XCOM 2 Long War 2 Dedicated Thread

[jztemple2]

This forum thread will be for XCOM 2 Long War 2 discussions so we can keep vanilla discussions over on the other thread.

[coopasonic]

Now you need to move all your LW2 tips posts over to this thread.

[jztemple2]

Sounds good, here's a start of the moved tips and stuff.

Some of the tactical changes made by Pavonis for Long War 2

Spoiler:

XCOM2 Long War 2 Changes

These don't really fit in a promotional blog post, but following the FXS stream, I thought I'd bullet point some of the tactical changes we've made in Long War 2:

COMBAT
Shotguns are less accurate at medium and long ranges
LMGs are less accurate at point-blank range
Pistols and SMGs are between shotguns and assault rifles in terms of accuracy at range
On Veteran+, enemy reinforcement flares do not appear to XCOM
Reinforcements on many missions will appear at more regulated intervals, based on regional ADVENT strength. They will start out somewhat stronger than in vanilla and end up far stronger.
Enemy pods may have up to 8 enemies. Larger all-alien pods will almost always have more than two species.
Enemy pods will now employ certain tactics before they engage XCOM. This may include going to protect the objective or attempting to flank XCOM. They also have a broader set of options if they become aware a battle is underway, typically from hearing weapon fire/explosions or seeing dead allies.
Enemy AI will generally be more careful about cover and moving. They will order their turns to put units with certain ability types ahead of others.
Enemies who activate on their own turn will have a chance to take a ‘reflex’ action. If the unit was previously aware that a battle is underway, this may include firing at XCOM if they are unharmed after their scamper move.
Throwing any grenade has a one-turn cooldown before you can throw something else. Launching a grenade does not.
It now takes the Skyranger multiple turns to arrive after you throw the evac flare. Certain factors like Squad Size and infiltration status affect the number of turns. Throwing the evac flare reveals the squad.
When receiving a potentially fatal wound, soldiers are more likely to bleed out in general rather than die immediately.
Mission timers may be extended by officers using the “Intervention” ability. Using this ability costs intel.
Absent certain grenadier perks, grenades rarely destroy all but the most fragile of cover or induce vehicles to immediately explode.
Minimum explosives damage falls off from the center of an explosion. So a grenade that does 6-8 damage at the center will do 1-8 at the edge of the area of effect.
Rockets scatter based on a soldier’s aim, distance to target, perks, and whether or not the soldier has moved yet.
Loot drops are more common, but contain less loot.


GEAR
All armors have three utility slots. Pistols now go in utility slots.
Each full utility slot reduces your mobility by one. Base mobility is 15 for soldiers.
Soldiers may equip vests (bonus hp + a special bonus) and plating (ablative HP that functions like shieldbearer shields) at the same time in utility slots.
Most items, including weapons and armor, must be constructed individually. The schematic system of upgrading all weapons at once is largely eliminated.
Proving Ground projects are now tied explicitly to single items and generally enable mass production of a given ammo, grenade, vest, weapon mod, etc. in engineering.
All primary weapons have at least three slots for upgrades.
Repeaters are gone. They now function as suppressors and reduce infiltration time as well as the range at which enemies can hear your fire.
Stocks now provide the “Steady Weapon” ability (turn-ending action to provide bonus aim and crit on the next turn) instead of doing damage on misses.
Hair Triggers now provide to-hit bonuses on reaction fire. Scopes now only work on non-reaction fire.

CLASSES
Sharpshooter: Primary: Sniper Rifle; Secondary: Holotargeter
Shinobi: Primary: Rifle, SMG or Shotgun; Secondary: Sword
Ranger: Primary: Rifle, SMG or Shotgun; Secondary: Sawed-off Shotgun
Assault: Primary: Rifle, SMG or Shotgun; Secondary: Arc Thrower
Gunner: Primary: Cannon; Secondary: Combat Knife
Grenadier: Primary: Rifle, SMG or Shotgun; Secondary: Grenade Launcher
Specialist: Primary: Rifle, SMG or Shotgun; Secondary: Gremlin
Technical: Primary: Rifle, SMG or Shotgun; Secondary: Gauntlet
Psi Operative: Primary: Rifle, SMG or Shotgun; Secondary: Psi Amp
Spark (DLC): Primary: Spark Rifle; Secondary: Bit


TO-HIT MECHANICS
The following hit mechanics in Long War 2 have been modified:
Critical chance is no longer an absolute chance
In base XCOM 2 a 10% hit and 10% critical chance would land 10% of the time, and if it hit would always be a critical. This is no longer the case.
Dodge no longer supersedes crit. (In base XCOM 2 if dodge + crit chance was greater than hit, crit chance would be removed in favor of dodge.)
Soldiers can graze even if the target has no dodge (In base XCOM 2, grazes were only possible if the target had dodge stat)
These changes apply completely symmetrically to both sides
All units will now graze if their to-hit roll is “close” to the required to hit
This is referred to as the “Graze Band.” The measure of “close” is configurable in-game, and defaults to +/- 10%.
Example 1 : Base 70% chance to hit results in 60% chance of a normal damage hit and 20% chance of a graze. The displayed to hit is 70%.
Example 2 : Base 20% chance to hit results in 10% chance of a normal damage hit and a 20% chance of a graze. The displayed to hit is 20%.
Critical Hit Chance is now a chance to “promote” the damage type. A successful critical roll will:
Promote a graze hit to a regular damage hit
Promote a regular damage hit to a critical damage hit
Dodge Stat is now a chance to “demote” the damage type. A successful dodge roll will:
Demote critical damage hit to regular damage hit
Demote a regular damage hit to a graze
Demote a graze into a miss (configurable)
Consequences:
Low % shots are generally more likely to do something, but that something results in less damage, and is very unlikely to deal critical damage
90% to-hit and above won’t entirely miss enemies (unless they have dodge)
Dodge and Crit counter each other, so a high critical chance helps counter high dodge units, while a good dodge helps protect against critical hits
When using Not Created Equally, soldiers may have negative dodge, increasing the chance hits against them will be promoted

Example 1: 90% to hit, 50% to crit
In base XCOM 2, this will result in Critical damage 50%, Normal damage 40% of the time, Miss 10% of the time.
In Long War 2, this will result in Critical damage 40% of the time, Normal damage 50% of the time, Graze damage 10% of the time.

Example 2: 20% to hit, 10% to crit
In base XCOM 2, this will result in Critical damage 10% of the time, Normal damage 10% of the time, Miss 80% of the time
In Long War 2, it will result in Critical damage 1% of the time, Normal damage 11% of the time, Graze damage 18% of the time, Miss 70% of the time

Some tips posted on the Pavonis Strategy forum for LW2 press reviewers:

Spoiler:

Hey folks, this is a copy-paste of some general tips we provided to press reviewers before the release of Long War 2. In time this will probably seem extremely basic, but I'll throw it up here as a starting point.

Tips

Overall
• Use the Archives in the Commanders Quarters as it contains helpful info.

• If you are lacking new recruits it's possible you are trying to go on every mission you detect -- that's a mistake. You will encounter more targets than you can handle; your job is to hit lightly defended ones while keeping a reserve for must-finish missions.

• If you are running out of Intel remember the main role of the Intel job is to generate missions -- and generate missions with LOTS of time to infiltrate, which are going to be much easier if you let an infiltration get to >100%. Early on, go on high extremely light or very light missions only, unless it's an emergency. Use the boost infiltration button when you can afford it. Pick up gear and perks that help with infiltration time (suppressors, chameleon vest, tradecraft perk are the biggies).

• If you are hitting missions where the Turn Timers feel extremely punishing, remember Officers have an ability, Intervention, that spends intel to increase the turn timer. So train an officer in the GTS (they do lots of other cool stuff too).

• On many missions, XCOM can request an emergency evacuation from the battlefield at the Commander's discretion. Once the Skyranger has been contacted, the soldier making the call will need to select a rendezvous point for the evacuation to occur. Doing so will reveal the squad if it is concealed. Once placed, the squad will need to move into the designated EVAC volume and request a rope out. Note that the Skyranger may take some time to arrive: if XCOM has many infiltrations active around the globe, has poorly infiltrated this particular mission, or has a large squad, expect to have to defend the evac zone until the Skyranger can arrive.

• Also remember that not every mission is going to be winnable, you will lose soldiers and missions, but through careful planning and smart choices you can win the war.

These are the new and changed tips that appear when loading a mission.

Tactical
o "When controlling a Shinobi, right click on an enemy to initiate your charging melee attack."
o "An increased Dodge stat can lead to \"graze\" shots, where only partial damage is applied."
o "Soldiers with the Phantom ability will begin every mission in concealment, even if the squad does not."
o "On higher difficulties, the enemy will sometimes get bonus actions if they patrol into you on their turn."
o "When assaulting an ADVENT regional HQ, take as large a squad as you can afford."
o "Frag and alien grenades thrown by soldiers lacking the \"Sapper\" or \"Combat Engineer\" perks will be unreliable in destroying cover. Try using a rocket."
o "Each utility item you equip reduces a soldier's mobility by one, so it may be advantageous to leave some of your utility slots empty for bonus movement."
o "Soldiers may equip one plating item and one protective vest. Plating grants ablative HP that can't be healed but isn't counted as a wound when lost."
o "Submachine guns lack the punch of other primary weapons, but they grant bonuses to both mobility and infiltration."
o "Any soldier may equip a pistol in a utility slot. Pistol perks are trained in the Advanced Warfare Center."
o "A Shinobi's slash attack takes only one action and does not end the Shinobi's turn."
o "The Combat Protocol and Arc Pulser perks are good early counters to ADVENT drones."
o "Enemy UFOs are extremely well-defended and require a powerful squad to take on."
o "Summoning the Skyranger for an evacuation now takes multiple turns. Be prepared to defend the evac point."

Strategy
o "Every month new scientists, engineers and veteran soldiers are available for recruitment at the Black Market."
o "Scanning at a Haven will significantly increase that Haven's chance of detecting missions."
o "Upon reaching the rank of sergeant, soldiers will have more extensive customization options."
o "Experimental projects in the Proving Grounds facility can unlock various items for construction."
o "Power relay facilities provide a large increase to power capacity when built atop a power coil."
o "Make sure to check back with the Black Market every month, as it will have new items for purchase and personnel available for recruitment."
o "Enemy bodies are only collected as loot if XCOM does not \"evac\" from the mission or have to leave the battle site immediately after the mission."
o "Elerium cores are valuable loot items, as they are required to create many specialized items."
o "Any timed loot on the map is recovered if you complete the mission before the timer expires, but only if XCOM does not \"evac\" from the mission or depart immediately after the battle."
o "To sabotage an alien facility and set back the aliens' Avatar project, you must first contact the region where the facility was built."
o "The Avatar project can be temporarily delayed, but it cannot be stopped. You are in a race against time."
o "The more Resistance personnel you set to the intel job, the higher chance you have of discovering a mission that has sufficient time left for you to infiltrate a large squad."
o "Attempting a mission before the squad is close to 100% infiltration can greatly increase the mission's difficulty."
o "High-ranking Specialists have access to an ability that will let them reprogram a MEC to work for the Resistance."
o "Liberating a region is a good way to build a supply of enemy corpses for research."
o "If a UFO is hunting the Avenger, it may be advantageous to recall a veteran squad from a mission to help defend XCOM's headquarters."
o "If you are successful on several missions in a region, ADVENT will relocate troops there, making your missions more difficult."
o "The Black Market now deals exclusively in supplies when buying and selling items."
o "Many technologies and items require additional science and engineering staff to unlock. The Basic Research and Engineering techs allow you to work around some of these restrictions."
o "Some missions are simply going to be too difficult for XCOM and should be ignored."
o "Contacting the Resistance in multiple regions will enable you to strike where ADVENT is weakest."
o "The aliens are pursuing the AVATAR project from the start of the campaign, but XCOM can only learn details by completing its objectives."

Also from Pavonis, here are the changes to the XCOM Archives (the in-game help) you can view from the Commander's Quarters:

Spoiler:

Here is a copy-paste of the new entries we've put in the archives. Note that some of these are only revealed ingame after you hit a certain objective or tech level.

