Dark Events (LW2)
Dark Events in Long War 2 come in two forms: Tactical Research Upgrades and Temporary Operations. The former represent ADVENT building up the strength of its forces over time, and are permanent once applied; the latter represents the Aliens conducting operations of its own to cripple XCOM at both strategic and tactical levels, and last for a designated time frame.
Much like vanilla Dark Events, certain designated missions can be conducted to interrupt and prevent the Dark Event from occurring - but unlike vanilla, you will not be given the opportunity to do so if you do not have contact with the region the Dark Event spawns in. Since the only way to identify them is to increase your resistance network as wide as possible, it is inevitable that some Dark Events will trigger outside of your coverage regardless of how diligent of a commander you are.
Temporary Operations
ADVENT will attempt to place severe limitations on XCOM operations at the strategic and tactical levels, in much the same way that many Dark Events functioned in vanilla. Fortunately, while they are crippling, they are of limited duration.
| Dark Event | Description | Starting Weight | Weight reduction per attempt | Weight reduction per success | Project time to complete | Project duration after completion | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Air Patrols | Halves the Avenger's contribution to activity detection | 5 | -1 | 0 | 8-15 days | 14-16 days | - |
| Rural Checkpoints | Halves Haven supply gathering | 5 | -1 | 0 | 10-15 days | 14-16 days | - |
| Counterintelligence Sweep | Halves Haven intel gathering | 5 | -1 | 0 | 12-16 days | 14-16 days | - |
| Rural Propaganda Blitz | Halves Haven recruiting | 5 | -1 | 0 | 14-20 days | 14-16 days | - |
| Haven Infiltration | Doubles chance of new rebels being faceless | 5 | -1 | 0 | 10-15 days | 45-60 days | A Faceless needs to have been encountered for this event to happen. |
| Midnight Raids | Doubles cost of new recruits | 5 | -2 | 0 | 10-21 days | 28 days | In Rookie or Veteran difficulty this event can't happen in March |
| Alien Cypher | Increases intel costs by 33% (25% on Rookie) | 5 | -2 | 0 | 21-35 days | 28 days | - |
| Resistance Informant | Reduces detection chance for haven retaliations by 90% | 5 | -2 | 0 | 21-35 days | 21-28 days | - |
| Vigilance | Enemies have increased detection range | 5 | -2 | 0 | 21-35 days | 28 days | - |
| Alien Infiltrator | Adds Faceless to missions | 5 | -2 | 0 | 21-35 days | 28 days | A Faceless needs to have been encountered for this event to happen. This event can happen a maximum of 3 times. |
| Infestation | Adds Chryssalids to missions | 5 | -2 | 0 | 21-35 days | 28 days | A Chryssalid needs to have been encountered for this event to happen. This event can happen a maximum of 3 times. |
| Rapid Response | Reinforcements arrive more often in missions | 5 | -2 | 0 | 21-35 days | 28 days | An Advanced or Elite ADVENT Officer needs to have been encountered for this event to happen. |
| Show of Force | Increases the number of enemies in missions | 5 | -2 | 0 | 21-35 days | 28 days | This event can only happen in Legend difficulty in June or after. |
| Hunt XCOM | A UFO hunts the Avenger, triggering an Avenger Defense mission | 10 | 0 | -4 | 14-28 days | - | The first month this event can happen depends on difficulty: October/September/August/July |
| Minor Breakthrough | Adds one point of Avatar Project progress to a random Alien Facility | 10 | 0 | -2 | 15-20 days | - | If there are no Alien Facilities, the progress will be assigned to the Alien Fortress |
| Major Breakthrough | Adds two points of Avatar Project progress to a random Alien Facility | 6 | 0 | -2 | 21-28 days | - | If there are no Alien Facilities, the progress will be assigned to the Alien Fortress |
Tactical Research Upgrades
Over time, the ADVENT and Alien ground forces will gain increases in combat effectiveness, as denoted by additional perks and equipment. Each upgrade applies to a limited set of enemy types, and only a certain random percentage of enemies will actually have the upgrade.
