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X-COM XCOM 2 + War of the Chosen Expansion Thread

Suicidal

Arcane
Joined
Apr 29, 2007
Messages
2,208
Back when I played I installed every enemy, equipment and class mod rated 4-5 stars (except stupid shit like Jedi classes that clearly don't belong) and I had a great time. Long War for WoTC was not out yet when I played so I plan to replay it with LW and also as many mods I can slap on top without actually breaking the game.
 

mastroego

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
Thanks but...

people who think LW will save them if they don't enjoy Nu-XCOM always baffled me.

that's not my case. The issue isn't the mechanics (that LW doesn't fully overhaul) but rather the simplicity and lack of depth/options available for the player. Long War does a good job at improving these issues and YES I'm aware it's essentially nu-Xcom-but-more-autistic. That's how I like it.

Anyway, bought the game. It's downloading now. I see a LOT of mods available so hopefully it will be worth my time/money.
Be warned that LW2 is NOT as loved as LW and many LW users do not, in fact, use LW2.
I don't.
It wasn't even completed by the same team for the DLCs (and you need the DLCs).

Yeah mods "fixed" the game (I guess?), but you'll need to rebalance it yourself with a combo of mods I'm afraid.
It's not unlike the Skyrim scene.
Start with UI mods perhaps, it's easier to spot the must-haves in that category.
I haven't finalized my own list for the next playthrough, yet.
I did have fun enough the last time, anyway.
 
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eXalted

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
Be warned that LW2 is NOT as loved as LW and many LW users do not, in fact, use LW2.
LW2 was the first LW I played. Tried LW1 recently but I couldn't get into it.

Combat felt.... weird, I dunno (and I've completed vanilla XCOM and I liked it). Someone shill me the mod, pls.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,287
WotC basically dialed everything up to 11. My most dangerous unit in X2 is the sniper, and not because she targets things from a long way away, as was intended (which is what I did with X1, double tapping from across the battlefield). Oh, no. Sniper will Icarus Jump INTO THE MIDDLE of an enemy pack, and then Lightning Hands, Quickdraw and either finish off with Faceoff or Fan Fire using Dark Claw. She can kill 6-7 units easy in that one turn if Faceoff was the finisher. That sniper usually has about 30-50% of the mission kills.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,287
I really like the character of the chosen, they might be my favourite video game villains of the past decade. Powerful TMNT vibe from them.
The sniper Chosen is the most fun of the lot. "I can go on a rant about the glory of the Elders and all that, but let's face it. I just like killing things."
 

JDR13

Arcane
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
3,930
Location
The Swamp

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,287
Alien Hunters DLC is still bullshit, but there's a mod that, imo, improves it greatly. -> https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=860556301&searchtext=rulers+revised
What is so bad about it?

I find the alien rulers to be pure autism, but ymmv. That mod can help if someone activates the DLC too early like I did.
Heh. I activated Julian about two weeks into the game. I was still running around with assault rifles and kevlar and 4 people in my squad (5 including Shen). The unlimited 2 armour MECs were bad enough, but the super sectopod was... a Holy Mother of Ka-urk! moment...

I learnt my lesson from that one, and didn't activate the alien rulers until I got magnetic weapons.
 

JDR13

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Heh. I activated Julian about two weeks into the game. I was still running around with assault rifles and kevlar and 4 people in my squad (5 including Shen). The unlimited 2 armour MECs were bad enough, but the super sectopod was... a Holy Mother of Ka-urk! moment...

I learnt my lesson from that one, and didn't activate the alien rulers until I got magnetic weapons.

Yeah, I didn't have mag weapons yet either when I did Shen's Last Gift. Tbh though, I didn't find that one hard at all until the Sectopod fight.