LONG WAR 2 CONCEPTS: RESISTANCE HAVENS
Haven Management
In Long War 2, the Commander will take over management of the worldwide Resistance movement against the ADVENT administration. In regions XCOM has made contact with, you will use the Haven Management screen to direct the priorities of Resistance cells. Individual Resistance members will be listed on this screen. Resistance members can be assigned to one of four tasks: SUPPLY, RECRUIT, INTEL or HIDING. Note that rebels assigned to new jobs will not begin work until the following day.

The Supply Job
Resistance personnel on the SUPPLY job are focused on scavenging supplies from around their regions. More rebels assigned to the Supply job will mean a larger Supply drop each month. Note that over time in a given region, the Supply job will grow less effective as the Resistance scrounges the most easily recovered materiel.

The Recruit Job
Resistance members assigned to the RECRUIT job are busy in the communities looking for volunteers willing to join the Resistance. Recruits may either join the local Haven or, if they have potential as an XCOM trooper, they will enter the pool of potential recruits for soldier training. More rebels assigned to the Recruit job will mean faster recruiting of both Resistance members and soldiers. If recruiting in a liberated region, you have a small chance to find a scientist or engineer willing to work for XCOM.

The Intel Job
Resistance members put on the INTEL job will look for information on ADVENT and alien operations. They will generate a small income of the intel resource, but their main function is to detect alien activities and alert XCOM to vulnerabilities in the enemy security network, leading to mission alerts which XCOM can send troops on. More Resistance members on the intel job will detect more missions, and they will often detect them more quickly than they otherwise would. This gives your troops more time to infiltrate those targets, which is vital to generating survivable missions. IMPORTANT: The Avenger can assist greatly in the Intel job in a single region. Scanning at the Resistance Haven site will produce intel and missions equivalent to the contributions of several unpromoted Resistance members.

Resistance members who are put in the HIDING job will produce no resources, but they will also avoid any unwanted attention from ADVENT. Busy Havens are more likely to attract ADVENT retaliatory strikes, so putting rebels on the Hiding job will lower the Haven's profile.

Haven Operating Capacity
Each Haven only has the capacity for maximum of 13 Resistance members at that Haven to be assigned to the SUPPLY, RECRUIT, or INTEL jobs; the rest will be treated as reserves and put in the HIDING job.

ADVENT Reprisals
In retaliations and similar missions, Resistance members will appear during tactical combat. Depending on the operation, they may sometimes be armed, although they will be less effective than XCOM soldiers in combat. XCOM soldiers are also sometimes required to activate a Resistance member by moving close to them, giving the player control of their actions, so they can move to escape areas as necessary. In addition, XCOM can recover certain ADVENT assets and repurpose them for Haven defense, granting additional units to assist in combat.

Resistance Promotions
Over time, Resistance members can become better at their jobs. Resistance members who have gained a level will be marked with an asterisk on the Haven Management Screen. Expert members who have gained a second level will be marked with an additional asterisk. These promoted rebels will produce more results on any job they are assigned to, and they will also receive XCOM perks for use in combat.

XCOM Advisers
XCOM may assign a single adviser from its staff to each Haven to assist in various tasks. The adviser may be assigned by clicking the photo frame in the top-left of the Haven Management screen. Assigning an engineer will generate bonuses for the Supply job in the region. Assigning a scientist will generate bonuses to the Intel job. Assigning a soldier will generate bonuses to the Recruit job; the soldier will also appear on combat missions involving Haven personnel. The soldier will also hunt for any ADVENT infiltrators in the Haven. Higher-ranking soldiers will generate more bonuses. The soldier should be outfitted with gear on the Avenger BEFORE departing for the Haven. If a Resistance Haven is entirely wiped out by enemy action, the only way to recruit new rebels is to station a soldier in the region. Advisers may be unassigned from the Haven by clicking on their portrait, as long as ADVENT doesn't have any active reprisals against the Resistance underway in the region."

LONG WAR 2 CONCEPTS: INFILTRATION

Infiltration Summary
Many of XCOM's offensive operations require infiltration of the target site over a period of several days. Infiltrating a mission site represents XCOM forces concealing themselves from ADVENT patrols and gathering intelligence on enemy activities. This careful preparation allows XCOM to strike when the time is right. During infiltrations, the XCOM forces will not be available for other missions, unless you abort the infiltration and return the troops to base, canceling any progress you have made. XCOM may have multiple infiltrations underway at once. Properly infiltrating these sites is crucial to conducting missions that XCOM can win.

Infiltration Missions
These missions use an INFILTRATION START button at the top center of the Squad Select screen. After selecting your squad and beginning an infiltration, the mission pin on the Geoscape will show a percent-infiltrated value ranging from 0 to 200%. The more the squad infiltrates a site, the fewer enemy units it will face on the mission. This is the critical role infiltration plays in Long War 2.

Infiltration Progress
While it is possible to launch an attack on many of these sites immediately, the squad could face two to three times as many enemies without properly preparing for the mission. The amount of extra forces is indicated by the Enemy Readiness description in the Infiltration Options panel, which can be Impregnable, Fortified, Alerted, Guarded, Normal and Vulnerable. There are invisible gradations within these categories, so every additional hour spent infiltrating makes it more likely XCOM will face a lesser enemy force. More time spent infiltrating also reduces the time the Skyranger takes to arrive when the squad throws an evac flare. Note that some critical missions require at least 100% infiltration before the mission may be launched.

Enemy Activity
The impact on enemy forces is also noted in the Current and Baseline enemy activity readouts in Squad Select and the infiltration panels. These descriptions, such as \"light,\" \"heavy,\" or \"swarming\" indicate how many enemies you are likely to face, not counting any reinforcements the aliens are able to summon. The baseline enemy activity description, reported when the mission is first detected and in the Squad Selection screen, represents the expected enemy force level if you infiltrate to 100%. The current enemy activity level is what it would be if you launched the mission at that moment. You can gain further bonuses by infiltrating to 200%, although no mission will drop below \"Extremely Light\" activity, and the benefits accumulate much more slowly after exceeding 100%.

Boosting Infiltrations
Once per infiltration, the Commander may also assist an infiltration by electing to spend some of XCOM's Intel resource. Using the \"Boost Infiltration\" button in the Infiltration Options panel will give you the option of spending 25 intel to significantly increase the rate of infiltration. You can use this option at any time during the infiltration, as its benefits apply retroactively.

Managing Infiltration Time
The Commander has some control over the amount of time it takes to infiltrate a mission site by using smaller or larger squads and by selecting certain soldier perks and gear. This is represented by information presented in the Squad Select screen. The \"Base Infiltration\" value is how many days a typical XCOM squad of five soldiers will take to infiltrate the site to 100%. The Squad Size modifier value is the impact of the currently selected squad size. The stealth modifier is the impact of abilities and gear. Certain perks, particularly Infiltrator and Tradecraft, lower infiltration time. Units carrying submachine guns and certain other specialized stealth gear can further lower it. Meanwhile, heavy weapons specialists - Gunners, Grenadiers and Technicals - will increase the squad's infiltration time.

Mission Expiration
Many missions also expire; the time left until expiration is noted in the Mission Expiration value in the Squad Select screen. The earlier the local Resistance Haven's intel section detects an enemy operation, the more time XCOM will have until the mission expires. This will often prevent squads from reaching 100% infiltration. When a mission is expiring on the Geoscape, an alert will give the Commander the choice of going in at the current infiltration level or aborting.

Resistance Management
The Resistance management panel allows XCOM to direct the activities of Resistance cells around the world. New Resistance Havens will appear here as contact is established, along with a summary of their current strength and activities. Selecting a region will take you the appropriate Haven management panel (see below).

Squad Management
The squad manager lets you organize squads of troops who can be assigned as a group to a particular mission. Squads operate under the following guidelines:
* Up to 12 soldiers may be assigned to a squad, and squads may be chosen in the squad select interface immediately before a mission.
* If a squad member is wounded, in training or just not a good fit for a mission, you can substitute in a temporary squad member from the pool of unassigned soldiers on a mission-by-mission basis.
* You may also build a squad entirely from unassigned members just before a mission; they will be given a name (for reference on the Geoscape), and that squad will be disbanded as soon as the mission is over.
* To transfer soldiers from one permanent squad to another, they must first be unassigned from their current squad.

Soldier Experience
Soldiers gain experience and levels primarily by going on missions, with a smaller portion coming directly from the soldier individually killing enemies. Mission XP is based on how many enemies are present on the map at the beginning of a tactical mission, and it is divided equally among the troops after the mission if it is successful, regardless of how many enemies were killed. Note this means that sending fewer soldiers on a mission will result in them receiving a greater share of the mission XP. If XCOM fails to achieve its objectives during the mission, a smaller amount of shared mission XP is rewarded based on how many enemies were killed, with the maximum capped at 50% of what a successful mission would have provided."

Liberating Regions
The Resistance, with sufficient help from XCOM, may now liberate regions entirely from ADVENT control. They must detect and undertake a series of increasingly difficult missions to do this, culminating with strikes on ADVENT's power centers in the region. The aliens will undertake almost no activities in liberated regions unless they attempt to retake it. The Resistance will generate bonus supplies, recruits and intel for XCOM in liberated regions. Any active infiltrations in a region that is liberated will receive a significant bonus to infiltration percentage, and then the Commander will have to decide whether to go on that mission immediately or abort before ADVENT retreats its forces to neighboring regions.

Alien and ADVENT Forces
As powerful as they are, the aliens do have limits on their capabilities. They have spread their forces around the globe in an attempt to engage the Resistance, and some places they are stronger than others. Our intelligence teams provide estimates of enemy strengths in each contacted region; that strength will change over time as ADVENT moves troops to areas of high XCOM and Resistance activity, leaving other areas potentially vulnerable. Missions in regions which have heavy ADVENT presence will be far more difficult in areas they are not giving much attention to.

Enemy Corpses
Because of many of our missions require rapid exfiltration from a battle site, we are often unable to collect the remains of our ADVENT and alien enemies for research or rendering into useful alien materials. Offensive missions that offer the possibility to gather enemy corpses should be made a priority.

Officer Training
The Guerrilla Tactics school contains up to two slots for you to pick soldiers from the armory and train them as officers. Officers may gain a number of special abilities to assist on missions, but only one officer may go on a mission at a time. You may begin selecting officers from your soldiers who have reached corporal rank. Officers have a Command Range that increases with their officer rank; it determines the distance at which many of their abilities are effective.

Sharpshooter Class
Relying primarily on high-powered rifles to eliminate hostile targets from long distances, Sharpshooters may specialize as a sniper capable of long-range ambushes, or as a mobile marksman who can target enemies from just behind our front lines. Sharpshooters are also equipped with the Holo-Targeter, a device used to designate targets for the rest of XCOM.

Shinobi Class
Shinobi are trained in advanced infiltration techniques allowing for concealment beyond what the average XCOM soldier can manage. Shinobi carry swords for the occasional close combat melee encounter.

Gunner Class
Gunners carry the cannon, useful for laying down barrages of sustained suppressive or direct fire. Because of the weight of this weapon, they can only carry a combat knife for personal defense."

Technical Class
Our Technicals wear a specialized wrist weapon that has both a minirocket launcher and a flamethrower. They may specialize in either.

Ranger Class
The Ranger serves as our primary front-line soldier, specializing in the standard assault rifle. They develop either as an offensive infantryman or a defender who specializes in overwatch abilities. They carry a sawed-off shotgun for close-in work.

Assault Class
Our assaults trace some ancestry to pre-war police Special Weapons and Tactics personnel, along with soldiers who specialized in urban counterinsurgencies shorly before the alien invasion. They typically carry a shotgun as their primary weapon and can specialize in combat or survival abilities. For long-distance work, they carry the arc thrower, an improved version of the XCOM weapon devised during the invasion's early days that is capable of stunning targets.

Specialist Class
Using salvaged alien technology, Shen has managed incredible advances in robotics, allowing XCOM's Specialists to field the highly advanced drones known affectionately as GREMLINs. Although they are capable of being outfitted for direct combat or medical support, the GREMLINs are only as strong as their handlers, making a skilled Specialist invaluable to XCOM.

Grenadier Class
Serving as a heavy weapons specialist, the Grenadier can create havoc on the battlefield through the use of high explosive grenades and flashbangs or support other soldiers with defensive smoke grenades and other protective devices.

