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Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2016 8:31 am
by Silven
First off, lemme just say I love your work. Used Long War on the first XCOM and loved every minute of it. After feeling a bit underwhelmed by XCOM 2 after finishing it several months ago, I decided I would come back to it after Firaxis finished releasing some meaningful DLC and LWS had released a few more impactful mod packs. Following the release of the new full sized enemies pack a few weeks ago, I feel like that time may be now.

However, it seems odd to me that of all the mod packs that LWS has released so far, none of them work to actually make the game... you know... LONGER. This was one of my favorite things about the original mod. It made XCOM feel like an epic saga, and vanilla XCOM 2 is even shorter than vanilla XCOM, so it desperately needs a longer campaign.

To this end, I've tried to look around for mods that give you a longer, BALANCED campaign without forcing you to play on Legendary. I think I may have found one <Longer Campaign>, but I can't be certain its totally compatible with all of LWS's mods for XCOM 2 (namely the perk pack and soldier XP rates). Could someone in the know answer this question? Or direct me to a campaign extending mod that plays nicely with LWS? And equally important, when does LWS plan on releasing a mod pack of its own designed to extend campaign length? The name on the box does say LONG WAR after all.

Thanks again for all your work!

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Mon Aug 15, 2016 9:40 pm
by Silven
I guess I'm the only that wants a longer non-legendary campaign? :/

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 2:59 am
by csaran
Hi Silven. I have been getting a lot of enjoyment out of Grimy's Scanning Sites Plus mod. It adds length in the form of extra missions from scan sites but also adds strategic layer interest through a constant variety of scan sites that you can pick and choose from throughout the campaign. You can even modify the frequency that scan sites give extra missions, just read the description for soldier experience balancing suggestions.

In fact, I use a lot of Grimy's mods. I was using Scanning Sites Plus, Grimy's Attrition Mode, and a bunch of mods from his modular overhaul, as well as DerBK's A Better Advent and Loke's Better Cover and Aiming Angles to completely change the pace and feel of tac missions. Lately I've cut back in order to experience the original balance of the Long War Perk and Alien packs, but I'm looking forward to all these balance changing mods to become more compatible over time.

Experiment and have fun!

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 3:33 am
by Silven
Thanks for the reply csaran. I'm a bit confused on how exactly the Scanning Sites mod increases campaign length though? It sounds like all it does is generate extra optional missions. There's no mention of slower research and construction times, slower avatar progress, slower alien type progression. Its the slower progression of Legendary mode that I'm looking for, without the insane difficulty bump that comes with it.

I appreciate your recommendations though. I'm gonna look into the rest of the mods you mentioned that change up the tactical game.

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 11:19 am
by csaran
The only way Scanning Sites makes the campaign longer is by adding missions, yes. I know of no other mod besides the one you mentioned to increase strategy layer completion times.

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:48 pm
by Sacred Sakura
Hi Silven! I just came here to check if anyone already suggested exactly that! There are a couple marathon mode mods on the workshop but they are all pretty old and seemingly not getting supported anymore. I myself also want a longer campaign without the legend difficulty, so you're not alone with that!

I've been using Marathon: A Longer Campaign from Emporer_Borna, and well it works, not flawless but it does work fairly well. I hope to see some mod made from the mod gods themselfs (Looking at you LWS) in the future.

cy@ :)

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2016 2:22 am
by dskpnk
Be a man, go legendary and kill your first sectoid right in the first mission (or get squad wipe by this dude )

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:40 am
by csaran
As an alternative you could play on legendary difficulty and use mods to make things easier to compensate. For instance use the Long War Toolbox to increase your squad size.

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 4:59 pm
by Ashley
I registered for these forums just to reply to this post.

Yes, please LWS make XCOM 2 longer (without legendary). There are other mods that do that, but they are crude, unbalanced, and no longer supported. I know many XCOM fans want this - including me, many of my buddies on other forums, and all my irl friends who play LW.

Of course, I know you gotta do what you gotta do since you're starting your own LLC and all. But you've already made several great XCOM 2 long war content packs - they got the long war feel and I like them a lot. But the main long war mechanic - the "long" war - is noticeably missing on the strategic layer. The long war difficulty curve is also not there, but at least it's better than vanilla XCOM. Plus, if you do nothing - the aliens will win.

Vigilo Confido, commander.

Re: Making XCOM 2 Longer...

Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:24 pm
by nick_abbott
The Long War mod was what made XCOM more then a "one and done" game. XCOM 2 is a bit more playable but without a Long War mod it is pretty much a goner too. The good news is Long War II was recently announced! I'm am a long time gamer from back in the day when the original XCOM, Fallout and Jagged Alliance were all the best games out there. Long War brought some of that back to Friaxs's XCOM.