So many new classes to try like 'Spec Ops' that is better/more useful than the Shinobi. Mods for mission timers and you need to do missions in this order:Win 'Find a Lead', Rescue VIP, Capture VIP, Hack Tower to get the Liberate HQ mission. New weapons such as the lasgun...You don't say what lvl you were trying to play at. The mod has been updated

@Zio: I have about the same history with LW2. Tower missions are now playable with 5 soldiers, not 4. I am now 15 Missions into a new (not very ambitious) start, to see what has happened with LW2.

There are new snatch and grab missions, that give you a lttle more credits at start. IMO dark events are still broken, as I still have no chance of stopping them or getting rid of them. All in all LW2 is just as much (or more) punishing as a few months ago. I (still) recommend playing on normnal with the "non permanent dark events" and "mission rewards" mods from "an easier war", they at least take away the frustration of having no control over any aspekt of your demise, if you get an unlucky streak in the beginning.

Originally posted by AlienObserver:

@Zio: I have about the same history with LW2. Tower missions are now playable with 5 soldiers, not 4. I am now 15 Missions into a new (not very ambitious) start, to see what has happened with LW2.

There are new snatch and grab missions, that give you a lttle more credits at start. IMO dark events are still broken, as I still have no chance of stopping them or getting rid of them. All in all LW2 is just as much (or more) punishing as a few months ago. I (still) recommend playing on normnal with the "non permanent dark events" and "mission rewards" mods from "an easier war", they at least take away the frustration of having no control over any aspekt of your demise, if you get an unlucky streak in the beginning.

Thanks, I've started a new campaign on veteran and combat wise I'm doing quite well.
Hope I don't run into hidden behind the scene ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ (like secret dark events or doomsday clock timing out)

I restarted my campaign and the 5th mission was a prison break. It was MUCH more difficult than a few months ago. Part of the reasons for my restart was that I did not get any such missions for new recruits, now I know why. Very long distance between proson and extraction, FOUR reinforcements with 3 or 4 advent troops on top of the insane troop strenght for this mission.

I went in with 6 rookies (as I said, it was after all only the 5th mission) and had infiltrated to "vulnerable", lost 4. It was a massaker. I got out the prisoners, so it was an even deal, but nonetheless, beware of those prison breaks.

I've tried several campaigns on veteran and one on rookie difficulty since the last long war update. I found that I was having too easy a time on rookie; so much so that it became boring (not really challenging, mistakes more forgiving). Veteran feels like a big difficulty spike where I think I'm doing sufficient no. missions per month yet I'm unable to stop the Avatar project from completing and keeping up with the upgraded aliens (haven't got past the warp gate mission on veteran). I've tried different approaches in different campaigns (e.g. focusing on story objectives early, rushing psionics, rushing contact with other regions, focusing on developing squads/officers). I've decided to give up the campaign I was on now because I lost a tower squad (no regions liberated at the time) in a region with a strength of 8 (felt like I was forced to do it as centurion mutons were showing up in missions. And of course a commando showed up in the tower reinforcements). I don't play with other game-changing mods. Maybe I'm just not getting the 'meta' or maybe it's just luck on how many leads I need to do in a region before I get a liberation mission that isn't suicide. Either way I think I'll take a break and maybe come back if it gets an interesting update.

My recent two campaign starts gave my very different missions alltogether. Randomness in mission detection, the thing that annoys me most in LW2, has visibly increased (and thus my annoyance). As I said before, randomness is a very stupid game mechanic for a strategy game, as it takes away the strategy element and replaces it with luck..

Depending on those random game mechanics, liberation missions can now be ridiculously hard. In the previously mentioned campaign my first liberation mission (destroy beacon) was very doable (hard but fair, as they should be).

Now I got "vip extraction" and its really impossible. I simply lack the means (staffing sergeants with standard guns) to take out 4 (6 troops) pods of mutons, vipers, sectoids, heavy drones (edit: I forgot 2 mechs) and elite troops simultanously, as they all sit right on top of the extraction point.

Its pure math, there is no way of reducing the 200 accumulated hit points, under 3 months into the game. I cant see that I could have researched or much less bought better equip in those three first momths. LW2 has claimed to be "hard but fair", this ain't it. I cant believe, that the fair is now even less a part of LW2 than before.

STRATEGY GAMES NEED PREDICTABLE OUTCOMES OF ACTIONS TO BE STRATEGY GAMES!

Why patch the game to make it worse?

Also I have the feeling that the advent strength mechanic is even progressing faster than before, especially because I never got any "ambush advent reinforcements" missions and cant stop advent strength progress. (which was an essential part of my strategy before). This also hampers income and corps gathering considerably, compared to previous playthroughs. Taking those out of the game (I did not get one) without change in the advent strength mechanic, is also just plain stupid. There was ONE way to have a strategy to influence a game mechanic that is the MOST ESSENTIAL to beating the game, and its patched out?

