Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Badman_bacon777 wrote:Thanks. Also regarding "Hiding, intel, and supply" does that translate to the missions of recruitment, gather intel, and gather supplies respectively?
The Haven jobs are "Recruit," "Intel," "Supply" and "Hiding." Hiding is for 1) when you have more rebels than you can assign jobs to and 2) if a region is too hot and you want it to cool off.
Xnodox
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Xnodox »

Is there any information on how Long War 2 will work with other mods? In particular, would mods that change or otherwise remove the Avatar Clock be completely incompatible with this mod?
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Xnodox wrote:Is there any information on how Long War 2 will work with other mods? In particular, would mods that change or otherwise remove the Avatar Clock be completely incompatible with this mod?
One of our guys is testing different mods for compatibility, but I can't really say whether those would work or not.
IllusiveS
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by IllusiveS »

johnnylump wrote:
I'm not sure which perks you mean, sorry.
Jarne Lambert have perks listed in the Haven UI screen that you posted, i assumed that they are some kind of geoscape perks.

Also these income numbers are really low compared to those in base game, i guess that helps a lot in that whole guerrilla warfare theme.

Can't wait for the release :D
Puriel
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Puriel »

Slightly unrelated but not quite:

How do the Avenger and Skyranger play in this? Any more uses for Firebrand? Always thought it was a bit of a waste landing the avenger almost on top of a mission and then making the skyranger fly about a hundred yards.

Also, does the Avatar project still serve as a kind of hard time limit; i.e, game over when it fills?

Thanks
DeGei
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by DeGei »

johnnylump wrote: One of our guys is testing different mods for compatibility, but I can't really say whether those would work or not.
Generally speaking, most customization and voice pack mods are working fine?

Not asking for anything specific or a guarantee, but I shouldn't have to clear those out when LW2 launches yes?
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Puriel wrote:Slightly unrelated but not quite:

How do the Avenger and Skyranger play in this? Any more uses for Firebrand? Always thought it was a bit of a waste landing the avenger almost on top of a mission and then making the skyranger fly about a hundred yards.

Also, does the Avatar project still serve as a kind of hard time limit; i.e, game over when it fills?

Thanks
Avenger still flies to a region to deploy and pick up squad; Skyranger does the dropoff/pickup. It's mostly a storytelling thing rather than gameplay. The main use of the Avenger is to scan in a particular region; it provides a big bonus to your intel-collection there, meaning more and better missions in that particular region. (We've still got scan sites and the black market, too.)

Avatar is still in play and game over when it fills. We increased it to 20 pips.
Edumesh
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Edumesh »

Just read that rebels can be hidden faceless. Ive wished for that feature since I saw that enemy for the first time 2 years ago.
How will it affect gameplay though? I imagine a personel loss penalty if a faceless infiltrator gets stationed in the avenger or a haven.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Edumesh wrote:Just read that rebels can be hidden faceless. Ive wished for that feature since I saw that enemy for the first time 2 years ago.
How will it affect gameplay though? I imagine a personel loss penalty if a faceless infiltrator gets stationed in the avenger or a haven.
Going to let you guys discover this stuff.
Edumesh
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Edumesh »

Fair enough, gotta keep some surprises after all.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by gimrah »

Will there be any kind of mechanic that can help detect Faceless hiding in your ranks?
Early game: PFC Baldrick goes around asking everyone "Are you a Faceless?"

Mid game: Gary Oldman sits around in a raincoat looking haggard and sad before finally realising it's Colin Firth, only 3 weeks after every single member of the audience figured it out.

Late game: As above but with Alec Guinness.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by JVMMs »

Oh man, I'm so excited for all this. A huge thanks for everyone at P.I.
I say it now because I might regret later, when I get squad wiped 5 times in a row, haha

But I have to ask, how will LW2 interact with the DLCs? Will the Weapons of the Hunt, the SPARKs and, more importantly, the Alien Rulers be balanced? Will any of them, or their missions, have any special integrations with the new features?
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by jarude »

johnnylump wrote:
Edumesh wrote:Just read that rebels can be hidden faceless. Ive wished for that feature since I saw that enemy for the first time 2 years ago.
How will it affect gameplay though? I imagine a personel loss penalty if a faceless infiltrator gets stationed in the avenger or a haven.
Going to let you guys discover this stuff.
In true LW fashion, I expect nothing less than an Aliens-esque infiltration who takes out the pilot and causes a crash-landing and immediate Avenger Defense mission.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

JVMMs wrote:Oh man, I'm so excited for all this. A huge thanks for everyone at P.I.
I say it now because I might regret later, when I get squad wiped 5 times in a row, haha

But I have to ask, how will LW2 interact with the DLCs? Will the Weapons of the Hunt, the SPARKs and, more importantly, the Alien Rulers be balanced? Will any of them, or their missions, have any special integrations with the new features?
The DLCs are supported but not required. We have worked on DLC elements to make them fit within the campaign.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Taylem »

Amazing work as always from the LW Team. Quick question, does this LW mod address the excessive (at least from my view point) use of the round timers found in the base game to bring the game back to a more strategy focused and management play vs a hurried play? I like the rare use of the timers found in XCOM: EU/EW vs how they where used in XCOM 2.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Krylos »

Do the aliens have their own tech-tree now? Or at least some sort of progression that can be influenced by the player? (For instance they get research when they have facilities constructed and the player needs to destroy them)

Have you changed anything about the black market?