These Dark Events are permanent once triggered; this system serves as the Long War 2 equivalent of Long War 1's Alien Research, where aliens gain boosts to stats and bonus perks over time. In this case, however, the bonuses are random and tied to interruptible Dark Events, so you have a chance of encountering powerful upgrades early on or of stopping upgrades from occurring.
| Tactical Dark Events | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dark Event | Units Affected | Chance | Project Requirement | Project time to complete | Weight |
| Scopes (+5 Aim) | All ADVENT | 33% | None | 21-28 days | 5 |
| Laser Sights (+10 Crit) | All ADVENT | 33% | None | 21-28 days | 5 |
| Firewalls (+15 Hack Def) | All Mechanicals | 100% | None | 21-28 days | 5 |
| Conditioning 1 (+1 HP) | All Enemies | 75% | 4th Month | 7-9 days | 100 |
| Conditioning 2 (+1 HP) | All Enemies | 75% | 7th Month | 7-9 days | 100 |
| Conditioning 3 (+1 HP) | All Enemies | 75% | 10th Month | 7-9 days | 100 |
| Veterans (+5 Aim) | All Enemies | 25% | None | 12-15 days | 5 |
| Defense (+5 Defense) | All Enemies | 33% | None | 12-18 days | 5 |
| Advanced Servos (+1 Mobility) | All Enemies | 60% | Encountered MEC | 18-21 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Stun Lancers (Mk3) Archons Mutons |
20% | Encountered Muton | 14-21 days | 5 |
 |
All Enemies | 16% | None | 18-24 days | 5 |
 |
Archons | 100% | Encountered Archon | 12-16 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Sentries | 50% | Encountered Sentry | 14-18 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Stun Lancers Faceless |
67% | Encountered Stun lancer | 12-16 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT MECs ADVENT Turrets Codices Gatekeepers Sectopods |
20% | Encountered Codex | 14-21 days | 5 |
 |
Vipers, Najas, & Sidewinders ADVENT Avatars |
33% | None | ||
 |
Archons Codices Vipers, & Sidewinders |
25% | Encountered Viper | 14-21 days | 5 |
 |
Vipers, Najas, & Sidewinders ADVENT Avatars |
33% | Encountered Viper | 14-18 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Stun Lancers ADVENT Avatars |
50% | Encountered Stun lancer | 8-10 days | 5 |
 |
All Robotic Enemies | 100% | Encountered MEC | 12-16 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Officers ADVENT Grenadiers ADVENT Rocketeers (Mk2, Mk3) ADVENT Shieldbearers (Mk2, Mk3) Mutons (Mk2, Mk3) ADVENT Avatars |
15% | Encountered Mk2 Officer | 12-21 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Officers (Mk3) ADVENT Gunners Mutons (Mk3) ADVENT Avatars |
25% | None | 18-21 days | 5 |
 |
All Aliens | 8% | Encountered Gatekeeper | 18-21 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Stun Lancers Chryssalids ADVENT Avatars |
20% | Encountered Stun lancer | 14-18 days | 5 |
 |
Codices | 100% | Encountered Codex | 10-14 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Officers (Mk3) Mutons |
25% | Encountered Muton | 12-15 days | 5 |
 |
Codices | 100% | Encountered Codex | 14-21 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Gunners Mutons (Mk3) ADVENT Avatars |
16% | Encountered Mk2 Officer | 14-18 days | 5 |
 |
ADVENT Officers | 50% | Encountered Mk2 Officer | 18-21 days | 5 |
 |
Sectoids Vipers, Najas & Sidewinders |
15% | None | 14-21 days | 5 |
| Viper Rounds | All ADVENT | 12% | None | ||
| Greater Faceless (+4 HP, +2 Mobility, +5 Aim, +5 Def) | Faceless | 75% | Encountered Faceless | 10-14 days | 5 |