than normal. Concealed start or Revealed based on mission type
• Liberation 3: Hinder ADVENT Operations. This mission has a +2 strength modifier meaning there will be more enemies than normal. There are potential mission types:
  • Capture or Kill VIP
  • Destroy the Relay
• Liberation 4 - Regional Network Tower Liberation: XCOM must deploy to and liberate an ADVENT network tower. This will not expire once unlocked, and is quite difficult. A small squad (up to five soldiers) must hack a console at the far end of the map. Doing so disables the reinforcement timer and stuns all remaining enemies for 2 turns. The mission ends only when there are no remaining enemies, and reinforcements will come rapidly once the alarm is raised. Concealed Start.
• Liberation 5 - ADVENT Facility Assault: XCOM must deploy to and overtake a well-defended ADVENT facility. This will not expire once unlocked, and is quite difficult. Concealed Start.

Note that failing or skipping a liberation mission does not reset the path. You'll just have to detect it again (unless it's the tower or base, which are persistent once you unlock them).

After Liberation 2 is completed, ADVENT's desired Strength in the region is increased by 1, effectively equal to having a Vigilance one higher than displayed in-game.

Liberating a region adds 1 Vigilance to all unliberated regions world-wide. Adjacent regions receive an additional 1-2 Vigilance.

Covert Action Missions

Covert Actions missions are initiated by completing certain Covert Actions. They are generally very beneficial missions.

• Ambush: Upon completing a covert action, there is a chance the covert squad gets ambushed and needs help evacuating to escape being captured. You can send up to 4 soldiers on a quick response mission (no infiltration) who start at a fixed evac location. There are roughly 8 enemies on this mission, 1 group next to the covert squad to incapacitate them with 2 other groups to halt their escape. You will also control the covert squad in which at least one soldier must reach the evac before reinforcements overwhelm you to succeed in the rescue and the covert action they were sent to.
• Big Supply Extraction: This is a normal supply extraction but with 18 crates instead of 12. However, Advent will mark 3 crates instead of 2.
• Locate Patrols: This is a normal troop column mission, except that you can only send up to 6 soldiers and it does not destroy strength in the target region. The number of enemies on this mission is based on its region strength as normal, but it is capped at 4.
• Chosen Stronghold: After completing all 3 Chosen Hunt Cover Actions for one Chosen, you will be able to infiltrate their stronghold. You can only send up to 5 soldiers who will have to first work their way through an indoor maze of rooms filled with pods of 2-4 enemies. Make sure all your soldiers are on the elevator before you send them in to face the Chosen! You will load into a new map, where you will face a small pod before encountering the Chosen's Sarcophagus. You must first kill the Chosen, then damage the Sarcophagus as quickly as possible, dealing with reinforcements while the Chosen is inside the Sarcophagus. The Chosen will regain hit points for each turn the Sarcophagus remains intact, respawning when they reach 100% hp or when the Sarcophagus is destroyed. You must kill the Chosen one last time after their Sarcophagus is destroyed.

UFO Hunt

ADVENT may launch a dark event that sends a UFO to hunt the avenger. After 6-14 days, the UFO intercepts the avenger in which there is a 50% chance to avoid them. If successful, an avenger defense launches requiring XCOM to defend itself and destroy the spike emitting EMP preventing the avenger from escaping. The mission must be completed in order for XCOM to escape and continue the fight or all is lost. Once a campaign has experienced at least one avenger defense mission, any future UFO hunts have a 0/25/35/50% (based on difficulty) chance to intercept the avenger.

A UFO may also be launched once XCOM completes a story mission objective (blacksite/forge/psi gate) with a 25/75/100% chance respectively and this can only occur once meaning that, for example, if the blacksite has triggered a hunt, then completing the psi gate will not trigger another. These UFOs are guaranteed to intercept the avenger unless one has already occurred in which it uses the interception chances after the first listed above.

Chosen Sabotage

At the end of each month, the Chosen's Knowledge bar fills and they choose an activity. Two of those activities spawn missions for XCOM to fight through.

