Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

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twigg89
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:58 pm

Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by twigg89 »

Long story short I'm thinking about getting into Long War 2 after putting some time into WOTC. I played a bit of it when it originally release but that was so long ago that I've basically forgotten what little I knew about LW2. I know that the strategy layer is much deeper and more complicated than standard xcom2 and while that is appealing I really don't want to go in blind and get crushed by a lack of knowledge (as opposed to my terrible play which I'm fine with being the reason for getting crushed). Is there a document or video out there that explains all the different mechanics in LW2 and some basic ideas of how to utilize them? The more comprehensive the better and I have no issue reading/watching multiple things to get a full picture, I just don't want to be blind sided by mechanics that the game assumes I'm aware of (eg Dark Events are permanent but not all of them for some reason). I'd appreciate any help you guys can offer.
prokolyo
Posts: 59
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2018 6:29 am

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by prokolyo »

twigg89
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:58 pm

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by twigg89 »

I saw the subforum but since I am starting from scratch I would have no context for most of the specific information, plus it's literally a subforum filled with dozens if not hundreds of posts.

The compendium looks like exactly what I was after, thank you!
prokolyo
Posts: 59
Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2018 6:29 am

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by prokolyo »

There are some good threads on Reddit too. Just make sure the info you're getting is more recent, like second half of 2017 at least, so it's not about older versions of LW2. After my first information gathering, I was all prepped out for stealthing missions, but it turned out stealthing is not a thing since 1.3 or something. So... I had to change my strategies on the fly :)
SpinDoctor
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 1:53 pm

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by SpinDoctor »

twigg89 wrote:I saw the subforum but since I am starting from scratch I would have no context for most of the specific information, plus it's literally a subforum filled with dozens if not hundreds of posts.

The compendium looks like exactly what I was after, thank you!
You will absoultely need this information on how to identify liberation missions. Very accurate and informative.
http://daydull.com/gaming/long-war-2-li ... on-xcom-2/

If you have questions, just ask. There are still a few of us enjoying this great game. In my opinion, Long War 2 puts Xcom into the top 10 greatest games ever created. Without it, it's just "meh".
twigg89
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:58 pm

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by twigg89 »

SpinDoctor wrote:
You will absoultely need this information on how to identify liberation missions. Very accurate and informative.
http://daydull.com/gaming/long-war-2-li ... on-xcom-2/
If you have questions, just ask. There are still a few of us enjoying this great game. In my opinion, Long War 2 puts Xcom into the top 10 greatest games ever created. Without it, it's just "meh".
Thanks for that! On the topic of liberations, how aggressive should I be with liberating regions? I'm infiltrating my first lib 5 mission in June and if that goes well (first time dealing with more than 15 enemies, let alone less than 30) I'm not sure what my liberation strategy should be moving forward. How aggressive should I be in liberating regions, is the increased supply worth the loss of missions in an area?

Also how big should my barracks be? I'm currently around 40 soldiers with roughly 5-10% out at any give time due to injury. This means I can usually run 3 missions ( with only equipment for at most 2 squads). Am I on the right path here or should I be considerably bigger at this point (June)?
SpinDoctor
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 1:53 pm

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by SpinDoctor »

twigg89 wrote:
SpinDoctor wrote:
You will absoultely need this information on how to identify liberation missions. Very accurate and informative.
http://daydull.com/gaming/long-war-2-li ... on-xcom-2/
If you have questions, just ask. There are still a few of us enjoying this great game. In my opinion, Long War 2 puts Xcom into the top 10 greatest games ever created. Without it, it's just "meh".
Thanks for that! On the topic of liberations, how aggressive should I be with liberating regions? I'm infiltrating my first lib 5 mission in June and if that goes well (first time dealing with more than 15 enemies, let alone less than 30) I'm not sure what my liberation strategy should be moving forward. How aggressive should I be in liberating regions, is the increased supply worth the loss of missions in an area?

Also how big should my barracks be? I'm currently around 40 soldiers with roughly 5-10% out at any give time due to injury. This means I can usually run 3 missions ( with only equipment for at most 2 squads). Am I on the right path here or should I be considerably bigger at this point (June)?
Sounds like you are on point. In past campaigns I never liberated more than 2 regions, but in my current one, I've only libbed one and have another on full supply. Supply Retaliations are very manageable. Funds are not a problem with loot sales to boost the supply flows. After the lib, you can just farm regions for XP. You want to do that in areas NOT adjacent to your liberated regions, since if you get a region up to strength 8 next to your liberated region, Advent can invade it and those missions suck out loud. You want to build up vigilance and strength away from the lib area by skipping one over, and beating up on it.

Barracks size sounds about right. I generally run 3 simultaneous missions at the most. You will end up with extra guys via mission rewards anyway. In general, I end up with two strong squads and one not so strong, but adequate. The weakest squads gets the missions with long INF timers and/or in low strength areas.

