Differences between difficulty levels

[Peonywatcher]

I was wondering if anyone had seen a consolidated list of differences between difficulty levels for LW2

Am debating whether to go Legend or stick to Commander - and thought that understanding the specific differences would actually be quite helpful

Happy to start a consolidated list and aggregate from multiple sources if people find it helpful (or if one doesn't yet exist)

Regards

Peony

[johnnylump]

Probably your best bet is to dig through the ini files. Most things in an array with exactly four values numbered 0 to 3 are difficulty-based settings.

Off the top of my head, the primary differences are in alien stats, rate of soldier leveling and economy settings. And the impact of certain tactical settings and settings governing the tactical-strategic relationship.

[Tuhalu]

The XCOM wiki seems to have a reasonably detailed list of all the differences you might find in the ini files:
http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Difficulty_(LW2)
Will probably need an immediate update when v1.3 releases.

[LordYanaek]

Some of the biggest changes (apart from better Alien stats) will be the rate of reinforcements (real reinforcements adding ADVENT strength, not transfers) and avatar progress. Those 2 alone will put a much higher pressure on your strategic game on Legend.
Also Dark Events start earlier and Liberation can't be started until 1 month have passed.
Those are some of the big ones (check Tuhalu's link for a complete list)

Am debating whether to go Legend or stick to Commander - and thought that understanding the specific differences would actually be quite helpful

Did you play Commander Ironman/Honestman or not? If not i would suggest you try that before jumping to Legend. It makes a big increase in difficulty and it's better to attempt this on a reasonable difficulty (i think Commander is). That's my plan for 1.3.

[Peonywatcher]

Probably your best bet is to dig through the ini files. Most things in an array with exactly four values numbered 0 to 3 are difficulty-based settings.

Off the top of my head, the primary differences are in alien stats, rate of soldier leveling and economy settings. And the impact of certain tactical settings and settings governing the tactical-strategic relationship.

Will give that a go. Always been intrigued - and maybe this is the kick up the rear i need to do so

The XCOM wiki seems to have a reasonably detailed list of all the differences you might find in the ini files:
http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Difficulty_(LW2)
Will probably need an immediate update when v1.3 releases.

Some of the biggest changes (apart from better Alien stats) will be the rate of reinforcements (real reinforcements adding ADVENT strength, not transfers) and avatar progress. Those 2 alone will put a much higher pressure on your strategic game on Legend.
Also Dark Events start earlier and Liberation can't be started until 1 month have passed.
Those are some of the big ones (check Tuhalu's link for a complete list)

Am debating whether to go Legend or stick to Commander - and thought that understanding the specific differences would actually be quite helpful

Did you play Commander Ironman/Honestman or not? If not i would suggest you try that before jumping to Legend. It makes a big increase in difficulty and it's better to attempt this on a reasonable difficulty (i think Commander is). That's my plan for 1.3.

Thanks folks. helpful links there will check them out

yes - Have completed 1.2 Commander though not attempted an ironman run. I typically limit myself to 1 reload a month, so i guess something like bronzeman is more appropriate.

Would probably start out again on commander

I usually enjoy the highest difficulty levels - but not if there is only one way to defeat them. I don't want to feel like i have to play perfect or build soldiers a particular way or else

xwynns playthrough is actually giving me a lot of confidence in legend - as he seems able to recover from moments that many people may have Alt+F4'ed from without the need to play extradordinarily smart