There should be an aim bonus against large enemies. My grenadiers actually missed the Sectopod a few times even when they were literally standing right next it. I thought I was going to smash a hole in my keyboard. :)
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,287
Heh. I activated Julian about two weeks into the game. I was still running around with assault rifles and kevlar and 4 people in my squad (5 including Shen). The unlimited 2 armour MECs were bad enough, but the super sectopod was... a Holy Mother of Ka-urk! moment...

I learnt my lesson from that one, and didn't activate the alien rulers until I got magnetic weapons.

Yeah, I didn't have mag weapons yet either when I did Shen's Last Gift. Tbh though, I didn't find that one hard at all until the Sectopod fight.

There should be an aim bonus against large enemies. My grenadiers actually missed the Sectopod a few times even when they were literally standing right next it. I thought I was going to smash a hole in my keyboard. :)
I did manage to get through the sectopod on the first try, but it was touch and go there for a long time. It took me over 10 rounds to kill that thing, what with the unlimited spawning MECs interfering.

The trick was to spread out, climb the towers and put Spark up front and centre. For some reason, Julian targeted him half-a-dozen times and missed every single one. I guess he was trying not to damage his body, but it gave me time to take him down some. Having Shen and another specialist helped as I was haywire dominating the other MECs and having them literally kamikaze Julian.

Sectopods actually have an aim penalty against it. They have a natural defence of 40 or something like that. Even on top of the towers, my guys had only a 60-70% chance of hitting Julian.
 

JDR13

Arcane
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Messages
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Sectopods actually have an aim penalty against it. They have a natural defence of 40 or something like that. Even on top of the towers, my guys had only a 60-70% chance of hitting Julian.

Yeah, it doesn't make sense from any logical standpoint. Any defense bonus they have should go towards reducing damage not making it harder to hit. That's XCOM for you though.
 

Ash

Arcane
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
6,228
I'm loving this expansion (WotC) from a gameplay point of view. Largely improvements all round. Sadly it has lost the base game's atmosphere and presence - brutal (on ironman) struggle against an all-powerful alien race, very sci-fi military feeling, sort of grounded and with clear direction. Scraping every resource and making every critical strategic decision to survive, evade and outgun the aliens. This is all completely undercut by constant chosen masturbation, comical resistance blabbering, and lost/obligatory zombies.

The gameplay is largely solid, extensive incline so I have to say goodbye to the base game's charm and atmosphere for this chosen/resistance/lost circus.

Gameplaywise the only decline is the lost. They don't add much except time wastage. Everything else is mostly incline.
 

Eyestabber

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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Hello again! As you people may or may not remember, I already did my "bullet point review" of this game back in 2016. Yet now (Jan 2022) I finished yet another campaign and have started a LWOTC campaign. So I thought it would be cool to revisit my own post ITT and see whether or not the game changed for the better during those 6 years.

But first I would like to point out mastroego was right on the money when he told me to start with UI/QoL mods. Roughly six years have passed and Firaxis did next to nothing to improve the game's horrendous UI and inexcusable time-wasting mechanics. It's worse actually, with WOTC they took a step further and added enemies whose plans are CLEARLY all about talking XCOM to death-by-boredom. THANKFULLY there are plenty of mods out there to completely fix this issue. I wish I didn't have to install roughly 50 mods for a "vanilla" experience, but the devs unwillingness to put something as basic as disabling pod activation cinematics means modders need to pick up the slack.

The good news is the core gameplay of Xcom 2 remains solid and enjoyable. The new Chosen managed to succeed where the garbage rulers failed miserably. Even though I agree with the guy above, I would argue the Chosen are decent cartoon villains. With WOTC nu-XCOM takes a step further to differentiate itself from UFO:EU and like I said before: this game would be a codex favorite if it was called "Alien Shooter" instead of Xcom. Lost are straight up garbage tho.

