Capturing and rescuing captured soldiers | Game mechanics XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Game Guide

The first soldier to be captured will be Pratal Mox, a member of the Renegades.

As described in the chapter "Covert Operations of the Resistance," War of the Chosen adds a new mechanics that allow Aliens to kidnap XCOM soldiers under the command of the player. Trapped soldiers affect the power of the selected player's actions (more on this in the chapter on the Chosen), but you can fortunately save them, recovering the lost warrior.

There are three ways in which a soldier can be captured:

1. During Covert missions. Some of them will come with the risk of a soldier being captured. In most cases you can alleviate the threat completely by allocating an extra soldier or a resource for the mission. If you don't do that, there's a chance that the soldier won't come back.
2. During fights with the Chosen. These enemies are able to stun a soldier and then capture them.
3. During missions with a limited number of turns, after which an obligatory evacuation begins. The best example of such mission is the VIP extraction - a player has a number of turns to do that. After the time ends, the mission is aborted and you need to evacuate. All soldiers that don't manage to escape will be captured.

That's not their ultimate end, though - after a few days, a rescue mission will become available, allowing you to save the captured soldier. The first such mission will take place after a few weeks of game time - you will need to extract a Renegade called Partal Mox, who, by that time, will have been captured by a Chosen. Such missions are simple - infiltrate the enemy base, find the soldier, get to the evac zone. The best strategy is to remain concealed as long as possible - this helps you make sure you don't get damaged and greatly reduces mission time. After opening the door, however, the soldiers will be compromised, so you have to be ready to fight and make sure the soldiers you send on such mission are capable of making it out.