Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

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johnnylump
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Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

https://xcom.com/news/xcom-2-long-war-2 ... ayer-on-pc

Will be answering questions here today.
Krylos
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Krylos »

This is amazing. So I take it soldiers can now no longer be recruited limitlessly? That would fit the rebel theme so much better.

How does the "gather intelligence" part work? Do you get clues about Advent activities similar to the exalt base search in EW? Or is it just a mission that pops up at the end of the scanning cycle?

Are there mulit-mission quest lines? Like you're trying to counter a dark event and first need to go on a hack mission to gather information about some location and then need to go there to steal something in order to prevent that dark event.

Are dark events still in the game? Have they been overhauled?
LordCommander
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by LordCommander »

On the XCOM website, it says that there is a picture/video, however its not showing up, can you post the picture?
roberdjp
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by roberdjp »

Sounds like exactly the kind of changes people would hope for.

I am curious whether the bones of the design are from your team or to what extent these were cut features from the Firaxis team. Since 2k commissioned the mod this time around, did you have carte blanche to do your thing (possibly with the stipulation that it not be impossible on easier difficulty levels)?
gimrah
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by gimrah »

1) So this is the new system that replaces fatigue? You have to commit a squad to a mission X days before it hits, during which time they can't do anything else? And hence you need multiple squads if you want to optimise your mission frequency? If so then neat. Of course that means you also need a lot of individually built weapons, but then maybe individual weapons could be cheaper and less of a loss when they get swallowed by a chryssalid.

2) Related if tangential question: can you say whether you're designing for squads of 6-8 or the vanilla 4-6? I'm assuming the former given LW1, the number of classes and just how brittle a 4-man squad is. And will there be more missions where you have a different number (i.e. like covert extraction in LW1)?

Thanks. Looking forward to the image and vid.
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Krylos wrote:This is amazing. So I take it soldiers can now no longer be recruited limitlessly? That would fit the rebel theme so much better.

How does the "gather intelligence" part work? Do you get clues about Advent activities similar to the exalt base search in EW? Or is it just a mission that pops up at the end of the scanning cycle?

Are there mulit-mission quest lines? Like you're trying to counter a dark event and first need to go on a hack mission to gather information about some location and then need to go there to steal something in order to prevent that dark event.

Are dark events still in the game? Have they been overhauled?
- Yes, you do have to work to find recruits.
- You assign resistance members to the intel job. The more the better. The Avenger can provide a bonus in the region you are scanning in. As you scan, missions will pop on the Geoscape. The missions will have varying times until they expire, from hours up to several weeks, but most will be a week or less. More intelligence-gathering means missions will have more time until they expire, which is a good thing.
- There are multi-mission quest lines.
- Dark Events are still in the game. We added a bunch. A lot of them serve to upgrade aliens -- kind of like our Long War for EW navigator system, except this time you have a chance to stop some of them from occurring.
I am curious whether the bones of the design are from your team or to what extent these were cut features from the Firaxis team. Since 2k commissioned the mod this time around, did you have carte blanche to do your thing (possibly with the stipulation that it not be impossible on easier difficulty levels)?
2K gave us just about total creative freedom -- we pitched our plan to them and they said go for it. Here and there we used some cut content (like unused ammo, vest and perk 2d images and the low profile perk) but the main design is ours.
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

gimrah wrote:1) So this is the new system that replaces fatigue? You have to commit a squad to a mission X days before it hits, during which time they can't do anything else? And hence you need multiple squads if you want to optimise your mission frequency? If so then neat. Of course that means you also need a lot of individually built weapons, but then maybe individual weapons could be cheaper and less of a loss when they get swallowed by a chryssalid.

2) Related if tangential question: can you say whether you're designing for squads of 6-8 or the vanilla 4-6? I'm assuming the former given LW1, the number of classes and just how brittle a 4-man squad is. And will there be more missions where you have a different number (i.e. like covert extraction in LW1)?

Thanks. Looking forward to the image and vid.
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).

2) The way we designed it is so you can run squads of between 1 to 10 guys on missions from the start (some quick-response and other special missions cap at lower numbers, but most infiltration missions allow up to 10). We removed squad size upgrades from the GTS entirely. The key mechanic here is that 1) infiltration times varies with your squad size, perks and gear, and this runs up against the mission expirations described above, and 2) the less infiltrated you are, the more enemies you have to face on a mission. This is intended to simulate what infiltration is -- getting around patrols, figuring out a time to strike when defenses are weakest, that sort of thing.