Are facility assaults more like the base assaults of LW now? I suppose no matter how much infiltration you gain, you'll always have to fight a significant amount of enemies there.

Is there any penalty to skipping missions? Aside from the lost opportunity of benefits, of course.

I imagine retaliation missions don't allow any sort of infiltration score. So are they always going to be a 10vs40 gigantic battle? If so, are they now more mid-late game than before? (I guess that depends on wether the player chooses to act carefully or not)

How is soldier XP balanced with squad size? Does each solder gain more XP when they go on a mission alone as opposed to a team of 10?
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Taylem wrote:Amazing work as always from the LW Team. Quick question, does this LW mod address the excessive (at least from my view point) use of the round timers found in the base game to bring the game back to a more strategy focused and management play vs a hurried play? I like the rare use of the timers found in XCOM: EU/EW vs how they where used in XCOM 2.
We don't mind timers as much as some. We kept them on the mission types that already had them, but they are in some case longer than in vanilla. Officers have a perk to spend intel to extend them, so they are also more flexible than in vanilla -- kind of our way of allowing you to 'negotiate' with that mechanic. We've also made the timers ini-editable so you can mod them very easily.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Krylos wrote:Do the aliens have their own tech-tree now? Or at least some sort of progression that can be influenced by the player? (For instance they get research when they have facilities constructed and the player needs to destroy them)

Have you changed anything about the black market?

Are facility assaults more like the base assaults of LW now? I suppose no matter how much infiltration you gain, you'll always have to fight a significant amount of enemies there.

Is there any penalty to skipping missions? Aside from the lost opportunity of benefits, of course.

I imagine retaliation missions don't allow any sort of infiltration score. So are they always going to be a 10vs40 gigantic battle? If so, are they now more mid-late game than before? (I guess that depends on wether the player chooses to act carefully or not)

How is soldier XP balanced with squad size? Does each solder gain more XP when they go on a mission alone as opposed to a team of 10?
Aliens have progression that can be influenced by the player. Stopping the main tech-up path (that introduces new and harder versions of aliens) is very hard; I don't think any of our testers have done it. "Navigator" style upgrades are now part of Dark Events and can be stopped by detecting and winning a mission.

The black market works entirely in supplies as its currency. There will be more stuff on there overall.

Can't talk about specific missions yet, but in general missions against fixed targets require a minimum infiltration score to even launch. Some missions will have lots of bad guys no matter what, but you can still reduce their numbers with a long infiltration.

Penalties: It depends on the mission. Some are targets of opportunity that you can live without; others you're going to want to go on.

Retaliations: Some missions are 'quick response' and have no infiltration component, meaning you can (and should) bring a full squad. Many of these are capped at 8 instead of 10 soldiers.

Soldiers gain a greater share of XP when they go on missions with smaller squads. Mission success is now weighted much more heavily than individual kills when XP is provided.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Puriel »

Sounding awesome so far, just gutted my time off work will run out right when people expect a release :cry: .

One more question though, has anything changed regarding the progression of enemy types? What I mean is, as you get further into the campaign in vanilla you stop seeing advent all together, to the point where all you see are archons and andromedons. It gets a bit dull, so I'd like to see more variation in enemies all the way through.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Puriel wrote:Sounding awesome so far, just gutted my time off work will run out right when people expect a release :cry: .

One more question though, has anything changed regarding the progression of enemy types? What I mean is, as you get further into the campaign in vanilla you stop seeing advent all together, to the point where all you see are archons and andromedons. It gets a bit dull, so I'd like to see more variation in enemies all the way through.
I got this big spreadsheet ...

So some individual Advent units may disappear (like the first-tier Advent trooper with 4 hp), but all troop types and aliens can show in the late campaign.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Nitewolf »

And what about continent bonuses? Have you guys touched it?
Krylos
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Krylos »

It's great to see that the XP system has been overhauled. That way, people who choose to run small, stealthy squads don't get punished.

What does the "Vega" stand for in this screenshot: https://cdn.2kgames.com/xcom.com/XCom2+ ... -12-32.jpg ?

Is that the name of the squad doing the infiltration? And what is that XCOM-looking symbol to the left of it?
ZaWarudoWRYYY
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by ZaWarudoWRYYY »

So you can completely liberate region from the Advent? :o Isn't that kind of... extreme? I do not think that the resistance can actually overcome the legions of Mutons and sektopods which aliens disposes.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Nitewolf »

What about Continent Bonuses? Have you guys touched it? And how placing radio towers affects the infiltration mechanic?
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by rakoon79 »

1) You got it. And, yes, it works better than fatigue because it also ties up your gear while you are infiltrating. We've calibrated unique gear costs because of it (and it's also why we dropped the schematics system).
@JL, does that mean "Fatigue" factor is out of the game? Because fatigue + multi-mission may be too intimidating :P
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