The Lamplighters League tips for beginners
Being paid good money by The Lamplighters League to fight the Banished Court is one thing, but what use is that if you’re too dead to enjoy it? While being a more casual turn-based tactics title than many of its genre compatriots, the game throws some challenging situations at you from time to time.
If you’re not usually playing titles of this kind, but want to dive into it on Xbox Game Pass, you may be interested in these The Lamplighters League tips for beginners to fight the Banished Court more effectively.
The Lamplighters League combines XCOM with Indiana Jones.
Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
Avoid the target area at first
The Lamplighters League’s maps are all crafted in such a way that you can usually avoid your main target at first to either carry out a bonus mission or simply explore at your own risk. From my experience, you should always do exactly that: Explore the map thoroughly before you get towards the main objective.
This has several advantages: One of them is that you may be able to clear your escape route already, making your flight after achieving your mission goal all the much easier. Another one, adjacent to that, is that this will allow you to pick off isolated enemies that may potentially serve as reinforcements for the main force. Finally, this enables you to scour every nook and cranny for items and base supplies, filling your equipment belts with useful consumables.
Scout before using Infiltration Abilities
You’ll notice that you only have a limited amount of charges on each of your Infiltration Abilities. While you shouldn’t be afraid of using them, it’s important to do so at the right time. They’ll fill up again for the next mission and you can find additional charges on the map as you explore, so don’t be afraid on that account. However, things like the Bruiser’s charge ability can easily lead you into fights you weren’t ready for. Just imagine you charge out of your hiding place to take down a group of enemies only for another previously hidden group to reveal itself right next to them. Now your Bruiser might be in a terrible position once the turn-based battle begins.
A good Slam will take out several opponents, but it's not especially subtle.
Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
Always try to get as much information as possible before acting to avoid situations like this. Make sure to use Recon Mode to inform yourself on the present enemy types and the terrain you’re on. Water and oil can be terrible enemies and terrific allies at once.
Once you’ve scouted the area properly and figured out the enemy forces’ patrol patterns, you can plan on how to best use your Infiltration Abilities.
Do your job and get out of there
Killing enemies doesn’t yield any rewards outside of the odd consumable drop. Skill Points and all the other rewards come from picking them up in the map or completing the objective, so you shouldn’t stick around needlessly. Avoid fights where possible and make your escape after you did your job. Mister Locke isn’t paying you enough to work overtime, after all.
Pick up Motes of Fate
While everything you can pick up from the map is important, Motes of Fate – swirling black spheres – are the most important resources. They will grant you an additional card draw from the Undrawn Hand after your mission is completed. This provides you with another chance at drawing a rare card or an additional copy of one you already have, enabling you to get a free upgrade.
The Undrawn Hand allows you to customize characters, so pick up cards whenever you can.
Harebrained Schemes / Paradox Interactive
These cards are your prime way of customizing your Agents in The Lamplighters League and can either alter or support a character’s play style. Don’t be afraid of discarding cards if you want to experiment with different combinations – it’s a great part of the fun. Make sure to bring different characters on your missions from time to time to give them a chance at receiving cards from the Undrawn Hand as well.
Recruit more Agents quickly
Work on recruiting more Agents whenever the opportunity arises. Having more characters at your disposal not only unlocks cool interactions between them in the home base, giving you additional insight into the story, but has practical reasons as well: If one of your Agents gets wounded during combat, they may have to take a break for a few weeks, so you’ll need a reserve. The more Agents you have, the more missions on the world map you’ll be able to take on as well, giving you a boost in resource income.
Sure, you’ll need to plan better with your Skill Points and maybe spread them out a bit more, but it’ll be worth it to deal with unforeseen situations.
The same goes for the NPCs you can pick up to man your home base: Get them as quickly as you can, because each can greatly boost your capabilities.
Keep Threat in check
Those Threat Meters on the world map aren’t for show: It’s not only game over when one of them fills up, things become a lot tougher in general as the Banished Court gains momentum. As the doomsday clocks tick and advance, new enemy types will be added to all missions, making life for your Agents more difficult. You’ll need to balance your approach between all three factions of the Banished Court, giving each part of your attention.
For more on this game, check out our The Lamplighters League review.