Stopping The Avatar Project
While we have limited understanding of the nature of the aliens' work, we do know that every successful battle we fight against them forces them to divert resources away from Avatar and toward pacifying Earth. That gives us more time to learn about the nature of the project and find ways to stop it.

These are some rewritten vanilla entries describing some changed mechanics.

Radio Relays
Constructing Radio Relays will extend the range from which we can contact new, previously unexplored regions. Building relays at the edges of our current reach will provide the greatest benefit in terms of added range. Radio Relays make rebels more effective at their jobs, and the Intel cost of contacting neighboring regions will be reduced.

Black Market
The Black Market provides access to a basic storefront operated by a network of smugglers operating outside of the ADVENT administration. XCOM can buy additional materials using supplies. Unwanted items can also be sold."

The Avenger
Serving as XCOM's mobile headquarters, the Avenger was once a basic transport vessel utilized by the aliens during the invasion. Shot down and disabled by forces unknown, the ship was apparently abandoned by the aliens, only to be discovered by Dr. Raymond Shen who first proposed an attempt at reclaiming the vessel for XCOM. Although many facets of the alien technology remain a mystery, the ship itself is now reliably under XCOM's control and has proven to be crucial to the resurgent Resistance movement. One of the most important roles of the Avenger is to assist in scanning for missions in a given region. Scanning at a Haven provides a significant bonus to Intel gathered there.

Concealment
With limited tactical resources, XCOM has to rely on stealth to gain the upper hand on our enemies. Many operations begin with the XCOM squad in concealment. By avoiding the enemy's detection radius, XCOM can remain concealed until they reach the mission objective. Various factors can impact enemy detection radii, including what gear XCOM is carrying and abilities they have trained.

EVAC
XCOM can request an emergency evacuation from the battlefield at the Commander's discretion. Once the Skyranger has been contacted, the soldier making the call will need to select a rendezvous point for the evacuation to occur. Doing so will reveal the squad if it is concealed. Once placed, the squad will need to move into the designated EVAC volume and request a rope out. Note that the Skyranger may take some time to arrive: if XCOM has many infiltrations active around the globe, has poorly infiltrated this particular mission, or has a large squad, expect to have to defend the evac zone until the Skyranger can arrive."

Advanced Warfare Center
The Advanced Warfare Center allows soldiers to gain abilities outside their given class and respec selected talents. When a scientist is staffed within the facility, the AWC also improves the rate at which XCOM's soldiers will recover from injuries. Soldiers elgible for extra training can select abilities in one of three categories: offensive, defensive and pistol. For offensive and defensive abilities, soldiers may train up to three abilities in each category. The abilities are randomly generated for each soldier, but the abilities unlocked after finishing a training segment will generally be stronger than the previous ones. For pistol abilities, soldiers may train all seven, given enough time."

Guerrilla Tactics School
Through the Guerrilla Tactics School additional combat tactics, unit abilities, and officer training programs are available for purchase. Rookie soldiers can also be trained into a specific class of your choosing here.

ADVENT Network Towers
ADVENT Network Towers are important nodes of the alien Psionic network and their worldwide communications system. Although the towers themselves are a readily identifiable fixture to those people living in the city centers, its overall function and the extent of its capabilities are still generally unknown. It is widely believed that the ADVENT Peacekeeping forces in a given region are coordinated from somewhere within the regional tower. We also believe that a master tower somewhere serves as the hub for distributing information and commands to all of the regional towers.

I've uploaded to my Dropbox a zipped folder with three documents containing the three big text blocks I posted just above.. They are in ODT format. Let me know if you have problems downloading or opening them.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsnvxnzmxykog ... s.zip?dl=0

Contains files:
Long War 2 Archive updates.odt
Long War 2 changes.odt
Long War 2 tips.odt

[jztemple2]

By the way, a good source for more info on the mod is the Pavonis Interactive Long War 2 Forum. They have a strategy subforum and I found this info, which sounds good (if it is true!)

It's not a bad idea to set all of the rebels in your starting region to intel and then scan there with the Avenger if you're having a hard time finding missions with enough time left to infiltrate them.

Supply and Recruit jobs may seem important, but you can often get supplies and/or recruits from missions generated by the Intel job. The tradeoff of course is that you have to have soldiers to actually do the missions (and succeed at them) while the Supply and Recruit jobs just give those things to you. But if you have the soldiers and gear.... going all out on Intel can find you some very juicy missions.

I find that I'll typically have a bit more balanced distribution of Haven jobs as I start expanding, but at the start it's hard to beat the Intel rebel job. At least in my limited experience - I'm sure others will come up with all sorts of interesting strategies as well.

Good luck, Commanders!

[jztemple2]

Here are some more tips from the Pavonis team, this time on Haven management. I'm copying them from posts they are making in threads on the forum, so they are a little disjointed. I'm collecting them in a new document to post at some time, but these are nicely tied together so I'm posting them now.

Spoiler:

Haven Management

• I usually wait to put people on Supply until I've Liberated my first region.
• In general in LW2, the Intel job for rebels will be most overall effective for you as long as you have enough squads to do the missions you're detecting (and can succeed in them). Supply and Recruit jobs are for when you have enough extra rebels and regions that you don't need them all looking for missions, or don't want to run missions in a region for some reason.
• Supply Drain from infiltrators is on a daily basis - they will eat a % of the supplies your Haven produces each day and then you find out about it at the end of the month. That means if you kill the infiltrator near the end of the month, much of the damage for that month will already have been done. Infiltrators also only affect the region they're in, so if you know a region is clean you can get supplies from it without fear.
  EDIT: Oops, got my versions mixed up. Right now they eat an additive amount of supplies, which will wipe out your supply drops unless you have a ton. It will change to a % in the next patch, which should help those early rebels on supply a little bit... though I'd still recommend all Intel early on.
• Any rebel recruited can be a Faceless, so if your Haven is clean and doesn't grow you know it's safe. The Recruit job doesn't actually require you to buy rebels, it just gets them for you over time. You only have to buy the rookies it generates.
• I find that I'm typically not making much money from Havens though until I Liberate one of them (which grants an income bonus to that Haven). Until then it's BM and Excavation to stay afloat.
• If you can pull off a Troop Column ambush or Supply Raid (both require lots of rebels on Intel to detect) you'll get a good amount of loot that can be sold.
  Also, consider only building one or two buildings until you start making more money - you don't really need the PG super early IMO. Could try PG and GTS or PG and AWC I suppose, but I'm fond of GTS and AWC first and then waiting for PG (and the requisite power relay) until I'm making more money.
• Rebels who were not previously Faceless won't just turn into Faceless spontaneously. Infiltrators have to be new recruits.
• Faceless can only steal supplies from Havens they're in. This lets you create "safer" regions that are to gather supplies from after you've cleared the spies out. Maybe don't gather supplies from a new region until you've had a soldier there for a month or so?

[jztemple2]

Someone posted this image, which really helps to get basic understanding of Infiltration. As you mentioned, you already understand the need to get good infiltration values, but maybe some folks are still a bit confused (click to enlarge)


By the way, I've found a couple more resources worth posting. One is a Mods Compatibility with LW2 list that I think is being kept updated. The other is a posting on Reddit, Long War 201 - Compatible Mods and First Campaign Primer, this one looks pretty useful for those preparing for their first LH2 campaign.

[NickAragua]

Pro tip: if you plan on moving and then using a special ability, especially on a guy with many special abilities (I've only got squaddies, but some of them have a rocket, a flamer, two grenade types, etc), finish the move first and *let the skill panel at the bottom update*. It drove me nuts when I wanted to move my rocket launcher guy and fire off a rocket, only to have him throw a dinky little grenade instead.

[jztemple2]

By the way, in case you are having trouble sleeping or need to test your monitor's text display abilities, the spoiler tagged info below contains the proposed changes for Long War 2 update 1.1 which were posted earlier this week:

Spoiler:

I'm tossing up the 1.1 changelist as it stands for folks to take a look at. It's pretty long but it would be helpful if you are here to report a bug to check this first and save some electrons.

Remember, asking for ETAs causes a rookie to die. Think of the rookies.

Will update as we get more in. (Updated to CL 2082)

Bugfixes
- Fixed bug preventing tactical DEs (Alien navigator-type upgrades) from occurring. This will cause a meaningful increase in difficulty.
- Fixed bug causing captured soldiers to not be controllable after hacking the cells in Jailreak missions.
- Fixed an array bug that was causing not all tiles to be partitioned correctly when applying explosive environmental damage falloff.
- Fixed bug in which buildable weapon upgrades were ignoring INSTANT_BUILD ini setting, making them take time to build
- Fix bug causing AI to adjust their patrol paths in response to XCOM's movement without any direct knowledge of them. (Default behavior can be re-enabled via config)
- Psi Operatives can now equip heavy weapons (with appropriate armor).
- Fix for non-commanding officers getting officer abilities.
- Disorient effects will now cancel overwatch on units that are already disoriented.
- Soldiers that are in a permanent squad, but are temporarily assigned to another squad for one mission, will now be removed from their permanent squad if killed or captured.
- Corrected line-break in RapidTargeting detailed help text and other typos.
- Disallowed Field Medic from list of possible Rebel skills
- Increased delayed init for infiltration squad select by .25 secs
- Fixed base-game issue that could cause POIs to become unselectable. POIs now have minimum Weight of 1 instead of 0.
- Fix pod leaders flanking themselves on scamper. This was an unintended side-effect of fixing the AI lock-up if a pod activates out in the fog due to taking damage while xcom is concealed (e.g. by spawning on top of fire or being too close to a sectopod/big chryssy/etc that walks on something explodey). Fixed by restoring the original behavior except if no xcom can see the scampering unit.
- Fixed bug in UITacticalHUD_AbilityColor that was causing bad objective ability colors (XCOMGAME change)
- Added check for Kill Zone/Gunslinger being active to conditions for Command and Fall Back
- Fixed bad schedule entry (AdvFireteambucket_lw) in G_V_D10_5
- Removed possibility you can spawn two of the same ruler on black site mission
- Fixed bug causing Full Kit to grant a partial extra ghost grenade
- Bugfix for alert locations: adjust the location to ensure it's pathable so the pods can actually try to get there. Prevents locked pods on awkward maps like the network tower.
- Fix bug with faceless that are acting as xcom soldiers on rendezvous were being removed from the haven on mission end. These faceless have not blown their cover and remain.
- Fix bug with the post-rendezvous cleanup of faceless spies only removing the first one (this was masked by the above bug).
- Added SMG Range profile to hunter pistol weapons via template mod.
- Fixed incorrect offset for CoilCannon Reargrip B.
- Officer ranknames/icons now only show once officerRank > 0. Pulling a trainee from the tube will no longer loc their rank at NCO.
- Fix bug allowing RNF units to get yellow reaction shots.
- Item-based template mod now removes environment falloff for CombatEngineer, not TandemWarheads
- Fixed bad config for WARCRY_OTHER_BONUS that was preventing war cry from being applied to any unit that wasn't a Muton type.
- Rebels can no longer accrue to an officer's leadership bonus pool.
- Fixed bug in sorting by mission count for Leadership display for officers
- Added more info to Leadership display (rank, class), and additional secondary sorting criteria.
- Attempted fix to change end of month report to display delta doom since previous month (since limited to 12 pips).
- Added new icon for AlienGrenade (based on EU/EW version). Swapped it in for soldier AlienGrenade item and MutonGrenade variants
- Removed SoundCue audio from narrative moment for AutopsyMuton_M3 bink.
- Added UpdateNavHelp override to officer pack promotion UI to disable Ability Info button when controller isn't active.
- Added condition to officer pack to prevent display of "Officer already selected" warning unless UISquadSelect is active, and not in squad management.
- Added Frostbomb as a valid support-type grenade for RapidDeployment
- Adding grenade targeting to XComGame to provide smoke preview fixes.
- SetMaxForceLevel=99 sted 20 on final entries in variousspawnweightsarrays in characterstats.ini
- Faceless from 'Infiltrators ' Dark Event; Faceless pods (1x FacelessCivilian + 1xCivilian) replaced with a new _LW variant that uses 1x FacelessCivilian and 1x HostileCivilian. Avoids the regular civilian on these missions from having no detection squares. FacelessCivilian template has bIsHostileCivilian=true, giving them detection squares. FaclessCivilian now excluded from infiltration detection modifiers that aliens usually get. Avoids them being detectable on high-infil missions due to a lower detection radius than civilians (which do not have this modifier applied).
- Fixed some bad FL15 boss definitions in mission schedules
- Fixed sticky Dark Event Reveal button issue by destroying the button when selecting to reveal a hidden event.
- Partial fix for extraneous Dark Events. Added validation code that runs once per day when the Activity Manager generates new activities
- Added new socket overrides for AlienLgt_Std_A_* torsos to correct HeavyWeapon socket position on DLC2 hunter armor.
- Made some fixes to XComGame.UITextContainer to fix vertical autoscrolling behavior
- Made some fixes to XComGame.UITacticalHUD_ShotWings to fix vertical autoscrolling behavior.
- StandardShot has a special ApplyWeaponDamage ability intended to be upgraded by stock weapon upgrades. Added a condition to prevent non-damaging events from triggering this. This will fix Area Suppression ending on misses and Evasive not working as well as it should.
- Removed the persistent flag for Bombard and JavelinRocket abilities, as they don't need to persist when switching from tactical to strategy
- Squads will now reliably halt on configured infiltration halt points, instead of just once per squad.
- Fix for displayed negative/underflow time on expiring mission passed 100% infiltration.
- Hacked doors on jailbreak after a restart level would not unlock all doors.
- Adjusted the DLC2 HunterWeaponPOI alert so that it triggers 'HunterWeaponsViewed' when carry on is pressed.
- Fixed a base-game issue where multi-unit movement could sometimes result in a unit temporarily teleporting to the 0,0,0 tile, which could result in concealment break / reaction fire trigger.
- Corrected LEADERSHIP_COVERTNESS_PER_MISSION from 0.075 to 0.0075.
- Dismiss button is now disabled in UIArmory_MainMenu if soldier is training.
- Added event listener to squad manager to remove a unit from squad when unit is dismissed.
- Fix for Resistance mecs and liaisons having their abilities refreshed in a new gamestate without having a new unit state created and added to that state. This could have unpredictable results.
- Fix for rare bug causing units to be unable to move in tactical. They have a leftover "Immobilized" unit value assigned to them with a eCleanup_Never policy. This prevents them from taking any actions. I have no idea how the unit got into this state - the only thing that sets Immobilized with a Never policy is bind, and that is usually removed when the binding unit is killed/flashed. Somehow a unit got out of tactical with the flag still applied. To fix the unit I added a \LWSetUnitValue console command so the affected unit can be unstuck (and any other unit value assigned or changed, but only with a BeginTactical cleanup policy). Also change the bind ability to use the BeginTactical cleanup policy, like just about every other ability in the game.
- Added AvengerDefense_LW to the INTERVENTION_INVALID_MISSIONS list.
- Fix for Combatives animation not firing.
- Skulljack and Skullmine should show correct icon colors now
- Avatar progress modifier display in ResistanceManagement now rounds instead of truncates (so 0.98% => 1% instead of 0%). Also fixed potential issue with localized string.
- Fixed bug in which Wraith Suit (Shadow Armor) was repeatable tech
- Fixed bug in facility configuration that may have ignored some elerium core costs
- Fixed loc error in "low on scientists" and "low on engineers" that said you can buy them with intel (english only)
- Added calls to ResHQ.AddGlobalEffectString using DarkEvent GetPostMissionText when completing dark event missions.
- Disable the pointless mission counter UI on supply convoy missions.
- AWC Abilities button in Armory (and foreknowledge of trainable AWC abilities) does not appear until you build AWC
- Fixed missing psigate schedule/diff level (4)
- Alien Facility lead RP increment corrected from bad huge erroneous value
- Reduced coil shotty spread by 1 to bring in line with other coil weapons and shotguns
- Fixed bug in Plot_TWN_Mixed_LgObj_10_LW and _11_LW maps that were allowing out-of-bounds objectives to spawn
- Cleanup of multiple map plots and custom parcels. Shout out to McDenny's '09 for the labor.
- Fix civilians rescued summary for Soldier VIPs.
- Set max hacking loss from NCE to -4 so everybody has at least 1 hacking and can use their xPhone
- Fixed description of Armor Piercing Rounds so it doesn't say all armor in INT, FRA, ESN, ITA.

