Change Log (LWR)

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Change Log

LW Rebalance v1.26.12

Strategic:

Aliens gain their +2 research per alien base at the end of each month (instead of the beginning of each month) * Makes it so the increase is captured in the end of month report (otherwise the reports were misleading)
Successful UFO research missions award less alien research (2/3/4/5 instead of 2/4/6/8) * Was leading to maxing out alien research too quickly in the later game as each month the gains are increased by 10% and the additional range for each month is just +3-15 research (33-45)
UFO Bombing (Air Raid) missions now will fail if the UFO is decreased below half health (and will cause proprotionally less panic above 50% health) * Now all UFO missions that are airborne (scouts, hunts, bombing) fail at 50% or less health and will decrease the chance of success proportionally to their health

Tactical:

Chance to test for panic on Exalt increased to 30% (from 20%) * Reasonable considering their numbers
Tactical Sense renamed to Tactical Mobility * Makes it seem more about your ability to move than your ability to think which makes it more believable on certain aliens and on armors

Perks:

Onslaught does not grant point blank shots a free action, only the KSM * It was too strong with both. Shots were added to the perk because I thought it was necessary to have the perk work at all times, but realistically you only need floater autopsy and MEC warfare systems so getting a KSM online early should not be a problem

Equipment:

Proximity Mine Launcher is back as "MINE Launcher" and now counts as a destructive grenade for the purposes of perks: Damage:12, EnviroDamage:240, Penetration:100, Range:7.5, Radius:3, Ammo:2, Weight:0.6. Can deploy a MINE (MInerature Nuclear Explosive) at range, that will detonate at the end of the enemy's turn, penetrating all damage resistance and dealing double environmental damage.
KSM damage to 20 (from 25) * I was incorrect about it needing a buff, at 20 damage (30 with thumper) it is quite competitive

Aliens:

Awareness and Penetrator removed of all Heavy Floaters and moved on to leader Heavy Floaters only * Makes most heavy floaters a little easier to hit and little easier to tank in general

LW Rebalance v1.26.11

Tactical:

The first mission has 1 less sectoid on all difficulties * accommodates for sectoid buff

Aliens:

Drone and Seeker base damage to 3 (from 2) * Both were too weak and too inconsequential when being used, makes March a little more challenging
Sectoid starting will to 50 (from 25) * Boost to early game enemies, makes March more challenging

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where salvage options after UFOs were too pricey off the bat
Fixed a bug where stepping out at someone you had at "Point Blank" (i.e. avoiding their cover DR) would sometimes still grant cover DR b/c the stepout moved you away from the target and outside of "Point Blank" range
Fixed a bug where First Aid and Field Medic was reducing the injuries on SHIVs
Fixed a bug where units could press "J" while moving to activate combat readiness even though all of their moves had already been used

LW Rebalance v1.26.10

Strategic:

Your grade at the end of the month is now a measure of well your campaign is progressing * This change is awesome as it provides some much needed feedbacks for players. An average score is C, and that's where most campaigns will get at the end of their first month. If you can eventually achieve an A you are doing very well and you will likely pass the campaign if you keep it up. If you get an F, especially after many months, it will likely be very challenging to pass the campaign.
Injury/Fatigue modificaiton is no longer reduced on lower difficulties * Makes injury/fatigue less of a non-issue on the easier difficulties as it was allowing for too many alterations in mission density, creating worse gameplay
Alien bases offer significantly less resources and set the aliens back in research by 10 (from 15) * Makes them less farmable
Researching the technology 'Elerium' now requires access to a hyperwave beacon (which is gained from a successful assault of an alien base) * In other words you can't research elerium until you have successfully assaulted an alien base. Encourages earlier alien base assaults.
Minimum resources per month for aliens dropped to 9* month (from 12 * month) * Not needed anymore due to meld changes, and gives the aliens more diversity
Failed abductions now give +5 research to the aliens * Makes sense, gives aliens another source (albeit rare and fairly insignificant) of research
Alien Research no longer is equal to #_of_days + bonus research (where bonus research starts at -90 and slowly increases) but is instead just a set value that is always between 1.1 and 1.5 per day of the campaign (depending upon how successful the aliens are doing) * This is designed so that it will work with current campaigns. The end result is pretty similar to before except that the player will have more effect over alien tech levels starting at the beginning of the campaign. Note that tech levels are 1:0-49, 2:50-99, 3:100-149, 4:150-199, etc. up to level 15:700+
Abductions now hit 2-3 targets but occur less often and have more variable rewards * Makes them harder on your roster, makes the choice of doing which ones under constrained rosters more interesting
Abductions now remove 2 panic from the country and 1 from the continent (from just 1 from the country) * makes them more effective at reducing panic
Abductions, terror missions, and council missions grant 12 hours to get there (from 8) * Accommodates for the extra mission density of abductions

Air Game:

New aircraft option: "COMBAT PATROL": This aircraft will be sent over the continent hunting and harassing alien entities. It will cost 350 credits and likely result in aircraft damage, but will raise civilian morale (lower continent panic by 3-12 depending upon RNG, aircraft, and weapon) and hamper alien progress (lower alien research by 3-12 depending upon RNG, aircraft, and weapon) * Gives the player more agency for controlling panic and alien research
Bombing mission panic generation lowered by 25% * Panic generation was a little too high, this is a tweak to put it at a more reasonable level and take some focus off the air game
Satellite destruction panic generation lowered by 20% * Same as above
Fighter and Destroyer health reduced by 20/25% * Makes them easier to deal with while still not generating more missions

Tactical:

Alien Base Assault has ~33% less enemies and the pod sizes are smaller and easier (e.g. The pod of 6 Muton Elites is now a pod of 4 and might just be a pod of 1 mecthoid with 3 drones) * Makes the mission significantly easier as it was a mission that you could not retreat from and was optional. This meant that players delayed a long time and thus delayed plot progression through the game which sometimes led to the player feeling lost: "what am I supposed to be doing again?"
Overseer mission has significantly smaller alien pod sizes * makes the mission more doable while still containing deadly pods, gives the impression of an elite UFO mission while not making it as dangerous to do. This lets players attempt and complete the mission earlier.
Alien panicking only occurs on Exalt * Felt immersion breaking to have the more hardcore war-bred aliens panic
Alien bases get a full additional pod each time you attempt them * Makes farming them difficult
Toned down the strength of aliens on extra large landed UFOs * Makes them a little more reasonable to pass
Modified alien appearance parameter to be based on set alien tech levels (see #'s below) instead of arbitrary #'s of 28 * All this means is that you can know exactly which aliens you'll be facing based on the alien tech level
Late game aliens will appear later in tech levels (see #'s below, each # represents overall weighting) * makes the late game difficulty spike a less of spike
Level 1 Aliens: Sectoids (100), Drones (30), Thinmen (10), Floaters (10)
Level 2 Aliens: Floaters (90), Thinmen (90), Mutons (10), Seekers (10)
Level 3 Aliens: Mutons (140), Seeker (90), Cyberdisc (10)
level 4 Aliens: Cyberdisc (140), Mechtoids (10), Berserkers (10)
Level 5 Aliens: Mechtoids (140), Berserkers (140), Sectoid Commanders (10)
Level 6 Aliens: Sectoid Commanders (190), Heavy Floaters (10), Muton Elites (10)
Level 7 Aliens: Muton Elites (190), Heavy Floaters (190), Sectopods (10)
Level 8 Aliens: Sectopods (190), Ethreals (10)
Level 9 Aliens: Ethereals (90)
Level 10 Aliens: Ethereals (100)

Perks:

Disabler has a 40% chance to jam an opponents weapons (from 35%) * slight buff

Equipment:

Skeleton key is much cheaper * Prevents a resource bottle neck from granting access to the alien base assault

Aliens:

Ethereal health lowered by ~20% * They were a little too tanky given their offensive potential
Seekers gain 2 DR when strangling (from 0), cyberdiscs gain 6 DR when closed (from 8) * Seekers are moved to a later game enemy (due to the importance of a counter) and thus needed some more threat and cyberdiscs didn't need as high DR due to the red fog change

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where research granted to the aliens from successful research missions was not being modified in DW games (making DW 0.5 games a lot easier)
Clarified some ability text
Added in more code to prevent the HUD from disappearing during alien panicking
Fixed a bug where the council could ask for a proximity mine launcher and considering you can't produce them it could be... difficult to fulfill. =D

LW Rebalance v1.26.09 QoL:

Added a lot more strategic/tactical tips during loading screens * Thanks to Young Eldritch for the work on this
Added alien strategic info to the end of month report * Increases transparency of game mechanics and adds easier access to game mechanics

Strategic:

UFO Scouting missions will only generate a hunt if they are between 50-100% health [The chance is proportional to their health: 2x(UFOHP% * 50)% chance to generate a hunt] * Makes going all out on a scout that you don't finish off not such a loss

Bug Fixes:

Again, fixed the bug where aliens panicking would lead to the HUD disappearing
Fixed some incorrect descriptions
Fixed a bug where air domination was doubling the speed of UFO fire rates as well

LW Rebalance v1.26.08 Strategic:

Friendly skies and Elite XCOM aim bonuses to 25 (from 20) * makes the 2nd wave option a little more impactful
New 2nd wave option "Air Domination" (replaces Diminishing Returns): Doubles the fire rate of all your aircraft * Gives another method to make the air game stronger for players that wish this. Also, dimishing returns didn't really work well with Long War Rebalanced
Bradford will no longer admonish the player for letting a UFO go * Doesn't feel so bad when you do it considering most players will be doing it a lot and it will be a good move (you know nothing Bradford!)

Tactical:

Exalt missions are now easier if your difficulty is lower (they start 1/2/3 missions behind in terms of initial squad composition on brutal/classic/normal) * Makes them easier to handle on easier difficulties
Exalt Covert Op Extraction missions now have reinforcements enter 1/2/3 turns later on brutal/classic/normal * Makes it easier to handle on easier difficulties
Red Fog only degrades flat damage reduction by 1-50% (from 1-100%) * Reduces the effect of red fog on flat damage reduction making flat damage reduction more important/effective

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where reducing interceptor repair time looked like it did something, but actually did nothing * Whoopsies =P
Fixed a bug where the HUD would disappear if mulitple aliens panicked at the same time * Thanks to szmind for the code

LW Rebalance v1.26.07 Perks:

Collateral damage now deals +50% weapon damage (instead of -50% weapon damage) * Significant Buff

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where everyone was getting awareness and +30 def

LW Rebalance v1.26.06 QoL:

The term "base damage" has been replaced with "weapon damage" in all descriptions * Makes it more clear what it refers to, especially for newer players

Tactical:

Panic now lasts 4 turns (from 1), but each turn panicked units have an 80% chance to "Regain Control" * Makes panic more important to remove and avoid (alien trophies, psi inspire, etc.) but also removes the will component from panic turns so that high will units can't reliably panic for multiple turns (which was too powerful)

Perks:

Fragmentation to 25% chance for double damage (from 20% chance) * Buffed
Awareness grants +10 defense at all times which upgrades to +30 defense when steadying or overwatching * Buffed to provide more defense when not steadying/overwatching
Absorption Fields grants +20% DR (from +30%) * Nerfed, alleviates some of the pressure to make a Goliath pure tank
Penetrator back to +2 pen (from +3) * Was too strong at +3 and not as balanced on the trees
Snapshot with a strike rifle has a 55% chance to proc a free action (from +50%) * Slight buff, perk tree balance
VPT and CST back to +150% damage (from +140%) * Due to truncation, 40% is too much of a nerf, 50% seems like the sweet spot * balance on the trees
Mayhem grants +2 damage to explosives (from +35% weapon damage) * Buff to lower damage explosives used with mayhem (AP grenade, basic rocket launcher)

Equipment:

Kinetic Strike Module damage to 25 (from 20) * Slight buff, especially to the marauder

XCOM:

Reworked MEC perk trees * balance
Platform Stability replaced with Bring 'Em On for the GSGT Gunner * It felt bad having a perk that could be replaced by an item and this gives a nice offensive boost to the gunner at GSGT
SHIV armor to 10 (from 12) and alloy SHIV armor to 18 (from 16) * Nerf to original SHIV, buff to alloy SHIV

Aliens:

Cyberdiscs no longer have Critical System Targeting * Makes it a little easier to field mechanical units (it's mostly floaters, outsiders, and sectopods)

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where xcom units would sometimes be able to overwatch units that were dropping in without rapid reaction
Fixed a bug where the orange AP pips would not update correctly at the beginning of the turn
Fixed a bug where the geoscape could be locked on the US and the player couldn't navigate the geoscape due to an old bug in tracktwo's campaign summary code (This one was all szmind, he really is incredible at fixing these sorts of bugs)
Fixed several description errors * Thanks to Young Eldritch for this

LW Rebalance v1.26.05 Strategic:

Air raid panic increase to 12 (from 8) * Even with increased scouts, the hunts are creating significantly less panic than expected, this is intended to help rectify it

Tactical:

Non-Robotic aliens units have a 20% chance to roll for panic when they are hit for more than 30% of their remaining health (20 will test), when a squad mate in vision dies (20 will test), and when their squad leaders in vision die (40 will test) * Makes the game feel more engaging, feels more fair, and most important, feels fun to see the aliens cower before you.
First mission has 4/3/2 less sectoids on impossible/brutal/classic but XCOM only starts with 6 soldiers (from 8) * Slight increase in difficulty, makes it less likely to be a full map activation, consistency with what an abduction should be

Perks:

Mind control no longer has a negative to hit of 50 but instead a bonus to hit of 1 * Makes the AI more likely to consider it's use (for sectoid commanders and ethereals)
Mind control cooldown to 4 turns (from 1 turn) * Makes it much less spammable

Aliens:

Cyberdiscs and Mechtoids deal 2 less damage * They were hitting a little too hard
Toned down some of the damage bonuses high level leaders got with upgrades
Lowered the will of sectiod commanders, ethereals, and uber ethereals by 40 * Helps accommodate for mind control buff, makes overpower not so... overpowering =P

Bug Fixes:

Fixed some incorrect text descriptions
Fixed a bug where outsiders could start with 5-9 extra DR on brutal, classic, and normal difficulties
Fixed a bug where the bounties for killing high level aliens were being reduced by 90%
Increased the radius of danger zone suppression so it should work on all targets diagonally

LW Rebalance v1.26.04 Strategic:

Increased the amount of elerium/alloys you can acquire through extra salvage from UFOs * Increases the ability to convert credits into alloys/elerium
Interceptors take 20 days to produce * Slows down air expansion, makes planning more important
You can now hire an additional repair crew for a damaged aircraft at the cost of 150 credits which cuts repair times in half (cannot go below 1 day) * Helps keep the airfoce afloat
Landed UFOs decrease by 10% per month (from 20% per month) * Increase in the ability to acquire resources without using your airforce, helps accommodate for poor resource acquisition from UFOs
Reduce resource accumulation of elerium/alloys from UFOs by ~20% * Accommodates for increase from aliens and increased opportunity from landed UFOs

Tactical:

All aliens will now have 50/33/17% reduced stat gains from research and leader levels on normal/classic/brutal * Makes the mid-late game and larger UFOs much more reasonable on the lower difficulties, significant decrease overall in alien strength on lower difficulties
High level aliens yield significant bounties when killed (even if killed by explosives) * Makes late game missions still feel valuable and gives players alternative ways to acquire resources during challenging missions, helps accommodate for poor resource acquisition from UFOs
Most aliens reward 1 of a single resource specific to their type, even if killed by explosives (e.g. drones give 1 alloy) * Gives more consistent resource accumulation, helps accommodate for poor resource acquisition from UFOs
Toned back the time at which high level aliens can first appear by 1 month * Makes it feel less oppressive
Hunkering down now reduces the hit chance of psionic attacks by 50%, regardless of whether the unit is in cover or not * Gives an option to help protect soldier against psionic attacks
Corrossion reduces rocket range by 50% (instead of increasing scatter by 100%) * consistency with the rest of the ability
Corrossion prevents all passive healing (e.g. regeneration effects) * Makes it quite useful against units that heal (outsiders, mecthoids, ethereals, etc.)

Perks:

Mind Fray lasts 1 turn (from 2) * nerf to how punishing it feels, and makes it consistent with other effects (either 1 turn or indefinite)
Fragmentation grants a 20% chance for double damage * Tone back through increase on the RNG element, distinction from mayhem
Penetrator grants 3 penetration (from 2) * Buff to the perk, balance

Aliens:

Sectoid Commander damage toned down by 2 * They were hitting a little harder than ideal

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a long time LW 1.0 bug where when you ordered/cancelled a new aircraft or soldiers the amount of credits you have didn't display the change until you left the screen
Fixed a bug where the pulse sniper rifle had a mobility penalty and should not have one
Shadowstep now correctly grants +1.2 mobility * was bugged at 0.6 mobility
Fixed a bug where critical hit display wouldn't always inform the player it was a critical hit
Fixed a bug where the AP pips would not be colored orange at the beginning of the turn (but would be colored after an action or move)
Fixed a bug where gene modification wouldn't allow you to select gene mods despite having the available resources
Fixed a bug where In The Zone would sometimes not trigger if used as the first action of the turn

LW Rebalance v1.26.03 Strategic:

Bombing run panic generation to 8 (from 7) * Slight increase in panic
Renamed multiple weapons to not be so hard to identify (e.g. Blaster Rifle --> Pulse Strike Rifle) * Makes it easier for players to understand the many various weapons more clearly
XCom gains 20% more resources (meld, elerium, artifacts, etc.) per month from missions (from 10% per month) * Accommodates for reduced late game missions
Winning an Exalt Base raid grants 400 meld (from 150) * Buff to encourage doing the base instead of farm it
Armored fighters grants +15% HP (from a flat +500 hp) * Nerf to interceptors, buff to firestorms
Successful scouting missions no longer have a 50% chance to randomly fail to generate a hunt * Means a hunt is more likely following scouts (it was bugged previously reducing hunts more than intended and I can't really control it so I scrapped the code)
Destroyer health to 2000 (from 3000) * Makes them much easier to down and/or prevent on their missions
Air weapon credit costs increased significantly * Makes the credit cost for adequately covering more continents more challenging
Alloy, elerium, meld, and weapon fragment council requests grant more reward for fulfilling * Slight boost due to the importance of these items
UFO Plasma I air weapon aim to 40 (from 35) * Slight decrease in effectiveness of LEAD stance and a little less mission generation
Jellied Elerium increased rocket and grenade damage by 1 (from just rockets) * Boost to mid-game grenades
Enhanced Plasma renamed to Condensed Plasma and grants rockets and grenades +2 damage (from 0) * Boost to late-game rockets and grenades
MEC2 technology requires mobile power armor * Pushes MEC2 production slightly later

Tactical:

Soldiers on the first mission will always equip assault rifles and tac armors * More consistency in loadouts
AP pips will now color orange when an enemy has reaction fire on you that you can't see (e.g. they are out of sight and have squadsight or are concealed) * Your units 'sense' it, while it's unrealistic, the alternative (eating overwatch shots out of nowhere and losing soldiers) was worse
Covert Op missions start with 2 pods at half the size (from 1 pod that was double the size) * Makes it a little more likely you will run into someone (e.g. instead of 1 pod of 3 exalt, you'll fight a pod of 2 exalt and a pod of 1 exalt)

Perks:

Mechanic and Master Mechanic grant +1 penetration against mechanical units instead of +1 damage and the Repair ability they grant repairs for 4 HP (from 3 HP) * Buffed
Extra Conditioning reduces fatigue times by 40% (from both fatigue and injury times by 20%) * Buffed and more focused
Fragmentation has a 40% chance to deal +40% damage (from 50% chance for +50% damage) * Toned back
First Aid grants 1 medikit and 1 extra of each equipped medikit (reversion) * Increases overall XCOM healing, buff to support scout/rocketeeer, decreases reliance on medics
Run and Gun cooldown back to 2 turns (from 1) but grants immunity to reaction fire * buffed, makes it easier to get run and gun off
Shadowstep back to +1.2 mobility * Balance
In The Zone back to +20 aim/crit on subsequent shots (from +10 aim/crit) * Buffed, balance
Combat Drugs grants +10 will (from +15) * Toned back a little more
Commanding Officer gains 1 command at the first rank and 1 command at ranks 3 and 5 (from 1 command at each rank) * Tone back on # of commands available
Damage Control toned back to 15% DR per shot (from 20% DR per shot) * Toned back a little
One For All DR to 40% (from 50%) * Toned back a little
Snapshot has a 50% chance to trigger a 0 AP action (from 60%) * Tone back
Hit and Run now prevents weapons or equipment use in subsequent actions (from non-shooting and non-overwatching actions) * Nerf to multiaction capability of Hit and Run builds, especially on the Shogun (distinguishes it from the Maruader)
Greater Mind merge grants 100 crit (from 25 crit) * Makes it's use (and thus sectoid commanders) a lot more effective

Equipment:

Neuroregulator will bonus to +10 (from +20) * Toned back
AP Grenade range increased to 12.5 (from 10) * Buffed, grants more reach
Regenerator Vest hp to 2 and DR to 0 * Nerfed
Vortex armor reduces fatigue by 50% (from eliminating it) and will to +10 (from +20) * It was overkill and LWR doesn't have the problem of trying to get the volunteer up to level like LW 1.0 did
Aurora armor HP to 6 (from 8) and will to +5 (from +10) * Nerfed, was replacing too many armors
Ammo module is again equippable by both SHIVs and MECs (from just SHIVs) * Buff to Jaeger ITZ and overall MEC ammo capacities

XCOM:

Multiple perk tree alterations * See perk tree image
Cost of SHIVs increased across the board * Makes them less 'expendable'

Aliens:

Introduced some more code to encourage the aliens to not always target the lowest hp or lowest def unit all the time * Makes them a little less predictable
Sectoid Commanders reworked (they got their pistol back! -* AND it hits like a Plasma Cannon!) * Their AI was too hard to stop from being foolish so often and I couldn't fix it so I worked on them a lot. In the end they are now smarter, deadlier, and they gained some reasonable AI. After a lot of testing, I think should be much more scary enemies worthy of their title.
Chryssalid DR to 1 (from 0.5) * Slight buff
Muton health to 12 (from 14) but DR to 1 (from 0) [research gains affected as well] * Some HP swapped to DR, increases effetiveness of corrossion/penetration
Muton Berserker health to 16 (from 20) but DR to 1 (from 0) [research gains affected as well] * Some HP swapped to DR, increases effetiveness of corrossion/penetration

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where neural feedback was doing more damage than described/intended
Fixed a bug where packmaster sometimes wasn't granting an additional medikit charge for equipped medikits
Fixed a bug where reaction shots at someone who was taking an action would sometimes cause that person to 'stall-out' and not execute the action * Thanks so much to all the time szmind put into fixing this (This might even help the LW 1.0 suppression stall out bug)
Fixed a bug where the Medic wasn't getting sprinter at MSGT
Fixed some incorrect text descriptions
Fixed a bug where picking combat drugs would freeze the game
Fixed a bug where drop-ins and reinforcements would go on OW but wouldn't have it trigger against xcom's units
Fixed a bug where overpower wasn't working at squadsight
Fixed a bug where deflection shield would remain active on dead units which would clutter the field

LW Rebalance v1.26.02 Strategic:

Advanced Servomotors requires Mechtoid Cores (from Sectopod Wrecks) * Makes more sense and grants the tech earlier
Confounding Light/Gangplank start even another month later now * Really pushes it into the late game to make it easier
Panic increases by 10% per month (from 5% per month) * Slight increase in world panic spread
Bombing runs increase panic by 7 (from 6) * Slight increase in world panic spread
Plasma I UFO weapons to 35 aim (from 30) * Slight nerf to strength of air game, reduced shot down UFOs and air game control, makes it so it's not as mandatory to go lead to guarantee downing a UFO

Tactical:

All thrown objects and rockets now give a confirmation dialogue before firing * Makes it so you never have to worry about misclicking on them now, thanks to forefal for the suggestion because it's awesome and really makes pixel hunting a lot more bearable
The first mission has 2 more sectoids on all difficulties * The outsiders were surprisingly not as difficult as expected

Perks:

Close Combat Specialist only triggers on your opponent's turn * There was a bug that makes it flakey on your turn and the pingpong with beserkers was borderline gamey and borderline abusive.
One For All DR back to 50% (from 30%) * With the plethora of CST and high damage weapons, this re-increase is reasonable granting MECs a significant (and much needed) tanking capability increase
Combat Drugs grants +15 will (from +20 will) * Slight tone back
Squadsight reduces aim/crit by 4 per tile (from 3 per tile) * Slight nerf, the unlimited squadsight can be quite useful
Sapper grants 5x environmental damage (from 3x) * Makes it a lot more likely to destroy whatever is in it's path

Equipment:

Psi Accelerator renamed to Psi Frayer, and Psi Screen renamed to Psi Retaliator * More obvious and intuitive what abilities they grant
Psi Retaliator/Psi Frayer grants +0.5/0.5 DR, +10/15, and weight to 0/0.6 * Makes them more universal in who would want to equip them
Elerium Emitter back to 1.5 DR (from 1) * Slight boost to psi tanking
LMG ammo to 5 (from 7) * It's excellent at suppression, and the decreased ammo consumption has made ammo concerns too minimal of a problem. As well, the -10 aim negative isn't so significant on a class that only wants to suppress as the suppression shot isn't as damaging
Combat stims lasts 4 turns (from 2) * Buffed, this means it heals 8 hp instead of 4
Chameleon vest to +5 def (from 0), weight to 0 (from 0.6), and grants Awareness, but no longer ignores reaction fire * alteration to bring awareness to soldier classes and remove the easy capability of bypassing enemy OW on any soldier
Sniper Rifle mobility to -1 (from 0) * Accommodate for it's increased stats, more reasonable weight

XCom:

Lock N' Load on Rocketeer replaced with Holo Rounds * Grants the support and shooter rocketeers more options
Sapper on Infantry replaced with Packmaster * Give the grenadier build a stronger final option
Shadowstep on Medic replaced with Sprinter * Gives more of a stat bonus to make it more competitive vs tenacious defense

Aliens:

Rapid Reaction swapped to Sentinel + Opportunist on all aliens except for floater leaders and heavy floaters * It was too punishing to XCOM
Ready For Anything removed from all aliens except for a few high level leaders * It was REALLY powerful, too powerful to have on so many aliens

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where reaction shots at squadsight ranges were still occuring at old caps and were not unlimited
Reconnaissance popups will stay on the scout so you can read the clues * prevents not seeing the audio clue
Removed some code that was teleporting units, and turned off some background logs (e.g. "...zzz")
Fixed a bug where packmaster was still granting a smoke grenade * You might have to reset perks to make it go away
Fixed a bug where squadsight could grant bonus aim/crit chances
Fixed a bug where abilities that relied on the number of enemies in sight were sometimes acting inappropriately (e.g. ITZ not triggering)
Fixed a bug where multiple reaction shots could reset the targets that were overwatchable for both XCOM and Aliens
Fixed some issues with orange pips not updating correctly from dead aliens
Fixed a bug where the interaction with One For All and smoke was not working correctly

LW Rebalance v1.26.01 Strategy:

Gangplank and Confounding light occur 1 month later * Makes them a little easier

Equipment:

Proximity Mine Launcher can no longer be built * Was too much of a trap for newer players and veterans knew better anyway
Combat stims now grant Stimmed [+2 regeneration, +1.2 mobility, +10 aim, +15 will, immunity to critical hits, and 20% DR] for 2 turns * Buffed, generalization: useful for more units. There is no -40 will protection against psi panic, the crit immunity does not require cover, and it gains 2 regen over 2 turns (so +4 HP total)
Psi Screen grants +10 def (from +5) * Buffed, makes it obviously not suitable for units that want to taunt (i.e. tanks)
Elerium Emitter DR to 1 (from 1.5) * Slight nerf
Psi Accelerator DR to 0.5 (from 0) but will to +10 (from +20) * Tone back on will, makes it good for tanks
Leather Jacket mobility to -2.5 (from -1.2) * That hacking equipment is HEAVY! =P Slows down the operative more on exalt missions, makes protecting him more important

Perks:

Damage Control reworked: Now it grants 20% DR per shot received (from 30% after 1 shot) * Like everything, this stack multiplicatively. So 1st shot = 100%, 2nd shot = 80%, 3rd shot = 64%, 4th shot = 51%, 5th shot = 41%, etc. Helps minimize the effect of gamey things like trying to get a drone to hit you first and makes it so any unit with damage control that takes a lot of punishment gets a LOT tankier.
Smoke and Mirrors no longer grants +1 smoke (note: you'll have to reset your perks to get rid of the extra smoke) * Makes smoke a little less common and the item more reasonable to equip
Dense smoke no longer increases the aim malus of smoke (so now dense smoke is 50 def and -15 aim, affects psionic hit chances too, and no damage from explosions) * Buffed
Snapshot now works on standard/precision/disabling shots (from just standard shots) * Buffed
Transform (Cyberdisc's Closed Ability) grants 8 DR (from 4) * It was quite weak at 4 because it was often hit while open, lowering it's life by half, thus lowering the closed DR from 4 to 2; now it will go from 8 to 4 and still have a reasonable amount of DR even after injured, when closed

Bug Fixes:

Fixed some inaccurate/misleading item/ability/tooltip descriptions
Fixed a bug where stingrays were doing incorrect damage (they now properly deal 900 damage over 10s)
Fixed some issues where deflection shield appeared as covering fire in the F1 panel
Fixed a bug where overwatch was not always working correctly (not triggering after loading a save game)
Fixed a bug where the orange AP color was not going away immediately when an enemy on OW died
Fixed a bug where packmaster would, in certain situations, still grant a free smoke grenade

LW Rebalance v1.26.00 Strategic:

Workshops now also reduce build times by 20% each (stack multiplicatively) * Makes late game item building much faster, less waiting around
Number of UFO missions (abduction, terror, scout, research) is reduced by 20% per month (from 15% per month) * Reduction of # of late game missions
Chance to destroy (instead of shoot down) a UFO increased be ~2x * Reduces mission generation and makes high yield weapons less desirable, re-adding the dynamic back to the air game
Alien resources and research gained for successful UFO missions increased to 20% (from 15%) * Accommodates reduced missions
XCOM resources from all missions increased by 20% per month (from 10%) * Accommodates reduced missions and reduced shot down UFOs
Abduction reward bounties increased by 20% per month * Makes abductions more beneficial in the late game
Increased alloy gains by ~10% on all difficulties * Increased to help reduce early game alloy shortages
Unchecked scouts have a 50% chance of triggering a hunt mission (from 35%) * Makes dealing with the scouts more important
Advanced repair reduces repair times by 25% (from 33%) * Toned back
Laser Cannon aim to 45 (from 40) * Slight boost, it was a little too weak at 40
Fusion weapon research time reduced by over half * It was really long for something in the late game that meant you sometimes didn't get it in time to actually use it

Tactical:

Alien appearances do not occur just on a set month, they now have a gradual introduction and increase in frequency: this means you can fight harder alien types earlier but they will be much less frequent * Gives earlier access to some corpses, prevents avoiding preparation based on the month, makes the composition of missions a lot more unknown (as an example, there is a rare chance to fight cyberdiscs in May and Mechtoids in June)
Explosives deal 50% damage at their periphery (from 35%) * It still felt bad doing 1/3rd damage when you actually hit someone, this makes it so that if you at least hit someone the explosive will feel good
Alien soldier research/technology upgrades (at ~1.5 months, 3 months, 6 months, etc.) are more significant * Makes later game aliens more challenging
Officers grant 10%xp/rank (from 15%) * Tone back on how fast soldiers level up
Jellied Elerium grants +1 damage to rockets (from +2) * Tone down on late game rocketeer
The "Close Range" proximity bonus that negates cover is renamed to "Point Blank" * Makes more sense, distinguishes itself from close range weapon bonuses

Perks:

Squadsight now grants infinite range to sniper rifles, strike rifles, and MEC weapons, but caries a penalty of -3 aim/crit per tile further than normal range (18.75 tiles) * Allows squadsight at any range but has a penalty the further away you are
Distortion (on sectoid commanders and ethereals) no longer grants additional defense per tile away but instead reduces aim to 0 on squadsight shots * Makes them a lot easier to deal with under 18.75 tiles and helps prevent late game squadsight units from being as dominating
Deflection shield defense per tile away increased to 5/tile (from 3/tile) and reduces both aim and crit * It was too ineffective at 3 with granting large crits, this still lets OW be an effective strategy against it
Neural Feedback deals 5% of the user's will in damage (from 10% of the user's will in damage) * Too much damage otherwise. It's technically a free aciton and with the higher will of enemies, mind fray is already less competitive
Brawler loses it's +1 damage against targets within 4 tiles * Balance, it was too strong, especially with CCS on both trees
Concealment restricted to high cover only * The gameplay becomes more interesting this way and helps prevent too many 'setup' situations
Mayhem grants both sniper and strike rifles +100% base damage (from 100% on sniper and 70% on strike) * Buffed on strike rifles
Depth Perception to +20 crit (from +20 aim/crit) * Was too strong on flying units
Combat Drugs grants +20 will (from 10 aim, 20 crit and 30 will) and no longer heals 1 hp at the start of unit's turns, but instead heals half the damage received by units under its effects (purely mechanical units immune) * Role changed
Master mechanic additional repair charges to 3 (from 5) * Toned back
Psi Mastery now increases mind fray damage by 50% as well and lets all psi abilities only cost 1 AP (from a select few) * Buffed
Danger Zone grants +30% increased explosive radius (from 33%) * More simple calculations, very slight tone back
Bullseye to +20 aim (from 25) * Balance
Death from afar to +10 aim (from 15) * Balance
Executioner to +1 damage (from 2) * Balance
Disabler grants a 35% chance to jam enemy weapons (from 30%) * Balance
Vital Point Targeting and Critical System Targeting to 1.4x damage (from 1.5) * They were a little too heavy at 1.5
Packmaster no longer grants a free smoke grenade and medikit but instead grants +2 ammo * Fills the 'ammo mule' role. Nerfed on support capability, boosted as an alternative pick for other builds. It originally granted those extra items because support abilities weren't as strong. However, with smoke and concussion grenades being stronger, this buff pushed it to be too strong of a perk. It was also (ironically) making the smoke grenade and medikit small items less competitive for a slot. This might see more play on non-grenadier/support classes due to the ammo now.
Growth (Outsider Perk) has been toned down significantly for all difficulties below impossible * So players don't feel like they need to rush as much
Shadowstep grants +0.6 mobility * Balance, encourage more choice on the trees where it occurs
Double Tap now grants +15 aim if you haven't moved to all weapons (from +10 for normal weapons and +20 for sniper rifles) * Consistency of perk
In The Zone grants +10 aim and crit on subsequent shots (from +20) * Nerfed, balance
Precision shot no longer allows a shot at infinite range (as they can all fire at infinite range now) but instead removes the squadsight penalties * Accommodation for new squadsight rules

Equipment:

Sniper Rifle damage to 150% (from 125%), has 2 pen (from 1), and reduces the squadsight range penalty to -1 aim and crit per tile instead of -3 aim and crit per tile * Buffed to accommodate nerfed sniper perks and nerfed squadsight
Javelin rockets have 80% reduced scatter (from 50%) and a 20% radius (from 33%) * They are a smaller aoe but are much more likely to hit
MEC1 gains another hp and another mobility * It is a bit of an awkward hybrid, so this makes it more competitive and more reasonable to rush/build (due to cheap cost as well)
All HMECs gain a 2ndary weapon slot * Buff to HMECs, constistency amoung MEC tiers
UHMEC3 gains 2HP, ULMEC3 gains 0.6 mobility * Buff to the Ultra MEC3s
Leather jacket hp to 2 (from 1), defense to 5 (from 10), mobilty to -1.2 (from 0) * it now contains heavy hacking equipment essential for interfacing with exalt databases, the def and hp change was just for consistency with other light armors, the mobility reduction was to make it even harder to chain relays
Combat stims grant +2.5 mobility (from 1.8) and 25% DR (from 20%) * Slight buffs
Breaching Ammo, Shredder Ammo, Armor Piercing Ammo, Flak Ammo, and Reaper Ammo weight to 0 (from 0.6) * Buffed, balance, consistency with other items like scopes and alloy-jacketed rounds
Extra rocket and Javelin rocket grant 2 of each rocket * More ammo for rocketeers, prevents them from running out as fast and feeling ineffective aftewards
Shock and Awe also grants +1 charges to any extra rockets equipped * More ammo for rocketeers
Rocket Launcher / Recoilless Rifle / Blaster Launcher damage to 4/6/8 (from 5/8/12) * Pull back on single turn damage of rocketeers, consistency at 100% of base damage for the tier
All rocket radius' increased by 0.5 tiles * Slight increase to rockets, distinction from grenades
All destructive grenade radius' decreased by 0.5 tiles * Tone back on grenades

XCom:

Vital Point Targeting on the Shogun replaced with Penetrator * VPT was too strong, pushes the Shogun into more of the anti-mechanical role if it wants to deal damage
Shogun loses it's base +0.6 mobility * Balance

Aliens:

Uber Ethereal health to 60 (from 40) * The end boss should be more resilient
Multiple alien leaders pick up Ready For Anything * Got it working on aliens

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where late game enemies were getting reduced likelihoods to show up in late game missions causing some campaigns to be filled with early to mid game enemies in the late game
Fixed a bug where on DW games the # of some missions in the late game were being increased instead of decreased * Made some campaigns get too many resources/xp in the end game
Fixed a bug where some aliens could wander into weird locations (like outside of the map boundaries) * Thanks to szmind for this
Fixed a bug where the repositioning of stepped out units could sometimes occur twice, pulling the unit away from their original spot or occur when grappling * Again, thanks entirely to szmind for this
Fixed some incorrect descriptions
Clarified some descriptions on abilities
Fixed a bug where drop-ins were not triggering proper overwatch * This had to do with my optimization code not correctly setting the Overwatch lists of aliens on drop-in
Fixed a bug where it looked like chryssalids had overpower * They don't
Fixed a bug where psychokinetic strike was showing up as costing 2 AP (even when it only costed 1 with psi mastery)
Fixed a longtime bug where platform stability wouldn't show up in the crit summary F1 panel sometimes (Just tried a workaround that tests if the bug occurs and then attempts to fix and it worked) =D

LW Rebalance v1.25.23 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where using a shotgun at certain ranges would yeild -20328945723905728957 damage
Fixed a bug where units would be teleported back to their previous spot after using a free action
Fixed a bug where the gamespeed was not always being kept up to the previous settings

LW Rebalance v1.25.22 QoL:

Cleaned up a LOT more code, significantly reducing system resource load * Again, most players probably won't notice this except you should have slightly less bugs

Strategic:

Psi training time reduced to 15 days (from 30) but target will for the first 4 psi levels increases by 5 will (back to where it used to be a few versions ago) * Makes fewer capable of becoming psionic, but those who can become psionic will train much faster

Perks:

Psi Inspire duration to 2 turns (from 1 turn) * Buffed
Psi Panic bonus hit chance to 0 (from +20) * It's really strong for an extra psionic perk, and the hit chance was too high at +20
Flush now clears OW on any target that it fires at * Boost to the perk and gives the ammo drum a little buff; also makes a lot more sense if the target does move

Equipment:

Stun rifle and Repair ranges increased from 3.3 tiles to 4 tiles * This is so that when multiple range indicators overlap (e.g. a "Close Encounters" assault with a "Stun Rifle" attacking a outsider with "Close Combat Specialist") they all line up at 4 tiles so you can still know exactly where things will work
Used native code (with szmind's help) to bring out accurate stun chances on the stun rifle, so instead of getting approximate numbers (from the LW wiki) you'll get the actual stun chances * QoL, always nice to be accurate
Carbines gain 10 crit * Balance
Leather Jacket (covert op armor) mobility to 0 (from 3.1), hp to 1 (from 0), and defense to 10 (from 5) * Makes it a little harder to chain activate relays but provides a little extra resiliency on the covert op
Plasma Carbine defense bonus to +10 (from +20)

Bug Fixes:

STEP OUT BUG IS FIXED * SZMIND IS GENIUS!!! :) Now stepping out for suppression and shooting will always have the unit go back to their cover * This is a bug that has plagued XCOM players since the early beta stages of LW and szmind was finally able to fix it :) Special mention to Therebrae for providing a reproducible save of the bug without which we wouldn't have been able to get this fixed.
Improved code on proximity damage so that it is more reliable and less likely to bug out and not give proximity damage bonuses
Fixed a long-time bug on proximity damage that miscalculated the damage by 1 tile further than it should (it is now correctly 5% bonus per tile starting at 10 tiles)
Fixed some incorrect text descriptions
Fixed a bug where some AP discounting perks (e.g. Close Encounters) did not save correctly and could be used again after saving and reloading a game
Fixed a bug where reconnaissance and overpower and some other abilities could activate just from clicking on a unit, and sometimes multiple times in a turn (this required a lot of work, redoing all of the base code triggering such abilities and was part of the code clean up that should reduce system load)
Fixed a bug with the stun rifle range indicator not showing up (as well as some other range indicator inconsistencies)
Fixed a bug where stun chances on the stun rifle were not appearing sometimes

LW Rebalance v1.25.21 Air Game:

Laser Cannon cost reduced to 30 alloys (from 60) but aim reduced to 40 (from 60) * Makes it feel less mandatory
EMP Cannon aim reduced to 40 (from 50) * Tone back on both EMP and Laser

Bug Fixes:

The first missions contains: 8 aliens/drones on normal, 12 on classic, 14 + 1 outsider on brutal, 16 + 2 outsiders on impossible * was off in last patch on both in-game and patch notes

Version 1.25.20 LW Rebalance v1.25.20 Strategy Game:

Will over test_will of psionic abilities only reduces training time by 1 day (from 2) * The reduction in test_will plus 2 day reduction was allowing too many psionics
Tweaks to more country starting bonuses * Balance

Tactical Game:

Experience gain per officer rank reduced to +15% xp/rank (from +20%) * Reduced mid-late game xp gains
The first mission composition modified: 8 aliens/drones on normal, 12 on classic, 12 + 1 outsider on brutal, 12 + 2 outsiders on impossible * Makes it harder to cheese, and forces the player to be creative (and thus capable of a good understanding of the game and it's mechanics)

Perks:

Bullseye aim to 25 (from 30) * Was a little too strong and mandatory at 30
Death from afar aim to 15 (from 10) * Buffed
In The Zone's +20 aim/crit on subsequent shots is no longer restricted to just sniper/strike rifles * Not needed with the ammo nerf (see below), more concise perk
Disabler now also grants a 30% chance to jam enemy weapons on any shot and no longer grants 100% chance to jam enemy weapons on steadied non-sniper weapons * Realistically only sniper-style weapons were using this and it needed a buff
Battle Field Aptitude will bonus to 0 (from 5) * Balance
Psi Inspiration renamed to Psi Inspire, now removes the effects of red fog, allows the soldier to ignore all reaction fire, but no longer grants a mobility boost, and lasts 1 turn (from 2.5) * So it will last through to the end of the enemy's turn. Makes pulling out of bad situations potentially a lot more viable, and can help at engaging. Buffed.
Psi Panic has a +20 chance to hit, 4-turn cooldown (from 1-turn) * Much less able to be spammed, easier to hit with
Show 'em the Ropes experience boost to +100% (from +150%) * Reduced mid-late game xp gains
Tricks of the Trade experience boost to +35% (from +50%) * Reduced mid-late game xp gains

Equipment:

The blaster launcher can no longer be fired after taking a costly action * Remove it's move and fire potential
Targeting module damage back to +1 (from +2) * Was too strong at +2, although it was bugged and only gave +1 anyway so no actual change =P
Large-Cal High-Caps renamed to Ammo Module and restricted to SHIVs * Reduces ammo on MECs and their overall effectiveness with their shots alone, name change cause the other one was too much of a mouthful
SMGs are not affected by ammo conservation * They are pretty effective and needed to be slightly toned back. Also for consistency with all the other carbine/battle rifle/assault rifle equipment (smg was just the odd man out).
HMEC2 gains 2 health, HMEC3 gains 4 health, UHMEC3 gains 6 health * Balance, increase in tanking capabilities of HMECs
All LMEC2, LMEC3, and HMEC3 lose 0.6 mobility, ULMEC3 loses 1.2 mobility * Toned back, balance
Laser Cannons cost 60 alloys (from 20) * Reduce the ease of getting them online
Seraph/Archangel fuel to 12/16 (from 6/8) * Significant buffs to their ability to fly

Aliens:

Sectoids lose 10 will * Makes them less effective at psi-spam
Multiple non-psionic aliens have additional will * Help them resist stronger psi panic chances
Exalt Medics and Exalt Elite Medics gain tactical sense and low profile (and also officially gain deflection shield with upgrades -* even though they already had it) * makes them tankier, can't remove deflection shield so I'm going to roll with it (BUG BECOMES FEATURE) =D

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where panning from a camera would happen when activating a pod on crashed UFOs * Thanks so much to szmind for figuring out what was causing this bug and doing the fix, truely great work! =D (note, it only works on NEW mission, old saved mission might still have the bug)
Fixed a bug where the distance indicator would sometimes popup "0 tiles" which is a little redundant
Fixed another bug with the orange AP pips not being accurate in some rare cases
Fixed a bug where the number of equipment slots on various units (e.g. MECs) would sometimes be inaccurate
Fixed a bug where commanding or reviving a soldier or a soldier with catching breath activated the maluses from their action discounting perks (e.g. commanding a HnR soldier prevented any shooting as when HnR activates the soldier cannot shoot afterwards)

LW Rebalance v1.25.19 Bug Fixes:

Overwatch now works again =P

LW Rebalance v1.25.18 QoL:

Optimized a LOT of code * Helps with crashes, overloading systems, etc. etc. To be honest though, most players won't notice a difference

Strategic Game:

Number of missions (terror, scout, abduction, etc.) generated by the aliens decreases by 15% per month (from 10%) * Reduces late game mission density even further

Air Game:

Firestorm battle speed decreased from 45 to 35 * Prevents cesation of firing against slow targets and nerfs it's offensive power vs interceptors

Tactical Game:

All missions that previously didn't modify alien #'s based on difficulty have had their numbers reduced by 2, 4, and 6 for brutal, classic, and normal, respectively * Makes easier difficulties easier
Zombies and Chrysallids will occur less often and in smaller pods on terror missions * makes grenades less effective against them and makes grenades feel less required for terror missions all-together
Rocket scatter reduced by 25% * Accommodates for platform stability nerf and increases consistency of rocket all game

Perks:

Awareness grants +30 def (from +20) * Wasn't competitive enough at 20
Damage Control grants 30% DR (from 40%) * Was too strong at 40%, making consecutive tanking too powerful and some enemies too strong
Combat Drugs grants 10 aim and 30 will (from 20 of each) * Reversion to how it was before to accommodate for the decreased aim from smoke so that combat drugs isn't acting as an overall aim buff
First Aid doesn't increase the # of equipped medikits anymore * It was a little too strong, and not needed. The injury reduction and free medikit is enough
In The Zone's +20 aim and +20 crit on subsequent shots only occurs with sniper and strike rifles * So that the Jaeger doesn't receive an inadvertent buff
Ready for anything is no longer restricted to 1 reaction shot * Makes it MUCH more synergsitic with OW perks. Previously, when OW penetrated DR it was too strong. Now this is a nice boost as the perk wasn't great on an OW build previously.

Equipment:

Banshee and Aegis armor both lose 1 HP * Balance
Targeting module grants +2 damage on crits * Buff to crit-based classes
Shotguns have 30% crit (from 20%) * Buff to shotgun crit chances
Armor Piercing (AP) Grenade radius to 1.5 (from 2) * Decrease in the ability to 'tick' multiple units to shred multiple units
Grenade Launcher radius to 3.5 (from 2.5) * Buff to the area of effect of MEC grenades

XCOM:

Disabler on Engineer replaced with Deadeye * Helps the DT engineer
Rocketeer will to 10 (from 5) * Balance
Scout base will to 15 (from 10) * Balance
Medic base will to 10 (from 15) * Balance
Infantry base aim to 20 (from 15) * Balance

Bug Fixes:

Fixed the color on Tactical Brilliance being incorrect for both effects
Fixed an issue where shooting a unit on OW reverted the orange on AP colors suggesting they were not on OW anymore
Adjusted some descriptions that weren't fitting in the text boxes
Units that suppress will no longer activate deflection shield
Fixed a bug where you could 'sense' cloak units on OW from your AP pips turning orange
Fixed a bug where UFOs could be shot down in the first month

LW Rebalance v1.25.17 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where firing a rocket would cause a CTD

LW Rebalance v1.25.16 Strategic:

Soldiers are no longer capped at how much xp they can earn (previously were capped at max 1 promotion per battle) * So now, if you gained enough xp in battle, you could theoretically level from spec to msgt in one battle

Tactical:

Number of enemies on terror missions reduced from 18 to 15 but increase by 1 every 4 months * They were supposed to be hard, but they were probably a bit beyond that and didnt' scale well. This makes them less scary, but worse in the later game when lids and zombies aren't as devestating.
Number of enemies on mid-late game exalt data recovery missions increased significantly * They were too easy, especially once MECs come online
Base HP now alters rocket scatter by 4% (just like it does grenade throw range) * Makes health on rocketeers more relevant

Equipment:

SAWs do the same amount of damage with mayhem suppression as LMGs/SHIV weapons * The restriction was no longer necessary and it's nice to keep things consistent, gives the possibility for the SAW on a mayhem build (especially with penetrator)
Platform Stability reduces rocket scatter by 30% (from 50%) * Toned back, makes it less mandatory on all rocketeers
Aegis armor to 10 hp (from 11) * Damage Control is really good, and the armor was too
MEC1 gains 1 hp and 0.6 mobility * Slight buffs
Smoke grenades now have no cap on hit chances (from 90%, 80% with dense smoke) * Was too insignificant of an effect for the added complication and it was the 3rd time I got a bug report on the aim not adding up
Smoke grenades now reduce the aim of units by half the defense value (-15 aim for normal smoke, -25 aim for dense smoke) (from -30/-50 aim) * Makes smoke a lot more useful, and combat drugs actually provide an overall aim buff of +5, realistically it was never that effective at preventing enemies units from firing but using it on them. This also applies for psionic hit chances of dense smoke.
Disorient (from concussion grenades) now reduces mobility by 70% (from 40%) * Buff to the concussion grenades, makes them quite effective against melee units and at preventing units from repositioning
Acid grenade range back to 12.5 (from 15) * It could activate some enemies out of line of sight and could lead to poor gameplay

Perks:

ITZ now grants +20 aim and crit when triggered (from +10 aim) * Gives the consecutive shots more strength and I've reluctantly (probably too reluctantly, curse my pride!) come to see the difficulty in ITZ and agree that it needed more love
Neural Feedback deals 10% of the psionic user's will in damage (from 5%) * Makes it more significant as even with multiple versions you can only fire once and there are only 3 enemy types it's even effective against. Also, the ethereal and sectoid commander health has increased and distortion's effectiveness has decreased since it was 5% so the reversion seems reasonable.

Aliens:

Zombie Health to 12 (from 18) * Makes them a lot less dangerous when spawned on terror missions

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where large maps would sometimes cause a CTD due to overload of resources * Szmind pretty much fixed this, I was just an innocent obeserver watching a master programmer in action
Actually fixed a bug where meld-reseting soldier perks still cost 80 meld (its 50 now, I swear)
Fixed a bug where a suppressed aliens or aliens without vision but who had CCS would still turn the AP pips orange suggesting they could take a reaction shot against your unit
Fixed a bug where the Hover SHIV could still sometimes make terrible engine noises
Fixed some inaccurate equipment descriptions
Fixed a problem where engineers were getting a "?" perk * Note: if you still have an engineer with this perk you can meld-reset him and either give yourself back the meld or set the meld cost to 0 in defaultminimods.ini

LW Rebalance v1.25.15 QoL:

All descriptions of mobility truncated to the nearest 10th * Consitency with the in-game displays
Replaced the dam map with the slaughter house map for the map pool of the first mission * Makes the first mission a little less map dependent
Being suppressed or being within 4 tiles of someone with CCS now turns the AP pips orange * Orange means using the action will trigger a reaction shot, QoL
Enemies with Close Combat Specialist will now display a range indicator so you can figure out when you'd trigger it or not * QoL
Hover SHIVs no longer have such a loud engine noise that you can't hear anything else and would rather not even field then * I think this change took me more time than all the other changes combined. Szmind was instrumental in helping to finally figuring it out. Thanks so much to him!

Strategic:

Europe bonus "Wealth of Nations" raised to 20% from 12% * Some solid calculations revealed it was worse than the other continent bonuses and should be stronger due to the 4 country requirement
First four psi levels training target will lowered by 5, for each will above the target will a soldier psi training time is reduced by 2 days (from 1), but the base training time for each psi level increased to 30 days (from 20 days) * Makes psionics more accessible to more of the roster

Tactical:

Explosives lose their innate +1 penetration * This was put in to help accommodate later game explosive builds. However, with the mayhem damage buff, the more consistent damage, the lack of 0 damage edge cases, and the tandem damage buff, this was now a little too much. More importantly, it was making HEAT warheads less competitive (which was the original intent, but not necessary now with the tandem buff).