In case anyone else is still playing, here's my AML profile for my "Vanilla+" modded experience (neatly separated into categories, so you can skip actual gameplay changes if you wish):

Metamod (3):
X2WOTCCommunityHighlander v1.23.2 X2WOTCCommunityHighlander https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1134256495
[WOTC] Alien Hunters Community Highlander v1.23.2 DLC2CommunityHighlander https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2534737016
[WotC] Mod Config Menu ModConfigMenu https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=667104300

Fixes (6):
[WOTC] Carry Unit Fix WotCCarryUnitFix https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1378606631
[WOTC] Ability Interaction Fixes AWCCostFixW https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1129878719
[WotC] Weapon Fixes WepUpgradeFix https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1737532501
Missing Packages Fix + Resource Missing_FX_Package_Resource https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124064427
Reward Decks Refresher RewardDecksRefresher https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=665435869
[WOTC] Shredstorm Cannon Build Fix WOTC_ShredstormCannonBuildFix https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2257652871

UI improvements (19):
[WOTC] Cost-Based Ability Colors WOTC_CostBasedAbilityColors https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1289686596
[WOTC] Show All Class Counts WOTCShowAllClassCounts https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2167235854
[WOTC] Show Tech Rewards WOTC_ShowTechRewards https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2347354900
[WOTC] Tactical UI Kill Counter Redux WOTC_TacCounters https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2405013108
[WotC] Gotcha Again WOTCGotchaAgain https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124288875
[WOTC] Detailed Soldier Lists DetailedSoldierListWOTC https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1128263618
[WOTC] Extended Personnel Info ExtendedPersonnelInfo https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1458945379
WotC: robojumper's Squad Select robojumperSquadSelect_WotC https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1122974240
Show More Buff Details ShowMoreBuffDetails https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=709499969
Yet Another F1 YetAnotherF1 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=934236622
[WOTC] Quick Soldier Info QuickSoldierInfoWOTC https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1125117314
Blackmarket Usage BlackmarketUsage https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=648410303
[WOTC] Additional Icons WOTCLootIndicator https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1127409511
[WotC] UI - Colored Ammo Bar WotC_UI_ColoredAmmoBar https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1949300408
[WotC] Better Tactical Zoom Out [WotC]BetterTacticalZoom https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1128430976
[WotC] Bond To Header BondToHeader https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1397839793
[WOTC] Better Armory Item Stats ArmouryCrit https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1489472552
[WOTC] New Target Icons WOTCNewTargetIcons https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1384631824
[WOTC] Passive Icons WOTCPassiveIcons https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1859762491

Stop Wasting My Time (10):
[WOTC] Faster Reload Animations FasterReloadAnimationsWOTC https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1140240051
Instant Avenger Menus - WotC InstantAvengerMenus https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124410215
Evac All - WotC EvacAll_WotC https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1126395106
Still Stop Wasting My Time StillDontWasteMyTime https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1793418015
Stop Wasting My Time - WotC StopWastingMyTime https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=620600092
Overwatch All/Others WotC OverwatchAllWotC https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1133368143
No Reveal Cinematics NoRevealCinematics https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1139866668
[WotC] Instant Loot WOTCInstantLoot https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1440233515
[WOTC] Less Overwatch Lock Ups! OverwatchLockupFix https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1276342555
Hush Little Chosen HushLittleChosen https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1137638215

Partial Overhauls (5):
[WOTC] Proving Ground Overhaul V2 WOTC_PGOverhaul https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2259746446
WotC: "Increase Combat Intelligence" for everyone WotC_ComIntActionsForHeroes https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1134537412
Ruler Reactions Revised - WotC RulerReactionsRevised https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=860556301
[WotC] I'm the Commander here ImTheCommanderHere https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1129770962
[WOTC] Stabilize Me WotC_StabilizeMe https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1380625450

Animation Improvements (3):
Cannon Animation Redux CannonAnimationRedux https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1541141667
[WOTC] Advent Flashlights [WOTC]AdventFlashlights https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1131572938
[WOTC] Cinematic Rapid Fire (and other abilities) CinematicRapidFireW https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124794449