Balancing / Gameplay

- Psi Operatives now gain three psi perks upon initial training. They must gain XP on missions to be allowed to train further. They still may choose from three perks to train and may train powerful perks early in their development, but that will require they stay in the tube for an extended period. They may only train one ability per rank so may not train further after they achieve maximium rank. Psi offense and enemy will progression reworked. Rework of psi tree to better match training times with ability power.
- Set up Shaped Charge grenade with full loc! Thanks awesome translators!
- Faceless now steal supplies as a percent instead of absolute value.
- Swapped around Covert, Conceal and Tradecraft on Shinobi tree. NOTE: THIS WILL CHANGE EXISTING CAMPAIGNS. Sorry, can't be avoided.
- Swapped Chain Shot and Tandem Warheads on Grenadier tree. NOTE: ALSO SORRY.
- Grenades versus most vehicles should not cause immediate explosions reliably without Sapper + Combat Engineer perk. Sapper tends to set them on fire for a future explosion. Trikes will still blow up a lot. Cars with open doors will blow up more often.
- Rendezvous activity now has regional instead of global cooldown.
- A region's liberation status now affects infiltration time on Golden Path and facility sabotage missions. Base infiltration time for those missions significantly increased to encourage liberation in those regions.
- Chances for Haven Faceless to help generate retaliation and raid missions reduced.
- Set Mission Timers modifier to +2 on veteran sted +1, because we listen and care
- Added a bunch of AWC perks to each level, lots of doubling up and a few (Combat Fitness, Lone Wolf, Damn Good Ground) that cross offense and defense
- Shadow Chamber takes more days to build, significant reduction in research times for shadow chamber projects (50% or so), added intel cost to research shadow chamber projects
- Significant number of new schedules to increase granularity at higher alert levels. This makes small deltas in infiltration more meaningful.
- Green alert enemies can now sometimes take green (defensive) reflex actions after scamper; removed anti-Beaglerush maneuver as redundant
- Rookies can now show up on Jailbreaks with the same % chance as the recruiting job. Jailbreaks can now have up to 6 prisoners to rescue, but they are limited in the early months.
- Removed Lightning Reflexes from ViperM2, removed ViperM2 from Scout job
- Added Terror Bucket encounters to some intel raids and alien bases, and as reinfs on defend and supply convoy raid
- Made Black Market personnel a bit cheaper on all diffs but Legend
- Added config var allowing bias toward soldier recruits if a haven is full
- Adjusted down some PCS trading post costs, Spark gear costs, armor research costs, armor costs
- Added some Faceless civilians on rare guerrilla ops
- Set Defend missions to spawn reinfs based on proximity to evac zone instead of squad centerpoint
- Rookie max wound time shorter
- Rookie, Commander longer Doom intervals for fortress (day or two)
- Added new advent units to war cry bonus list
- Capped Advent Grenadier as 1 per pod
- Reduced Hack Defense on Hunter Drone
- Removed Charger, Defender AI job from the game (pod jobs does it better)
- Added configuration multiplier for AWC pistol training times, initially set to 75% of normal.
- Defend/Guard pods can now patrol within a small area near their destination once they reach it. Keeps them from standing absolutely still when they have reached their defend location, so they're a little less predictable. Also ensures their alert gets periodically refreshed so they won't lose it.
- New avenger defense podjobs for the two assault pods and the defender pod. Defender pod will stay near the disruptor (as in vanilla). Assault pods will charge the avenger like everyone else but include 'Charger' job leaders that will attempt to enter the avenger landing area.
- Hunter Rifle Aim and Crit stats scale up with tech, also gains 1 shred at all tech levels
- Adjusted up advanced Hunter Pistol and Axe damage stats
- Removed possibility of Alien Rulers on Regional Network Tower missions
- Reduced Spark build cost to same as Mechanized Warfare research
- Increased spark rifle damage from 5.5 - 9 - 12.5 to 7.5 - 10 - 12.5, gave aim and ammo bonii as you upgrade weapons, gave spark more aim at high levels
- Sparks now get 5 ablative armor HP
- Set all drawbridges to down on all rooftops maps. Added custom versions of the two small vanilla rooftop maps with this in place.
- Increased chances for datapads as loot and in Black Market
- Made some techs and plasma weapons cheaper
- Reduced reveal cost of dark events to 5 intel
- Reduced duration of 50% job effectiveness dark events from a month to average 15 days
- Increased Avatar delay hours per global vig from 8 to 10
- All varieties of smoke now counter the crit bonus from flanking.
- DLC POIs set to 1-2 days just like the rest
- Standardized weights for all POIs to prevent any zeroing-out late campaign.
- Protect Data will reward supplies if all POIs exhausted
- More Hit Points for M3s on Legend
- Lost Towers POI won't appear to FL 8; Alien Nest won't appear until FL 12
- Set Flanking Crit chance for xcom soldiers, rebels, sparks to 40 in all diffs
- Dark Events will now first trigger on a difficulty-based month setting
- GTS projects get cheaper
- Recruit soldier bias goes to 80-20 in full (13+ rebels) regions
- Set lose mode to 28 days, 24 on legend
- Made liberation sequence missions a little easier to detect
- HEAT Warheads will check for existing shred > 0 on grenade before adding more shred.
- Hunker Down bonii will no longer apply to units flanking you
- Fixed alloy padding DE so it only pops post-codex
- Reduced some enemy defense scores on lower diffs
- Reduced application chance of some tactical DEs
- Gave rookie-diff xcom soldiers +5 offense
- Added one day to cooldown between FL UFOs (so it's 16 days instead of 15)
- Fixed bad icon for Rapid Targeting passive
- Change the secure UFO reinforcement pod on timer expiry to an 8 pod. Increased timer significantly.
- The following perks will provide no bonuses if the unit it is impaired (stunned, disoriented, unconscious, panicking, mind controlled) or burning:
Damn Good Ground (defense only), Lone Wolf (defense only), Will to Survive, Tactical Sense, Lightning Reflexes_LW, Infighter, Hard Target, Combat Awareness.
- Added standard shootereffectexclusions for Ghostwalker (so can't do it in lots of bad situations)
- New Region Contact is now 3-4 days sted 4-6
- Focus Fire aim bonus increased from 4 to 5
- Increased officer command range significantly
- A few rookie settings changes
- Returned Insanity and Soulfire cooldowns to vanilla
- Reduced research time for Sectoid Autopsy
- Clutch Shot no longer works at squad sight range
- Set Priorities on General Ops to the be same to mix them up, particularly when a new region is contacted
- Removed elerium core cost for Medium and Heavy Tier III armors, reduced crystal cost for Light Tier III armor
- Removed elerium core cost for plasma pistol and alloy cannon. Inreased alloy cost for Alloy Cannon.
- Removed Corpse costs from advanced heavy weapons projects
- Increased env damage on all heavy armor weapons
- Shredstorm Cannon Project now requires only Battle Armor and Advanced Coilguns
- Plasma Blaster Project now requires only Battle Armor and Plasma Rifle
- Gave war suit +1 armor, -1 hp
- Scanning Protocol now gains bonus charges from 2nd and 3rd tier Gremlins
- Higher-tech swords and knife gain higher aim bonuses
- Allowed you to take 10 soldiers on an invasion mission
- Mind Control via insanity attack now lasts two turns and is ini-configurable
- Shadow / Wraith armor now offers greater infiltration bonus
- Made several PG projects cheaper
- Commander default evac delay increased to 4 turns, same as Legend
- Evac timer -2 only awarded on 200% infiltration instead of 190%
- Decreased tradecraft infil bonus to .75; Ghostwalker bonus to .98, Covert bonus improved to .95, Reduced Spark infil penalty to 1.34
- Reduced tube time for a lot of officer ranks
- Some missions will have extra evac time associated with them. This is a new-activity-mission variable. This was initially set for Liberation step 1, all three pre-UFO-intel-lead missions, and COINOps
- Liberation missions will not be available on Legendary until 2nd month. Ini-configurable.

COMPATIBILITY
- Added linux/mac formatted movies to project. Requires pending Feral patch to base-game XCOM 2 for them to work.

