How to trigger a base defense mission?

[Thirsk]

I know you can trigger a retaliation mission where ufo's come flying around in attempt to locate your base and attack it, but the odds of them succeeding seems rather low (unless you force a huge wave of ufo's but that seems a little ridiculous.)

Is it possible to force it with 100% possibility? Even if it means skipping the scene where ground defenses fire at the invading battleship, and going straight into the battlescape.

[Meridian]

Even if it means skipping the scene where ground defenses fire at the invading battleship, and going straight into the battlescape.

Just don't build base defences?

For future I have the "skip base defense GUI" feature on my todo list for OXCE+, but it's just laziness... you can just as well not build it in the first place.

[Thirsk]

Just don't build base defences?

For future I have the "skip base defense GUI" feature on my todo list for OXCE+, but it's just laziness... you can just as well not build it in the first place.

Oops I should have been more clear.. what I meant was that the odds of them locating the base was rather low unless you spawn lots of ufos. I'm more than happy to have the base defense scene. Just not too happy about having to spawn so many ufo's for a *chance* that they will find my base, without definite certainty.

[Meridian]

Unless you build your base in a VERY specific location, they will find your base rather easily.
From my experience almost each retaliation wave finds my base.

You can increase the chances by:
- not building mind shields
- building bigger bases
- turning on "aggressive retaliation" option in advanced settings

[Thirsk]

Oh that's odd..I try to trigger it through mission scripts but they end up flying around searching and giving up. Was it because I didn't fly out to attack them with interceptors that they couldn't locate my base?

What does aggressive retaliation do? I never really understood it. Does it mean every time I shoot down a ufo craft, they'd try to find my base?

[ohartenstein23]

It makes every UFO capable of spotting your base, not just the ones on retaliation missions.  The way your base is spotted is that a UFO has to fly close enough over it - if your base isn't close enough to the game's pre-defined flight paths, you may never be found.

[Thirsk]

What! That's brilliant, I can't believe I've overlooked it all this time..I'll enable it immediately since I love base defense missions.

Also since I'm using Robin's Mib mod at the moment, is it possible to customise it so that (in base defense missions) the Mib race gets human guns and rifles rather than the default alien plasma weaponry?

[Hobbes]

I know you can trigger a retaliation mission where ufo's come flying around in attempt to locate your base and attack it, but the odds of them succeeding seems rather low (unless you force a huge wave of ufo's but that seems a little ridiculous.)

The location of your base has a major impact since some areas are more likely to be overflown by UFOs hunting for XCOM bases

[Thirsk]

Hmm now that I think about it, having aggressive retaliation on isn't exactly what I had in mind. Say if I wanted to trigger a base defense mission 100% in month 10, how would I go about that?

[Meridian]

Edit the save.

[Thirsk]

Edit the save.

Oh ok.. is there any other way?

[Meridian]

Oh ok.. is there any other way?

Well, everything mentioned earlier... it's just not 100%.

[Thirsk]

Ah I see, I guess it was wishful thinking. Thanks for the help.

[Countdown]

Thirsk, just to share my experience, I too rarely have base defense missions even with though I play with aggressive retaliation on. I don't know why this is because others say they have them often, but I get maybe one in an entire campaign.

Just to test, if I just let time run without shooting down any of the UFOs I detect, I'll get a base defense mission fairly quickly. But if I play the game through properly and shoot down every UFO I detect, then I almost never get base defense missions. I agree with you that they're fun and a change of pace from the regular crash site missions, so I wish I got them more often.

Asking a follow-up question, is it "moddable" to change the chance (as a % I assume) of the aliens detecting your base when flying by? I assume this is hard-coded because I haven't seen it in the rulesets, but asking in case.

[Meridian]

Of course, if you shoot down everything that searches for your base, they won't find you.... duh.

Asking a follow-up question, is it "moddable" to change the chance (as a % I assume) of the aliens detecting your base when flying by? I assume this is hard-coded because I haven't seen it in the rulesets, but asking in case.

Hard-coded (based on several things tho):
https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Geoscape/GeoscapeState.cpp#L1037
https://github.com/SupSuper/OpenXcom/blob/master/src/Savegame/Base.cpp#L1317