Cosmetics (3):
Capnbubs Accessories - WotC CapnbubsAccessories-WotC https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1123427895
[WOTC] Shaken Scars are Back! ShakenScarsW https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1124507705
[WOTC] Iridar's Appearance Manager WOTCIridarAppearanceManager https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2664422411

With that out of the way, we can start the masturbatory self-quoting re-review:

What :incline:ed:

- I like the new aliens. A lot, actually. I think they're pretty cool concepts. The Andromedon, the Gatekeeper, the faceless...they are proof that Firaxis is capable of delivering entirely NEW aliens that fit the setting and do cool things. The Avatar angle is also nice, the Ethereals in the first game looked VERY decrepit and the avatar plot makes perfect sense.

Despite being based of a simple "Darklord's Minions" premise, the new Chosen bring distinct design and mechanics to the table while also being OK as persistent antagonists. But you srsly need the "hush little chosen" mod. The resistance factions are also a nice addition, but the generic zombies are nothing but time wasters and make the game EXTREMELY slow and boring if you allow pod opening mechanics to stay in the game. If anything, the Lost make the game easier by providing free farming opportunities. Some guy made a mod that adds a rogue Chryssalid Queen into the game and probably did what Firaxis was aiming for with the Lost much better.
The new Chrysalids are actually challenging. I like them! One of them even killed my gunner in the final mission. :mixedemotions:

Is burrowing a new skill? Anyway, using mind controlled Advent to proc Chrysalid minefields is pretty fun.

- No more LOLRANDOM rocket misses. Sadly, still no accuracy system for explosives.

LW kinda fixes that, but nerfs damage to cover super hard. Goes to show there is no "fix" for Xcom 2 being mostly about using guaranteed damage from explosives to blow up cover and kill whoever was behind other than straight up making the strategy weaker overall.

- The Guerrilla/Dark Event angle is interesting. I just wish there was actual PLANNING on the Guerrilla Ops. Maybe mods will fix that?

LW brings a ton of planning to Guerrilla Ops and WOTC introduces the resistance ring. Wish granted, I guess?
- Weapon upgrades are better than having a "SCOPE" on your backpack, but I still think it's way too shallow. I hope mods make a JA2 style upgrade system. :bounce:

Now it's mostly the same. LW "improves" this by nerfing all attachments but making them more common and replaceable. Not a great change IMO.

- The new maps. That's the big one, IMO. NuXcom had very few maps, and by the time you finished the game ONCE you already knew every single map, so it's mostly a slog. The new "random" maps add a lot of replay value to the game, IMO.

And mods bring even more map packs. The ones I put on my txt blend incredibly well with the vanilla ones.

What :decline:ed:

- Whoever came up with "yeah, free flight is bad. Let's remove the Flying Armor" deserves to be shot.

Unchanged. A sad case of FUN being set aside for the sake of "muh balanssseeeee".

- Squad-wide upgrades AND instant production? Wow...guess the whole "PC exclusive" thing was too good to be true, eh? I hope mods make upgrades cheaper, but individually produced. AND actually take time to produce.

LW fixes that and half-upgraded squads are back in the game. That does, however, increase the micromanagement involved exponentially.

- No more interceptors. An entire layer of the game was simply removed. Fuck that! I don't care about excuses, we got nothing in return. It just feels like the game got dumbed down even more.

LW adds Haven management and infiltration. No interceptors but an extra layer of autism was added so...there you go?

- Free actions. Free actions everywhere. DERP!

In Xcom 2 your squad grows in power by breaking the turn economy into pieces. And that means free actions. I think the powerspike from Major to Colonel is enormous in this game but I don't really see that as a big flaw. LW introduces a slower burn progression. Actually, everything in LW is slower (aka a slog)

- Alien Hunters. Everything about this DLC deserves to die in a fire. Ruler reaction is a terrible mechanic that forces you to cheese, the new items are OBJECTIVELY better than their vanilla counterparts and the new armors look very, VERY silly. And on top of that we never get an explanation for Vahlen's actions other than "she did it for teh lulz".

