One guy's experience.

[GSajer]

:blush:

 

I've had a brutal time with this mod. But I'm desperately trying to be intellectually honest about it.

I'm experienced at xcom. Going back to 1994. Yup! I took on Long War with a great deal of success with the vanilla version. I've begun and fled four or five attempts at Long War. To say it's hard doesn't begin to describe it. Every time I start again, I try to analyze my failures, and try to do better. And each time I do a little better. But in the end I am crushed. I have read and read what the developers say about how to approach this beast. I try to take them seriously. At this point All I am asking is this: Has ANYONE ever won this thing at the normal level? ANYONE? If they have, just say so here. I'll take you at your word, no questions asked. If you feel generous, just summarize a suggested research path toward that success.

I'm in a ruined heap. :)

 

[Krazyguy75]

Yes. Lots of people have won it, and some have won it on ironman/impossible. The thing is, if you look at it as "Enemy Unknown", you will be crushed. I personally haven't, but that's mainly cause I stopped my playthrough, but I suspect I would have won in the long run, as I was about 3/4s through and had moderately good control. Where exactly are you getting stuck?

[GSajer]

It's hard to quantify. Each time I try to do a little better at research and character development. And it helps, I last a little longer. But in the end, I'm overwhelmed by superior numbers. I've had situations where I've had what I thought was really good equipment and technology, but six weapons and frantic tactics just can't survive these numbers. I tie myself in knots trying not to trigger more waves than I have to, and I've even got some degree of control in the air war, but I can't deal with these numbers even with a parity in weapons.

[Krazyguy75]

Long War tactical battles are often stalemates for me. Just keep 1 guy with high will on his own to flank enemies and then just stalemate with overwatch and full cover and let your sniper pick off enemies from miles away. If an alien becomes too much of a threat, blow him up.

[Dethraker]

Don't be afraid to use explosives on aliens in Long War. You don't want to make it your only option, but it is definitely a must in Long War where it was frowned upon in vanilla. I often blow up single units just because they run a risk of killing a soldier I value a bit more than the rest.

 

Bring a couple of expendables along on each mission. It sucks to lose anyone usually, but it's better to run a rookie out into the gunfire of the aliens than watch helplessly as one of your high ranks gets flanked and blasted. If you realize one of your higher ranks is in a bad position time for that rookie to run out of cover.

[GSajer]

You guys make it all sound so casual. The stalemate suggestion with the flanker I find interesting. But when you've got as many as 8 adversaries coming at you in a single wave, I usually find myself in a turn by turn fighting withdrawal just to utilize overwatch and stay out of pickoff range. I have NO problem using explosives. I'll use anything in my hands to avoid being swamped.

 

One thing I've never been clear on. I'm often in cover and on overwatch. The enemy is heard nearby, but the AI cleverly refuses to to be suckered to emerge and attack. Will that situation go on into perpetuity, or will they eventually attack? I usually send out a single piece of bait as a provocation. Sometimes it has the desired affect, and sometimes I just get beat to death for my efforts.

[Dethraker]

Sometimes you have to do just what you said, you just have to be clever with it. Keep the majority of your units out of sight and on overwatch, send in one unit to visual range and have them hunker.

 

It's not that I'm trying to make it sound casual, I have gotten myself walloped more times than I have won, I still have yet to beat a brutal or impossible, but that's what is so great about long war, it provides that extra challenge for those that don't like easy mode. Arguably it's far from easy, borderline suicidal, but it gives that challenge that many don't get from standard release games anymore. Developers provide a reasonable amount of challenge for your average gamer, gamers like me and you, but if they make things too challenging it just doesn't sell. Mods are there for those that are above and below average gamers(easy mode mods are often more common, even in the case of Xcom EU if you look through the lists), Long War just makes it as tough as possible without being actually impossible.

 

Also something to consider(don't read any further if you want to beat the LW challenge), in DefaultGameCore.ini found in Steam > SteamApps > common > XCom-Enemy-Unknown > XEW > XComGame > Config, you can adjust the values to be broad or on very specific items. Adjusting the overall time for researching techs makes the game significantly easier overall without taking away from the encounters. Here's what you're looking for:

 

 

 

; OTS Upgrades; eRank=Sum of enlisted Ranks value in barracks (Rookie=0;squaddie=1;etc) needed to unlock availability of this project

OTSBalance=(eTech=eOTS_SquadSize_I, iCash=200, eRank=40)

OTSBalance=(eTech=eOTS_SquadSize_II, iCash=200, eRank=115)

OTSBalance=(eTech=3, iCash=100, eRank=15) ; Lieutenant / LT

OTSBalance=(eTech=4, iCash=200, eRank=30) ; Captain / CAPT

OTSBalance=(eTech=5, iCash=300, eRank=50) ; Major / MAJ

OTSBalance=(eTech=6, iCash=400, eRank=80) ; Colonel / COL

OTSBalance=(eTech=7, iCash=500, eRank=120) ; Field Commander / CMDR

; Techs

TECH_TIME_BALANCE=10 ; Multiplier for all tech iTime values. Time in hours for 1 scientist is (iTime * Tech_Time_Balance * 72)

TechBalance=(eTech=eTech_AlienMaterials, iTime=6, iAlloys=4, iElerium=4, iNumFragments=10, iNumItems=1) ; Alien Materials: 0a.10

TechBalance=(eTech=72, iTime=8, iAlloys=8, iElerium=0, iNumFragments=0, iNumItems=0) ; Improved Body Armor

TechBalance=(eTech=eTech_Armor_Carapace, iTime=10, iAlloys=12, iElerium=0, iNumFragments=0, iNumItems=0) ; Advanced Body Armor

TechBalance=(eTech=eTech_Armor_Skeleton, iTime=22, iAlloys=20, iElerium=20, iNumFragments=0, iNumItems=0) ; Mobile Power Armor

TechBalance=(eTech=eTech_Armor_Titan, iTime=45, iAlloys=20, iElerium=40, iNumFragments=0, iNumItems=0) ; Advanced Power Armor

TechBalance=(eTech=eTech_Armor_Ghost, iTime=55, iAlloys=0, iElerium=100, iNumFragments=0, iNumItems=0) ; Stealth Systems

 

TechBalance=(eTech=eTech_Armor_ArchAngel, iTime=55, iAlloys=5, iElerium=100, iNumFragments=0, iNumItems=0) ; Antigrav Systems

 

I copied straight from the DGC.ini(DefaultGameCore) file and bold/underline the exact line you'd look for. Adjusting it too much will make the game significantly easier, while changing it to about '8' might allow you to reach the desired techs in time to prevent a total loss of the game.

Edited July 18, 2015 by Dethraker

[GSajer]

:cool:

 

Yeah, I'm well aware of the .ini tweaks. So far I've refrained from touching them. I pretty much understand the whole challenge concept. It's frustrating, but it sure ain't boring. Ghod, if it's this hard in the normal mode, I shudder to think what an advanced level might be like. Oh, well. I guess it's like a drug, you know it's going to kill you, but the process is fascinating.

[Dethraker]

LOL, love the reference to drugs...well the humor bit.

 

Some people have stated to me that once you get it down in Normal it's not that hard to move up in the levels, I guess I'm stubborn in the way I approach each mission cause it gets increasingly more difficult with each difficulty level for me. I mean that in a serious step up for each.

 

Good to hear you're aware of the .ini tweaks and choosing to avoid that for the experience, I did the same until I started getting repeatedly walloped on Brutal lol.

[GSajer]

Well, I'm starting on my 6th attempt at normal mode. If you want to call me a masochist, I'm guilty as charged. Hope to win it once before I die.