You should start working on the story missions AKA The Golden Path... I kinda screwed myself in this campaign as I messed up and used up all my officer corpses building fire grenades before I built the skulljack (which I completely forgot about) and it took like 3 months before I got another troop column/supply raid with an Officer in it. So I didn't get skulljack done till nearly October. Then I had to find an officer to use it on. I only got 1 facility lead and that was like in July, so now, the doom clock is literally 14 days from saying game over. My Forge mission is finished infiltrating, so I should be able to pull it out of the fire, but that's the thing about this game. You can dominate every encounter and still lose the war.
twigg89
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2019 5:58 pm

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by twigg89 »

SpinDoctor wrote:
twigg89 wrote:
SpinDoctor wrote:
You will absoultely need this information on how to identify liberation missions. Very accurate and informative.
http://daydull.com/gaming/long-war-2-li ... on-xcom-2/
If you have questions, just ask. There are still a few of us enjoying this great game. In my opinion, Long War 2 puts Xcom into the top 10 greatest games ever created. Without it, it's just "meh".
Thanks for that! On the topic of liberations, how aggressive should I be with liberating regions? I'm infiltrating my first lib 5 mission in June and if that goes well (first time dealing with more than 15 enemies, let alone less than 30) I'm not sure what my liberation strategy should be moving forward. How aggressive should I be in liberating regions, is the increased supply worth the loss of missions in an area?

Also how big should my barracks be? I'm currently around 40 soldiers with roughly 5-10% out at any give time due to injury. This means I can usually run 3 missions ( with only equipment for at most 2 squads). Am I on the right path here or should I be considerably bigger at this point (June)?
Sounds like you are on point. In past campaigns I never liberated more than 2 regions, but in my current one, I've only libbed one and have another on full supply. Supply Retaliations are very manageable. Funds are not a problem with loot sales to boost the supply flows. After the lib, you can just farm regions for XP. You want to do that in areas NOT adjacent to your liberated regions, since if you get a region up to strength 8 next to your liberated region, Advent can invade it and those missions suck out loud. You want to build up vigilance and strength away from the lib area by skipping one over, and beating up on it.

Barracks size sounds about right. I generally run 3 simultaneous missions at the most. You will end up with extra guys via mission rewards anyway. In general, I end up with two strong squads and one not so strong, but adequate. The weakest squads gets the missions with long INF timers and/or in low strength areas.

You should start working on the story missions AKA The Golden Path... I kinda screwed myself in this campaign as I messed up and used up all my officer corpses building fire grenades before I built the skulljack (which I completely forgot about) and it took like 3 months before I got another troop column/supply raid with an Officer in it. So I didn't get skulljack done till nearly October. Then I had to find an officer to use it on. I only got 1 facility lead and that was like in July, so now, the doom clock is literally 14 days from saying game over. My Forge mission is finished infiltrating, so I should be able to pull it out of the fire, but that's the thing about this game. You can dominate every encounter and still lose the war.
The blacksite mission is only 2 regions away from me and I can build a skulljack now (assuming I didn't desperately need every supply for guns and armor) so I'm not too worried about the Avatar Project. There has been an uptick in injuries in recent injuries (just don't have enough mag weapons to go around) so I feel I'm much more likely to lose due to an injury spiral or just a straight squad wipe. Thanks for all your advice man, I really appreciate it. This game is so dense with mechanics that are only lightly explained in game that it's hard to know which one is the current priority. Honestly this game makes me feel like I'm being slowly hung by a noose and every successful mission, research, and item built buys me an extra breath before the inevitable hanging returns.
SpinDoctor
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Apr 02, 2018 1:53 pm

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by SpinDoctor »

twigg89 wrote:
SpinDoctor wrote:
twigg89 wrote:
Thanks for that! On the topic of liberations, how aggressive should I be with liberating regions? I'm infiltrating my first lib 5 mission in June and if that goes well (first time dealing with more than 15 enemies, let alone less than 30) I'm not sure what my liberation strategy should be moving forward. How aggressive should I be in liberating regions, is the increased supply worth the loss of missions in an area?

Also how big should my barracks be? I'm currently around 40 soldiers with roughly 5-10% out at any give time due to injury. This means I can usually run 3 missions ( with only equipment for at most 2 squads). Am I on the right path here or should I be considerably bigger at this point (June)?
Sounds like you are on point. In past campaigns I never liberated more than 2 regions, but in my current one, I've only libbed one and have another on full supply. Supply Retaliations are very manageable. Funds are not a problem with loot sales to boost the supply flows. After the lib, you can just farm regions for XP. You want to do that in areas NOT adjacent to your liberated regions, since if you get a region up to strength 8 next to your liberated region, Advent can invade it and those missions suck out loud. You want to build up vigilance and strength away from the lib area by skipping one over, and beating up on it.