I LOL'ed when I learned Firaxis themselves were forced to nerf the rulers. There's a ton of articles about them and for good reason: rulers CHEAT and any losses they caused feels like being robbed at gunpoint. "My turn, your turn" is a BASIC and FUNDAMENTAL concept of TBS and it never ceases to amaze me how a DLC that made a mockery of that concept ever saw the light of day. Alien Hunters still has a very low score on Steam, despite a being mostly "dealt with" issue. Thankfully they learned SOMETHING from this abomination and the Chosen don't repeat the Rulers mistake.

- LOLRANDOM continent bonuses. And a lot of them are p. useless.

Same/LW improves that.

- Smaller tech tree. Three tiers of weapons instead of four.

LW changes it to 5 but I think the vanilla campaign suffers from being 70% about Mag Weapons. EW had better tech-pacing.

- The new combat seems to be more disable-focused and less damage-spammy. I think that might be a good thing? I dunno.

Err...not really. In higher difficulties the game quickly degenerates into "don't let the aliens take a turn or you're screwed". The overabundance of guaranteed disables makes the game a bit too magicool and those new Advent Priests that go on stasis at 1 HP are pretty bad design IMO.

- Still no real character development. Why? Perk trees need to die in a fire...Also PCS is such a lazy way to add some extra depth. I hope they release an EW-like expac with some cool new options.

Nope. Unchanged. There are some mods that try to add gene mods like in EW but I didn't try them yet.

What changed:

- I still think swords look silly, but mechanically they work fine, so I won't complain.

I decided to complain. Melee became a bit silly now with units moving 30 squares and attacking in the same turn (Advent Stun lancer + Ranger). It also sucks that this is mostly something that screws the player because despite the addition of a melee specialist (Templar), the fact remains that walking into melee range is a great way to accidentally activate a couple extra pods along the way, screwing yourself hard in the process. Pod activation mechanic is a terrible "gamey" concept and that really can't be fixed in a Nu-Xcom game.

- The new psi ops...I don't know what to think about it. They are still amazingly powerful and I think making them a separate class was a good decision. But a soldier that can be trained all the way up to Colonel w/o seeing ANY action? I don't know... :?

Psi Ops are now even weirder as they can't use AP. Test-tube-baby-space-wizards are meh.

Final thoughts:

The game is better than NuXcom, but worse than either EW or LW. I think it has great potential and IF Firaxis + modding community play their cards right, X2 might even become a GREAT game. As of RIGHT NOW...it belongs in the "good for what it is" tier. I don't regret pirating it, but I sure as hell am in no rush to buy it. Firaxis needs to stop wasting time with bullshit customization options and get around to adding more depth into the game. Jake Solomon is a massive cuck, he praises Long War on Twitter but refuses to take ANY step towards making the game more complex. He KNOWS such a move would alienate his console audience...

My conclusion is thankfully a positive one: the game did improve tremendously and it's now in a better spot than EW. The reasons boil down to destructible environments, great usage of verticality and moddability. Doing things better than its predecessor is the main duty of a sequel and I think Xcom 2 is a great sequel to EW. I don't regret my purchase and I would definitely recommend this game nowadays.
 
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Zeriel

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2012
Messages
13,379
XCOM 2 engine is definitely better. A lot of advancements. I really don't like the theme & style the game is evolving towards though, feels like that Marvel game is what they want to turn it into, and I just want more of the XCOM 1 style. That goes doubly so for the geoscape. Air interceptions, base building... all of that stuff is greatly missed in 2.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,287
The problem with X2 is the same with any game with DLC content: power creep. The normal campaign remains the same but the extra powerful armour and weapons made it easier. Once you get them, of course. The end game basically becomes much easier.