Perks:

The base damage on suppression shots is reduced by 50% * The ability is now consistent with flush (2 ammo, -50% base damage) and prevents suppression from being stronger than just normal shots (e.g. if someone is sitting there flanked, it actually used to be often better to suppress to get the holo/shred application then the shot when they move). With the -AP reduction, -30 aim, and ability to affect everyone, suppression needed to be toned back a little.
Executioner no longer grants +2 pen * It is still plenty strong without it and overpowered with

XCOM:

Hover SHIV base aim bonus to +30 (from +25) * Slight buff

Equipment:

Fuel cell fuel amount to +14 (from +8) and now grants +2.5 mobility (from +0 mobility) * Significant buff to the item, and indirectly the flight armors and hover SHIV. Note: stacks with elerium turbos on hover SHIVs for +5 mobility (!) when not flying
Javelin Rocket deals double damage (from 250% damage) * Tone back
Battle Scanner 4-pack renamed to Battle Scanner 2-pack and only provides 2 uses but weight to 0 * Discourages spamming them for the +5 aim bonus

Bug Fixes:

Maybe (?) fixed a bug where when an alien pod activates the screen moves to a blank portion of the map
Fixed a bug where on normal difficulty units were getting 24% of intended injury/fatigue and none of the other difficulties were getting any reduction (it is now correct at 50% for normal, 60% for classic, 80% for brutal, 100% for impossible)
Fixed a bug where the Hover SHIV was not getting it's innate aim
Fixed a bug where the info panel on the SHIVs was describing a destroyed SHIV and not the SHIV itself
Fixed a bug where the alien AI wasn't reacting properly to being suppressed when in the open
Fixed a bug with stepouts at squadsight distances not granting flank bonuses when they actually are flanks
Fixed a bug where non-breathing aliens were getting the aim and crit bonus from combat drugs (they don't anymore)
Fixed a display bug where trying to genetically modify a soldier would say 'insufficient resources' when the player did have the sufficient resources
Fixed a bug where Iago Van Doorn wouldn't appear on the exalt base raid
Fixed a bug where the arc rifle was gaining +20 aim with double tap
Fixed a bug where meld-reseting soldier perks still cost 80 meld (its 50 now)

LW Rebalance v1.25.14 Strategic:

Assembly Line China start grants only +6 engineers (from +10) * Whoopsies, I forgot how important they were for satellites as well =P Good luck Kindowg! =D
Made it more likely to get partial UFO components from crashed UFOs * increases the chance you'll get at least some UFO artifacts like computers, power supplies, etc.
Meld cost to reset perks on soldiers reduced to 50 (from 80) * Despite wanting it to be quite restrictive, it was too expensive to be of much use at 80

Tactical:

Corrossion reduces aim by 20 (from 15) and mobility by 20% (from 15%) * Slight increase in effectiveness
Supercapacitors foundry project upgrades the bonus damage against mechanicals on the arc rifle to +9 (from +6) * Makes it competitive at pulse
Quenchguns foundry project upgrades the base damage on the sawed-off shotgun to 6 (from 4) * Makes it competitive at gauss
Reduced the # of aliens on council missions by 2 * lower their difficulty slightly

Equipment:

Regenerator Vest DR to 1 (from 1.5) * Slight nerf
Chitin plating DR to 1 (from 1.5) * Slight nerf
Acid grenade range increased to 15 (from 12.5) * Buffed
Flak Ammo grants +4 damage (from +3) * Buffed
Walker Servos sets mobility to 8.8 (from 8.1) * Buffed

Perks:

In The Zone grants +10 aim once triggered * So it's on all shots after the steadied shot, slight buff to keep it competitive vs Mayhem/DT
Lead by example renamed to Commanding Officer and no longer shares any will. However, it also grants Tactical Brilliance: will/2% chance for command to cost 0AP, will/2% chance for command to refund it's charge * After a lot of testing, I realized that officer will sharing removed all the intricacies out of units with low will. It wasn't great for gameplay as it basically just said, "Forget about will as everyone has a reasonable amount". It was also bugged before so I had to rework everything to bypass the native code. However, the tactical briliance still encourages high will officers as chaining multiple commands in a single turn can win you some unwinnable missions.
Overpower will not longer be active on dormant pods * makes sense, intuitive
Combat drugs grants 20 will (from 10) and 20 aim (from 30) * Nerfed, makes it so there is still an aim malus on combat drugs so there is still some drawback similar to regular smoke

XCom:

Regular SHIV gains 2 health and 2 armor health, Alloy SHIV gains 4 armor health, Hover SHIV gains 2 armor health * A little extra survivability
Hover SHIV flight fuel to 16 (from 10) * Buffed

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug that would sometime cause Engineers to gain a ? Perk * If you have this, you'll have to meld-reset perks on your engineer. I'd recommend you either use the console command to reimburse yourself the meld, or set the meld cost to 0 in defaultminimods.ini.
Damage Control only lasts 1 turn * Sometimes it could be active into the next turn if activated through reaction fire
Fixed various abilities that used will calculations that were sometimes leaving off multiple will abilities (e.g. officer will sharing, overpower, etc.)
Fixed some incorrect descriptions
Fixed an issue with the targeting reticule for acid grenades not lining up with who they hit (it should be more acccurate now)
Fixed a bug where after an alien went on overwatch the AP indicators would still be orange sometimes
Fixed a bug where the bonus experience from officers (the +20%xp/rank) was not always working
Fixed an issue where the info panel on multiple weapons was overestimating their damage by 1
Fixed a bug where Reflex pistols was granting the sawed-off shotgun +1 damage

LW Rebalance v1.25.13 Equipment:

Aegis armor loses 1 hp * Balance

Perks:

Mechanic grants an additional repair charge (3 instead of 2), no longer grants CST or additional throw range, but grants +1 damage to shots against mechanical units * Makes the damage come online earlier, makes the perk more useful for lower damage weapons, nerf to throw range on engineer (note: CST will be automatically removed if you enter battle with an engineer with CST)
Master Mechanic grants an additional repair charge(5 instead of 4), grants +1 damage to shots against mechanical units, but does not increase throw range * Doubles up on Mechanic
Throw Range on Ranger, Smoke and Mirrors, and Grenadier increased to 20% (from 15%) * Increase to throw range from alternative sources
Absorption Fields to 30% DR (from 20%) * Buff to tanking for goliaths and later game SHIVs
Damage Control to 40% DR (from 30%) * Buff to tanking for HMECs and later game SHIVs

XCOM:

Engineer slight rework * grants earliest access to holo rounds

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug with the AP Pips not updating colors correctly
Fixed a bug with some aliens getting incorrect perks
Fixed some incorrect text descriptions

LW Rebalance v1.25.12 QoL:

Unit's AP indicator will now turn back to normal (from orange) as soon as the overwatch threat is neutralized * QoL

Strategy:

Exalt initial #'s turned down even further in the late game during covert op exalt missions * Prevents them from being as much of a coin toss

Equipment:

LMG ammo to 7 (from 6) * Slight buff

Aliens:

Cyberdisc DR when closed to +4 (from +3) * Slight buff

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where suppression was still pinning melee units

LW Rebalance v1.25.11 Perks:

Melee units (lids/zerkers) are immune to being pinned from suppression * You could abuse them by moving 1 tile away and suppressing and they could never do anything

Equipment:

Concussion grenades only last for 1 alien turn (they do not extend into xcom's next turn as well) * Means that alien overwatch is an effective counter and stops xcom from utilizing their debuffs for 2 turns

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where tandem warheads wasn't granting the damage it was supposed to
Fixed a bug where explosive damage was being decreased by ~0.5 more damage than it was supposed to

LW Rebalance v1.25.10 QoL:

Using the keyboard arrow keys to sell grey market items increases the # of items being sold by multiples of 10 * QoL, makes it quicker to sell large #'s of items
The moves remaining indicator on each soldier will now turn to yellow if there is only 1 move remaining and orange if the unit is under overwatch * QoL

Strategy:

Multiple Foundry projects had their weapon fragment requirements increased * Accommodates the increased amount XCOM is acquiring
High-Capacity Pistols no longer requires muton corpses * It's supposed to be late-game tech so the weapon fragment requirement was increased significantly

Tactical:

Number of initial exalt lowered on all exalt missions * Makes them a little easier to push through as they could pin you down a little too much

Equipment:

Sniper Rifle mobility to 0 (from -0.6) * Slight buff

Perks:

First Aid now also grants equipped medikits an extra use * Slight buff, kind of a (reluctant) compromise between the previous versions
Concealment now works in both low and high cover and on dashes * It's not abusive due to the lockdown once you see enemies, makes it more versatile and easier to use for things like getting off that +30% crit, or dashing to an exalt relay to trigger next turn
Holo rounds now works with sidearms as well as primaries * A visual bug that I couldnt' fixed forced my hand to do this

XCOM:

VPT swapped with ranger and replaced with Bullseye on the rocketeer * VPT wasn't a great fit and early ranger gives more interesting choices

Aliens:

Updated exalt research upgrades so that into the very late game (2nd and 3rd year) they upgrade like normal aliens * Just consistency with the rest of the aliens
Early sectoid, floater, and outsider leaders are a little stronger * Gives them more of a presence

Bug Fixes:

Fixed the odd situation where concussion grenade targeting and actual hit would not line up * I finally found a solution and redirected the entire code with a tag and tested over 50 times, so this definitely "should" be working now :)
Fixed the code that removed some ghost silhouttes on crashed missions (from aliens that died on the crash) * yay for szmind and his superior coding knowledge! :) Note this time it also doesn't trigger all aliens now
Fixed some outdated item descriptions
Fixed some issues where hopefully we've completely done away with invisible sectoids/lids and their noises * Thanks to szmind for this updated code of tracktwo's sightline script * HOPEFULLY it's perfect

LW Rebalance v1.25.09 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where the new code for removing aliens on crashed UFOs that also doesn't leave any sillhoutes of alien pawns behind has the negative of leaving corpses and triggering a lot of pods really early * Reverted this code

LW Rebalance v1.25.08 QoL:

Made the strike rifle model slightly larger * QoL
Added cooldown descriptions and amounts to abilities with cooldown on their tactical HUD descriptions * QoL

Strategic:

Crashed UFOs have ~25% of the enemies dead (from 20%) and ~33% of the enemies injured (from 30%) * Makes a larger distinction between crashed and landed. Makes crashed UFOs slightly more managable.

Tactical:

Explosives no longer deal +/- 1 damage on top of their normal damage rolls * makes them more predictable
All explosives deal 35% damage at the edge of their periphery (from 33%) * More of a QoL change, the 33% would truncate leading to 0 damage on 3 damage explosions, this prevents that

Perks:

Deflection shield should no longer trigger on inactived pods * Stops them from being revealed from out of sight
Deflection shield defense bonus reduced to 3 defense per tile away (from 5 defense per tile away) * Overall just makes it less obtrusive (Note: you can overwatch to bypass this anyway)
First Aid only grants 1 medikit (from 2) * Slight tone back as the 1 hp injury reduction is quite powerful
Suppression now only uses 1 ammo to suppress, but it still requires 2 ammo and still uses a 2nd ammo if the reaction shot fires * Prevents the kind of 'bug' that felt unfair when it used 3 ammo previously and/or didn't if you only had 2 ammo * This seems to fit more intuitively
Shadowstep no longer gives any crit bonus when moving (from +20% crit) * With the +1.3 mobility it was easily strong enough, and the bonus crit was pushing crit items and crit perks out of competiveness. Simplification of the perk as well.
Tandem Warheads deal full damage at the periphery of the explosion (from 66%) * Buff to the strength of tandem as the truncated damage on the edge was a fairly minor upgrade
Mayhem grants explosives +35% damage (from +30% damage) * Helps make the perk more useful on some explosives
Reconnaissance again grants 2 free battle scanners * Gameplay > balance/design, the battle scanners were fun on the scout and removing them lead to less use (i.e. less fun) and the balance/design implications were not huge and can be dealt with elsewhere
Hit and Run grants +1 damage on uncovered targets (from +50% crit damage) * The crit damage wasn't that great on strike rifle builds and the shotgun HnR builds gain access to VPT now as a large buff
Run and Gun cooldown to 1-turn (from 2-turns) * Makes the Run and Gun assault able to use its ability more frequently, slight buff
Sharpshooter bonus aim against targets protected by cover to +15 (from +10) * Slight buff to temper the recent nerf of -1 pen

Equipment:

Battle Scanner 3-Pack increased to 4-pack and now grants +5 aim against any unit in the battle scanner's radius * Makes it like a quarter holo-item increasing the usefulness of battle scanners
Concussion grenades now also lower defense and will by 20 * Makes them much more effective for hitting disoriented targets with weapons, hitting disoriented targets with psionic abilities, reducing disoriented unit psionic effectiveness

XCOM:

Reworked Jaeger tree so the TSGT perk didn't feel like it forced you into a crit build
Reworked Scout tree * Made it so the HnR scout has access to VPT, holo is later, and packmaster is later -* overall balancing of scout builds

Aliens:

Seeker strangulation does 1 more damage but seeker leaders deal 1 less damage * Overall strangulation is a little more damaging except for on leaders
Seeker strangulation no longer provides additional DR (from +3 DR) * Makes them easier to deal with. The original goal of the additional DR was to make strangulation less ideal than fighting them in the open. With strangulation not being able to be overwatched against, it is now guaranteed damage and is thus already less ideal, the extra DR was overkill and often led to frustrating situations.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where certain combinations of perks and items would yield inaccurate number of medikits
Fixed a visual bug where packmaster and S&M still increased the # of battle scanners
Fixed a bug where taking too long in a mission so that you received injury time from fatigue was giving too much injury time
Fixed a bug where squadsight overwatches were not triggering in most situations
Touched up some misc text descriptions
Fixed a bug where the loadout manager would have separate profiles for similar MECs depending upon which base class they were promoted from
Fixed some remaining descriptions that erroneously used the old system of mobility
Clarified some ability descriptions
Fixed some incorrect text descriptions
Fixed a bug where some aliens would leave leftover silhouttes (pawns) of themselves after dying from the crash on crashed UFOs
Fixed a bug where the arc rifle was doing 1 more damage against mechanical units than intended

LW Rebalance v1.25.07 QoL:

All soldier mobility now includes decimal points * QoL
Toned down model size of rocket launchers * Had multiple reasonable complaints about them looking too cartoony

Perks:

Shadowstep grants +20% crit after movement (from +30%) * Slight tone back

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a typo where VPT and CST said they only granted 40% more damage (they grant +50%)
Fixed a bug where grey market sell prices could be similar in similar campaigns
Misc description fixes

LW Rebalance v1.25.06 QoL:

All mobility/weight is now displayed in tiles (instead of metres) * So instead of having a soldier with 16 "metres" of mobility, it will display a soldier with 10 "tiles" of mobility. When you look at a chryssalid it will say it can move 11 tiles and you don't have to try to calculate it out.
Soldiers will always switch back to their primary weapon at the beginning of their turn, unless you have a stun rifle in which case they'll always switch back to their secondary weapon * QoL, makes it so you don't forget and accidentaly reload or shoot with your secondary

Strategy:

Many changes to starting country bonuses * Balance
Gene mod cash and meld costs and time lowered by 10-20% * Makes it easier to apply to soldiers, note it is still supposed to be something that is not common
The first mission will now select maps from a pool of 10, all of which have reasonable LoS blocking areas * There was too much variation based on maps for such a difficult mission, this should make it more bearable
Cost to recruit new soldiers lowered to 110 (from 150) * While it was good to be restrictive, it was a little too restrictive at 150
Increased overall gain of weapon fragments * It was too restrictive on all difficulties

Perks:

Inspired Tenacity grants 15% DR (from 5%) * Was too weak before
Executioner aim/crit to +20 (from +50) but grants +2 damage/penetration (from +0), all still against targets at or below 50% health * The aim/crit was often being capped out at 100 and was often next to useless on steadied shots, even at 50 aim/crit it was slightly weak
Bullseye to 30 aim but 0 crit (from 25 aim/crit) * Slight nerf, it was most important for the aim to help in actually hitting flying units, so this helps with that
Death from afar no longer removes the squadsight crit penalty * Nerf
Sharpshooter grants 1 penetration against units in cover (from 2) * Nerf
Sprinter gives +1.3 mobility (from +0.6 [to +2 from +1 in the old system) and increases dashing movement to 40% (from 50%) * Overall, similar dash distance with significant more usefulness when not dashing
Awareness defense bonus to +20 (from +30) * Was a little too strong at +30
Lone Wolf back to 7 tile distance * It was actually quite easy to maintain at 4 tiles making it one of the strongest perks and pretty imbalanced
Vital Point Targeting to 1.5x damage (from 1.3x) * Boost for perk tree balance
Critical System Targeting to 1.5x damage (from 1.4x) * Boost for perk tree balance

Equipment:

Flamethrower damage to 7 (from 4) * needed a significant buff
Incerator module increases flamethrower damage by +3 (from +2) * Buffed

XCom:

Significant rework of the Jaeger perk tree * See perk tree image
Infantry aim to +15 (from +20), Engineer aim to +10 (from +5) * Slight nerf to overwatch infantry, slight buff to double tap engineer

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where EMP cannons were not providing additional elerium on shot down UFOs
Fixed a bug where concussion grenades were still sometimes not hitting units they should be
Fixed a CTD when soldiers with too many aim/crit bonuses/maluses tried to fire
Fixed a display issue where the rocket scatter when mind merged or steadied was not displaying the actual reduction in scatter
Fixed an incorrect description on Sharpshooter
Fixed a bug where Carlock, Van Doorn, and Friendly had buggy armor decos * Thanks Lafiir
Misc typos

LW Rebalance v1.25.05 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where squadsight units could ignore all Line of sight blockings
Fixed a bug where multiple aliens had savior instead of critical system targeting
Fixed a bug where advanced pulse lasers was being available for research far too soon
Fixed an issue where the first officer perk description did not fit onto the screen during promotion
Fixed some minor misc issues

LW Rebalance v1.25.04 Strategic:

Injury and Fatigue times are now reduced depending upon your difficulty: impossible 100%, brutal 80%, classic 60%, normal 50% * Makes injury/fatigue spirals easier to accommodate on lower difficulties
Injury times for taking fatigued soldiers is now increased * Makes it less ideal and encourages use of other soldiers
Having a satellite destroyed now increases panic by 10/5 in the country/continent (from 15/5) * Makes hunt missions less spikey in terms of panic increase
Overall panic increase per month reduced to 5% per month (from 10% extra per month) * Makes late game losses/mistakes less punishing (at 12 months in, panic increases will be at 160% instead of 220%)
When countries are at risk of leaving the council at the end of the month (i.e. they have 80 or greater panic), the % chance they leave is now equal to how much of that last panic bar is filled and at least 1% (e.g. 80 panic = 1%, 81 panic = 5%, 90 panic = 50%, 98 panic = 90%, 100 panic = 100%) * Makes it a lot less certain to lose countries when they are in the red. Do note, the chance is still then reduced by 50% for a satellite in the country or 20% for a satellite in the continent.
The displayed rating when completing an exalt mission will no longer always be Terrible * should feel a little nicer (note: it's not perfect, but a lot better)
Gene mods credit cost increased, meld cost decreases * Encourages doing multiple at once to save time (as the time and credit cost is static)
Improved the cost display when gene modding so it makes more intuitive sense * QoL
Inserted an image for Adrenaline Surge when gene modding * QoL
All autopsies either require ONLY xenobiology (for biologic aliens) or alien computers (for robotic aliens) * Large simplification, prevents getting stuck without capability to autopsy and wondering why
EMP Weapons now requires Advanced Gauss technology (instead of pulse) * Due to the strength of laser cannons in the air game, gauss was left behind, especially when EMP game through pulse, this makes both laser and gauss more reasonable to progress towards

Tactical:

Research boost on medium/large/elarge to 100/200/400 (from 200/400/800) * Makes the regular troops a little easier
Explosives all gain 1 penetration * Increase in their overall effectiveness and a little balance on the rocketeer
Steadying a weapon now reduces rocket scatter by 50% * With the new steady mechanics, it's not as abusive to set up, so this should work fine again for scatter reduction
The engineer's Repair ability now shows the # of charges on the ability bar * QoL
Repair (the ability from engineer's mechanic perk) no longer works with sidearms but it does work with the stun rifle * It was bugged granting infinite ammo, and free actions, and I couldn't fix it so I had to disable it on sidearms

Equipment:

Smoke grenade radius increased to 3.5 (from 3) * Makes it more useful at covering more units
Smoke grenades now last through 2 enemy turns (instead of just 1 enemy turn) * Significant increase to the usefulness as now it won't end after your turn but after the enemy's 2nd turn * gives you twice as long protection
Flashbangs renamed to Concussion Grenades * Makes more sense with how they now work
Autosentry turrent weight to 0 (from 1) but no longer grants opportunist * Opportunist was bugged and was not working, couldn't fix

Perks:

Packmaster now also grants a free smoke grenade and free medikit * Needed a buff and this fits the theme of being a pack mule
FitH renamed to Fragmentation and grants all explosives a 50% chance to deal 1.5x damage * Was too powerful being able to move and fire so accurately, also scatter reduction was frustrating (as it did nothing) when you picked up a blaster launcher
Sapper no longer grants +1 damage * Balance, it's extremely powerful cover destruction was enough without the additional damage
Mind Merge now reduces rocket scatter by 50% (from 25%) * It was never really used for scatter reduction at only 25%
Hyper-Reactive Pupils grants +20 aim after a miss (from +10 aim) * Finally figured out how to modify these, significant buff
Depth Perception grants +20 aim and crit against targets you have height advantage against (from +5 aim and crit) * significant buff, very powerful for flying armors
Advanced Bone Marrow reduces injury times by 30% (from 25%) * Slight buff
Secondary Heart grants 5 more turns to the bleed-out timer (from 2 more) * Buffed to help soldiers not die
Dense smoke now further protects units in the smoke: psionic hit chances are reduced by 50% and explosives deal no damage * Makes it quite effective at pulling through situations where you are likely to eat a bad grenade or take some bad psionic attacks (e.g. mind control). Also makes it more effective at shutting down psionic units, using it as a sort of concussion grenade effective against psionics.
Dense smoke radius boost to +30% (from +40%) * Similar size due to increase base smoke radius, slight tone down due to extra functionality and too large can be a problem for use
Smoke and Mirrors increases throw range by 15% * Important to make the new concussion grenades easier to land behind enemy cover and to stretch out smoke when it's used for units far away or for aliens at the edge of vision
Smoke and Mirrors grants 1 smoke grenade (from 2) * Having it grant 2, with their decreased use, was pushing the smoke grenade item out of competitiveness, especially because soldiers also pick up an extra smoke grenade with combat drugs, dense smoke, and packmaster
Ranger, Mechanic, Master Mechanic all increase throw range by 15% (from 20/10/20/20%) * Standardization and slight pull back as the ranges were getting too far
Grenadier increases destructive grenade range by 15% (from 10%) * Slight buff, standardization
First Aid and Field Medic now also reduces squad wide injuries sustained during battle by 1 HP (multiple instances do stack) * Buff to the perk, makes it useful for the squad. As an example: If you had 3 individuals with first aid, and someone took 3 health damage of injury, after the battle they would not be wounded.

XCOM:

Platform Stability replaced on rocketeer with Mayhem * Platform stability was a late pick which sometimes meant you were close to the blaster launcher which made it a feel-bad choice a lot of the time, plus both LnL and RfA are very competitive
Bullseye replaced with Fragmentation on the Shogun * Bullseye was too strong and the grenadier build needed a little more love
Mayhem replaced with Fragmentation on the Engineer * Help make the engineer and infantry grenadiers a little more distinct

Bug Fixes:

Fixed some situations in which a concussion grenade wouldn't disorient someone that it should (on the edges and directly on the target behind cover)
Fixed an issue where a description erroneously said the rocketeer gains 10 will during rank ups
Fixed an issue where you could target floating invisible units
Fixed a bug where will to survive was still granting more DR when the unit got low in life

LW Rebalance v1.25.03 Tactical:

Reaction fire no longer has a -20% aim malus * Simplification of game mechanics and gives a boost to overwatch builds and overwatch in general
Aliens have -20 aim on normal difficulty (from -10 aim) and -10 aim on classic difficulty (from 0 aim) * Makes the lowest difficulty a little easier

Perks:

Deadeye renamed to Bullseye and has a new perk icon that is quite fitting * QoL so the perk icons for deadeye and mechanic don't overlap
Suppression no longer automatically triggers on uncovered units at the end of the turn * A lot of testing has convinced me this was a failed mechanic and this should help gameplay by making suppression more effective
Snapshot no longer grants AP discounting actions for aliens * It was too frustrating and unpredictable
Will to Survive reduces injury time by 30% but no longer grants extra DR when you lose life * Buff to the usefulness of biotanks, prevents the perk from making enemies difficult to kill when they get low in life

Aliens:

Grit only appears on leaders * The stacking DR was frustrating when you got aliens low in hp and felt like too much DR for regular soldiers
Drones can now overwatch * Makes them a little more effective

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where ranger and death from afar were on the wrong ranks for sniper

LW Rebalance v1.25.02 Notice:

IF YOU UPGRADE TO THIS PATCH and were using PI or more than PI, YOU MUST DISABLE THEM. Use the console command and type "SetMedalPowerA 28" and "SetMedalPowerA 32" to turn those 2nd wave options off before you upgrade

QoL:

Council Requests will now always display a popup (even if you can't fulfill them)
New 2nd wave option, Wolverine Blood: reduces injury times by 50%
Perfection Information and More Than Perfeciton Information 2nd wave options are now ON by default and can be turned off by the new second wave option: Hidden Chances

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug that was triggering snapshot on thinmen too often
Fixed a bug where some alien leaders were getting more damage than intended
Fixed a bug where DR was getting truncanted incorrectly
Fixed a bug where selection the UI option: "Hide enemy health bars" wasn't working
Fixed a bug where some UFOs would still have too few aliens
Fixed a balance issue where ITZ was not supposed to get an extra ammo on the lastest major release, that was accidently left in, removed it so ITZ has no affect on ammo
Fixed a CTD that occured when steadying a weapon and aliens were on OW
Fixed a CTD that occured during council mission drop-ins if xcom soldiers were on OW before the drop-in
Correctly an issue where Ready For Anything wasn't properly removing the reaction fire aim malus in many situations -* couldn't really fix it, so just removed it
Fixed a bug where explosions sometimes wouldn't destroy corpses

LW Rebalance v1.25.01 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where DR from cover was not properly being applied to explosives
Fixed a bug that indicated Psi Inspiration had no AP cost
Clarified some wordings so that the use of perks is more obvious
Fixed a bug where reseting a soldier's perks would sometime temporarily reset the number of item slots they had

LW Rebalance v1.25.00 Strategic:

You gain twice as many destroyed and intact UFO Power Sources from UFOs * Be sure not to destroy them during your mission!
Lowered the frequency of basic resource council requests (especially for weapon fragments) * Feels a little less focused on the fragments
When no research is occuring there is now an indicator next to the research tab to inform the player * Makes forgetting a lot harder, QoL improvement
Fatigue is no longer not applied during exalt missions or base assaults * Was a remnant from green fog that's unnecessarily confusing
You gain exalt clues 20% faster * Makes the final exalt mission occur earlier

Tactical:

Steady no longer grants combat readiness at the same time * Slight nerf to ITZ builds, less complexity to the ability
Steady cancels if the unit can not see any enemies at the beginning or end of the turn * Prevents doing gamey behavior like moving a unit in, seeing enemies, steadying your troops, then moving them out to break LoS so the AI derps and walks into you and then you can active ITZ on them

Perks:

Vital Point Targeting grants 30% more damage (from 40%) * Balance
Extra Conditioning health to +1 (from +2) * Balance
Grit health to +1 (from +3) * Balance
Sharpshooter's penetration back to +2 but only applies to targets in cover * It was too broad previously, keeps the perk specific against targets in cover
Mayhem grants 70% damage to strike rifles (from 60%) * Buff to mayhem strike rifle sniper
Hit and Run damage boost to +50% base damage (from +1) but only occurs during critical hits * Buff to the shotgun scout
Revamped Disabler: When wielding a sniper/strike/arc rifle: gain Disabling Shot [Fire a 1 damage shot that disables the target's main weapon, <XGAbility:DisablingShotCooldown/>-turn cooldown]. When wielding any other weapon: Steadied shots jam enemies weapons, forcing a reload before they can fire again (each enemy weapon can only be jammed once).
New Perk (full circle to LW 1.0) Killer Instinct: This unit deals +25% more critical damage * Replaces the old weapon targeting
Psi Inspiration also grants +3 mobility (from 0) * Buffed
Double Tap now provides +10 aim if the unit has not expended any action points (+20 with sniper rifles) * Balance for the sniper rifle vs strike rifle, tone done on other classes
In The Zone now grants +1 ammo * Gives the ITZ streaks more firing power

Equipment:

Sniper rifle penetration to 1 (from 2) but gains 1 mobility and 10 crit * Slight tone down
Strike rifle crit to 20 (from 30) * Slight nerf
Psi Grenade range increased to 15 (from 12.5) * Helps accommodate the larger radius
Sniper Plasma Rifle damage vs squadsight targets to +2 (from +3) * Balance
Heavy Plasma Rifle deals +5 damage against targets in cover (from +4 damage against airborne targets) * Buffed, balance
SMG mobility to 1 (from 2) but gain shotgun-like proximity damage if the target is within 10 tiles (+5% of base damage per tile up to +50% at point blank) * Makes it less about gaining movement and more about the weapon and provides a 2nd option for in-close weapons

XCom:

Gene modification times reduced by 33% * Makes them a more reasonable use for your valuable resources
Starting stat modification to multiple classes * Balance
Perk tree modification * see Perk Tree image

Aliens:

Improved alien AI to suppress less often against targets that are uncovered
Multiple alien leaders lost the snapshot perk * Was too ubiquitous
Beserker leaders significant toned down in strength * Were too resilient
All Mutons gain deflection shield (from just leaders) * They derp so much they really need it, and deflection shield only works if they didn't take an action (i.e. XCOM wasn't attacked)
Seekers gain +3 DR when strangling instead of 50% DR * Makes it more likely that you can damage it with high damage weapons
Cyberdiscs lose awareness but gain +3 DR when closed * Their open and close forms were really cool but didn't seem to add enough to how you deployed against them * this makes them a lot more vulnerable when open. Also the awareness on their OW with their flying made them a little too difficult to deal with

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a super tricky native code bug about savior not granting revive
Finally fixed a bug where aliens would make lid or sectoid noises even if there were no lids or sectoids * been hunting this one for a long time
Berserkers that are panicking will no longer still cause enemies around them to be overpowered
Fixed a bug where overpower would sometime trigger by cycling through your units
Fixed a bug where some AP discounting perks prevented triggering of overpower
Fixed some typos
Fixed a bug where sniper/strike gauss rifles were still bypassing hardened
Fixed a bug where small and medium UFOs would sometimes fill with significantly less (~25%) aliens than intended
Fixed a bug with flashbang abilities overlapping AP grenades
Fixed a bug where you'd sometimes have 0 lids on your first terror mission
Fixed a bug where some units would revive (kind of) on UFO missions

LW Rebalance v1.24.17 Tactical:

Flashbangs work on both XCOM and alien units and do not pass through cover * Makes more sense, prevents some silly uses like using through stone cliff, Just a note: this took szmind and I together combined over 8 hours of work and we finally got it to work * was very tricky

Perks:

SHIVs are no longer effected by overpower * Just felt too unintuitive

Equipment:

Flashbang/Psi Greande radius increased to 4/6 (from 3.5/5) * Buff to accommodate more difficult use to help minimize effect on class/item balance

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where the ITZ icon was colored purple even if the unit was not steadied
Fixed a bug where combat readiness would sometimes not grant the aim bonus when units were steadied at the beginning of their turn
Fixed a bug where squadsight flanks were not acting as actual flanks in multiple scenarios
Fixed a bug where some thin men drop-in didn't have snapshot
Fixed a bug where the sharpshooter bonus was being displayed as Lieutenant
Fixed a bug where the proximity sensor did not gain 5 def
Fixed an issue where multiple aliens did not have initial research levels

LW Rebalance v1.24.16 Aliens:

Muton aim reduced to 65 (from 70) * Slight nerf
Muton will reduced to 10 (from 30) * Slight nerf
Whisper (Thinman leader) damage reduced by 1 * Slight nerf
Sectoid will to 35 (from 25) * Slight boost
Floater health to 6 (from 5) * Slight boost
Thin Man aim to 65 (from 75), health to 6 (from 7) * Accommodates snapshot pickup
Thin Men all pick up snapshot * Reduces the strength of OW against them (and somewhat in general) and gives them a little more spikey hitting power

Perks:

Snapshot no longer grants additional aim against targets in cover * It was bypassing XCOM taunt capabilities and punishing unit with certain perks (like Ready For Anything -* which was very gamey to try to 'shut off'), the additional shot chance is more powerful than previously predicted (for example: 60% chance of an extra shot is actually, on average 230% (!) more damage (1 + 0.6 + 0.6^2 + 0.6^3 + 0.6^4 = 2.3)
Hit and Run +2 damage reverted to +1 * Balance, keep the scout in-line with the snapshot nerf * It was also a little too powerful on covert ops (with ranger, pistols were doing 6 dmg)

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a CTD that occured whenever selecting a grenade

LW Rebalance v1.24.15 Tactical:

Aliens gain 10 aim on impossible difficulty (from +5 aim) * Slight increase of difficulty on impossible
Small UFOs will have 2 outsiders after the 2nd month * increases their difficulty as you enter the mid game
Reaction fire and snapshot no longer ignore cover DR (just cover Def) * It trivialized too much cover-based content which is kind of the opposite of the intention of this mod. Some of you may have noticed the early game being far too easy due to the strength of reaction fire and snapshot.

Perks:

Danger Zone area of effect increased back to cover a full circle around the primary target (from 1.2 tiles to 1.6 tiles) * It was a little too restricted for the benefit
Mayhem no longer grants +dmg to SAW/LMGs * Was overkill with the buffed double tap and the increased DZ radius
Double tap aim bonus to +15 (from +20) * Slight tone back
Ranger, Mechanic, and Master Mechanic throw range increase applies to all devices (instead of just grenades) * Consistency
Hit and Run damage boost to +2 (from +1) * Was a little weak vs the other options

Equipment:

Proximity Sensor no longer grants awareness but instead grants 5 defense * Awareness was too powerful due to more frequent use of combat readiness

XCOM:

Shogun: Shadowstep replaced with Snapshot * Upgrade to increase offensive power to compete with grenadier and collateral damage
Shogun: Sprinter replaced with Shadowstep * Sprinter was a dead perk
Infantry: Packmaster replaced with Mayhem * Gives the infantry grenadier some more damage to make it more distinct from the engineer but also the extra grenades on a shooter grenadier seemed a little overkill. Plus, it has some light synergy with suppression.
Scout: Full LCPL and CPL ranks swapped * Allows the defining perks of the scout to come on earlier (like other classes)
Rocketeer: Danger Zone and EC swapped * Tandem+DZ used to be really powerful on the rocketeer so it was made difficult to synergize. However, with tandem not being as strong the synergy is fairly welcomed
Marauder: Aim growth decreased by 5 * Balance
Medic: Will growth increased by 5 * Balance
Rocketeer: Aim growth decreased by 5 * Balance

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where sometimes explosives could jam weapons
Fixed some grammar problems with the reports from the scout's reconnaissance ability
Fixed a bug where ITZ and Weapon targeting were triggering even if the unit was not steadied
Fixed a bug where ITZ would still not have the correct HUD color sometimes
Fixed a bug where alien weapons could not be sold on the grey market

LW Rebalance v1.24.14 Perks:

Sharpshooter penetration to 1 (from 2) but grants it in all situations (from just against targets in cover) * Pen against targets in cover isn't that great with OW and snapshot avoiding cover DR
Snapshot chance to fire again reduced to 20% (from 30%) on non-strike rifle weapons * Was too strong considering the other benefits as well, eclipsing other perks on the infantry/assault
Ranger grants a 20% range increase to all grenades (from 10%) * Boosts it on non-shooting classes (support/grenadiers)

XCOM:

Infantry have Tandem Warheads replaced with Sapper
Infantry have Lock N' Load and Ranger swapped * Ranger is more useful for all builds, and this grants the OW build good ammo early as an option, and means the grenadier build doesn't have to get LnL (which, for a grenadier isn't that great)
Medic swaps Shadowstep for Ranger * Shadowstep wasn't that competitive, and early ranger is good for the support build

Aliens:

Modified some alien leader level timings * Probably not noticable by most players, but was affecting my OCD =P

Bug Fixes:

LMG type weapon ammo now correctly set to 6 (from 3)
Fixed some bugs with multiple SHIVs on the same mission being inactivated too often

LW Rebalance v1.24.13 QoL:

Start year for the game changed to 2030 * Just don't want it to be in the past anymore =P
The F1 crit summary now shows the weapon name and how much crit it grants * It used to just say "weapon", provides a little more info
Included Lafiir's new "Meld-Countdown for Longwar" mod * This displays how long a canister has above it, gives an arrow to the location of any discovered meld canister, and display an overall map info panel regarding the status of recoverable meld in the top right. Many thanks to her for this great work! :)

Tactical:

All crit damage is applied before determine weapon range * A minor fix, basically this just means that if you do 8 damage and crit, it's increased to 12, and then the damage range is calculated (10-14). It used to be that the non-laser non-pulse weapons would calculate a damage range and then apply crit bonuses to each number in that range.

Perks:

Will to Survive grants %DR equal to half of the %HP lost * Similar to Grit it helps tanks keep tanking when things get dire and buffs the perk since it lost it's extra DR when cover DR went up
Will to Survive's 30% DR when protected by cover is no longer cover-based: this means that it is not skipped during reaction fire or with units with snapshot * Makes Will to Survive a little stronger and simplifies the perk to be consistent with other perks: if you're in cover, the perk is working
Reconnaissance (scout's primary perk) no longer grants free battle scanner charges * Nerf to the scout. Also makes more room for both the proximity sensor and battle scanner small items.
Disabling Shot renamed to Disabler: Non-reaction shots against humans and autopsied aliens have a 25% chance to jam the enemy weapon, forcing a reload before they can fire again (each enemy weapon can only be jammed once). When wielding a sniper, strike, or arc rifle, gain Disabling Shot [Fire a 1 damage shot that disables the target's main weapon]. * Makes it useful without strike/sniper/arc rifles and when not using disabling shot.
Weapon Targeting changed to: Non-reaction shots against humans and autopsied aliens have a 25% chance to jam their weapon (100% chance if steadied), forcing a reload before they can fire again (each enemy weapon can only be jammed once).

Equipment:

Motion tracker charges to 1 (from 2) * Makes them a little less effective as a replacement scout
Proximity sensor no longer requires any technology to produce (from requiring seeker autopsy) * Makes it more readily available
Drum mags weight to 1 (from 2) * Makes it much more reasonable to equip
4-pack battle scanner changed to a 3-pack * Balance vs proximity sensor, make the scout feel less mandatory as anti-seeker tech

XCOM:

Weapon Targeting and Holo Rounds swapped on engineer * Pushes holo later making it more valuable on the early scout and SHIV. Pushes support into a disabling effect.
Goliath loses 10 aim on level ups * It's shooter build with RfA and LeU was (IS) really strong

Aliens:

Seeker DR reduced to 50% (from 65%) when strangling * With harder detection this seemed reasonable

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a LONG-TIME bug with EU/EW/LW1.0 code (YAY) that solved many cases of when flanking was occuring or not occuring erroneously * Szmind and I worked for many hours on this =D
Fixed a BIG BUG where explosives sometimes got or did not get DR on flanked units erroneously * This is a nice fix as it has been a problem for a while
Fixed another coding bug that should have no effect on player's experience of the game but whatever, it's fixed =P
Maybe fixed a bug about reviving drones
Fixed a bug where the HUD UI was suggesting ITZ would be a free shot even when the unit wasn't steadied

LW Rebalance v1.24.12 Strategy:

Lowered the number of outsiders possible on large landeds by around 25% * Makes them easier to tackle

Tactical:

Steadying your weapon now also activates combat readiness * Buff to steadying, so that even if you get hit or lose it you still have some advantage

Perks:

In The Zone only allows shooting after triggering (from shooting, reloading, OWing, hunkering, OfA), steadying the weapon grants 100% chance (from 30% per enemy), and the normal chance is 0% per enemy (from 10% per enemy) * This is a much more consistent version. You have to steady to activate it again, but when you do, you have 100% chance of activating it. It grants 4 shots (assuming full ammo).
Shadowstep no longer grants +10 defense in cover and instead just grants +2 mobility (from +1 mobility) * The cover defense was bugging out and was making a complex perk needlessly more complicated, slight buff
Extra Conditioning fatigue and injury reduction to 20% (from 10%) * buffed
Hit and Run no longer allows OW after acting * The entire purpose of hit and run was to not do double shots. When OW was weak, it was fine to allow a weak OW. OW now is quite strong and is kind of turning HnR back into a double shot perk. The will prevent that and encourage other actions.
Steadfast now grants immunity to being overpowered * Makes the perk more valuable
Double Tap can now trigger after moving, has no aim bonus on the 2nd shot. However, the perk grants +20 aim on any shot fired at 2 (max) APs * Gives much improved flexibility to the perk while still rewarding stationary shooting

Equipment:

LMG ammo to 6 (from 5) * Slight boost
Drum mags can no longer be equipped by rookies * Prevents a bug during promotion

XCOM:

Precision shot and Vital Point Targeting swapped on the sniper * Less forcing the sniper into shooting uncovered biologics and precision shot is more of a unique TSGT perk as well
Shock and Awe and Danger Zone swapped on the rocketeer * Sometimes the large AoE rocket might be undesirable, this is more of a universal boost for a TSGT perk

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where will to survive was sometimes not granting the -10 defense
Updated tech tree to reflect position of psi mastery
Updated in-game tech tree to remove mind control and replace with psi mastery
The Superheavy Laser (SHIV weapon) now requires basic lasers to unlock (was accidentally in the advanced laser pool)
Fixed the sightline mutators so that multiple log errors don't appear and the chance of finding invisible units and/or the aliens firing on said units should be removed * Thanks to szmind for all his hard work on this one :)
Fixed some bugs in the code that handles multiple SHIVs
Fixed a bug where tracker would sometimes activate an inactive version radar in the top left of the HUD
Cleaned up some log reports from triggering by improving some base code
Fixed a bug with combat readiness not turning the armor color lighter in some circumstances
Fixed a bug on some popups being incorrectly colored

LW Rebalance v1.24.11 Soldier Esthetics:

Added weapon-aware shoulderpads (and ammo-pouches) to Phalanx, Aegis, Archangel, TacVest, Banshee * Thanks to Lafiir again for all the work
Restored the vanilla assault and sniper looks when used with shotguns/strike&sniper-rifle * Thanks to Lafiir again for all the work

Strategic:

Lowered the cost of improved avionics, armored fighters, and UFO counter measures * They were a little too cost prohitibitve
The time before the map displays when entering the skyranger loadout screen decreased significantly * A little faster, less likely to popup while you are already loading out a soldier
Lowered the rate of panic increase for failing an exalt mission from 20 panic (40 on DW 0.5) to 10 * Make unsuccessful exalt missions feel less punishing

Tactical QoL:

The HUD icons for aliens will now reveal who is overwatching you by placing a little target icon on their alien head * This is awesome, as sometimes you forget if your soldier was in sight of the target or not, so now you know that if you see an alien head with a target icon on it that someone has you in their overwatch. Now, if you dont' see an alien head with a target sign on it, you know you are safe from those aliens you can see.
The HUD icons for aliens will now turn into a special alien leader symbol if the alien is a leader * This is awesome too as it helps you figure out and make it very obvious you are fighting a leader (yes, I know, the symbol looks like the old exalt symbol, but that's actually the alien leader symbol that exalt was just using b/c they idolize the alien leaders) ;)
The game will no longer zoom in on each soldier that is corroded at the beginning of each turn * Felt like a waste of time and was frustrating if you had a lot of corroded guys

Equipment:

Proximity sensors weight to 0 (from 1) * Buff

Aliens:

Lowered the 'growth' rate increase of damage resistance on Outsiders by half * Makes them easier to damage even when you take a long time to get to them
Muton leaders gain 3 health and 10 aim * Buffed

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where injury/fatigue times that were increased due to reduced squadsizes was not working * You should notice more injury/fatigue on your soldiers
Fixed a bug where UFO missions were being generated too much in 'clusters' on DW games * They should be more spread out now
Fixed a bug where if a unit on OW was hit, afterwards they would sometimes appear to ignore cover ignoring abilities (like snapshot)
Fixed a HUGE bug on exalt data recovery where they were getting the exalt troops of a covert op extraction * Whoopsies. No wonder everyone was saying they were so easy. WARNING: DATA RECOVERIES ARE NOW APPROPRIATELY MUCH MORE DIFFICULT
Fixed "Comradery" description from being too long and not being shown in-game
Fixed a bug where reaction shots at "close range" (1 tile adjacent) to non-flanked units in cover would get a significant aim bonus on top of ignoring cover * Not that it really matters as 99% of the time the shot had 100% accuracy
Updated "hunker" description to be more accurate
Fixed an incorrect description on in-game sprinter
Fixed a bug where the HMEC3 had 1 secondary weapon slot and the HMEC2 has 2 (it's supposed to be the opposite)
Fixed some mistakes in the in-game tech tree
Fixed some .log bugs
Fixed a bug where danger zone was increasing the radius of explosives by SQRT(1.33) instead of 33%

LW Rebalance v1.24.10 QoL:

Lowered the game speed changing interval again to +33% and -25% * Gives players a little more control over speed adjustments
Set initial game speed to 1.33 (from 1.5) * 1.5 was a little fast for some players (you can still edit this yourself in the dgc.ini with the REACTION_PENALTY variable)
Tatical game info popups are now include not just the perk, but the ability the perk is granting * Makes the underlying mechanics of the game more obvious

Perks:

Snapshot now lets units ignore cover def and DR if their target is overwatching or suppressing * Simulates taking a shot quick enough that the target can't get back in cover yet (similar to normal reaction shots)
Snapshot chance for a 0 AP action to 30% (60% with a strike rifle) (from 40%/70%) * Accommodates bonus against overwatching/suppressing units
Smoke and Mirrors reaction fire avoidance is specific to support grenade actions (instead of all non-shot actions) * Some actions were unintended to be avoiding reaction fire with this perk

Equipment:

Javelin rockets only have 1 rocket (from 2) * Nerfed, they are really powerful with the reduced scatter and increased damage, makes the extra spare rocket a more competitive option

Bug Fixes:

Fixed an incorrect dgc.ini description
Fixed a bug where master mechanic was granting 50% increased throw range (instead of 15%)
Fixed a bug where wearing certain armor would cause a soldier not to show up in the game * thanks to Lafiir for the code
Fixed some armor types so they look more appropriate * again thanks to Lafiir for the code
Fixed some inaccuracies on the tech tree
Fixed a bug where an exalt reminder was causing a CTD
Fixed a bug where the engineer couldn't repair when using the sawed-off shotgun

LW Rebalance v1.24.09 QoL:

All items are now sorted when loading out your soldiers * THANK GOD * now it's much easier to find equipment (this took me forever)
An enemy having an elevated shot against you not longer triggers a little red down arrow to appear on your soldiers * That down red arrow should be reserved for actually debuffs, an elevated enemy was not ideal to trigger the down arrow
Gamespeed now adjusts by 50% up (Alt-F8) and 33% down (Alt-F7) (from double up and 50% down) and starts at 1.5x speed (from 1.0x speed) * Note: this is still dgc.ini adjustable with the REACTION_PENALTY variable

Strategic:

The volunteer now gains every psi ability * Feel really cool to get all of the abilities on one soldier, also prevents bugging out by trying to train a psionic ability on the last mission when time can't advance and locking your volunteer in the psi lab
Autopsy times reduced by 50%, Interrogation times increased by 30% * Makes opening up the options for other technologies quicker and makes both VPT and CST come online quicker
Increased the # of aliens on the first terror mission * It was too easy

Tactical:

Dashing now grants +20% movement (from +10%) * Significant increase, as your total movement will be 2.4 (instead of 2.0) which you'll see as 1.0 for the blue move and then the yellow move will be 40% further at 1.4. It was a little too insignificant at +10%.

Equipment:

Plasma Pistol and Plasma Mauler do not require UFO Power Sources to produce * It was too much for side arms
Gauss Autopistol and Blaster renamed to Gauss Pistol and Pulse Pistol and stats adjusted accordingly * Now each weapon tier has a basic pistol, and the upgraded heavier pistol only occurs for ballistic, laser, and pulse
The way gauss and pulse weapons round up/down half damages (e.g. 125% base damage gauss sniper rifle = 7.5 damage, rounded down to 7 damage with +5 aim added) was always to round down and then add 5 aim -* this has been changed to rounding down but adding +crit (depending on weapon) which should yield the loss in damage (e.g. 125% base damage gauss sniper rifle would be 7 damage but would gain +20 crit [~0.7 more damage] instead of +5 aim which would more accurately reflect similar damage outputs) * The reason for this was to keep aim and damage similar: crit can more reasonably add back the damage lost. Note: The crit values added lead to slightly higher than the +0.5 damage lost in order to accommodate for the fact that crit is 1) inconsistent 2) could be absorbed by crit resistance and 3) could not apply due to 100% crit being already reached
Laser and pulse sidearms aim to +10 (from +5) * Makes up for not getting the +1 mobility
Arc rifle damage to 4 (from 1), but damage against mechanicals to +6 (from +7), mobility to -1 (from 0), aim to 0 (from 5), crit to 0 (from 10), and penetration to 0 (from 3) * Makes it much more effective against non-mechanical units (same damage as laser rifle) so that when equipping this weapon your unit isn't so useless against them
SAW/LMG ammo to 4/5 (from 5/7) * Tone back on the gunner

Perks:

Brawler DR toned down to 30% within 4 tiles (from 40%) * Slight nerf, tone down on abusing the AI at melee range
ITZ no longer has a -5 aim/crit malus per shot fired * Buff to ITZ due to difficulty in triggering, simplification of the perk
Snapshot and Smoke and Mirrors no longer require cover to avoid triggering reaction shots * Needless complication for the ability and makes snapshot more reasonable on the assault and S&M more reasonable to act without cover (which is dangerous enough)
Sprinter increases dash distance from +30% to +50% * Significant buff to the perk
Mechanic and Master mechanic grenade throw range increase to +15% (from +10%) * Buff to the support and grenadier engineers
Mayhem grants +30% base damage to SAW/LMGs * Boost to the double tap gunner and the reaction fire on the bullet wizard
Grit hp bonus to +3 (from +2) * Another boost to the gunner tank
Fire in the Hole reduced rocket scatter by 50% (from 30%) * Buff to the pure rocketeer spec

Aliens:

Seeker Damage Resistance when strangling increased to 65% (from 50%) * They lost 1 DR in the recent patches, so this is to up their strength when strangling again and encourage more use of motion tracker, proximity sensor, and or battlescanner 4-pack

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where Kestrel armor would sometimes make soldiers not load into the tactical game * Thanks to Lafiir, she fixed everything
Fixed a bug where exalt could still look like they had the snapshot perk
Having a gene modification will not longer stop armors from having their preset decos display (thanks to lafiir for helping solve that one)
Fixed a bug where adrenaline surge wasn't registering as a gene mod and bioelectric skin still was (again, thanks to lafiir for help)
Fixed some incorrect descriptions
Fixed the radius indicator on the elerium emitter so that anyone that actually is targeted by the indicator will become stealthed
Fixed a bug where snapshot could show up as a penalty on XCOM soldiers and Aliens and reduce their aim by 10

LW Rebalance v1.24.08 Equipment:

LGM damage to +175% (from +150%) * Buff to accommodate nerf of danger zone
SAW mayhem damage decreased to 1/1/2/2/3 (from 1/2/3/4/5) * Nerf to the SAWs effectiveness as a mayhem suppression weapon to make more room for the LMG

Perks:

Shadowstep +10 def now only works when in cover * Fix to a display issue and makes cover more important

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where hit chances were getting really messed up across the board because I'm a bad programmer
Fixed grit description

LW Rebalance v1.24.07 QoL:

You can now choose if you'd like the barracks sorted by class or by rank: in defaultgamecore.ini: SPECIES_POINT_LIMIT=1 [Set to 1 (LWR default) to have the barracks sorted by class, Set to 0 (LW 1.0 default) to have the barracks sorted by rank ]
Stun Rifle odds are now included in the in-battle skill description and when fabricating or equipping the stun rifle: Normal -> (1HP:88%, 2HP:79%, 3HP:69%, 4HP:48%, 5+HP:<7%) Elerium Batteries -> (1-3HP:93%, 4HP:88%, 5HP:79%, 6HP:69%, 7HP:48%, 8+HP:<7%)
Armors now have automatic deco settings so they look more appropriate in the loadout * Thanks entirely to Lafiir for all her hard work on creating this, it makes all the armors distinctive, even in the tactical game -* making the already awesome soldiers look even cooler
Improved the ticker descriptions of aliens resources, etc to make them a little more obvious what they mean * QoL
Soldier with <24 hours of recovery now have a "soon" next to them indicate the soldier will be ready soon <2 days * helps distinguish 33 hours from 33 days

Strategic:

You start the campaign with 5 soldiers from your home country again * Accommodates for increased mission sizes

Tactical:

Rocketeer Scatter lowered by ~20% * Buffed
Abduction, Terror, DLC, Council, and Exalt Data Recovery missions now allow for 6 soldiers (from 5) * I've been convinced that 6 is more of the sweet spot between overcrowding and still getting the most diversity of soldiers
The above mission alien counts increased slightly to accommodate the increase in soldiers * for obvious reasons

Perks:

Precision shot back to +50% damage (from +30%) * It was too weak at 30%, reverted back to 50%
Executioner to +50 aim/crit (from +40) * It's just that getting a bonus only to hit people under 50% health is a weak premise from the beginning, buffed
Disabling shot aim bonus to 20 (from 30) * Slight nerf to make it feel not as mandatory
Danger Zone suppression toned back to only affect targets directly adjacent to the primary target * Minor nerf on bullet wizard (they lose the diangle target in a square), but more control over who gets suppressed so it's not triggered by uncovered units as often
Grit to +2 hp (from +1) * Buff to gunner tank
Ready For Anything to +0 hp (from +2) and removes the -20% aim malus that reaction shots against covered/moving targets * One of the problems with RfA on the gunner and medic OW builds was that it did nothing if you were actually going on OW, which felt bad. Now RfA will work synergistically with OW whether you use OW or have RfA trigger by buffing it's aim.
Snapshot trigger bonus for regular shots increased to 40% (from 30%) * Makes it more competitive on the infantry and engineer

Equipment:

Stun Rifle accuracy improved to 100% (from 60-90%) * Note: this is not it's chance to actually stun, just the chance to hit the target * Increase in chance to capture, avoiding some unobvious frustrations
Proximity Sensor range increased to 8 tiles (from 6) * Buffed for stronger use when you don't have a scout (or even when you do)

XCOM:

Snapshot on the Engineer replaced with Disabling Shot * Disabling shot was a better fit on the engineer. Note: disabling shot will only work with the arc rifle on the engineer

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where units flanked at squadsight ranges would become unflanked while firing thus granting cover-based damage resistance
Fixed the turn time on save files so they reflect the actual turn instead of 1 turn less than the actual

LW Rebalance v1.24.06 QoL:

Sleeves have been added to all sleeveless armors (as per darkmiz's recommendation) * Makes XCom look a lot less stupid * never did it because I never realized you could do it without tex mod, it was actually pretty simple edits =P
Note: if you don't like the sleeves eclipse666 made this nice program to revert them very easily: https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/539?tab=files

Strategy Game:

Increase cost of recruiting a soldier to 150 (from 100) * Makes each soldier more valuable and harder to replace

Aliens:

Sectoids start with 10 more will * Makes them a little more dangerous off the bat

Bug Fixes:

Set the default dgc.ini value of REACTION_PENALTY (for game speed) to 1.0f * It was accidentally set at 1.9f (though you can still change it to 1.9f if you prefer)
Fixed a bug where some aliens were getting a combat readiness bonus (it should only be for xcom) * Note this should make the game overall a step easier
Fixed an incorrect 80 meld description for reducing would times (it's 50 meld)

Version 1.24.05 LW Rebalance v1.24.05 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where the first mission had floater pods on brutal difficulty still (Double Whoops!)
Changed the DGC.ini for game speed to REACTION_PENALTY so that it's a float and will accommodate decimals

Version 1.24.04 LW Rebalance v1.24.04 QoL:

Implemented new game speed functions (Many thanks to kdm2k6 for creating a game speed mod and motivating me to expand on it and incorporate it into LWR):
Base game speed can now be set in the defaultgamecore.ini with the variable SPECIES_POINT_LIMIT
Every battle will now start at the game speed defined in the dgc.ini (default 1.0)
Alt-F7 now halves the game speed (can be used repeatedly, min speed 0.25)
Alt-F8 now doubles the game speed (can be used repeatedly, max speed 8.0)
Alt-F9 resets the game speed to the default value set in the dgc.ini
Action sequences (glam sequences) will not reset the game speed anymore (it will stay at whatever it is set to)
Please note that at high speeds (>3.0) you may encounter more bugs (especially if your computer is slower or you're running a lot of other programs)

Strategy:

Moved the DLC missions to occur ~1-2 months later * Accommodation of smaller squad sizes and fatigue problems
Removed the "squadsize limited on this mission" and "blank" non-usable slots on the skyrange loadout screen * It was cleaner not to have it show and makes for easier scrolling

Equipment:

Respirator Implant defense bonus to +5 (from +10) * Slight nerf, prevents defense stacking from getting too high
Cognitivie Enhancer defense bonus to +5 (from +10) * Slight nerf, prevents defense stacking from getting too high
Psi Screen defense bonus to +5 (from +10) * Slight nerf, prevents defense stacking from getting too high

Bug Fixes:

Removed some entries that shouldn't have been in some descriptions (e.g. SHIV repair)
Fixed a bug where the first mission had floater pods (Whoops!)
Fixed a bug where inner fire was granting you more aim without psi mastery
Fixed a bug where shadowstep's 10 defense wasn't displaying properly in the F1 panels
Updated some incomplete descriptions in F1
Fixed a bug where seraph and archangel armor were not granting tactical sense

LW Rebalance v1.24.03 Strategic:

First mission has +1/2 additional aliens (on brutal/impossible) * It was a little too easy
Chance of generating a hunt mission after a successful scout mission decreased to 35% (from 50%) * Accommodates a little more when you get poor RNG and a bunch of scouts show up

Tactical:

Slowed down the rate of new alien appearances by ~7% * Slight decrease in the rate that new aliens appear, it was just a little too fast
Steadying a weapon grants +50 aim/crit (from +40) * Boost, as technically it should be powerful enough to replace 2 shots or 1 overwatch and 1 shot -* was a little too ineffective at +40 aim/crit
Color of armor changed back from teal to green (and when combat readiness is active, green to light green) * sychronizes with the pink to light pink when the turn is ended, makes more intuitive sense
Abduction alien numbers changed to 6-8/8-10/10-12/12-14 * More challenging on the harder abductions, a little more spread based on difficulty
Reduced the chance of a pod containing a 2nd ethereal by 80% (I think! The code is tricky... but it tested fine the few times I got it) * They should mostly work alone

XCOM:

CST replaces snapshot and swaps with shadowstep * Shadowstep is quite strong on a defensive MEC due to the 10 extra defense and snapshot does very little on a MEC due to the requirement for cover

Aliens:

Forced removed snapshot from exalt * It was too strong on them and the native hardcode was too difficult to work around
Increased ethereal hp to 30 (from 20) * They are a lot less dangerous when they don't come in pairs, accommodation for the less frequent appearances

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug that was assigning twice as many alien artifacts as intended
Fixed a bug where the aliens would sometimes go on overwatch when the only thing they could see was a battle scanner
Fixed a bug where the 'Y' shortcut for overwatch wasn't working if the unit could only see enemies in squadsight
Fixed a bug where damaged alien artifacts would sometimes sell for more than the equivalent undamaged alien artifact and cause a correction code to activate that was malfunctioning and could further increaese the price

LW Rebalance v1.24.02 Strategy:

Second wave option "Cinematic Mode" renamed to "Elite XCOM" so that it's not so innately insulting

Equipment:

Illuminator Gunsight crit to 0 (from -15) but grants the executioner perk (like LW 1.0) * The perk is fun but doesn't exist on XCOM outside of jaegers and snipers. This makes it more likely players will use it and makes the gunsight more unique than just another scope.
Archangel and Seraph armor defense increased to 10/15 (from 0/5) * Makes them even more defensive when flying or in cover. Buffed.