Again why patch the game to make it worse?

A few months ago I was able to liberate one or two regions most months in my campaigns (which was difficult but fair) now I dont even get the missions, even with 11 rebels on intel and a scientist as advisor, I only got two liberation missions in this recent campaign, one with 17 hours inf time, one with 3 1/2 days.

Not being given the opportunity to liberate regions is again taking away a very impotrrtant viable strategy. Why not just pop up a window right at the start saying "sorry you lost", and dont bother with the programming.

I dont see any rationale behind all those changes in LW2 I observe. Does pavonis study the games that did beat the game, analyze the tactics, and then change the game so these dont work anymore?

Gratulations pavonis, you really made the most difficult game ever, by taking away the means to beat the game mechanics you implemented. Its like taking away Davids slingshot and saying "Now you try beat that Goliath!"

Your comments are exactly what I find wrong in LONG WAR 2.
In combat timers are fine, are made to force a very specific gameplay that I luckily enjoy.
But OUT of combats timers, plus the randomness, make the strategic side of long war 2 (and strategy matters a lot in this mod) feel unfair and uninteractive.

This was a quick screenshot of the liberation mission showing my exploring shinobi on the way to the extraction point, checking out the possibility to make a quick run for it.(and getting killed in the next turn).

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/860604274411062710/595020CEF311F2321B768663ABA7B6D1BF0F675C/



It shows only a part of the forces (Snakes, mechs, sectoids, ...), the rest are advancing to the roof where my 4 sergeants try to survive with 1st tier outfit. I allready killed one mech, by hacking a drone and stunndg the mech. Even stunned it took 2 rounds to kill one mech alone with the forces I could muster for that mission.

timers have been roughly doubled

Good points, all of you.

So, still not worth coming back to, then? I installed a while ago, and was frustrated for many of the reasons above. Perhaps it's because I don't have loads of free time to invest in playing, that I'm struggling with it.

Still, the DLC is out in a couple of days, so I'll enjoy that without mods I think.

I'm reading this with my eyes wide in abject terror and disbelief. Instead of FIXING the mod, they're putting in effort in making it even more ridiculous? I thought the Democrats in this country had the market cornered for doubling down on utter lunacy.

Tried a new campaign on ironman veteran after the last update. Was doing pretty well (completing a good number of missions, only lost one soldier). Then come mid-July 2035 I felt that I shouldn't wait any longer to do the tower mission (light-moderate) in my starting region that I unlocked 1-2 months ago. I hadn't gotten any good opportunity liberation missions in other regions as much as I tried to follow leads (I feel like regions with lower ADVENT strength should be easier to find liberation missions). And even with my starting region having a strength of 7 and putting my res. members into hising for a good amount of time I had no idea how long it would take to get the strength down to a more doable 2-3 (with ADVENT getting overall tougher).

I thought I had a good squad but in the end it was the reinforcements that caused me to fail the mission. First reinforcements (2x sentries 1x Shieldbearer) I couldn't kill with overwatch and I ended up getting sandwhiched between them, a couple of mutons and a sniper snek. When I finally dealt with being flanked and can enjoy trench warfare with the mutons + control room ADVENT + turret? Why another pod of reinforcements lands on top of me soon after that I can't kill with overwatch. Which make me feel like I have to retreat back to the start if I don't want to worry about getting flanked.

I'm curious about the devs intentions. Am I suppose to sneak a specialist at the doorstep of the tower before being revealed (at which time reinforcement timer starts)? Am I suppose to complete the codex mission objectives before liberating a region?

Also does anyone reading this know what 'interdirect R and D' missions actually do? Had a couple in one month in my starting region. All it seemed to achieve was increase ADVENT strength in the region. If it means research and development does that mean dark events are less likely to spawn in that region?

I'm just going to chime in and say that I love longwar 2. I've never beaten it, but I'm getting there. I'm not some pro with a lot of time to play. But I don't like the curve of the regular game where you are destroying aliens at the end. Here are some tips that I use.

1) don't be afraid to start again. If you mess up on your research you can be left very far behind. Same if you get a poor balance of soldiers.

2) read the wiki, forums, and playthroughs. Xwynns is the best and he helped balance the game. His decision making process taught me how possible it is. Currently he's in patch 1.5

3) tower is easily killable with a covert shinobi, 2 technicals and mix of whatever, (never a specialist)

4) take your time on the strategic side and on the missions. (as a former starcraft player, this is the hardest.

5)If you get a liberation with a bad set of hours remaining, just skip it. It will come back.


But yes it's not for everyone. I'm not going to rant and scream get gud if you don't like it. It's just a great way to play more of my favourite game. The biggest issue I have is the stealth mechanic and my lack of patience. Still I'm in July with a liberated region, a swelling barracks and a full compliment of mag weapons. I'm constantly save scumming. But still. Great game, let's hope they make a new one soon.