Barracks size sounds about right. I generally run 3 simultaneous missions at the most. You will end up with extra guys via mission rewards anyway. In general, I end up with two strong squads and one not so strong, but adequate. The weakest squads gets the missions with long INF timers and/or in low strength areas.

You should start working on the story missions AKA The Golden Path... I kinda screwed myself in this campaign as I messed up and used up all my officer corpses building fire grenades before I built the skulljack (which I completely forgot about) and it took like 3 months before I got another troop column/supply raid with an Officer in it. So I didn't get skulljack done till nearly October. Then I had to find an officer to use it on. I only got 1 facility lead and that was like in July, so now, the doom clock is literally 14 days from saying game over. My Forge mission is finished infiltrating, so I should be able to pull it out of the fire, but that's the thing about this game. You can dominate every encounter and still lose the war.
The blacksite mission is only 2 regions away from me and I can build a skulljack now (assuming I didn't desperately need every supply for guns and armor) so I'm not too worried about the Avatar Project. There has been an uptick in injuries in recent injuries (just don't have enough mag weapons to go around) so I feel I'm much more likely to lose due to an injury spiral or just a straight squad wipe. Thanks for all your advice man, I really appreciate it. This game is so dense with mechanics that are only lightly explained in game that it's hard to know which one is the current priority. Honestly this game makes me feel like I'm being slowly hung by a noose and every successful mission, research, and item built buys me an extra breath before the inevitable hanging returns.
No problem. I'm no LW2 expert, but I have a fair amount of it down. You can find a lot of interesting info in the old posts, if you have some time on your hands. You might find the "strategy' section the most useful.
Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: Looking for a Long War 2 Primer

Post by Dwarfling »

Been playing since release. Mostly Legendary difficulty with only Cosmetic and non-gameplay mods. I can answer your questions and more, except if you want to know technical stuff from the ini files. At some point I considered writing a guide but it was so much work I just abandoned the idea.

Liberations: as far as completing your first liberation, you can take a while (I've gone as far as August) but you should put some priority into it if you find yourself with a decent (+5 rebs), low strenght region to complete the liberation chain on. I usually assign a Scientist for a couple of days after a lib mission expires to increase detection chances. I'd advice against completing it on the home region: not only you don't get a free Radio Relay after Lib4, liberated regions increase vigilance on the surrounding regions, which will lead to a strenght increase. Considering the home region connects to at least 3 other regions, you can be shooting yourself in the foot if you want regions to do missions on. What's more important in your path to winning the campaign is to keep expanding around the map. Not only will you have more regions to get missions from, all the Golden Path missions (Blacksite, Forge...) spawn as further away as possible from your home region. So as long as you keep expanding away from home, you're still in the game even if you haven't liberated yet.

Number of liberated regions: The higher the difficulty the lower the number. On Legendary you probably want to limit yourself to 1. Reason being that the less regions ADVENT has, the less room they have to put their legions in. You want ADVENT to have to spread out and leave regions lightly defended so you can complete easy missions in. If you need supplies you can switch high strength regions to Supply, no need for them to be liberated. You don't get a bonus, but the Supply retaliation is actually desirable (easy instant mission to train new soldiers together with a Trial by Fire officer).

Barrack size: it's up to you but ideally you want to be training non-stop out of your Guerilla Tactic School. The more soldiers the better as you can complete more missions, but you need to be aware that you might not be able to afford all their equipment, and even if you can, low level soldiers can be very inadequate past a certain point in time when ADVENT starts accumulating Force levels (tier of enemies in missions) and Strategic DEs. A 75 aim Ranger squaddie might be godly at the beginning but he ain't gonna do much against an Archon.

If you wanna know more you can ask here so other new players get the information.

Random tips:

- Missions don't spawn if you haven't contacted the region. They will spawn as soon as it's contacted. This is a good time to try to get as much intel as you can (full intel job, scientist advisor and avenger scan) so you can get good expiration times.
- There's a limit on what missions can spawn in a region. Only 2 Guerrilla Ops can spawn at a time, for example. So if you already revealed the 2 GOps and a liberation mission, now it's a good time to switch all rebels to Recruit. Once one of the GOps expires, now it's a good time to switch back to full intel, maybe use a Scientist advisor.
- If you have 0 engineers, all Rescue VIP missions that spawn will have Engineers. If you have at least 1 engineer but 0 scientists, all Rescue VIP missions that spawn will have Scientists. Keep this in mind before you buy a scientist out of the Black Market.
- All Retaliations have a cooldown. I don't remember exactly but it's usually 2 weeks. That's two weeks when you can do whatever job you just got the Retaliation for without fear of reprisal. A good time to use Scientist or Engineer advisors on high strenght regions.
- Retaliations are actually good to get, as long as the region doesn't have a high strenght rating. They're free experience, excellent to train soldiers using a Trial by Fire officer and some can even net you loot. They can also be baited if you keep a tab on the cooldown.
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