Aliens:

Only floater leaders (instead of all floaters) have Critial System Targeting * Makes a pack of floaters a LOT less dangerous against SHIVs/MECs

Bug Fixes:

Fixed some spelling and grammatical errors in some descriptions
Fixed a bug with heavy floater leaders upgrading erratically at leader levels 4, 6, and 8
Fixed some commenting errors in the dgc.ini
Fixed a CTD when snapshot was used against units with reactive targeting sensors
Changed the name of "Close Range Flank" to just "Close Range" to avoid confusion thinking that the target should be flanked (and a flanked indicator should appear) when really it just acts as if they have no bonuses from cover if you are directly adjacent to them (because technically, they are NOT flanked)

LW Rebalance v1.24.01 QoL:

Included another linux install script (from maeriden2) that might work if players are having trouble with the first script

Bug Fixes:

Updated psi tree on perk tree image
Scout now correctly has Snapshot on the perk tree (accidentally had sentinel) * Whoopsies
Fixed a bug where reseting a unit's perk accidentally gave them deflection shield and/or growth
Incorrect description of Assault Rifle ammo in the research view
Added a slight hp coloration to the pink 'end turn' hp color to indicate if a unit has combat readiness active

LW Rebalance v1.24.00 Strategic:

Country bonuses tweaked * balance based on current and recent changes
Number of soldiers gained per month lowered slightly * accommodates for fewer soldiers needed due to less missions and more restricted mission sizes
Cost for a new soldier increased to 100 (from 50) * Same reason as above

Air Game:

Number of Scout UFOs x7 but occur everywhere instead of just in countries where XCOM has satellites (1 scout always appears where a satellite exists) * Grants more chances for XCOM to down UFOs. This gives XCOM more room to still down UFOs even if they miss some or can't send their planes up yet. This is a huge change strategically. In LW 1.0 and all previous LWR versions, the aliens tend to overwhelm 6 interceptors and commanders are somewhat forced to expand to another continent in order to deal with the UFOs over 2 continents, thereby granting them 12 interceptors. Thus, expanding has little to no effect on the # of UFOs you encounter but allows you to field more interceptors against said UFOs. Now, the entire world has lots of UFOs, and not expanding means you won't get as many UFOs and you won't get overwhelmed. If you do expand, you can expect more UFOs. This gives the player some agency to try to protect more of the world and thus fight more UFOs. It makes more intuitive sense in how the strategic game should operate.
The chance to trigger a satelite hunt after scouting halved * Makes up for increased # of scouts
Number of Scout, Research, Abductions, and Terror Missions decreases by 10% (multiplicatively) each month * Significantly reduces late game mission density
Number of Research UFOs increased to 4x (from 2x) but occur over the entire world instead of just where XCOM has satellites (1 always appears where a satellite exists) * While having double landeds meant more resources and less RNG, it also felt 'forced' to do all of the landed UFOs and let to more burn out * now with the landed occuring all over you'll get less vs the previous 200%
Number of Bombing UFOs tripled * Accommodates for less panic on bombing runs
Number of Overseer UFOs reduced to 1 per month (from 3-5) * Reduction in mission density and overseer spam
The Aliens' chance to gain bonus research for untouched UFOs removed * It was not really possible to control with all the new UFOs, it was found to be more reasonable just to remove it
Panic increase for any UFO mission when it is not damaged reduced to 1 (from 2) Note: if UFO is attacked and takes any damage it is 0 * Makes the increased UFOs not raise panic so much
Panic increase for bombing runs reduced by 75% (at it is still reduced proportionally to the amount of damage the bomber has) * Accommodates for more possible bombing runs
Successful UFO Research missions award ~1/3 the research but 10% more alien reasearch per month * Accommodates for the higher number off the bat and the decreased number in the late game
Aircraft boosters cost 25-50% less corpses * Makes them more reasonable to acquire and deploy
The chance of an interceptor detecting a UFO in a country without a satelitte increased to 7% (from 4%) * Makes it more reasonable to field interceptors where you can't field satellites to detect UFOs
Countries will start to send firestorms in the later game when helping you down UFOs * Helps prevent their additional ships from actually slowing down your sortie

Resources:

Meld containers grant 10% more meld per month * Significant increase in meld container amounts in the end game
All missions reward 10% more elerium, alloy, weapon fragments, and alien artifacts per month * accommodates for decreased mission density during the late game
Abductions reward 10% more cash per month * Accommodates for decreased abduction rates as game progresses
Terror missions reward 10% more cash per civilian saved * Accommodates for decreased terror mission rates as game progresses
Alloys and Elerium from UFOs decreased by 10% * slight reduction in accumulation for balance
Grey market equipment selling prices increased by approximately 50% * Makes it more worthwhile

Tactical:

Units in cover are now considered "Close Range Flanked" and act as if flanked when the distance between them and their attacker is less than 1 tile (directly adjacent) * Makes sense, allows for easier flanks, and prevents SHIVs from granting cover to close range aliens
Smoke no longer just affects the target's defense, it now also affects the shooters aim * Makes sense (verisimilitude and intuitive gameplay), but more importantly pushes smoke away from always just a buff and more towards strategical use (as it's defensive in nature only now) and depending upon the situation (e.g. it can be used to lower the aim of enemies)
Number of soldiers on abductions, terror missions, exalt data recovery, council missions reduced to 5/5/5/5 (from 6/8/6/8) * Despite map restrictions, both the RNG and slog were problems with these missions. Overall it should increase the overall pace of these missions as well as significantly reduce the number of full map activations and thus poor tactical RNG. Also, it clears up a little more room for more mobile strategies like flanking, moving to elevation, etc.. Last, it helps prevent CTDs due to too many enemies activated at once.
Landed UFOs no longer increase the availability of future aliens (previously +1-4 months depending upon difficulty) but instead, the aliens on the larger the UFOs have higher stats and leader levels * It didn't really make sense that if you didn't shoot down a UFO the aliens were different because it landed, this also helps make the larger UFOs a harder
Number of aliens on medium, large, and very large UFOs decreased considerably * makes them less of a slog to fight through and accommodates their increased difficulty, prevents crashes
Reaction Fire ignores DR from cover (as well as defense) * Makes high DR units in cover much more suceptible to reaction fire (e.g. Mutons), also makes sense if the unit in cover doesn't have the cover defense, they shouldn't have the cover DR either
Red Fog now also affects melee damage (up to 70% reduction) * Makes sense and helps deal with melee units that get up close
XCOM Scamper will only occur once per turn * Prevents players from using XCOM scamper to gain multiple extra moves and trivialize some content
Quenchgun foundry project grants ballistic and gauss weapons +1 penetration against mechanical units (from +1 penetration against all units) * nerfed to put it more in line with beam strengthening and to tone back gauss weapons
DR from cover increased to 30/50% (for partial/full cover) (from 15/25%) * Significant buff to the strength of cover at preventing high damage. Makes non-tank units much less likely to get 1 shot in cover. Makes biotanks stronger. Makes enemies utilizing cover more important.
XCOM Base defense mission only requires you to deploy 8 soldiers * Yes, this does mean that you can choose your exact soldiers. However, some will be slightly delayed. The reason is that not having some key components to a good squad can significantly hamper you and that sort of RNG is just not fun.
Only ~25% of enemies will die from the crash on a crashed UFO (from ~33%) * increases the difficulty slightly, especialy due to fewer aliens on UFOs

Equipment:

Javelin rockets now also provide a 50% reduction in scatter * Significant boost due to their small AoE making them much more effective
SAW and LMG aim +10 each * Buff to the gunner weapon's shooting role (balance vs bullet wizard)
DR of all HMEC suits reduced by 1 * Nerf to tanking ability of MECs
UHMEC3 hp reduced by 3, HMEC3 hp reduced by 4 and gains a secondary weapon slot, LMEC3 hp reduced by 3, ULMEC3 loses a secondary weapon slot, HMEC2 hp reduced by 1 * nerf to tanking abilities, overall balance
Gauss and Pulse pricing and research put more on par with each other * Gauss more expensive, Pulse a little cheaper, makes the option between the two a little more balanced
Reaper Ammo weight to 0 (from 1) and crit bonus to 40 (from 30) * Buffed
Laser sight to 20 crit (from 15) * slight buff
All item build times decreased by 20% * Less of a backlog of items to produce
All items cost ~10% more alloys and elerium * Reduce surplus resources, force slightly more restrictive purchasing
Blaster Launcher damage increased to 12 (from 10) * Late in the game it needs a boost due to tanky aliens
Plasma Stellerator damage boost against units with distortion to +50% (from +100%) but damage boost to +2 (from +1) * Balanced, accommodation for decreased strength of distortion
AP Ammo penetration to +1 (from +2) * It was too 'auto-include' with the amount of DR out there and was one of the main reasons for Gauss weapons being too strong
Assault Rifle (and the variants) start with 4 ammo (from 3) * Buff for balance
Archangel armor is significantly cheaper to produce * Considering it consumes a titan armor it need to be a little cheaper

Perks:

One for All grants 30% DR (from 50%) * Nerf to tanking ability of MECs
Will to Survive grants 30% DR (from 40%) * Nerf due to increased DR from cover
Grit grants +1 HP (from 0) and no longer resists disorientation * Buffed, removed the disorientation resistance to give more effective methods for dealing with muton elites
Disabling shot aim to +30 (from +20) * Buffed
Inner fire back to 2 mobility (from 1) * Balances the perk for mobility and aim classes better, the restriction on mobility didn't need to apply to the few soldiers that get Inner Fire
Holo now prevents affected units from entering concealment or stealth * Effective against seekers
Danger Zone suppression nerfed to 1.6 tile radius (from 3) * Now it should only work on units in a circle around the primary target. Allows for better control of who gets suppressed. Significant nerf to the bullet wizard to put it inline with other gunner builds.
Lock N' Load now makes reloading a 1 AP action when reloading a sidearm * So it works on both pistols and primary weapons
Growth (for outsiders) lowered in growth rates and caps by 25-50% on most stats * Makes them a little less punishing
Low Profile grants the defense AND DR bonus of full cover when in partial cover (from just the defense bonus) * Boost to the scout and units with banshee armor when using partial cover
Mechanic (engineer starting perk) grants Critical System Targeting instead of Penetrator * Focuses engineers on the anti-mechanical role
Lead By Example (Officer perk) now grants +20% xp per rank to all soldiers in the battle [for +150% xp at Field Commander (1.2^5 = 2.49)] * Makes gaining xp much higher into the late game to help accommodate for fewer missions. Also makes officers quite important to maximize xp gains.
First Aid grants +2 restorative mist charges (from +1) * Buffed
Vital Point Targeting grants +40% damage (from +30%) * Buffed
Combat drugs grants +30 aim (from +10) * Buffed due to change in how smoke works
Revive is now just added into savior and is not a separate perk * Opens up a perk slot for CST
New perk brought back: Critical System Targeting: Shots against mechanical units that have been autopsied deal 40% more damage * Anti-mechanical perk for XCOM and aliens
New perk Overpower: Grants an Overpowering Aura: Enemies within LoS of this unit perform a will test vs 50% of this unit's will after each action/move and if they fail they end their turn * New perk for beserkers and ethereals (that replaces ethereal panic aura) * much more Nerfed vs the old panic aura, buff to berserkers
New perk Psi Mastery: Mastery of multiple psionic abilities. Mind Fray, Psi Panic, Psi Inspiration, Telekinetic Field, and Psychokinetic Strike cost only 1 AP. Neural Feedback deals +50% damage. Inner Fire grants +50% aim and mobility. * Replaces mind control on the psi tree. Mind control was very easy to abuse and could trivialize the majority of encounters, offering little tactical play. Psi mastery feels like a valid and fun upgrade to a psionic user's power to replace mind control.
Distortion only reduces damage by 65% (from 75% reduction), but also reduces aim by 2 for each tile away * Slightly nerfed, makes it more likely to do more than 1 damage, but also encourages players to close in on the targets to hit them
Snapshot reworked: Prevents non-suppression reaction shots from triggering when this unit is shooting, if in cover and unflanked. Grants a 30% chance (75% with strike rifles) for standard shots to cost 0 AP. * Acts like a chameleon vest for shooting, and a multi-action perk for scouts with strike rifles
Shadowstep grants +30% crit after moving (from +20%) and +10 defense (from +0) * Buffed
Smoke and Mirrors also prevents reaction shots from triggering on non-shot actions * Makes using support items easier in the face of overwatch

XCOM:

Multiple class perk tree and base stat adjustments * See new perk tree image
Cost to chop (convert a soldier into a MEC) changed to 30/90 cash/meld (from 60/60) * More focus on meld, restrict MEC deployment slightly more
Regular and Hover SHIVs can now provide cover as well * Didn't make sense that you could only hide behind the alloy one, makes the others grants more strategic value. Also helps poor landing zones granting more opportunity for immediate cover.
Regular SHIV defense to 0 (from 10) and mobility to 11 (from 12) * Slight nerfs due to the increased usefulness of granting cover

Aliens:

General aim growth of all aliens decreased by 50% and all aim reduced by 5 * Makes chance to get hit lower overall, especially towards the end game. It should be more reasonable to enter a fire-fight against them.
Damage growth toned down on multiple aliens * Makes them less likely to one-shot your non-tanks as the game progresses
Mechanical aliens now have a starting DR of 1 (from 2) * Makes them easier to drop (esp with conventional weapons)
Ethereal hp to 20 (from 16) * Buffed to accommodate for worse distortion, no DR on deflection shield, and no panic aura
Ethereal aim boosted significantly * Prevents them from taking 1% psi lance shots as often
Multiple aliens gained: Penetrator, VPT, CST, Shadowstep, Snapshot
Ethereals and Sectoid Commander gain psi mastery and regain the ability to use mind fray and psi panic * Now with psi mastery using those abilities isn't such a waste
Seeker health and DR gain reduced * Makes them easier to kill
Thinmen upgrades at 400 research now only occur in leaders * Makes the rest of the squad easier to deal with

Bug Fixes:

Removed some ridiculous council requests
Fixed a bug where aliens would sometimes double move when revealed * YAY! However, I only know of my fix working on one reproducible save. There could be other situations it doesn't account for so please report if you have any others, but I think my fix should cover all situations.
Fixed an issue where smoke grenade predicted hit areas were larger than the actual areas that smoke grenade would work
Fixed a bug where resetting your perks would sometimes give a unit deflection shield
Fixed a bug where overpower was working on units that didn't have overpower
Fixed a bug where the damage preview would not always predict the accurate damage when using a unit with VPT
Fixed a bug with weird fonts incorrectly displaying in the strategic layer
Fixed some bugs where enemies got perks that were either not used anymore, not working, or unintenional (e.g. Lids that still had a non-working implant ability, Exalt Medics getting deflection shield, etc.)
Fixed an issue with kill shot camera's on ethereals generating really weird angles where you couldn't really tell what was going on
Fixed a bug where OfA sometimes appeared as a 1 AP action (even though it is always a 2 AP action)
Hunkering aliens now correctly sets the alien hp color to dark grey (instead of black)
Fixed a bug on various incorrect descriptions
The deflection shield indicator (yellow dashed rotating ring) will now disappear after the unit dies (instead of staying on around the corpse indefinitely)

LW Rebalance v1.23.20 QoL:

All units that can still move or perform an action (even scamper) will have green base health color * Helps identify who still has actions available, especially on XCOM scampers
All HUD icons will be greyed out on units that are scampering * Helps identify that those abilities cannot be used
Upgraded overwatch perks (sentinel or RR) will turn the HUD icon yellow * Helps identify that it isn't normal OW
Geoscape council requests will now display what the request is for and how many and the icon will be a "?" * Makes it easier to figure out what requests are for what without having to click into the 'pending requests' menu
Pending requests menu will display what the request is for as well * QoL
A message "Ammo Spent" will appear when autopsied aliens have used their last shot in a clip and will have to reload * You technically could keep track but it'd be really annoying. Since the information is available it seems fair to keep track. This makes it a lot easier to keep track. To be fair it's only autopsied aliens.
Included Lafiir's Campaign Summary modification: You can now navigate (play/pause, seek backward, seek forward) with a controller (DPad-/LStick-Left, DPad-/LStick-Right, A-Button) and the keyboard (Space/Enter, A/Left, D/Right) * Thanks Lafiir! :)

Perks:

Deflection Shield DR to +0% (from +50%) and defense to +5 per tile away (from always +50%) * Makes it much more reasonable to damage units with deflection shield, especially up close. Still mostly accomplishes the goal of making such moves not so devestating to the AI and preventing abusing great distances against the AI.
Seeker strangle DR reduced to +50% (from +65%) * Makes them easier to dislodge when they do strangle you
Paramedic removed and its functionality was just added to field medic * Wasn't necessary to have separate perk for it
New perk "Growth" added to outsiders to label and explain their growth * gives an in-game description of what is occuring and allows players to remove the perk via the dgc.ini if they don't like it's affect. Note: previous saves where characters had paramedic will have growth, but it's inactive except for on outsiders * you can remove it if you want with a console command: `giveperk -162

Aliens:

Seeker health gains significantly reduced * makes them less dangerous as the game progress and easier to remove

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where soldiers sometimes lost their turn after being strangled
Fixed a bug where OW was still missing some targets (most commonly from aliens during special circumstances like drop-ins, launches, spawns, etc.)
Included Lafiir's bugfix (THANKS LAFIIR!) :) * When using a controller (or only the keyboard) in the soldier's ability UI, you could not view perks of yet to be unlocked ranks, because they couldn't be selected. Additionally, it was possible to promote your soldier without selecting a perk, if the tree had empty entries (eg. like LW Rebalance).
Fixed some incorrect and inconsistent descriptions
Fixed some HUD abilities that were incorrectly colored in rare situations
Fixed a bug where gene mod times were still off * Pretty sure it's squashed now
Fixed a bug where UFO Fusion damage was too low
Fixed a bug where the engineer couldn't use repair with some pulse weapons
Fixed some incorrect coloring of items in research descriptions
Fixed a bug where commanding a soldier sometimes let them use a multi-action ability

LW Rebalance v1.23.19 Tactical:

HUD Icons are green if they cost 1 action point and won't end the turn, cyan if they end the turn, and purple if they cost no action points * Helps identify when abilities are on cooldown and when actions have already been taken

Bug Fixes:

The free reward council request is more obviously not a bug and just a donation from countries
Onslaught description clarified that it's for landed enemies only
Fixed a bug where onslaught was granting movement after use
Fixed a bug where outsiders would sometimes get +9 DR
Fixed a bug where saving/loading a game would have multiple unintended effects (cause outsider growth, take away action points on OfA and suppression, and others)
Fixed some misc description inconsistencies
Fixed some small errors on the tech tree and perk tree
Smoke and Dense Smoke now correctly cap hit chances at 90% and 80%
Fixed a bug where you could not choose which SHIV to use each turn, now other SHIVs will only deactivate after you've performed an action with a SHIV
Fixed a bug where the engineer couldn't use repair when wielding a pistol (which prevented repair when equipping a stun rifle)
Fixed a bug where the first terror mission of the campaign could include a cyberdisc
Reduced the # of zombies and lids on terror missions to reduce the chance the HUD goes over 16 aliens (and thus causing a CTD)
Fixed a bug where some aliens were being colored and renamed despite not being leaders
Updated the version # ;)
Fixed a bug where the display time for gene mods was incorrect
Fixed a bug where enemy units dropping or launching in on OW were not correctly adding units in LoS to their OW list (I hope!)

LW Rebalance v1.23.18 Bug Fixes:

Fixed an issue where DR was too high on XCOM SHIVs and MECs

LW Rebalance v1.23.17 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a CTD in the strategy layer

LW Rebalance v1.23.16 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug with the game not starting

LW Rebalance v1.23.15 QoL:

Pressing "J" will now end the active unit's turn * QoL
Various color modifications to the in-game UI

Bug Fixes:

Combat Readiness now correctly only affects XCOM
Fixed a bug where defense modifying small items were not affecting soldiers
Fixed a bug where damage was being rounded instead of truncated after DR leading to DR not being as affective as intended
Fixed a bug where outsiders had +8 or so DR for no reason * Hopefully it's fixed, again, it looked like it was native code that I can't see or anything but I think my work around will work
Fixed an issue where suppression would sometimes not remove the cover based defense
Fixed a bug where too many aliens were dying/damaged off the bat on crashed UFOs (now there will always be ~33% dead) * Made for some too easy crashed UFOs
Fixed a bug where council missions were not granting the appropriate amount of cash and or sci/eng, instead just standardized all council missions to give a reasonable amount * Couldn't really fix the code, so I rewrote it
Fixed a bug where MECs and SHIVs would sometimes gain the 'repair' ability
Fixed a bug where combat readiness was being granted to units that were panicking
Fixed a bug where the aliens on crashed UFOs were not dead/injured until the 2nd turn * Thanks to szmind for helping a LOT with the fix
Fixed a bug where the displayed panic increases were only 5% additional per month for "continent increases" * Just a form of panic increase that wasn't updated correctly for display only (no functional change)
Fixed a bug where suppression reaction shots against targets that were acting were occuring at the same time as the first overwatch shots (they will occur sequentially now, as intended)
Fixed a bug where aliens would sometimes go on overwatch if they couldn't see any XCOM units but their allies could or if they could see a battle scanner

Balance:

Light armors gain +5 def, heavy armors no longer have -10 def and lose 0.5DR, aliens gain +5 aim * Turns the difference on armors into a bonus rather than a negative, makes it feels better, overall less significant for actual hit chances, still keeps the nerf on heavier armors
Ready For Anything grants +2 armor health (from +1 DR) * Makes it a little less tank orientated and more generally useful, balance on the goliath tree, more fitting of someone who is 'ready for anything'
Outsider health to 6 (from 4) * They were a little too easy early on

LW Rebalance v1.23.14 Strategic:

If you fail the exalt HQ raid, an exalt cell will perform a panic increase operation against a random country * Makes there some sort of negative of failing if you fail in a area where panic is already maxed

Tactical:

You can no longer overwatch unless you can see an enemy or you have rapid reaction * Prevents players from wasting overwatch
The combat readiness coloring of the armor health is more obvious now * QoL

Perks:

After strangle is released, the unit will sometimes not get an extra turn * bugs turn into features when Ucross can't fix them! :)
Inner Fire grants +1 mobility (from +2) * Nerfed
Shadowstep mobility to +1 (from +2) and grants +20% crit if the unit moved this turn * Makes it more beneficial for damaging classes
Will to survive defense malus to -10 (from -15) * Makes the ability a little less penalizing, accommodating for heavy armor defense nerf
Sprinter grants +1 mobility * Buffed
Combat Drugs will heal biologic units in the smoke 1 HP at the start of their turn * Slight buff and more diverse use

Equipment:

Heavy armor has -10 defense (from 0) and +0.5 DR * Allows players to taunt with off-tanks, increasing control over alien AI with loadouts

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a LW 1.0 issue where combat stims was granting crit immunity when not in cover
Fixed an issue where rarely certain weapons would get -10 aim due to triggering the old LW 1.0 battle rifle aim malus code
Fixed a bug where flush was still granting 30 aim
Fixed a bug where flanked reaction shots were gaining an aim bonus equivalent to the cover bonus of the unit
Fixed a bug where hit chances against innate defenses were sometimes yielding double the value
Fixed a bug where sharpshooter was granting +10 aim for pistols
Fixed a bug where aliens would go on overwatch even if they could see no one and didn't have rapid reaction

LW Rebalance v1.23.13 Strategic:

We are legion no longer grants XTP I and II * Allows players to augment Exalt missions without affecting the rest of the campaign
Updated the training roulette list with 'some' of Leenday's recommendations

Tactical:

Suppression no longer grants +30 aim to its triggered reaction shots but instead removes an action point from the suppressed units at the beginning of their turn * Makes suppression more effective at pinning targets down, overall buff
Suppression's opportunist reaction shot will trigger at the end of turn whenever it is against an enemy that is uncovered * It never made sense that you could suppress a unit sitting in the open... what were you suppressing? Why weren't you just hitting it? Are you seriously just firing around the enemy purposely not hitting it? I know we accepted it but it was REALLY stupid. Now you only continue to suppress covered units and exposed enemies you fire at rapidly to distract them (suppress a reaction shot) only for a brief while (your turn) which will end in a shot at the end of your turn.
Overwatch now only triggers against the units you can see when you go on Overwatch (instead of at the beginning and end of the turn) * Updated code, because I've upgraded my programming skills (mostly thanks to szmind), and it makes a lot more sense that you OW the units you can see when you OW (and not at the beginning or end of the turn)
Hacking an array with a covert op now disables all exalt (from 50%) * Makes it more predictable during a mission, especially since hacking is a lot more challenging. Also, reduces RNG during those missions.
Updated some model sizes of weapons based on Leenday's recommendations * QoL
Enemy HP will vary between shades of pink and red every 10 health * easier counting of large health pools (QoL)
Hunkering will make a unit's base HP color turn black and no longer has a sight ring * Avoids using the circled sight ring too often to avoid confusion
Armor HP color will now tint slightly yellow when a unit has combat readiness * at least there is now some obvious visual indicator (QoL)

Equipment:

Arc rifle damage vs mechanicals to +7 (from +6) and penetration to 3 (from 2) * needed a buff to act as a universal way to keep robotic threats in check
Recoilless Rifle damage to 8 (from 7) and Blaster Launcher damage to 10 (from 9) * Buffs

Perks:

Lead By Example (officer perk) now shares will at infinite rage (from 19 tiles), but the amount of will shared is reduced by 1 for each tile away * Makes staying closer to the officer more important, and not a complete drop off at 19 tiles (which was a little unfair/unrealistic)
Ranger now grants +10% range to all grenades (destructive and support) * Buff to the perk on grenadier and support classes. Also, how can a perk called "ranger" not increase range? ;)
Both Mechanic and Master Mechanic grant +10% range to all grenades (destructive and support) * Boost to non-shooter engineer
Flush no longer grants an aim bonus * Too often it was being used just as an accurate shot with perks to deal reasonable damage and not to flush. As well, it was overpowerd on a 2 weight item that already gave 2 ammo. This way, the perk is more about flushing the target and the ammo drum gets a reasonable nerf.
Mayhem grants +60% damage to strike rifles (from +50%) and +100% damage to sniper rifles (from +80%) * Buff to mayhem sniper
In The Zone aim/crit malus to -5% (from -10%) * Buff to ITZ activations since they are less predictable to activate. Also makes the last shots feel a lot less like throw away shots which didn't feel great.
Grit grants +1 DR * Boost to tank gunner and overall survivability of late game gunners
Ready For Anything grants +1 DR * Makes the choice a lot more interesting on the gunner, medic, and goliath

XCOM:

Sniper stat growth increased to 20A and 5W (from 15A), infantry stat growth increased to 20A, 20W, 2HP (from 15A, 20W, 2HP), medic stat growth decreased to 10A, 5W (from 10A, 10W), Engineer stat growth decreased to 5A, 10W, 1HP (from 5A, 10W, 2HP) * Balance
Deadeye and Aggression swapped on the Infantry * Gives the infantry earlier access to anti-air, which is important as a forced shooter class

Aliens:

Seeker health reduced to 4 (from 6), base damage to 2 (from 3), but DR when strangling increased to 65% (from 50%) * Makes them easier to deal with when not strangling
Aliens never go on overwatch on launch/drop-in/reveal on normal and classic difficulties and only 50% as often on brutal * Makes launch/drop-in/reveals a little more forgiving on easier difficulties
Outsider aim reduced to 55 (from 65), health reduced to 4 (from 7), will reduced to 40 (from 60), mobility reduced to 9 (from 10), initial DR reduced to 0 (from 0.5) * Nerfs to give a little more incentive for early activation
Outsider growth increased on lower difficulties so that (compared to previously) they gain 2x as much on normal, 1.33x as much on classic and 1.11x more on brutal * Makes their growth not so insignificant on easier difficulties

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where a unit that was being suppressed that stopped being suppressed was still considered suppressed and thus could not perform reaction abilities and had other maluses * This one I had been searching for for a LONG time so it's nice it's gone; had to recode quite a few functions to get it to work
Fixed a bug where loading a game would reset unit overwatches so that none of them occured (as if the units saw noone when they went on OW)
Added code to reverse the effects of innate code granting certain aliens +10 DR during the late game * That was tricky to find. Kept thinking it was a bug in my programming till I realized the game sneakily snuck in some stats without using any of the normal code.
Fixed a bug where Dense Smoke and Combat Drugs sometimes would not yield an extra smoke grenade
Fixed a bug where council requests for alloys or elerium could give double the intended reward
Fixed a bug where units could sometimes trigger an overwatch against drop-ins when they didn't have rapid reaction
Fixed a bug where the aiming reticule, information panel aim, and F1 aim information sometimes did not line up
Misc incorrect descriptions
Misc typos

LW Rebalance v1.23.12 Bug Fixes:

Reaction fire correctly fires at a 0.8 modifier (instead of 0.6667)
Fixed a bug where hunker could prevent unconcealing when in sight of an enemy

LW Rebalance v1.23.11 Strategic Game:

Soldiers gain a chance for bonus stats for the final mission based on how many countries are still supporting XCOM and extra skyranger slots (at 6, 11, and 16 countries supporting) * Makes keeping countries around important, feels great having the countries support you and feels awesome having your soldiers reach their peak potential for the final mission
Temple Assault mission limited to 7 soldiers (from 8) * Accommodates for the bonus soldiers gained through having supporting countries

Tactical Game:

Base regeneration rates of outsiders and ethereals reduced by 1 * Makes them slightly less able to 'outlast' XCOM, especially when XCOM is on it's last leg
Reaction shots have 20% less aim against covered or moving targets (from 33%) * Buff to the strength of OW, makes it more accurate vs normal shots against targets in cover

Perks:

Grenadier increases range of grenades by 10% * Buff to grenadier builds
HEAT Ammo renamed to Penetrator and grants 2 penetration (from 4) but works with shotguns and the arc rifle * Was too powerful (on almost every tree) and overshadowing other penetration options, this puts it more in-line. Also, "ammo" is now retricted to items (instead of perks). It also now works on shotguns and the arc rifle.
Combined arms penetration to 1 (from 2) * nerfed
Master Mechanic grants 4 additional uses of repair (from 3) * Buff to give triple the amount of repair at double the rate
Concealment no longer grants tracker * Slight nerf and opening up of the proximity sensor (it was a little unneeded anyway with battle scanners)
Shredder Ammo perk renamed to Shredder * "Ammo" is a term restricted to items now
Deadeye aim/crit to 25 (from 30) * Slight nerf due to increased usefulness
Awareness no longer activates combat readiness if the unit ends it's turn on a move * It was too strong, now it only activates when the unit ends it's turn with actions leftover
Executioner to +30 aim/crit (from 20 aim and 30 crit) * Buffed, the condition of requiring less than 50% health is surprisingly restrictive so this needed a buff

Equipment:

Proximity sensor restricted to biologic soldiers only but now also grants awareness * Significant buff to the item
Arc Rifle grants +5 aim, +10 crit, and +25 crit damage, but damage against mechanical units to +6 (from 7) * Standardization of the weapon as a laser weapon

XCOM:

Rapid Fire on the Gunner replaced with Double Tap * The problem was RF -> Command -> RF was too much of a power spike that was hard to balance around, especially with gunner weapons. Not only was it too effective in some encounters, it was too weak in others (due to low aim). DT also helps make the gunner more rounded (bonus aim at range, less spike damage point blank).
Bring 'Em On on the Infantry replaced with Sharpshooter * Focuses the infantry on more biological (cover-based) targets and helps boost their OW which will often be used against targets in cover
Vital Point Targeting on the Medic replaced with Deadeye * VPT wasn't that great for the medic due to lower damage output and Deadeye works really well with Rapid Reaction in letting the medic hit flying units that might fly in from out of vision

Aliens:

Outsiders now get stronger every turn but start a lot weaker (start with -2 damage, -20 aim, -20 will, -2 mobility, -5 health, -1 DR) * Makes rushing the command pod a lot more ideal and leaving them alone until the end of the mission a dangerous proposition
Outsider stat growth increases based on difficulty (Normal=1x the rate, Classic=2x, Brutal=3x, Impossible=4x) * Makes outsiders still fit within difficulties
Drone beam damage reduced to 2 (from 3) * Was a little too strong
Floater damage increased by 1 at 100 research * Increase in offensive power
Floaters and heavy floaters regain the ability to suppress * now that it's actually effective again, regaining the ability makes sense
Seekers increased significantly in health and leaders gain +1 damage * makes them significantly more threatening

Bug Fixes:

Fixed an AI bug where aliens would not go on overwatch in many situations where they should (drop ins, launch, pod reveal, etc)
Fixed a bug where 'regeneration' was being added to 'damage resistance' on aliens and their DR was really high
Fixed a bug where players could cycle through the gollop chamber gaining an infinite amount of bonus stats for the temple mission
Fixed a bug where damage resistance was being rounded/truncated incorrectly leading to abnormally high or low DR values
Fixed a bug where dense smoke was not providing an extra smoke grenade in certain circumstances
Fixed a bug where exalt reinforcements were coming a turn earlier than intended on covert op missions
Fixed some incorrect txt descriptions
Fixed a bug where many weapons were gaining 1 penetration for no apparent reason
Fixed a bug where reconnaissance would report location of drop-in reinforcements even when they haven't arrived yet
Fixed a bug where XCOM could fire overwatch shots at drop-in or walk-in reinforcements without rapid reaction

LW Rebalance v1.23.10 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where reaction shots were always 1%
Fixed a bug where xcom scamper wasn't working

LW Rebalance v1.23.09 Strategy:

Council requests now are more likely to reward engineers/scientists depending the fewer you have of each * Makes RNG of low eng/sci not really possible
Significant improvements to the time and reward granted for hard to achieve council requests * Just improved code through testing
Number of items requested in council request in the early game toned down * Makes them easier to fullfill
Losing a country does not cost alien resources * Prevents late game, when the aliens take over more bases, from being a situation where the aliens have really low resources (even if their resources will get really high in the upcoming months)
# of aliens on crashed UFOs are now 20-30% less than landed UFO missions (instead of 0-33%) * Makes it so crashed UFOs are always easier than landeds (reduces some RNG)
Plasma Cannon and UFO Plasma II air weapons increased in damage to 1500 (from 1250) and decreased in cooldown to 200 (from 250) * Increase in damage potential of plasma II weapons and boost to benefit of getting plasma
Fusion (Cannon and UFO) air weapons increased in damage to 5000 (from 3000) * Makes it easier to down large UFOs if you acquire it, also makes it a more dangerous weapon on UFOs (instead of sometimes less dangerous than the Plasma II)
Overseer increased significantly in health but armor decreased to 125% (from 150%) * Makes it more challenging to down but without requiring as many high pen weapons
Firestorms and their associated technology are significantly cheaper * Makes it easier to acquire and outfit your fleet with
The Newfoundland mission cannot occur on the first month * It was too difficult at that stage
The initial pod on Covert Op Extraction missions have 2 fewer enemies and timed reinforcements occur a little later * Makes it easier to engage/stall/eliminate them
Added details to the research credit descriptions * QoL
Architects of the future bonus to 50% discount (from 70%) * With the increased utility and maintenance of labs/workshops this bonus was slowly power creeping over the last few version, this puts it more in line with the other bonuses

Tactical:

Dashing now allows a unit to move 10% further than they could with 2 blue moves * Means you actually move further when dashing -* a simple change that really plays out well
Acid removes 100% of flat DR (from 50% of all DR, after penetration) * Makes a little more sense as now it doesn't affect things like Absorption Fields, cover, will to survive, hunkering, damage control, etc. but will completely remove all flat DR -* mechanically nice too as now there is no %-based penetration (all penetration is flat). Last, this is important as a counter to units with high flat DR.
On the temple ship, the uber ethereal will not take any damage until his compadre ethreals AND compadre muton elites are dead * Makes ignoring the muton elites a bad strategic decision, helps prevent alpha striking the uber ethereal
Reaction fire no longer has -66% dashing aim malus * It was being used to make tanky units too effective at bypassing enemy reaction fire

Perks:

Onslaught now includes shots against adjacent enemies as well as KSM strikes * Makes it so the perk works even when the player might not have access to a KSM
Shadowstep only prevents non-suppression reaction shots during movement (from movement and actions) and grants +2 mobility (from 0) * It was too effective for countering overwatch. Now if you want to protect against actions you'll have to rely on the chameleon suit
Sprinter no longer grants a mobility bonus but instead increases the dash mobility bonus to +30% movement (from +10% movement) * Buffed for scouting, picking up meld, RnG, covert ops, and target you might command. Nerfed otherwise. On a 13 mobility soldier this will translate into moving 21 tiles instead of 16 on a dash.
Tenacious defense grants 3 health (from 2) but crit resistance reduced to 20% (from 60%) * Makes some aliens abilities still able to penetrate and possibly crit, but most normal shots should never crit
Danger Zone increases the area of suppression to 2.5 tiles (from 2 tiles) * Slight buff to DZ suppression, especially with new AI encouraging the aliens to not break the suppression as often
Ready For Anything restricts OW shots to only 1 shot per OW * Nerfed
Tracker range to 6 (from 8) * Was too effective at finding exact locations at 8 tiles leading too often to crippling alpha strikes
Revive now also removes corrosion * Slight buff, Makes sense

Equipment:

AP Grenade range increased to 10 (from 7.5) but radius decreased to 2 tiles (from 2.5 tiles) * The grenadier classes needed more range to stay relevant in the early-mid game, significant buff
Cognitive Enhancer weight to 0 (from 1) * Buffed for balance
Elerium Emitter DR to 1.5 (from 1) * Buffed for balance
Chameleon Suit no longer grants crit immunity on reaction fire, +5 defense, and +2 HP, and weight to 1 (from 0), but is no longer restricted with other small item armors * Nerf for balance
Weapon Supercooler weight to 1 (from 2) * Buffed for some more offensive strength on later game SHIVs

XCOM:

Shadowstep and Jetboot Module swapped on Shogun * Felt bad to force players into shadowstep and they were of similar strength

Aliens:

Lowered regeneration on uber ethereal * was too hard
Various changes to high level aliens * Makes higher tech boss aliens challenging
Improved some AI again * Yes, it's still bad AI and will still derp, but slight improvements
Floaters and Heavy Floaters gain tactical sense right away (instead of at 400 research) * Buffed

Bug Fixes:

Fixed some code that MAY have been causing a CTD on Linux/Macs
Fixed a huge bug (Finally found it * from LW 1.0 code) that removed the tenth column from DR (so 13 DR was set to 3 DR) * This is one of the reasons end game mecthoids and sectopods had such low DR, be careful with those units now
Fixed a bug where Mechtoids still had rapid reaction and not Sentinel
Fixed an issue in the Linux installer where "XCom" was spelt "Xcom" and lead the directory not being found
The vortex armor is now able to be equipped on the last mission if you accidentally unequip it
Fixed a bug where using a rocket still granted mobility
Misc text edits

LW Rebalance v1.23.08 Strategy:

Council requests will no longer ask for damaged UFO components * It was just always going to feel bad if you had actual components and you didn't have damaged ones and why couldn't you just damage the good ones?
Late game UFO scout missions will deploy Harvesters instead of Destroyers * Makes it possible to still generate a crash mission
Gene mods done in multiples will only take as long as the longest gene modification and only cost as many credits as the highest credit cost gene modification * Makes it worthwhile doing them in tandem (note: meld costs still accumulate)
Gene mods now have a moderate credit cost associated (20-40 credits) * To make credits a significant (yet quite minor) aspect and accommodate for the benefit of doing multiples
Increased the # of scientists and engineers gained from council requests by ~35% * They were on the low side
Exalt Covert Op Extraction and Exalt Data Recovery missions reward 30 and 40 meld * Make them feel more worthwhile
Exalt Sweep cost increased to 200 (from 100) * Accommodates for increased rewards
Field Repairs removed as a foundry project * Not needed with the mechanic perks and felt a little weird and out of place, especially with doubling up captures with machine repair... Now the stun rifle is simply for capturing.
Council missions # of enemies reduced slightly * Should make those missions a little easier (read: bomb disposal missions a little easier)
Large UFOs (crashed and landed) are more difficult * There were slightly too easy

Tactical:

New feature: Combat Readiness: Ending a soldier's turn with actions to spare will grant them +10 aim until the end of their next turn * Acts like a quasi-steady weapon without having to do anything (faster play)
Damage Resistance is no longer rounded, but instead, it's truncated after application * This is just a consistency change so that everything in the game is truncated. 0.5DR on it's own still yields 1DR because now the damage is truncated (i.e. 7 damage * 0.5 DR = 6.5 damage truncated to 6 damage).
Run and Gun should now be hidden as an ability when it's use will not do anything (except during xcom scamper because I can't figure out that masterful code that tracktwo made) * Since it doesn't work with multiperk abilities best to hide the ability instead of letting players accidently click it when it will have no effect
Hacking an exalt array now requires a full turn (blue move) and the covert operative will hunker as he hacks the array * Makes it less of a "dash in and out" and more of a "sit there and hack the array"
Damage resistance from partial and full cover changed to 15% and 25% (half of their respective defense values) * Slight tweak. Nice consistency and makes full cover not so defensive and partial cover and little more defensive

Perks:

New Perk: Deflection Shield: When this unit ends its turn with actions to spare or by moving, a deflection shield activates for 1 turn, granting +50 defense and +50% damage resistance * Please note: if you have been playing from version 1.22 you may have this perk on your soldiers b/c it uses the same code as the old covering fire perk. You might want to reset perks on any soldiers with this perk. Or then again, maybe not. ;)
Adrenal Neurosympathy now works on any action (from just shots) * It was bugged this way and it works so I left it in as a feature
Adrenaline Surge now provides 30 defense (from 20) and +6 mobility (from +5) * Buffed
Blood Call now doubles mobility (from +6) * Not as significant a buff as you'd think, helps with poor muton AI
One For All no longer triggers enemy overwatch * makes sense
Tracker now will uncloak seekers within its range, but range reduced to 8 tiles (from 10 tiles) * Allows it to work with the new item, makes it more useful as antiseeker tech
Mayhem no longer affects ITZ * As it was removed from the Jaeger tree
Suppression grants +30 aim but no longer bypasses the reaction fire aim malus * Consistency. Now all reaction shots are subject to the reaction fire aim maluses without exception. This change hardly affects suppression though.
Suppression shots automatically have opportunist * There was too much hard coded programming that made this occur that I couldn't revert so I decided just to go with it as it also helps boost suppression which acts as a good boost now that the AI responds better to it.
Tenacious defense health bonus to 2 (from 3) * Slight nerf, was a little too strong
Shadowstep becomes inactive after performing an action or being commanded * Pretty edge usage * won't apply to most situations. Stops multi-action perks from abusing reaction fire aliens and their poor AI (e.g. Move in, fire, command, move out and things like that).
Reconnaissance will only display an audible clue if the squad has no enemies in sight * Didn't make sense that the scout could hear stuff in the middle of a battle
Reactive Targeting Sensors (RTS) grants opportunist now * Buffed
Awareness now also doubles the Combat Readiness aim bonus (to 20 from 10) and allows the combat readiness buff to activate if the unit ends its turn by moving * Buffed
One For All now grants 50% DR (from 30% DR) but ends the turn when activated and disables reactive abilities * Makes the perk more about being immobile cover and prevents disruption from reactive abilities

Equipment:

New item: Proximity Sensor: Grants Tracker [This soldier can detect and uncloak aliens within 8 tiles through and around obstacles and is immune to strangulation] (available after seeker autopsy, can be equipped by all units) * Gives xcom another tool against seekers
AM Rifles lose HEAT and regain the 1 penetration and 1 ammo (i.e. they are no longer special rifles) * The difference wasn't that great and the distinction led to odd situations: made ITZ snipers not great at gauss, made snipers good against mechanicals ONLy if they were at gauss tech
All Sniper Rifles have 2 penetration (from 1) * Makes them more compeling vs their mobile counterparts
Mists have only 1 use (from 2) * Nerf to healing on MECs (they were too versatile, and with the recent bio nerfs they were much too strong at healing comparatively)
Laser weapons gain +10 crit, and crit damage to 75% * buffed, consistency with pulse (Now both Pulse and Laser give: +1 mobility, +5 aim, +10 crit, and have 75% crit damage)
Pulse weapons gain +5 aim * Buffed, consistency with laser (Now both Pulse and Laser give: +1 mobility, +5 aim, +10 crit, and have 75% crit damage)
Combat stims last 6 turns (from 10) * Was a little too effective, creates more interesting choices of when to use
Banshee/Aegis armor gains 1/2 health * Slight buffs to make the -1 item armors stronger
Corsair and Serpah armor gain 2 health * Slight buffs to makes the later tech light armors stronger
Seraph armor gains 1 fuel * slight buff
Plasma Novagun no longer can be steadied and no longer grants +8 damage when steadied but instead grants +2 penetration at all times * More versatile of a bonus for the different roles the novagun has (overwatch, rapid fire, mayhem suppression) and can still stack with HEAT effectively
Targeting motor grants +10 aim but no longer grants Opportunist * Slight alteration
Autosentry Turret weights 1 but also grants opportunist * Slight buff and consistency with the perk
MECs have all had their health reduced * Balance, and also accommodates for the stronger One For All

XCOM:

Multiple perk tree modifications (Mostly MECs) * See perk tree
SHIV defense to 10/0/20 (from 20/20/20) * Nerf to tanking/avoidance abilities of SHIVs

Aliens:

Seekers all gain 'shadowstep' (though they kinda already had it) * Problem with them is overwatch and reaction abilities won't trigger on some of their actions (bugged) so this is kind of turning a bug into a feature
Muton Leaders, Heavy Floater Leaders, Muton Elites, and Ethereals gain Deflection Shield * Helps accommodate for poor AI and acts as a buff on these units (especially when they derp)
Ethereals have 1/3rd less health * Helps accommodate for poor rounding on distortion and for the pick up of deflection shield
Uber Ethreal defense to 50 (from 70) * Makes more weapons reasonable
Mecthoids lose Rapid Reaction but gain Sentinel + Opportunist * Makes moving in from out of sight effective against them, but makes their OW shots more dangerous

Bug Fixes:

Fixed an issue where the grey market would sometimes show an inordinately high amount of $0 sale prices for items
Fixed a bug where many melee attacks showed 85% hit chances (they are all 100% hit chance)
Correct some incorrect/unupdated descriptions
Rockets have full range after performing a costly action (a bug was causing their range to be reduced by 50%)
Fixed a rare issue with units teleporting
Fixed some incorrect names on council request items
Fixed a bug where vital point targeting was working with all types of damage (explosives, electropulse, etc)

LW Rebalance v1.23.07 QoL:

For Linux installations: Included a new .bash file and readme.txt in the zip * Thanks so much to leycec for making it all possible

Strategic:

Damaged alien components will never sell for more than the undamaged components on the grey market * Makes sense, a reasonable exception
Chopping a soldier into a MEC will set the MEC's will to 80% of his/her current will (from just always setting it to 30) * Makes using higher will soldiers to chop more appealing and also makes sense as their brain isn't really touched
Stingray missle damage to 900 (from 1000) * Slight nerf to make more room for phoenix
Council request will more commonly be for basic resources (meld, elerium, alloys, weapon fragments) * Puts some of the requests back on to resources and not so much about production

Tactical:

Distortion's damage reduction is now accounted for in the damage preview before firing
Fixed an issue from LW 1.0 where aliens that had really low aim (like 1% after being flashbanged/disorientated) thought it was a great idea to shoot * Improved AI! =D

Perks:

Flush aim to +30 (from 50) * Balance due to new usage
Reconnaissance now provides information on the distance, type (if autopsied), and number of enemies (from just the distance) * Buff to scouts ability to scout
VPT grants +30% total damage against uncovered humans and autospied biologic aliens (from +100% damage 30% of the time against all humans and autopsied biologic aliens) * Consistency of the perk, gives it a more unique role
Disabling shot grants +20 aim (from +30) * Slight nerf
Weapon Targeting now works 100% of the time but requires a steadied weapon and can only be applied once to each enemy * Consistency of the perk, encourages steady weapon on more classes
Combat Drugs no longer affects SHIVs * makes sense

Equipment:

Drum Mags weight to 2 (from 1) but grants Flush * Increased usefulness, opens flush up to more classes
Smartshell Pods aim to +15 (from +10) * Buffed
The motion tracker will now also include seekers (even when stealthed) * Increased ability to detect seekers
Thumper damage to +10 (from +5) * Makes it worth the slot
Pulse weapons increase crit damage to +75% (from +100% -* base crit is +50%) * They were a little too strong on crit focused builds, pull back on those builds (note they still give +10% crit and +1 mobility)
Precision shot to +30% base damage (from +50%) * Was a little too strong, pulled back

XCOM:

WT on infantry swapped to Deadeye * WT wasn't that useful with steady on a tank or an OW class and needed to be swapped

Aliens:

Seeker strangle damage reverted to LW 1.0 levels * The increased damage resistance when strangling was enough to make letting them get into strangle range significant and dangerous enough
Ethreal mobility increased to 16 (from 12) * Not that much of an affect, but it stops their AI from derping around as much

Bug Fixes:

Interceptors can no longer be sent up when damaged * Fixed a bug allowing interceptors to be sent up under specific circumstances when they had below 50% health
Fixed a problem with council requests that would be automatically fullfilled if you put a satellite up in a requested country or you transfered a ship to the requested country
Quick and Dirty will now correctly modify alien #'s outside of the normal restrictive sizes
Fixed a bug where meld costs of items were accidentally inflated by 20%
Fixed a bug where adrenaline surge was giving bonus stats after any amount of lost health (isntead of <50% health)

LW Rebalance v1.23.06 Air Game:

Phoenix Cannon damage to 360 (from 400) * Slight nerf

Tactical:

Reaction shots can no longer crit * Nerf to the strength of reaction fire (it was too strong with the predictable OW mechanics, despite not having LoS disabling it). ALso makes it less punishing with bad RNG when taking OW fire from the aliens.
Aliens on Classic difficulty no longer have -10 defense and -5 aim * Make Classic difficulty a little more challenging

Aliens:

Cyberdiscs and drones never land * THey never really did, it was just a targeting thing that didn't make sense, so this is ALMOST just a bug fix
Seekers will do 60% of a unit's max health in damage (from 5 damage that incremented each turn) * makes them never one shot a unit when strangling (a lot less deadly against low health units), but always kill a unit in 2 turns (more dangerous against units with high health)
Suppressed Aliens in cover will be much less likely to perform an action that will trigger the suppression * Improved AI!
Aliens will find OWing XCOM soldiers more threatening and will be less likely to trigger their OW * Improved AI!
Aliens will no longer wait on overwatch out of sight as a stall tactic * Improved AI, they are great at attacking now as overwatch camping isn't really effective!
Aliens will no longer cease acting when corrodded with 1 hp left (old AI code that was unnecessary)

Perks:

Repair no longer removes corrossion * it was bugged sometimes and I couldn't fix it. This nerfs it slightly while fixing the bug and making it more distinct from medikits.
Mechanic Repair range increased from 1 tiles to 3.3 tiles * Makes it a little easier to use and acts as a small usability buff
Opportunist allows reaction fire to crit (from +20 aim on reaction shots) * Both are similar in strength but the crit is more unique and was the original effect so it fits better going back to it now that reaction fire can again not crit by default.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug that caused a CTD sometimes when using Bring 'Em On
Smoke grenades correctly give bonuses to unit on their periphery
Aiming angles no longer grants a bonus during reaction fire (as there is no cover bonus)
Fixed some text descriptions that were misleading or inconsistent
Flak Ammo cannot be equipped with rocket launchers anymore (as it did nothing)
Drum mags can now appropriately be equipped on Snipers and Gunners if they have an Assault Rifle, Carbine, or Battle Rifle equipped

LW Rebalance v1.23.05 Strategic:

Further increased the rate of council requests, time to fullfill, and eng/scientist numbers for rewards * It was still too low

Aliens:

Seeker health reduced to 4 (from 5) * Makes them slightly easier to kill without reducing their offensive effectiveness

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where seekers did not provide any weapon fragments (thanks szmind and Snackhound)
Suppression now correctly is not triggered by hunker, reload, steady weapon, overwatch, civiliancover * I tested pretty thoroughly, so better be working this time
Fixed a bug where suppression was accidently receiving +20 aim on units that did not have the opportunist perk
Fixed a bug where units were able to avoid triggering OW against units with RR when they were out of LoS at the beginning of the turn (RR should prevent this and it does now)

LW Rebalance v1.23.04 Balance:

VPT chance to proc chance increased to 30% (from 20%) * Balance vs other options
Weapon Targeting proc chance to 40% (from 30%) * Balance vs other options
Council requests occur more frequently * gives players more options for fullfilling them and helps avoid bad RNG

LW Rebalance v1.23.03 Bug Fixes:

Fixed an issue where sometimes the panic chance popup was still not correct
Accidently included the engine.upk in the LWRebalance 1.23.02 which opened the developer console, this has since been removed (it's still available to anyone on the LW 1.0 website)
Suppression should now correctly not be triggered by abilities that don't trigger reaction fire: Overwatch, Hunker, HeadDown (Civilian Hunker), Steady Weapon, and Reload