• Chosen Supply Raid: This activity is available at knowledge tier 1. Some time after the activity is selected, a quick response full salvage supply raid mission will launch.
  • It has a concealed start and squad size is limited to 6.
  • The mission is fixed at alert level 4 (including Chosen adjustment). This means that the expected enemy activity is around 13-15 including Chosen.
  • If the Chosen succeeds in this activity (i.e. the mission is ignored or failed), 1 strength is added to the region it is launched in and to 1 random adjacent region.
  • The Chosen will trigger the activity in a region they control that XCOM has contacted. This can fail if there is no contacted unliberated region under their control.
  • These missions are guaranteed to have Stun Lancers.
  • Completing this mission does not raise vigilance.

• Chosen Avenger Defense: When one of the Chosen reaches 100% Knowledge, they will launch an all-out assault on the Avenger. This Chosen Avenger Defense (CAD) will take place between 2 and 10 days after the beginning of the month in which the Chosen filled their bar. The mission composes of 30/34/36/40 enemies (based on difficulty) with 1 pod that guards the three various turret locations ( the large cannon and 2 sets of mini-turret mounted trucks ) within the map with the rest of the enemies slowly approaching the avenger. XCOM must defeat all enemies while also destroying the turrets before the avenger is destroyed. The avenger has 550 HP with the Chosen Cannon dealing 80 damage every 7/6/5/4 (based on difficulty) turns and the mini turrets dealing 4 damage each every turn. Only the cannon is required to destroy however destroying the turrets will be helpful.

Golden Path Missions

Some missions and activities are required for the story to proceed. These missions are collectively called "the golden path". All golden path missions require 100% infiltration before you can launch them. Regional strength does not affect the number of enemies on any golden path mission except for the Liberation Missions.

• Skulljacking:
  • After skulljacking an officer for the first time, a codex will appear. If you kill it, you will retrieve its body, no matter whether you are on a full salvage mission or not. If you do not kill it, you will have to wait until you encounter another codex and kill it there. Skulljacking another officer will also spawn another codex.
  • After skulljacking a codex for the first time (and after researching Encrypted Codex Data in the Shadow Chamber), an avatar will appear. Just like the codex, you will retrieve its body as long as you kill it and you can continue skulljacking more codices if you fail to kill it; however, unlike the codex, avatars will not appear normally on missions - you will need to skulljack another codex in order to proceed with the story.
  • Any attempt to skulljack an enemy to progress the story will always succeed, even though it will say you only have a 70% to hit. This is actually the only time that LWOTC cheats any hit chances.
• Network Tower: The fourth mission of the liberation chain is the first golden path mission you are likely to complete. It does not matter which region you complete this mission in, once you complete it for the first time, you will reveal the Blacksite mission.
• Assault ADVENT HQ: The fifth mission of the liberation chain to free a region from ADVENT's control. It does not matter which region you complete this mission in and only one is required. Losing a region from an invasion does not require you to liberate another region to complete this objective.
• Blacksite: XCOM must infiltrate an ADVENT facility and retrieve a vial before escaping. You will encounter 27/31/31/36 enemies (depending on difficulty) on the map. Once you grab the vial, you must travel back to the fixed evac where the squad was dropped off and reinforcements will begin dropping.
  • Note that after 45 turns, doom reinforcements will start coming in hot, whether you have retrieved the vial or not.
  • Unlocked: This mission is unlocked by completing a Liberation 4 Regional Network Tower mission and contacting the region with the blacksite.
• Forge: XCOM investigates the coordinates found by researching the blacksite vial. Another facility awaits you, this time with 35/35-36/35-36/47 enemies (depending on difficulty). You must cross a bridge, reach the center of the facility, and recover the body before retreating to the evac. Guarding the bridge is a guaranteed Sectopod, often the first one encountered in a campaign.
  • Unlocked: This mission is unlocked by researching the blacksite vial in the shadow chamber and contacting the region with the forge.
• Psi Gate: XCOM investigates the location of a strange psionic gateway. You must fight through the numerous guards until you reach the gateway in which a Gatekeeper will be guarding it along with some followers. In addition, there are several Chryssalids scattered throughout the area. In total, you will encounter 31/38/38/44 enemies (depending on difficulty).
  • Unlocked: This mission is unlocked by researching the codex brain in the shadow chamber and contacting the region with the psi gate.
• Central Network Broadcast: The penultimate mission of the game. XCOM has to infiltrate yet another network tower, but this time it's bigger and badder than before. There are 34/37/37/41 enemies to encounter, in addition to reinforcements. However, unlike a regional network broadcast, you do not need to actually kill all the enemies as the goal is to hack and disrupt the tower.
  • Note that this mission is full salvage, but only for the enemies that you actually kill, so if you need any corpses to build any last items before taking on waterworld (you won't get to research anything), you should make sure to kill that enemy before hacking the tower and ending the mission.
  • Unlocked: This mission is unlocked immediately after completing the Avatar Autopsy in the shadow chamber.
• Waterworld: The ultimate mission of the game. This mission is composed of 2 maps. In the first, you will face a Gatekeeper and a Sectopod, as well as a host of other powerful enemies. In the second, you will face off against multiple avatars, as well as continuous reinforcements summoned from the various raised areas around the map.
  • Unlocked: This mission is unlocked immediately after completing the Central Network Broadcast.

