LW 1.5 questions

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Meme Turtle
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:51 pm

LW 1.5 questions

Post by Meme Turtle »

I have a few questions about the latest LW2 version:

1) Was the 0% supply raid meta fixed? In 1.2 brute forcing supply raids was a reliable way to get a lot of supplies and loot.
2) Stealthing missions(such as black vile) with a shinobi and a specialist. I remember doing a lot of missions stealthy with just 1-2 soldiers as the most efficient approach. Is that still a thing?
3) Are enemies still stunned during network tower mission? A cheesy method I employed was to get to the objective without breaking concealment, hack it to stun all enemies for 2 turns and then kill 2-3 pods with aoe attacks using my assault/gunner/shinobi. Is it still the most viable method?
4) What about sparks and psionics? Are they any viable now or not worth the investment? I'd rather not have to use mods like metal over flesh as they seem to be to OP in my opinion.
gimrah
Long War 2 Crew
Posts: 422
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:25 pm

Re: LW 1.5 questions

Post by gimrah »

1) Yes. You're on for a nasty shock if you attempt it. Not impossible but not really worth it. New mission type called smash and grab becomes main source of resources. More frequent, not as hard, not as rewarding - and hence less swingy.

2) Stealthing most missions is no longer the best way of doing it. There are more pods with fewer enemies in them. Which makes stealth harder and fighting easier. On blacksite there is always a pod camping the objective. You can stealth certain missions still, but it's hard and usually suicide for the soldier. You'll usually take 4-7 soldiers on a guerilla op and expect to fight.

3) Yes enemies are still stunned when you hit the objective on a network tower. I think that's how you're meant to do it. If you get spotted first (happens to me fairly often), you're in for a hell of a fight.

4) Psi got a lot of buffs. Powers better, training quicker, research cheaper, 'quick study' perk which lets them learn AWC and officer perks in half the time. They are definitely good. Worth it on commander and lower. I'm less convinced it's optimal to pursue on legend but not impossible.

Sparks are ok. The perk tree got re-arranged. Not sure if there were other changes. Good on certain missions, especially all forms of retal. Again, probably not worthwhile on legend. IMO they really suffer for not being able to use weapon mods.
Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: LW 1.5 questions

Post by Dwarfling »

Meme Turtle wrote:I have a few questions about the latest LW2 version:

1) Was the 0% supply raid meta fixed? In 1.2 brute forcing supply raids was a reliable way to get a lot of supplies and loot.
2) Stealthing missions(such as black vile) with a shinobi and a specialist. I remember doing a lot of missions stealthy with just 1-2 soldiers as the most efficient approach. Is that still a thing?
3) Are enemies still stunned during network tower mission? A cheesy method I employed was to get to the objective without breaking concealment, hack it to stun all enemies for 2 turns and then kill 2-3 pods with aoe attacks using my assault/gunner/shinobi. Is it still the most viable method?
4) What about sparks and psionics? Are they any viable now or not worth the investment? I'd rather not have to use mods like metal over flesh as they seem to be to OP in my opinion.
1) You start without concealment if you're under 100% infiltration and for every % under 100%, enemies have higher chances of triggering yellow alert actions. So at 0% you have huge pods walking into you getting tons of free shots and overwatches. Also the rewards have been reduced (except for the bodies). Even at 100% it's sometimes not worth it if you have to use a boost and have to eat the increased vigilance. Most of the times it's better to wait for Smash & Grabs and use the intel to expand.

2) Along with the increase in # of pods and solo drones patrolling even the edges of the map you have increased evac timers that usually make the duo stealth approach of the past impossible with the notable exception of hacks with a highway pass over them. If you want to try the duo stealth you need to give the hacker an Emergency Life Support PCS and basically have them suicide on top of the evac and have the shinobi carry their bleeding bodies. It's not bad for late game once you have disposable income and recruits. Oh and VIP rescues start with the RNF timer already active. And the infiltration time on 2 soldiers isn't that much shorter than 4.

3) Yes but on some maps you'll need a stealth spec Shinobi to get past stuck pods and turret guarded entrances. And stealth shinobi are meh.

4) Psionics are very good but expensive on the amount of resources you need to dedicate. Totally worth it after liberation even if you don't get them to MSGT by the end of the campaign because by SGT they usually get Stasis. The SPARKs as they are are only good at being Tanks with AoE utility (Rainmaker+Bombard). They suffer from a poor aim stat which you can get around by getting proximity bonuses but not having auto-loaders make shooting specs suffer.
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: LW 1.5 questions

Post by Psieye »

The fixed evac spawn locations being variable is a further detriment to stealth on some GOp objectives. Try and 'stealth' some prisoner(s) out when the evac is half the map away from the jail.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: LW 1.5 questions

Post by Dwarfling »

Psieye wrote:The fixed evac spawn locations being variable is a further detriment to stealth on some GOp objectives. Try and 'stealth' some prisoner(s) out when the evac is half the map away from the jail.
Gotta love those 24 turn prison break maps with the evac on the spawn in one end and the cells on the opposite end on the map.
gimrah
Long War 2 Crew
Posts: 422
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2016 12:25 pm

Re: LW 1.5 questions

Post by gimrah »

Dwarfling wrote:
Psieye wrote:The fixed evac spawn locations being variable is a further detriment to stealth on some GOp objectives. Try and 'stealth' some prisoner(s) out when the evac is half the map away from the jail.
Gotta love those 24 turn prison break maps with the evac on the spawn in one end and the cells on the opposite end on the map.
This is definitely a strong suit of 1.5. I use quite varied squad compositions for different mission types. On jailbreak it's all about mobility: assaults, bladenobis, and rapid deployment grenadiers to cover my escape. On others you just press forward steadily, so rangers and gunners are more likely to feature.
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