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[Flying Dice]

No, that's accurate. Part of what LW does is smooth out the difficulty curve, with the end result of the first month or so being markedly easier thanks to things like larger squads and flashbangs, but then ramping up into a much steeper cliff over the long run.

[Sharp]

EW Impossible starting mission can be very annoying, Long War starting with all the grenades and extra firepower makes it a lot easier to handle. I'm sure later on it will get more intense but I think it can be managed well.

[EnigmaticHat]

If you don't think LW makes it easier you've never tried beating EW on I/I.

"Ok two sectoids, this shouldn't be that bad.  But they're too far away and in full cover, best hunker down."

*first shot of the game blows up cover, second shot kills*

*2 of the survivors panic, one runs out in the open*

That's an exaggeration, but not that big of one.  Its seriously unfair.  Losing one soldier early in a mission results in a squad wipe at least as often as it doesn't, yet anyone can die at any time if the dice hate you.  As opposed to classic early game where you can kill sectoids whenever you want with grenades and by the time that's over you've got squaddies and your first research.

[puke]

So I just noticed that LW is up to like 14f or something like that.  I can't find any change notes past 14b, though I think I'm running c myself.

Anybody have a link to the changelog?  Can I upgrade from c to f without breaking my game?

I feel like when I went from 14a to 14c there were massive changes, new equipment available, more foundry projects, maybe even changes to the tech tree.  Seems like I got access to a bunch of techs that were not available until much later in the game, when I started playing 14c.

I'm wondering if there are similarly drastic changes, and if I should restart the campaign?

[i2amroy]

I'm almost positive you can upgrade from any 14 version to any later 14 version, though IIRC you might occasionally need to do the "switch soldier nationality and then switch back thing", depending on how old the version you are upgrading from was. AFAIK the only place to view the whole changelog is actually in the changelog file in the downloaded mod, AFAIK it pretty much consists of line upon line of "fixed X crash".

[Xvareon]

So I've been playing the latest XCOM game quite a bit lately, with the Long War modpack (which is absolutely amazing) installed for good measure. I decided to play the game on Classic Ironman mode just to see if I could do it, and... hooo-ly shit. Things started off relatively fine and dandy with my squad surviving and winning most of the missions they came across, although I lost 2-3 on a Terror mission (in which only one soldier was still conscious at the end of it), and had to pull out of a Large UFO landing when I got mobbed by Outsiders, Thin Men and Chryssalids all at once. I came back swinging once I picked up Beam Lasers and Carapace Armor, though, and managed to utterly massacre an entire platoon of enemy units on another Large UFO landing all at once (2 Mechtoids, 2 Drones, 6-7 Floaters, 4 Sectoids) and win the mission handily. I even survived the XCOM Base Assault that came out of nowhere, and that was when I had forgotten to equip my best soldiers with something better than Assault Rifles before the carrier hit my base.

Now things are starting to get... interesting. I've lost 4 countries (all of Asia) to the Alien menace so far, though I'm holding the rest of the world in a tenuous grip. The aliens appear to have upgraded their UFOs to be harder to kill and with more firepower, so now they can almost kill my interceptors in 3 hits. I'm rushing Advanced Aerospace Concepts (with Floater Interrogation for the research credit) so I can maintain parity, but I'm really strapped for cash at the moment. Sectoid Commanders and Muton Berserkers have already shown up, although so far I've managed to handily massacre them before they did any serious damage. However, at the rate the missions are piling up now, especially with the aliens no longer focusing on Asia, my troop list is really starting to fill up with Fatigued soldiers (in Long War, soldiers that come out of a battle with no wounds still get combat Fatigue which hinders their re-deployment for a few days). I'm currently raiding a Small UFO landing (Scout) with a bunch of fairly low-EXP soldiers, and though I already killed the Outsider, I just triggered 2 Mutons, 1 Muton Berserker, 5 Thin Men and a Sectoid. All at once. And with me almost right next to the Berserker.

Enemy health and upgrades are piling up fast, so I can only hope that I'm able to research and engineer fast enough to keep up the pace. I'm working on getting MEC's now, but I've gotten by pretty good so far with Gauss weapons (especially with my best soldier, Ursula "Millennium" Frost, a maxed-out Infantry elite officer who can fire 3 times in one turn; rips Mutons apart). All I can say is, I'm relying a lot on luck just as much as I am my tactical abilities, now, and both are starting to be stretched to their limit. I don't know how many more times I can have my Assaults go "SMILE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" and Rapid Fire dual-critical a Berserker that was about to chew my face off. And if I can't shoot down UFOs reliably anymore, then my resource stockpiles are going to start hurting soon...