WotC also added in the Reaper unit, and those are pretty much psycho at Colonel level. With a superior expanded magazine weapon mod, they can basically make any mob disappear once a combat, which is especially overpowered when you are in one of those missions where you have to kill a specific mob (*cough*final mission*cough*). That is literally what I did in that mission. 1 Reaper and 1 Sharpshooter with the Icarus armour and the mission was over the second the last Avatar appeared. Of course, Reapers in general are overpowered. Deanna Troi kills entire pods by herself with Remote Start and the fully upgraded Claymore. In my current game, while they are still running around in basic kevlar armour, she dealt 21 damage to the Assassin Chosen with a single Remote Start. Turns out hiding behind a stack of oil barrels isn't a good idea when you are vulnerable to explosives...

I don't see the problem with the Rulers, to be honest. I have the version where they move with your every action (except free actions). I still killed both the Berserker and the Snake before they could run away and the Archon on the second meeting. I think the only damage I suffered over the three of them was a piledrive by the Archon on Deanna. I was playing on Veteran. My current run is Commander, so let's see how that changes things.
 

Cael

Arcane
Joined
Nov 1, 2017
Messages
20,287
Deanna Troi kills entire pods by herself with Remote Start and the fully upgraded Claymore
Worf gonna be very upset if she leaves him nothing.
Worf is pretty good for burst damage also. He is the only unit that can do multiple attacks a round using anything. Grenades, normal attacks, item use all do not end turns fore him if you upgraded him right. Plus he has a few free action abilities, including attacks. However, he is built more for the urban maps, as his accuracy with the main gun is kinda low. The height advantage helps compensate.
 

Eyestabber

Arcane
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Messages
4,733
Location
HUEland
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Anyway, back on the topic of mods.

I gave up on LWOTC. I don't remember the last time I saw a mod get so much right and yet fail completely and utterly at providing fun. Everything takes too damn long, to the point that I would do an infiltration and play the mission on the next gaming session, totally forgetting WTF that was about (something you can't afford in LW). The game also adds a new squad system that does little to alleviate the issue of having to manage 100+ soldiers. On top of that you have the Bond system AND the new officer system. So EVERY mission has about 20 min of going through lists and thinking "can I take this guy?". Not particularly engaging.

So yeah, LWOTC fixes a lot of issues of the vanilla game, BUT it adds plenty of its own. Manually extracting 13 civilians, having to check up on poorly explained "V/S/I/X/Q/" numbers and counter them with sliders and playing hour long missions that don't move the board forward AT ALL isn't my idea of fun. LWOTC? Moar liek "Long Slog of the [autism] Spectrum" amirite guise?

But you know what's definitely fun and I'm going into my second playthrough right now?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1280477867

The RPG Overhaul makes character development actually interesting. Ofc, this is just my "core" mod, I got another 134 running right now such as:

  • Disable dumbass zombies and replace them with:
  1. THE HIVE (with increased pod size because...why not)
C37B12145E4FA1BB18B437D322CBB4A92FC2D36D

If you wanna reenact the Klendathu Invasion, that's the way to go. I take no responsibility for soldiers turned into cocoons (RIP Sophie :'( )

2. Raider Faction: SCP Foundation Mobile Task Forces -> in case you miss EXALT. That's IMO the best "human faction" raider mod available. New voicelines and gear included, no OP rewards.
3. Raider Faction: Chaos Insurgency -> from the same guy. Not as polished as the previous one, but CI enemies provide a distinct challenge and a new and interesting ammo type

  • A Better Advent: new enemies + harder campaign
  • Increase Pod Size by Force Level: just like it says. The previous screenshot wouldn't be possible without it
  • Augments: adds a new mechanic. Wounded soldiers might need an augment to recover. Should be used together with "MK0 Augments" otherwise your early game will be very frustrating.
  • Gene mods: brings back a fun EW mechanic. Must also subscribe to the perk pack, otherwise most EW mods will be missing
And a ton of other things.

My current campaign is tons of fun.
 