QOL
- Set 'bronzeman' style restart mission controls. Enabled on non-ironman campaigns; requires setting an ini flag in gamecore to enable on ironman campaigns.
- AWC and officer training can now be initiated from the relevant Armory Promotion UI.
- Set VeteranSoldierRank to 0 so all customization options are available from start
- Weapons and armor should be sorting better in engineering
- Regions in resistance management will now show bullets for each liberation stage completed
- Attempted to get rid of swaying camera effect for berserker rage
- Add the loot ability to rebel soldiers. Rebels on Rendezvous and IntelRaid will be able to pick up loot that drops, and it will be recovered at the end of the mission. Rebels in SupplyRaid would work too if anyone dropped loot. Unarmed rebels on terror missions or recruit raid cannot loot.
- Strip gear buttons in UILoadout will not strip units in the current squad.
- Add a mission expiry panel to the custom mission screen for non-infinite duration inflitration missions.
- Removed camera shake from Coil Cannon during suppression.
- Removed camera shake from Laser Cannon during suppression.
- Added new config to Helpers_LW named LowStrengthTriggerCount. This allows using this value (if defined >= 1) instead of GetMaxSoldiersAllowedOnMission for triggering UIForceUnderstrength. Goal is to make Bradford less naggy because you have guys out in the field.
- Added standard sound fx for the command and oscar mike abilities.
- Replaced the custom logic in Intervention's visualizer to play the sound with the new sound cue support - just set the name of the cue in the template's AbilityConfirmSound variable.
- Gave ourselves some credits on Shell/ShellDifficulty
- Made death animations faster
- Evac time should now display on infiltration missions in UI mission popup.
- Remaining time to infiltrate to 100% will now show for non-expiring missions.
- Add LWRenameRebel console function.
- When in UIPersonnel Squad Select, training message now takes precedence over unit being in another squad.

Modding
- Removed most non-UI class overrides.
- Added a new versioning scheme for the xcomgame replacement. LW_Overhaul can use this to detect if the xcomgame replacement was successfully loaded (which is mostly useful only if the community decides to implement a compatible one outside of LW2 that can be used in place of ours). Needs new loc to pop up a useful dialog instead of a redscreen.
- Revamped the yellow jobs so they are now defined in the same config array as the green jobs.
- Added new fields to the job definition to allow us to implement custom logic similar to that in the avenger defense
- Extended XComSoundManager to allow SoundCues in PlaySoundEvent, as well as supporting sound path aliases to let mods replace sounds.
1 A new SoundCuePaths array is processed at initialization time, just like SoundEventPaths. All assets found here are loaded and cached, except they are expected to be SoundCues instead of AkEvents.
2 The string given to PlaySoundEvent() is first looked up in the SoundAliases array. If such a key is found, the string for the sound to play is replaced with the value in the alias entry.
3 The string is then looked up in the standard SoundEvents array mapping the string to an AkEvent. If it's found, it's played as normal.
4 If the string isn't found in the SoundEvents array it's looked up in the SoundCues array. If found the corresponding SoundCue is played.
- Added world effect and smoke effect classes to mod's XComGame override.
- Allowed setting of delayinit timer for squad select in lw_overhaul.ini
- Added event hook 'PostPsiProjectCompleted' to PsiTraining HeadquartersProject gamestate.
- Updates XComGame calls to DLCInfo hook DLCAppendSockets so that AppearanceInfo is available for XComHumanPawn
- Adusted event handler GetUIClassForMissionSite so that mod-mods can override the MissionSite UI class.
- Add hooks to allow mods to override the fire and death sounds on projectiles. Use a config mapping in Helpers_LW to assign a sound cue to any projectile element (by projectile name + index).
- Reworked UI class overrides so they can be further overridden recursively.
- Made config array X2LootTable.LootTables non-private so that DLC/Mods can make run-time adjustments to it.
- Made some adjustments to FullKit code to move hard-coded abilities into config variables.
- Added an event to the alert when an AWC training project is complete.
- Another attempted fix for GP and non-expiring missions not showing correct time in UIMission_Infil screen.
- Added hook to allow override the usual tactical mission launch process.
- Converted event-type hook for ModifyEarnedSoldierAbilities to X2DLCInfo-type hook to prevent CTDs or other oddness on campaign start.
- Add 'RebelAdded_LW' and 'ResistanceMECAdded_LW' events.
- De-const the evac flare effect paths for easier modder access.
- Units with CharacterTemplates assigned bIsSoldier will no longer be cleaned up. Mod compatibility fix.

Known Issues
- Our custom cutscenes do not have localized audio for non-English players. They have correct subtitles.
- Our custom audio snippets in missions do not have localized audio or localized subtitles for non-English players.
- The mod does not support controllers.

[Paingod]

Holy mother of frog. I'm hip-deep in Grim Dawn, but will probably get back to this soon.

[Newcastle]

Awesome thread & updating Jz. Thanks for doing this as well as taking the first few brave steps into the LW2 world.

[coopasonic]

Holy mother of frog. I'm hip-deep in Grim Dawn, but will probably get back to this soon.

See, this is why it needed its own thread.

[Newcastle]

Not sure if you can answer this:

1- when do the DLC missions pop up? (ie the snakes & spark)

2. How have you been handling the special weapons from teh DLC- you know those 4 items...frost bomb, the bolt gun, etc. If your troops die that are carrying are those weapons gone forever?

[NickAragua]

The DLC missions appear to show up as they would in the normal game. I have been secreting my DLC weapons away because they're irreplacable, and, to be honest, my casualty rate is far too horrendous to even think about bringing irreplaceable guns to a fight.

I might install the "buildable DLC weapons" mod though, then I'd be ok bringing those guns in.

[Kraken]

How do you speed up infiltration in real time? Surely you don't have to sit there and wait for the clock to slowly tick down...but I can't find an accelerate button.

[jztemple2]

How do you speed up infiltration in real time? Surely you don't have to sit there and wait for the clock to slowly tick down...but I can't find an accelerate button.

You click on the radar screen like icon to the right of the "Haven xxx xxx" bar of the region where you are.

[jztemple2]

I just found out that taking down an alien column reduces Advent Strength in a region by two. Very nice.

And now I also found out when it sucks to only have enough fighters for two squads. I have both deployed when I have a mission come up to destroy a relay that also counters an Alien Dark Event. So I had to call off one mission and get that squad back so I can redeploy, which of course ate up precious infiltration time. And my last relay mission didn't go well.

UPDATE: And I find that the mission has an infiltration time of only one day, five hours. I am hosed

UPDATE 2: I decided I couldn't pass up on this mission so I assigned two Shinobi to the squad Forlorn Hope. Even with using 25 Intel I only had an Infiltration of 101%. Still, I went ahead. The two guys landed and skirted the map around the back edge, then approached the convenience store holding the relay. Instead of crashing through the window I used the door this time which didn't make any noise. I lined up the two Shinobi at the relay and started whacking away. It took three precious turns, but on the third turn the relay was destroyed, although the aliens were lined up outside the front of the store.

My guys ran out the back

And did they run! They would have been faster except that I didn't think I'd be able to stay up close to the relay so they had grenades. Turns out they didn't need them. They ran like hell to the back corner of the map, the aliens lumbering after them. Next turn I popped an evac flare and since I'm playing on Rookie Firebrand was only one turn out. In that turn the aliens came up close and... laid down suppressing fire? I'm trapped in the corner of the map and the alien mec could have nailed both with one of this rockets, although since they both had the new fangled armor they would have survived. Oh well, he'll have to explain his reasoning to his new insect overlords (movie reference). And so next turn we grabbed ropes and headed up. Not a scratch, relay destroyed, Dark Event cancelled. Nice work. Bradford even cracked a smile.

[jztemple2]

There is a rather interesting thread over on the Pavonis Long War 201 forum called "Find A Lead" Mission Explaination. I quote the initial posting from the Pavonis crew:

Spoiler:

"Find A Lead" Mission Explaination

by deaconivory » Wed Jan 25, 2017 2:11 pm
From the in-game text: (note this is me copying and pasting from a text doc, so take it with a grain of salt)

"The Resistance, with sufficient help from XCOM, may now liberate regions entirely from ADVENT control. They must detect and undertake a series of increasingly difficult missions to do this, culminating with strikes on ADVENT's power centers in the region. The aliens will undertake almost no activities in liberated regions unless they attempt to retake it. The Resistance will generate bonus supplies, recruits and intel for XCOM in liberated regions. Any active infiltration in a region that is liberated will receive a significant bonus to infiltration percentage, and then the Commander will have to decide whether to go on that mission immediately or abort before ADVENT retreats its forces to neighboring regions."

"Send troops to investigate any leads discovered by the Resistance. One of the missions may provide us crucial information about defeating the ADVENT administration in this region. Having more Resistance Fighters assigned to the "Intel" task increases the chance to discover the first Liberation mission among the day-to-day Guerilla Ops. This first mission will not have a label, so you will not know that it is the beginning of the Liberation Chain until you complete it. All the more reason to attempt as many Guerilla Ops as possible in your starting region. Find A Lead missions (Recover or Hack) begin the Liberation process."

"Placing Rebels on the "Intel" job in a Haven allows them to contribute to detecting missions in the region. A level-two Rebel is worth 1.5 level-one Rebels. A level-three is worth 2 level-one Rebels. Scanning with the Avenger at the Haven contributes an amount equivalent to four level-one Rebels. Staffing a Scientist as the Haven Advisor multiplies efficiency of mission detection by 1.5.Missions spawn based on hidden alien strategy, with Days +/- Rng/2 days remaining until they expire.Every six hours all Intel created toward detecting missions is applied to all missions in that region. First enough Intel must be created to fill the "Initial" pool, before which there is no chance to find the mission. Once the "Initial" pool is filled, future Intel generation is added to the "100%" pool. Every six hours, undetected missions with Intel in their "100%" pool can be detected by the player with a (100% value)/(intel so far) chance of success. Failing to detect a mission results in the same consequences as failing to beat a mission you have detected."

My Notes

- One of these missions will lead to another mission, or trigger a Point Of Interest (POI) pop up.

- This can include the two-mission UFO activities.

- Any Find A Lead (FAL) mission with "Intel Package" as a reward is either a POI or a Facility lead (you need these to discover the Alien Research Facilities and Blacksite).

- In general these are the most important missions to attempt as they are the stepping stones for XCOM to advance it's campaign against the Avatar Project, and fight back against ADVENT forces in it's contacted regions. You will have a lot of them and will not be able to fight them all, do your best.

- If you miss a critical FAL mission, it will set you back as you will have to search for the lead again.

- In my first region I prioritize every FAL mission until I get a mission labeled "Liberation"

[jztemple2]

This got posted yesterday morning, so maybe the 1.1 update is coming soon: What to do after LW2 1.1 update is installed

Spoiler:

When the LW2 1.1 update drops here are the simple steps to get your game up and running right away.

First, rename and move your my documents/xcom2/xcomgame/config folder to a safe location as a backup.

Second, start the game using the Steam launcher, with LW2 and any mods enabled. This will rebuild/refresh/update your ini files and clean up any potential conflicts.

Third, if you use the Alternate Mon Launcher - ... _launcher/ or the updated version - ... continued/you can exit XCOM2 now and relaunch with the AML.

UPDATE: And I'll put this in here as well, from the thread What to do after 1.1 to change your soldier's perks

Spoiler:

What to do after 1.1 to change your soldier's perks

by deaconivory » Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:39 am
With patch 1.1 some soldier classes had perks rearranged on the perk tree. That means perks that you chose will be replaced with other perks from the tree. You can change the time it takes to "repsec" a soldier by setting the AWC timer to zero.

To reset the perks back to the way you had them do the following:

1. Open your Long War 2 mod config folder:

\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\268500\844674609\config

2. Use Notepad or Notepad++ to edit the XComGameData

3. Search for these values:

XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[0]=5 ;Easy
XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[1]=5 ;Normal
XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[2]=5 ;Classic
XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[3]=10;Impossible

4. Change the value for your difficulty to 0 (so on Normal change the 5 to 0)

5. Save the edit and relaunch the game

6. Put the soldier in the AWC "tube" and "respec" them to the perks that you chose prior to the patch.

7. Reset the edited field back to the correct setting.

[coopasonic]

Bradford even cracked a smile.

Central doesn't smile.