Collecting Enemy Corpses

Long War 2 uses the correct term for military equipment and supplies: materiel.

Most missions in Long War 2 require you to evacuate and you do not keep the bodies of fallen ADVENT or Aliens. As corpses are much more valuable in Long War 2 players should make special consideration for missions which do allow them to keep the corpses of fallen foes.

The following mission types allow collection of enemy materiel:

• Ambush troop column: Ambush a small ADVENT troop column and clear the area of hostiles, Succeeding this will reduce the region's strength by 1. Can only be detected if the region is at least of strength 4.
• Supply convoy ambush: Disrupt Advent supply transports and destroy ADVENT troops. Succeeding this will prevent strength from being transported into the region but greatly increase vigilance.
• Invasion: Advent attempts to re-establish their psionic network in the region and launches a full scale attack against the resistance. You must clear the area of hostiles and rescue any resistance leaders while also defending against continuous reinforcements until the emitter is destroyed.
• Rendezvous: Disrupt an ADVENT rendezvous with the faceless spy. The assigned soldier advisor along with up to 5 resistance leaders joins to remove the spy while also eliminating their contacts.
• Regional HQ assault: Assault the regional HQ to remove the General in the region and reclaim the area from the aliens control and removing them from the region. If the General is eliminated all enemies will converge to your location in an attempt to eliminate you. This will also occur if there are less than 8 enemies left in the area.
• Secure UFO: Secure the landed UFO by eliminating all hostiles in the area. When revealed, a distress beacon is activated and must be stopped. Failure to do so will have reinforcements called in forcing a retreat and the inability to secure the UFO and its resources. Succeeding this will grant 1 avenger power while also preventing the aliens from increasing the global strength level.

It should be noted that while Smash N Grab missions list Enemy Material as their reward, they no longer allow the collection of corpses from the battlefield. Unlike the five missions listed above, material recovered from Smash N Grabs is not dependent on the state of the battlefield, only on the number of ADVENT Resource Caches successfully retrieved. The Resource Caches can provide Alloys, Elerium, Elerium Cores, or Supplies, but not corpses.

Strategy

As Vahlen has taught us, explosives destroy all recoverable materiel when delivering the killing blow as both a possible loot drop and the corpse will be destroyed. Flamethrowers also destroy corpses if the initial hit kills the target, though burning damage will leave a collectible corpse and drop timed loot if carried. Consider using the Needle Grenades perk for grenadiers if you are in need of explosives use.

It may be beneficial to sabotage your infiltration percentage to increase the enemy presence if you feel you will be victorious. You are allowed to start any infiltration mission early from the Geoscape. Note that enemy readiness will also be boosted if you begin prematurely, increasing their detection range, evac delay, and reinforcements strength. For supply convoys, troop columns and UFOs, enemies also gain a flat aim and defense bonus with their HP multiplied based on infiltration in intervals of 25% (0-24/25-49/50-74/75-99). Although there is great reward in acquiring plenty of corpses, it is important to be wary of the great risks involved that may be more harmful than its worth.