Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[The13thRonin]

So I've decided to start an iron-man game of XCOM: Enemy Unknown on classic difficulty, modified by The Long War modification. What does The Long War Modification do? It does this:

• An extended campaign requiring far more missions to complete
• Tactical missions that allow up to twelve XCOM soldiers per mission with the right upgrades
• Eight soldier classes: Infantry, Assault, Sniper, Scout, Gunner, Rocketeer, Medic and Engineer. Eight MEC classes: Valkyrie, Marauder, Jaeger, Pathfinder, Goliath, Archer, Guardian and Saburai
• New and modified perks, including Ranger, Sapper, HEAT Warheads, Lock N' Load and Javelin Rockets
• New and modified technologies, including Xenopsionics, Alien Biocybernetics, Pulse Lasers, Gauss Weapons and Advanced Aerospace Concepts, and many new foundry projects
• Five tiers of XCOM weaponry, many new armors and small items and S.H.I.V.s that can be equipped with perk-granting small items!
• Much earlier access to psionics and vastly expanded psionics tree
• A system of commissioning and promoting XCOM officers who provide bonuses to your entire squad during missions (replaces the Enemy Within medals system)
• Overhauled interception game, with five new UFO classes such as the Fighter, Raider and Harvester, as well as six interceptors per continent, foundry projects to upgrade your aircraft, individualized pilot names and pilot experience, and the Stingray Missile weapon system
• Aliens and EXALT forces grow tougher over time, gaining stats and perks
• New weapons for XCOM soldiers
• Soldiers rest after each mission, requiring the player to build a much deeper roster of soldiers
• Modified Second Wave options to support longer campaigns
• Engineers and scientists are no longer directly purchasable and XCOM must obtain them from special missions
• Removes all hidden bonuses that the player receives in vanilla
• Makes some missions so difficult that pulling out is a viable tactic
• Countries which are taken over by aliens can be recaptured through base assaults
• A load of tweaks, nerfs and overhauls that make life as XCOM a living hell

Basically in a nutshell The Long War makes EVERYTHING about XCOM: Enemy Unknown a butt-load harder... Whole squads of troops will be decimated even if you are the very best of players. I would place it on classic squarely up there with vanilla impossible difficulty, perhaps even harder although in a less 'cheaty' way.

We're also playing with the Second Wave option 'Liberators' meaning we have to free all countries from alien control before we can launch the final mission.

You may post here with suggestions or asking to have your name popped into the game. This first post will serve as a index or hub for all future posts regarding stats and episodes. I will be trying to include as much lore as possible but I reserve the right to make creative adjustments.

I will be using the forumites from here at Bay 12 as my foot soldiers. Most of us will probably die horrifically, fighting chryssalids which spawn into the game after about a month with our puny conventional weapons. We will lose entire squads... We will panic and gentlemen [and gentleladies] we will curse the RNG.

Welcome to XCOM soldier...

EPISODE 1: UNWELCOME VISITORS

EPISODE 2: DEATH FROM ABOVE

[The13thRonin]

Pilot callsign: Anvilfolk
Aircraft designation: Raven 1
Kills: 0
Missions: 0



Pilot callsign: Sordid
Aircraft designation: Raven 2
Kills: 0
Missions: 0



Pilot callsign: The Mechanical Man
Aircraft designation: Raven 3
Kills: 0
Missions: 0



Pilot callsign: Erkki
Aircraft designation: Raven 4
Kills: 0
Missions: 0



Callsign: Remuthra
Class: Infantry
Gender: Female
Nationality: French
Kills: 1
Status: Injured



Callsign: Yoink
Class: Gunner
Gender: Female
Nationality: Australian
Kills: 2
Status: Injured



Callsign: Kaladin
Class: Medic
Gender: Male
Nationality: Irish
Kills: 1
Status: Resting



Callsign: Remalle
Class: Engineer
Gender: Male
Nationality: Greek
Kills: 1
Status: Resting



Callsign: Aseaheru
Class: Scout
Gender: Female
Nationality: American
Kills: 2
Status: Resting



Callsign: Arcvasti
Class: Assault Trooper
Gender: Female
Nationality: American
Kills: 3
Status: Resting

[Arcvasti]

**Raises hand eagerly**

oOOH,oOOH, can **I** do the dying horrifically thing? Sounds like !!FUN!!

[Yoink]

*salutes*
Reporting in to help fight the alien menace, sir!

[Aseaheru]

What are the second wave options that where taken? Was it just the liberators or what?

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

Just give me a gun. And a med pack.

[Remuthra]

* grabs an 80s hairstyle and prepares to deploy

[The13thRonin]

What are the second wave options that where taken? Was it just the liberators or what?

It's just liberators.

Second Wave options tend to outright unbalance the game in The Long War by providing the player with advantages...

For example I really like aiming angles but the AI is not set up to exploit these to the best of their ability. They only understand total flank [and are decent at accomplishing one].

I also like Red Fog but it makes explosives extremely overpowered as it effects aliens too and they tend to bunch up.

The game will be plenty difficult with only liberators on.

First update hopefully later tonight, going out for dinner right now.

[Remuthra]

What about Damage Roulette?

[Aseaheru]

Or the random promotion things.

[Remalle]

I'd like in.  And yeah, I never play without the randomizing Second Wave options off personally.

[The13thRonin]

What about Damage Roulette?

This breaks the difficulty as it advantages the player. We will have far inferior weaponry to the aliens for most of the game. The damage is already randomized anyway and cover sometimes also negates a certain amount of damage. The Long War is supposed to encourage extremely tactical thinking because there is almost no way you'll come out on top in a straight out fight after the very start.

Or the random promotion things.

This option is interesting and I would LOVE to try it but it will break all the classes. For example you could roll a sniper for your first ability but then all of a sudden have access to the infantry class perks which grant two shots a turn... That would be crazy overpowered. Proper utilization of the classes is part of the draw for The Long War and there are just too many examples of broken combinations.

I really believe the best way to play The Long War for a serious game is straight as it already makes all the tweaks it needs to make and any fooling around with it throws the balance off really hard. I am sorry if that disappoints anyone. I still believe it'll be entertaining and that a mostly unmodified set of starting options will provide a good introduction of The Long War to new players. Once I finish this Lets Play I would be most open to doing another with altered settings.

Update will come later today or late tomorrow... Busy weekend... Ack... Have already started working on it though... Want it to be screenshot rich.

EDIT: THIS GAME IS THE WORST FOR TAKING SCREENSHOTS.

[Rabid_Cog]

I'm up for saving the world being slaughtered mercilessly. I will take the very FIRST character on the list, any gender, any nationality, any class (any list, pick one).

Name: Rabid
Condition: Disturbingly psychotic.

Won't last long, so more than that is pointless.

[Darkening Kaos]

   The Kaos clan signs up for duty; Angus is first in line.

[GentlemanRaptor]

Put me on the roster, I'm always up for slaughtering xenos.