[jztemple2]

I've told myself I'm going to cut back playing LW2 since I'll be starting a new campaign once the 1.1 update drops, but darn it's still so much fun

I've played three missions today and succeeded in all of them, the last one was tough. I had a "hack the hidden resistance computer" mission, but it was in a region with Advent Strength Six (AS6) (max is seven eight(?) [I just had a region go to Advent Strength Eight ] ). So I selected an eight troopers squad, equipped with special armor and also ceramic armor plate vests. I had 151% infiltration which got me "Light" and "Normal", which I guess with AS6 is the best I can get.

Moving from start, I was given a gift, four aliens adjacent and in square formation. I had a grenadier (always preferred in these types of missions) but too far to deploy and shoot; happily I had a leader who give the grenadier one extra action. The result was a dead advent trooper and two sectoids and a muton in bad shape. Unfortunately I also uncovered another pod of five, including a muton and two sectoids, at right angles to my battle line. I ended up with several wounded and one unconscious but finally took all those nine down, which would have been great except I uncovered of another pod of five .

As I was wiping out those five, I got an "Enemy Reinforcements" message, this was about seven turns in. This was the earliest reinforcements I've seen and I guess a reflection of the high Advent Strength. I took them out and hacked the computer and got out of Dodge. Total of eighteen aliens killed but I had six wounded out of ten. Tough mission.

[Kraken]

Geez, this mod is hard. Played my first two missions and succeeded at both (after some reloads), but each squad came back a lot smaller than it started out. Seems that if you can achieve the objective and get home with even 2-3 soldiers, you're doing OK. Rookies are pathetic.

Nothing going on at home base, though. You really start out with no resources, and my first two missions didn't pay off much. Gonna be a long time before anybody gets upgraded equipment.

Think I'll consider this campaign "practice" and restart when the 1.1 patch hits.

[jztemple2]

One thing on the early missions I missed is that you can swap out the utility slots. I also missed that there is a slider in the window of objects you can select; I totally missed that you start with a medikit; it's available, just not selected.

[jztemple2]

I've updated the documents folder that I zipped and made available via Dropbox with a new file called Long War 2 Random Tips.odt, things I've collected in various forums.

I've uploaded to my Dropbox a zipped folder with three documents containing the three big text blocks I posted just above. They are in ODT format. Let me know if you have problems downloading or opening them.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fsnvxnzmxykog ... s.zip?dl=0

Contains files:
Long War 2 Archive updates.odt
Long War 2 changes.odt
Long War 2 Random Tips.odt
Long War 2 tips.odt

[jztemple2]

Just thought I'd post a list of the mods I've downloaded for the game, displaying the ones I have active for my current campaign. I put it in spoilers as it's rather long:

Spoiler:

[jztemple2]

And the planned Long War 2 1.1 update has been released! You'll know this when Steam installs a 300+ MB Steam Workshop update to XCOM 2. Changelist is posted here and in the spoiler quotes below:

Spoiler:

Long War 2 changelogs
1.1 (Jan. 28, 2017)
CLs 1945-2113

Bugfixes
- Fixed bug preventing tactical DEs from occurring. This will cause a meaningful increase in difficulty.
- Fixed bug causing captured soldiers to not be controllable after hacking the cells in Jailreak missions.
- Fixed an array bug that was causing not all tiles to be partitioned correctly when applying explosive environmental damage falloff.
- Fixed bug in which buildable weapon upgrades were ignoring INSTANT_BUILD ini setting, making them take time to build
- Fix vanilla setting causing AI to adjust their patrol paths in response to XCOM's movement without any direct knowledge of them. (Default behavior can be re-enabled via config)
- Psi Operatives can now equip heavy weapons (with appropriate armor).
- Fix for non-commanding officers on a mission getting officer abilities.
- Disorient effects will now cancel overwatch on units that are already disoriented.
- Soldiers that are in a permanent squad, but are temporarily assigned to another squad for one mission, will now be removed from their permanent squad if killed or captured. This could cause a CTD if a dead soldier was sent on a mission.
- Corrected line-break in RapidTargeting detailed help text and other typos.
- Disallowed Field Medic from list of possible Rebel skills
- Increased delayed init for infiltration squad select by .25 secs to prevent some UI wonkiness
- Fixed base-game issue that could cause POIs to become unselectable. POIs now have minimum Weight of 1 instead of 0.
- Fix pod leaders flanking themselves on scamper. This was an unintended side-effect of fixing the AI lock-up if a pod activates out in the fog due to taking damage while xcom is concealed (e.g. by spawning on top of fire or being too close to a sectopod/big chryssy/etc that walks on something explodey). Fixed by restoring the original behavior except if no xcom can see the scampering unit.
- Fixed bug in UITacticalHUD_AbilityColor that was causing bad objective ability colors
- Added check for Kill Zone/Gunslinger being active to conditions for Command and Fall Back
- Fixed bad schedule entry (AdvFireteambucket_lw) in G_V_D10_5
- Removed possibility you can spawn two of the same ruler on black site mission
- Fixed bug causing Full Kit to grant a partial extra ghost grenade
- Bugfix for alert locations: adjust the location to ensure it's pathable so the pods can actually try to get there. Prevents locked pods on awkward maps like the network tower.
- Fix bug with faceless that are acting as xcom soldiers on rendezvous were being removed from the haven on mission end. These faceless have not blown their cover and remain.
- Fix bug with the post-rendezvous cleanup of faceless spies only removing the first one (this was masked by the above bug).
- Added SMG Range profile to hunter pistol weapons via template mod.
- Fixed incorrect offset for CoilCannon Reargrip B.
- Officer ranknames/icons now only show once officerRank > 0. Pulling a trainee from the tube will no longer lock their rank at NCO.
- Fix bug allowing RNF units to get yellow reaction shots.
- Item-based template mod now removes environment falloff for CombatEngineer, not TandemWarheads
- Fixed bad config for WARCRY_OTHER_BONUS that was preventing war cry from being applied to any unit that wasn't a Muton type.
- Rebels can no longer accrue to an officer's leadership bonus pool.
- Fixed bug in sorting by mission count for Leadership display for officers
- Added more info to Leadership display (rank, class), and additional secondary sorting criteria.
- Attempted fix to change end of month report to display delta doom since previous month (since limited to 12 pips).
- Added new icon for AlienGrenade (based on EU/EW version). Swapped it in for soldier AlienGrenade item and MutonGrenade variants
- Removed SoundCue audio from narrative moment for AutopsyMuton_M3 bink.
- Added UpdateNavHelp override to officer pack promotion UI to disable Ability Info button when controller isn't active.
- Added condition to officer pack to prevent display of "Officer already selected" warning unless UISquadSelect is active, and not in squad management.
- Added Frostbomb as a valid support-type grenade for RapidDeployment
- Adding grenade targeting to XComGame to provide smoke preview fixes.
- SetMaxForceLevel=99 sted 20 on final entries in variousspawnweightsarrays in characterstats.ini
- Faceless from 'Infiltrators ' Dark Event; Faceless pods (1x FacelessCivilian + 1xCivilian) replaced with a new _LW variant that uses 1x FacelessCivilian and 1x HostileCivilian. Avoids the regular civilian on these missions from having no detection squares. FacelessCivilian template has bIsHostileCivilian=true, giving them detection squares. FaclessCivilian now excluded from infiltration detection modifiers that aliens usually get. Avoids them being detectable on high-infil missions due to a lower detection radius than civilians (which do not have this modifier applied).
- Fixed some bad FL15 boss definitions in mission schedules
- Fixed sticky Dark Event Reveal button issue by destroying the button when selecting to reveal a hidden event.
- Partial fix for extraneous Dark Events. Added validation code that runs once per day when the Activity Manager generates new activities
- Added new socket overrides for AlienLgt_Std_A_* torsos to correct HeavyWeapon socket position on DLC2 hunter armor.
- Made some fixes to XComGame.UITextContainer to fix vertical autoscrolling behavior
- Made some fixes to XComGame.UITacticalHUD_ShotWings to fix vertical autoscrolling behavior.
- StandardShot has a special ApplyWeaponDamage ability intended to be upgraded by stock weapon upgrades. Added a condition to prevent non-damaging events from triggering this. This will fix Area Suppression ending on misses and Evasive not working as well as it should.
- Removed the persistent flag for Bombard and JavelinRocket abilities, as they don't need to persist when switching from tactical to strategy
- Squads will now reliably halt on configured infiltration halt points, instead of just once per squad.
- Fix for displayed negative/underflow time on expiring mission passed 100% infiltration.
- Hacked doors on jailbreak after a restart level would not unlock all doors.
- Adjusted the DLC2 HunterWeaponPOI alert so that it triggers 'HunterWeaponsViewed' when carry on is pressed.
- Fixed a base-game issue where multi-unit movement could sometimes result in a unit temporarily teleporting to the 0,0,0 tile, which could result in concealment break / reaction fire trigger.
- Corrected LEADERSHIP_COVERTNESS_PER_MISSION from 0.075 to 0.0075.
- Dismiss button is now disabled in UIArmory_MainMenu if soldier is training.
- Added event listener to squad manager to remove a unit from squad when unit is dismissed.
- Fix for Resistance mecs and liaisons having their abilities refreshed in a new gamestate without having a new unit state created and added to that state. This could have unpredictable results.
- Fix for rare bug causing units to be unable to move in tactical. They have a leftover "Immobilized" unit value assigned to them with a eCleanup_Never policy. This prevents them from taking any actions. I have no idea how the unit got into this state - the only thing that sets Immobilized with a Never policy is bind, and that is usually removed when the binding unit is killed/flashed. Somehow this unit got out of tactical with the flag still applied. To fix the unit I added a \LWSetUnitValue console command so the affected unit can be unstuck (and any other unit value assigned or changed, but only with a BeginTactical cleanup policy). Also change the bind ability to use the BeginTactical cleanup policy, like just about every other ability in the game.
- Added AvengerDefense_LW to the INTERVENTION_INVALID_MISSIONS list.
- Fix for Combatives animation not firing.
- Skulljack and Skullmine should show correct icon colors now
- Avatar progress modifier display in ResistanceManagement now rounds instead of truncates (so 0.98% => 1% instead of 0%). Also fixed potential issue with localized string.
- Fixed bug in which Wraith Suit (Shadow Armor) was repeatable tech
- Fixed bug in facility configuration that may have ignored some elerium core costs
- Fixed loc error in "low on scientists" and "low on engineers" that said you can buy them with intel (english only)
- Added calls to ResHQ.AddGlobalEffectString using DarkEvent GetPostMissionText when completing dark event missions.
- Disable the pointless mission counter UI on supply convoy missions.
- AWC Abilities button in Armory (and foreknowledge of trainable AWC abilities) does not appear until you build AWC
- Fixed missing psigate schedule/diff level (4)
- Alien Facility lead RP increment corrected from bad huge erroneous value
- Fixed bug in Plot_TWN_Mixed_LgObj_10_LW and _11_LW maps that were allowing out-of-bounds objectives to spawn
- Cleanup of multiple map plots and custom parcels. Shout out to McDenny's '09 for the labor.
- Fix civilians rescued summary for Soldier VIPs.
- Set max hacking loss from NCE to -4 so everybody has at least 1 hacking and can use their xPhone
- Fixed description of Armor Piercing Rounds so it doesn't say all armor in INT, FRA, ESN, ITA.
- Snapshot modifier no longer applies to pistol, only to the weapon in the slot assigned to the ability (primary weapon).
- Shortened Polish translations of SquadSize and Covertness infiltration modifiers.
- DLC missions will no longer have encounters changed by our postencounter code, so no more lone trooper in the towers mission
- Added plating category localization text to Carapace Plating item.
- Added replacement 512px image for Carapace Plating.
- Fix for zero intel cost showing up on shadow / plot projects with no intel cost
- Fixed Propaganda mission rewards (personnel no longer will be granted)
- Added a check for minimal env damage for application of sapper, combat engineer and randomness, so flashbangs won't start nuking planters
- Fixed iSoundRange ini values for some weapons
- Fixed a bug causing Cutthroat not to grant crit bonuses
- Fixed issue where squad icon would not disappear from geoscape when aborting an infiltration.
- Fix bug with sparks causing the evac zone to disappear and reappear on recruit raid missions.
- Fix bug with sparks not being able to rescue civilians on terror/defend/invasion missions.
- Fix objective updating for optional rescue objective on defend missions.
- Handle failure to complete the sweep objective on terror missions: rebels left behind on the map in this case do not survive, but rescued ones do. Similar fixes to invasion mission.
- Swapped ViperM1 and ViperM2 weapon damages so progression is 5,6,7 not 6,5,7
- Fix for Grazing Fire perk causing you to never miss
- Vital Point Targeting will no longer provide damage bonuses to area of effect attacks or damage per turn effects, just to melee and direct firearm attacks.
- Fixed Precision Shot not applying crit damage bonus
- Fixed bug causing advanced rocketeers to be excluded from some pods
- Set up separate Advent RNF encounters to prevent drone from arriving on ATT (as it was bugged visualization when it did)
- Fixed stiletto rounds not working
- Units in RNF pods dropping out of LoS are now marked with a special marker preventing them from taking reflex actions on the turn they spawn. This brings them in line with units that spawn in LoS and immediately activate, which also currently are not permitted reflex actions.

