You want to liberate your first region ASAP. This is the first big goal in the game.
The sooner you do it, the easier it will be.
It’s good to liberate a second region, but not strictly necessary. I don’t bother with a third.
A liberated region counts as a free resistance broadcast tower, which is great, but I won’t delay liberating just to get a better placement, so usually my first liberated region is just my starting region (which already has that bonus)
https://xcom.substack.com/p/long-war-2-liberation-guide
1st step is a hack mission for intel
Liberation 1 is a good candidate for a stealth/hack 2 person team
Liberation 2 has +1 Advent strength
Liberation 3 is super hard. +2 Advent strength
If this mission is “neutralize VIP” there is a high chance for every civilian to be faceless
You might find lots of missions while scanning for liberation missions. Taking all of them will spike advent strength in the region
21 days after you liberate, an invasion is possible
-Have a soldier stationed there
-A nearby region will also go to strength 8+ as they prep forces
This can be a super hard one!