Long War 2

[fabius]

Are you skipping most of your missions? Because I understand you're supposed to carefully choose which few missions you want to take, and make long-term preparations for those.

This ^ has definitely been stated in some vids. Best to get intel up and aim for 100% infiltration. Hence skipping many missions. The point is to choose missions carefully.


Also while waiting for LW2 turn limit mods a link to discussion how to self edit: http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/844674609/143387886727565912/

[ghostryder]

Easy enough to mod the turn limits. other than that the key does seem to keep infiltration near 100%. the mod needs some balancing as many many players can't get more than 4 missions in. Me-I loved LW1 in the first game and the difficulty is exactly what i want-but I don't think the mod is winnable at it's present state and certainly not above veterans level.

[undercovergeek]

Lost 1 and had 2 injured on first mission

[Windigo]

Been dabbling with it. On my XCOM thread Kz there is a link to brief  vids that really help.

[KyzBP]

Been dabbling with it. On my XCOM thread Kz there is a link to brief  vids that really help.

Thanks, Win!  I'll check them out.  I'm getting a little better.  Infiltration % has been a lot higher now that I understand the mechanics better and I haven't been attempting every mission.

[JasonPratt]

Ironically, after talking about this I got suckered into sending my rookie troop batches out on the first three missions that came down the pike (after the Gatekeeper substitute intro mission).  #:-)

So far the best I've managed to eke out of the first mission to go active -- which I didn't properly and entirely minimize either, btw, because I'm stupid that way -- is three survivors one heavily wounded. I didn't even try to finish the mission, just wiped one enemy patrol, set up to ambush another one with a troll runner (who dang near got himself killed trying to get back). We shot a few of the three patrols that swarmed in on us, then roped out. 4th member panicked in the Evac zone and frankly deserved to die. 

It occurred to me afterward that the system overtly expects you to be save scumming.  :bd: That's what "inflitration" really amounts to -- I was plotting how to draw off the other two known squads on the ground so that I might have some chance to run up and hack the terminal, after reloading from a good save after I hashed the first patrol without alerting anyone else...

...and then I realized I was "figuring out patrol routes and schedules", i.e. what the infiltration was supposed to be doing. That's... that's genius design, right?!

[Windigo]

Ironically, after talking about this I got suckered into sending my rookie troop batches out on the first three missions that came down the pike (after the Gatekeeper substitute intro mission).  #:-)

So far the best I've managed to eke out of the first mission to go active -- which I didn't properly and entirely minimize either, btw, because I'm stupid that way -- is three survivors one heavily wounded. I didn't even try to finish the mission, just wiped one enemy patrol, set up to ambush another one with a troll runner (who dang near got himself killed trying to get back). We shot a few of the three patrols that swarmed in on us, then roped out. 4th member panicked in the Evac zone and frankly deserved to die. 

It occurred to me afterward that the system overtly expects you to be save scumming.  :bd: That's what "inflitration" really amounts to -- I was plotting how to draw off the other two known squads on the ground so that I might have some chance to run up and hack the terminal, after reloading from a good save after I hashed the first patrol without alerting anyone else...

...and then I realized I was "figuring out patrol routes and schedules", i.e. what the infiltration was supposed to be doing. That's... that's genius design, right?!

I was having fatalities in my missions. Not many, but enough to make me say "Ouch/Darn" a few times. I am a stealth guy or a blow the crap out of every thing guy. One of my funniest missions was when I had lots of infiltration time and sent in 3 grenadiers plus a technical..... and there were lots of vehicles. If you haven't caught on yet, in LW2 a standard grenade will cause a vehicle to explode. So if there is a pesky 5+ health baddie adjacent to a vehicle.... one grenade will solve your problem.

[fabius]

Ironically, after talking about this I got suckered into sending my rookie troop batches out on the first three missions that came down the pike (after the Gatekeeper substitute intro mission).  #:-)

So far the best I've managed to eke out of the first mission to go active -- which I didn't properly and entirely minimize either, btw, because I'm stupid that way -- is three survivors one heavily wounded. I didn't even try to finish the mission, just wiped one enemy patrol, set up to ambush another one with a troll runner (who dang near got himself killed trying to get back). We shot a few of the three patrols that swarmed in on us, then roped out. 4th member panicked in the Evac zone and frankly deserved to die. 

It occurred to me afterward that the system overtly expects you to be save scumming.  :bd: That's what "inflitration" really amounts to -- I was plotting how to draw off the other two known squads on the ground so that I might have some chance to run up and hack the terminal, after reloading from a good save after I hashed the first patrol without alerting anyone else...

...and then I realized I was "figuring out patrol routes and schedules", i.e. what the infiltration was supposed to be doing. That's... that's genius design, right?!

That sir, is so subversive that it's funny, and I don't know whether you are super astute or work for Intel.

Edited: Submod updated for LW2:

True Concealment for LW2
Subscribe
DESCRIPTION
Tactical Mission Timers won't go down while squad concealed.

You can configure what missions this affects, by default affects all missions where you could use the officer perk "Intervention".

[JasonPratt]

The new sub-mod appears to have a serious bug, so I'll hold off a while.

I tried my second mission again from the good save point, to see if I could get one guy with a grenade to draw attention off. It technically worked, but: (1) reinforcements dropped where most of my squad was waiting for the on-map opponents to move -- not where I threw the grenade -- and (2) when my lone runner forward got to the train car with the terminal, he was not only one turn short of success, but there was a final on-map squad waiting in the car.

There was just no way to beat that mission with a four rookies: for whatever reason, I somehow hadn't gotten the infiltration low enough. I accepted the one loss, one wounded, as experience to buff them into having classes and moved on.

Incidentally, the new infiltrate system does nothing to really stop the turn limits.  :P

My third mission, even though I brought seven or eight rookies, I had been allowed more time to set up a proper infiltrate. 13 Turns across the map to rescue two hostages from a cell and get everyone to the rope-out. I ran into one lone scanning drone (or rather it ran into me while I tried to dodge it), and I managed to shoot it down before triggering attention from other squads on-map. Two more squads on the map, between me and the captives, both of whom I managed to trigger at about the same time, but with a bit of save scumming I managed to concentrate enough force at the right angles (and grenades) to remove them. THANK GOD (and the mod designers) I DON'T HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN A GRENADE AND A RIFLE SCOPE ATTACHMENT IN THIS MOD! 

Two reinforcement drops arrived, one just after I mopped up the last on-map squad. I set up a killing zone on overwatch to properly welcome them, which worked like a charm. No one on guard in the prison/HQ; the second reinforcements drop in just in time to speedbump me on the way out. Roped out everyone at the last minute with only one slight wound, and 15/16 enemies down. BEERS FOR OUR HORSES!  <:-)