More LW2 Tips

Start with the fundamentals.

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deaconivory
Long War 2 Crew
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More LW2 Tips

Post by deaconivory »

Here is a collection of things that I think might be helpful for new players.

Warning: There are SPOILERS below.. To clarify, I reveal very general gameplay spoilers, nothing that gives away the location of Advent's Secret Lair or anything like that. :)

Before going any further watch these videos:

JoINrbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7QeArG ... Qh3oHLZJ67

Xwynns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn78E_7 ... e=youtu.be and here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/ ... difficult/

Ok, now that you have an idea of what is going on here are my tips for new players:

Tip #1
Click on the "Command" tab and open the "XCOM Archives". Read the entries. Click the ? symbols throughout the Avenger. Those are "help" and "Info" buttons.

Tip #2
Read the text in the top left hand corner of the Avenger, and focus on the tasks still pending. During your first month you should focus on "Find A Lead" missions until you get your first "Liberation" mission. Liberating your first region by destroying the Advent Regional HQ will expose the Avatar Project Timer.

Tip #3
Unless one of the tactical objectives on a mission is "Neutralize all enemy contacts" don't get hung up on how many enemies you've killed, instead focus on completing the objectives. Get in, complete your task, and get out with as few casualties as possible. Straight forward guerilla warfare. There will come a time when toe-to-toe combat with the Aliens is inevitable and that is when you can really let loose and "kill or be killed".

Tip #4
You do not need to wait for the Infiltration timer to run down, you can launch the mission at any time. Ideally you'll wait until you've passed 100%, but if your barracks is light, go ahead and launch early to get those troops back in rotation ASAP.

Tip #5
The game has two meters to measure Advent's status: "Vigilance" and "Alert" (which is displayed as "Advent Strength"). Vigilance increases by completing missions (some missions more than others, and some missions affect neighboring regions), and decreases in XCOM controlled regions over time. When vigilance is greater than alert, advent will start trying to reinforce that area (which generates either troop columns or supply raid missions). If these missions succeed, the alert level will be lowered in neighboring regions that (that typicallly have alert > vigilance). If the Alert Level gets too high, and Advent manages to reinforce your starting region before you are able. You can either expand or liberate

Tip #6
Following the Liberation Chain and succsessfully assaulting an Advent regional HQ you will be able to contact the Resistance in a Blacksite Region. With this knowledge in hand, we should be able to deploy a strike team to infiltrate and destroy the facility. Which will set back the Avatar Project

Tip #7
Dark Events in Long War 2 are tied to two particular activities COINResearch and COINOps. The COINResearch activity handles tactical Dark Events, while COINOps handles strategy Dark Events. Long War 2 redefines many Dark Events to be of permanent duration, so once achieved they persist for the rest of the campaign. These are typically in the form of an “upgrade” to one or more ADVENT/alien units. Other Dark Events are of limited duration. Because of this, is it possible for more than 3 Dark Events to be active at once (indeed, 10+ not uncommon).

Tip #8
Placing Rebels on the "Intel" job in a Haven allows them to contribute to detecting missions in the region. A level-two Rebel is worth 1.5 level-one Rebels. A level-three is worth 2 level-one Rebels. Scanning with the Avenger at the Haven contributes an amount equivalent to four level-one Rebels. Staffing a Scientist as the Haven Advisor multiplies efficiency of mission detection by 1.5.Missions spawn based on hidden alien strategy, with Days +/- Rng/2 days remaining until they expire.Every six hours all Intel created toward detecting missions is applied to all missions in that region. First enough Intel must be created to fill the "Initial" pool, before which there is no chance to find the mission. Once the "Initial" pool is filled, future Intel generation is added to the "100%" pool. Every six hours, undetected missions with Intel in their "100%" pool can be detected by the player with a (100% value)/(intel so far) chance of success. Failing to detect a mission results in the same consequences as failing to beat a mission you have detected.

Tip #9
Resistance members assigned to the RECRUIT job are busy in the communities looking for volunteers willing to join the Resistance. Recruits may either join the local Haven or, if they have potential as an XCOM trooper, they will enter the pool of potenital recruits for soldier training. More rebels assigned to the Recruit job will mean faster recruiting of both Resistence members and soldiers. If recruiting in a liberated region, you have a small chance to find a scientist or engineer willing to work for XCOM.

Tip #10
Suppressors are a weapon add-on that is critical for reducing the infiltration time for a soldier equiping it, and reducing the tactical alert generated by firing the weapon to enemies in "yellow alert". It is a good idea to collect as many of these as possible, and when the opportunity presents itself to begin the PG project so XCOM can manufacture them for themselves.

Tip #11
XCOM may assign a single adviser from its staff to each Haven to assist in various tasks. The adviser may be assigned by clicking the photo frame in the top-left of the Haven Management screen. Assigning an engineer will generate bonuses for the Supply job in the region. Assigning a scientist will generate bonuses to the Intel job. Assigning a soldier will generate bonuses to the Recruit job; the soldier will also appear on combat missions involving Haven personnel. The soldier will also hunt for any ADVENT infiltrators in the Haven. Higher-ranking soldiers will generate more bonuses. The soldier should be outfitted with gear on the Avenger BEFORE departing for the Haven. If a Resistance Haven is entirely wiped out by enemy action, the only way to recruit new rebels is to station a soldier in the region. Advisers may be unassigned from the Haven by clicking on their portrait, as long as ADVENT doesn't have any active reprisals against the Resistance underway in the region.