So: Say your intel section in the region detects a hacking mission and it expires in three days. That's not a lot of time -- depending on your difficulty level, you can probably only infiltrate to 50% of the baseline infiltration with six soldiers. That means you'll face, say, 25 enemies instead of 14 (the exact numbers can vary based on other factors). You can take a smaller squad to get to 100% and face 14, or you can go all in with 10 guys and face 40 plus rapid reinforcements because you can't even get to 50%. Or you can spend intel to increase your infiltration rate, load up on stealth gear, or even run the mission with just two guys (as lots of missions no longer have the sweep requirement), and try to win the mission with by avoiding combat and using stealth tactics alone.

Hope I've explained that well.
DeGei
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by DeGei »

With all the different activities we will need to be spending our troops time on, how are additions like the Leader Perks mod you developed in the past being integrated?

If I make a soldier head of a region's resistance cell will he gain progress toward those perks while overseeing things maybe?
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Couple of images that might help:

Haven Management:
Image

Infiltration Interface:
Image
roberdjp
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by roberdjp »

That sounds really great. That is a more radical rethinking than I was expecting.
Badman_bacon777
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Badman_bacon777 »

What's the "Sweep requirement" you mentioned?
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

DeGei wrote:With all the different activities we will need to be spending our troops time on, how are additions like the Leader Perks mod you developed in the past being integrated?

If I make a soldier head of a region's resistance cell will he gain progress toward those perks while overseeing things maybe?
Officers got a makeover. In addition to the Command ability (we converted the psi ability "inspire"), Officers can also spend intel to delay mission timers from expiring. Soldiers serving under the same officer on multiple missions begin to accumulate leadership bonuses, including to infiltration times.

A soldier assigned to a Haven doesn't accumulate leadership bonuses as such; he/she instead helps out with recruiting and internal security.
gimrah
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by gimrah »

Re squad sizes that sounds ingenious and great for variety. Fiendish to balance but hopefully you've got through enough playtester tears to manage it.

Follow-up question though: what does that mean for pod sizes? I don't care how many enemies my 8-man squad has to face if they're all in 3-man pods. Whereas my 2-man squad is going to have a bad time if it activates a 3-man pod.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Badman_bacon777 wrote:What's the "Sweep requirement" you mentioned?
Sorry, that's the internal term for "Victory requires killing all enemies on the mission."
Zerikin
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Zerikin »

Sounds like a interesting mechanic.
Badman_bacon777
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Badman_bacon777 »

Ah, that's cool. I notice that on the image the infiltration is at 148%. Does a percentage above 100% have any difference to 100%?
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

gimrah wrote:Re squad sizes that sounds ingenious and great for variety. Fiendish to balance but hopefully you've got through enough playtester tears to manage it.

Follow-up question though: what does that mean for pod sizes? I don't care how many enemies my 8-man squad has to face if they're all in 3-man pods. Whereas my 2-man squad is going to have a bad time if it activates a 3-man pod.
Pod sizes vary from 1 to 8. The missions schedule is up to something like 13,000 lines, so it's hard to describe in this format when you'll see them, but they are going to be more likely on "dense" missions with lots of enemies, of course.
Edumesh
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Edumesh »

Will the new infiltration missions get custom made art assets or map parcels?
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Badman_bacon777 wrote:Ah, that's cool. I notice that on the image the infiltration is at 148%. Does a percentage above 100% have any difference to 100%?
Yes, you can go up to 200%. Above 100% you can reduce the number of enemies even more down to a minimum -- can't go below "Extremely light" which will be fewer than 10 enemies initially on the map, although the rate of reduction isn't nearly as high as when you are trying to get 100%. Above 100% also makes the Skyranger come faster when you call for evac and reduces enemy detection ranges when you are concealed.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by IllusiveS »

So all those perks are put in one tree?
Do i have to make a choice to make my soldiers better on the battlefield or better in infiltration before the mission?
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

Edumesh wrote:Will the new infiltration missions get custom made art assets or map parcels?
We have some new plots (full maps) and some modified parcels. If i can find some time I'll try to add more plots. Not a huge part of the mod, but there are some.
tekronis
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by tekronis »

johnnylump and co., you guys are amazing.

Will there be any kind of mechanic that can help detect Faceless hiding in your ranks?
Badman_bacon777
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by Badman_bacon777 »

Thanks. Also regarding "Hiding, intel, and supply" does that translate to the missions of recruitment, gather intel, and gather supplies respectively?
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johnnylump
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

IllusiveS wrote:So all those perks are put in one tree?
Do i have to make a choice to make my soldiers better on the battlefield or better in infiltration before the mission?
I'm not sure which perks you mean, sorry.

In response to your second question, yes, there's gear and some perks (mostly on the Shinobi class) that help with stealth, and to use them you may have to forgo some items that instead help with combat effectiveness.
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Re: Long War 2 feature announce: Strategy layer changes

Post by johnnylump »

tekronis wrote:johnnylump and co., you guys are amazing.

Will there be any kind of mechanic that can help detect Faceless hiding in your ranks?
Yes. :)
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