Balancing / Gameplay

- Psi Operatives now gain three psi perks upon initial training. They must gain XP on missions to be allowed to train further. They still may choose from three perks to train and may train powerful perks early in their development, but that will require they stay in the tube for an extended period. They may only train one ability per rank so may not train further after they achieve maximium rank. Psi offense and enemy will progression reworked. Rework of psi tree to better match training times with ability power.
- Set up Shaped Charge grenade with full loc! Thanks awesome translators!
- Faceless now steal supplies as a percent instead of absolute value.
- Swapped around Covert, Conceal and Tradecraft on Shinobi tree. NOTE: THIS WILL CHANGE EXISTING CAMPAIGNS. Sorry.
- Swapped Chain Shot and Tandem Warheads on Grenadier tree. ALSO SORRY.
- Grenades versus most vehicles should not cause immediate explosions reliably without Sapper + Combat Engineer perk. Sapper tends to set them on fire for a future explosion. Trikes will still blow up a lot. Cars with open doors will blow up more often.
- Huge revision of flamethrower targeting mechanics that Rachel spent 4 days on :
-- Preview of tiles and affected units should match units affected.
-- Should be better at shooting from behind full cover. Step out should properly preview and and animate.
-- Can now path around behind obstacles that block LOS, acting more like a real flamethrower.
-- Destructible actors will no longer be highlighted, since flamethrowers do not do direct environmental damage (only start fires).
-- Increased the width of the flamethrower target effect from 5 tiles to 6 tiles at the end.
-- Rebalance of damage and fire chances because it's so much more effective now, specifically, Reduced chance to directly apply burning effect from 75% to 60% for flamethrower/firestorm, and from 33% to 20% for Roust; Reduced % of tiles set on fire from 85% to 50% for flamethrower, and from 25% to 20% for Roust. Firestorm is unchanged.
-- Targeting now happens half a vertical tile higher, making it easier to hit adjacent enemies, plus tiles close to unit will not be able to set on fire as often
-- Placing cursor on enemy while targeting will no longer cause flamethrower to aim up in into the air.
-- Targeting will now show a vertical cone to help visualize that the flamethrower is affecting tiles in a 3D cone.
- Rendezvous activity now has regional instead of global cooldown.
- A region's liberation status now affects infiltration time on Golden Path and facility sabotage missions. Base infiltration time for those missions significantly increased to encourage liberation in those regions.
- Chances for Haven Faceless to help generate retaliation and raid missions reduced.
- Set Mission Timers modifier to +2 on veteran sted +1, because we listen and care
- Added a bunch of AWC perks to each level, lots of doubling up and a few (Combat Fitness, Lone Wolf, Damn Good Ground) that cross offense and defense
- Shadow Chamber takes more days to build, significant reduction in research times for shadow chamber projects (50% or so), added intel cost to research shadow chamber projects
- Significant number of new schedules to increase granularity at higher alert levels. This makes small deltas in infiltration more meaningful.
- Green alert enemies can now sometimes take green (defensive) reflex actions after scamper; removed Beaglerush maneuver
- Rookies can now show up on Jailbreaks with the same % chance as the recruiting job. Jailbreaks can now have up to 6 prisoners to rescue, but they are limited in the early months.
- Removed Lightning Reflexes from ViperM2, removed ViperM2 from Scout job
- Added Terror Bucket encounters to some intel raids and alien bases, and as reinfs on defend and supply convoy raid
- Made Black Market personnel a bit cheaper on all diffs but Legend
- Added config var allowing bias toward soldier recruits if a haven is full
- Adjusted down some PCS trading post costs, Spark gear costs, armor research costs, armor costs
- Added some Faceless civilians on rare guerrilla ops
- Set Defend missions to spawn reinfs based on proximity to evac zone instead of squad centerpoint
- Rookie max wound time shorter
- Rookie, Commander longer Doom internvals for fortress (day or two)
- Added new advent units to war cry bonus list
- Capped Advent Grenadier as 1 per pod
- Reduced Hack Defense on Hunter Drone
- Removed Charger, Defender AI job from the game (pod jobs does it better)
- Added configuration multiplier for AWC pistol training times, initially set to 75% of normal.
- Defend/Guard pods can now patrol within a small area near their destination once they reach it. Keeps them from standing absolutely still when they have reached their defend location, so they're a little less predictable. Also ensures their alert gets periodically refreshed so they won't lose it.
- New avenger defense podjobs for the two assault pods and the defender pod. Defender pod will stay near the disruptor (as in vanilla). Assault pods will charge the avenger like everyone else but include 'Charger' job leaders that will attempt to enter the avenger landing area.
- Hunter Rifle Aim and Crit stats scale up with tech, also gains 1 shred at all tech levels
- Adjusted up advanced Hunter Pistol and Axe damage stats
- Removed possibility of Alien Rulers on Regional Network Tower missions
- Reduced Spark build cost to same as Mechanized Warfare research
- Increased spark rifle damage from 5.5 - 9 - 12.5 to 7.5 - 10 - 12.5, gave aim and ammo bonii as you upgrade weapons, gave spark more aim at high levels
- Sparks now get 5 ablative armor HP
- Set all drawbridges to down on all rooftops maps. Added custom versions of the two small vanilla rooftop maps with this in place.
- Increased chances for datapads as loot and in Black Market
- Made some techs and plasma weapons cheaper
- Reduced reveal cost of dark events to 5 intel
- Reduced duration of 50% job effectiveness dark events from a month to average 15 days
- Increased Avatar delay hours per global vig from 8 to 10
- All varieties of smoke now counter the crit bonus from flanking.
- DLC POIs set to 1-2 days just like the rest
- Standardized weights for all POIs to prevent any zeroing-out late campaign.
- Protect Data will reward supplies if all POIs exhausted
- More Hit Points for M3s on Legend
- Lost Towers POI won't appear to FL 8; Alien Nest won't appear until FL 12
- Set Flanking Crit chance for xcom soldiers, rebels, sparks to 40 in all diffs
- Dark Events will now first trigger on a difficulty-based month setting
- GTS projects get cheaper
- Recruit soldier bias goes to 80-20 in full regions
- Set lose mode to 28 days, 24 on legend
- Made liberation sequence missions a little easier to detect
- HEAT Warheads will check for existing shred > 0 on grenade before adding more shred.
- Hunker Down bonii will no longer apply to units flanking you
- Fixed alloy padding DE so it only pops post-codex
- Reduced some enemy defense scores on lower diffs
- Reduced application chance of some tactical DEs
- Gave rookie-diff xcom soldiers +5 offense
- Added one day to cooldown between FL UFOs (so it's 16 days instead of 15)
- Fixed bad icon for Rapid Targeting passive
- Change the secure UFO reinforcement pod on timer expiry to an 8 pod. Increased timer significantly.
- The following perks will provide no bonuses if the unit it is impaired (stunned, disoriented, unconscious, panicking, mind controlled) or burning: Damn Good Ground (defense only), Lone Wolf (defense only), Will to Survive, Tactical Sense, Lightning Reflexes_LW, Infighter, Hard Target, Combat Awareness.
- Added standard shootereffectexclusions for Ghostwalker (so can't do it in lots of bad situations)
- New Region Contact is now 3-4 days sted 4-6
- Focus Fire aim bonus increased from 4 to 5
- Increased officer command range significantly
- A few rookie settings changes
- Returned Insanity and Soulfire cooldowns to vanilla
- Reduced research time for Sectoid Autopsy
- Clutch Shot no longer works at squad sight range
- Set Priorities on General Ops to the be same to mix them up, particularly when a new region is contacted
- Removed elerium core cost for Medium and Heavy Tier III armors, reduced crystal cost for Light Tier III armor
- Removed elerium core cost for plasma pistol and alloy cannon. Inreased alloy cost for Alloy Cannon.
- Removed Corpse costs from advanced heavy weapons projects
- Increased env damage on all heavy armor weapons
- Shredstorm Cannon Project now requires only Battle Armor and Advanced Coilguns
- Plasma Blaster Project now requires only Battle Armor and Plasma Rifle
- Gave war suit +1 armor, -1 hp
- Scanning Protocol now gains bonus charges from 2nd and 3rd tier Gremlins
- Higher-tech swords and knife gain higher aim bonuses
- Allowed you to take 10 soldiers on an invasion mission
- Mind Control via insanity attack now lasts two turns and is ini-configurable
- Shadow / Wraith armor now offers greater infiltration bonus
- Made several PG projects cheaper
- Commander default evac delay increased to 4 turns, same as Legend
- Evac timer -2 only awarded on 200% infiltration instead of 190%
- Decreased tradecraft infil bonus to .75; Ghostwalker bonus to .98, Covert bonus improved to .95, Reduced Spark infil penalty to 1.34
- Reduced tube time for a lot of officer ranks
- Some missions will have extra evac time associated with them. This is a new-activity-mission variable. This was initially set for Liberation step 1, all three pre-UFO-intel-lead missions, and COINOps
- Liberation missions will not be available on Legendary until 2nd month. Ini-configurable.
- Embiggened patrol zones on Troop Maneuvers
- Added accuracy bonus to Death From Above for sniper rifle that cancels weapon-based accuracy at squadsight ranges. LOC undocumented bonus in Japanese, good in all other languages.
- Set Combat Stims cost to reflect they are consumed upon use
- Changed up Alien HQ loot, moved supplies to loot table and gave you a bunch of datapads to extract intel from
- Generals a little tougher on advanced difficulties
- Removed SMG-laser env damage
- Zeroed out sword env damage
- Reduced damage spread on all shotguns
- Zeroed out crit penalty at squadsight ranges
- Updated some stat NCE stat trades
- Added some melee abilities to AWC for gunner/shinobi
- Vital Point Targeting bonus damage now proceeds as 1, 1, 2

COMPATIBILITY
- Added linux/mac formatted movies to project. Requires pending Feral patch to base-game XCOM 2 for them to work.

QOL
- Set 'bronzeman' style restart mission controls. Enabled on non-ironman campaigns; requires setting an ini flag in gamecore to enable on ironman campaigns.
- AWC and officer training can now be initiated from the relevant Armory Promotion UI.
- Set VeteranSoldierRank to 0 so all customization options are available from start
- Weapons and armor should be sorting better in engineering
- Regions in resistance management will now show bullets for each liberation stage completed
- Attempted to get rid of swaying camera effect for berserker rage
- Add the loot ability to rebel soldiers. Rebels on Rendezvous and IntelRaid will be able to pick up loot that drops, and it will be recovered at the end of the mission. Rebels in SupplyRaid would work too if anyone dropped loot. Unarmed rebels on terror missions or recruit raid cannot loot.
- Strip gear buttons in UILoadout will not strip units in the current squad.
- Add a mission expiry panel to the custom mission screen for non-infinite duration inflitration missions.
- Removed camera shake from Coil Cannon during suppression.
- Removed camera shake from Laser Cannon during suppression.
- Added new config to Helpers_LW named LowStrengthTriggerCount. This allows using this value (if defined >= 1) instead of GetMaxSoldiersAllowedOnMission for triggering UIForceUnderstrength. ID 1577
- Added standard sound fx for the command and oscar mike abilities.
- Replaced the custom logic in Intervention's visualizer to play the sound with the new sound cue support - just set the name of the cue in the template's AbilityConfirmSound variable.
- Gave ourselves some credits on Shell/ShellDifficulty
- Made death animations faster
- Evac time on missions where you throw a flare should now display on infiltration missions in UI mission popup.
- Remaining time to infiltrate to 100% will now show for non-expiring missions.
- Add LWRenameRebel console function.
- When in UIPersonnel Squad Select, training message now takes precedence over unit being in another squad.
- Added console command LWForceSquadPostiMissionCleanup to help if a squad gets 'stuck' infiltrating
- Option "View Locked Perks" now allows display of officer perks. Also the detailed info for future perks is shown for both officer and class perks. Target patch 1.2
- Mixed up visual and auditory Geoscape cues to better differentiate mission types, especially the mini-retaliations, which will have burning icon on the map now and a warning siren.

