XCOM’s - Long War Mod

PanzersEast · May 16, 2014, 03:17:20 PM

Interesting....

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/05/16/xcom-hardcore-mod/

http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/88/?

PE

skeptical.platypus · May 16, 2014, 05:35:33 PM

Something must be in the air. I just stumbled across this mod today on a PC Gamer list of 15 Best Mods of the Modern Era or some such conveniently imprecise temporal reference.

SgtRock · May 17, 2014, 09:45:39 AM

Anyone try this?

Nefaro · May 17, 2014, 11:45:12 AM

I bookmarked it for future use. So thanks PzE!

However, if I get in the mood to hunt down aliens, Xenonauts is my first choice. So I dunno when/if I will check this out.

SgtRock · May 17, 2014, 03:38:01 PM

Well I tried to install the Enemy Unknown version (don't have the expansion), it's an involved process having to disable UAC, firewall, Anti-virus, the Mod install failed with an un-able to verify version and XCOM no longer worked. I now have to uninstall and download & install it again. >:(

Anyone get it to work?

Ian C · May 18, 2014, 10:24:19 AM

Quote from: SgtRock on May 17, 2014, 03:38:01 PM
Well I tried to install the Enemy Unknown version (don't have the expansion), it's an involved process having to disable UAC, firewall, Anti-virus, the Mod install failed with an un-able to verify version and XCOM no longer worked. I now have to uninstall and download & install it again. >:(

Anyone get it to work?

Yes. It looks great. Played the first mission and it's a very good immersive experience. Really looking forward to going deeper into the game.

However...

You are right. It's a pain when you realise that it over-writes the orignial Enemy Within and breaks the default game. To get back to vanilla you have to reinstall. A warning beforehand to back up the original game would have been nice. Such a well designed and coded mod should have a basic 'either/or' option to play vanilla.

Maybe I overlooked something though ?

EDIT: You can uninstall the mod, restoring the original.

SgtRock · May 18, 2014, 11:11:57 AM

Thanks, I'll give the install another try tonight!

Ian C · May 18, 2014, 11:57:12 AM

Should have mentioned - I had to restart the game twice before it didn't crash. Third time it worked fine. I assume it was doing stuff in the background each time.

PanzersEast · May 20, 2014, 09:31:01 AM

Have it loaded and ready..... have not started yet but interested to have a peek.

PE

Capn Darwin · May 20, 2014, 10:22:01 AM

I looked at the mod, but the need for Java killed its chance to get run on my computer for now. Sounds like it is closer to old school XCOM.

SgtRock · May 20, 2014, 12:20:25 PM

I tried again but, still can't get the downgrade version to work, it always fails at the end. >:(

PanzersEast · May 21, 2014, 12:11:59 PM

So I installed it crashed to I started it again and off and running.. played a little last night and so far so good. Need to spend a lot more time to judge and see if it extends the life of the game....

PE

dukedroklar · August 03, 2014, 06:07:15 AM

I highly recommend this mod. I can't play vanilla after playing longwar.

Pro's =

Vastly increases the usable items, weapons and the tech tree to unlock this myriad of new gear.

Eight classes each with important roles.

8 man squads (with officer school) on normal missions and 10 on base assaults.

Base assaults allow for "liberating" countries whose spineless leaders have deserted xcom.

Unlike vanilla this will challenge the most diehard strategist. The easiest mode will have you screaming for mercy and cursing the gods that you ever became a gamer.

Every weapon stage is important and lasts a while before being able to upgrade to the next stage. Lasers are no longer something to ignore while skipping straight to plasma. In fact, you'll be grateful just to get pulse lasers online to deal with the constantly improving aliens. Once you research plasma, sorry, cant build them. You'll have to capture plenty of aliens so you have their "weapon cores" to build your own plasma versions. (I do skip the gauss weapons though but that could be a mistake on my part)

Soldiers need rest after missions and even small injuries put them in the medbay for a long time. A critical injury can take them out of action for over a month which in longwar is a looooong time due to the number of missions that you'll get. Longwar requires a large roster of soldiers constantly being rotated, no less than 30-40. I basically try to have about 4-5 full squads of somewhat equally leveling soldiers so I always have a decent squad ready to roll.

Oh.... there will be blood!

Cons =

Can be frustrating as hell! mainly due to the number of aliens and how tough they are. No bs, some missions you can't swing a stick without activating another mob. Scanners and cautious advances are highly advised. I am constantly yelling "you gotta be kidding me!!!"

It is common to encounter 40-50 aliens on a large ship landing mission. Not just vanilla wimps but aliens with a 20-30 hp's and special abilities. Anything you can have so can some aliens. Freakin chryssalids and thin men with lightning reflexes... oh my.

Resources are scarce and everything requires a lot of them. DO NOT ever sell meld, alloys or elerium as you will be requiring large quantities by mid game and ridiculous amounts by late game.

Don't know wtf their hatred of rockets is about but they now have "scatter" where it's a miracle if they hit even close to what you're aiming for. Once you get aim at 100+ it gets a lot better but for the love of your soldiers and their families fire a rocket unless everyones behind you and then cross your fingers lol. Ok, slight exaggeration but not much. They say 120 aim negates scatter completely... good luck.

Time. I am currently maybe 60-80 hours into my current playthrough and i'm mid game. Just felided my first two firestorms and am finally equipping mostly plasma... mostly. Still a lot of foundry projects to go and a good deal of high end research. Elerium shortages is slowing me way down. I'm now letting countries go rogue so I can "liberate" them again since you get roughly 80 elerium per base raid... not enough I assure you. One foundry project can consume 80-100 elerium. One plasma rifle takes 30 elerium and an alien rifle core from a capture.

Conclusion

I HATE it!.... I LOVE it! Ok, I love hating it... errr, or is it I hate loving it? I'm sooo confused... oh well back to the game ;D

bbmike · August 03, 2014, 07:08:00 AM

Quote from: dukedroklar on August 03, 2014, 06:07:15 AM
...

It is common to encounter 40-50 aliens on a large ship landing mission. Not just vanilla wimps but aliens with a 20-30 hp's and special abilities. Anything you can have so can some aliens. Freakin chryssalids and thin men with lightning reflexes... oh my.

...

I'm guessing since it's a mod you could changes to numbers if you wanted? I don't even like the thought of fighting 50 aliens in XCOM!

Shelldrake · August 03, 2014, 09:14:50 AM

Quote from: bbmike on August 03, 2014, 07:08:00 AM
Quote from: dukedroklar on August 03, 2014, 06:07:15 AM
...

It is common to encounter 40-50 aliens on a large ship landing mission. Not just vanilla wimps but aliens with a 20-30 hp's and special abilities. Anything you can have so can some aliens. Freakin chryssalids and thin men with lightning reflexes... oh my.

...

I'm guessing since it's a mod you could changes to numbers if you wanted? I don't even like the thought of fighting 50 aliens in XCOM!

Sounds daunting. I am having a hard enough time with Enemy Within on iron man mode!