LW Rebalance v1.23.02 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where panic chances were being displayed off by 1% (e.g. 43% when it should be 42%) which sometimes led to it saying resisted when it wasn't
Fixed an issue where crashed UFOs were applying 'crash damage' to the aliens multiple times until they were all at 1 health
Fixed a bug where everyone was getting the CCS +40 aim bonus if within 4 tiles
Reduced the number of exalt on the exalt HQ raid to 25 (from 33) but increased the strength of high level exalt leaders * Should help with overload of some systems causing CTD situations while not making the mission too much easier
Fixed an incorrect description on Weapon Targeting saying it was only 20% trigger chance when it is actually 30%
Fixed an incorrect description on the aim malus of breaching ammo (it incorrectly said -10 on one of the descriptions but is actually -20)
Drone capture should not be accessible to produce in the foundry anymore (was bugged)
Fixed an issue where seeker leaders had +3 damage that was affecting their initial strangle (this has been reduced to +1)

LW Rebalance v1.23.01 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where Mechanic would be removed as a perk after each battle allowing engineers to level up infinitely

LW Rebalance v1.23.00 Overall:

Damage Reduction renamed to Damage Resistance * to clarify some edge cases and make the term more intuitive

Strategic:

Council request redesigned from the base up. They'll be more likely to be fair with fewer ridiculous requests (though that's subjective, some players may still find some requests ridiculous) * QoL, much more variation, and can encourage players to try reserach/production paths they normally wouldn't
Workshops no longer provide rebates and instead directly affect the alloy and elerium cost of items * Makes it easier to tell the effect
Workshops also lower the credit/alloy/elerium cost of foundry projects * Makes them more beneficial
Added numerical values for the panic and defense shields of countries similar to XMarksTheSpot(Zyxpsilon)'s mod * small QoL improvement
Items take longer to build the later in technology they are * Makes engineers and later game workshops important
Rushing the production of something costs 40% more resources (from 30%) * With some of the increased times rushing became more valuable, this prevents rushing from being too common
Lowered the maintenance on labs and workshops to 120 (from 160) * makes them a little easier to maintain
Alien tech, resource, and threat levels have been added to the ticker * I was convinced this was a good idea. Realistically, XCOM would have a general idea how the aliens are doing and the only players really going to care about these values are the ones that would like it in.
First level psionic training (neural feedback and mind fray) target will increased to 50 (from 40) * Significantly reduce the end game number of psionic units on rosters while not affecting the climb through the psionic ranks
Increased the chance to get a more even distribution of soldier classes * Less likely to have a campaign where you get 0 scouts and easier to replinish classes that are getting killed off
Minimum Alien Resources (a measure of alien mission potential) per month increased to Month*12 (from Month*9) * Prevents campaigns where a player is doing "too well" from getting too easy and the aliens getting too far behind
Aliens launch double the number of harvest/research missions but cut their benefit in half (rounded up) * Means players will experience more landed UFOs and more opportunities to interfere in the basic methods of alien growth (harvest/research missions)
UFO Scout missions grant 2 alien research (from 1, this is now half of original rounded up as per the above point) but occur in normal numbers again (from x3) * It was bugged and not working half the time, and when it did work it was leading to campaigns with an overload of resources and too much of a hamper on alien resource growth
Fighter repair time increased by ~25% * Makes risking all of your fighters being damaged to take down a tougher UFO or one that you are not prepared for a little less easy to recover from
Plasma tech research no longer requires alien plasma weapons * Missing out on this could be a frustrating bottle neck and it is a fairly pointless requirement (as you'd already have the requirement, just you might have accidentally sold what you needed)
Sentinel Drone Foundry project renamed to SHIV Advancements II and both SHIV Advancements I and II are significantly easier to acquire * The name didn't really make sense with the perks and such, and this helps buff the SHIVs by giving them an easier to acquire method of healing (with repair servos) and making them stronger faster
SHIV Advancements and SHIV Advancements II swap damage control for repair servos * Gives the SHIVs earlier access to a form of self-healing
Drone Capture foundry project removed * It was hard to prevent it from being abusive on the last mission, and was more gamey than anything enjoyable
Reduced the range on grey market selling costs to make it less extreme in both directions and made it refresh only once per month * Means you are less likely to have incredible prices and less likely to have horrible prices, also makes it easier to know when to check for new prices
Panic from UFO bombing runs decreased slightly * They were a little extreme and helps accommodate for extra panic generation from more UFOs

Missions:

Crashed and Landed UFO missions all start with the same number of aliens but aliens on crashed UFOs will: 1) lose 0-33% of their soldiers during the crash and 2) start the mission with injuries * A cool feeling that makes sense for a crashed UFO and is a little more realistic (Note: Landed UFO missions still have 1-4 extra months, depending on difficulty, of alien research for the purposes of alien types)
Zombie apocalpyse missions are no longer * They weren't enjoyable gameplay despite my many attempts to make them so. RIP Zombie Apocalpyse.
Zombies and Lids on terror missions will occur in smaller pods * Making explosives less effective and making them a little less dangerous.
Increased the number of aliens on council missions * They could be too easy
Abduction missions can field 6 soldiers (from 5), increased the number of aliens by 2 * With the new map selection process the squad size on abduction missions can be increased
Exalt Data Recovery missions can field 6 soldiers (from 5), increased the number of aliens * Consistency with abductions, provide more resilience to randomness during the missions
Slingshot and Progeny DLC missions and Newfoundland occur at more random start times * Less predictable campaign to campaign (please be careful on an early newfoundland, lid pods are still large)
Smaller maps will be rerolled during the abuction map selection process if the difficulty is high and the map is too small * Helps make those missions more reasonable. Thanks to szmind for this awesome code.
A picture of the mission map is displayed during loadout to help better choose your squad * Makes sense, you'd know which map you'd be approaching before you got there and it helps with loadouts and squad comps. Thanks to szmind for more awesome code :)
Missions generators for Raiders will now use maps from the Destroyer pool (adds more variety to mission maps) * QoL, especially good since destroyers can't be shot down anymore (only destroyed)

Tactical:

All reaction shots always trigger, except OW shots only trigger against units that you could see at the start or end of your turn * Now overwatch is for waiting for units you can see to make a move and only works against the units you can see when you go into overwatch. Prevents overwatch camping. Prevents overwatch from locking aliens off from approaching (due to too stupid AI). Prevents overwatch from locking XCOM off from approaching (due to too much risk to XCOM). Allows overwatch to be very effective/predictable against units you can see.
Rocket scatter base increased from 1.6 to 2.0 * It was too low making even moving and firing too reliable. This makes decreasing scatter perks/items a little more important and overall scatter a little more of a consideration
Steady Weapon is only available if the unit can see an enemy (from if the squad could see an enemy) * Makes more sense
Changed the description on the reconaissance procs to clarify that they are approximations and not exact (intentionally) * More accurate descriptions
Aliens will attack civilians far less often on terror missions and try to focus on XCOM more * Finally got this code working :)
Covert Op extraction missions will now stop spawning Exalt after turn 16 * Makes it possible to kill them all to pass the mission (note: this is still ridiculous and unadvised but hey, if you want an alamo at least you have the option)
Reaction fire can be conducted at squadsight range for all weapons with squadsight (Sniper Rifles, Arc Rifles, Strike Rifles, and MEC weapons) * Opens up opportunities for more reasonable overwatch on weapons that are rarely used for overwatch
Steady weapon increases aim by 40 (from 30) and crit by 40 (from 0) * Even at 30 it was very rarely used. Now it should be an effectigve method of aiming in on hard-to-hit targets and a lot more competitive of a choice vs overwatch or shooting or other actions.
Exact ammo counts of weapons are now displayed in the lower right corner * QoL. Thanks to szmind for this awesome code! :)
Tiles from target is now displayed when you target enemies * QoL. More thanks to szmind for this awesome code =D
Suppression now triggers on actions as well as movement * Significant buff to suppression as it really pins a target down and much more likely will have a reaction shot trigger
Added some colors to some of the different classes of popups * QoL
Being Shredded increases damage received by 1 (from 2) * Despiting increasing the desire to use the debuff, it was a little too powerful, so reverted back to 1 where it will probably stay
HPs effect on throw range is increased to 4% (from 2%, down from originally 5%) * 5% was too high, but 2% was too low. However, removing fatigue recovery from health was more of a nerf than expected so it need a little umph and the grenade throw range boost at 2% was a little too insignificant. This change should fix both issues.
Jellied Elerium foundry perk grants +2 damage to rockets (from +1) * Increase in mid to late game rocketeer usefulness
Units will no longer hunker down when they panic * It was often the opposite affect of what was intended: either making panicking the enemies less effective or the enemies panicking you less effective.
Elerium batteries only grants +1 charge to the stun rifle * no need for extra now since it starts with 2 and engineers can already repair mechanical units innately

Perks:

New perk 'Mechanic': Grants 2 uses of Repair [Repair adjacent mechanical units for 3 HP and remove corrosion] and HEAT Ammo [The primary weapon gains +4 penetration (does not affect shotguns or arc rifles)] * Helpful perk to define the engineer and give some early healing to SHIVs
New perk 'Master Mechanic': Grants 3 additional uses of Repair [Repair adjacent mechanical units for 3 HP and remove corrosion] and the first repair each turn is a free action * Perk to boost the Mechanic perk
New perk 'Weapon Targeting': Non-reaction shots against humans and autopsied aliens have a 30% chance to jam their weapon, forcing a reload before they can fire again * Helps classes pick up some disabling abilities
Close Combat Specialist grants +40 aim against targets within 4 tiles * Helps with CCS reaction shots and just firing at enemies in close range. Also, it just makes sense: you're a close combat specialist!
Close Combat Specialist will trigger a reaction shot regardless of if the unit started out of LoS * It was too frustrating if this wasn't the case
Opportunist grants all reaction shots +20 aim (from +35% base damage) * the base damage was always truncated which made weapon choice a little convoluted. Also, the extra damage was too much on both xcom and aliens.
Reactive Targeting Sensors grants +50 aim on only the RST shot (from +30 aim on all reaction shots) * It was too strong at +30 for the purpose of boosting other reaction shots, now that aim boost will be focused just on the RTS shot.
Ready For Anything grants +0 aim on reaction shots (from +10 aim) and +0 ammo, but always activates overwatch at the end of the turn * Been trying for many versions to get this code to work and finally got it. Significant buff (despite losing the aim and ammo) as now you can fully use your turn and still enter overwatch. You can even do things like move, reload, and then you'll still enter OW. Or even 6 actions on a medic with: 1) paramedic heal, 2) reload with LnL, 3) Shoot or move, 4) 1st RR OW shot, 5) 2nd RR OW shot, 6) 3rd RR OW shot. It can even act like CCS by sprinting up beside someone with a full move and going on OW. It's extremely flexible. Also, simplificaiton of the ability.
Holo Rounds grants the primary weapon +1 damage against mechanical units (from +0) * The aim at 30 was too much for overall xcom aim, but reducing it to 20 left the perk a little weaker than desired on the perk trees. This should give the perk back some strength to help balance it as a pick on the trees.
Rapid Reaction allows OW to trigger against units that started outside of LoS * Makes sense as the unit can rapidly react to a new unit in his/her LoS
Sentinel no longer bypasses the reaction shot aim malus * Too strong with the new predictable OW mechanics, but it still gains opportunist
Lightning Reflexes renamed to Shadowstep * more descriptive of what it actually does (and is already named so in LW2 so it should make things more intuitive for players)
Combat Drugs grants +10 will (from +30) * Was too strong, especially with the officer bug fixed
Mayhem no longer increases the chance of ITZ to proc but instead removes the ITZ aim and crit maluses * The increased proc chance was creating situations that were too swingy leading to the situations being too easy or too frustrating. This still significantly boosts ITZ without creating worse gameplay.
ITZ is no longer guaranteed by Steady Weapon but instead triples the chance that ITZ will trigger, also the penalty for ITZ shots is reduced to -10 aim/crit per shot (from -15) * ITZ was still too strong vs Mayhem and DT. This makes it the perk that is stronger with lots of enemies and weaker against 1. Also with the boost to steady ITZ felt even stronger and needed to be toned down even more.
Field Medic and First Aid grant 2 free medikits (from 3) * Slight reduction in xcom healing and overall squad resilience
Savior grants medikits +3 heal per use (from +4) * Slight nerf
VPT no longer grants +35% base damage but instead grants a 20% chance to deal double of all damage and works on all shots (from just the primary weapon) * Prevents bad truncating errors on weapons, allows it to work with crits and damage bonuses, and the gameplay feels really fun
Neural Feedback nerfed to 5% of users will in damage (from 10%) * With it bypassing distortion it's kind of doing x4 damage and in tests, high will psionics were dropping sectoid commanders and ethereals too quickly
Grit grants a 50% chance to resist disorientation * Buff for muton elites to make them a little harder to subdue
Mindfray cooldown to 4 turns (from 3) * Slight nerf, balance and prevents too much from multiple aliens in longer fire fights
Telekinetic Field grants +50 defense (from +40) * Now that it actually works testing showed it could use a little boost to deal with enemy extra aim boosts like mind merge and holo
Flush aim boost to 50 (from 40) * Makes it a little more competitive
Adrenal Neurosympathy has a 10% chance per enemy it can see to trigger after each shot (from triggering always on kill shots) * Remove some of the gaming of setting up kills to predictably get the buff. Also it makes sense the ability would not be able to be used on command (it would have some randomness) and that it would be more likely to trigger with more threat (enemies)
Bring 'Em On grants 0.5 damage per enemy in sight (from +1 damage per enemy in sight during critical hits) * Now can be used on non-crit builds and was quite overpowered before, feels better now.

Alien Only Perks:

Blood call no longer grants 30% DR and 30% crit resistance * was not ideal to make mutons even tankier, this should make them a little easier and more predictable to kill (esp. when being flanked)
Distortion panic test to 20% of the distortion unit's will (from 40 will), does not panic at the beginning of the turn, and only works on ethereals. Also distortion no longer dodges aim-based shots, but instead non-psionic attacks against the unit only deal 25% damage * A lot less swingy with lower damage but more survivability

Equipment:

AP Grenades renamed Armor Piercing, range to 7.5 (from 12.5), and now apply shred to any target they damage * They were the least used grenades and grenadier classes often felt a little stuck in one role. This should give players earlier access to shred, make the ap grenade more competitive, give a boost to grenadier classes, and finally get to make it so that AP always stands for Armor Piercing in LWR. :)
Flashbang/Psi Grenade radius to 3.5/5 (from 4/5.5) * Tone down their effectiveness slightly
Marksman's Scope aim to +10 (from +15) * Balance
Chameleon Suit no longer grants tactical sense but instead: prevents non-suppression reaction shots from triggering when performing an action while in cover and unflanked * Makes it useful for avoiding reaction shots on units that need to act (e.g. suppression on a gunner, or throwing a smoke on a supportive unit)
Adapative tracking module loses 10 aim * Balance
Plasma Stellerator grants doubles base damage against units with distortion but no longer grants +1 ammo * Alteration in effect due to the new effect of distortion, the ammo was more than needed
Battle Scanner small item is no longer affected by S&M or Packmaster but grants a 4-pack of battle scanners (from just 1 charge) * Makes it much more reasonable to equip on a scout to extend battle scanner usage
SAW aim to -10 (from 0) * Compared to other weapons and especially the LMG it was too strong. Now the comparison of it vs LMG is it has 10 more aim, 1 more mobility, but loses danger zone and 2 ammo. With the increased importance of the gunner on shooting (esp with suppression triggering on any action) the aim of the SAW over the LMG made the SAW too strong comparatively. This should be more balanced.
Kinetic Strike Module damage to 20 (from 25) * Overall a nerf to help keep it in line (overall 35 max damage to 25 max damage)
Thumper grants +5 damage (from +10) * Nerf in-line with the KSM (overall 35 max damage to 25 max damage)
The extra rocket only grants +1 rocket (from +2) * Nerf to ammo supply on rocketeers, balance vs javelin rocket
Limited squadsight on MECs/Strike rifles reduced to 25 tiles (from 37.5/28.8) * was too much fredom for squadsight when you could move and fire and was definitely overshadowing the sniper rifle's role. Especially on Jaeger's with ITZ triggering; as with full squadsight and movement they could see ~10 enemies much too predictably
Motion Tracker range reduced to 25 tiles (from 30 tiles) * Was a little too effective at discovering the battle field
Stun rifles only repair MEC/SHIVs by 8 (from 15) * It was too strong and was not intended to be used so commonly in the end game as a healing source
Flamethrower damage to 4 (from 6), but ammo to 2 (from 1) * Makes it a little more usable because at 1 ammo it felt to limiting
Incinerator module damage to +2 (from +6) * Nerf for balance
Arc rifle aim to +5 (from 0) * Slight boost and consistency with laser weapons
Smoke grenade radius to 3 (from 3.5) * They are quite effective and also a little hard to see through, this should help tone down both issues

XCOM:

Starting stats and perks of multiple classes tweaked (see perk tree)
All SHIVs have 3 less mobility * Balance, they were much too strong and felt a little too overpowered early when they could close the distances on enemy units so quickly and scout so efficiently.
SHIVs can no longer be healed by medikits (reverted to LW 1.0) * They were displacing MEC and biotanks too much. This give them a role of tanking that is different due to less sustainability. The off case of the SHIV getting acided which is unable to be removed is similar to a unit getting shredded and seems to be rare and within reason when it does occur.
Hover SHIV gains +25 aim * Balance. It was too weak for the end game. This should help keep it competitive.
RfA and LnL swapped on Medic * Gives the RR medic earlier access to more ammo for RR, partly a nerf too as the rapid reaction medic with RfA was really strong
When chopping a MEC, there is an individual 50% chance for each stat to increase per rank (instead of a 50% chance to receive a possible bonus to all stats per rank) * No buff/nerf, but makes the stat gains for chopping MECs less "you either got stats or didn't" and more "you'll get a spread of stats most of the time"

Aliens:

Berserker health reduced some * Makes them a little less of a DPS check
Alien leaders are now a little larger visually and more powerful (aim/health/damage/etc) * Makes leaders a more significant aspect of the game
Drones start with Master Mechanic * Makes them more efficient with their repairs
Improved Drone AI so that they derp less * They still derp, they have small little brains, I can only help them so much
Mechtoids and Cyberdiscs lose sentinel and opportunist but pick up rapid reaction * Makes advancing against them more dangerous but their shots less accurate. It was important to make shadowstep more useful (given that everyone technically has shadowstep if they are out of LoS) and retain some more threat to their overwatch.
Heavy Floaters pick up rapid reaction * Makes their overwatches effective out of LoS
Seekers gain +50% damage resistance when strangling their victims and each tick of strangle damage is increased by 3 * Makes their strangle harder to remove and them more of a threat when they start to strangle. Means that it will now be very rare that you are thankful a unit gets strangled to protect them from other threats. Also means that waiting to get strangled is not nearly as reasonable of a strategy as it used to be.
Floater leaders of lvl 4 gain rapid reaction * Makes the leaders more dangerous
Ethereal and Ethereal Uber regeneration and health reduced by over 50% and defense to 50/70 (from 60/80) * Big nerf to accommodate for the new distortion
Sectoid Commanders gain distortion but lose all defense (from 40) and health and health gains are reduced significantly * Nerf to accommodate for gaining distortion
Ethereal and Sectoid Commander base will reduced * Makes them a little less dangerous
Chryssalids defense to 50 (from 60) and lose all regeneration but gain 4 mobility * Makes them easier to kill with conventional weapons and overwatch but makes them a little harder to prevent closing. The regeneration did not feel good and made reaction fire feel wasted too often. This is not a nerf or a buff -* more of a tweak. They ARE slightly easier due to smaller pod sizes but the intention is to keep lids as deadly foes.
Zombies lose all regeneration but gain 4 mobility * The regeneration led to less enjoyable gameplay and the new mobility will help them close
Drones, Seekers, and mutons gain +1 damage * Makes them pack a little more punch in the early game

Bug Fixes:

Combat Drug boosted officers now share their will appropriately
Not a fix, but it was decided to leave in the bug as a feature because I can't fix it and because it's not unreasonable: Countries that leave the council do not provide rewards for civilians saved on terror missions
Ethereal panic aura will affect units with squadsight
Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where Bring 'Em On was basing their abilities off of the number of units their squad could see and not the number of units the individual unit could see (this was also occuring on ITZ and might be why some people have noticed it triggering a little too often)
Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where Telekinetic Field looked like it was working but never actually reduced the chance to hit of incoming fire
Aliens will less often target hidden invisible sectoids * Probably still more of these situations but this should help at least and maybe it's all of them
RTS will not fire through abilities that should prevent reaction shots (Shadowstep and Chameleon Vest)
Shadowstep/Chameleon Vest popups will not occur when there is no reaction shot (especially occurred when firing with a unit that had that perk/equipment)
Ethereal panic aura will not reactivate after loading a game
Mind fray correctly lasts through 2 opposition turns (instead of 3)
Fixed a bug where combat drugs and dense smoke were not granting an extra smoke to units with Smoke and Mirrors
Fixed a really strange LW 1.0 bug where combat drugs would not grant the +20 crit bonus at squadsight range

LW Rebalance v1.22.07 Air Game:

Refueling back to 12 hours (from 5) * You could realistically send the same plane against the same UFO multiple times and it was frustratingly poor controls for doing so, the eliminates that

Strategic:

Rushing a facility, foundry project, or item requires 10/10/5 meld (from 5/5/2) and 30% more resources (from 20%) * Increase in cost to rush to make it more costly
You can only be fabricating 2 items at a time (the others are queued and production is not started until there is room) * Limit to productivity, encourage stacking items and more consideration of when to produce what, boost to the importance of engineers
Each workshop increases the item fabrication capacity by 1 * Increase to the effectiveness of workshops, also makes sense, more room to create more item fabrication assembly lines

Tactical:

Covert Op extraction mission reinforcements are now on a timer and there are more of them * Discourages spending too long trying to kill exalt
Covert Op extraction missions only start with a single pod and approaching an array causes reinforcements to come 1 turn later * Makes it much easier to move around while remaining undetected, or when approaching the arrays or evacuating
Explosives now do 33% damage at their periphery (from 25%) * Makes it more likely to do some damage if you just 'tick' someone

Perks:

Lightning reflexes Popup now only occurs when LR prevents a reaction shot from triggering * Nice to see when it's being useful and stops from revealing hidden enemies and being spammy
Rapid reaction no longer bypasses LR and no longer grants +10 aim but instead halves the effect distance has on reaction shot trigger chances * This means at 18 tiles instead of having a 10% chance to trigger overwatch (100-18*5) it will be a 55% chance to trigger (100-18*2.5). Also, voiding things that void things (e.g. RR OW -> LR -> OW) is usually not a good design. Overall buff.
Sentinel allows reaction shots to be made with no reaction shot aim malus * Buff to sentinel, allows the shots to be high damage (opportunist) and accurate when they trigger
Opportunist back to +35% base damage increase on reaction shots (from 50%) * 50% was too strong and sentinel didn't need the extra damage with the new aim malus bypass
Tandem warheads increases the damage done at the periphery of explosives to 66% (from 100%) * Nerfed as it was too strong vs the other options and it removed too much of the strategy of trying to land the explosive on the target
Neural Feedback does 10% of the psionic defender's will in damage (from 5%) * Boost to the damage component

Equipment:

Breaching ammo aim malus to -20 (from -30) * Slight buff

XCOM:

SHIVs have 10 less aim * Reduces their offensive potential as they are OP (does not affect already created SHIVs)

Bug Fixes:

Misc typos

LW Rebalance v1.22.06 Bug Fixes:

Fixed a visual bug where a Lightning Reflexes popup would occur quite often when it shouldn't

LW Rebalance v1.22.05 Tactical:

OW now has 5% less chance to trigger for each tile away the target is (from 10% chance after 10 tiles) * OW is now significantly less consistent making it easier to dodge. At point blank it will be 95% trigger, at 10 tiles it will be 50% trigger, and at 18 tiles it will be 10% trigger. OW is similar when there are lots of enemies (lots of chances to trigger), but half as effective if there is only 1 action from a target. This also adds some inconsistency to all reaction shots so you can't just walk up and OW someone point blank and guarantee the OW shot.
Toned down the number of Exalt and smoothed out their upgrades to elite status a little more on exalt missions * They were a little too challenging
Covert Op Extraction missions now have only 2 soldiers (from 3) * With the new OW mechanics and LR it's a lot more doable to just rescue the covert op. These missions were not intended for XCOM to kill all of the exalt -* despite this that's still what was most effective. Now with only 2 it should be most prudent to try to just evacuate the Covert Op.

Perks:

LR no longer causes reaction shots to graze but instead prevents reaction shots from triggering altogether * Means that units with LR are free to move and act around the battlefield but that they can't 'clear' enemy OW for their allies. This opens up options like high damage assaults to take out units on OW by moving in with LR, or support scouts using flashbangs or smoke with LR, or a Shogun running in with LR to EMP and disable a sectopod, etc.
Opportunist grants +50% base damage on reaction shots (from 35%) * Buff to brawler and sentinel units given the nerf to triggering of reaction shots
Rapid Reaction still nullifies lightning reflexes but also grants +10 aim on reaction shots * Update to the programming based on the LR change and buff to the perk due to more difficulty in triggering
Grit no longer reduces injury times but instead grants %DR equal to half of the %HP loss * The injury time was problematic that when stacked with other injury reducing abilities you could "wound" fatigued units to speed up their recovery. This embodies the perk more as something that makes the unit resilient when getting hurt.
Dense smoke no longer increases DR by 30% but instead increases the radius of the smoke grenade by 40% * Buffed. The DR was a bit awkward to use (as the enemies wouldn't hit you if you were in smoke due to high defense) and the increased radius will be very useful.
Distortion (from etherals) panic lowered to a 40 will test (from 50 will test) and dodge chance on aim-based attacks reduced to 40% chance (from 50%) * Nerfed. They were a little too dominating.

Equipment:

Removed reaction fire increased range on strike rifles * It had too little of an effect anymore to justify the inconsistency
Chameleon suit is now equippable by any class * Opens up it's use (as it's not the most effective on units with LR anymore)
MEC2/3 suits no longer provide bonus will * makes MECs more suceptible to psionics and panic

Bug Fixes:

MEC1s now correctly have 2 equipment slots
Fixed a bug where 'immune' would pop-up on Muton Elites and Outsiders when it shouldn't

LW Rebalance v1.22.04 Overwatch Rework: Summary:

Triggering Reaction Shots:
Reaction shots trigger on enemy actions and movement >1 tile
There is a 10% less chance to trigger for each tile further than 10 the target is
Reaction Shot Aim:
There is a 33% aim malus against targets popping out of cover or moving (66% if dashing)
Reaction shots ignore defense from cover

Details (Just explanations and specific changes):

All overwatch and close combat specialist reaction fire triggers on movement and actions (i.e. all reaction fire innately has covering fire) * Makes logical sense (you wouldn't just shoot at moving targets, you'd also shoot at targets that pop up out of cover), and acts as a buff to overwatch on non-overwatch specialized classes
Covering Fire no longer exists (no perks grant it anymore and it's automatic on all reaction fire) * Not only did it never really make sense (that's not what covering fire is) it was also always strange that reaction shots only triggered on movement and not actions. This is a much more reasonable situation as the soldiers will fire at an enemy they are 'overwatching' when he pops out of cover to perform an action or move. Note: if you want to remove it from your soldiers use the console and type in "`giveperk -47".
All reactions shots ignore defense granted from cover * Simplification and makes sense (a target popping up out of cover trying to perform an action would be easier to hit) and acts as a buff to overwatch against stationary targets. Note, there is no covering fire, so the 33% aim malus will apply to reaction shots that trigger on normal movement or actions. It plays a lot better as if you don't have a good shot (enemy is behind heavy cover) it's now very reasonable to wait till he pops out to get a better shot, especially if they are in heavy cover (though the target could decide to move or your OWing unit might be distracted by another unit). The last reason for this, is taking overwatch shots at the exact time you were running past cover was very difficult (frustrating) to predict correctly.
There is a 10% less chance to trigger for each tile further than 10 the target is * Stops the need for a dashing aim malus to trigger on movement >2 tiles and prevents soldiers from wasting their shots on terrible odds while still preventing overwatch camping. The other large benefit is it allows you to safely approach enemies that might be on overwatch without as much fear of being shot.
The dashing aim malus (66%) will only occur when a unit is actually dashing (no more triggering just because a unit moved >2 tiles) * makes CCS shots mostly just have the normal 33% aim malus
Reaction fire will not have an aim malus against stationary units that are uncovered * Makes sense, units that are standing in the open and acting should not have any reaction fire aim malus. Helps to limit the effectiveness of mechanical tanks that don't need cover drawing too much overwatch fire.
Moving targets further than 10 tiles away have their chance to trigger a reaction shot spread out over 4 tiles and checked every segment as the target moves * This is just the nitty gritty details (and the math gets complicated) * the purpose is so that it's still reasonable to avoid a reaction shot while moving multiple tiles

QoL:

The turn count is now displayed on the end of battle mission summary and in the name of the save files * Nice to know (thanks to szmind for the code)
Neural Dampening will show an 'immune' popup when it prevented panic

Strategic:

Soldier XP levels required for ranks changed to 100/500/1200/2200/3500/5100/7000 * A little more consistency in the xp change per rank
XTP 1 grants 20 xp per day (from 10) and XTP 2 grants 50 xp per day (from 25) * Speeds up the promotions so there is less delay at the lower ranks which can be somewhat ineffective
Chance to recover an intact computer on crashed UFOs increased from 25% to 50% * It was too much of a gate resource for the lower percentage

Tactical:

Green Fog (the 10% chance to lose 1 health per turn after 20 turns) removed as a default mechanic * With the recent changes to overwatch camping and the effectiveness of extra turns turning into increased fatigue and injury times, there was little need to keep this wonderful wonderful mechanic in place. Thus, it has been removed. RIP Green Fog, you will be missed. However, for those that loved it as much as I did, you can still enable it with a 2nd wave option.
Rate of aim modification per tile closer/further on assault and sniper weapons decreased back to 8 (from 10) * The goal was to nudge them up a little to help with CCS dealing with the new reaction aim maluses but it was not nearly enough. New solutions are in place so this no longer should be so high.
Reduced the number of aliens on crashed and landed scouts * Makes them a little easier to tackle
Base health increases/decreases throw range by 2% (from 5%) * Nerf to the effectiveness of HP
Aliens will now only receive upgrades at 50, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200 research * Consistency and a little easier understanding of alien research and alien upgrades
Shred now grants +2 damage (from +1) * Increase to it's use against non-hardened targets, still has minimal effect on high damage (>20) shots
Holo grants +20 aim (from +30) * Was too strong both for and against XCOM, helps make late game defense still viable

Perks:

Lead by Example (Officer perk) no longer grants any bonus stats but instead reduces fatigue by 20% * Alteration to make officers not feel as slotted into being a tank but still make them feel like stronger units worthy of being officers
Grit DR to 0% (from 15%) and reduces injury times by 30% (from both injury and fatigue times by 15%) * Slight nerf, focuses more on injury time
Psi Inspire no longer gives an extra action to units that were panicked * Slight nerf, and was a little lame how you could actually get extra turns out of it
VPT and CST grant +35% base damage (instead of +3/2/1 damage for MEC/primary/secondary) but only works on the primary weapon * Simplification of the perk and balancing out of strength from early to late game
Comradery now grants bonus stats 50% (from 25%) of the time (DW modified) * Boost for competitiveness vs combined arms
Suppression and Disabling Shot both trigger reaction shots again * With the ability to minimize the chance of being shot at there was no need for the extra layer of complication, plus it didn't make sense why these shots would not trigger but other shots would
Greater Mind Merge cooldown to 2 (from 1) * Slows down spammage

Equipment:

MEC1 DR to 2 (from 1) * Helps early game tanking with MECs
The illuminator gunsight is equippable on MECs * logic
Marksman's Scope cannot be used with other scope items * logic
Holo-targeter weight to 1 (from 2) * Balance with the decreased strength of holo rounds
Breaching ammo carries a -30 aim malus * Balance, was too strong without more of a draw back

Aliens:

Uber Ethreal defense +20 * At that point in the game we have very high to hit chances (holo, combat drugs, mind merge, flying armor, etc.) and his survivability was too low
Ethereals and Sectoid Commanders lose the ability to mind fray * There is a bug that makes the mind fray do 0 damage and I can't fix it :O, plus, it was still an inferior move compared to their other abilities

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where close range aim bonuses were not be calculated properly * At 10 tiles there will be no bonus. At point blank you will have +50 aim with a normal weapon, +80 aim with a shotgun, -80 aim with a sniper/strike rifle (note: the formula is still really whacky and will often be off by some, but overall it's much more accurate and often 100% accurate at point blank now)
Fixed a bug where lightning reflexes didn't have a popup when it should
Fixed a bug where ethereal panic was not triggering at all
Fixed a bug where distortion dodge chances were applying twice (Whoops!)
Fixed a bug where combat stims triggered a hit chance popup

LW Rebalance v1.22.03 QoL:

Added the ability to set the female gender ratio to the defaultgamecore.ini under the variable: NUM_STARTING_SOLDIERS * Let's players customize their game a little more. Default value is 4 (which means 1/4 of all new soldiers will be female)

Strategic:

All continents will now receive similar chances of an event occuring (despite the number of countries within) * Previous to this change smaller continents would have less events. This makes starting in continents with 3 or 2 countries just as likely to have landed UFOs, council events, etc. as continents with 4 countries
Xenologic Remedies starting bonus for China lowered to 400% extra cash (from 500%) * With the variable grey market this was now too strong and needed to be toned down
Quai d'Orsay starting bonus for France increased to 30% (from 25%) * Over time this has gotten a little bit weaker than ideal, slight buff
NeoPanzers starting bonus for Germany lowered to 35% off (from 50%) * With the large shift of lower meld costs and higher alloy/elerium costs this starting bonus gained significant strength * this is to keep it inline
Ghost in the Machine starting bonus for Japan increased to 25 aim (from 15 aim) * With only 1 SHIV per mission limit and the less ammo on SHIVs this start took a large hit. This makes it still unique and relevant.
Sandhurst UK starting bonus increased to 20% off OTS ranks required (from 15) * Slight boost
We have ways starting bonus for US decreased to 90% discount (from 95%) * Slight nerf, minimal overall effect

Tactical:

Reaction aim maluses to 33% and 66% while dashing (from 30/60%) * Slight increase, more so on the dashing, makes the mental math easier at 1/3 and 2/3.
Exalt covert op missions have 1 less pod and the remaining 3 pods (1 large, 2 small) will have less exalt (5-8 for large, 1-2 for small) * Makes the missions significantly easier as they were too challenging previously
Corrosion (from acid) to -15 aim (from -20) and -15% mobility (from -20%) * More focus on the DR penetration aspect, and overall nerf to make it a little less penalizing for something that could stick indefinitely

XCOM:

Golaith SAA replaced with First Aid * Gives the goliath a healing option on the non-grenadier route, slight diversification
MSGT stat gains increased based on max natural stat so that the max gain with MSGT bonuses is now 19 mobility (from 18), 18 health (from 16), 97 aim (from 85), and 95 will (from 70) * will and aim were too restricted going by averages, this should create a more balanced (albeit still overpowered) soldier

Aliens:

Multiple late game leaders had their health increased

Perks:

Grit fatigue/injury reduction increased to 15% (from 10%) * Slight boost
Blood Call now also grants 30% crit resistance * Helps mutons that like to wander out into the open be not so exposed and makes the ability stronger
Distortion causes 50 will test panic rolls (from 30), and distortion dodge back to 50% (from 30%) * 80 Will officers were too effective at completely negating the panic effect. As for the increased distortion dodge, ethereals were still dropping too easy (they are supposed to create pyrrhic victories at best) and pulse was still too strong compared to plasma * This helps with both issues

Equipment:

Increase in resource costs of multiple research and foundry projects * Increased value of corpse collection and late game elerium and alloys
Reaper Ammo crit to 30 (from 40) and weight to 1 (from 0) * Reversal of previous change, it's pretty powerful, didn't need the buff, helps tone down pulse
MEC equipment meld and cash cost decreased while alloy/elerium cost increased significantly * A little more restriction on the items and another use for later game alloys/elerium
Flamethrower ammo to 1 (from 2) * Increased dependency on the incinerator module and overall nerf as it was a little too effective
Stun Rifle base charges to 2 (from 1) (upgrade still yields 4) * Increase to effectiveness of stun rifle pre-upgrade
Alloy SHIV requires Mechtoid Autopsy to produce (instead of advanced body armor) * Spreads the SHIVs to off-the-bat/mid/late game (instead of off-the-bat/early/late game). The alloy SHIV was too strong for it's early role.
SHIV Chassis sell for a lot less * Prevents creating/selling them to make a profit
Regular SHIV DR to 3 (from 2.5) * Slight increase in tankiness, makes it able to last longer into the mid game
Alloy SHIV defense to 20 (from 15), mobility to 16 (from 15), and DR to 4 (from 3.5) * Consistency on defense, multiple slight buffs, makes it able to last longer into the late game
Hover SHIV flight fuel to 10 (from 8), mobility to 17 (from 18) * Allows for more flight time, slight reduction on it's speed when not in the air
All HMECs gain 1 equipment slot, L-MEC3 and UL-MEC3 gain 1 secondary weapon slot * Buff to MECs carrying capacity. The previous alteration was for balance but the use of MEC equipment is important. The 2ndary weapons are where the support vs non-support role comes in so the LMECs retain that dominance.
HMECs DR to 3/4/5 (from 2/3/4) and MEC1 DR to 1 (from 0) * Buff to their tanking
Core Armoring DR to 2 (from 1) and health to 3 (from 1) but requires advanced power armor to create * Pushes it later in the game and makes it stronger as an upgrade to the alloy-carbide plating and late game mechanical unit tanking
H-MEC3 mobility to 3 (from 2) * Balance

Bug Fixes:

Fixed some incorrect descriptions
Fixed a bug where Perfect Information was not showing up on reaction shots
Fixed some bugs that were causing unintended and unapplied damage shields (suggesting damage reduction that didn't occur) to pop up
Fixed a bug where Reaper Ammo was not granting any actual crit bonus

LW Rebalance v1.22.02 QoL:

Soldiers will still recover from fatigue while on the skyranger if selected for a mission

Strategic:

Grey Market sell values fluctuate each month and after major events making selling items sometimes less valuable and sometimes more valuable * More realistic for a grey market and adds some interest when selling
Starting cash for South America increased * Balance
Aircraft "Modules" renamed to "Boosters", Foundry project name left at "booster" * They are temporary devices with multiple uses and did not really fit the description of a module. This also helps distinguish them from the SHIV modules.
Defense Booster cost reduced to 4 cyberdisc corpses (from 6) * Easier to acquire
Laboratories only provide +30% research (from +40%) and adjacenecy lab bonus is +10% (from +20%) * Tone down in strength of labs to make them less mandatory for a successful campaign
Panic increases by 10% per month (from 5% per month) and only affects increases in panic * It was not rising fast enough to close off games
Overall research speed increased by ~11% * Accommodates for decreased lab efficacy
Increased the sale cost of some components recovered from UFOs * Makes them more worthwhile
Confounding light occurs 2 weeks after vanilla timing (from 4 weeks after vanilla timing) and Gangplank occurs 2 weeks after (from 2 days after) * Gives the player a little more breathing room for the DLC missions and the fatigue they generate
Bioelectric Skin gene mod replaced with Adrenaline Surge gene mod * Bioelectric Skin was repuroposed as the new perk 'Tracker' and Adrenaline Surge was revamped * This makes it part of most player's games while opening up a new fun perk with the new Adrenaline Surge

Tactical:

DR cannot push damage below 1 * This is mostly a QoL change. It stops things like a grenade from doing 0 damage and 2 DR, or a carbine doing 0 damage to a seeker, etc. It allows you to push an enemies health downward even if they have high DR (e.g. late game sectopods). Last, it stops XCOM high DR units from being as OP (e.g. MEC Goliath tanking 16 shots from seekers taking 0 damage). I previously thought it was cool and realistic that a big sectopod would take 0 damage from puny weapons -* however, I've been told me own lessons that gameplay > realism and in this case the frustrating gameplay is very obvious and has occured many times to probably any experienced LWR player. It's kind of consistent in that the minimum hit chance is always 1% too. =P
Jellied Elerium increases the damage of rockets by 1 (instead of increasing the range by 2 tiles) * Minimizes usefulness on inactivated pods
Number of aliens on abductions reduced to: Light 7-9, Medium is 8-10, Heavy is 9-11, Swarming is 10-12 * Makes the # of aliens more unpredictable and decreases the difficulty
Just a note about Exalt Missions (this is unchanged but informative): Both Exalt missions are a single large pod of 6-8 exalt, with 3 small pods of 1-3 exalt, and then reinforcements. On the first exalt mission expect 1 pod of 6 exalt with 3 pods of 1 exalt.
Salvage options are now capped at a certain amount * So you don't get silly options like 5000 credits for a ton of extra elerium and alloys
Salvage returns are now displayed before you make the decision on whether it's worth it or not * Makes it more transparent
Salvage Teams are more reasonably priced * You can even make $$ if you get a good salvage and then also find a good time on the grey market to sell the materials
Dashing aim malus increased to -60% (from -50%) * Helps minimize overwatch against units out of vision

Perks:

Adrenaline surge now only triggers below half life (instead of after any amount of damage) and grants +20 defense and +5 mobility (from +10 aim and crit) * Buff to its significance, makes it a useful survival ability, prevents 'gaming it'
New Perk 'Tracker': This soldier can detect (but not activate) aliens within 10 tiles through and around obstacles. The heightened senses renders this soldier immune to strangulation.
Concealment now grants the 'Tracker' perk * If you are mid-way through a game you can reset perks on a scout and you should pick up the new perk * Gives the scout more ability to scout, especially on covert op maps
Concealment does not trigger when dashing, breaks at the beginning of your turn if you can see enemies, and no longer provides a defense bonus * Reduction in it's effective range of scouting as a nerf and your ability to set up alpha strikes. Reduces the ability to squadsight pick off unsuspecting pods. The defense bonus was not necessary as concealment is extremely powerful and could be abusive with defense stacking. Also made the thin mints a little to hard to hit. Last, this nerf accommodates for the increased scouting that the new Tracker perk provides the scout which is much less abusable.
Platform stability reduces rocket scatter by 50% (from 40%) * Buffed to make mid and late game rockets more accurate (in consideration of damage nerf)
Damage Control grants 30% DR when active (from 20%) * Was too weak at 20% for an ability that only activates after you're already received damage
Rapid Reaction prevents Lightning Reflexes but no longer grants +1 ammo * Makes units with RR a good counter to units with LR
Grit grants 15% DR at all times (instead of 20% against damage through cover) and also reduces fatigue and injury times by 10% * Tweak to the gunner to make grit more appealing to all builds
Greater Mind Merge grants +100 aim (from +50) and cooldown to 1 turn (from 2 turns) * Compare to +25 aim for normal mind merge. Basically when the sectoid commander uses this you're going to be getting hit. Makes the sectoid commander act more like a general on the battlefield.
Neural Feedback does 5% of the psi defender's will in damage (from 5-9 damage) but always triggers * Nerfed and buffed, makes will more important on psionic users. Against Sectoids it's weaker, but against commanders and ethereals it's stronger as it will trigger a lot more despite doing less damage.
Mind Fray does 5% of the psi attacker's will in damage (from 2 damage) * Damage component buffed, makes will more important on psionic users
Psi Panic cooldown to 1 turn (from 3 turns) * Boost to it's usability on XCOM and on Sectoids
Lightning Reflexes reworked: It now has no effect on hit chance, but reaction shots that connect only 'graze' the target dealing 30% of the original damage * More predictable use and outcomes, less RNG
ITZ malus after each shot to 15 aim/crit (from 10) * Slight nerf to keep it inline

Equipment:

Motion Tracker range to 30 tiles (from 35) and charges reverted back to 2 (from 3) * The SHIV no longer needs an overpowered item to make it useful due to it's recent buffs. The previous buffs to the motion tracker was to encourage SHIV use but the negative was that it was was supplanting the scout's role. This way the tracker is still effective and less mandatory opening up more equipment competition and opening up more room for scouting by the scout.
Recoilless Rifle and Blaster launcher damage reduced by 1 but mobility to -1 (from -2) * Consistency with the rocket launcher, damage nerfed to make mid and late game rockets less damaging (in consideration of scatter reduction on platform stability) and to allow rocketeers more movement flexibility
All HMECs, SHIVs, Reinforced Armor, Regenerator Vest, and Ceramic/Alloy/Chitin Platings all gain 0.5 DR * Buff to static DR
HMECs lose 1 secondary weapon slot and 1 equipment slot * Nerf to accommodate for higher static DR, the DC buff, and to balance them vs light MECs. Pushes LMECs more into the utility role.
MEC3-L loses 1 mobility * Balance
MEC suits no longer require a previous iteration suit in order to build * Makes it so the player will have a deeper roster of MEC suits when they have one under repair or lose one
Stun Rifle with SHIV Repair upgrade repairs 15 health (from 10), but grants 4 charges with elerium batteries (from 5) * Buff to keep it competitive with medikits considering it's drawbacks
Javelin Rockets deal +150% base damage (from +100% base damage) * Buffed as their small AoE was challenging to deal with
Reaper Ammo provides +40% crit (from +30%) * Buffed

XCOM:

Assault picks up Grit instead of First Aid at MSGT * Makes more sense for the type of character and first aid was late at that time
SHIVs gain +2 mobility across the board * Helps accommodate for motion tracker nerf, opens it up to more flanking maneuvers and an assaulting role while still making it great at grabbing meld. Also, makes the expensive investments into SHIVs feel more worthwhile.

Aliens:

Psionic units will be more aggressive and reworked a LOT of the ethereal and sectoid commander AI (usually touching AI was impossible for me, but I've leveled up in my programming skills): This means sectoids, sectoid commanders, and ethereals are less afraid of being on the front lines * Probably the best change of the version IMO. Experience suggests this is a nerf to sectoid commanders (as they like to sit closer) and a big buff to ethereals (as they like to sit closer).
Mutons (and some other units) will be less prone to run out in the open * Improved AI
Exalt Operatives and Exalt Elite Operatives lose Covering Fire and Close Combat Specialist but gain +2/3 health and Shock-Absorbant Armor * The CCS was there to prevent XCOM CCS and close range assaults from trivializing them. However, with LR XCOM CCS isn't as dangerous and instead of Exalt CCS, more health and SAA can accomplish the same goal. This makes running up to and dodging around Exalt a lot less painful.
Outsider damage and regeneration gains with research halved through the majority of the game * Makes them less painful when you fight them in groups
Sectoid Commander base health and health gain with research reduced by 25% * While they are quite deadly, they should be easier to drop. This gives more counterplay making it more reasonable to take those long distant sniper shots or send that assault out on a limb to take down the commanders.
Thinmen have slightly less aim and health with research * Reduce their mid to late game strength slightly
Ethereals lose the squadsight ability * Felt unfair when it was used
Sectoid Commanders and Ethereals regain access to mind fray * Due to the fact that it's damage is based on will it can be a reasonable option on them again, actually acts as a bit of a nerf (which is important with their new AI)
Mechtoids have Sentinel instead of Rapid Reaction * Makes them less deadly against units with LR and when receiving greater mind merge

Bug Fixes:

Council missions now have the number of aliens on them ramped up to the late game levels (like all the other missions did) * They were accidently left off and were too easy early to mid game
Fixed the erroneous description on Flak Ammo that suggested it still increased the damage of rockets against airborne targets
Fixed a bug where medikits could sometimes not heal fully healed SHIVs that were acided to remove the acid
Fixed a bug where a steadied Jaeger or Sniper with ITZ could move and fire and have a faulty activation of ITZ
Fixed some incorrect subtitle tips based on changes in LWR
Breaching ammo correctly removes hardened's crit reduction and correctly does not apply to pistols anymore
No units are immune to corrosion anymore (some were left in that the mobility did not affect)
Fixed various typos and some errors with the tech tree
Weapon Fragments now sell for the correct price in DW games
Council artifact requests are now balanced in both DW and non-DW games
Fixed an LW 1.0 issue where rarely a left click would move a soldier (maybe?)
Fixed a bug where reaper ammo gave 0% crit

LW Rebalance v1.22.01 Bug Fixes:

Some missions had their squad sizes reduced below 8 that should not have been, this is now fixed

LW Rebalance v1.22.00 Major Features: Squad Size:

All missions now allow for 8 soldiers (except for abuctions and covert op data recoveries at 5, and covert op extractions at 3) and can no longer be upgraded with the OTS * Significant increase in the number of soldiers. Sets the squad size off the bat to maximize the number of soldiers that can participate in most battles while still preserving some diversity in squad types. Abductions are set to 5 due to the smaller maps not adequately accommodating more soldiers. All other missions are set to 8 to maximize the number of soldiers you can bring on each mission, increasing tactical options and reducing RNG.
OTS changes: Lt/Cpt/Mjr requires 10/40/60 missions, Assault/Response Teams replaced by the XTP (XCOM training programme I and II) which requires 20/90 missions * Spread out of the remaining functions to accommodate for loss of squad size upgrades, XTP II being later lets "Show 'Em the Ropes" have more effect
Alien numbers were increased proportional to the increase in XCOM squad sizes (especially in the earlier game) * Accommodation for earlier larger xcom squads

Reaction Fire:

The dashing reaction fire aim malus now includes targets that have moved more than 2 tiles * Now moving in on a unit that is on overwatch is less deadly if you don't know where they are. Also, overwatch camping is a lot less effetive (giving the aliens a form of 'dashing'). Notably: does not affect covering fire or first fire overwatch shots against units that are in LoS of the overwatcher.
Removed the restriction on reaction shots not being able to crit * Really didn't make sense as you think someone running or trying to fire at your friend would have their vulnerable aspects more exposed than someone hiding behind cover, replaces the damage buff on reaction shots. Also, simplifies the entire process (as there is one less exception on reaction shots).
Opportunist grants +35% base damage on reaction shots (instead of allowing criticals on overwatch) * Since you can now automatically crit on overwatch
Reaction shots no longer increase base weapon damage * Tone down of bonus damage on reaction shots due to allowing crits and opportunist doing more damage
Targeting Motor grants opportunist (instead of granting bonus damage to reaction shots) * Simplification, basically the same functionality (nerf is inline with reaction shot damage reduction)
Lightning Reflexes reduces hit chance of reaction shots by 50% on the first shot and 30% on subsequent shots (from 70% and 50%) * Nerfed; makes LR less dominant for clearing overwatches and makes more room for other options such as suppression, grit, smoke, etc.

SHIVs:

SHIVs are now controlled by the Skyranger pilot. Unfortunately this means he can only control 1 SHIV per turn. If you bring multiple SHIVs into a battle, the pilot (and thus you) will only be able to control 1 each turn * Prevents SHIV spam from trivializing many missions while not requiring SHIVs to receive a nerf. Note, you still CAN bring multiple SHIVs on a mission, just it's a lot less effective.