Tip #12
Because of many of our missions require rapid exfiltration from a batlte site, we are often unable to collect the remains of our ADVENT and alien enemies for research or rendering into useful alien materials. Offensive missions that offer the possibility to gather enemy corpses should be made a priority. Troop Maneuvers, Supply Raid, Sabotage Facility, Alien HQ should allow corpses to be collected
jztemple
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2017 3:13 am

Re: More LW2 Tips

Post by jztemple »

If I might be so bold, I would suggest that might be helpful if you qualify the "Warning: There are SPOILERS below" statement here and in other places. Someone who doesn't want anything spoiled would pass up this article, but so too might someone who never reads it because he thinks it might reveal the secret presence of the Death Star which appears over Sheboygan Wisconsin late in the game...

OK, just kidding, but I hope you see my point...

Oh gosh, the Death Star doesn't really appear, does it? Holy crap :shock:
LoadStar81
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2017 2:15 pm

Re: More LW2 Tips

Post by LoadStar81 »

jztemple wrote:If I might be so bold, I would suggest that might be helpful if you qualify the "Warning: There are SPOILERS below" statement here and in other places. Someone who doesn't want anything spoiled would pass up this article, but so too might someone who never reads it because he thinks it might reveal the secret presence of the Death Star which appears over Sheboygan Wisconsin late in the game...

OK, just kidding, but I hope you see my point...

Oh gosh, the Death Star doesn't really appear, does it? Holy crap :shock:
Don't be silly. Something that has always been there and always been visible can't just appear. We stopped paying it any mind; it's like a second moon.

On a more serious note, it would be nice to figure out what Advent has to gain from any given mission, and what XCom gains from stopping them, beyond the most obvious results. For many missions, I'm sure Advent's goal is as simple as resource X or person Y does not fall into the hands of the insurgency, but others certainly appear to have other goals.
deaconivory
Long War 2 Crew
Posts: 167
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2015 1:12 am

Re: More LW2 Tips

Post by deaconivory »

jztemple wrote:If I might be so bold, I would suggest that might be helpful if you qualify the "Warning: There are SPOILERS below" statement here and in other places. Someone who doesn't want anything spoiled would pass up this article, but so too might someone who never reads it because he thinks it might reveal the secret presence of the Death Star which appears over Sheboygan Wisconsin late in the game...

OK, just kidding, but I hope you see my point...

Oh gosh, the Death Star doesn't really appear, does it? Holy crap :shock:
Good point. Fixed.
jztemple
Posts: 43
Joined: Sat Jan 21, 2017 3:13 am

Re: More LW2 Tips

Post by jztemple »

deaconivory wrote:Good point. Fixed.
Thank you!
Fiesgesicht
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Jan 29, 2017 9:54 am

Re: More LW2 Tips

Post by Fiesgesicht »

You should expand Tip #4 a bit, in that it makes missions notably harder if you start them below 100% infiltration.
Especially in the early game, starting a mission at 20% because you want those 5 soldiers back ASAP might very well result in them not coming back at all...
mr_j936
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:01 pm

Re: More LW2 Tips

Post by mr_j936 »

Hello,
First off, I'd like to express what a huge fan I am of both long war and long war 2. And thank you for the tutorials, BUT I wish we had even more information on the detailed inner workings of some of the mechanics. Like, what are the chances of a soldier in a haven detecting a faceless? How does it scale with his rank(or does it?) does his rank also affect recruitment? How much is he worth in terms of regular level 1 resisters recruiting? Does being a psi operative change the odds of detecting a faceless?

Thank you :mrgreen:

Edit: I read some of the INI files, it is often hard to find the variables but anyway, I found the numbers I was looking for:
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[0]=0f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[1]=5f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[2]=10f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[3]=15f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[4]=20f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[5]=22.5f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[6]=25f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[7]=26f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK[8]=27f

+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[0]=0f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[1]=6f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[2]=12f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[3]=20f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[4]=25f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[5]=30f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[6]=35f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[7]=40f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_PER_RANK_PSI[8]=45f

+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[0]=0f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[1]=2.5f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[2]=5f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[3]=7.5f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[4]=10f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[5]=12f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[6]=14f
+LIAISON_MISSION_INCOME_BONUS_PER_RANK_OFFICER[7]=15f
So the higher rank the more detection chance, and being an officer adds to the detection chance, being a psychic also improves detection chance, though it is striking here that from the numbers, it seems that a psychic is not that much better than a regular soldier until the ranks are above rank 4, that is when the difference becomes very big, and a max rank psi soldier is almost twice as good as a max rank regular soldier. I am not sure if a psi operative can be trained to be an officer though...I'll have to look into that
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