Adaptations for LW2 for WotC

[Elfich]

Thinking about how Firaxis has implemented WotC. I've been kicking around assumptions on adapting that for LW2. Also been kicking around other changes in my head.

All of the things here have balancing issues that would need to be worked out.

1. XCOM starts with just 1 or 2 standard classes. All of the other classes are earned by contacting/freeing other territories. Once the class is unlocked it is available in the GTS and for random class assignment for rookies. So XCOM has real incentive to spread out and broaden their support bases.

2. Perks interact with other perks in a passive way (think Path of Exile passive improvements). So any perk you pick gives some improvement to all the other perks you have. Some are trivial (+1 to aim or dodge), some are more substantial (Improve lightning reflexes by 5%). Some perks would work well in a cluster - Biggest booms, Volatile mix, Sapper. Combat engineer wouldn't exist anymore, You pick Sapper and then pick other perks where their secondary effect improves sapper. Another example would be Another example would be Formidible, Fortitfy, Will to survive improving each other. This would require though on all the possible interactions due to AWC/Traning center allows most characters to get access to a broad range of the perks.

Important to note: Each skill would start weaker than its current incarnation, but through perk interaction could be stronger than baseline. But your trade offs are focusing heavily to superboost a couple of specific perks. It also allows for oddball interactions that make sense: Deep Cover provides a benefit to Covert or having C&P and CCS means your reaction shots because of CCS can inflict critical damage.

3. Covert ops is significantly different from the infiltration system in LW2. It allows for development of lower tier soldiers without having to fight it out for every missions (ie keeping with the A team). This could be adapted to have different factions focusing on different mission types to look for. Or this would be an expansion on the existing Supply/Recruit/Intel mechanic.

4. Alter the infiltration times of team members: Higher ranked soldiers have a longer base infiltration time due to being more well known to Advent. So if you want to send in a bunch of rookies/nobodies, the infiltration time is down because Advent doesn't know to look for them.

5. Alter the Lost spawning mechanic. Right now the Lost spawn in a pack 8-15 squares away from you and charge right in. I would change it that Lost are spawned (silently) onto the edge of the map (random edge location). Every time a weapon is fired there is a percentage change to spawn a Lost (adjusted by suppressor on the gun Std/Superior/Elite) If there is an explosion, add 5-10 lost to the edge of the map. If the Lost cannot see a target and have no one to attack: They move in the general direction of gun fire or explosions; there is uncertainty in the direction. Once a Lost unit can see a target it moves/attacks normally. That means Lost will keep spawning and streaming in. If you get into a gun fight with Lost or Advent eventually you will get overrun by Lost because the Lost spawn rate is higher than the Lost kill rate. I could see setting the spawn percentage at 60% of shots generate a Lost and it could easily become an overrun situation if there are any Advent, if there are missed shots or a second shot is required to put down a Lost. Suddenly Suppressors would become in demand for Lost missions.

[8wayz]

There are some big issues with your suggestions.

- Making perks akin to Path of Exile. In that game, since it is action-orientated, you have a lot of levels and it makes sense that you have a lot of perks that complement each other. On the other hand, in XCOM 1 or 2 you have 7 promotions and that is it. Even with the new Ability points you will still not have more than 18 perks (roughly), with a lot of dedication to that soldier.

Also, in Xcom most of the perks actually grant you an active advantage, either by not triggering Overwatch, having Suppression, letting your explosives do critical hits et cetera. Very few serve only to add raw stats (and almost all are part of Long War 2). The game is simply designed to actively improve your soldier's options, not passively his stats.

- The Lost and Suppressors. You can bring a Flamethrower. Burning Lost units, much like any mêlée unit, can not attack in close combat and wander aimlessly. There is even an Advent Flamethrower mod already, and you have the Flamethrower on the Technical.

Or you can bring a soldier with Reaper (in Long War 2 it is currently obtained a lot faster, but it is weaker) and go chop off some heads. I would bet Bladestorm on a Shinobi or Templar would also be a meatgrinder against those Lost.

Also there are pistol perks like Face-off (+Dragon rounds) that can deal with hordes really well.

If you are feeling really cheesy, you can just stack armor points on one unit and put them in the middle of the horde. The Lost from what I have seen do not do more than 2-3 points per hit and do not shred armor. For the ultimate effect, give that unit a Hazmat vest and spray the horde around it with a flamethrower.

The suggested mechanic will only serve to annoy players and shovel them through a narrow path of solutions to deal with constant spawning Lost.

From a technical point of view I am not sure that having 30+ Lost at the same time on the map is good for your computer. And it seems that they will get a lot more than that with your suggestion.

- Altering infiltration times to suit rookies. This is counter-productive, since players are actually punished for playing better and improving their soldiers. It does not sound like it will be a lot of fun, even if there is an in-game explanation behind the mechanic.

[Psieye]

4. Alter the infiltration times of team members: Higher ranked soldiers have a longer base infiltration time due to being more well known to Advent. So if you want to send in a bunch of rookies/nobodies, the infiltration time is down because Advent doesn't know to look for them.

There's already a Sitrep for "you can't deploy high ranking soldiers on this mission". That will do for encouraging a wide variety.

[Solusandra]

It'd probably take too much coding, but I want to take advantage of the soldier points and how the LW team makes new soldier classes.

Drop the amount of XP you get for kills and mission completion (LW2 does half of this) and up the number of ways you can get soldier points and how much each action gives. Then, with the AWC, you get to choose how your rookies (and vets) spend their points and most importantly... choose their class.

Instead of being randomly tossed one of four (or 8 with LW) classes when you can't seem to choose no matter what you do, the Advanced warfare center lets you buy your primary, then secondary and finally, utility weapons, letting you create your class as you will. The soldier perk tree spawns off your choices.

That's not to say you couldn't buy other classes perks, so long as they're not weapons specific, they'd just be the perks you seen in the AWC that cost 25 soldier points (or higher)