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CthuluIsSpy

Arcane
Joined
Dec 26, 2014
Messages
7,940
Location
On the internet, writing shit posts.
2. Raider Faction: SCP Foundation Mobile Task Forces -> in case you miss EXALT. That's IMO the best "human faction" raider mod available. New voicelines and gear included, no OP rewards.
3. Raider Faction: Chaos Insurgency -> from the same guy. Not as polished as the previous one, but CI enemies provide a distinct challenge and a new and interesting ammo type
Are they literally just SCP inserts, or did the mod author actually try to get them to fit? Because if it's the former that's kind of lame.
 

mastroego

Arcane
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
10,250
Location
Italy
I was going to try A Better Barracks, for soldier classes, in my next run.
I never even tried LOTWC (nor vanilla LW2) since what I heard about it already convinced me it is not a real Long War sequel.
 

CthuluIsSpy

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I LOL'ed when I learned Firaxis themselves were forced to nerf the rulers. There's a ton of articles about them and for good reason: rulers CHEAT and any losses they caused feels like being robbed at gunpoint. "My turn, your turn" is a BASIC and FUNDAMENTAL concept of TBS and it never ceases to amaze me how a DLC that made a mockery of that concept ever saw the light of day. Alien Hunters still has a very low score on Steam, despite a being mostly "dealt with" issue. Thankfully they learned SOMETHING from this abomination and the Chosen don't repeat the Rulers mistake.

Yeah it's not great. It's an interesting concept and does shake things up a little but the execution was terrible.

Iratus does that a lot better. That game has a boss encounter that reacts whenever your minions move, except you actually have a lot of options to deal with him.
For starters, there's a lot of out of sequence abilities that stay up for a while, meaning that while the boss gets his free move you get to punish him for it, there are no hostile enemies in the encounter, just passive ones that help you if you attack them, and on top of that when the boss has his turn he doesn't use it to attack, just to buff himself.
It's a similar concept to the Alien Hunters, but it doesn't feel as cheap and annoying because it was executed with a little more thought behind it.
 

Eyestabber

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2. Raider Faction: SCP Foundation Mobile Task Forces -> in case you miss EXALT. That's IMO the best "human faction" raider mod available. New voicelines and gear included, no OP rewards.
3. Raider Faction: Chaos Insurgency -> from the same guy. Not as polished as the previous one, but CI enemies provide a distinct challenge and a new and interesting ammo type
Are they literally just SCP inserts, or did the mod author actually try to get them to fit? Because if it's the former that's kind of lame.

I didn't even know what SCP was until I stumbled into this mod. Here:

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/discussion/1774066942/1746772949962132941/

That's a list of the MTFs and a rough description of what they do. But basically both mods add human enemies with tematic powers and immunities. Eg: assimov lawbringers have MECs and everyone packs bluescreen rounds (rip sparks).

I dont know what you mean by "just inserts" since I dont know what scps are "supposed" to be like. Ingame they are a third party of human enemies with various twists.

Be warned when using Raider Bases: it will give you a base for EVERY task force. I dont use it because Raider Base Assault missions are VERY buggy.

As for the CI they are a single faction with psionics + spectre like invisibility. Very weak stat-wise but numerous and sneaky.


I was going to try A Better Barracks, for soldier classes, in my next run.
I never even tried LOTWC (nor vanilla LW2) since what I heard about it already convinced me it is not a real Long War sequel.

Didnt try ABB yet, but I hear It's more balanced out of the box than RPGO. If you use RPGO you need to find ways to bump up difficulty otherwise your multiclass super soldiers will completely curb stomp all missions
 

CthuluIsSpy

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That does sound cool, it's just that the SCP logos are weird to me.
It's like having metro armor sets in Stalker, it doesn't fit imo.

SCP is fan made creepy pasta thing about a foundation that captures and imprisons supernatural creatures.
The MTF is their military / security wing.

It would be like if the Men in Black showed up in XCOM. I'm not talking about Thinmen either, I'm talking about Agent J and K literally showing up and using memory wipes.
 

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