Science:

Each scientists now adds 2% to the total research strength of XCOM (from 10%) * Significant reduction in the effect of scientists to help prevent such linear research paths (forcing you into earlier research paths over later ones)
All research times have been adjusted proportionally * Accommodates new scientist effect

Strategic:

Friends in Low Places starts at the normal time (instead of 1 month later) * This is because you now have 8 soldiers instead of 6 on that mission
Deluge and Furies starts at the normal time (instead of 1 month later) * Same reason as above
Salvage costs are much cheaper and the cost is various (sometimes a good deal, sometimes a bad) and you will have to decide when it's worth it
Saving civilians on terror missions should be 'slightly' more rewarding, but the specific formula is removed * The reason the formula is removed is I've had probably over 10 reports about it being bugged when it's just that the LoS code sometimes messes with the calculations and makes them inaccurate, so instead, just think if you save everyone panic goes down a little, save most it stays even, save less than that panic increases.
Panic increase for failing an abduction reduced by 40% * Was too much, and failing should be a lot more optional than it is
Council cash rewards have been increased

Tactical:

Suppression now avoids triggering covering fire * Allows more options to deal with units that go on overwatch. Abilities that do not trigger covering fire: Disabling shot, Suppression, Steady Weapon -* all are listed in-game on their respective ability descriptions.
Grapple distance increased to 15 tiles (from 10) * Makes it more effective to use as not just getting to heights but increased mobility as well (as 15 tiles requires 24 mobility)
Shotguns gain 25% more aim with each tile closer to the enemies they are (from +8 per tile to +10 per tile) * Makes it easier to hit targets with shotguns when at close range
QoL: Shredder Ammo small item added to the F1 display so you can tell when soldiers have it equipped
QoL: A few more boss names added * As per Lafiir's suggestions
QoL: Alt-F7, Alt-F8, Alt-F9 speed up the game to 1.0, 2.0, 4.0x speeds (from 1, 1.5, 2x) * Allows you to go even faster! =D

XCOM:

Basic SHIV base health increased by 2, mobility increased by 1, and cost increased * Buffed to make them more inline with the other SHIVs and less disposable
Alloy/Hover SHIV mobility decreased by 1 and cost decreased * Slight tone down in strength and more affordable
Deadeye and Precision shot reswapped on Scout * I was convinced (bullied) into realizing I was stupid and the previous swap was actually more of a nerf than a buff

Aliens:

Muton Elites pick up 1 more DR at 500 and 700 research * Helps them stay threatening into the late game (late game pulse and plasma were dropping them too quickly)
Sectoids/SectoidCommanders/Ethereals gain 15/20/20 will * They were a little too low and were overnerfed slightly in their will decreases. It was actually possible to negate the majority of their attacks with a high will squad.
Mid to late level alien leaders will sometimes pick up holo rounds

Perks:

Neural Feedback damage to 5-9 (from 7-9) * A little less consistent, slight nerf
Distortion (Ethereals) now cause your units to panic after any action where they can see the ethereal (instead of just the beginning of your turn), but the will test has been lowered from 80 to 30 * Makes more sense, more frequent but easier to work around (80+ will units are immune)
Grit no longer provides 100% DR against covering fire (no only provides 20% DR while in cover) * It was a little gimmicky and with suppression not triggering overwatch it was a lot less necessary. Simplification of the perk.
Brawler DR within 4 tiles to 40% (from 30%) * Buff to the close range resilience
ITZ now has an innate 10% chance to trigger on normal shots (non-steadied) for each enemy you can see (squadsight counts), but the -10aim/crit per shot is reinstituted * Makes it a little less spikey in terms of it's damage (less highs, and less lows), makes mobile snipers (strike rifle) more reasonable to go ITZ (so you can move into vision)
Mayhem increases the chance for ITZ to trigger to 20% per enemy (from 15% per enemey) * Buff due to -10aim/crit being reinstituted

Equipment:

Breaching Ammo Mobility to -1 (from -2) * It was slightly over adjusted
Chitin plating melee DR to 40% (from 60%) but health to 2 (from 1) * Buffed. It was a little overkill against melee, this makes the item a little less specialized.
Aurora Armor gains +2 health * Slight buff
Psi Screen grants 10 less will but now also grants Neural Feedback * Buff, and gives psionic users the potential for both lvl 1 perks
Psi Accelerator grants 10 less will but now also grants Mind Fray * Same as above

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where panic when seeing an ethereal was never occuring * Warning: this makes them a lot harder if you were playing in a previous version where this was not working
Fixed some misc incorrect or poorly worded descriptions
You can now properly run from one smoke to another smoke without triggering overwatch * No more 'double smoke' bug * Thanks szmind! :)
Officer perks should now be visible in the strategic user interfaces and the F1 list (but are still hidden in the bottom left) * Thanks to szmind for the idea
Fixed a bug where acid would not apply on different elevations within the detonation sphere
Fixed a bug where old descriptions of MEC 2ndary weapons would sometimes appear in the F1 list
Fixed a bug where smoke and mirrors was not applying to mimic beacons (which count as support grenades)
Fixed a bug where flash bangs still weren't working on psionic units * they now do work on psionic units
Failing a terror mission should now correctly be less punishing (half panic)
You can no longer skip around the 2 person limit for gene modifcation by using the barracks

LW Rebalance v1.21.18 QoL:

Suppression Module renamed to Targeting Motor * Didn't really make sense for the suppression module to improve reaction shots

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where the # of medikits was sometimes 1 more and sometimes 1 less than it was supposed to be
Reaction shots now properly have the increased damage
Terror missions now correctly have 6 soldiers

LW Rebalance v1.21.17 Air Game:

Interception time increased by 15% * Makes it slightly easier to down UFOs
Aircraft repair time reduced by 10% * Makes getting planes back up in the air slightly faster
The option to begin UFO Research and the identification of each UFO class occurs when you destroy or shot down a UFO * Makes all UFO research open sooner and UFOs easier to identify and allows indentification of fighters and destroyers

QoL:

EXALT renamed to Exalt * There was no acronym, my OCD couldn't take it any longer. =O Infact, if you look at early game code it was referred to as "Exalt" multiple times. I blame Firaxis quality control.
Removed the descriptions and icons of many items and abilities from the tactical game in the bottom left corner when highlighting a soldier and on the F1 menu * There were so many abilities it got a little confusing. Items such as "Reinforced Armor: Provides +1.5 DR and +3 HP" or "High-Cap Mags: The primary weapon has +1 ammo" have been removed as they were redundant (you can see how much ammo, hp, dr, aim, etc. that you have). Note: if there are any that you feel are still important to have that are removed or that were never there, please let me know.
Cleaned up in-game damage display for shots that didn't actually have damage and penetration (e.g. stunning an alien)

Strategic:

Terror missions have half the impact on panic * helps accommodate for poor outcomes and failures
Assault and Response Team OTS upgrades no longer have variable missions required to unlock: they are set at 40/90 for Assault/Response * The option to select one before the other was gimmicky and picking assault last was weird as the Col upgrade came shortly after and was similar
OTS upgrades Col and FCMD requirements increased from 100/120 to 120/150 * Spread out the final upgrades closer to the end of a campaign
Abduction rewards compressed to 150/180/225/285 cash (from 80/120/176/272) for light/medium/heavy/swarming * Less RNG for cash flow
Assault Team OTS upgrade now grants +1 squad size to covert op missions as well (extraction and data recovery) * Boosts exalt mission #s in the mid game

Tactical:

All reaction shots (not just suppression reaction shots) deal +50% base damage * Boost to overwatch and CCS while still keeping both somewhat unpredictable with the aim maluses (Note: it's base damage so weapon tier and type is very important -* e.g. shotguns have 4 base damage)
Reverted Terror missions to 6 man missions (from 4 man missions) and reverted the # of enemies too * 1) The maps were large enough to not need the smaller squad sizes 2) abductions are already smaller so there is overlap in experience for the player 3) many players seem to prefer the larger squad sizes
Zombie Apocalypse missions have less overall enemies with a slightly higher proportion of lids * Helps prevent lag during those missions
Abduction mission numbers compressed: Light/Medium/Heavy/Swarming to 8-9/9-10/10-11/11-12 (from 6-7/8-9/11-12/14-15) and goes up by 1 every 3 months (instead of down by 1 in the first month, and then slowly up over the remaining months) * makes light a little harder, swarming a little easier
First mission of the game toned down in difficulty on brutal and impossible * Because apparently I'm too much of a sadist and didn't realize it. Also, it was pretty RNG vulnerable.
Ammo Conservation no longer applies to sniper and strike rifles * Tones down DT and ITZ in the later game

Equipment:

Shredder Ammo small item "engineers required" reduced to 25 (from 45) * Was never changed when it was moved earlier, took too long to produce
Banshee and Aegis armor pick up Low Profile and Damage Control, respectively * Buffed, helps make use of partial cover in situations where there is less cover and helps the aegis tank before Titan
Seraphim and Archangel armor pick up Tactical Sense * Buffed, make them a lot more reasonable to be airborne in LoS and not take too much damage
Medikits can now repair and remove corrosion from SHIVs * Significantly improves the ability of SHIVs to act as a tank and helps deal with corrosion being permanent
Walker Servos no longer grants jetboot module (it was bugging out) but instead sets a soldiers mobility to 13 * Useful for soldiers with low mobility carrying a lot of equipment (e.g. a biotank with 7 mobility would get +6 mobility out of the item)
Updated description on acid grenades to clarify that they do not affect airborne units and also updated the visual to make it more obvious * For some reason, no matter what I try, the XCOM engine refuses to let acid affect airborne units. So now, instead of a LW 1.0 bug, it's officially a feature. =D
Breaching Ammo weight to 2 (from 0) but has the additional effect of removing the 60% crit resistance that hardened targets receive * significant buff
Chitin Plating and Regenerator Vest DR to 1 (from 0.5) * Slight buffs

Perks:

Psi Inspiration will bonus removed * Balance vs Psi Panic
Mayhem grants a 15% chance per enemy in sight for ITZ to trigger (from 20%) * Slight nerf to Mayhem Jaeger as Mayhem ITZ was too consistent
Disabling Shot grants +30 aim (from +20) * Easier to land
Precision Shot grants +50% base damage on any shot (from +100% base damage on crit) * Makes the ability less overpowering on critical attacks and useful against units with high critical resistance
Fire in the Hole reduces scatter by 30% (from 20%) * buffed

XCOM:

Precision shot and Deadeye swapped on the scout tree * Buff to strike rifle scout
Suppression replaced with First Aid on the Rocketeer tree * Gives more options to the support Rocketeer, suppression was... lacking in effectiveness, esp with all reaction fire getting the damage boost

Aliens:

Exalt Heavy and Elite Exalt Heavy lose the ability to fire rockets but have their health improved * Rockets were just... too hard to balance and never really felt fun. I think we tried everything and still they were a massive case of RNG. Exalt gunners are now more akin to gunner tanks instead of gunner/rocketeer hybrids. They should still be a threat, but not nearly as mission ending if left alone for a turn.
Beserker health increases with alien research are reduced significantly and base health reduced to 24 (from 28) * they gained a little too much making them too much of a 'no-option' fight too often * the still act as a DPS check but a lot less so
Berserkers are suceptible to acid (corrosion) again * Gives another option to try to control and kite them
Zombies are sucseptible to acid (corrosion) * Why were they ever not?
Exalt gain no will with increases in alien research and their base will is halved * makes them much more suceptible to psionic abilities
Exalt Medic and Elite Exalt Medic health and health gains lowered * They were a little too tanky
Overall will bonus on Brutal/Impossible difficulties toned down to +10/+20 (from +15/+30) * Yea, I know I just boosted it, but I make mistakes all the time. Alien offensive psionics needed a boost so that was the reason for the previous boost. However, stupidly their defenses were too high. This hopefully is the ideal spot as their AI has been improved and this should tone down their psionic resistance.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed some misleading research description text
Fixed a bug with xp and psi xp gain for covert operatives
Fixed some incorrect ammo descriptions
Multiple alien name fixes (based on their perks) based on Lafiir's suggestions
Fixed a bug with perfection information displaying incorrect stun chances when using the stun gun

LW Rebalance v1.21.16 Bug Fix:

Fixed an incorrectly uploaded file (.15 had an incorrect file in the .zip, sorry)

LW Rebalance v1.21.15 QoL:

Reduced log file accumulation by switching the XComMutator.U over to szmind's which has a reduced log foot print * Thanks to szmind for the code and Lafiir for the reminder to do this :)
Condensed a lot of alien upgrades in the code and removed useless ones
Updated mission names to not be so silly and be a little more epic (thanks to Ulfius for the names)
Swapped the location of the hangar and situation room buttons so that the situation room button didn't overlay the financial information on the right (only applies to new games -* sorry!)
Show Country Names mod by eclipse666 has been added (https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/536) * Show the soldier's country name next to the soldiers name when viewing an individual soldier in the barracks. Because not everyone knows every country's flag

Strategic:

Increased the cost of researching beam lasers slightly * Makes it a little less obvious of a decision

Tactical:

Added a new landed terror and landed transport map as per LiQuiD911's mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/643)
There should be a few more chryssalids on each terror mission * slight increase of difficulty
SHIVs now share their mission experience with soldiers * YAY * Took me forever to get this working * Basically it's just the 1st SHIV alive at the end of any battle will spread any mission xp it would have accumulated to the other soldiers in the squad

Air Game:

Air weaponry and the Firestorm has had their meld costs removed but their elerium and alloy cost increased slightly * Puts less of a constraint on meld for the strategic game influence

Equipment:

Arc Rifle penetration to 2 (from 4) * Slight nerf to open up the anti-DR space of HEAT more
Flashbangs and Psi Grenades now work against Sectoid Commanders and Ethereals * They don't do THAT much, but it really was an odd exception considering they both use psionic attacks. This can help slow down a retreating sectoid commander or minimize the chance of being hit with psi lance.
Chem Grenades renamed to Acid Grenades and the malus is called "Corroded" (instead of acided) * Logic, they use acid and cause corrosion.
Acid no longer deals damage when using an action, aim malus to -20 (from -30), mobility malus to -20% (from -25%), but it lasts indefinitely (like shredder) and there is no partial immunity to it (from Mechanical units, medikits, etc.) * It was slightly frustrating for the player, but even more so, the AI could not be made to be reasonable with it. Also, it felt a little underwhelming at times. This makes it more relevant on aliens and a lot more relevant on xcom. Also encourages use of medikits.

Perks:

Smoke and Mirrors and Packmaster now only increase the # of charges for equipped items (they do not stack off of other perks) * Consistency, encourages using the equipment if you want to stack something
Savior grants 0 more medikits (from +1) but increases healing by +4 (from +3) * simplification of the perk and makes medikit items more competitive

XCOM:

MECs no longer have 50% additional fatigue * They seem to be restricted enough by resources that the additional fatigue is overly complicated and not really waranted

Aliens:

SectoidCmndr/Ethereal/UberEthereal will lowered to 80/100/150 (from 120/120/200) and have had their will growths significantly lowered * Makes psionic users high will actually somewhat protective against these units and tones down their effectiness from 100% all the time
Muton health toned down by 2 * slight nerf
Sectoid will starts at 0 (from 5) * slight nerf of early psionic powers

Bug Fixes:

Fixed "Fear No Evil" so that it now provides funding from countries that left the council (this was a really tricky one)
Alien grenades now have the same radius when XCOM and the aliens use them
Muton Elites gain 20 health at 1200 research (from 40)
Fixed range on will sharing from the officer to 19 tiles (from 18 tiles)
Fixed incorrect description on "Lead by example"
Fixed incorrect description on Overwatch
Removed steady weapon description from rocket launchers (as they do not benefit from steady)
Fixed misc typos
Fixed a bug with the displayed proposed healing from medikits being off by 1 hp sometimes
Fixed some misleading research completion txts
Fixed a problem with double will sharing showing up on soldiers from "Lead by Example"
Anti-Materiel rifles accidentally had 1 extra penetration
Large-Cal High-Cap mags now correctly requires alien materials to produce
Fixed a bug (hopefully, one test worked at least) where mind controlled soldiers were sometimes immune to the disorient effects from flash bangs and psi grenades

LW Rebalance v1.21.14 Strategic:

Modification of OTS Projects: Makes each level feel more impactful (as each does 2 things now) and spreads the squadsize upgrades further over a campaign (preventing the drop in difficulty in the mid game with both SS upgrades), note there are no EXALT squad size upgrades anymore
Response Teams OTS project grants 1 extra squad size for Abduction and Terror missions
Assault Teams OTS project grants 1 extra squad size for UFO, Council, and Assault missions (note: council missions include DLC missions)
Colonel OTS project grants 1 extra squad size for UFO, Council, and Assault missions
Field Commander OTS project grants 1 extra squad size for Assault missions
XCOM Training programmes moved to Lt, Cpt, and Mjr (from Lt, Mjr, FCmd) but decreased in strength by ~50% * Adds earlier training of the higher ranks to get a more resilient roster earlier in your campaign
Reduced some corpse requirements of foundry projects
Lowered the liklihood of swarming and light abductions and prevented later game from pushing abductions too high in difficulty * Moderate and Heavy will be more common

Tactical:

Panic only ever lasts 1 turn * Can be too punishing when it lasted longer, especially against ethereals with full team panics. Also, panic lasting more than a turn was always a little too strong when it happened to XCOM and even when it happend to aliens (psi panic).
Flying armors no longer increases your mobility (as mobility is hardcoded to 13 when flying and is not based off of the users mobility) * Shocking I never knew that... :O
Terror Missions now have 33% less enemies and you can only bring in 4 soldiers * They are similar to abductions now. Helps with lag and these missions taking a little too long sometimes and being a little boring because of it.
Exalt missions now have 25% less enemies * Accommodates for lack of squad size upgrades, makes the missions quicker
Alien Base Assaults have 20% less enemies * They were slightly too difficult

XCOM:

Increased the aim progression of MECs by +10 * Gives MECs higher aim making them more effective at shooting vs other abilities

Perks:

Mayhem to +30% damage on explosives * Due to grenade damage buff
Psi Panic has a 3-turn cooldown (from 2) * Consistency with other psi-perks, prevents sectoid spamming
Comradery has no maximum bonus for aim and will, but only increases the stats 25% of the time * Early nerf due to too fast accumulation making it too strong, and allows end game players to have no cap buffing it really late
Alien mind control has a 2-turn cooldown (from a 5-turn cooldown) * Increased effectiveness of Sectoid Commanders and Ethereals (it was rather lame when you'd fight one and they'd just psi panic your 1 soldier and the next turn mind fray another...)
Greater Mind Merge grants +50 aim (from +25) and has a 2-turn cooldown (from 4-turn) * Makes the perk a lot more dangerous, but still not spammable (every 3rd turn)

Aliens:

Aliens gain +5 will on impossible difficulty (to 30 from 25) * Slightly higher resistence to psionic abilities
Ethereals can no longer use Psi Drain or Mind Fray * It was often a strategically poor move, they have regen anyway, and it was buggy as hell, improved AI
Sectoid Commanders will no longer use mind fray or psi panic * Makes them more dangerous by using mind control more, improved AI
Floaters now always enter overwatch after launching * Prevents their launches from being a tactically poor choice as often, improved AI
Muton base health increased by 4 * They were a little underwhelming

Equipment:

Arc Rifle bonus damage against mechanical units to +7 (from +9) * Slight tone down

Bug Fixes:

LW 1.0 bug fix: finally found and fixed the fact that covert operatives did not gain psionic experience or dead soldier bonus experience
LW 1.0 bug fix: Comradery (previously 'So Others May Live' now correctly is modified by Dynamic War)
Disabling Shot now correctly grants +20 aim (instead of -30 due to bug)
Fixed a bug where Fear No Evil only reduced country panic increases and not continent panic increases
Fixed a bug where you stopped getting soldiers after the 6th month
Attempted to fix the 'flanking explosives still being reduced by cover DR' problem again (Note: It appears the main problem is a lack of memory on the users machine and is why I can't replicate it, Coding can help with this, but only so much due to the way Firaxis originally programmed XCOM)
Fixed a txt description that said SHIVs innately get damage control (they get it with the SHIV Advancements project, not innately)
Fixed combat stim in-battle description
Fixed a bug where "Fear No Evil" was not providing income from countries that left the XCOM project
Fixed description on alloy bipod to mention scatter reduction
Fixed a bug where combat drugs and dense smoke was providing 2 (instead of 1) extra smoke charges
Fixed a bug where the crit bonus from depth perception was not showing on the F1 screen (even though it was actually working and being calculated)
Fixed a bug with plasma stellerator not granting ammo
Large Caliber High Cap Mags should have a tactical icon now
Fixed some txt on incorrect descriptions

LW Rebalance v1.21.13 Strategic:

Friendly Skies and Cinematic mode aim bonuses lowered to 20 (from 35) * Allows them to be a more moderate influence on the difficulty instead of shifting an entire difficulty down. This gives players a little more control over their difficulty level.
Lowered # of power sources required in some research and foundry projects
Power to the People (South America Continent Bonus) replaced with 'Fear No Evil': Countries are 25% more resistant to panic increases and countries that have left the XCOM project still provide funding * Gives players an option to try to prolong the panic game or recover if it's going badly
Panic increase for bombing raids to 20 (from 15) * Make countering them more important and late game panic a larger issue
Roscosmos offers 60% off satellites but does not start with an uplink * The uplink was often not ideal
Class coloration tied to class color (as per Asesinamen's descriptions) * Classes are now tied to their txt color (original LW 1.0 colors are commented in dgc.ini if you want to revert this change)
Increased the psionic rank of Furies and Annette by 1 * Makes them more relevant at the time you acquire them
Put the research tree into the game so that each research shows which other items, techs, etc. it unlocks * QoL improvement
Laboratories and Workshops are visible for production always * So they dont' seem hidden at the beginning of the game and their requirements are move obvious

Tactical:

Alien Grenade Foundry project grants AP and HE grenades +50% damage (from +100%) * accommodates for increased early game grenade damage
Shredder grants +1 damage (from +20%) * Toning back of the biologic aspect to make it feel less mandatory and universally effective, more effective on lower damage weapons

Equipment:

AP/HE Grenade damage to 4/6 (from 3/4) * boost to early game grenades

Perks:

Mayhem grants strike/sniper rifles 50/80% damage (from 35/60% damage) * Boost given back to the mayhem sniper
ITZ no longer decreases aim/crit after each shot (from 10%) * Boost to ITZ (due to more difficulty in triggering)
DT grants 20 aim on the 2nd shot * The 10 aim was borderline not significant enough, this helps distinguish the perk from LnL and grants some unique tactical decisions
Adrenal Neurosympathy only triggers on shots * Necessary to fix grenade bug, makes a little realistic sense with how the perk is supposed to operate

XCOM:

Swapped LnL and First Aid on the Gunner * Improved choices at the last 2 levels
Base will above and below average (average = 30) reduces the amount of fatigue experiencd by 1% * Increases the strength of will, minimizes punishment of low health soldiers/classes
Base health no longer has any effect on fatigue, just injuries and is reduced to 4% fatigue reduction per health on injuries (from 5% per health above or below average -* average = 6/10 for soldier/MEC) * Reduces the strength of health

Bug Fixes:

Fixed the bug with melee damage not being displayed correctly (All szmind, this one was REALLY tricky to find and he found it like the programming god he is)
Hopefully fixed a bug where cover-based DR was occuring when grenades were thrown and not hitting the unit through cover (thanks to szmind for the code)
Fixed a bug where flight fuel always revealed itself every turn even if you did not have a flight suit
Greater Mind Merge now correctly has a 4 turn cool-down (instead of it being spammed every turn)
Fixed a bug where you could put more than 2 soldiers in the gene lab by clicking from the barracks
Disabling shot correctly grants +20 aim now (was bugged not granting any aim bonus before)
Catching breath now correctly disables all multiperk abilities (just like command)
Gene modification now stops the geoscape just like other such modifications (thanks szmind)
Fixed the bug with adrenal neurosympathy triggering on grenades
Fixed a bug where reseting a soldier's perks would not always grant them the additional perks that the starting perks should grant

LW Rebalance v1.21.12 Tactical:

Flight fuel no longer damages you when you run out but instead just forces you to land (you can get stuck, be careful!!) * Thanks to szmind for the updated code
Flight fuel will show you fuel amounts more often * QoL improvement since there is no way to actually check
Flight armors increase mobility by 30% when flying * Buff to flying for XCOM
Rocket scatter reduced by a further ~10% * makes Javelin rockets and moving and firing a rocket both slightly more reasonable

Equipment:

AP/HE/Alien grenade damage to 3/4/7 (from 4/6/8) * Nerf to tone down grenades, (wow were they OP)
AP/HE/Alien/Proximity Mine/Grenade Launcher radius to 2.5 (from 3) * Slight nerf to tone down all non-rocket explosives and distinguish rockets vs other explosives
Recoilless Rifle and Blaster launcher damage to 8/10 (from 7/9) * Slight buff to mid-end game rocketeers
Alloy Bipods can be equipped by gunners and rocketeers as well * Opens up small item options to those classes
Laser weapon aim bonus to +5 (from +10) * slight nerf to laser and makes the upgrade to gauss more reasonable
Breaching Ammo mobility to 0 (from -1) * slight buff
Combat stims grants +3 mobility (from +6) and +20% DR (from +30% DR), but last 10 turns (from 3) * Buff to make them last throughout the majority of any engagement but not be as potent

Perks:

Mayhem grants explosives +35% base damage (from +30%) * So it still works on AP grenades
Mayhem grants strike/sniper rifles +35/60% bonus damage (from +50/80%) * Nerf for balance on the sniper tree (note: in the previous version sniper rifles were bugged and granting +100% damage)
Grenadier no longer grants +1 damage to grenades * Slight nerf to tone down grenades
HEAT Warheads grants +4 penetration (from +8) * In many situations, the +8 didn't provide much benefit over +4 and the perk was too competitive at +8
Death from Afar prevents the squadsight critical penalty * Buff

Bug Fixes:

Maybe fixed DR problem with HEAT not working?
Fixed a bug where Shredder Ammo still required Experimental Warfare to produce
Fixed a bug where both alloy bipod and breaching ammo did not require alien materials (thought they are supposed to)
Vortex Armor cost reduction is intentional
You will no longer lose a country if their panic is at 80% (it has to be higher than 80%, denoted by a red panic bar)
Fixed a typo on Savior: It grants 1 additional medikit (not 2)

LW Rebalance v1.21.11 Strategic:

Large Squad Size OTS project increases squad size by +2 for Normal missions (from +1) and +4 for Assault Missions (from +3) * Overall this means late game Terror/council/UFO = 8 soldiers, Assault missions = 10 soldiers. Also, the assault missions were usually 1 off's so slogging wasn't as big of a deal, and terror/UFOs/council missions should not be the pinacle of difficulty and it's OK if they are a little easier as they can have huge difficulty spikes due to RNG anyway. Last, makes the choice between small and large squad size upgrades more competitive.
Added a moderate cost to the AJR and EBO foundry projects * Makes them more of a contemplative choice instead of a no-brainer
Cost for the Alien Base key increased by ~50% * Prevents farming from being effective as workshop credits could significant reduce the cost
Adjusted starting cash for various countries for balance * SA gaining the most
Resetting a soldier's perks cost increased to 80 meld (from 50) * Was too cheap with the amount of meld we get
Reducing injury time by 50% on soldiers cost increased to 50 meld (from 30) * Was too cheap with the amount of meld we get

Air Game:

Raiders and Destroyers gain 10% more health per month (now at 20% from 10%) * At 10% they would eventually be weaker than scouts, this keeps them up to par into the end game and puts more importance on lasers and supercapacitors

Tactical:

Psixp was wonky and is now reworked: You now gain 100 psixp per mission. Soldiers require the following psixp to promote to each new rank: 200-Awakened, 600-Sensitive, 1200-Talent, 2000-Adept, 3000-Psion, 4200-Master. Dynamic war modifies psixp (double psixp for DW 0.5) and the neuroregulator increases base psixp per mission to 150. * Makes it easier to understand how soldiers gain psi xp and overall this is slightly faster than before to accommodate fewer troops on missions.
Flight consumes 1 fuel per turn (as well as when toggling on and moving) and if the pilot is still hovering at 0 fuel, the engine will compensate but will being to overheat causing pilot damage (does not decrease pilot health below 1 health) * Means you can't hover indefinitely anymore

Perks:

Smoke and Mirrors grants 2 free smoke grenades (from 1) * Boost to the amount of smoke available
Rapid Reaction has no aim penalty (from -15 aim) and grants +1 ammo (from +0 ammo), but no longer grants opportunist * The aim malus was sometimes too ineffective (units flying or in cover) or too effective (units in the open or close), the perk should be more consistent at hitting with less damage when it connect -* This also makes the two overwatching perks more distinct (Note: aliens with rapid reaction also lost opportunist)
Combat Drugs and Dense Smoke grant +1 free smoke grenade (without even equipping a smoke grenade) (from 0) * Boost to the amount of smoke available and opens it up as an option without S&M
Deadeye grants +30 aim and crit against flying units (from just +30 aim) * Boost to it's strength against flying units
Bring 'Em On grants the primary weapon 1 damage per enemy in sight during critical hits (from 1 + 0.5 per enemy in sight) * Significant boost to the perk as the requirement to crit is difficult with tenacious defense and hardened perks throughout the enemy ranks
Precision shot grants double base damage during critical hits (from +3 damage during critical hits) * Significant boost and helps the perk scale to the late game as it was lacking
Disabling shot grants +20 aim (from +0 aim) * makes the perk easier to hit with consistently (more of a boost to lower aim scouts than snipers)
Mayhem grants double base damage to sniper rifles (from +80%) * Slight buff to the mayhem sniper rifle sniper as DT was still surpassing it in the end-game due to the ability to target multiple units and not waste overkill (especially with high crits, beo, PS, etc.)
Tenacious Defense DR to 0% (from 10%) but grants 3 armor health (from 2) * Was too insignificant at 10%, simplification of the ability, increased armor health on bio units
Grit DR to 20% (from 10%) * Was too insignificant at 10%, buff to tank gunners
Extra Conditioning grants +2 armor health (from +1) * Buffed, increased armor health on bio units
Brawler does not grant an extra ammo (from +1 ammo) * Nerfed for balance on the trees (against VPT * for example * it was 1 damage against pretty much everyone vs VPT which was 2 damage against bio units but bralwer had 30% dr, opportunist, and +1 ammo on top)
First Aid now grants +1 restorative mist charge (replaces packmaster on the shogun) * More appropriate perk is all

Equipment:

Shredder ammo weight to 1 (from 2) and you can produce it as soon as you research alien materials * Opens up the option to shred much earlier and much easier (prevents early monopoly through gunner and rocketeer), also makes the upgrade to early laser not so obvious
AM Rifles reworked: they now grant HEAT Ammo, but have 0 normal pen, 0 crit, and 1 less ammo * The aim was too punishing and the hardened was overlapped with shredder too often. This also makes the rifles useful against all targets with DR (instead of just hardened targets) and still makes them unique.
MEC2s have 2 secondary weapon slots (from 1) but 2 equipment slots (from 3) * Change to allow more MEC secondaries earlier
Incinerator Module increases flamethrower ammo by 1 * Buff to the item
Restorative mists start with 2 charges (from 1) but heals for 5 (from 6) * Buff and makes the item less unreasonable nonShogun MECs
Swapped icons on the Neuroregulator and Neural Gunlink * Just makes more sense (thanks Asesinamen for the idea!)
Fuel cell grants 8 fuel (from 9), archangel armor has 8 fuel (from 6), seraph armor has 5 fuel (from 3) * Increase to fuel capacity due to new higher fuel consumption while flying

XCOM:

Minor perk and starting stat changes (see perk tree image)

Aliens:

Exalt Elite Sniper Leaders no longer gain double tap * They were too strong for a unit that had both penetration and squad sight and the counterplay was too limited
Chryssalid leaders have significantly less health * Makes them less able to resist the explosives vs the rest of their squad
Zombies never turn into Chryssalids, they stay as zombies * Having dead soldiers and civilians rise up as zombies to attack you is punishment enough; not killing them by the 2nd turn (and even keeping track of thoes turns) and getting an extra chryssalid to fight who gets an automatic move was too punishing. Now we'll fight zombies, but not have to worry about the zombies turning into lids and counting turns and keeping track of those zombies. Also, the zombie from the corpse was fitting for the fantasy level of XCOM; the zombie puking and turning into a super fast and strong lid was pushing the fantasy level a little too much from XCOM into the super hero realm IMO =D.
Zombie damage further reduced to a base of 3 (from 4) * Note this does get upgraded * further attempt to make it not so likely to squad wipe when zombies get within attack range
Chryssalid damage reduced to a base of 6 (from 8) * With high crit chances and upgrades this still usually hits for over 9 which is plenty. This reduction is to make it more likely that a non-tank will survive a first single hit.

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where the MEC class font colors did not match the previous class colors (you're welcome Asesinamen) =D, thanks to szmind for helping me find the fix
Fixed a bug where the proximity mine launcher was being affected by MEC base health
Fixed a bug where critically wounded soldiers would sometimes teleport around the map
Fixed the double smoke bug (which is apparently a LW 1.0 bug where whenever a smoke expires it removes any other smoke effects that would have still been active on the same tiles [without changing any graphical effects]) * This includes being in a double smoke or running inbetween smokes. Thanks to szmind for fixing this complex issue.
Fixed a bug where distortion would not trigger even if you didn't have the plasma stellerator * Thanks bigjet
Fixed a bug where XCOM units would be grounded when they tried to fly
Misc incorrect descriptions
Fixed a bug where disabling shot dmg could be boosted by weapon class dmg boosting items

LW Rebalance v1.21.10 Strategy:

You now receive 20 credits for each civilian saved on a terror mission (modifiable by DW) * Makes them more worthwhile, encourages saving civilians, and feels better (as a reward) when you do well, injection of cash to XCOM

Equipment:

The Suppression Module (for SHIVs) now increases bonus base damage on the suppression shot to +100% (from +50%) * Buff to the item, makes it worth the 2 ammo if you'll get the shot off

Aliens:

Zombie mobility to 14 (from 16), base damage to 4 (from 5), and damage through upgrades reduced by 25% * The idea is that they can swarm you but you can take a hit if you have to, these changes make them a little softer along with the previous changes in .09

Bug Fixes:

Old Tac Sense mechanics (+5% def per enemy in sight) is no longer accidentally still active * Took a while to squash that bug! =P

Not Fixed Bug:

Szmind and I still working on fixing the smoke bug (which is apparently a LW 1.0 bug where whenever a smoke expires it removes any other smoke effects that would have still been active on the same tiles [without changing any graphical effects])

LW Rebalance v1.21.09 Notes:

I'm going on a summer vacation, so besides some small balance tweaks and bug fixes do not expect many changes over the next few months. This will be one of the (if not the) last versions of 1.21.

XCOM:

SHIV Suppression Foundry Project renamed to SHIV Advancements and grants damage control (as well as already granting suppression and danger zone) * Buff to their ability to resist damage as they were most effected from the Red Fog DR change as they rely most heavily on flat DR

Aliens:

Zombie regeneration toned down by 4 off the bat * Makes them less frustrating in the early to mid game
Base cyberdisc damage to 8 (from 9) * Slight reduction in offensive potential
Mechtoid will to 20 (from 40) * Makes them more suceptible to psionic attacks

Equipment:

Damage Control Pod renamed to Shielding Pod and grants Absorption Fields instead of Damage Control * Switch to accommodate innate DC on SHIVs
All SHIVs and HMECs gain 2 armor health and 0.5DR * Help accommodate for red fog DR
LMG to 150% damage (from 200%) * The suppression damage boost gave it more of an advantage that intended; this should put the choice between SAW and LMG about DZ suppression and 2 ammo vs 1 mobility and 20 aim
Reaper Ammo weight to 0 (from 1) * Makes it slightly stronger as you get it when you're moving into plasma, it was still useful for high damage pulse crit builds, but this should put it more into the lime light

Perks:

Mind merge cooldown to 4 turns (from 3) and Greater Mind Merge cooldown to 4 turns (from no cooldown) * Encourages psionic units to do more than mind-merge camp at squadsight distances (esp with psi shielding mechtoids) and prevents the psi shield from being too oppressive (Sorry X, that was painful to watch =P)
Will To Survive grants 40% DR (from 35%) * Helps accommodate for red fog DR (it didn't hit biotanks as hard because they are heavily %-based DR which is unaffected)

Bug Fixes:

Szmind helpd with code to fix a bug with the F1 display only displaying flat DR at 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, etc. It should now display 1.0, 2.0, etc when appropriate and the 0.5 when otherwise appropriate.
Fixed a bug with heavy floaters not getting tactical sense still * i swear I got it this time
Fixed a bug where aliens would be able to throw grenades too far
Hit and Run no longer deactivates abilities when catching breath
Mechtoid Shield (Psi Shield) is properly 20 health
Suppression text fixes

LW Rebalance v1.21.08 Strategic:

Incresed research time requirements of various late game, UFO, autopsy, and interrogation * Makes laboratories more worthwhile, especially into the end game (note that most campaign critical research was not affected)
OTS: 1st SS swapped with Lt, 2nd SS swapped with Major, and # of successful missions adjusted slightly * Push major earlier for increased xp on soldiers, move 2nd SS back a little to make early choice more impactful
Renamed most officer perks to names that are easier to tell what their function is * I always got the latin ones confused... This makes it a lot easier for me, hopefully for you guys/gals too
Meld sells for 4 (from 5) * Encourages using meld as a resource instead of as much as a cash sink
The first missions contains 2 pods of 4 with an additional pod of 4 (from 3) on brutal and 2 additional pods of 4 (from 3) on impossible * Helps act a little bit more as a litmus test for players attempting brutal and impossible
Large Squad Size upgrade now increases number of soldiers on assault missions by 3 (from 2) * Gives you 9 soldiers on exalt assault, ABA, and temple assault as those missions are quite challenging.

Tactical:

The acid effect now reduces aim by 30 (from 20) * Makes chem grenades more effective and medikits more important
Hitting a Shredded target grants +20% damage (from +40%) but nullifies their DR from being hardened (from no additional effect) * Shift in shred focus with the ability to deal with mechanical threats, makes a little more sense (as it's supposed to 'shred' armor). Now shred deals less against non-hardened units (20%, from 40%) but 20% + 50% against hardened (so 60%, from 40%). This also is good because the larger threats tended to be hardened so it should act as an overall boost.
Overall scatter reduced by 10% * Slight buff to rocket accuracy
Rocket scatter is affected by abilities that reduce aoe ranges by doubling scatter per effect (similar to how grenade range and other aoe abilities are affected except instead of range it's scatter) * It was left out of the scatter change and should have been included. Note that rocket "range" is not affected by debuffs. :O
Each base health above and below the average alters the throw range of soldiers by 5% (Soldier base health = 6) * Makes it important to have high health users of grenades, slight boost to the benefit of health
Red Fog now affects mechanical units start at 100% health (just like biologic units) * Simplicity as the rule was slightly confusing, easy to forget, and the overall effect was quite minimal
Red Fog now reduces flat DR of all units (by up to 100%) * Means you can soften up units with high DR by hitting them with your heavy units first, so a Sectopod with 8DR at half life would have 4DR, and a cyberdisc with 4DR at 25% life would have 1DR. Note: this is only flat DR and does not affect %DR that you get from abilities like absorption fields, damage control, hardened, etc.

Perks:

Fire in the Hole and Platform Stability reduce scatter by 20/40% (from 15/30%) * Buff to rocket accuracy from perks. Note the effect of both is multiplicative, not additional.
HEAT warheads grants +8 penetration (from +4) * Buff for competitiveness on the trees
Mind Merge additionally reduces rocket scatter by 50% * Buff to the perk
One For All grants 30% DR (from 20%) * Buff to encourage more use
Mayhem grants ITZ a 20% chance to trigger per enemy in sight * With the inability to command this isn't so abusive and 10% was too low, overall a boost to the Jaeger
Comradery (previously So Others May Live) can stack up to 20 times (from 6) * Buffed: the potential is now to have up to +20 aim and will
Combined Arms grants +2 penetration (from +1) * Helps alien leaders stay dangerous and makes the Fld Commander choice balanced

Equipment:

MEC weapons receive double normal ranger for squadsight (from just +10 tiles) * Buff to the SS Jaeger
LMG aim to -20 (from -10) * It is supposed to be the less accurate version of the SAW (gaining 33% more base damage, 2 more ammo, and danger zone) but the 10 aim malus was not very effective at this, especially due to increased holo rounds aim
Arc Rifle damage to +9 (from +7) and penetration to +4 (from +2) * Buff as they were pushed too far down in the last round of nerfs
Breaching Ammo again completely nullifies DR from the hardened perk (from only reducing it to 30% from 50%) * Buff, made necessary due to new shredder mechanics making the item a little less useful
MEC2/3 suits receive slight bonuses (5-10 def, 0-2 hp, 10 will) * Slight buff to later MEC suits
MEC1/MEC2/MEC3s can now carry 1/1/2 large items (from 1/2/2-3) and 2/3/3 small items (from always 2) * Slight rework, more small items, less large, no distinction between different MEC3 suits

XCOM:

Regular SHIVs have 2 of their base health converted into armor, Alloy and HOVER SHIVs have 4 converted * Buff to the sustainability of SHIVs
SHIVs have 4 small item slots (from 3) * Only applies to newly built SHIVs (Sorry!)

Aliens:

Cyberdiscs, Drones, and Seekers have 1 less DR growth * Makes early to mid game DR feel less punishing
All Exalt soldiers gain very little damage with research (from +2-7 damage) but Exalt Operatives gain Covering Fire + Lightning Reflexes and Exalt Elite Operatives gain Lightning Reflexes * Tone down the ability of overwatch to shut down exalt while at the same time significantly reducing exalt damage output into the mid and late game
Mechtoid aim back down to 60 (from 70) * Tones down the offense with the reduction in # of smoke grenades
Fixed a bug where smoke would cause cover to mess up and grant weird values

Bug Fix:

Heavy Floaters now correctly get tactical sense at 350 research (instead of a 50% chance to get it at 3 research)
Fixed some erroneous suppression descriptions
Fixed a bug that was letting HEAT Warheads work with electropulse
Fixed a bug where mind merge sometimes wasn't applying the +25 aim
Fixed a bug where the bonus damage on suppression was not always applying

Bug that isn't fixed that we are working on:

The F1 display only displays flat DR at 0.5, 1.5, 2.5, etc. It should be able to display 1.0, 2.0, etc but currently can't. We're working on a fix.

LW Rebalance v1.21.07 Balance:

Stringray aim to 30 (from 35) * With the penetration they were eclipsing phoenix cannons too much, this is a good compromise
In The Zone back to a 10 aim/crit malus per shot * Despite the new restrictions on steady weapon, ITZ is still very good (mental note: do not test new mechanics while drinking)

Perks:

Suppression shots grant +50% base damage * Makes them more useful against aliens and more dangerous to try to break

Bug Fixes:

Fixed multiple misleading or incorrect in-game descriptions (battle rifles, platform stability, rocket launchers, etc.)
Fixed a bug causing a game freeze when ITZ was used
Fixed a bug where the rocketeer could steady his/her weapon when unintended
Fixed a bug where you could steady your active weapon without ammo

LW Rebalance v1.21.06 Strategic: The level of the soldier you acquire from country requests is increased by a full rank (0-33% shield level=CPL, 33-66%=SGT, 66-100%=TSGT) * Makes the requests more important to fill and more rewarding when filled Reset the start date to 2020 * It's a cool enough date that I think it can stick :) Using meld to reduce soldier wounds now costs 30 meld for a 50% reduction in time and there is no minimum amount of time * Makes it more effective for the longer injuries (which it was intended for) Chance of losing items on a mission you failed decreased to 10% per soldier (from 40%) * While a deeper barracks in LWR helped recover from lost missions, the equipment loss could still be too damaging. This should make it so that only 1/4 as many items are lost which should make losing a mission much more bearable. Added the ability to unequip soldier items in the barracks * Thanks szmind! :) Air Game: Stringray missle penetration to 75% (from 50%) * Makes them stronger against fighters and destroyers Raider health reduced by 20% * Makes them a little less of a roll of the dice to down in the early game Tactical: Reaction Fire is on longer capped at 100% before applying the 70 and 50% dodge (Thus, you can hit ~140 aim and still get 100% reaction fire shot against a moving target) * It felt artificially unfair to cut off additional aim Aim no longer affects rocket accuracy * Decouples aim from the primary use of the rocketeer: allows low aim soldiers to be rocketeers Firing a rocket after performing a costly action no longer reduces rocket range (from a 50% reduction) but still doubles scatter * Makes it more reasonable to attempt to move and fire a rocket Steady Weapon grants +30 aim (from +20 aim) but can only be done if the squad is in sight of an alien * Prevents steady walking (half-move and then steady, slowly creeping and more boring play), encourages use during the battle, and makes a little sense as you'll have to steady the weapon aiming at SOMETHING, it really shouldn't grant an aim bonus if you've steadied your weapon 180 degrees from where the enemies come in Alien Grenade Foundry project grants AP grenades +4 damage (from +3) and HE grenades +6 damage (from +4) * Increase in strength of late game AP and especially HE grenades for balance Equipment: Blaster Launcher range is no longer increased by aim * Fits with new rocket schema and it was a little OP anyway Armor Piercing ammo grants +2 penetraion (from +1) * Boost for balance Motion Tracker charges to 3 (from 2) and range to 35 tiles (from 30) * Boost to the item The UL-MEC3 and L-MEC3 both receive 2 more health * Balance for MEC suits Engineer requirements lowered on all MEC3 suits to a target of 80 (from 110) * Makes repairing and building them not require such a surplus of engineers KSM damage to 25 (from 20) * It is still upgraded by 10 with the thumper, buff Sawed-Off shotgun crit to 0 (from 20) but mobility to -1 (from -2) * Buff as use in the pistol slot Plasma Stellerator, Alloy Jacketed Rounds, and Enhanced Beam Optics mobility to 0 (from -1) * Buff for item use balance SAW/LMG weapons receive 1 additional ammo * Slight boost for the gunner's ammo conservation Perks: Psi Shield (Mecthoid Shield) no longer provides any DR (from 100%) but grants 20 health (from 10) * Less bias towards soldiers with penetration Extra Conditioning to 10% reduction in fatigue and injury times (from 15%) * Slight nerf for tree balance Psionic Rift (Ethereal ability) damage is affected by will half as much * It deals 8+modifier_damage intially and then 10+modifier_damage after a turn. The minimum damage is 4 and 5. The modifier_damage NOW is: (caster_will * target_will * 20)/20. In LW 1.0 it was /10. Sentinel aim boost to 0 (from +10) * Tone down overwatch aim Rapid Reaction aim malus to -15 (from -10) * Tone down overwatch aim (kind of nice how both rapid abilities [rapid reaction, rapid fire] impart a -15 aim) Fire In The Hole reduces rocket scatter by 15% at all times * Accommodation for new rocket scatter mechanics Platform Stability reduces rocket scatter by 30% * Accommodation for new rocket scatter mechanics Double Tap reverted to a 1-turn cooldown * Nerf to the engineer and DT sniper Mayhem grants strike/sniper rifles 50/80% more damage * Nerf, balance on the sniper tree In The Zone allows for critical hits again and increments aim/crit by 10 after each shot (from decrementing aim/crit by 10 after each shot) * Balance due to the loss of the ability to steady pre-engagement, really captures the feel of being "In The Zone" In The Zone will no longer work after commanding * Consistency as command is not supposed to grant access to multi-action perks and ITZ is one XCOM: Rocketeer Tree rework Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where Jellied Elerium was not extending rocket range Fixed a bug on the squad size upgrade descriptions Fixed a bug with a freeze during soldier switching (thanks szmind)

LW Rebalance v1.21.05 Research:

Advanced power armor reserach requirements increased, but subsequent armor tech research requirements decreased by a similar amount * Overall just slows down the hit of corsair and titan armor making a little more room for Aegis and Banshee

Resources:

Elerium gain increased by ~20% * Helps with later game projects

Equipment:

All MEC suits have a 35% chance to get damaged on a soldier who has taken 100% of their health in damage (from 95%) * Compared to other armors it was too debilitating to have MEC suits get damaged so frequently
Shadow, Aegis, and Banshee armor receive an additional health * Balance
Small ammo items costs reduced * Balance
Chameleon suit grants +5 defense (from +10) * Nerf to high defense on bio units

Perks:

Distortion panic chance upon seeing the ethereal increased to 60 base test (from 30) * At 30 it was mostly a non-issue and with the plasma stellerator the ethereals are dropping a little too fast, this should help keep them dangerous
Tactical Sense defense bonus to 15 (from 20) * Slight nerf

Bug Fixes:

Esprit De Corps should now be correctly granting 5 defense
Hopefully fixed the tac sense bug that was causing the old native tac sense to sometimes grant extra defense * please let me know if this didn't work as I'm at a conference and can't test it because I'm only remoting in
One For All should now correctly remove all innate defense and still be affected by other modifiers (body shield, smoke, etc.)
Fixed a bug where the base defense was prohibited from occuring within the first 10 months (instead of 8 as intended)
Floaters properly gain tactical sense half way through the campaign (instead of right off the bat)
Fixed a bug where difficulties higher than normal were receiving too few weapon fragments
Fixed a bug where muton bersekers would sometimes receive double the DR than intended
Fixed a bug where floaters could fire at squad sight when elevated even if they didn't have squad sight * They still do this, but it should be a little less

LW Rebalance v1.21.04 Fixed a CTD bug

LW Rebalance v1.21.03 Strategic:

Squad Sizes reworked: Either are attainable after 30 successful missions but once attained the next is not attainable until 60 missions. Both cost 300 credits. SS1: Increase squad size by 1 on reduced soldier missions. SS2: Increase squad size to 7 on normal missions and to 8 on assault missions." * Increases difficulty on late game abduction, covert op, council, UFO, and terror missions (due to 1 less soldier), creates more choice in the early game, decreases sluggishness of regular late game missions
Abductions have 1 less alien in months 1-3, normal aliens in months 4-6, 1 more aliens in months 7-9, and 2 more in months 10+ * Balances out abduction difficulty a little more throughout the game
Exalt missions only lower panic by 2 (from 5) * Slight decrease in their ability to control panic
Maintenance costs of radars increased * Slight tweak on overall credits from expansion
SHIV Suppression Foundry project now grants both Suppression and Danger Zone * Buff to suppression on SHIVs
Gene mods are ~33% cheaper * makes them a little more reasonable to acquire
Target will for psionic training altered to 40/40, 45/45, 50, 55, 60, 70 (from 45/45, 30/30, 40, 50, 60, 70) * Makes it slightly more accessible for lower will soldiers and makes higher will soldiers less of a slam dunk while progressing through the tree
Base Psi Training time is 20 days (from 30 days) * Accommodates for longer training times in subsequent levels
Enhanced Plasma foundry project no longer grants +1 damage to plasma weapons * It simply unlocks the stellerator now
Beam Strengthening foundry project grants +1 damage during critical hits (from +1 penetration) * Nerf and distinction from gauss
Once you research meld, you can now inject wounded soldiers with 30 meld to reduce their wound time by 10 days (to a minimum of 10 days of wound time) * Gives the players some flexibility if they have a meld surplus during highly injurous times * Thanks to szmind for the amazing work on this feature
You can now reset perks of a soldier for the cost of 100 meld * Allows some minor experimentation at a signficant cost. This is also useful if you are upgrading to a new version of the mod and the perks have changed as you can use the console command and "`giveitem meld 100" if you want to repick new perks due to a new version of the mod * Thanks to szmind for the amazing work on this feature
Antyhing that causes Country and/or Continent panic increases in strength by 5% per month * Makes late game prevention of panic more important

Resources:

Country funding decreased by ~10% * Slight tweak on overall credits from expansion
Funding received from non-satelittle countries increased to 40% (from 30%) * Overall more cash regardless of expansion
Overall elerium gain from UFOs decreased by ~30% but elerium gain from crashed UFOs increased from 20-30 to 40-60% (which is really now just 28-42% due to the 30% overall reduction) * Evens out elerium flow a little bit if you happen to not get many landed UFOs and gives a slight overall increase
Meld gain per canister will no longer drop below average if the aliens are doing poorly resource wise * It was frustrating to be doing well and then become meld starved. Now meld will always be the same and only go up if the aliens are doing well, but never go below the normal values.
Salvage team cost for alloy/elerium reverted back to 13/19 (from 11/13) * Was too effective at acquiring additional resources (yes, I'm aware in some campaigns it was hardly used)
Cut the meld cost of late game plasma weapons by 50% * Makes them much more attainable in larger quantities
Europe continent bonus reduced to 10% increased funding (from 20%) * Significant nerf

Air Game:

Lead/Rear formations affects UFOs less: LEAD = 150% UFO aim, REAR = 66% UFO aim (from 200% and 50%, respectively) * Makes rear less dominating and lead a little more appealing
Stingray missle damage/cooldown to 1000/10s (from 1200/12s) and aim to 35 (from 30) * Slight buffs, the cooldown allows it to fire an extra time in a normal battle
Terror Ship health to 10000 (from 14000) and DR to 125% (from 175%); Harvester health to 8000 (from 10000) and DR to 100% (from 150%) * Makes them both easier (more possible) to down

Tactical:

Zombie Terror missions now spawn an additional pod of chrysallids and an additional pod of zombies * Makes them more challenging
Overwatch modifier and dashing modifiers reverted back to vanilla (70% and 50% of aim from 80% and 60%) * Slight nerf to overwatch consistency
You will only panic from damage if the damage you took was more than 30% of your remaining health * Helps prevent little ticks from causing panic
Bleed out timer is extended to 4-7 turns (from 2-5 turns) * Makes it easier to save soldiers (50-100% more time) who are dying as the battles can last longer in LWR
Elerium batteries foundry project upgrades the stun rifle to 5 charges (from 2) * Buff to make capturing easier and to make the field repairs foundry project more useful
Shredded targets receive 40% more damage (from 30%) * With the nerf to the bullet wizard having more effect than intended it's an ideal time to make shredder back to how it was intended, to be a significant debuff
Rocket scatter reduced by 33%(!) more than before (almost half of LW 1.0 how) * Makes it easier to land rockets and javelin rockets with lower aim rocketeers, especially if they are steadied

Perks:

Will to survive grants 35% DR in cover (from 30%) * Buffed to make biotanks slightly stronger
Tactical Sense reworked: grants 20 defense if the unit is flying or protected by cover * It was gamey to try to move into and out of vision with units to lower or raise defense, this is more consitent and a little stronger
Packmaster grants only 1 additional use to restorative mists to MECs (from 2) * Nerf for perk tree balance
VPT and CST grant +3 damage to MEC primary weapons (from +2) * Boost to the effect of the perk on MECs to keep the perk on par considering the higher damage weapons
Disabling shot does not trigger covering fire * Allows a unit with disabling shot to nullify a unit on overwatch without being targeted by covering fire
Tenacious defense grants 60% crit reduction when in cover (from 20%) * Makes the perk similar to being hardened while in cover, buffed for aliens to help prevent autocrits and xcom to help guarantee no crits
Psi Shield (Mechtoid shield) now reduces damage by 100% (from 50%) and provides 10 health (from 6) * It means you need to remove the sectoid to damage the mechtoid (or you can try to brute force through it if you have enough penetration), encourages more movement and strategy on the battle field
Units with ITZ cannot crit * Nerf to ITZ builds
Mayhem damage to sniper/strike rifles increased to 120/80% * Buff to mayhem snipers
Mayhem grants 10% chance to trigger ITZ per enemy in sight (from 20%) * Nerf to mayhem jaeger to include more unpredictability with low to medium #'s of aliens
Mayhem now re-enables critical hits with ITZ (note: There is no more crit reduction on subsequent ITZ shots) * Accommodates for ITZ nerf and mayhem nerf on Mayhem Jaegers
Lightning Reflexes no longer grants +1 mobility * Nerf
Hit and Run bonus damage to +1 (from +2) * Nerf
Fire in the Hole grants +10 aim (from +20) * Nerf for tree balance
First Aid grants 3 free medikit charges (from 2) * Buffed
Extra Conditioning reduces fatigue and injury times by 15% (from 20%) * Slight nerf
Reactive Targeting Sensors no longer grants additional ammo (from +2 ammo) * Nerfed, focuses the perk more on reaction fire and overwatching, distinguishes it from LnL and RfA
Mind merge aim bonus to 25 (from 10) * Significant boost, it's not as abusive anymore on ITZ due to the ITZ nerfs, this also helps compensate for them
Savior grants 1 free medikit use (from 3) * Nerf, as it was overbuffed, the extra healing on the kits is big
Brawler grants +1 ammo (from 0) * Buff

Equipment:

Engineers can, once again, use the battle rifle, arc rifle, shotgun, sawed-off shotgun, stun rifle, shredder ammo, and drum mags * Not a necessary restriction due to HEAT Ammo changes
The Plasma Stellerator now grants plasma primary weapons +1 damage (from +2) but also grants +1 ammo (from +0) and bypasses the 30% dodge distorted targets receive * Buff as the damage wasn't as important in the end-game due to already very high damage capacity, gives players a more definitive reason to use plasma, and also gives an nice counter against distortion
Chitin Plating HP to 1 (from 2) and DR to 0.5 (from 1) * Nerf due to strength of melee reduction and strangulation resistance
Alloy plating HP to 4 (from 5) * Slight nerf
New item: Large-Cal High-Cap Mags: increases ammo by 1 for MECs/SHIVs, weighs 1 * Gives SHIV/MECs an additional small item and an additional potential ammo source, more of a buff to the Jaeger due to ITZ with ammo
Tactical Sensors renamed to Extended Sensors and grants +10 def (from +0) but no longer grants tactical sense * Similar function, slightly more consistent, slight nerf overall to cap out high defense
Laser and Pulse weapons no longer grant +1 additional ammo (the only remaining buff is the +1 mobility the primary weapons receive) * Nerf b/c they were too strong
Plasma Rifle can be equipped by all classes
Arc Rifle penetration to 2 (from 8) and aim to 0 (from +10) * Nerfs as it's very effective right from the get go, makes it similar against most robotic threats but significantly less effective against heavy DR robotic threats
KSM damage to 20 (from 25) and Thumper bonus damage to +10 (from +5) * Makes the KSM slightly less damaging in the mid game and makes the thumper a more useful item
SHIV weapon ammo to 2 (from 3) * Nerf to SHIV, helps accommodate for DZ Suppression upgrade, especially with the holo targeter, also the LCHC Mags helps make up for it
Adaptive Tracking Pod now weights 0 (from 1) and grants +10 aim (from 0) * Buffed
Smart Shell Pod now weights 0 (from 1) and grants +10 aim (from 0) * Buffed
Autosentry Turret weight to 0 (from 1) * Buff due to no ammo supplied from RTS
Elerium Turbos mobility boost to +4 (from +3) * Buff
Holo Charger weight to 2 (from 1) * Nerf
Smoke grenades now properly match their graphic and only last until the end of your next turn (instead of the end of the 2nd enemy turn) * Nerf for only 1 enemy turn's worth of smoke which reduces smoke spam's effectiveness. Very nice how it matches the graphic now.
Battle Rifle Penetration to +1 (from 0) but mobility to -2 (from -1) * Slight buff, gives a source of early game penetration
Breaching ammo takes the hardened perk DR against shotguns to 30% DR (from 0% DR) but weighs 1 (from 2) * Nerf but lighter
Shotgun mobility differences normalized to the weapon tier mobilies (0/1/0/1/0 from 1/2/0/1/1) * Slight nerf on shotguns and normalization for simplicity
Plasma weapon special bonuses have all been boosted/tweaked * Buff to plasma
Flak ammo just works on the primary weapon (not rockets) * Standardization of ammo equiping and it didn't really make sense that a box of ammo helped the rockets
Aegis and Banshee both gain 2 health and lose 1 mobility
Motion tracker is now sorted with SHIV items instead of soldier items

XCOM:

Perk tree modifications (see perk tree image)
SHIVs lose 2 armor health (4 for the alloy SHIV) * Slight nerf

Aliens:

Cyberdiscs will not longer use Death Blossom (It causes a CTD bug that I just can't seem to fix)
Cyberdiscs now always have HEAT Ammo and HEAT Warheads * Makes them less able to be trivialized by tanks, pushes them more into the fragile but highly offensive threat they are meant to be
Drone leaders now always have HEAT Ammo * Makes drone packs more threatening
Sectoids and Sectoid Commander will gain with research significantly increased * Best way to encourage them to use psionic abilities and not shoot
Thinmen gain more damage (+2) and sharpshooter during mid game * They were falling off too much in the mid to late game, this keeps them more relevant
Floaters and heavy floaters both gain tactical sense during the mid-game * Makes explosives, high aim units, holo, and the deadeye perk more important
Floater health reduced to 5 (from 7) which they gain 2 of back during mid game * They were too much of a difficulty spike in the early game
Mutons start with tenacious defense (similar to muton elites) * Increases cover-based tankiness more
Zombies mobility increased to 16 (from 14) * They are faster now!
Zombies gain a little more health with alien research * They are stronger now!
Zombie regen to approximately half of their health each turn (from full health each turn) * Makes enemy turn strategies and not completely killing one still have a useful (albeit diminished) effect against them
Exalt Elite are upgraded: Elite Snipers have Sharpshooter, Elite Operatives have Tenacious Defense, Elite Heavies have Shredder Ammo, Elite Medics have Holo Rounds + Smoke and Mirrors
Mechtoid aim to 70 (from 60) * Was too low at 60 making them too easy to trivalize with smoke

Bug Fixes:

Fixed a bug where WtS would give -15 defense in cover even when flanked
Fixed a bug where you could use flak and shredder ammo with plasma sometimes
Fixed typos that said holo rounds still only grants +20 aim (they grant +30 aim)
Fixed a bug where reaction fire hit chances over 100 were not being capped at 100 before applying aim malus' for moving or dashing (now plays like LW 1.0 again)
SHIVs correctly are discounted from NeoPanzers
Fixed a bug where perfect information would display weapons shooting aliens =p
Updated description on smoke grenade to include the fact that it will not prevent suppression from triggering a reaction shot
Updated description on SHIVs to emphasize that they need to have full actions before aborting or they may get left behind on a mission
ITZ now correctly fires and triggers off of all standard/disabling/precision shots
Fixed a bug where mayhem ITZ was recording too many shots affecting aim too much
Fixed a bug where the blaster launcher was doing 1 more damage than intended
Hit and Run should no longer grant 2 full turns if aliens mind control your soldier (instead, the aliens will only get a single shot, best compromise I could come up with)

LW Rebalance v1.21.02 Strategy Game: Tweaks to country starting bonuses * balance Air Game: Interceptor speed increased to 22 (from 20), UFO scanners research project only increses interception time by 10% (from 20%) * Overall no change except your interception times are slightly longer before UFO scanners making the project a little less essential Significantly increased speed of interceptors and firestorms * You should always be able to engage UFOs multiple times and initial country selection should have minimal impact on this Equipment: Laser and Pulse Pistols no longer grant +1 mobility * Even just the +1 ammo is strong on them, the +1 mobility was too strong Bug Fixes: Shredder and Flak ammo are now correctly restricted to ballistic/gauss weapons Fixed a bug where MECs and SHIVs were getting double defense * Thanks szmind! :) MEC Laser Lance now correctly has 4 ammo (from 3) * Was missed in the update Updated description of "Sturdier UFOs" to indicate that fighters/destroyers are not included Jaeger now receives 20 aim during level ups (from 22) Reduced interception time of firestorms so that no battle should exceed 60s * Prevents bugging out Electropulse should grant it's +8 penetration now Arc Rifle should grant only +8 penetration (from +9) * Was picking up extra from sniper rifle by accident Blaster Launcher damage was off slightly and is now corrected

LW Rebalance v1.21.01 Air Game: Repair Times for aircraft to 300 (from 400) * Was accidently increased too much (sorry Henriks) EMP Damage to 420 (from 350) * Was left off with the aim decrease Destroyer hitpoints to 3000 (from 4000) * Was supposed to be decreased with the fighter decrease due to not being able to be shotdown Stingray missle aim to 30 (from 25) * Slight buff Bug Fixes: You can now perform fighter analysis if you have raided a scout and destroyer analysis if you have raided a raider * Needed to be tweaked Fire in the Hole Aim bonus incorrectly listed as +30 aim (it's +20 aim) Stingray missle correctly have 50% penetration * Was fixed everywhere but the dgc.ini EMP Cannon requires drone wrecks (instead of sectopod wrecks) * Was accidently left out of changelog and changes

LW Rebalance v1.21.00 Features: The following are official 'features' of LWR and are to be expected:

Aliens will sometimes double move off the bat as some of them were waiting for you in ambush and will get an extra move to reflect this
Covering fire shots will sometimes inactivate the target's action because getting fired at sucks and it's hard to do things with bullets flying at your face
Suppression will sometimes not fire when the target moves (and you'll get a cool slow motion view of it) because you were distracted while suppressing and maybe some bullet shells or a fly got in your eyes
Exalt will always know where your covert op is as soon as they are activated as they have a transponder on everyone and figure out that he's the mole!
Alien bases have invisible floating teleportation devices that are usable by floaters -* they aren't used a lot because they really hurt but sometimes if one or more floaters is desparate they will use these devices to teleport around the base
Sometimes a dying soldier will fall into a hole the aliens dug inside the mountain/building/dirt. If they do it's best to just move on as the holes will often form an inpenetrable barrier that prevents access until the occupant is completely dead (or sometimes reloading works).
Sometimes it looks like a soldier can see an alien to shoot at but they can't. You may think this is ridiculous but the aliens are equipped with reflective padding that can really cause a glare. From above it looks like the soldier should see the alien, but the glare is quite deceptive the soldier just thinks the alien is a broken street light or something. This is especially common on ramps as everyone knows glare can be a problem when changing elevations.
Close Combat Specialists usually have PTSD and will sometimes not fire at an enemy when you want them to. The training that they take is very intensive and these momentary freezes in the heat of battle are to be expected.
Run and Gun trained soldiers will sometimes not move if they try to run and gun aftering being commanded or if they try to run and gun during an xcom scamper. Again, this is because of very intensive training causing PTSD which acts up when too much is happening at once.
If you rapidly click on buttons to purchase or sell or place equipment/buildings/etc. sometimes the engineers and assistant engineers will get confused and order too many or too few and the accountants sometimes also get confused and you lose money.
Some exalt missions will CTD if you try to enter them. This is because the covert op has already died in such a gruesome way that the game is trying to spare you the suffering of witnessing his final condition and instead encouraging you (quite forcefully) to just skip that mission.
NEVER SAVE/LOAD ON THE XCOM BASE DEFENSE MISSION

Air Game: Repair times back to 400 for XCOM aircraft (from 200) * Necessary to prevent overdowning UFOs There are now 4x as many scouts and fighters each month but all extra scouts and fighters will appear randomly on Earth (instead of at countries with XCOM satellites) * Gives XCOM more opportunity to down a UFO and acquire resources and makes spreading to new continents potentially more rewarding, also makes the medium and largers UFOs relatively more rare Cut the chance of destroying a UFO in the air (instead of downing one) by approximately half. The new formula is overkill damage / 10 is the % chance to destroy a UFO (from overkill damage / 5). * Should make a lot less destroyed UFOs, especially in the early game. EMP cannons are much cheaper and acts as a bridge between laser/gauss and pulse: 350 damage, 3.5s cooldown, 150% penetration, 15% crit, 50 aim, Potential: 100dmg/s, Average Realized:50dmg/s, UFO Destruction Chance: 22% Stingray penetration back to 50% (from 25%) * Slight buff to help with early game fighters before phoenix (esp with fighters increased DR) Laser Cannon and Phoenix Cannon alloy cost decreased by half * Makes it easier to bring them online in more resource starved games Scouts and Fighters now yield 50% more alloys (for the purpose of being destroyed and/or raided) * Helps prevent early game resource stalls by increasing early game alloy yields Coilgun upgrade costs significantly less * Was too costly for it's benefit Fighters again have 75% DR (from 50%) * Makes lasers less effective against them Fighters/destroyers/imp.destroyers have ~40/20/20% less health * Makes them easier to reasonably down Fighters/destroyers/imp.destroyers are always destroyed and never shot down * Reduces mission density. The real reason is that the aliens will self-destruct all such craft as soon as they are at risk of being shot down. =P Firestorm health increased to 6000 (from 4000) * Significant buff to it's use as soon as you get 1 of them Overseer battle speed reduced by 30% * Results in 43% more battle time to try to down it Interceptor battle speed reduced to 20 (from 25) * Results in 80% of the normal battle time (encourages more aggressive stances) Strategy Game: Decreased cost of dispatching salvage teams (from 13/19 for alloys/elerium to 11/13) * Balance for use XCOM Training Programs provide double the xp to soldiers * With the inability to 'rush' it, it's viable to make it stronger again. Now your PFCs will level in 5 days (from 10), your SPECs level in 10 days (from 20), and your LCPLs level in 10 days (from 20) * Should help with mid to end game roster depth EMP Weapons can now be researched after attaining Pulse Weapons and is much cheaper and quicker to research * Bring EMP online earlier in a campaign Beam Strengthening provides +1 penetration (instead of +1 crit damage) * Buff to laser/pulse to help low damage weapons stay competitive against mechanical threats Significantly reduced the cost and time to build of multiple end-game researches, buildings, etc. * Helps end a campaign more quickly Exalt will be significantly less likely (never?) to target a country that has already left the council * Having it in a non-council country felt frustrating so this should help avoid that Terror missions have a 15% chance to be zombie missions (from 20%) * Slight tweak that tries to fill the spot of: will occur in each campaign randomly but not too often You start the game with 4 interceptors and 2 spare satellites (from 3 interceptors and 1 spare satellite) * Helps offset bad RNG and increased liklihood of encountering fighters Tactical Game: Units with inside smoke will no longer trigger reaction shots from enemies * Acts as another tool against enemies on OW. Thanks to fjz for the awesome idea! Shred causes units to take +30% damage (from +33%) * slight nerf, and prevents miscalculations due to rounding Using a rocket no longer grants the rocketeer +1 mobility * It was cool idea but ended up being lame to have an ultra fast unit after using a lot of rockets and a really slow one before, now the rocketeer is like all other units that use items: at a consistent mobility Rockets have ~20% less scatter in general * Makes using them on units without high aim more reasonable Equipment: Electropulse damage to 8 (from 6) and penetration to 8 (from 0) * Makes it significantly more damaging and more likely to do damage and thus actually disable Ammo Drums, Flak Ammo, Breaching Ammo, AP Ammo, and Shredder Ammo can only be equipped on Ballistic and Gauss series weapons * Realism, creates more diversity between the weapon tiers AP Ammo is restricted to MEC weapons, SHIV weapons, Carbines, Assault Rifles, and Battle Rifles * Realism and diversity Laser and Pulse weapons gain +1 ammo and +1 mobility * Significant buff for balance and the lack of ammo small items Pulse weapons gain +10 crit * They were a little weak in their niche, slight upgrade that focuses on their niche MEC weapon and Strike Rifle range increased to +10 tiles (from +5) * Boost to SS Jaeger, strike rifle sniper, and strike rifle scout Breaching Ammo can be equipped by any soldier class (from just assault) * grants more options for other classes to effectively use the shotgun Engineers can no longer equip shotguns, battle rifles, stun rifles, drum mags, shredder ammo, or arc rifles * Nerf to their shooting strength, encourages use of other weapons and items L-MEC2 gains 2 mobility, L-MEC3 gains 1 mobility, 5 defense, and 2 health, UL-MEC3 gains 2 health and 5 defense * Balance Core Armoring DR to 1 (from 1.5) * Slight nerf to static DR stacking (can be border-line abusive in the mid-game) Javelin rockets will now damage through cover, but will still not destroy cover, and weight to 1 (from 3) * Not working through cover was too challenging with the minimal radius and very frustrating when you did 0 damage (Note: it still does not destroy cover due to programming limitations) Regular rocket radius to 4.5 tiles (from 6 tiles) * Nerf to rockets Regular extra rocket grants 2 rockets and weight to 1 (from 2) * Helps supply the rocketeer with ample rockets while not burdening him down All 3 Rocket launchers damage to 5/7/9 (from 7/10/10) * Nerf to earlier game rockets for balance Carbine aim to +10 (from +15) * Slight nerf to open up use of other weapons Battle Rifle ammo to 2 (from 3) but mobility to -1 (from -2) * Slight buff to open up use of other weapons, especially since it can use the drum mags Arc Rifle bonus damage vs mechanicals to +7 (from +9) but gain +8 penetration * They will now more consistently deal 6 damage to mechanical units, open up the anti-mechanical role to more units Perks: RTS (Reactive Targeting Sensors) grants +30 aim on reaction shots (from +20 aim) * Significant buff to overwatch potential of SHIVs and MECs New Perk "Critical System Targeting": Grants 2 additional damage to primary weapons (1 additional damage to sidearms) against autopsied mechanical units HEAT Ammo and HEAT Warheads no longer double the damage against mechanical units but instead provide +4 penetration against all units * Makes more sense for HEAT to increase penetration rather than damage and keeps damage ranges in check, makes HEAT units a little more versatile (example: effective against berserkers and lids and units in cover) Sapper penetration to 0 (from +2) * Was already very strong due to the sheer strength of cover destruction Grenadier grants +1 damage to destructive grenades again (from 0) * Makes the perk more worthwhile in the early game Officer perk "Fortiores Una" grants 5% DR (from +0.5 DR) * Tweak away from static DR stacking, and nerfed for balance vs Semper Vigilans (on a 11 damage or higher shot it's actually stronger, on a 9 damage shot or lower -* i.e. most shots -* it's worse) Fire Rocket perk grants 2 free rockets (from 1) * Accommodates for weaker rockets Holo Rounds grants +30 aim (from +20) * Significant buff to support aspect Fire in the Hole to +20 aim (from +15) * Buff due to new position in the perk tree Field Medic grants 3 item-free medikits * Helps the medic more strongly fill the healing role while making it easier to open up other slots Savior grants 3 free medikits (from 2) and increases the healing from medikits by +3 (from +2) * Significant buff to mid-late game medics (as they were too easily replaced by AoE healing from Shoguns) Danger Zone suppression radius increased to 2 tiles (from 1.5) * It will now affect units 2 spaces away and all units on diagonals Mayhem grants a 20% chance (per enemy in sight) to trigger ITZ on the Jaeger (from 10%) * Buff for balance Mayhem grants sniper rifles/strike rifles/explosives +100/+50/+30% base damage (from +6/+3/+2 damage) * Keeps it relevant in the late game and not so overpowered in the early game Sentinel grants +10 aim to reaction shots * Buffed Double Tap aim bonus to +10 (from +20) * Overall 5 aim nerf on the perk for balance Onslaught can no longer combine with run and gun and prevents movement after use * Balance vs CE, reigning in Hit and Run style KSMs. The new onslaught is more useful for a double KSM or a KSM + Overwatch. The old one was too strong. Hit and Run deals +2 damage against uncovered targest again (from +1 damage) * It had a fun use and is likely more balanced vs S&M at +2 than at +1 Lightning Reflexes grants +1 mobility * Slight buff, makes it more offensively orientated You can now use disabling and precision shots when "in the zone" * More for convinience than anything else Smoke and Mirrors grants 1 extra smoke grenade (from 2) * Nerf due to increased strength of smoke stopping reaction shots XCOM: Multiple perk tree modifications * See perk tree image SHIVs all gain 2 more base health, 5 defense, and lose 0.5 DR * Should be just as strong as before but a little less abusive with high static DR Aliens: Zombie mobility increased to 14 (from 9) * Makes zombie missions more challenging and the fights against them more engaging (slow melee units are fairly poor gameplay against xcom which is heavy range damage) Exalt Heavy damage reduced by 2 and Exalt Elite Heavy damage reduced by 4 during research upgrades * Balance to pull down their offensive strength some Mechtoid aim to 60 (from 75) * Makes their offensive potential a lot less oppressive (15 less aim on normal shots) Seekers/Sectoids aim to 55/50 (from 65/55) * Ranger is now working on them which grants them +10 aim so this is a wash * they inadvertently had +10 aim. Whoops! =P Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug with sniper rifle ranges be inadvertently a few tiles short of double normal range Fixed a bug where a lot of reaction shot aim modifications were ineffective (RR, Sent, RfA) Fixed an issue with defensive items not showing the correct hit chance in perfect information (note: this was a display issue only) Fixed misleading descriptions on SHIV chassis Fixed a bug with the stun rifle incorrectly showing 100% hit chance when it wasn't 100% Fixed a bug where chryssalids automatically had chittin plating equipped (and therefore got the 60% DR against melee weapons) Fixed a bug where ITZ would activate even if steady aim was lost due to damage during the alien turn Fixed a bug where holo rounds would sometimes give different amounts of aim bonus (we hope) Fixed a typo on breaching ammo suggesting it only had 1 weight Fixed a typo on HE grenade * Thanks bilf Fixed text on autosentry turret Updated description on the flamethower Fixed typo on mayhem suppression descriptions being inconsistent Fixed a bug where HEAT ammo could apply to secondary weapons Bug we can't fix yet: Covert Op and crew doesn't gain xp or psi xp if the covert op is extracted before the mission is over

LW Rebalance v1.20.03 Air Game: Avalanche missle damage increased to 160 (from 140) * Makes the early air game slightly easier Overall aircraft repair time reduced by 50% * Makes bad air engagements much more forgiving as getting a fleet of aircraft back on their feet is much quicker Equiping an alien weapon now only takes 12 hours (from 24) * 24 seemed too long and swapping weapons is no longer abusive Moving an aircraft to another continent now takes 12 hours (from 36) * 36 seemed too long and swapping planes is no longer abusive Tactical: This isn't a change, more of a note about rounding of DR that I had miscalculated: The FINAL DAMAGE is rounded. So if you have 0.5 DR and are hit for 4 dmg, that 4 dmg goes to 3.5 then that 3.5 is rounded to 4. So 0.5 DR on it's own does nothing. However, 0.5 DR in any cover (10-30% DR) or on a hardened unit (30% DR) will always round to at least 1. Perks: Reconnaissance now grants the scout detailed tracking information on the aliens after each move * Thanks to szmind for this this really cool code. I wanted to get it into 1.20.02 but just couldn't keep stalling, didn't realize how close we were to finishing it. Equipment: Motion Tracker is now only equippable by a SHIV (from Scout) and base charges to 2 (from 3) * Increases the utility of the SHIVs and was a little redundant on the scout with the buff to Reconnaissance AM Rifle aim penalty to -10 (from -5) * They were too good, slight nerf Arc Rifle now grants squadsight * Gives it more room for use on support classes that aren't on the front lines Aliens: Chryssalid base health to 4 (from 6) but gain 2 more health with mid-late game alien research * Makes them easier to kill in the early game, no effect on late game strength Bug Fixes: Fixed some typos Fixed description of dangerzone to reflect the 1.5 tiles where it was inaccurate Updated description on double tap to point out there is no cooldown Fixed a bug where bonus stats were being applied twice to new soldiers Fixed a bug where grit would prevent shredder from working when it was inactive (i.e. not in cover or while performing a move) Fixed a bug with reaction fire not calculating hit chances correctly on flanked targets and other situations Fixed a bug where psi panic was too accurateby 20% Fixed a bug where ITZ + Mayhem would sometimes only grant 1 additional shot instead of an entire new chain of shots when triggering

LW Rebalance v1.20.02 Tactical: CCS will trigger before OW now * quality of life Damage Reduction is now always rounded to the nearest integer instead of randomized * This means 0.49DR will always be 0DR and 0.5DR will always be 1DR, the reason this was done is for consistency in UI and kill cams as it was causing bugs. Also, it makes understanding the damage we deal a little bit easier (by removing another source of randomization). Balance: Toned down the # of sci/eng to 2-3 (from 2-5) for country requests AP/HE Greande damage to 4/6 (from 5/7) but alien grenade foundry upgrade grants +1 more damage still setting them to 7/10 (from 7/10) * Tones down early game grenade dominance LMG damage to 200% of base (from 150%) and aim to -10 (from -15) * Buffed for balance SAW aim to 0 (from -10) * Buffed for balance Strike Rifle crit to 30 (from 20) * Slight buff Marksman's Scope aim to 15 (from 10) * Slight buff FitH grants 15 aim (from 30) * Was too strong of a rocketeer build Javelin Rockets deal double damage (from 150% damage) * Buffed Cost for salvage teams increased slightly * Was too much additional resource per credit Stingray penetration to 25% (from 50%) and aim to 25 (from 30) * Nerf for balance Reduced the damage on plasma I UFO weapons from 400 dmg to 350 dmg * Slight increase in survivability Alien Base assaults now reward a fusion core * Makes assaulting them more valuable in a way that isn't overpowering SHIVs (all types) gain 2 more health * Helps them survive a little longer QoL: Increase the exalt scan recommendation by 2 days * Should be a little more accurate Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug with wonky KSM damage possibilities Fixed a bug where some soldiers did not acquire bonus stats from things like Strict Screening, Survival Training, etc. Fixed a bug where heavy missions were sometimes getting too many aliens and swarming too few Grit no longer auto-kills the unit when activating and should be working properly Salvage teams now correctly only work on crashed/landed UFOs and alien base assaults Fixed bug with salvage teams only being granted on loaded games Fixed disarrayed Goliath and Marauder perk trees Fixed a bug where chrysallids were receiving too much DR Fixed a UI issue where stun rifles and medikits were displaying incorrect hit chances Fixed an issue where rapid reaction would sometimes fire too many (infinite?) shots Fixed a bug where ready for anything would sometimes fire too many (infinite?) shots Fixed a bug where the hit chance was incorrectly displayed for overwatch shots that did not have opportunist Fixed a bug with hit chances being too inaccurate Fixed a bug with extra salvage team costs sometimes being incorrect Fixed a bug where the KSM could do x100 damage Fixed a bug with Grit not triggering properly Fixed a bug with kill cams and rapid fire not triggering properly Fixed a bug where psionic attacks and acid would trigger DR Fixed a bug where overwatch shots were incorrectly gaining aim Fixed a bug where the elerium emitter was granting too much DR Fixed a bug where council credit rewards could be too high sometimes Fixed a UI bug for the stun rifle hit chances Fixed an incorrect description on plasma carbine defense Fixed a UI issue with inner fire not showing it's aim bonus in the barracks Misc text fixes

LW Rebalance v1.20.01 Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where flanking aim bonuses were receiving a -30 aim malus

LW Rebalance v1.20.00 Strategic: After a UFO mission the player has the option to send additional salvage teams (at a cost) which will yield 0-100% additional alloy and elerium. The cost is proportional to the size of the resource haul * Gives players a little more control over their resources (thanks to szmind for the awesome code and awesome idea!) Meld/Elerium/Alloy sell cost to 5/3/3 (from 4/2/2) * They are valuable enough that having a higher sell cost is reasonable so that players can have a little more control over resource vs credit management Elerium gained from shotdown UFOs increased to 20-30% (from 10-20%) * A little more consistency in the strategic game for elerium supply (especially into the late game where you shoot down more UFOs) Zombie terror missions occur 20% of the time (from 10%) * They were a little too rare previously Weapon Fragment gain increased by 20% * The new abductions lowered the amount overall and this seems to put it back to a more reasonable place Number of aliens on light/medium/heavy/swarming abductions increased to 6-7/8-9/11-12/14-15 (from 6-7/8-9/10-11/12-13) * More challenging on heavy and swarming abductions as they have more pods which was sometimes making them a little easier due to smaller pod sizes Increase the rate of exalt clue accumulation * You should be able to find the exalt base much quicker now Engineering Items are now sorted slightly better * QoL: Makes it easier to find things OTS Ranks required to 20/60/80/100/120 for officer ranks and 40/140 for squad size upgrades (from 20/60/90/120/150 and 40/180) * Decrease missions required so you can reasonably achieve it by the end game Cut the late game elerium cost of most research and foundry projects by 50% * Makes Elerium not such a late game bottle-neck Council requests are more costly, more rewarding, and will have less of the "that deal is amazing" and "I would never do that" trades * Makes council requests slightly more engaging Alien Nucleonics is unlocked with Alien materials (instead of UFO Power Systems) * Allows players to start accumulating extra elerium early if they so desire Bombing Run panic increase to 14 (from 12) * Slight boost to panic addition through the game The Base Defense mission will not occur until November * Gives players a little more wiggle room to prepare The Base Defense mission will only have you equip 10 soldiers (instead of 12) * Helps prevent RNG from causing a squad wipe, still has RNG of who you will actually get on the mission On an alien base defense, if you lose, you only lose 500 cash, all of your alien captives, and 20% of your scientists and engineers * Makes losing it not as detrimental to the campaign Shotguns are basic tier weapon tech (not adv tech) and SAW/LMG are adv tier weapon tech (not basic tech) [Except for plasma which has no changes due to it's divided techs] * Brings shotguns on a little earlier and pushes SAWs/LMGs a little later Reward for completing exalt missions increased to 100 credits for covert op extractions missions, 100 credits and 30 meld on capture and hold missions (with +100 more credits if the encoder/transmitter were not destroyed) * More encouragement to pass the missions Exalt scan cost increased to 100 (from 50) * Compensates for greater rewards Starting cash amounts decreased by ~50% * The cash rewards were too great, this makes them less significant Base Psionic training time is 30 days (from 20) * Slight nerf to late game psionic potential of xcom and makes higher will values more useful You are protected against swarming abductions in the first 2 months (from first 3) * Bring the potential of them on slightly earlier MEC2 research requires Elerium (instead of mobile power armor) * Bring MEC2s online a lot quicker for a stronger MEC mid-game Air Game: Firestorm costs significantly less * Makes their late game investment more worth it Interceptor health to 2000 (from 3000) and firestorm health to 4000 (from 5000) * Increases proportional damage received from UFOs by 20-33% Phoenix Cannon aim increased to 30 (from 20) but cooldown increased to 3s (from 2s) * Makes experienced pilots less impactful on the weapon Phoenix Coilgun upgrade does not increase the damage of phoenix cannons and penetration increases from 50 to 100% (instead of 50 to 150%) * Significant nerf to the upgrade, puts it on par with plasma for penetration Stingray cooldown increased to 12s (from 10s) * Slight nerf Overseer is significantly faster meaning you have around half the time to engage it as normal * Means that an air weapons stronger than phoenix of some sort is much more important to shoot it down (though straight coilguns is still 'possible'). Also, this solution makes the overseer less damaging to the player as well (should things go badly). Fighter DR decreased to 50% (from 75%) * Makes lasers a more reasonable option against them Scouts and Fighters start with 800 health (from 500), Raiders and Destroyers start with 5000 health (from 4000) * Slight buffs Upgraded Destroyers no longer gain more health and armor than the regular destroyers * They were difficult enough with their increased firepower UFOs have a 100/66/33/0% additional chance to be shot down in march/april/may/june (from 100/80/60/40/20/0) * Only the first 3 months are protected (from the first 5), makes it a little more important to use lower yield weapons, and begins to reduce mission density a little quicker Tactical: Reaction fire suffers a 20% miss chance normally, and a 40% miss chance when dashing (from 30% and 50%) * Makes overwatch fire a little more effective You can collect weapon fragments from aliens destroyed by explosions * Removes some of the negative of using explosives. Also, logically makes sense as they guns explode anyway when their user dies, so if he died by explosion there should still be some fragments. Now the only real negative is no corpse. This should have already been added when the reduced elerium and alloys from corpses was added to make all 3 resources not dependent upon explosive usage. Ammo Conservation foundry project only affects SMGs, Carbines, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles, Sniper Rifles, and Strike Rifles and cost reduced some * Nerf to ammo capacity for late game MEC/SHIVs Shred now grants +33% damage BEFORE DR (from +33% after DR) * Consistency with everything else and a buff. HEAT Ammo no longer works with shotguns * Consistency with other penetration effects not working with shotguns and realism Shredder and HEAT are now calculated into the expected damage display * This means the numbers you see will more often line up with the expect numbers and you won't have to do any additional calculations Beam Strengthening grants +1 damage during critical hits (from just +1 damage always) * Nerfed, it was too strong for such a universal upgrade Advanced Servomotors Foundry project (sprinter to all MECs and SHIVs) now only applies to SHIVs and is cheaper * Accommodates increased early mobility of MECs, and allows for the sprinter perk on the MEC trees Steadying a weapon does not trigger covering fire anymore * Gives players more options against units with covering fire XCOM: Multiple perk tree changes (see image) MECs start at 13 mobility (from 10) * Significant boost to early game MECs Choppping a MEC grants a 50% chance of bonus stats for each level above LCPL (from 100% chance) * Makes chopping higher ranked soldiers less something you strive for and more something you do only if you need to Rookies cannot use pistols * Helps fix a bug and also makes the promotions feel a little more distinct Aliens: Exalt Elite Medic navigators lose WtS, covering fire, and CCS * Was too much on them, helps make late game exalt a little easier Exalt Elite Operative navigators lose Tenacious defense * They were already tanky enough, helps make late game exalt a little easier Exalt Operative navigators gain CCS * Makes the earlier exalt operatives a little more dangerous All Exalt lose Grit * Makes overwatch still effective against them into the late game Cyberdiscs pick up Awareness * Makes them more threatening and harder to kill when on overwatch Mechtoids lose Damage Control * Helps drop them with multiple shots and lowers the extreme end of their DR Sectoid Command defense to 40 (from 20) and ethereal defense to 60 (from 40) * They were too easy to drop from a long distance. This pushes them back towards enemies that you want to get close to deal with and not just stay at range (or out of sight) and pick off. Perks: New Perk 'Penetrator': Grants +2 penetration * This applys to all sources and all targets. This acts as a replacement to Adv HEAT Tech. Adv HEAT was too strong in certain situations (trivializing them) and too weak in others. This is a more moderate solution that is slightly less effective against mechanical units but gives a nice boost against non-mechanical enemies with DR as well. %DR has been reduced across the board: Grit to 10% (from 20%), Tenacious Defense to 10% (from 20%), WtS to 30% (from 40%), Absorption Fields 20% (from 30%), SAA to within 15 tiles (from 20 tiles -* now caps at 30%), Damage Control to 20% (from 30%) * Overall reduction in DR to make shots not feel so ineffective in many situations. Effects both xcom and alien tanks. Opportunist no longer grants an aim bonus on reaction shots (it only allows for reaction shot crits now) * Overall nerf to overwatch builds, also dashing is now always effective at reducing overwatch chances even against opportunist. Lighting Reflexes dodge to 70/50% (from 80/50%) * Slight nerf with new weaker OW Rapid Reaction no longer stops firing on a miss, still grants 3 reaction shots, but also grants -10 aim on all reaction shots * It didn't really make sense that missing a shot would make your reaction time slower. It fits better that this unit is firing quickly with less aim at more targets (similar to rapid fire). Fits better with the new overwatch shots all having an aim malus. Will To Survive grants -15 defense (from -10) * Helps biotanks maintain taunts Double Tap only works with the primary weapon and has no cooldown * Significant buff, Prevents annoyances with DT triggering on the last ammo, and prevents annoying abuses with using the sidearm to trigger it (e.g. firing the sidearm to trigger the +20 aim on DT to get your primary weapon +20 aim on it's shot), and it didn't make sense to swap between weapons in the middle of a 'double tap' Dense smoke DR to 30% (from 20%) * Buff to the effectiveness when not using it for defense, boost to the support engineer Psi panic no longer receives it's +20% chance to hit * It was a little too strong, makes it less dominant vs psi inspiration and encourages use of mindfray Psi inspiration grants +10 will to the psionic * Buff for balance Mind Merge Aim bonus to 10 (from 25) * Was too strong for late game stacking, this balances the offensive and defensive aspects of it to be more even Extra Conditioning reduces the effects of fatigue and injury by 20% but only grants 1 armor health (from 2) * A more unique perk Hit and Run to 1 damage on uncovered targets (from 2) * Balance Sharpshooter aim against units in cover to 10 (from 15) * Slight Nerf, it still provides +2 penetration against units in cover Fortified grants 1 DR (from 0.5) * Slight buff to the perk, balance on the trees Covering fire doesn't half the cover-base defense during reaction shots at targets, instead it just removes the reaction shot aim penalty against stationary targets * Simplification and removes some bugs associated with cover on covering fire shots Awareness defense when on overwatch or steadying to 30 (from 40) * Nerf due to perk tree modifications Neural Feedback now always does 6 damage (from a previously complicated formula) * The consistency is nice and previously the damage was too high too often doing things like clearing out entire pods of aliens. There was also some bugs that would cause it to do upwards of 100 damage. Also gives another nice choice for units that became psionic with the bare minimum will. Danger Zone allows suppression to affect an area of 1.5 tiles (from 3 tiles) * Significant nerf to the bullet wizard to put it in line (especially with the boost to shredder and holo) ITZ now triggers off of both standard and precision shots * Gives it more flexibility Holo Rounds no longer grants +2 damage against mechanical units but grants +20 aim against marked targets (from +10) * Simplification and focus on the support aspect of the ability Executioner grants +20 aim and +30 crit (from +10 aim and +50 crit) * Always wanted to do this change but could never previously adjust the values. Thanks to szmind for figuring out how and the relevant code. Mayhem suppression damage up to 1/2/3/4/5 (from 1-3), can be affected by HEAT, but no longer penetrates all DR * Since it's affected by DR the damage needed a boost. The lack of 100% penetration and the ability to be affected by HEAT is for consistency with all other damage types. Mayhem grants +3 damage to strike rifles (from +4) * Nerf for balance, opens up more options for strike rifle snipers Mayhem grants a 10% chance per enemy in sight to activate ITZ after any shot without being steadied (for Jaegers) * New perk addition on the Jaeger tree to help get ITZ off Disabling Shot no longer grants Precision Shot * Nerf to disabling shot scout Combat drugs aim bonus to 10 (from 20) * Nerf for balance Reactive Targeting Sensors grants +2 ammo * Buff to help with ammo consumption problems Equipment: New small item 'Javelin Rockets' replaces the old shredder rocket: grants 2 rockets, weighs 3 (from 2), has a 1.5 tile radius, shreds the target, and damage to 150% * Gives the rocketeer more options against single targets and more capability to shred Rocket radius back to 6 (from 5) * With the smaller abductions the rocketeer and rockets took a significant nerf, this helps them gain back some footing (as well as the new tree) Sniper/Strike Rifle damage to 100/125% of base (from 125/150% of base) but ammo to 4 (from 3) * Nerf to damage output on the sniper/scout, but boost to consistency. Puts them more inline with other weapons. SAW/LMG damage to 150/150% of base (from 150/175% of base) and aim to -10/-15 (from -5/-15) * Slight nerf on both, brings them closer together. Low aim and high damage makes sense since they are both fired from the hip and are huge. Hi Cap Mags can be equipped by all 8 biologic classes now (previously restricted from gunners and snipers) * No need to cap it with the higher ammo on the weapons Psi Screen gains +10 defense but loses +1 DR * Reversion to a defensive item for non-tank psionic classes Elerium Emitter DR to 1 (from 1.5) * Slight nerf to make officer tanks more competitive vs psionic tanks Combat Stims grant +6 mobility (from +4) * Buffed MEC3 suit costs decreased significantly * Makes it more reasonable to field multiple in the end-game, note that the cost to research the MEC suits has increased. Overall it's cheaper and more of the cost is in the research instead of the actual suits. LMEC suits no longer have an aim bonus * Nerf to make heavier MEC suits more of an option and it was never actually working (even though it showed up in the total aim #) Aurora/Vortex Armor will bonus to 10/20 (from 20/30) * Nerf to accommodate bonus will on psi inspiration Assault and Strike Rifle crit to 20 (from 10) * Balance SMGs mobility to 2 (from 3) but critical chance to 40 (from 0) * Gives them a more unique niche and reduces the gamey aspect of it Machine Pistol crit to 20 (from 0) * Slight boost, balance Shotguns regain a mobility, 5 crit, and an ammo * Helps them reposition close to targets and keep firing, in the previous iterations of the mod shotguns felt slightly too weak due to increased prevalence of CCS and CCS+CF Regenerator Vest DR to 0.5 (from 1) * Slight nerf Chitin plating reduces melee damage by 60% (from 30%) * Was too ineffective at 30% Reinforced armor health to 3 (from 2) * Buffed, balance Ceramic Plating health to 2 (from 3) * nerfed as a free item Breaching Ammo now negates the hardened perk (instead of just reducing it back to 30%) but mobility to -2 (from -1) * Creates a more unique role to further distinguish it from AP ammo Flamethrower/Incinerator Module damage to 6/6 (from 5/8) * Slight buff before you have the module Arc Rifle loses disabling shot * Acts as a nerf to the rifle, it was quite overpowered before (note: a sniper/scout with disabling shot can still use the arc rifle to disable targets) MEC weapons regain their squadsight range * To accommodate SS on the Jaeger Bug Fixes: Fixed and cleaned up multiple bugs related to explosives not granting enough damage and/or granting too much DR * Most of the work here goes to szminds entire rework of the DR mechanism. Thanks to him! Fixed a bug where cover defense was not calculated correctly for aliens around ethereals with distortion Inner Fire now correctly displays the bonus aim in the F1 panel Laser Sight and Scope no longer show a crit bonus when using a pistol Mindfray no longer shows >100 damage when targeting someone Ready For Anything removed from all aliens * It was bugged and would sometimes allow the aliens to fire multiple (>2) shots per turn Fixed a bug where if you had 100+% chance to hit you would ignore the effects of distortion Fixed description on danger zone so that it correctly says it only works on grenade launchers, mines, and rockets * Not on grenades Mutons no longer display the intimidate perk on F1 * Was a display bug only Fixed typo on AM Long Rifle description

LW Rebalance v1.19.16

Bug Fixes: DR now is applied correctly * There was a bug applying it twice in many situations

LW Rebalance v1.19.15

QoL: Fixed some formating issues on the new damage display readout and fixed some inappropriate numbers from popping up * Should be very accurate now. Basically what it does is takes an average shot and rolls DR against it and gives you the result. Note: checking multiple times may change the result (as the DR could round up or down), but it should give a good rough idea about your shot.

Bug Fixes: Soldiers no longer start with double equipped items (as it should have been technically impossible) Fixed a bug where flak ammo could cause a crash to desktop Fixed various inaccurate or slightly erroneous descriptions ITZ was supposed to have decrementing aim/crit and the inability to steady the weapon while ITZ in the last patch but it got left off * Just like previously on ITZ consecutive shots lower aim and crit by 10 and you cannot steady aim after ITZ (prevents command from overpowering it) HEAT, Shredder, and Holo do not work on pistols * Was bugged on shredder, sometimes doing so. Other are for consistency. Helps ensure the primary weapon is the primary weapon and not just used for stats (e.g. SMG). Mayhem Suppression correctly is not affected by HEAT Ammo MEC1 correctly has body shield and not damage control Combat drugs now correctly increases aim for the purpose of scatter reduction when firing a rocket The 0 scientists/engineers gained per month on the satellite screen are long displayed * Cleaning up the UI

LW Rebalance v1.19.14

Note: Sorry about another balance patch, it's just that HEAT, explosives, MEC1, and penetrations were a little too imbalanced to leave it all for 2-3 months. This patch should add smoothly into existing campaigns. NO MORE balance changes until the new year!

Strategic: Campaigns are now limited to 1 base defense mission per campaign * It never made sense with the cut scene that we got mind controlled again and were completely surprised. Plus, the mission is so spontaneous and punishing it's not really adding a good element to the game to have multiples.

Tactical: You can now see your weapon penetration and expected damage and DR amount when firing at targets * Gives players more information to help them more quickly understand how much damage they'll do * Thanks to szmind for the code.

Perks: HEAT Ammo and HEAT Warheads grants double damage BEFORE damage reduction (Advanced HEAT Technology increases this to triple damage) * This is the most smooth and effective method. It was abandoned previously due to quite a lot of programming difficulty. However, where there is a will, there is a way. Or in this case, where there is szmind, there is a way. After 3 days of many tests and many hours of programming we finally got it to work for both HEAT ammo and HEAT warheads. Overall this makes DR still relevant when using HEAT while still allowing HEAT to be quite effective against mechanical units.

Equipment: AP grenade damage to 5 (from 4) * Boost for balance, was a little too weak compared to the other variants Grenade Launcher damage to 10 (from 8) * Boost for balance, buff to grenade-based Shogun and Goliath Grenade AoE increased to 3 tiles (from 2.5) * Boost for balance, makes it a little easier for grenades to hit airborne units Flak ammo to +3 damage (from +4) * Was too strong at +4, especially with collateral Sniper Rifle penetration to +1 (from +2) * Reduces it's strength against high DR enemies giving it a little less 'overall' dominance (Makes more room for HEAT-based builds), more balance for strike vs sniper rifle snipers MEC-1 Suit defense increased to 30 (from 15) and gains the body shield perk, but mobility to 0 (from 1), DR to 0 (from 1), HP to 8 (from 10), aim to 0 (from 5) * The defense with the body shield perk makes the MEC1 much more able to survive in the early game as biotanks in light cover and SHIVs will still taunt more * Now the MEC1 is more like an early version of the LMEC2

XCOM: Tandem on Rocketeer replaced with Danger Zone * Tandem was too strong that the perk level wasn't balanced

Bug Fixes: UI display of DR on MECs no longer incorrectly reduces static DR (display only) if the %DR gets too high * Thanks to szmind for finding and fixing the erroneous code * was a display bug only Updated possibly misleading descriptions of HEAT Ammo, HEAT Warheads, and Advanced HEAT Tech * It should now be more obvious what they do DR display when using explosives is now fixed (no longer seeing 0 dmg and 8 DR grenades against units with 2 DR that didn't make any sense) * thanks to szmind * It was a problem with the original LW code that didn't incorporate DR into the fall-off reduction. Previously it would always show the DR BEFORE fall-off damage (e.g. on an 8 dmg grenade that only did 2 damage due to fall off that hit a unit with 50% DR the DR display would be 4 where it should have been 1). Things should work perfectly now. Updated psi panic description to include "Psi panicked units may unpanic at the beginning of their turns." * It's a bug that I'm not sure we'll be able to fix so until then it's a feature. =P

LW Rebalance v1.19.13

A note on future updates: There will be no further updates (besides bug fixing or unintended problems) until 2019 to allow players to start campaigns without having much modification.

Strategic: High or low health will now alter the threshold for when a soldier becomes injured due to fatigue * For example, a soldier with 4 health will become injured from fatigue at ~18 turns. A soldier with 8 health will become injured from fatigue at ~22 turns. A small change that was intended to be in the original system. Soldiers who become injured from excess fatigue will only receive an extra injury time of +3 days (from an actual 1 health point of injury damage worth of injury time which could grant +6-15 days) * Makes it less penalizing to players for pushing past 20 turns during a mission. Note: this does not apply to bringing fatigued soldiers on missions, only to keeping healthy soldiers on missions for a long time New Warfare reduced to 20% discount (from 30%) * Balance

Equipment: Shots from the Arc Rifle do not apply HEAT ammo * Was too powerful in combination, was an oversight being left in

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where sharpshooter wasn't working on units with Low Profile in low cover Psi Screen now correctly grants +1 DR

LW Rebalance v1.19.12

QoL: Geoscape now pauses on all notifications (not just those you have the ability to immediately fulfill) * So you don't waste time on those that might be difficult to fulfill * Thanks szmind for the code! :)

Perks: Savior grants 2 additional free medikits again (from 0) * Helps medics retain adequate healing due to item restrictions Fire in the Hole back to 30 aim * The lack of HEAT and mayhem is actually a siginficant nerf on FiTH rocketeers so they needed a little more oomph Lead by example grants 0 armor health (from +1) and +1 DR (from +0) * Bringing back the officer tank, gives an option for non-psionic classes to be competitive tanks. On non-tanks gives them a little more resiliency than just the 1 armor health. HEAT and HEAT warheads to double damage (from +150% base damage) and Advanced HEAT Tech upgrades this to triple damage (from +300% base damage) * Slight nerf. Also, just because of coding there was a bug in HEAT and I couldn't get HEAT explosives to work like HEAT ammo and I felt them being consistent was important. Now they simply double your damage (triple with Advanced HEAT Tech) dealt against mechanical units (just like how shredder works). This means they interact with +damage and +penetration perks/items (e.g. sapper, enhanced beam optics, etc.). Note: you will not see the DR #'s increase visually when HEAT triggers.

Aliens: Mechtoids lose LnL * While it helped with their ammo and made them less likely to be disabled, they were tanky enough with the new HEAT changes that they didn't need the extra boost

Equipment: Flak ammo grants +4 damage against flying targets (from +3) * buff for competitiveness Mind Shield renamed to Psi Accelerator and mobility to 0 (from -1) * buff for balance, name changed because it was mostly used in an offensive capacity and the shield didn't really reflect this component Psi Screen defense to 0 (from +20) and DR to +1 (from 0) * The defense was not useful enough and made the item uncompetitive Banshee and Aegis armor gain 2 mobility but lose an item slot * Provides a more unique niche for the mobile power armors Motion Tracker base charges to 3 (from 2) * Helps visualize larger maps to help speed up completion times

Bug Fixes: HEAT warheads now correctly provides extra damage * There was a bug preventing it from triggering and was one of the other reasons both versions of HEAT received a slight rework Grenade Launcher now correctly states it starts with 2 ammo * accidently had it saying 3 Packmaster no longer grants proximity mines an extra ammo * was accidently increasing it Grit was incorrectly granting +2 armor health * previous code I forgot to remove

LW Rebalance v1.19.11

Strategic Game: Removed some coding that made late game abductions gain 4 aliens * Thanks Jexats You will not get heavy abductions in the first month and you will not get swarming abductions in the first 3 months * Prevents getting overwhelmed before you can get a reasonable squad together

of aliens on abductions are now (on average): Light 6-7, Medium is 8-9, Heavy is 10-11, Swarming is 12-13 * There was some code that was modifying the numbers that I fixed, also lowered the difficulty of the difficult missions some more. Makes Swarming closer to what Heavy was before (effectively eliminating old swarming missions).

First mission has 7 aliens on normal/classic, 10 on brutal, and 13 on impossible * Due to SHIV strength nerf All OTS upgrades after LT require 10 more missions * Slight push back to balance missions vs previous ranks again. The Zombie mission occurs randomly now (1 of 10 chance each terror mission) * Means you can't count and prepare for it Each mission grants 20 extra experience for each soldier * Helps accommodate for lower overall mission xp gain on abduction due to fewer troops deployed You can now research tactical rigging after sectoid interrogation (from muton elite interrogation) and the cost is much cheaper * Allows players to get 3 item slots much earlier in the game (thanks to all those who pushed this idea) Condensed the spacing of equipped items on soldiers in the barracks so you can see the 3rd item slot by default * Just a little QoL change Soldiers can only equip 1 of each small item * Makes early tactical rigging not so overpowered and encourages diversity in builds Jungle Scouts now permanently grants tactical rigging (from an early armor only tactical rigging) * Neccessary as tactical rigging is much easier to acquire (use console command with "`givefoundry TacticalRigging" if you are already in the middle of a campaign)

Tactical Game: Officers now share will with any ally within 19 tiles (from 8 tiles) * Makes it much more useful to have officer's with high will * Thanks szmind for the code! :)

Air Game: Increased the speed of interceptors and firestorms significantly * Helps get access to UFOs quickly in large continents again

Equipment: Battle Rifle can now be equipped by the rocketeer * Helps with the OW build and there really wasn't a good reason to restrict it from them * thanks xwynns Rocket AoE reduced from 6 to 5 * Nerf to the strength of the rocketeer Shedder Ammo weight back to 1 (from 2) but has a 90 elerium cost * With the nerf it didn't need the extra weight * makes the item better but more expensive

XCOM: All SHIVs have 1 less DR but gain 2 more armor health * Helps prevent trivialization of content with the early SHIVs and when you get the alloy SHIVs early Disabling shot on the sniper replaced with shredder ammo * Further distinguishes the scout and sniper Bombard on the Medic replaced with packmaster * Since item slots are limited you needed this to be a competitive support Sniper Class stat growth aim bonus to +20 (from +15) * Slight buff

Bug Fixes: Sawed-off Shotgun correctly is described as -2 mobility

LW Rebalance v1.19.10

Strategic: Psi training base amount of time to 20 days (from 30) * Brings psionics online faster Interceptor and Firestorm speed increased slightly * Makes it a little less likely for the UFO to dodge your fighters MECs have 50% increased fatigue (from 100% increased fatigue) * Makes them a little easier to field more frequently MECs now have 50% increased threshold of "when fatigue turns into injury" (i.e. 9 days of fatigue instead of 6) * They get 50% more fatigue but were still getting injured once they passed 6 days which made them almost always injured. Now they will get injured from fatigue around the same time as regular soldiers (~20 turns) Beam Strengthening now requires 14 UFO power sources (from 10) * It was coming online too early making skipping gauss a more common than ideal occurance. It is designed so that if you get stuck without gauss and if you happen to get a lot of power cores, you can pump your laser strength, not act as a planned skip. The alien grenade foundry project is now displayed even if you don't have an alien grenade * QoL improvement

Tactical: Abduction missions have 33% less enemies and you can only bring 4 soldiers (to start) * This is probably the biggest change of the version. The maps were too small for such high density of XCOM and the aliens. This keeps the challenge similar but allows more tactics by giving more room for players to move around. # of aliens on abductions by difficulty are now: 5-7/8-10/11-13/14-16. Squad size upgrades work on all missions now * helps with mid-late game EXALT missions Base Defense Missions have 20% less enemies * Helps make them not so punishing as they are not optional missions and can be devestating to a campaign Trap UFOs do not occur * With the increase in research landed UFOs were already difficult enough. While they had the advantage of forcing players to consider retreat, they unfortunately were not that enjoyable as they were long missions; too long; exhaustingly long. Large landeds were already long enough. Soldiers no longer take smoke grenades on the first mission (as the sectoids can bypass it too easily) and instead equip ceramic platings again * Just makes sense Soldiers are 10% less likely to panic and chain panic * Now, compared to LW 1.0, they are 20% more likely to panic and 10% less likely to chain panic * Panic was a little too much of a factor and chain panic could be too devestating

XCOM: Disabling shot on the scout grants Precision Shot instead of Squadsight * helps eliminate a visual bug (the marksman's scope grants squadsight now, just like vanilla) Brawler and RnG swapped on the Marauder * Makes a more competitive tree and puts the marauder into a more mobile role Gunner gains 20W (from 10W) * With the nerf to HEAT and Shredder Ammo it needed a boost. Helps make sure each of the 4 major classes have a good psi unit

Aliens: Significantly reduced the amount of ammo aliens had: now all small and medium weapons have 3 ammo and all large weapons have 5 ammo (from 4-8 ammo) * Makes long drawn out fights not so disadvantageous just for XCOM due to ammo constraints Ethereal and Uber Ethereal regeneration lowered to 10/15 (from 20/30) * Makes them not so essential to drop in a single turn Mechtoids now start with LnL * Helps with RR ammo problems

Perks: HEAT ammo/warheads extra damage is now subject to DR, but grants 150% of base damage and works with shotguns and sidearms * Slight nerf to it's strength. Buff to tanky mechanical units. Means it now works in conjunction with acid and shred (previously it ignored shred and didn't care about acid). Allowing it to work with shotguns and sidearms is for gameplay convenience. Mayhem grants +2 damage to rockets (from +3) * Nerf for balance on the trees Fire in the Hole grants +20 aim for the purposes of reducing rocket scatter (from +30) * Nerf for balance on the trees Shred grants +33% damage (from +50%) * Nerf so that it's not so mandatory, also nerf to the bullet wizard. Now the effect on a full life alien is similar to removing 25% of it's health (from 33% of it's health). As an example, shredding a 20 health muton was similar to dealing 6.6 dmg with the previous shred. With the new shred, shredding a 20 health muton will be similar to dealing 5 dmg. CCS no longer grants +1 ammo but instead grants covering fire * We finally got it to work bug free (I'm pretty sure). Should be a significant improvement to how often CCS triggers and thereby a significant boost to the perk. It makes more thematic sense than +1 ammo. Works even more synergistically with brawler. Hardened grants no bonus DR if being hit by an AM rifle (from 30%) * So: hardened is +30% DR but with 2 exceptions: 1) It's 50% DR against shotguns without breaching ammo and 2) It's 0% DR against AM rifles * Gives AM rifles a unique niche Shock-Absorbent Armor grants proximity DR if the target is within 20 tiles (+2% DR per tile up to +40% at point blank) (from within 15 tiles and +30% at point blank) * Buff as it was too ineffective at ranges around 10 tiles Awareness grants +40 defense (from +30) * Buff so that both builds on the Jaeger are more likely to avoid getting hit while surrounded by enemies

Equipment: Flak ammo grants +3 damage which is subject to DR (from +3 or +30% after DR) * Slight nerf, simplification, and standardization Marksman's Scope grants Squadsight (instead of Precision Shot) * Switch of scout perks to prevent a display bug Sawed-off shotgun damage back to 4 (from 3) but mobility to -2 (from -1) * Makes it more impactful at the cost of more mobility loss. With proximity bonus it hits 6 damage at point blank. Now it's like a normal ballistic shotgun but: it can fit in a pistol slot, has 1 ammo, has -2 mobility, and suffers from both shotgun and sidearm aim decrements further than 10 tiles. KSM damage to 25 (from 20) but no longer penetrates all DR * Buff against low DR units, nerf against high DR units. Overall slight nerf to MECs (specifically the Maruader was too strong with onslaught) and buff to alien mechanical units. AM rifles are now like normal gauss sniper/strike rifles except they reduce the hardened perk DR to 0% (from 30%) and have 5 less aim (they lose their 100% penetration) * Prevents them from trivializing WtS and other high %DR tanky units but still focuses them on higher DR units. Note: getting rid of 30% DR on a unit can be similar to doing 50% more damage. Regenerator Vest grants +1 HP (from +0) * Slight boost for competitiveness

Bug Fixes: OW shots will not receive a covering fire bonus if the overwatcher if flanking a unit * It was bugged previously where covering fire against a flanked unit would grant an additional bonus Sentinel Drone now correctly gives CCS to SHIVS * It was a LW 1.0 bug =P Will to survive defense malus is now a bonus in the UI * Fixes a display issue for calculating aim in the UI Fire in the Hole now correctly provides additional aim for the purposes of reducing rocket scatter * Thanks szmind Terror missions are no longer accidentally receiving extra aliens in the end game * There was code that was never adjusted by -30% which now is Again, tried to completely remove the invisible sectoids that can appear during terror missions * Thanks szmind Fixed a bug where units injured by too much fatigue were getting too much injury time Ready For Anything will work even if a free action was already taken * For example: if you used paramedic on the medic and then fired with RfA you will now still enter overwatch Smoke now says it grants 30 defense on the user interface * Used to only say 20 Fixed various bugs with repair servos: Repair Servos will not heal more than the number of repair servos left, Repair Servos will trigger even if there is only 1 left, Repair Servos does not slow down when you only have a few left LMGs now display their correct aim * Was a UI bug for LMGs

LW Rebalance v1.19.09

Strategic: All games start with 5 random soldiers from the country of origin (from 3) * Helps with earlier fatigue problems, though with the cost decreased to 50 per soldier and the large starting incomes you can just hire soldiers off the bat anyway Soldiers gained each month are reduced to 6-10 for the first month, 5-9 for 2nd, 4-7 for 3rd, 3-6 for 4th, 2-4 for 5th, 1-3 for 6th and beyond * There was a bit of a flood and ideally soldiers are a more scarce resources, this helps Meld sells for 4 (from 3) * Gives you more of an option to sacrifice it for credits OTS upgrades SS1/SS2 and LT/CPT/MAJ/COL/CMDR require 30/170 and 20/50/80/110/140 successful missions * Slight increase in the late game # required. It was occuring slightly too early. Interceptor/Firestorm refuel and rearm time to 5 hours (from 16) but UFOs will not spend as long on their objectives * In the end, this still means each plane can realistically only engage a UFO once, but it should make it easier to deal with multiple UFOs that are detected within the same day

Tactical: Aliens never feel compelled to attack civilians over XCOM on terror missions * A big change and a very nice upgrade to the way terror missions play out. It was previously reverted because it was causing the LoS invisible sectoids to appear and the aliens to attack them, however, I think szmind may have found the fix to that. :) Acid grants -50% DR (from -5 DR) * Makes it so that tanky units can still tank somewhat when they do receive acid. Also means that against high DR units (e.g. sectopods) higher damage weapons still perform better. Just in case anyone is interested: static penetration occurs before %-based penetration (same order as DR) and acid counts at %-based penetration. Helps make cover still relevant during battles where acid is a factor. Base Fatigue per mission is now 1 day (from 1.5 days) * Slightly less fatigue overall by 0.5 days Taking a fatigued soldier on a mission now grants sets them at 6 days of injury (+ whatever fatigue and injury times they acrue in the mission) (was previously 10 days of injury + the extra) * Makes it a little more reasonable to injur your fatigued soldiers, but still more punishing than LW 1.0 Soldiers who receive 6 days or more of fatigue (i.e. they take over 20 turns on a mission) are now auto-injured (from 10 days) * Still prevents abuse by not letting you reset long fatigue times by taking them on missions again -* but feels less punishing, also lines up nicely to the health degrade starting at 20 turns (note there can be fatigue increasing or altering effects, so it's not always right on 20 turns) EXALT Elite have gauss weapons (I forgot to include this as a changelog note like 5 versions ago) but the EXALT snipers now carry strike rifles and EXALT Elite snipers carry laser strike rifles * Snipers don't carry the AM weapons b/c they are too strong against XCOM. Just as a note, exalt damage has been modified so the gauss isn't doing more damage, it just looks better and allows a larger reward if you capture their weapons.

