Print

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

[forsaken1111]

I only got three level ups on my recently started long war campaign, but I haven't had THAT much trouble with the outsiders. I just keep them under suppression or keep them blinded by flash grenades and I kill them last so I can concentrate fire.

Judicious use of smoke, flashbangs, and suppression will take down most things.

Edit: Dammit meph!

[umiman]

Here I was thinking I was going mad because it was not that hard but I had entered some alternate world. Thanks for backing me up guys.

Yeah, the way I killed my first outsider was the same as the others. I got 5 promotions from the first mission but all but one were resting when I fought my first UFO. I just suppressed the outsider then ran behind with some rookies to murderate it.

[forsaken1111]

I was kind of 'lucky' in that I got two abduction missions before shooting down my first UFO so I had some skilled troops by then

[scrdest]

My issues might have been related to the fact that I equipped damn nigh every squad member with a laser side out of the frustration with the useless jackasses' inability to shoot accurately at any target smaller than a UFO.

[Culise]

Yeah, one Outsider is...I'd be hesitant to call it easy, but as long as you can isolate it from other aliens, it's definitely plausible.  If you have the Outsider active along with a pod or two of regular aliens, getting rid of the others first and then clearing out the outsider is the best option, even with rookies.  By the time you start hitting larger Outsider pods on heavier UFOs, you definitely should have those tools to handle it. 

That said, triggering the Outsider, Mutons, a squad of Sectoids, and either two or three squads of Thin Men (I started losing track at that point) in the first turns was...well, in that circumstance, yes, the Outsider did become a bit more dangerous.  I was lucky to clear that map with only two outright deaths, though on the bright side, I didn't need to actually go hunting for any of them.

[umiman]

I give all the recruits the following:

Tac armor: for more running!
Carbine: for more aiming and running!
Laser sight: for more aiming
HE grenade: for more aiming

I noticed the normal LW AI seems to be using the normal difficulty vanilla AI? So it does a lot of stupid things. I think if when I ramp up the difficulty and find the AI is back to its old self, I'd probably give this to all the recruits:

Tac armor: for more running!
SMG: for more running!
Flashbang: for more not dying
HE grenade: for more aiming

Man I love having so many options for equipment.

[Puzzlemaker]

An isolated outsider is annoying, but if you are careful and keep them locked down with overwatch/supression and flank it's fairly easy.

The problem is when they have backup.  Then it's just a crapshoot.

[Mephansteras]

Yeah, saving the Outsider for last is almost a must unless you've got some skilled troops.

[Flying Dice]

Yeah, there's a couple things there:

1. If you're fighting the Outsider when other things are alive, you fucked up. Don't go near the UFO until you've done a sweep through the rest of the map, just like in the original game.

2. Grenades. The first couple months in LW are absurdly easy because of how good grenades are. Flashbangs completely cripple almost anything. AP grenades can just about one-shot Sectoids. You get to deploy 6 troopers, all of whom can carry multiple grenades. If you're failing at this stage, I'd suggest turning on all the easymode Second Wave options and restarting, because this is the cakewalk grace period and it only gets harder.

3. If you're reloading your saves every turn, you're doing something wrong. Probably playing incautiously like it's vanilla. Don't take yellow moves into the fog of war. Don't assume nothing will patrol into you. Don't send troopers into the fog of war when you're already engaged with one pod.

Yeah, ayy lmaos are nastier than in vanilla, and you sometimes get unlucky with pod placement, but if you're consistently fucking up... the mod ain't that hard on Normal/Classic.

[puke]

There's no randomness in class anymore.

The Commander's Choice mod is part of LW now, so you can select what class each rookie goes into when they get promoted to squadie.

Not sure what is meant by config file editing doing nothing.  I edit the shit out of those config files and totally change the pace of the game to allow faster progress.

[forsaken1111]

There is still SOME random... I get a choice between two or the ability to randomly pick something else

[puke]

yeah, but you can also use the arrows at the bottom to switch between classes.

[forsaken1111]

yeah, but you can also use the arrows at the bottom to switch between classes.

Can you? I had no idea.

[timferius]

Ya, I discovered assaulting small ufo's is just a simple tactics exercise. Secure LZ, secure Perimeter, Synchronized breach. Get enough flanks and close range shots, and the outsider can go down in one turn easy, the trick is not triggering until you're ready. After I had a hard time with my first UFO mission, I can now do small ufos with most/all rookies easy. Keeping in mind I'm still at the Sectoid/Drone stage.
I just love that, unlike the main game, a causality or two isn't terrible and the end of the world for me, hell, look at all those rookies!

[Mephansteras]

There's no randomness in class anymore.

The Commander's Choice mod is part of LW now, so you can select what class each rookie goes into when they get promoted to squadie.

Not sure what is meant by config file editing doing nothing.  I edit the shit out of those config files and totally change the pace of the game to allow faster progress.

Commander's Choice is, I think, a Second Wave option, though. You'd have to have it enabled for that to work.

Also, the config file actually working is a Long War thing as far as I know. I'm pretty sure vanilla still uses the baked in version.