MODDING
- Removed most non-UI class overrides.
- Added a new versioning scheme for the xcomgame replacement. LW_Overhaul can use this to detect if the xcomgame replacement was successfully loaded (which is mostly useful only if the community decides to implement a compatible one outside of LW2 that can be used in place of ours). Needs new loc to pop up a useful dialog instead of a redscreen.
- Revamped the yellow jobs so they are now defined in the same config array as the green jobs.
- Added new fields to the job definition to allow us to implement custom logic similar to that in the avenger defense
- Extended XComSoundManager to allow SoundCues in PlaySoundEvent, as well as supporting sound path aliases to let mods replace sounds.
-- A new SoundCuePaths array is processed at initialization time, just like SoundEventPaths. All assets found here are loaded and cached, except they are expected to be SoundCues instead of AkEvents.
-- The string given to PlaySoundEvent() is first looked up in the SoundAliases array. If such a key is found, the string for the sound to play is replaced with the value in the alias entry.
-- The string is then looked up in the standard SoundEvents array mapping the string to an AkEvent. If it's found, it's played as normal.
-- If the string isn't found in the SoundEvents array it's looked up in the SoundCues array. If found the corresponding SoundCue is played.
- Added world effect and smoke effect classes to mod's XComGame override.
- Allowed setting of delayinit timer for squad select in lw_overhaul.ini
- Added event hook 'PostPsiProjectCompleted' to PsiTraining HeadquartersProject gamestate.
- Updates XComGame calls to DLCInfo hook DLCAppendSockets so that AppearanceInfo is available for XComHumanPawn
- Adusted event handler GetUIClassForMissionSite so that mod-mods can override the MissionSite UI class.
- Add hooks to allow mods to override the fire and death sounds on projectiles. Use a config mapping in Helpers_LW to assign a sound cue to any projectile element (by projectile name + index).
- Reworked UI class overrides so they can be further overridden recursively.
- Made config array X2LootTable.LootTables non-private so that DLC/Mods can make run-time adjustments to it.
- Made some adjustments to FullKit code to move hard-coded abilities into config variables.
- Added an event to the alert when an AWC training project is complete.
- Another attempted fix for GP and non-expiring missions not showing correct time in UIMission_Infil screen.
- Added hook to allow override the usual tactical mission launch process.
- Converted event-type hook for ModifyEarnedSoldierAbilities to X2DLCInfo-type hook to prevent CTDs or other oddness on campaign start.
- Add 'RebelAdded_LW' and 'ResistanceMECAdded_LW' events.
- De-const the evac flare effect paths for easier modder access.
- Units with CharacterTemplates assigned bIsSoldier will no longer be cleaned up. Mod compatibility fix.
- Change the specific tests for the 'Soldier' template for the adviser loading to use the more general Unit.IsASoldier() to allow compatibility with mods that add new soldier types.

KNOWN ISSUES
- The mod does not work out of the box with Mac or Linux. Some players have reported workarounds to get it mostly working. Feral is working on a patch to XCOM2 to support total conversion mods and custom cutscenes.
- Our custom cutscenes do not have localized audio for non-English players. They have correct subtitles. This is a modding engine limitation.
- Our custom audio snippets in missions do not have localized audio or localized subtitles for non-English players.
- The mod does not support controllers.

I'll repeat what I posted about what to do when the 1.1 update dropped:

This got posted yesterday morning, so maybe the 1.1 update is coming soon: What to do after LW2 1.1 update is installed. Note that there seems to be a difference in these instructions regarding the path to the config folder, mine was at C:\Users\[user name]\Documents\My Games\XCOM2\XComGame\Config. Maybe because I'm running Win7?

Spoiler:

When the LW2 1.1 update drops here are the simple steps to get your game up and running right away.

First, rename and move your my documents/xcom2/xcomgame/config folder to a safe location as a backup.

Second, start the game using the Steam launcher, with LW2 and any mods enabled. This will rebuild/refresh/update your ini files and clean up any potential conflicts.

Third, if you use the Alternate Mon Launcher - ... _launcher/ or the updated version - ... continued/you can exit XCOM2 now and relaunch with the AML.

And I'll put this in here as well, from the thread What to do after 1.1 to change your soldier's perks. Note that these instructions cover what to do if you don't want to start a new campaign but instead want to keep your old one going.

Spoiler:

What to do after 1.1 to change your soldier's perks

by deaconivory » Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:39 am
With patch 1.1 some soldier classes had perks rearranged on the perk tree. That means perks that you chose will be replaced with other perks from the tree. You can change the time it takes to "repsec" a soldier by setting the AWC timer to zero.

To reset the perks back to the way you had them do the following:

1. Open your Long War 2 mod config folder:

\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\268500\844674609\config

2. Use Notepad or Notepad++ to edit the XComGameData

3. Search for these values:

XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[0]=5 ;Easy
XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[1]=5 ;Normal
XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[2]=5 ;Classic
XComHeadquarters_DefaultRespecSoldierDays[3]=10;Impossible

4. Change the value for your difficulty to 0 (so on Normal change the 5 to 0)

5. Save the edit and relaunch the game

6. Put the soldier in the AWC "tube" and "respec" them to the perks that you chose prior to the patch.

7. Reset the edited field back to the correct setting.

[jztemple2]

So I started a new LW2 campaign with the 1.1 update but this time decided I'd be brave and bold and go in at Veteran difficulty. On Gatecrasher, with eight troops, I got overwhelmed when thirteen enemies showed up, including a Sectoid . I managed to get two badly wounded out alive while only killing six of the enemy. Yes, I know that this is part of the XCOM experience, but damn it's hard to have fun when you get hammered so fast. And of course evac took four turns. Next time I'm throwing the evac flare when I land

[NickAragua]

According to the forums, they're going to push up a hotfix for an issue where bad guy squads get unwarranted extra shots when activating. I'm uh, going to hold off on re-starting until that hotfix goes out.

[jztemple2]

According to the forums, they're going to push up a hotfix for an issue where bad guy squads get unwarranted extra shots when activating. I'm uh, going to hold off on re-starting until that hotfix goes out.

Hmm, I do think I noticed that. Really made things lively!

I started again this time on Recruit difficulty and instead of losing six of eight and only getting six aliens I killed them all without taking as much as a wound. Hmm, I wonder if there is some middle ground between the two, I'll make a post.

[Newcastle]

Bradford even cracked a smile.

Central doesn't smile.

[Kraken]

"- Huge revision of flamethrower targeting mechanics that Rachel spent 4 days on "

Thanks, Rachel!

Looking forward to starting over tonight. I learned rather a lot from the several missions I played in my abortive campaign, but not so much that I have to unlearn stuff.

[jztemple2]

Check out the new Enemy Reinforcements flare. I guess you don't see this unless you're playing on Rookie? (click to enlarge)

[jztemple2]

The Long War 2 mod just got an update a few minutes ago (this is post the 1.1 update) and the info is here: [UPDATED] PSA: Reinforcement actions bugged in 1.1, hotfix released

[$iljanus]

"- Huge revision of flamethrower targeting mechanics that Rachel spent 4 days on "

Thanks, Rachel!

Looking forward to starting over tonight. I learned rather a lot from the several missions I played in my abortive campaign, but not so much that I have to unlearn stuff.

That's awesome. I have some flamethrower troopers which were cool in theory but really restrictive to use in practice. But after reading about the improvements I think flamethrowers are going to be fun!

[jztemple2]

Check out the new Enemy Reinforcements flare. I guess you don't see this unless you're playing on Rookie? (click to enlarge)

This is weird, I just played another mission and the Enemy Reinforcements flare looked just like normal. What is that big pink thing?

[$iljanus]

Check out the new Enemy Reinforcements flare. I guess you don't see this unless you're playing on Rookie? (click to enlarge)

This is weird, I just played another mission and the Enemy Reinforcements flare looked just like normal. What is that big pink thing?

That looks almost like the portal the aliens use to teleport in but I thought the color was normally blue?

[Newcastle]

Just finished Shen's last gift. Will put my observations & tips in spoilers.

Spoiler:

To be clear: this is the mission to get the SPARK unit; you're accompanied by Lily Shen.
-very doable early in the game under LW2. I did it with a group of 6 units including Shen. You only get 6 for the mission.
-BRING AP rounds. Make sure each unit has em. Trust me you'll need it. Every single unit you're gonna go up against has 2 points of armor & 3 health. That's most of them.
-the final battle is Julian he's an 80HP 6 PT armor beast. He can be stunned by specialists & Shen.
-after the big sequence rooms (ie leaving the poison cloud room & the first main room) take a moment & rearm everyone. Also to help your CDs refresh
- try to save as many cooldowns for the final boss. Including Lily Shen's very offensive skills w/ her Gremlin, she can lay the whoop-ass on Julian.
- My guys were all level 2 (Lance Corporal i think).

-Spark's unit looks pretty useful this early. Haven't really brought him out yet; but definitely will be helpful.

If i did it again I'd bring
2 snipers
Gunner
1-2 Specialist
-someone who can shred armor (or failing that has everyone bring grenades to help tear up the final bosses armor).
-shinobis while helpful aren't essential here; i'd think of bringing something else.

[jztemple2]

Have to say, I played Shen's Last Gift in vanilla and I just don't want to play it again. Not that it's bad, it just felt contrived, at least to me. For LW2 I've disabled all the DLC except the Resistance Warrior Pack, cause I like the outfits

I've played a couple more missions since my last report. I'm still on Rookie difficulty so I'm doing quite well. About the weirdest thing that has happened was when I was doing a prisoner rescue and the Advent reinforcement flare landed right in the middle of my evac volume. Now if I had been playing a higher difficulty the Advent would have been dropping right in the middle of the squad. Wouldn't that be fun? Honestly I think I'd get creamed if I was playing at a level where I didn't get that flare each time

Again, I questioned whether I should step up the difficulty, but then I thought about the game of chess. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I suck monumentally at chess, as far back as I could remember. It boils down to that I'm not one of those folks who can sit there and look at the pieces and run through all the possible moves and figure out the best series of moves. This applies to XCOM 2 and especially to LW2. In that mission I mentioned above, I had two enemies left to deal with. I activated one guy and did something and then the next and did something, then the next, ditto, and I realized that had if I had just looked passed the first two guys and used third guy first I would have nailed the alien and not wasted the first two guys actions. To me, that's what separates the really great XCOM players from the guys like me who tend to just keep hammering away. Not that my way is wrong or not as fun, it just means I have to play at a lesser difficulty to avoid getting wiped out every mission.

[jztemple2]

Good gosh, I just checked. Back on Jan 13th started playing XCOM 2 again after a long break in anticipation of the LW2 mod coming out. Since then, that's fifteen days, I've put in 43 hours on vanilla and LW2. And the new 1.1 patch just dropped, so there's more to come. I had planned to spend the weekend watching the 24 Hours of Daytona on Fox, but that lasted about twenty minutes

[Kraken]

After a long gaming session tonight I'm off to a pretty encouraging start on Veteran. I've got two viable squads and the kernel of a third. My main gripe is that my rookies keep turning into various assault types when I really need sharpshooters, ninjas, and specialists. I've only got one doctor and one medkit among my 25 or so soldiers. Haven't built the training room yet, or any other base infrastructure. This mod is a lot more stingy with supplies than vanilla was.

I need to break the habit of leaving my sharpshooters too far behind the rest of the squad. They keep getting left behind or cut off by reinforcements.

[coopasonic]

This mod is a lot more stingy with supplies than vanilla was.

Just to make sure, you are aware that you have to set guys at your havens to gather supplies if you want supplies. Also you should have a squaddie advisor at your havens to root out any... uhhh... supply thieves.

I got zero supplies in my first month due to thieving. I adapted and I'm playing catch up now.