Perks: Grit grants +20% DR against all shots when in cover and not moving (from 0%) and armor health to +0 (from +2) * Boost to the gunner tank as it comes on quite late. Note: it still grants +100% DR against reaction shots when in cover and not moving. Also increases the relevance of cover. Reactive Targeting Sensors grants +20 aim on all reaction shots (from +10) * Boost as it's now a SHIV/Alien only item

XCOM: First Aid on the Infantry replaced with Grit * Boost to the infantry tank SHIV "armor" health increased to 6/8/6 (from 4/6/4) * Makes it a little easier not to get injured with your SHIV (or if you do, a little less punishing)

Aliens: All aliens lose the sharpshooter perk * Makes cover not such an unreasonable spot to fight against thinmen and exalt with the sharpshooter trait. Helps make cover more relevant. Thinmen navigators will no longer acquire squadsight (note: leaders still will) * They originally acquired squadsight more because they needed a boost into the end game. However, with the new pod mechanics, squadsight is significantly stronger and feels too strong with multiple pods when on the receiving end.

Equipment: Marksman's Scope aim to +10 (from +5) * Buff Autosentry Turrent (Sentinel on SHIVs) now grants Reactive Targeting Sensors instead * Without opportunist and covering fire, sentinel wasn't as good and this gives the SHIVs a unique role (as RTS is not on any MEC anymore) Adaptive Tracking Pods (Opportunist on SHIVs) now grants Deadeye instead but mobility to -1 (from 0) * Opportunist was bugged (i.e. wasn't applying * couldn't figure out why or how to fix) and this helps the SHIVs take on an offensive role Smartshell Pods (Flush on SHIVs) mobility to 0 (from -1) * Balance. Without HEAT ammo this is a lot worse -* still good though.

Bug Fixes: The Plasma Dragon now appropriately grants danger zone Picking up disabling shot on the sniper no longer resets the sniper/scout perk tree SHIV Chassis now state that they can be sold freely Hit and Run now properly allows psychokinetic strike to be used afterwards

LW Rebalance v1.19.08

QoL: "Shot is Blocked" text is now more obvious * for xwynns =D

Strategic: Added in a 2nd wave option, "Resilient Troops": Disables the 10% chance to lose 1 health per turn (cannot go below 1 health) after 20 turns, on non-EXALT and non-base defense missions, that soldiers and MECs receive. Added in a 2nd wave option, "Consistent Fatigue": Soldiers and MECs will no longer receive extra fatigue for every turn that passes during a non-EXALT non-base defense mission but base fatigue per mission is increased by 3 days. Similar to LW 1.0. Added in a 2nd wave option, "Sturdier UFOs": UFOs will never get destroyed in the air and instead will always be shot down. The 2nd wave option, "Turn Off Red Fog" is renamed to "Just a Flesh Wound" Cost of soldiers reduced back to 50 (from 100) * No need for the high cost with OTS not caring about ranks as much, with the high initial cash flow players can thicken out their roster to help avoid and fix early fatigue/injury spirals

Perks: Hit and Run now triggers off of standard, disabling, and precision shots (from just standard shots) * Buff to the versatility of the strike rifle scout Hit and Run now grants +2 damage to the first shot of each turn at uncovered targets (from +0) * Buff to the strike rifle scout, shotgun scout, and Shogun

Equipment: Marksman's Scope now grants Precision Shot (instead of sharpshooter) * Sharpshooter did not synergize with HnR and the mobility theme of the scout, this gives the scout some nice reach when it can't find a target and some nice damage when it can You can now only equip 1 small item armor (Chamelon Suit, Alloy Plating, Chitting Plating, Ceramic Plating, Reinforced Armor, Regenerator Vest, Core Armoring, Alloy Carbine Plating) at a time * Opens up options for other slots instead of stacking, allows the items to be stronger Ceramic Plating HP to +3 (from +2) * Buffed as you can only equip 1 Reinforced Armor DR to +1.5 (from +1) * Buffed as you can only equip 1 Alloy Plating HP to +5 (from +4) * Buffed as you can only equip 1 Chittin Plating DR to +1 (from +0.5) * Buffed as you can only equip 1 Regenerator Vest DR to +1 (from +0.5) * Buffed as you can only equip 1 Chameleon Suit Defense to +10 (from 0) * Buffed as you can only equip 1 Core Armoring DR to +1.5 (from +1) * Buffed as you can only equip 1 Alloy Carbide Plating HP to +5 (from +4) * Buffed as you can only equip 1

Bug Fixes: Interceptors that disengaged can no longer immediately re-engage * There was a bug that sometimes allowed this Alloy plating now states it grants the appropriate HP as intended * Was not update in the last version Fixed a bug where psycokinetic strike was being disabled by Hit and Run Version 1.19.07 LW Rebalance v1.19.07

QoL: There is now a turn display at the beginning of each turn * Thanks to szmind for the code

Tactical: Fatigue Mechanic Tweaks:

Initial Fatigue is now set at 1.5 days (3 days for DW 0.5) instead of 0.5 days (1 day for DW 0.5) * Fatigue was a little too light allowing A and B teams to chain missions too frequently (esp for SHIVs, or all units on EXALT or base defense missions)
After turn 20: On non-EXALT and non-base defense missions, each soldier or MEC has a 10% chance each turn to lose 1 health (this cannot reduce your health below 1) * While the new fatigue system is a great replacement to green fog, the ability to pass a mission is sometimes worth far more than the punishment of extra fatigue. For example, overwatch cheesing a large landed over 120 turns in the first month (I just did this) was easily worth losing the 6 soldiers for 60 days for the massive spoils. There needed to be 'some' form of light encouragement in the tactical game, but one that would not affect players on the majority of missions. This should not affect ~95% of missions as most are under 20 turns. The other problem was the base assaults and long missions which were really hard got significantly easier with the removal of green fog. This adds a comparatively minor but significant tactical difficulty increase on such missions. As an example, if you had a 40 turn base assault, on average each of your soldiers would lose 2 health, which is fairly negligible.

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where grenades could trigger the shredder effect Beam Strengthening now appropriately requires the experimental warfare technology

LW Rebalance v1.19.06

QoL: Included maintenance costs in the description of facilities when attempting to build them

Strategic: Archtects of the Future SA continent bonus reduced to 80% (from 100%) * To make there be a minimal cost Passive income from continents increased by 15% * The 20% was a little too strong of a reduction, this should be the happy medium and help accommodate for increased maintenance costs as well Increased the maintenance costs on fusion reactors, elerium generators, workshops, and laboratories, decreased on some other facilities * Makes the continent bonuses that discount them stronger, accommodates for increased cash, makes building them more of a decision between cash flow and research/resources Autopsies and Interrogations occur at normal speed (from 2x as slow) * The original purpose of increasing the length never panned out, and it was making acquiring them often a weaker option which was not ideal Psi Labs are much cheaper to build and mantain * Increase ease of turning psionics on early. Too many late game campaigns had limited psionics due to starting late. Xenopsionics is much quicker and cheaper to research * Increase ease of turning psionics on early. Too many late game campaigns had limited psionics due to starting late. Starting Cash of various countries modified to reflect how easy or difficult it is as a starting location * This is one of those things I always knew was not balanced but needed someone to point it out. The balancing was really hard for me (as there are 1000 factors to consider) and will likely change if there is feedback. If you feel like one location deserves more or less please let me know.

Air Game: Overseer health to 2000 (from 1000) * Was a little TOO easy to down

Tactical: Green Fog is removed as a 2nd wave option * It's entire purpose is now replaced with the new fatigue system, using it would be serious overkill and I never could iron out all the display bugs on it Red Fog 2nd wave option changed to "Disable Red Fog" * Red Fog is now automatic, and the 2nd wave option simply disables it

New fatigue system:

Base fatigue per mission is 12 hours (24 hours for DW 0.5)
Soldiers and MECs receive 6 hours additional fatigue each turn (except on base defense and EXALT missions) (12 hours for DW 0.5)
Brining a fatigued soldier on a mission grants them +10 days of injury (+20 days for DW 0.5)
Non-fatigued soldiers that receive more than 10 days of fatigue will become injured (+20 days for DW 0.5)
This is a big change and is intended to replace green fog. Now, the penalty for taking too long is just extra fatigue on your soldiers and you don't have to worry that near the end of a mission you soldiers will be crawling towards the enemies and unable to aim. Also, it didn't really make sense that soldiers would be out for 4-5 days on non-gree fog missions so it's nice that on EXALT and base missions there is <1 day of fatigue. Also a buff to SHIVs that have very low fatigue (which makes sense). Another benefit is if you enter a mission for only a few turns you have very little fatigue.

Perks: Stay Frosty reduces fatigue by 10% * Makes it clear how it works on all types of DW games Adavanced Surgery reduces soldier injury time by 15% (from 30%) * Was too strong Bone Marrow reduces injury time by 33% (from 66%) * makes all MECs/SHIVs/Soldier on par for how much they can reduce injuries with bonuses at 33% each In The Zone has no aim or crit malus with consecutive shots (from -5 aim/crit on each subsequent shot) * Slight buff, simplification Combat Drugs regains +20 aim, will, and crit (from +10 aim, +20 crit, +30 will) * Buff to the support medic (the other two medics were really good) Dense smoke grants 20% DR (from 0%) * Buff to the support engineer. This was taken off before, but it has a great mechanic in how it allows dense smoke to interact with One For All.

Equipment: Respirator Implant grants +1 health and +10 defense * Boost now that it doesn't help with green fog anymore Alloy plating health to +4 (from +3) * Boost for balance Alloy carbide plating health to +4 (from +3) * Boost for balance Arc Rifle aim to +10 (from +15) * Slight nerf and consistency with other laser weapons Units can only equip 1 small ammo item at a time * It was bugging out and I couldnt' fix it when you had multiples -* plus this makes more sense anyway

Bug Fixes: Updated text on laboratories to reflect that they only grant 40% additional research Szmind may have fixed the weird soldiers overlapping when equipping items for a mission from tracktwo's loadout mod * Go szmind. :)

LW Rebalance v1.19.05

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where LW would throw out many errors (but not actually affect the game) * This is more behind-the-scenes clean-up. Thanks to szmind for the fix Fixed a bug with UFOs always missing (whoopsies) * While fixing the UFO Scanner display bug this was an additional bug that was picked up. Thanks to szmind for the updated code Onslaught no longer grants +4 damage to Kinetic Strikes * Remenant bug from the left over LW 1.0 aspect of MEC Close Combat Onslaught will now stay as a perk on Maruaders post-battle * It would previously get 'unselected' and after each battle you could get a little extra level stats by selecting it again

LW Rebalance v1.19.04

Strategy Game: Laboratories/workshops can be built when you have multiples of 15 scientists/engineers (from multiples of 20) * Means you can bring the first one online much earlier (only requiring 5 of either) Laboratories only provide +40% additional research (from +50%) * Note: adjacency bonus is still 20%, this is to accommodate for them coming on-line earlier and to reduce their impact slightly so if you don't get them on-time it doesn't feel as punishing

Air Game: UFOs have a 100% chance to automatically be shot down instead of destroyed (regardless of overkill) in the first month and then 20% less chance each month there after (from 25% less chance each month there after) * Increases the amount of shot downs (vs destroyed) in the early and mid game, removes a little more of the RNG

Tactical: OW changes (in regards to triggering with less than 1 tile) reverted back to vanilla LW 1.0 * There were too many bugs occuring and too many fringe cases that were not consistant that I couldn't fix, so I think it's best to leave it as it was (OW triggers only if you move >1 tile) * A few situations that caused an indefinite hang, some crit not be calculated correctly, and a lot of inconsitency made the new system not worth the effort. We tried. =P

Equipment: Sawed-Off Shotgun crit to 15 (from 0) * Consistency with other shotguns

Perks: Death From Afar aim to +10 (from +15) * Was too easy to keep active the majority of the time and thus was too strong

Aliens: All EXALT lose the ability to use grenades * Grenades were too strong if they were used and too much RNG to see if they'd be used. It's not like normal aliens where you can keep them at a distance because they are dropping all around you. All EXALT base health decreased by ~20% * Tone down the mission difficulty

Bug Fixes: Fixed a sporadic bug where the display of health for UFOs (with the UFO Scanner foundry project) was updating inaccurately * Despite evidence to the contrary, in the end, it appears that it was just a display bug. Regardless, it has been fixed now so the display should be accurate. Fixed a bug where flak ammo being used on flyers could cause a crash to desktop Sprinter description updated to say it grants 2 mobility * It was accidently still saying it granted 3 mobility Infantry correctly has First Aid as their GSGT pick * It was accidently set as Grit instead Fixed a typo on the holo charger description Fixed a bug with council request times being too short and asking for too many of certain items Fixed a bug where it was more likely for the aliens to target the 'hidden' sectoid used in the line of sight mod during terror missions, but to do so I had to remove the fix to the AI which caused them NOT to preferentially target civilians

LW Rebalance v1.19.03

Strategy: Legacy of Uxmul grants 9 bonus will only for the purposes of psionic training (from 50% additive increase training chance) * Ability had to be reworked with new mechanics as the old ability was too limited Patriae Semper Vigilis only grants 6 bonus will (from 8) * Too strong for psionic training making it overall imbalanced vs the other stats The Old Patch grants 65% reduced psionic training time (from 50%) * Balance

XCOM: Rocketeer Platform Stability, S&A, Snap Shot, EC, and Javelin Rockets rotated on the tree * Thanks to xwynns for the idea. Increases diversity among builds and makes more compelling choices throughout the tree. Gunner will progression to +10 (from +20) * They are actually quite strong classes and had a little too much of everything (with suppression, grit, high damage weapon, high ammo, and HEAT or Shred) that good psionics on top was a little over kill.

Equipment: SAW damage to 150% of base (from 125%) but aim to -5 (from 0) and ammo to 4 (from 5) * Significant buff to SAW gunners. Now SAW HEAT RF gunners with gauss or pulse will be hitting with 2x9 HEAT damage instead of 2x7 and overwatch gunners also gain +2 damage on all shots. Helps make Gunner weapons the high damage weapons they should be. LMG damage to 175% of base (from 150%) but aim to -15 (from -10) * To keep consistency with the SAW

Perks: Medikit renamed to First Aid * Differentiate the name of the perk from the item Ranger grants 0 mobility (from +1) * Simplification and balance Aggression grants +1 damage during critical hits (from +2) * Balance, slight tone down of high end (ITZ crit jaeger with Agg/Beo was a little too strong * Thanks ) CCS grants +0 damage within 4 tiles (from +1) * Simplification and balance Snap Shot grants +0 aim for the purpose of rocket scatter (from +15) * Simplification and balance EC grants +2 health (from +3) * Balance, slight nerf to biotank's maximum tanking potential per turn without injury Sprinter grants +2 mobility (from +3) * Balance

Bug Fixes: Sawed-Off Shotgun overwatch range set to the same as shotgun

LW Rebalance v1.19.02

Strategy: You can no longer get swarming abductions in the first month * Helps prevent difficult/unfair situations during the first month where you only have rookies Advanced Servomotors (Sprinter on your MECs/SHIVs) cost and time to acquire is decreased by approximately 75% * Bring it online much quicker and much cheaper making early MECs stronger while not further boosting late game MECs Beam Strengthening now applies to Pulse and Laser and is no longer restricted to just primary weapons * Makes pulse more competitive vs gauss Quenchguns now applies to Ballistic and Gauss * Makes Ballistic not completely terrible in the later game Council requests require a little less resources during the early game * makes it easier to fullfill during the early game (helping remove some RNG)

Equipment: All Grenade AoE to 2.5 tiles (from 3) and All Rocket AoE to 6 tiles (from 7) * ~20% nerf to AoE damage via radius. It was too strong for too much of the game. Thanks fox10 for the save files and the convincing.

XCOM: Scout LCPL and SGT perks swapped * It was too important to get Squadsight, packmaster, and/or LR early on the scout to turn on the individual builds despite the scout already being a strong class. Rocketeer Lock N' Load replaced with Ready For Anything * Buff to overwatch Rocketeer

Perks: Close Combat Specialist grants +1 ammo * Due to the restriction on shotgun ammo and the fact that assaults have RF and CE, CCS took an inadvertent nerf due to ammo restrictions. This should help alleviate this. Snap Shot scatter aim bonus to 15 aim (from 20) and Fire in the Hole scatter aim bonus to 30 (from 40) * Both were a little too strong. FitH invalidated extra aim too much, and snap shot was too powerful for a mobile rocketeer. Javelin Rockets no longer grant an extra Rocket * Was too strong Shock and Awe only grants +1 rocket (from +2) * With only 2 possible rockets, boosting it to 3 is a large enough boost (+50%) to be competitive on the tree Lightning Reflexes Dodge rate increased to 80/50% (from 75/25) * Slight boost for balance on the trees and to help more with OW clearing (Die MECs waren sehr stark) Absorption Fields grants 30% DR (from 20% DR) * Slight buff to the Goliath, reverting a little bit of the nerf as the MEC armor nerf was enough In The Zone subsequent shots only have a 5 aim and crit malus for each previous shot (from 10) * Slight buff due to the new ammo restrictions being a significant hit

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where the stun rifle would permamently grant an extra inventory space when equipped after some missions There is now a 100% chance to have the UFO shot down (instead of destroyed) during the first month * Previously, due to my poor coding, there was a 1% chance of actually still destroying it. =P Sharpshooter now correctly grants +15 aim at targets in cover and no aim bonus if you're flanking a target or if the target was flying The shredder ammo perk now works properly on infantry * It was bugged and not working previously Stay Frosty now works with Dynamic War * updated the description to reflect this Disabling shot aim bonus to 0 (from +20) * In a test version it received this boost and it was accidentally left in Fixed some situations in which overwatch wasn't triggering when moving * It should now trigger on any movement > 0 tiles (includes step-6outs) * Thanks szmind! :)

LW Rebalance v1.19.01

Balance: EXALT Snipers and Elite Snipers no longer gain penetration from their weapons * It was too damaging to tanks, especially with sharpshooter already granting +2 EXALT Elite Snipers no longer acquire Mayhem * Their damage is high enough without it Laser aim to +10 (from +15) * Was an oversight

Bug Fixes: Fixed a game-breaking bug where aliens would do no damage to certain units and could hit xcom for 90+ damage * Bug was created with some of the final tweaks in v1.19.00 Beam Strengthening has an appropriately prohibitive cost * Wasn't updated in 1.19.00 Fixed some typos LMG aim is now correct on all LMGs EXALT snipers and elite snipers no longer get ITZ (as they don't know how to use it) but instead get double tap (at high levels)

LW Rebalance v1.19.00

--STRATEGIC--

Overall: Bombing Run panic gain to 12 (from 14) * Slightly less passive panic gain Abduction difficulty is no longer automatically increased by 2 points after 210 alien research * so you can still get some light abductions in the mid-late game and beyond OTS Training Programs xp gain per day reduced by 50% * Slows down the rate that new recruits accelerate up the ranks OTS Rework: OTS Projects require successful missions to unlock (instead of being based on total soldier ranks): Successful missions required for SS1/SS2 and Lt/Cpt/Maj/Col/FC are 30/150 and 20/40/60/90/120 (modified by DW) * This is a large and great change. You don't have to try to rank up as many soldiers as possible to unlock OTS projects. Squad wipes and MEC conversions do not set you back in OTS projects. The number of successful missions you have completed will appear first thing on the ticker in the situation room * Makes it easier to figure out how many successful missions you've completed as it is an important statistic to know now At the end of each month you gain more soldiers (11-15 for the first month, 9-13 for 2nd, 7-10 for 3rd, 5-8 for 4th, 3-5 for 5th, 1-3 for 6th and beyond) but recruiting extra soldiers costs 100 (from 50) * Makes reward soldiers more valuable and replacing soldiers with weak stats a less viable option. Also provides a lot more free soldiers in case you are doing bad. :) Number of exalt clues reduced by 20% * Makes it slightly later when you find the exalt base

Psionic Training Rework: For each will under target_will: your chance decreases by 10%. Example: if target_will is 45 and you have 40 will, you will have a 50% chance to learn the ability in 30 days. For each will over target_will: your time decreases by 1 day. Example: if target_will is 45 and you have 60 will, you will have a 100% chance to learn the ability in 15 days. New Target Will for the psionic levels (starting at the first level) are: 45,30,40,50,60,70 The minimum chance to succeed is always 10% * Makes it 'possible' for anyone to succeed! =D Example: if target_will is 45 and you have 10 will, you will have a 10% chance to learn the ability in 30 days. Overall this is a slight buff to the speed at which you can train psionics but more importantly removes a lot of RNG out of it. When you are below target_will the time is not increased more than 30 days as it can lock up psi training slots and soldiers, so that's why % chance drops instead.

Air Game: UFO health is now displayed when choosing which interceptors to engage with * Makes it so you do not have to access the website to do calculations before each fight Interceptor health to 3000 (from 2500) and armored fighters foundry project health increase to 500 (from 1000) * No change for the late game, but early and mid game our interceptors will be more robust Lead of a formation grants the UFO double aim (from +10 aim and double damage) and XCOM +10 aim (from +10 aim, no change); Rear of a formation grants the UFO half aim (from -10 aim and half damage) and XCOM * 10 aim (from -10 aim, no change). * Overall it makes the effect of lead and rear on UFO damage output less significant (so being in the lead of a formation is less punshing and something you might do a little more often). Plus, it never made as much sense that being in the lead would cause more damage if you got hit, but more aim does make sense. UFOs are always shotdown in March, have a 75% chance of automatically being shotdown in April, a 50% chance of automatically being shotdown in May, and a 25% chance of automatically being shotdown in June * Removes some of the RNG from the early game Overseer DR to 150% (from 100%) but hp to 1000 (from 4000) * Removes some of the RNG from downing the overseer. Now if you have enough penetration it's much easier to shootdown but if you don't have the penetration you shouldn't even bother. As a key element to the progression of the game, it was too tempting to try and then often too detrimental when you failed at shooting down the overseer. Stingray damage to 1200 (from 1300) * Slight nerf to decrease prevalence Phoenix cannon penetration to 50% (from 75%) * Slight nerf to make the upgrade more relevant Phoenix coilgun upgrade increases penetration to 150% (from 125%), damage to 500 (from 400), and costs 60 elerium and 30 alloys (from 60 elerium and 120 alloys) * Buff and significant cost decrease to make it more affordable and effective EMP cannon aim to 80 (from 50) * Balance, makes it the superior choice for downing UFOs and protecting aircraft, but the boost is less (or not at all) effective against the larger UFOs due to aim capping at 100 Laser cannon aim to 60 (from 50) * Balance UFO Scanners foundry project prolongs interception time by 20% and reveals all UFO health bars (even if they are not researched) * Quality of Life Interceptor battle speed (interception time) reduced to 25 (from 30) * Accommodates for the battle scanners project (higher battle speed gives more time to interceptions) Firestorm battle speed (interception time) increased to 50 (from 45) * Makes it even more rewarding in terms of battle time if you only send up firestorms (as the aircraft formation's speed is the speed of the slowest aircraft in the formation) Effect on battle speed (interception time) from damaged interceptors to 0.8 (from 0.7) * Makes sending up damaged interceptors less penalizing Destroyed UFOs provide 75-100% of the alloys (from 25-75%) * Makes it less penalizing if you destroy instead of down a UFO

Foundry: UFO Scanners foundry project can now be researched immediately and has a negligible cost except for 2 UFO computers (1 on DW) * Allows you to turn on the scanners within the first few months Removed the MEC Close Combat foundry project * It was converted into a new perk for the Marauder Field Repairs foundry project upgrades stun rifles to heal 10 health to MEC/SHIVs * There was a potential for abuse when it fully healed Beam Strengthening is a new foundry project that increases the damage of primary laser weapons by 1 * Useful if Gauss is taking a while to get to

Resources: Cash from council countries and abduction rewards decreased by 20% * Decreases overall cash flow More council requests will include scientists and engineers as rewards * Helps reduce the possiblity of getting too few of one or the other Meld gain is 200% on normal, 166% on classic, 133% on brutal, and 100% on impossible * Makes it more reasonable that if you are winning your campaign on the easier difficulties you will still get meld in order to complete projects and build items Council request randomness is a little less extreme * A few less "way too good" and "way too bad" requests Council request reward soldiers are higher rank now: 0-33%=LCPL, 33-66%=CPL, 66-100%=SGT (from 0-20%=SPEC, 20-40%=LCPL, 40-60%=CPL, 60-80%=SGT, 80-100%=TSGT) * Makes them more likely to be a reasonable reward and less likely to be too strong or too weak of a reward

--TACTICAL--

Overall: AI Modification: Aliens on terror missions will no longer feel compelled to target civilians first (Note: this does not mean they will not attack civilians) * This one is one of my favorite changes as it means the aliens stop rushing for civilians in the face of XCOM. It's a lot more realistic that the aliens target xcom as a high threat and makes the missions a lot less frustrating. Overwatch triggers on any movement, not just movement of >1 tile * This is a big change. It really didn't make sense to have overwatch trigger only if the unit moved more than a tile. Previously, if a unit moved 1 tile, then moved 1 tile again, he could move 2 tiles without triggering the overwatch at all. Now overwatch triggers immediately upon any movement and prevents situations where if the unit only moved a little it might not get hit by multiple overwatches. Makes overwatch stronger, especially against aliens walking into your view into cover. Green Fog will now only have an aim-30% chance to lower your aim each turn (from aim% chance) but decreases aim, will, and mobility by 1-3 each activation (from 1-2) * This change is big too. Overall nerf to green fog (much less effect on aim, more effect on will and mobility). Because most targets have ~30 defense losing aim was more punishing than the other stats and became noticable more quickly. This should put it on a more reasonable level so that aim, will, and mobility all lower in a similar fashion so that classes are effected by green fog more evenly. High-Capacity Pistols Foundry project no longer works on the sawed-off shotgun * it wasn't really a pistol and it was a little OP and need to be toned back a little The first terror mission of the game and the zombie terror mission both have an extra chryssalid pod * They were previously too easy and apparently I'm an evil person (!)

XCOM: Rework of multiple perk trees and class bonuses * See perk tree Alloy SHIV cost to 40 (from 80) * Makes it more affordable Chopping (converting) a soldier to a MEC randomly grants 0-1 mobility, 0-2 health, 0-4 aim, 0-8 will for each rank above LCPL (from 5/10/20/40% chance to get 1 mob/hp/aim/will for each total rank) * Massive boost to the stats gained when chopping higher ranked MECs. A MSGT chopped to a MEC will gain on average: 2.5 mobility, 5 health, 10 aim, and 20 will and could gain up to 5 mobility, 10 health, 20 aim, and 40 will (!). MECs have double fatigue times (from 70% more) and normal injury times (from 70% more) * Prevents injuries from being so devestating against MECs but still makes them harder to field en masse due to higher fatigue times MECs start with 10 mobility (from 11) * Slight reduction for balance

Aliens: Ethereal health to 40 (from 26), no health gain with research, defense to 40 (from 60), regen to 20 (from 4-10), will to 120 (from 150) * Higher health and regen allows resiliency to compensate for the significantly nerfed distortion with lower defense, lower will means they don't hit as hard (less OHKOs), lower defense means more units can engage them reasonably Uber Ethereal health to 60 (from 70), no health gain with research, defense to 40 (from 60), regen to 30 (from 15 or so), will still stays at 200 * Consistency with Ethereals Eliminated all % chance of acquiring perks for navigator aliens: Navigators will either start with the perk, or always gain it at a certain research level * Prevents checking F1 for their perks and makes it easier to know which aliens will have which perks. Note: F1 is still useful for determining which leader level you are facing (and thus the perk the leader will acquire) Lightning Reflexes only occurs on Thinmen leaders and Chryssalid Queens (no other aliens) * Boost to overwatch, makes knowing when to look out for LR more obvious Drones now start with holo rounds * Makes early SHIVs feel not so invicible (especially on the easier difficulties) Sectoid Commanders will no longer shoot with their weapon and will only use psionic abilities instead * Prevents the AI from doing stupid things like taking a 100% shot against a tank instead of mind controlling it (yes, like I said, I'm evil) Mutons lose the ability to intimidate * It is now restricted to only muton berserkers. It didn't really make a lot of sense that mutons could intimidate but muton elites couldn't. Also, it was a little unrealistic that the guy that you shot at 100 ft away roar and that caused panic but firing at you didn't. The beserker on the other hand actually charges you, which is much more reasonable to cause panic. Should also make mutons easier to deal with in a fire fight. Exalt Elite gain less health with research * They were a little too resilient in the later game

Perks: New Perk 'Onslaught': The first Kinetic Strike each turn is free * Now you can double use it for a lot more of a guarantee kill against... well everything. =D Also, makes it effective at moving in, punching, and retreating. New Perk 'Awareness': Grants +30 defense when steadying a weapon or on overwatch * Helps the Jaeger set up ITZ and overwatch while in range of enemies New Perk 'Grit': Grants +2 armor health and if in cover and not moving: 100% DR against reactions shots * A perk to help biologic classes against covering fire reaction shots New 4th level Psionic Ability 'Inner Fire': Grants +10 aim and +2 mobility. Psionic potential unlocks a deep connection to and understanding of one's body. * Grants shooter classes and highly mobile classes a perk that benefits them directly HEAT Ammo and Warheads back to 100% of base weapon bonus damage (from 75%) * The 75% made HEAT too weak on too many weapons (especially with rounding down) to justify the benefits of the reduction so it was moved back to the previous value. It's also a nice easy to calculate value. The Disabling shot perk now grants Squadsight * Significant buff to the perk to make it easier to land disable shots Will to survive grants -10 defense when in cover * Means you can taunt with will to survive without requiring a specific item. Opens up an item slot on tanks if they want. Fire in the Hole grants +40 aim for the purposes of reducing scatter (from +15 aim) * Significant buff to help it hold balance at it's new location on the rocketeer tree. Also helps make low aim rocketeers viable. Snap shot grants +20 aim for the purposes of reducing rocket scatter (from +10) * Boost for balance and makes it reasonable to fire without steadying (as this is like you are always steadied) Javelin Rockets grants +1 rocket (from +0) * To give some more staying power to the rocketeer into the mid game. Overall the rocketeer has gained more roles and it's early game strength has been toned down slightly while boosting it's late game strength so that it fairs better over a campaign. Bring 'Em On grants the primary weapon +1 damage plus +0.5 damage per enemy in sight during critical hits (from +1 always and a +10% chance per enemy in sight for +4) * Buffed, gives the a perk a higher ceiling and a higher consistency Aggression grants +2 damage during criticals at any range (from +2 damage within 4 tiles only) * Makes it much more effective on more classes Brawler grants +1 damage when within 4 tiles (from 0) and 30% DR against damage from within 4 tiles (from 50%) * Slight Buff. Put a more offensive take on the perk, nerf on DR to prevent abusive situations Close Combat Specialist also grants +1 damage when within 4 tiles (from 0) * Buffed. Boost to the offensive potential of the perk Lightning Reflexes dodge rate to 75% for the primary shot and 25% for subsequent shots (from 90/50%) but all reactions shots against units with LR only deal half damage * Rework to make the damage you take less deadly but more likely * slight nerf, more balanced on the trees, less effective at clearing overwatches (indirect buff to BOTH alien and XCOM overwatch as LR is less effective at 'clearing' OW) Covering Fire removes half of the defense bonus from cover that overwatch targets would receive * Big change. Makes overwatch effective against units in cover (as it should be). This is nice reasistically (the unit does pop their head up out of cover) and helps make alien overwatch less effectively nullified by LR units firing from cover. It also makes XCOM overwatch with CF not so bad as firing into cover is not more likely to land your hits, helping it remain effective into the end game. Sharpshooter rework: Grants +15 aim and +2 penetration when firing at targets through ANY cover (from 15 aim through full cover only and 15 crit always) * Gives players an effective means of dealing with units in ALL types of cover (similar to deadeye for flyers). Executioner to 10 aim and 50 crit (from 10 aim and 60 crit) * Balance on the trees Holo Rounds grants +2 damage against mechanicals (from +3) * Slight nerf for balance on the trees and because it's 2ndary effect of +10 aim is really strong Lone Wolf now activates if no allies are within 4 tiles (from 7 tiles) * makes it more reasonable to calculate quickly and acts as a buff Mayhem suppression now deals 1 damage (from 2) but can be upgraded by the equipped weapon if it is a SAW/LMG * It will now deal 1-3 damage depending upon weapon class of SAW/LMG. Makes mayhem suppression less powerful early game and more powerful late game to keep it reasonable throughout the game (instead of overpowered early and too weak late) Distortion dodges 30% of aim-based shots (from 50%), does not affect explosives (from reducing all explosives to 0-1 damage), and causes units that can see the ethereal to panic (30 will test) at the start of each of their turns (from just panicking once on first reveal with a 60 will test) * Makes killing ethereals a lot less RNG based and allows more units to successfully engage them (explosives, aim-based units). Thanks to szmind for the code! =D Death from afar grants 15 aim at squadsight (from 10) but has no effect on the crit at long range * Allows for a non-crit build to balance out BeO Fortified grants +0.5 DR (from +1 DR) * balance on the trees Lead by example grants +1 health (from +2), +0 mobility (from +1), and +10 will (from +10, no change) * Slight nerf to officer strength as now it just provides +1 armor health and +10 will so we aren't making officers just for stats Grenadier no longer grants +2 range to grenades * Nerf to make grenades not so powerful and further distinguish them from rockets 'Into The Breach' grants +150% additional mission xp (from 200%) * Toned back slightly Mind Merge grants +25 aim (from +10) but cooldown to 3 turns (from 2 turn) * This is a big early game change. It was too ineffectual at 10 and this makes sectoids and sectoid commanders more potent when they mind merge and makes XCOM psionic units more impactful Danger Zone increases the explosive radius of grenades and mines by 33% (from ~22%) * Buff to the perk for balance on the trees One For All grants 20% DR (from 30%) * Too much %DR was occuring on MECs. With the ability to provide tankiness and heavy cover in any location the perk was too strong. Absorption Fields grants 20% DR (from 30%) * Slight nerf as it was too strong Combat Stims grants 30% DR (from 50%) * Was too strong for biotanks Shock-Absorbant Armor grants proximity DR if the target is within 15 tiles (+2% DR per tile up to +30% at point blank) (from 30% DR within 8 tiles) * Trying to guess where 8 tiles could be quite annoying, this is a more forgiving application Savior grants 0 free extra medikits (from 2) * Balance, medic was quite strong and the extra healing was overkill Dense Smoke and Combat Drug perks no longer grant a free extra smoke * They were strong enough on their own Dense Smoke no longer grants 20% DR * It was one of the strongest (if not the strongest) perks in the game due to the strong immunity it granted and the +20% DR was a little overkill Ranger grants +1 damage to all sources (it used to do all sources but grenades) * makes it a useful perk for boosting grenade damage as well

Equipment: Various cost modifications * for balance, see in-game The Stun Rifle no longer reduces throw range by 50% but does occupy a small item inventory slot when equipping it * Makes it more reasonable to use on a support class Laser aim to 15 (from 10), Gauss penetration to 0 (still +1 with quench) and aim to 0 (from -5), Pulse aim to 0 (from +5) * Balance and simplification. As a summary: Ballistic=4dmg. Laser=4dmg,15aim. Gauss=6dmg. Pulse=6dmg,doublecritdmg. Plasma=8dmg,specialweapons. AM weapons aim set to -10 (from -15/-10), crit to 0 (from 30/10) * to accommodate for them not getting reduced penetration and to make their stats easier to understand/memorize. All sniper rifles, strike rifles, and shotguns have 3 ammo (from 4) * Nerf to their strength as they were a little too strong vs the regular rifle and was preventing other options from being reasonable. Now all basic weapons (shotgun, sniper rifle, strike rifle, MEC, SHIV, rifle, smg, carbine, battle rifle) have 3 ammo, the only exceptions are SAW/LMG, sidearms, and the arc rifle. Shotgun mobility to 0/1/-1/-1/0 for ballistic->plasma (from 1/2/0/0/1) * Slight nerf in the strength of shotguns as they were eclipsing some of the other weapons too much SAWs and LMGs now increase the damage of mayhem suppression by 0.5 for each weapon class above ballistic * Makes mayhem suppression less powerful early game and more powerful late game to keep it reasonable throughout the game (instead of overpowered early and too weak late) SAW ammo to 5 (from 4) * Slight buff MEC weapons no longer have squadsight range * As no MECs have access to squadsight. Part of this was because the high damage SS weapons were a little too strong for low risk so this forces the high damage MECs (Jaeger) to be targetable in order to deal damage Arc Rifle aim to +15 (from +20) and ammo to 2 (from 1) * makes it easier to use (more ammo) Sawed-off Shotgun range to 18.8 tiles (from 3.8), but damage to 3 (from 4), and crit to 0 (from 50%) * Nerfed as it was a little too strong and was eclipsing the need for even plasma sidearm tech. No need to check ranges anymore either. Rocket radius to 7 (from 6) * Buffed. Increases AoE by 34% making it less punishing if you miss and more destructive when you hit where you need. The extra rocket and extra shredder rocket can no longer both be equipped at the same time * Nerf to counteract the other rocketeer buffs. This opens up some much needed space in the rocketeer inventory for different class builds. Destructive Grenade (AP/HE/Alien/Launcher) radius to 3 (from 3.5) * Grenades were too strong, doing too much AoE damage. This reigns them back to a 6 tile explosion AoE while further distinguishing them from rockets Grenade Launchers start with 2 grenades (from 3) * Because you could equip 3 they became too plentiful to justify their 100% hit rate, AOE damage, and reasonable damage with 3 charges from each launcher, this puts them in a more reasonable place Psi Grenade radius to 5.5 tiles (from 5 tiles) * Slight buff to support psionics Chameleon Suit health to +2 (from +1), DR to 0 (from 0), mobility to 0 (from 0), grants tac sense, grants immunity to reaction shot crits, and no longer affects the rate of LR * Makes it useful for non LR scouts/assault to wear Reinforced Armor health to +2 (from +3), DR to 1 (from 1.5), mobility to -2 (from -2), and defense to 0 (from -10) * WtS has negative defense for taunting now so biotanks aren't reliant on an item, Nerf to make other options more competitive and to prevent tanking from being too strong in the earlier missions Ceramic Plating health to +2 (from +2), DR to 0.5 (from 0.5), mobility to -1 (from -1), defense to 0 (from -10) * WtS has negative defense for taunting now so biotanks aren't reliant on an item Regenerator Vest health to +0 (from +2), DR to 0.5 (from 1), mobility to -1 (from -1), and is now equippable by all classes * Balance, and opens up more healing to all biotanks Core Armoring armor health to +1 (from +3), DR to 1 (from 1), mobility to -1 (from -1) * Nerf as the DR is really strong Elerium Emitter health to 0 (from 0), DR to 1.5 (from 2) and mobility to 0 (from +2) * It was too strong Alloy Carbide Plating health to +3 (from +6), DR to 0 (from 0), and mobility to 0 (from -2) * Makes it a more competitive item as the weight was too restrictive on MEC/SHIVs Chitin Plating health to +2 (from +2), DR to 0.5 (from 0.5), mobility to 0 (from 0), and DR against melee to 30% (from 50%) * Prevents too much DR against melee targets Corsair armor to 8 health (from 9), Aurora Armor to 6 health and 2 mobility (from 7 health and 3 mobility), Banshee and Aegis armor lose 1 health * Balance, they were a little too strong at their respective stages of the game HMEC DR reduced by 1 (except only 0.5 on the MEC1) * Reduction to static DR that gets too high MEC1, HMEC2/LMEC2, HMEC3/UHMEC3/ULMEC3/LMEC3 armor health reduced to 10, 14/8, 18/22/4/10 (from 14, 18/10, 24/30/6/14) * Nerfed. Makes MECs more likely to dig into their base health and risk injury (so that there are less situations when the MEC can freely tank shots with no consequence) Laser sight grants +15 crit (from +10) * Buff to make it more useful and fill more of a niche SCOPE no longer has an upgrade and starts with the +5 crit * The upgrade was worth so little and this doesn't outpace the laser sight anymore Adaptive Tracking Pods and Suppression Module weight to 0 (from -1) * Makes them more useful and acts as a small buff to SHIVs Alloy Bipod equipable by snipers and scouts only (from snipers and gunners), mobility to -1 (from 0), and aim to 0 (from -5) * Significant buff, but only for snipers and scouts as gunners now acquire platform stability in their perk tree Marksman's Scope grants sharpshooter intead of squadsight * As SS is now a perk on their tree Shredder Ammo small item weight to 2 (from 1) * Slight nerf to make it not so easy to pick it up on classes where it is not a perk

--BUG FIXES--

Shotguns will no longer lose their bonus proximity damage during specific playthroughs * Or at least I think they won't. Szmind is a genius for suggesting how to find and do the fix. No idea if it actually fixed it as I could never even reproduce the bug to find out, but hope this works! :) Attempted to fix a bug where sometimes a soldier could be deleted after completing a council request You can no longer launch interceptors that are rearming Fixed a bug where sapper and javelin rockets were not working as intended Alien grenade description now correctly says it weighs 1 Fixed a bug where a UFO could do damage to disengaged aircraft (and even kill them) Flak Ammo no longer grants a damage boost to mayhem suppression Fixed a statistic display bug on the MEC chop screen Fixed a bug where on DW > 1.0 terror missions had too few aliens Fixed a bug where the Lock N' Load popup would sometimes occur when not actually using LnL Heavy Floaters no longer appear to have bombard (on F1) * They actually do have bombard, but their grenade range was reduced to accommodate. Now, for all intents and purposes, they don't have bombard. Updated the description of Command to include the fact that it can't be used by covert operatives Javelin rockets no longer grants +20% rocket range * was bugged Fixed some descriptions that were too long and were cut off during display Fixed a bug where 100% shot could sometimes be displayed on mayhem suppression * It shouldn't pop anything up

LW Rebalance v1.18.30

Bug Fixes: Mindfray correctly does 2 damage * It bugged in the last update Fixed various descriptions to be more clear Executioner now grants +10 aim and +60 crit (from 30 aim and crit) * It was bugged and I can't increase the aim over 10 so I had to alter it to fix it and keep it relatively strong Combat Drugs will no longer infinitely increase your aim if you check your aim over and over Clarified the "catching breath" description to include the fact that it disables multi-action perks Fixed a bug where sharpshooter's crit bonus sometimes wasn't appearing in the F1 overlay

LW Rebalance v1.18.29

Bug Fixes: There was some inaccuracy in how green fog was displayed before that is now fixed * It was underestimating how much green fog was actually occuring To Hit displays now correctly display green fog when the weapon was steadied * It was bugging out before Green fog stat decreases are now decreased to 1-2 per turn (when triggered) (from 1-3 per turn) * Green fog displays were bugged and were not showing the full amount of the effect and thus were uninentionally overtuned, this puts them more inline (should notice the effect really only on longer missions) Failed council missions (e.g. Newfoundland) now grant normal panic levels * they were granting twice as much panic as intended Mayhem suppression deals 2 unmodifiable damage that penetrates all DR * After a lot of testing, I realized mayhem suppression is actually quite bugged in LW 1.0. It does different things to the primary target and different things to adjacent targets and works different with HEAT depending on who you shoot, whose adjacent, etc. etc. Just one of many examples: In LW 1.0 it always penetrated all DR on adjacent targets if the primary target had no DR. This new method unifies it all so it works in a more simple and understandable fashion: 2 damage always (not affected by HEAT, other abilities, or DR -* though shredder does work). Mayhem suppression no longer displays double damage pop-ups Mimic Beacon does not trigger smoke & mirrors Updated Danger zone description text when describing abilities Fixed F1 DR display not showing hardened or cover-based DR Fixed another bug with acid not showing F1 DR correctly * Thanks szmind! :) Floater leaders/navigators no longer receive DangerZone or Mayhem. HeavyFloater leaders no longer receive DangerZone * They were useless (thanks lafiir) Fixed thinmen so when they gain the ability to snipe they have appropriately lower health (that they can regain on later research) * Thanks lafiir Chryssalid Queen is now named properly again (and might happen to pick up fortified) * Thanks lafiir Sectopod high-level leaders correctly receive a health boost * Thanks lafiir Combat Drugs now grants +10 aim, +20 crit, and +30 will (from +15 of all 3) * Combat Drugs was bugged on display and I couldn't fix it so I just tweaked the stats slightly on combat drugs to make it fit the display SHIV rebuild projects no longer appear as a possibilty when you research certain techs * As you can't rebuild SHIVs anymore it was quite misleading Rushed foundry projects now correctly only require 20% more resources and 5 meld * They were left at LW 1.0 levels by oversight (thanks to xwynns for pointing it out) The mismanaged resources display on the montly report card will no longer display a cash value All aircraft (in new games) will now correctly have a rank (even if you do not rename them) * Thanks to szmind for the great idea on how to fix this! :) Exalt Panic operations will now cause 5 and 10 panic (from 20 and 40) * They were supposed to be incorporated into council panic but they had their own function and I finally found it The option to assault an alien base does not pause the geoscape scan anymore * Thanks to szmind for the awesome code

LW Rebalance v1.18.28

Equipment: Changed the name of the "Marksman's Rifle" to "Strike Rifle" * Consistency with descriptions and the other rifles

Bug Fix: Council requests will only occur for items you can produce * Previously sometimes the council would ask you for something you had not researched yet Mutons who do not have blood call active will not get the 30% DR Ethereals do not panic SHIVs * Thanks szmind for the code! Melee damage does not trigger cover-based DR * it should not be effected by cover as it's melee UFOs will not sometimes target itself * Whoops! :) Thanks szmind for the fix Double Tap wording is more grammatically correct Alien leaders will now increase in size Packmaster does not affect the number of flamethrower charges * it was never intended to Albert Komarov's armor flag is now Russia (instead of South Korea) Marksman's scope description is more appropriate Promotions for planes in dynamic war games > DW 1.0 now work correctly

LW Rebalance v1.18.27

Note: This is the last version of v1.18 (except for Bug Fixes). No new versions will be released for a few months, maybe even longer. This is to give players a chance to experience the game as is without constant adjustments occuring during their campaign.

Strategic: Extra months of research on landed UFOs (for the purposes of what aliens appear) is now modified based on difficulty: +1 month of research on normal, +2 on classic, +3 on brutal, +4 month on impossible * Makes it less punishing on the easier difficulties The rank of reward soldiers now varies based on the defense (shield icon) of the country offering the soldier: 0-20%=SPEC, 20-40%=LCPL, 40-60%=CPL, 60-80%=SGT, 80-100%=TSGT * Encourages boosting countries defense, prevents early soldiers from being too strong off the bat and late game soldiers from being too weak Advanced Servomotors cost reduced to 10 mecthoid cores (from 20) but cost increased by 300 weapon fragments * Makes it acquirable earlier, but puts it up against other high weapon fragment options (quenchguns, tactical rigging, etc.).

Perks: ITZ will now fire all shots continuously (instead of having an 80% chance to fail on subsequent shots) but decrease aim and crit by 10% for each consecutive shot * Buff (because it removes the RNG aspect making it more reliable) needed as the requirement to set up with steady weapon is surprisingly debilitating. Also makes it more consistent (read: enjoyable to use). Opportunist loses it's aim bonus * Tones back overwatch as it was too good for volume of fire and accurate fire (innate covering fire really improved the late game viability of overwatch builds and the extra aim was overkill)

Equipment: Recoiless Rifle no longer has an aim malus or grants bonus penetration * It was applied to the primary weapon's shots as well, which didn't make sense * Thanks to jfoevv820ueb for pointing it out Anti-Materiel modifications: ammo to +0 (from -2), damage to +0 (from -1), mobility to +0 (from -1) * They needed a significant buff. Makes them more balanced for all sniper/scout builds. AM rifles vs normal are now: -10 aim and penetrate all DR

Aliens: Uber Ethereal loses Lightning Reflexes * It just didn't fit and it felt wrong to invaldiate OW builds and CCS on a class that they are not that effective against anyway

Bug Fix: Drum mag was granting +3 ammo (instead of +2) * Thanks for pointing it out ihateyoux10 Fixed a bug where rockets that did not hit a target through cover would still trigger the cover's DR * Thanks szmind! :)

LW Rebalance v1.18.26

Strategic: Income from abductions changed to 100/150/220/340 (from 40/80/160/320) * Makes lighter abductions a better source of income, overall slight increase of cash from abductions Montly income increased on brutal by 12.5%, classic by 33%, and normal by 50% so that the spread on impossible/brutal/classic/normal is 50/60/80/100% (from 75/80/90/100%) * Gives more cash to the easier difficulties, helps accommodate for higher prevalance of light missions yielding less cash. The 15 initial unique soldiers now all have set classes (instead of random) * Helps put them into reasonable roles and establish their character type throughout multiple campaigns (like van doorn as a gunner/rocketeer) Genemod credit cost set to 5 and meld cost reduced by 33% * Makes it a lot easier to access as it only really requires meld now

Plasma Technology: All foundry and research projects requiring alien plasma weaponry has been reduced to 0 or 1 of such weapons and replaced with an increased weapon fragment cost (based on how many you previously required) * Helps minimize the need to create a Zoo, gives more use for late game fragments Plasma weapons require UFO power sources instead of alien plasma weapons to produce and have their meld costs increased by ~50% * Makes multiple captures (the zoo) unncessary and makes UFO power sources more valuable

Bug Fix: Fixed a CTD bug that occured rarely when using multiple grenades in single turn * Thanks Umbira for helping me isolate it

LW Rebalance v1.18.25

Strategic: Cost for Jellied Elerium lowered * It's not as valuable without the grenade range boost

Tactical: First mission made slightly easier: 10 aliens on normal and classic, 13 on brutal, and 16 on impossible (from 10/10/14/18) * It was slightly too punishing for a mission you can't prepare for and will still act as a good litmus test with the new numbers

Bug Fix: Grenadier wasn't correctly granting the +2 tile range bonus

LW Rebalance v1.18.24

Strategic: Council requests will never include live prisoners anymore but will include a lot more requests for XCOM equipment * Makes more sense realistically. Gameplay wise it discourages farming aliens and the creation of the XCOM Zoo project and expands on the "always keep 3 laser rifles for recruits" issue so it's more variable and not encouraging XCOM to just always have 3 laser rifles on hand. Council requested items and rewards are more variable in number * Makes some deals better and some deals worse so you'll have to judge for yourself

Tactical: Will does not reduce the effect of red fog (though red fog still does reduce will) * Will hardly effected the redfog, and did so in an overly complicated manner. Will is already good enough with it's reduction of green fog. Jellied Elerium only grants rockets +2 range (from all explosives) * Accommodates grenadier buff

Perks: One for All now removes all defense (including that from body shield, smoke, etc.) * It was actually always this way. It could work either way but including smoke et al. was causing bugs so it's just easier to say it removes all defense. Now OFA officially turns you into this bright big beacon of hits (and it always did). :) Grenadier regains the +2 range it confers to destructive grenades * Brings the range increase on earlier for grenades

Equipment: Alien grenade damage to 8 (from 6) and mobility to -1 (from 0) * Buff to the alien grenade to plant it more inline with upgraded AP and HE

Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where smoke was only ever giving 20 defense and not the full 30 * I'm surprised no one noticed, but it's actually hard to always tell what the enemies will be hitting you for.

LW Rebalance v1.18.23

Quality of Life: Modified the speed keys to the following: alt-F7 = Normal speed, alt-F8 = 1.5x normal speed, alt-F9 = 2x normal speed (from 1, 1.15, 1.5) * This is still .ini adjustable if you wish

Strategic: Enhanced Plasma Weapons (which grants +1 damage to plasma weapons and unlocks the plasma stellerator) now unlocks with with the research: "Plasma Weapons" (instead of "Precision Plasma Weapons") and no longer requires a plasma dragon to produce (but requires more weapon fragments instead) * Allows you to bring the extra damage on earlier (thanks AxemanUnique for the suggestion)

Air Game: Refuel time increased to 16 hours (from 12) * There were some UFOs that lingered long enough to send up the same fighter multiple times at 12 hours so it was increased to prevent having to spam the hangar to find that exact time to send them up again Overseer armor reduced to 100% DR (from 125%) * Makes it possible for all weapons to do even a little damage (with upgrades) Armored Fighters foundry project cost grants +1000 health (from +500 health) * Gives a little more resilience when the aliens start bringing out the plasma II

Air Game Weapons: Phoenix Cannon aim to 20 (from 15) * With it being harder to be in the lead of a formation the phoenix cannon took a hit and needed a boost to stay competitive Plasma II UFO Weapon aim reduced to 40 (from 50) * A little less damaging so when we do fight double weapons they hit a little lighter (upgraded destroyers, overseer) Plasma II UFO Weapon and Plamsa XCOM weapon fires a little more rapidly (1250dmg/2.5s instead of 1500dmg/3s) * Makes it a little less likely to destroy a UFO and when the aliens use it: a little less likely to die from 2 shots. Also, makes it so the Plasma I and Plasma II weapons will fire at slightly different times making it easier to see what is occuring during the battle. Fusion Air Weapon aim reduced for the aliens to 50 (from 70) but damage increased for both the aliens and XCOM to 3000dmg/3s (from 3200dmg/4s) * Less damaging overall to take it easy on the brave XCOM pilots that want to tackle this beast. Also makes it a little more likely to have an interceptor survive a single shot. Last, makes the aircraft boosters and little less effective at working with and against this weapon.

