What's worse is I don't know what triggers spawns. I thought it's only when you see them that they come, or you move into certain positions (like those 3hp thin men in escort missions) that they trigger, but I was wrong...
One UFO mission I triggered 3 muton elites with 1 assault recon, killed 1 with overwatch sniper fire, then retreated my recon so it only sees 1 muton elite while everyone overwatch. Next turn? 6 heavy floaters and 1 sectopod + 2 drones appeared out of nowhere. Thankfully the AI hasn't decided to drop 3 secotpods on me in a single turn. :shrug:
But yeah, the prevalence of sectopods is the reason why I like running at least 2x heavy all the time with maximum amount of rockets. That way I can blow them up before they can get to cover and wreak havoc on my squad, because frankly, at that point, I don't care about the drops anymore.