To anyone who dares to play the Long War mod for XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Within, beware. The aliens are not screwing around, this time. I, personally, can't wait to see what else they have in store for me, because I am having a BLAST right now, even though I've lost several good soldiers and SHIVs so far. My prospects for an ultimate victory out of this are still looking solid, but I LOVE how it's making me work for it, especially when I can't just reload when one of my guys dies. You really start to get attached to your soldiers when they've come through so many missions and survived against all odds.

I highly recommend this mod to anyone who simply didn't find enough challenge with the original game, because there is PLENTY of it in here, as well as an entire slew of new and exciting options and items to choose from. And I've barely scratched the surface.

Vigilo Confido.

EDIT: I just successfully captured a Muton. Time to get me some Alien Grenades and advanced Gauss weapons. Hoorah! ^^

[Sonlirain]

Well i'm playing Long War on and off and watch Beaglerush twitch. And yesterday was hilarious when i saw things like Seekers with 35 hp and began to wonder... how the hell is somene expected to train rookies/squaddies in this enviroment?
If i get to that phase then unless there are officer school projects that turn rookies into at least Sergeants i can see myself using more and more SHIVs to complement the ever thinning flock of usable soldiers.

Also thinmen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTZ_QFcymY8

[Sheb]

I watch the youtube serie, but the twitch seems just... too long.

[GiglameshDespair]

Tried watching the twitch, but my internet isn't good enough.

[Mephansteras]

Man, I had a hilarious situation last night. Long War, doing the final Battleship mission of Slingshot.

I was in the middle of the ship, in the part where you have three towers on one side looking down towards two doors. We'd cleared out everything up to that point and dealt with the reinforcements the enemy sent in from above (including a Cyberdisk which fortunately didn't manage to kill anyone on the turn it wandered up and attacked).

So stack my troops up near one of the doors and prepare to go through to the next part of the ship. Now, there is something odd with those doors. Not sure if its a bug or not, but they don't act like normal doors. They're effectively always closed, so you can never see through it even after people pass through. Well, just as I was preparing to go through the enemy AI decided to start throwing Mutons at me through the door.

Right into my overwatch.

And my two CCS Assaults.

It was hilarious! They'd all die to the initial door rush, I'd reload and go back on overwatch, and another group would charge through the following turn. I killed...two or three muton groups and Thin Man group that way. There was giant pile of bodies stacked up in that hallway. I really wish I'd through to get a screenshot of the aftermath.

Made the rest of the mission pretty easy, since they'd thrown most of the groups at me during that time and it was really only the scripted reinforcements that I had to deal with during the rest of the capture.

[i2amroy]

So I've been playing the latest XCOM game quite a bit lately, with the Long War modpack (which is absolutely amazing) installed for good measure. I decided to play the game on Classic Ironman mode just to see if I could do it

Just a suggestion (one that has been validated for me before) but I suggest that if you want to play Ironman with Long War you play without it and just don't ever reload saves. Crashes are pretty rare, but I've still run into at least 1 which could have screwed me over pretty badly if I was in true ironman mode.

[PanH]

So, I've started a Long war game (mainly because I read what you guys wrote in this thread  ). I never finished my vanilla game, but I decided to go for it nonetheless. It's pretty fun for now, I lost India after 3 days, but completed 3 missions without a death, and shot down 2 UFOs, so things are good for now (I'm playing Normal difficulty).

Edit : also, anyone remembers the song that was posted in this thread about xcom ? Can't find it. It went something like "Xcom, xcom, oh we're xcom, shooting aliens ... " or something like that

[Sharp]

Well I seem to have Long War working now without crashing, but I have steam in offline mode, and am launching directly from the directory and I have soldier voices disabled including using different solider voices (which I think might have been an issue), so game seems to work fine, hooray.

I would highly recommend getting a SHIV straight away. It was a saviour during a bomb disposal mission eating up lots of shots and then point blank bursting enemies. Great mobility, reliable damage and great plasma fodder (with damage resistance) so soldiers don't die.

[Mephansteras]

So, I've started a Long war game (mainly because I read what you guys wrote in this thread  ). I never finished my vanilla game, but I decided to go for it nonetheless. It's pretty fun for now, I lost India after 3 days, but completed 3 missions without a death, and shot down 2 UFOs, so things are good for now (I'm playing Normal difficulty).

Edit : also, anyone remembers the song that was posted in this thread about xcom ? Can't find it. It went something like "Xcom, xcom, oh we're xcom, shooting aliens ... " or something like that

You're looking for this

[My Name is Immaterial]

So, I've started a Long war game (mainly because I read what you guys wrote in this thread  ). I never finished my vanilla game, but I decided to go for it nonetheless. It's pretty fun for now, I lost India after 3 days, but completed 3 missions without a death, and shot down 2 UFOs, so things are good for now (I'm playing Normal difficulty).

Edit : also, anyone remembers the song that was posted in this thread about xcom ? Can't find it. It went something like "Xcom, xcom, oh we're xcom, shooting aliens ... " or something like that

You're looking for this

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
I forgot to bookmark this.