Tactical: You can now hack multiple communication arrays on the same turn during exalt missions * Helpful for trying to disable multiple exalt and quickly pushing through missions

XCOM: GSGT and LCPL levels swapped on Shogun * It needed earlier access to it's stronger perks so that it came online earlier VPT replaced with Adv Heat Tech on Shogun * Gives it's anti-mechanical role a little more impact after the HEAT nerf

Aliens: HEAT Ammo removed from Cyberdiscs and Mechtoids * It was too powerful when it was a surprise as it only occured on some versions of aliens and was more frustrating than fun when it hit you HEAT Ammo always occurs on Exalt Heavies and Exalt Elite Heavies (from on just some leaders) * Again, it's better when something as strong as HEAT is always or never occuring so that it's easy to be aware of it. It's good on these enemies as exalt missions were a little too easy with strong MECs. HEAT warheads removed from all aliens (Mutons, Muton Elites, and Cyberdiscs) * It was difficult to know when to hide your SHIVs/MECs and HEAT Warheads was more of a suprise annoyance than a good gameplay factor. Now no aliens have heat warheads. Just a summary: HEAT Warheads will never occur on aliens and HEAT Ammo will occur on only 4 enemies: Sectopods, Heavy Floaters, Exalt Heavies, and Exalt Elite Heavies

Perks: Damage Control grants +30% DR (from +50%) * Mechtoids and MECs were too strong with it and it led to some border-line abusive tanking situations (for both sides) One For All grants +30% DR (from +50%) * Was too strong. Already a MEC gets 30% DR and with just One for all at 50% could get up to the level of a fully specced biotank but do it anywhere and this isn't even considering the other sources of tanking (More health, Damage control, absorption fields, more static DR, Shock-absorbant, brawler). This brings them back in-line a little more. This also makes tanky MECs less reliant on ALWAYS being in One For All, encouraging them to break it more often for offensive options (e.g. a Goliath using Double-Tap). Bring 'Em On grants 1 + 4 extra crit damage (from 1 + 5) * Tones it back slightly. With pulse it was doing +12 extra damage. Overall toning back of crit builds. Precision shot extra damage during a critical hit to +3 (from +4) * Was slightly too strong. Overall toning back of crit builds. Grenadier no longer grants +2 range to grenades * With the jellied elerium +2 range, the overall +4 range was too strong. Snap Shot's +10 aim bonus only applies to the purpose of reducing scatter (even if the unit has moved) * Needed a slight nerf as the x2 rockets (with command, after moving) and the ability to move and fire were extremely powerful. Helps force the overwatch builds back into rockets a little more by making the TSGT level all about rockets.

Equipment: Pulse crit to 0 (from 20) but aim to +5 (from -5) * Overall toning back of crit builds. Despite wanting to give generically non-crit weapons some strength, it was too strong on crit-based weapons giving them both the double damage crits and the extra crit chances. As an example: a pulse shotgun (scatter blaster) could do 6 + 3 damage up close for 9 damage, then +2 with aggression, then +6 with BeO, for 17 damage base which means 34 damage crits (without considering items). With +20% crit it was too easy to guarantee crits. You can see how a rapid fire doing a guaranteed (100% hit, 100% crit) crit for possibly more than 68 damage is a little too much. This change also makes more room for +crit perks and items that werent' as necessary due to the bonus crit that pulse gave. This change also gives it +10 aim over gauss providing another distinguishing factor. Alien grenade weight to 0 (from 1) * Gives it a slight boost to make it more competitive vs the HE and AP and makes it easier to carry as an extra item on more classes Combat Stims grant +4 mobility (from +6) * It's multi-turn use and DR made it arguably superior to other items that should be stronger (e.g. walker servos), this puts it more inline

Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Ethereal Rift could do upwards of 100 damage (!) * Thank god no one complained of this =P I wonder if there is someone out there that tried the mod, got hit for 230 damage and thought "Man, those ethereals hit hard". =P Fixed a bug where environmental explosions were acting like nuclear bombs and doing hundreds of damage Fixed a possible bug where you might fire at a unit twice with covering fire before they got the chance to fire * Thanks to szmind for isolating what might be causing it Anti-Grav systems is now correctly unlocked with Heavy Floater interrogation * Was missing before (thanks lafiir for pointing it out) MEC3s are no longer restricted by heavy floater interrogation * thanks lafiir for pointing it out Arc rifle was accidently dealing 3 base damage (where it should be 1) * Fixed

LW Rebalance v1.18.22

Strategy: Reduced early research time of Alien Materials, Xenobiology and Alien Weaponry by 20% to accommodate for increased overall research time * Thanks lafiir

Equipment: Psi Grenades now have a reasonable but small cost * Thanks lafiir

Bug Fix: Updated some (possibly) misleading text descriptions Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where explosive damage always had DR when hitting targets in cover (even if there was no cover between the explosion and the unit). Now the explosive will only have DR if there is cover directly between the explosion and the unit. * Thanks to szmind for the awesome work on creating the mutator :) Fixed a bug with DR display again * Thanks szmind and lafiir Fixed sectoid commander health on lower difficulties * Thanks lafiir Fixed misc ability description inaccuracies * Thanks lafiir

LW Rebalance v1.18.21

Strategy Game: UFOs now do 2x damage to all aircraft in the lead, and 1/2 damage to all aircraft in the rear * Makes the choice between lead, mid, and rear more engaging (as lead was still too rewarding and became an autopick for the entire formation once coilguns came around). This makes the choice between successfully downing a UFO and keeping your aircraft alive/undamaged more engaging. Health on the interceptor/Firestorm increased to 2500/5000 (from 2000/4000) * To accommodate increased damage in the lead position

Bug Fixes: The hyperwave relay was incorrectly calculating the # of species * Fixed Removed covering fire from the possible perks in training roulette * Thanks lordathos

LW Rebalance v1.18.20

Strategic: Overall research time increased by ~28% * It was a little too fast Research time doubled on plasma weapons * Acts as a gate so it's not so easy to skip pulse The Overseer mission contains 6 more aliens * Makes it more challenging The number of exalt clues you receive are reduced by ~30% * Makes it harder to locate the exalt base as early (especially with how challenging the base is it was ideal to space this out a little more) Interceptor repair time increased to 400 hours (from 300 hours) * Makes defensive stances more important (as being aggressive seemed to be slightly preferable) * Now avoiding damage takes a more important role

Tactical: Rework on cover-based DR: Acid now works on all DR (including that from cover) There is now no such thing as cover-based DR, it's just like normal DR * Simplification for ease of understanding Partial cover provides 10%. Full cover provides 30%. Will To Survive provides 40%. Tenacious Defense provides 20%. Hunkering provides 50%. * Makes it more understandable * Overall in full cover with TD + WtS you get 1-.6*.7*.8 = 66% DR (again you can check this in game with F1 at anytime) The significant changes are 1) simplicification, 2) acid is stronger, 3) biotanks are better in partial cover To summarize cover: Full Cover grants 50def and 30%DR; Partial Cover grants 30def and 10%DR.

Equipment: MEC Weapon ranges in squadsight increased to +10 tiles (from +5) * Buff to the SS Jaeger Chem Grenade radius to 3 (from 2.5) and range to 12.5 (from 10) * Buff to usefulness Arc Rifle aim to 15 (from 20) and base damage to 1 (from 3) but bonus damage against mechanicals to 9 (from 7) * Focuses it's role as anti-robotic and disabling, slight nerf to bring it more in-line with laser weapons Flamethrower range to 8 (from 6) * needed a boost Incinerator module to +8 damage (from +5) * needed a boost Chameleon suit now grants 90% dodge on subsequent reaciton shots (from 75%) * Buff to dodging consecutive shots, slight buff to the suit Skeleton key cost increased * Due to buffs in resources it actually became a resource boon to do them again (whoops!) The AM Rifle renamed to the AM Strike Rifle * Makes it more clear vs the AM Long Rifle AM Rifles (both types) no longer grant HEAT or effect hardened but instead penetrate all DR (like the KSM) and have 10 less aim * Alteration in use: makes them still effective against robotic targets (though slightly less) but now also effective against non-robotic targets with high DR (e.g. muton elites) Alloy Bipod cost decreased to 20 alloys (from 40) * was a little too steep in cost Breaching Ammo removes only the extra DR that shotguns get against hardened targets (instead of bypassing the hardened perk all together) * was too strong and needed to be toned back Some of the plasma weapon bonuses have been improved * Touching up some of the less used weapons SAW ammo to 4 (from 5) * Slight nerf to the SAW gunner, opens up more option for the LMG Sawed-off shotgun range decreased slightly to 3.8 (from 4.4) * Was a little too prevalent and easy to equip, this makes it slightly harder to use

Perks: Ranger grants +1 mobility (from 0) * Buff to the perk for balance on the trees Concealment grants no mobility (from +2) * Was a little too strong as the perk is quite good even with the XCOM scamper mechanic (still grants +20 defense though) HEAT Ammo grants +75% base damage (from +100%) * It was too strong on the aliens and too strong on many of our classes making engagements vs Mechanical units too easy Adv HEAT Tech grants +150% base damage (from +200%) * Similar to HEAT nerf Will to Survive provides a 40% DR when in cover (from doubling the cover-based DR) but no health (from +2 health) * Makes it more understandable and buffs the %DR while nerfing the overall health (overall should be around even with an easier capability to heal) Tenacious Defense provides a 20% DR when in cover (from increasing cover-based DR by 5% additively), +2 armor health (from +3), and crit resistance in cover to 20% (from 30%) * Makes it more understanable and makes biotanks always suceptible to high crit enemies, balance on the trees When ITZ is active it now allows you to steady your weapon as well * Fixed the bug where steadying would activate ITZ so it can have this back, it's nice to be able to set up for another ITZ chain if you didn't really use one. Brawler grants +50% DR (from +30% DR) from within 4 tiles but 0 damage (from 1 damage) * Focuses the perk on defense over offense, makes it not such an offensive choice on the assault, helps make the marauder and assault evem more awesome at dealing with lids and zerkers and anything else that gets close. Sapper grants +2 damage penetration to grenades (from +0) * Buff to make it more appealing vs packmaster and give it more of a role against units in cover Repair Servos slight rework: You do not lose repair servos from taking damage but you only gain half the repair servos from damage * In other words: When damaged, gain servos equal to half the damage sustained -* at the end of your turn, use up to 2 servos (1 hp healed per servo). * The previous effect was too weak on tanking classes that took multiple shots per turn and too strong on classes that would only take a single shot over 3 or so turns.

XCOM: SGT and GSGT levels swapped on Jaeger * It's important for both builds to have access to Fortified and/or Squadsight at an earlier level Holo Rounds, Advanced HEAT Tech, and LnL swapped on Engineer * It was important for the engineer to get access to Adv HEAT Tech earlier in the shooter build and the anti-mechanical grenadier build (esp with the HEAT nerf) Ranger replaced with Adv. Heat Tech on the Rocketeer * Helps accommodate for HEAT Warheads nerf

Aliens: Sectopods no longer gain 2 DR at 120/240/360 research (now they just gain 1, like they did originally) * This opens up the option for other classes besides those with HEAT to deal some damage Sectopod aim to 100 (from 90) * It needed an aim increase to be more threatening, as it was too easy to bypass (smoke + heavy cover + officer perk or arc rifle or EMP or scout with disabling shot or dense smoke). It's important to boost it's capability as it's often found in small numbers making it significantly less of a threat. Sectopod cluster bomb damage to 30 (from 20) * It has such a low radius that the damage drops off really heavy often doing 2-3 damage and needed a boost (note, it can still direct hit and do severe damage but you can move out of the way so it should be effective) Ethereals and the Uber Ethereal lose the tactical sense perk * It wasn't ideal that they were making normal soldiers have such low aim against them. This way the majority of your team should be able to participate in damaging them. New Ethereal ability: When your squad encounters an ethereal for the first time each mission they will all attempt to panic at a 60 will test (steadfast does prevent this) * Allows the tactical sense nerf while still keeping the ethereal balanced and is a cool new feature (thanks to szmind for this amazing code!) Thinmen gain squadsight at 240 research (from 150) * Makes them less dominating when you might be more suceptible in the early game Sectoid Commander defense to 20 (from 40) and health to 20 (from 12) * Still needed a buff and the defense was frustrating how it excluded many of your soldiers from interacting with the sectoid commander Suppression removed from floaters and heavy floaters * They were too ineffective with it, wasting their turns, and I couldn't fix the poor AI Exalt Elite Snipers aim to 80 (from 90) * They were a little too accurate All Exalt Heavies lose will to survive and tenacious defense * Make them easier to eliminate to avoid eating a rocket All Exalt Medics gain paramedic and savior * They were so weak when the healed an ally for 3 health, this makes it more reasonable Exalt Elite Operatives gain will to survive and tenacious defense * Make them stronger in the later game Exalt Elite Medics gain will to survive and close combat specialist * Make them stronger in the later game

Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where abduction cash rewards were set at 80% (they are now 80-120% as intended) * Thanks to ihateyoux10 for pointing it out! Tuned up many descriptions to be more clear and contain more information * Thanks to Hellsigner for the updates Fixed a bug where Damage Reduction was not being displayed properly in the F1 panel * Thanks szmind for the great work at fixing this! Fixed a bug where acid penetration of DR was incorrectly being displayed Fixed a bug where rapid reaction text wouldn't trigger properly on units with rapid reaction Fixed a bug where Death From Afar would give double aim bonuses Fixed a bug with covering fire and overwatch where it wasn't triggering as expected with multiple shot perks * Thanks to szmind for this code! (he's released it as an update to his sequential overwatch mod v1.3) Fixed a typo where it said the Firestorm has 50% DR (it has 100%) * Thanks forefal Fixed a typo on flashbangs * Thanks pharaon3 Fixed an unclear description on bone marrow * Thanks Heliet Fixed a bug where steady weapon would trigger a free ITZ turn

LW Rebalance v1.18.19

Note about patches: I'm going to be away for a few weeks so hopefully there are no other bugs or issues that need to be addressed until then.

Strategic Layer: Council mission credit rewards increased some * Makes doing council missions more rewarding Light/Moderate/Heavy/Swarming abductions grant 40/80/160/320 cash (from 80/90/100/115) * Makes swarming missions not have such a negative on a campaign as previously if you got unlucky and got hit with a streak of swarming missions it could make your campaign a lot more difficult than otherwise Abduction rewards are randomized between 80-120% of the reward * Adds some variability to the reward

Tactical Layer: Exalt HQ reverted back to vanilla strength (i.e. no changes in #'s) * Was a little too easy and it wasn't ideal to be able to compelte it so early

Techs: Added description to autopsies and interrogations about what techs they unlock * Makes it easier to understand what the benefit of the research is

Perks: Blood Call grants 30% DR (from 0) * Makes using the ability less of a waste of a turn and a more reasonable use for the AI

Equipment: Restorative Mist heals for 6 (from 8) * Needed to be toned down as it made packmaster too strong of a pick on the Shogun

Aliens: Mechtoids get Rapid Reaction instead of Sentinel * This makes face-tanking their shots less appealing and dodging their shots more appealing. Helps open up options for neutralizing their overwatch on the first shot. (thanks to gimrah for the suggestion)

Bug Fixes: Fixed a rare critical bug where ITZ could cause a CTD * If you got stuck on this in an ironman game it's pretty nasty, so nice that it's fixed. :)

LW Rebalance v1.18.18

Strategic: You can no longer rebuild SHIVs * However, you can still sell their remains on the gray market when they die... IF YOU'RE A CRUEL AND HEARTLESS COMMANDER

Tactical: Red Fog now can also reduce will (up to 35) * This is a big change against sectoids as previously you could injure them but it wouldn't do anything as they'd just spam psionic attacks at you. Now those attacks will be far less successful when they are injured. Also, this has 2 other great effects: 1) Your psionic units will be more effective against injured aliens (boost to XCOM psionic units) and 2) Your injured units will be more vulnerable to psionic attacks Soldiers will no longer auotequip ceramic plating on the first mission * Ceramic plating was a tanking item and wasn't ideal to have one of your units taunted that wasn't built to tank

Aliens: Sectoids gain 35 less will (from 20 less) during the first few months * Makes them less dominating of an enemy type (as the increased psionic potential of mindfray and psi panic made them strong). Sectoid Commander health to 12 (from 7, originally 15) and they regain their original health during level ups * While the idea was to make them fragile with high defense, the truth was they were too much of a non-threat at such low health. This should put them a little closer to the top of the scary list.

Equipment: Carbine aim to +15 (from +10) * Needed a little boost Regenerator vest only grants +2 health (from +3) * Was still too strong at +3, should make room for other items Hi Cap Mags and Drum Mags are both now equippable by the rocketeer * Provides some more flexibility to the RR build Arc Rifle ammo to 1 (from 2) and can be equipped by the rocketeer * Tone back as the item was balanced around Gauss when you could get it before laser -* it should be balanced around laser weapons. The main goal is to give you the possibilty of strong anti-robotic weapons early, not outshine other weapons. MEC1 aim to 5 (from 10), mobility to 1 (from 0), DR to 1 (from 0), Defense to 15 (from 30) * Puts it more inbetween the heavy and light MEC2s Plasma weaponry credit, elerium, and alloy cost cut by half (but they still retain their meld cost) * Makes it more of a meld sink than an overall resource barrier Plasma, EMP, and Fusion air weapon cost increased significantly * Makes it harder to get to the level where you can consitently down large UFOs

Perks: "So Shall You fight" grants 50% increased mission xp for soldiers ranked sergeant and higher (from +25%) * Buff to the perk to make the choice more competitive Opportunist aim bonus to 15 (from 10) and damage bonus to 0 (from 1) * Helps shift the strength of overwatch to the later game vs early game and benefits RR a little more than sentinel. Overall slight decrease in strength.

XCOM: Sharpshooter was replaced with Vital Point Targeting on the Shogun * Sharpshooter became a poor perk due to the new functionality of HnR not working against targets in cover, VPT seems strong but on high damage MEC weapons it has less impact and should be balanced

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where ITZ would trigger on things other than shooting (command, psionics, etc.) Fixed a bug (hopefully) where the panic graphic would be displayed for some soldiers that were not panicked and vice versa * Thanks to szmind for the amazing code! :) Fixed a bug where SHIVs that died were not removed from the engineer tab list of how many SHIVs you had * Again, thanks to szmind for finding the code to fix, he's awesome! Fixed a bug with the display of negative DR (e.g. from acid) * Thanks lafiir for pointing it out Fixed a bug where there were more than the intended # of exalt soldiers on the exalt base raids * Thanks to forefal for pointing it out Fortified now grants the +1 DR in the Soldier Equip screen (instead of just the battle screen) so that it's easier to tell it's working * Thanks forefal Reaper rounds was accidently granting 25 crit, it now grants 30 crit as intended * Thanks Lafiir Fixed some typos and slightly incorrect descriptions Fixed some spelling mistakes and gramatic errors * Thanks forefal Added the steady aim description to the MEC weapon descriptions * Thanks Lafiir Fixed a few inaccuracies/incomplete descriptions * Thanks Lafiir

LW Rebalance v1.18.17

QoL: Items that grant a perk now have the full perk description inside the item description instead of just saying they grant the perk

Perks: Holo Rounds grants +3 damage against mechanical units (from +2) * Boost to the damage component and the perk overall Mayhem grants +2 damage to grenades (from +3) * Tone down on strength, especially for AP grenades Mayhem grants +4 damage to strike rifles (from +3) * Buff to strike rifle sniper

SHIV Equipment: Weapon Supercooler mobility to -2 (from -1) * Puts it a little more inline with other small item options for the SHIV Smartshell pod aim to 0 (from +5) * Didn't need the extra aim as Flush is pretty strong now HEAT Ammo removed as an item * HEAT was too strong on the SHIVs as 200% damage weapons (Hover SHIVs with plasma were doing 64 dmg (32 x 2 with LeU) against robots), SHIVs are strong enough without it

Aliens: Outsider health increased to 12 (from 10) * Slight buff granting them a little more staying power

Bug Fix: Ready For Anything now properly grants +2 ammo * Was bugged before and not granting it

LW Rebalance v1.18.16

Tactical: Soldiers that have used all of their active moves will now have their health turn purple (from red) * Helps distinguish them from the aliens

Perks: Grenadier grants +2 range to explosive grenades * Makes more of the range boost occur earlier game on grenade builds

Equipment: Arc Rifle grants +7 damage against mechanicals (from +6) * Slight boost Jellied Elerium now only grants +2 range to explosives (from +3) * Accommodates the new grenadier MEC weapons now allow for "Steady Weapon" * Required for access to ITZ Regular/Alloy/Hover SHIV health reduced to 10/22/18 (from 10/28/22) * They were a little too tanky HEAT Ammo small item now grants -10 aim * It was removed previously because there was a lack of options for mechanicals: now with the engineer starting with HEAT and the arc rifle there is plenty of early game heat so this item shouldn't be such a dominant choice compared to other options

Bug Fixes: Expanded Stay Frosty description * Thanks faffler

LW Rebalance v1.18.15

Strategy Game: Cash from continents scaled back 10% * There was a bug in a previous save I was using to test cash flow that was incorrect so we didn't need quite as much extra cash as calculated in 1.18.14

Bug Fixes: Fixed a typo with restorative mist * Thanks bturner1

LW Rebalance v1.18.14

Strategy Game: Countries give 50% more cash to xcom at the end of each month * Significantly more cash to encourage more cash based projects, put the restriction more on other resources, and help fend off late game upkeep from limiting cash flow Meld sells for 3 (from 5) * As great as it was to make it a cash grab, it made it so saving meld was often not worth it (as selling was too valuable) and skipping meld based projects (MECs/Genemods) was too easy (which is not ideal) Increased the strength of the continent bonuses by ~20% * To encourage players to consider not spreading their fighters out and reward them for covering full continents UFO analysis research grants 30% more alloys and elerium (from 20%) and 30% more damage (from 10%) against the specific UFO but takes a lot longer to research * Gives more research targets and makes the targets more effective Soldiers gained each month are now: 6-10 for the first month, 4-6 for 2nd, 3-5 for 3rd, 2-4 for 4th, 1-3 for 5th, 1-2 for 6th and beyond * Boosts early soldier gains and minimizes roster bloating late game. Alleviates some of the necessity for cash into recruits during the first few months. Laboratories provide +50% increased research speed (from +20%) and adjacency bonus increased to +20% (from +10%) * Boost to labs, gives the players a lot more control over research speed for resource cost

Air Game: Chances to destroy a UFO instead of shoot them down increased to over_kill/5 percent chance (from over_kill/10) [Formula should be destruction chance = 1 * 0.5 ^ (weapon_dmg/700)] * Prevents as many late game UFOs from being shot down and encourages more strategy in shooting down UFOs (previously the ratio of shot down to destroyed UFOs for high damage weapons vs low damage weapons was too high). Note: in-game destruction descriptions were updated. Interceptor cost to 500 (from 300) * Slow down expansion and make investment into the air game a little less effective of a strategy (encouraging credit investment into other areas) You start the game with 3 interceptors (from 2) * Accommodates for interceptor cost

Tactical Game: Landed UFOs gain 5 months of research (from 3) * Since it only increases the pool of aliens you can see and not their strength, this actually doesn't have that large of an effect besides forcing the player to be wary. You still could goto a landed small and only run into 3 pods of sectoids and drones. Overall decreases the number of landeds that should be successful.

Perks: ITZ chain chances to 80% (from 75%) and you can no longer steady aim on an ITZ chain * It was costly to have to set up so this acts as a slight buff and steady aim was bugging out sometimes Hit and Run only triggers when firing at non-covered units (from all units, originally non-flying non-covered units)* This is a nerf but a good one. It encourages more variable gameplay with the scout such as moving out towards flanks or seeking cover destruction. The scout and the Shogun had too much action economy with the previous HnR and needed to be pulled back. Sentinel and Rapid Reaction now grant both Opportunist and Covering Fire (from just opportunist) * Overall an overwatch build buff making it much easier to use/trigger. Makes overwatch build strong against all enemies (instead of just enemies that are moving). Note: if you missed this perk on a soldier you can download the console command and type 'Give Perk 47' to pick up covering fire. Covering Fire no longer grants +20 aim against targets in cover * Nerf to the perk (as it's automatic with overwatch builds now) and nerf to the strength of alien overwatch to pin down units in cover (it allows taking an action in cover under enemy covering fire overwatch to not be so penalizing) Rapid Reaction no longer grants an aim bonus (from +10 aim) * Balance and simplification Sentinel no longer grants a damage bonus (from +1 damage) * Balance and simplification Ready For Anything grants +10 aim on overwatch shots (from +20 aim) and +2 ammo (from +0 ammo) * Makes it a lot easier to use RfA with the extra ammo. Opportunist also grants +10 aim and +1 damage to reaction shots * Buff to overall overwatch to accommodate for loss in sent/rr and act as a further buff Lead by Example (being an Officer) grants +10 will * The ability to boost psionics with high will officers requires too much juggling to be effective so this is a nice and reasonable buff to have on officer's again Close Encounters grants -50% movement (from -65%) * Makes the ability to move slightly more reasonable as it was a little too restrictive previously

XCOM: Gunner aim and will reduced to +5, HP reduced to +2 * Overall slight nerf as the gunner needed to be toned back a little more Infantry will to +20 * Slight boost (balance) Covering Fire replaced with Deadeye on the perk trees * Due to covering fire being acquired innately with sent/rr Infantry and Jaeger perks tweaked slightly to accommodate deadeye * slight adjustments

Equipment: Pulse weapons all gain -5 aim * Puts them more inline with gauss and helps counteract the 20% crit bonus they gain so they aren't so overpowered Shotguns all gain +1 mobility except for the scatter blaster * Balance and with the proximity bonus reduced they needed a little buff to make them more competitive. This means the ballistic and plasma grants +1 mobility, the laser grants +2 mobility, and the gauss and pulse grant 0 mobility LMG Ammo to 6 (from 5) * Makes it more of an option on non-bullet wizard gunners Arc rifle to +20 aim (from +10) * Makes it easier to hit with and buffs it Battle scanner ranged reduced to 7.5 (from 12.5) * It now throws exactly within visual range. This is to prevent scouting enemies before engaging them granting shots when the enemies have not moved. The battle scanner is intended to be used for around corners and over cliffs and in doors, not for expanding your vision and alpha striking. (Note: bombard can give you 3 tiles further than visual range). Aim/tracking/defense Modules require a LOT more corpses * massive reduce to the ability to spam them Motion Tracker to 2 charges (from 3) * We had a little too much scouting at 4 as this already got upgraded with elerium batteries

Bug Fix: Fixed description on sawed-off shotgun * Thanks faffler Fixed bug (hopefully) where some pods would still double move on the alien turn * Thanks szmind for the code The panic bug (where panic lasts on soldiers) should occur a lot less often * Thanks to szmind for the code Fixed the VIP health bug: VIPs now have 4 health instead of 3 * Thanks to szmind for the code Fixed a bug on some outsiders being named incorrectly

LW Rebalance v1.18.13

Tactical: Number of aliens on non-hardcoded missions is no longer reduced by 0-25% * The effect was making missions too variable in difficulty

Equipment: Breaching ammo crit to 0 (from -20) and AP ammo crit to 0 (from -10) * With anti-mechanical damage sources being more prevalent it pushed both of these items below reasonable competitiveness, this it to bring them back. Reaper Pack to 30 crit and weight to 1 (from 0) * Consistency with other ammo and it is actually a great item. Combat Stims weight to 1 (from 0) * Same as above. Consistency with other items and it is a great item even at -1 mobility. Sawed-off Shotgun range to 4.4 (from 3.8), crit to 50 (from 5) * Buffed. Makes it easier to know that you'll always get a shot off at 4 tile range. Gives it a more distinct role (100% critting when flanking) and makes it more competitive against the stronger pistols. Alloy bipod alloy cost to 40 (from 60) * Makes it a little more attainable Regenerator Vest armor health to 3 (from 4) * Slight tone down in strength, making it not such an auto-equip on all assaults

Aliens: Heavy Floater health to 16 (from 14) * Makes them a little tankier, they were killed too easily by the time they came around Floater health to 7 (from 5) * Makes them tankier, they were a little too low of a threat

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where sometimes pods could still double move on the alien turn * Thanks szmind! More than PI now correctly displays Psi Panic chances to work Fixed a bug where targeting module weight was incorrectly displayed * Thanks GPraz Fixed a bug (I think) where you got told of the possibility to do the super skyranger and wingtip sparrowhawk projects (even though you can't) when researching certain techs Fixed a bug where Jaegers still had access to RTS

LW Rebalance v1.18.12

Tactical: Number of aliens on the first missions are 10/10/14/18 (based on difficulty) * Thanks to Lafiir for the suggestion

Perk: ITZ now triggers additional actions at 75% (from 70%) * Slight buff

Bug Fixes: Fixed a few typos * Thanks Lafiir Fixed the problem with pods still not patrolling

LW Rebalance v1.18.11

Strategic: High-Capacity Pistols requires 45 alloys (from 70) * Makes it more accessible Genelab cost and maintence cost reduced * Since the gene modifications are so expensive Gene mods reduced in credit cost by approximately half * Makes them more attainable while still somehwat expensive Stingray missles fire every 10s (from 8s) and deal 1300 damage (from 960) * Slight alteration in their effectiveness, makes them more likely to destroy their targets

Tactical: MEC extra fatigue and injury time to +70% (from +50%) * A little more toning down of their strength First mission has different number of aliens based on the difficulty you select (7/11/15/18 for normal/classic/brutal/impossible) * Slight tone down to not be oppressive on the easier difficulties A mission cannot have less than 8 aliens * Prevents the easy missions from being so uneventful if you happen to get a string of them Command, Psi Inspire, and Revive do not allow units to use multi-action perks * It was bugging out the majority of the time so for consistency it's just disabled and labeled as so

Perks: Smoke and Mirrors now grants everything that smoke grenade did and replaces it on the perk trees * Part of the effort to have items not named the same as perks. Should have no effect in-game (including in existing campaigns) except for a QoL improvement as the descriptions are more reasonable. Smoke and Mirrors allows the first action not to end the turn on any support grenade use (from just smoke grenades) * Buff to support classes in general. Note: Support grenades include flash bangs, psi grenades, chem grenades, and smoke grenades. Double Tap grants +20 aim on the 2nd shot (from +10) * Balance on trees, distinction Savior grants 2 additional free medikit uses (from 0, originally 2) * Buff to the mid-late game healing power of medics Combat drugs grants +15 aim/crit/will (from +20) * Balance BeO back to +7.5 crit (from +6) * The nerf was due to a bug, back to it's original now that bug fixed Executioner grants 30 aim (from 10) and 30 crit (from 50) * Significant boost to the perk due to lack of synergy with ITZ, toned down crit to prevent as much +100% crit rates, balance on the tree since it's up against perks like sprinter, Sent+Opp, Disabling Shot, etc. Greater Mind Merge and Mind Merge grants 10 aim, 25 crit, 25 will, 25% DR (from 25 aim, 25 will + 10% of caster's will and 33% of caster's will in DR) and mind merge gains a 2-turn cooldown * Simplification, allows weaker will users to be just as effective, and the cooldown is to nerf the strength of supportive psionics on xcom and the spam potential on sectoids In The Zone reworked: When this soldier fires a shot with a steadied weapon, the shot is a free action and 'In The Zone' activates. When active, all subsequent shots have a 70% chance of being a free action and the soldier is restricted to shooting, steadying a weapon, overwatching, reloading, hunkering, or activating One For All. Mindfray cooldown to 3 turns (from 2) but also now lowers target defense by 25 * Minimizes spam from the aliens and makes it more useful for both xcom and aliens, helps distinguish it from psi panic by acting like a super holo-targeting Psi Panic gains +20% chance to hit * buff vs psi inspiration as psi inspiration is really good

Equipment: Battle Scanners can only be equipped by the scout * It was bugging out on other characters due to the reconnaissance perk and realistically you never really used the item anyway Battle Scanner weight to 0 (from 1) and is no longer considered a support grenade * Slight buff now that it's scout specific, and change of equipment class so it didn't bug out with S&M and reconnaissance both triggering on it's use MEC1 gains 10 defense but loses body shield * Distinguishes MEC2/3 from MEC1 UL-MEC3 mobility to 8 (from 7) * Balance H-MEC3 health to 24 (from 26) * Balance Breaching Ammo to -20 crit (from -30) * Balance AP Ammo to -10 crit (from -20) * Balance Elerium Emitter back to +2 mobility (from +1) * It was (surprisingly) too weak at +1 Alloy Jacketed Rounds and Enhanced Beam Optics price reduced * makes them more affordable in the early game Sniper and Strike Rifle base ammo to 4 (from 3) * Buff to multiaction perk builds Alloy bipod regains -5 aim and has 0 mobility * It was too much of an autopick otherwise Reaper Rounds to 0 mobility and 25 crit (from -1 mobility and 20 crit) * Buffed for competition for item slots Targeting Module weight to 0 (from 1) * Buffed for competition (acts as a superior laser sight)

XCOM: Jaeger loses LnL and gains Sharpshooter * LnL was too strong with the new ITZ Jaeger loses RTS and gains Holo Rounds * RTS would interfere with Sent and also was too specific of a perk to feel forced into if the player didn't pick up squadsight

Aliens: Sectoids gain 20 less will during the first few months * Tone down the strength of their psionics Ethereal defense lowered to 60 (from 80) * It was a little unnecessary at 80 as it eliminated even trying to hit them for a lot of units. 60 is more reasonable to allow for the odd shot to hit (especially considering distortion dodges 50% of them) and to make firing at the ethereal from a distance not as pointless Cyberdisc aim to 100 (from 90) * Buff to it's offensive capabilities Uber Ethereal loses Shock-Absorbent Armor and Absorption Fields but health increased to 70 (from 50) * It was too punishing against shots with the DR + regen

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug when commanding that sometimes caused a popup to display for multi-action perks even when the unit was not getting another action Fixed a bug where mind control was too easy to accomplish Slight alteration of air battle reports to be more clear Fixed a bug with BeO triggering too often Fixed a bug where sometimes SHIVs getting hit would trigger a "Smoke Grenade" popup * Thanks faffler Fixed a bug where combat stims were still granting 1 DR * Thanks faffler Fixed a bug where lead by example was only granting 1 health (instead of 2) * Thanks faffler Pods were not patrolling like they should * Thanks to szmind for the fix Fixed multiple text and description inaccuracies * Thanks to lafiir Fixed a bug where stingrays were only doing ~900 dmg instead of 1300 (1300 is correct) * Thanks zazuza7 and lafiir Fixed a bug where EMP weapons were doing less damage than intended * Thanks lafiir Fixed a bug where EXALT heavies were slower and had less aim than intended * Thanks faffler Fixed a bug where squadsight activations were not activating all intended pods * Thanks szmind for the code update Fixed a bug where the Jaeger was sometimes getting +1 mobility * Thanks Medevalman

LW Rebalance v1.18.10

Strategic Game: Cadre grants 5 soldiers LPCL (from 4 to CPL) all of whom are on your first mission * Balance (thanks to faffler for pointing out the intricacies of the balance) You now start with 3 random soldiers from your country (from 1), but they are not with you on the first mission * Makes the country start more represented in the troop population and gives you a 'little' leeway of who to bring on your first 3 missions MECs have 50% more fatigue and injury time (it's tiring being robocop!) * Means it's harder to consistently field and level a large contingent of MECs. this is the nerf to late-game MEC overpower that seems to work best (as opposed to damage reductions or ammo restrictions or other solutions). It's nice because the MECs still feel strong but you can't fill your battles with only MECs as easily.

Research: Pulse Lasers requires Berserker Interrogation * Pulse was a little too easy to get to (easier than gauss?) and made it too ideal to skip to. This puts it more in line with the other technologies requiring an interrogation to unlock (Laser = none/drone autopsy, Gauss = ExpWarfare (w Floater Int), Pulse = Berserker Int, Plasma = M.Elite Int)

Tactical Game: Reduced the number of MEC classes to 4. Now Jaeger upgrades from Sniper/Scout, Maruarder upgrades from Infantry/Assault, Goliath upgrades from Gunner/Rocketeer, Shogun upgrades from Medic/Engineer (thanks to AxemanUnique for the idea) -* Really there was a lot of overlap and it wasn't ideal to have 8 MEC classes as there wasn't enough distinction. Also, it wasn't great how if you wanted a specific MEC you needed a specific other class * now you can get each MEC from 2 classes.

Air Game: Updated text during air battles to be more succinct

Aliens: All Sectopods start with HEAT Ammo (instead of acquiring it at 420 research) * A minor change as most of the time you meet a Sectopod the aliens have 420 research. The reason is that before 420 research, if you happen to run into a sectopod, it was too easy to trivialize the encounter with sitting a MEC with OFA in front of the sectopod. Then, when you tried that strategy as the aliens ticked over to 420 research it was frustrating as your MEC got obliterated.

Perks: Reconnaissance grants only 2 battle scanners (from 3) * Nerf to accommodate the extra range Grenadier works for the Grenade Launcher as well * Balance in the trees

Equipment: Gauss Weapons have 1 penetration (from 0.5) and quench guns grants 2 penetration (from 1) * Buff to gauss overall with further specialization and distinction from the other weapon classes Pulse Weapons have 20% crit (from 10%) * Buff to pulse. Despite being powerful, it's a compromise to make it more viable on classes that generally fire with low crit chances. Plus, it helps distinguish the weapon classes. Last, due to pulse requiring more research it's slightly more challenging to acquire. Battle Scanner range increased to 12.5 tiles (from 10 tiles) * Now when you throw it you can visualize the squadsight tiles MEC/SHIV weapon ammo to 3 (from 2) * It was too restrictive at 2 for gameplay AM Rifle and AM Long Rifle ammo to 2 (from 1) * Buff for balance and ease of use (gameplay) Restorative Mists heal for 8 (from 6) * Buff for balance

Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where Advanced HEAT Tech wasn't doing enough damage

LW Rebalance v1.18.9

Strategy Game: Cadre only upgrades 4 units to CPL (from 5) * Balance

Air Game: Damage Reduction can now reach 100% (from 95%) on UFOs * Consistency with the rest of the rebalance and a little more realistic

Tactical Game: The first mission contains an extra pod of 4: Now 5 pods (3,3,4,4,4) instead of 4 pods (3,3,4,4) but you start the mission with a SHIV * Makes it more consistant as the SHIV is really effective -* also helps players realizes that SHIVs in the rebalance are effective. (thanks to szmind for the code!)

Perks: Lone wolf grants 10 defense when active (from 0 defense) as well as 10 aim/crit * Slight boost to make the perk more competitive

Equipment: Sniper Rifle penetration to 2 (from 1) * Buff to the class and it's effectiveness at dealing with robotic targets and targets in heavy cover Hi Cap Mags can only be equipped by Infantry, Scout, Assault, Medic, Engineer * The ammo was reduced on the SHIVs and MECs to tone down their offensive strength and the hi cap mags were too easy of a way to get around that. Also, a hi caps mag didn't really make sense for a Minigun or a Pulse Lancer so it's nice to have it restricted to the 'rifles'. =P

Bug Fixes: Fixed some red fog description text from not appearing correctly (thanks faffler) Fixed laser sight description (thanks faffler) Light 'Em Up Removed from Sectopods because it didn't do anything (thanks Seph67)

LW Rebalance v1.18.8

Bug Fix: Fixed a bug with an incorrect dgc.ini with test values that made certain items too strong (e.g. avalanche missles)

LW Rebalance v1.18.7

Tactical: Elerium Batteries foundry project now also grants an extra charge to the stun rifle * Helps the stun rifle be more rewarding to bring in during the mid to late game (as the cost is often higher) Jellied Elerium foundry project grants a +3 tile range increase to destructive hand grenades, rockets, proximity mines, and the grenade launcher * buff to explosives into the mid and late game MSGT bonus stats are now proportional to base stats: For each point higher/lower than the base stats, there is a 1% decreased/increased chance of acquiring the bonus * Stops overpowering of MSGTs (Blame faffler for his super badger) :) Health only provides a 5% increase/decrease in fatigue/injury time * At 10% it was too much and made required character pools significantly smaller (van Doorn, Japenese early MSGT, etc. were not ideal)

Equipment: Incinerator Module increases flamethrower damage by 5 (from 3) and weighs 0 (from -1) * Buff to the damage component of the flamethrower All MEC1-2s have their mobility reduced by 1 * Balance, tones back offensive power of MECs, make the distinction b/w MEC1/2 and MEC3 more distinct KSM now has 1 weight (from 0) * It was too strong inhibiting equipment variety on MECs (but it's fun enough that it should still be a little overpowered -* and it is) SHIV/MEC weapons all have 2 ammo (from 3) * Tone back their offensive power (200% damage is nuts)

Perks: Advanced HEAT Tech increases HEAT bonus damage to +200% (from +150%) * Buff to the engineer's anti-mechanical role Bring 'Em On bonus crit damage to +6 (from +7.5) * Slight decrease to keep it inline with other perks Javelin Rockets no longer increase the range on rockets * They just grant the +2 penetration now, as Jellied Elerium already increases the range Flush has 40 aim (from 30) * Slight buff to make it more likely to land hits and more useful as a finisher Mayhem grants +3 damage to grenades (from +2) * Buff to Engineer Grenadier, Shogun, Archer, and the spare grenade on the Sniper and Gunner

Aliens: Muton Elites no longer pick up Mayhem at 420 research * It wasn't triggering with suppression and they were not supposed to be strong grenadiers Sectopod Cluster bomb damage increased to 20 (from 7) * Makes it a lot more dangerous -* for a 2 turn attack it was pretty weak (compared to, for example, ethereal rift which is single turn). Also, it tends not to hit directly causing minimal (i.e. 1) damage. Sectopods start with Light 'Em Up (instead of gaining them at leader level 8) * Means the early ones you fight have more offensive power Ethereal health to 26 (from 20) * They were dying a little too easy All Heavy Floaters start with HEAT ammo (instead of only leaders having them) * Makes MECs not effective at tanking heavy floater pods (previously you could just disable the leader and be OK). Improves the role for late game biotanks, helps tone back MECs. Muton Berserker Health to 28 (from 24) * Makes them more of a threat (they were still a little too easy)

Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where interceptors would not be repaired and would sit at 1 day of repair remaining * Bad programming on my part, sorry guys Fixed a bug where Mayhem would sometimes still grant a damage boost to SAW/LMGs Fixed a rare LW 1.0 Bug (I think) where EXALT could permanently disable your research * Very rare, but possible and campaign ending if it does occur Fixed some description typos

LW Rebalance v1.18.6

Strategic Game: XCOM now starts every game with a spare satellite * Means if you ever get your only satellite shot down you can always replace it Refuel and Rearm time increased to 12 hours (from 4) * Prevents having to spam the spacebar to tick away time and get planes back up in the air Increased credits gained from countries by 30-50% * We were a little tight and this gives a more reliable cash flow as opposed to more variable means. Helps in the late game when a full base can cost a lot each month and when the aliens have taken over more countries. Raider, Destroyer, Overseer health reduced by 20%, Upgraded Destroyer health increased by 20% * Makes mediums a little easier

Tactical Game: The first mission is harder. It now contains 4 pods of size 3, 3, 4, and 4 and 14 aliens overall (from 4 pods of size 2, 2, 2, 1 and 7 aliens overall) * This is to act as a bit of a difficulty guide: if the first mission is too hard you should consider lowering the difficulty. It helps give players an idea of the difficulty before getting half way through the game. Number of aliens on each mission is reduced by 0-25% (from 0-50%) * 50% was too much reduction, turning some swarming missions into what felt like light missions The number of aliens in a non-hardcoded mission is now clamped between 3*#pods to 8*#pods * Prevents easy missions from being too much of a cake-walk and prevents some larger missions from bugging out due to oversaturation of pods Command, Revive, and Psi Inspire no longer restrict the use of multi-action perks * Consistency with other perks (such as ITZ, etc.). Note: if you already used a perk like CE then you can't use it again after being commanded, but if you haven't used it then it is fair game. All multi-action perks now work with each other and display a popup * Example: Paramedic now works with both Smoke Grenade ane Close Encounters (previously using one of them would cancel the effects of any of the others). The popup helps the player understand when they have saved an action. Note RnG still does not work with CE or HnR.

Perks: HnR now only prevents shooting * In other words, psionics abilities, command, KSM, etc. are all usable after HnR. A buff as the scout/pathfinder was too weak with only 1 effective action per turn. The Battle Scanner perk renamed to "Reconnaissance" and now grants 3 battle scanners (from 2) and makes the first battle scanner use each turn free * Buff to the perk and the scout Ready For Anything grants +20 aim (from +15) * Further boost due to the lack of control of who you shoot at The Concealment perk grants +2 mobility and +20 defense * Concealment is not as effective with the XCOM Scamper mechanic so it needed a significant boost to keep the scout class competitive The Grenadier perk bonus range to 0 tiles (from +3 tiles) and bonus damage to 0 (from +1) but using a destructive grenade only costs a half action * Change of function: instead of making grenades stronger it allows you to spam them. Overall a slight nerf as the range increase was really good for HE grenades. So Others May Live officer perk caps at +6 aim/will (from +8 aim/will) * Balance with combined arms

XCOM: Maurader perk Rapid Fire replaced with HnR * RF was a little too strong on the Maurader, esp in combo with RnG. This still gives a unique choice to the Maurader without making RnG too powerful. Also, RF was bugged on MECs and this was the last MEC to have RF.

Aliens: Muton Rifles deal 1 less damage and Muton Elite Rifles deal 2 less damage * Makes them both slightly less of a difficulty spike when you start to face them and makes surviving multiple rounds against them more reasonable Sectoids gain 1 health, Drones gain 1 health, Thinmen gain 1 health, Outsiders all gain Close Combat Specialist * Makes them more difficult. Increased difficulty in the early game as the early game was too easy. Outsiders are more difficult to run up to and kill now making them a lot more worth * suppression is a lot more useful. Removed hyperreactive pupils, depth perception, deadeye, Fortiores Una, and other minor perks from aliens * The list of perks aliens could sometimes get was more in the realm of overwhelming than fun, this helps a little while having a minimal overall effect

Equipment: Motion Tracker range increased by 5 tiles (from 25 to 30) and charges to 3 (from 2) * With the XCOM Scamper mechanic, scouting is less mandatory and needed a slight boost for balance Rocket Radius decreased to 6 (from 8) * A tone down as the more enemies we fight at once have made rockets a lot stronger -* also makes it more useful in tighter areas

Foundry: Enhanced Lasers and Enhanced Ballistic Foundry projects significantly decreased in cost * They were too expensive previously

Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where paramedic was triggering the movement reduction of close encounters Fixed a bug where aliens were not activating all other pods that they could see at the end of each of their turns Fixed a bug where concealment was activating enemy pods

LW Rebalance v1.18.5

Tech Tree: Added colors to some of the longer lines to make it easier to identify which techs are required for each item

Squadron Unleashed: UFOs will target supporting aircraft in lead formation twice as often as supporting aircraft in mid formation and 4x as often as supporting aircraft in the rear of a formation. Note: this does not change the amount of shots or damage the UFO deals, just what the targeting priority of the UFO is * Thanks to szmind (again) for the fantastic code :) This basically means that the formation position of your supporting aircraft makes a difference. This active aircraft will always take 50% of the UFOs shots, but the supporting aircraft will divide the remaining 50% amoungst them. If you had 3 supporting aircraft (2 leads and 1 mid) the leads would each have a 20% chance of being targeted and the mid would have a 10% chance of being targeted.

XCOM: All MECs start with 11 mobility (from 13) * The ability to never be flanked and not use cover is really powerful but was tempered by the previous pod mechanics which made getting close often a poor tactical decision. With the pod mechanics unleashed, MECs have become significantly more powerful. This mobility hit should pull them back a little so they aren't too strong.

Perks: Aggression no longer grants the +1.5 crit at all ranges (now it only grants +3 crit damage if within 4 tiles) * Nerf due to the increased ease of getting close to targets -* +4.5 damage was too much. This still encourages the perk holder to get close but isn't as damaging overall. Close Combat Specialist no longer grants DR (from 30% within 4 tiles) * Nerf due to the increased ease of getting close to targets significantly increassing the damage capabilities of CCS, makes the chitin plating more useful. Shock-Absorbant Armor only grants +30% DR within 8 tiles (from 50%) * Nerf due to the increased capability of getting close to targets and activating SAA, makes the chitin plating more useful. Brawler only grants +30% DR and +1 damage within 4 tiles (from 8 tiles) * Nerf due to the increased capability of getting close to targets. Keeps their effectiveness against melee units.

Equipment: KSM damage reduced to 20 (from 30) but still penetrate all damage reduction * Was too easy to get close to enemies and use due to new pod activation mechanics. With the significantly increased ease of getting close to aliens shotguns were appropriately nerfed but KSM was left off. Also, they needed a little tweak down even before that due to the full penetration being a little stronger than anticipated. Thumper effectiveness is proportionally increased. Pulse crit bonus to 10 (from 25) * Was too powerful with the added crit bonus damage due to flanking being easier with the new pod activation mechanics. Also it made some +crit% perks less ideal as it was passing 100% on some flanked targets

Aliens: Berserker damage increased to 14 (from 10, originally 10) * Makes them more of a threat when they get close. Accommodates for the prevalance of Hardened, Brawler, SAA, and Chitin plating on xcom units. Makes the chitin plating more useful. Note: this does make using cover a poor strategy against them, but that is the dynamic they were designed to create. This is because you'll get charged for a lot of damage. This makes non-cover units like SHIVs and especially MECs even more important against them. Chryssalid damage increased to 8 (from 6, originally 8) * Makes them more of a threat when they get close. Accommodates for the prevalance of Hardened, Brawler, SAA, and Chitin plating on xcom units. Makes the chitin plating more useful.

Bug Fixes: LW 1.0 Bug Fix: Enemy pods that trigger on the enemy turn will no longer get an additional turn * Thank the lord for szmind and this fix. This bug has nailed me quite a few times in both LW 1.0 and the rebalance when an enemy pod triggers another enemy pod which the scampers and proceed to have a full turn against me. With this change all enemy pods SHOULD only ever scamper on the turn they are revealed. Finally found a way to add an in-game icon to the stun rifle * Thanks szmind! =D Updated the tooltip on Red Fog to indicate that will minimizes the effect and that it can decrease throw range LW 1.0 Bug Fix: The battlescanner no longer prevents lone wolf from triggering * thanks to szmind for the code

LW Rebalance v1.18.4

Marksman's Scope: Aim to +5 (from +10) but weight to 0 (from 1) * Consistency with the other scopes, accidentally left off 1.18.3 changes Bug Fix: Regular Scope now properly is 0 weight * Accidentally left off previous version

LW Rebalance v1.18.3

Strategic: Item and Facility build times reduced back to normal rates (from double rates) * The rush time is still effective when you need it but it shouldn't be so mandatory Item meld rush cost to 2 (from 5) * Makes it less than facilities Initial panic levels decreased to 200/400/600/800 (from 300/500/700/900) * A little more wiggle room to pass the campaigns Panic increase for UFOs not attacked dereased to 3 (from 5, originally 2) * Too much uncontrolled panic made RNG too much of a factor in how successful the campaign was Panic reduction for successfuly abudction missions increased to 3 (from 2) * Offsets the normal gain from UFO missions so that country remains even on panic after a successful abduction mission Panic increase from bombing missions reduce to 10 (from 15, originally 8) * They were a little too hard to prevent, making RNG a little too much of a factor. This tones them down.

Air Game: Stingray Missle damage increased by 30% * Gives xcom always something to deal with armored UFOs at the cost of destroying the UFO Interceptor repair time to 300 hours (from 450 hours, originally 600 hours) * Significant increase to xcom's ability to field an effective defense against alien UFOs and also helps recover from bad RNG

Resources: UFOs grant 33% more alloys * It was a little light Slight tweak to continent bonuses * Slight buff to NA, Europe, Asia. Slight nerf to SA. Council requests can request a more variable amount of each resource and offer a lot more as well * Makes requests more various, provides more income if able to comply, makes random resources (e.g. thin man corpses) more valuable

Research: Alien Power Systems no longer requires Berserker Interrogation * It was cutting off too much tech if you didn't happen to get berserkers Advanced Power Armors now requires Berserker Interrogation * More fitting for the Berserker and less restrictive on overall research

Tactical: New Feature: When you trigger any enemy pod, all of your units that have exhausted their moves get 1 free move to reposition themselves (just move, no other action). This does not work on units that are suppressing, overwatching, or hunkered. * Thanks to tracktwo and szmind for this amazing code! This works very similar to the alien scamper that they get when they are revealed. It prevents triggering a pod on the end of your turn and then getting destroyed by the aliens on their turn. Each time you trigger a pod it will give your units that have used all their moves a free move. You can tell which units it is affecting as their health pips have turned red. Updated szmind's Sequential Overwatch to 1.2 (disabling instantaneous double firing with covering fire) * Makes mechtoids more effective and was a little unrealistic, Makes lightning reflex firing at units with covering fire and sentinel more doable Shotguns only receive 50% of base damage for getting close to their targest (from 100%) * With the new pod mechanics, getting close to enemies is easier than ever and this has seriously boost the strength of the shotgun * a nerf was in order Exalt Transmitters will only disable exalt 50% of the time * They are still nice at 50% and at 75% they were being used too strongly to avoid battles with exalt. This encourages the players to engage and fight the exalt more instead of disabling and running by as much.

Perks: Collateral Damage now uses an entire ammo clip and is now fixed to deal 50% damage (was bugged before doing only 1 damage) * This is partly because it was really powerful (as it was bugged only doing 1 damage and is now fixed doing 50% damage), and partly because it has a bug that it can't be used with less than max ammo Mayhem no longer grants SAWs/LMGs +2 damage * Balance on the gunner tree as mayhem suppression was too strong (especially with danger zone) Hit and Run now allows you to reload, overwatch, stead aim, One For All, or hunker afterwards. No longer grants +2 mobility * Buff and nerf. Gives you a few more actions as it felt too restrictive before and was a little too weak Will to Survive no longer grants +2 mobility but grants +2 armor health instead * Nerf to the use of it as a mobility buff for non-tanking purposes (was previously buffed to make biotanks effective but they are very effective already). Nerf to the offensive potential of close ranged tanky classes (as with the pod triggering mechanics they got a significant buff).

Equipment: Scope weight to 0 (from 1), crit bonus on foundry project to +5 (from +10) * Sacrifices 5 crit to gain 1 mobility to make it more competitive (also standardizes scope/lasersight/neuralgunlink at 0 weight)

XCOM: Chance a soldier is from each country is reset to vanilla levels * with set soldiers we already have soldiers from the major countries and it's nice to get soldiers from a larger variation (this is still dgc.ini editable)

Aliens: Cyberdisc aim increased to 90 (from 70) * It encourages you to use tanking units to occupy their fire instead of trying to dodge it or suppress/smoke it away, and they needed a buff Ethereal will to 150 (from 120) * Helps reduce the effectiveness of neural feedback against them (as high will neural feedback soldiers were too strong against them) and buffs their damage to levels that make you hate them more

Bug Fixes: Fixed a bug where there was a conflict with the Exalt Scan reminder and the Set 15 soldiers from the beginning of the game: Exalt scan reminders would accidentally give you 15 of the set soldiers. * Fixed now. Fixed a bug where the Japanese "Ring of Fire" start would sometimes cause a crash Fixed a bug that was supposedly fixed in 1.18.2 but had forgotten to be uploaded about medic saying it got 10 aim. Fixed a bug where scopes were giving you 5 crit and not 5 aim * Whoops =P Fixed a bug where pods were getting revealed by stealth units * thanks to szmind Fixed a bug where battle scanners and/or the LoS indicating mod would reveal pods * thanks to szmind Fixed a bug that was causing collateral damage to deal 1 damage (from 50% base) Fixed a LW 1.0 bug where council requests were not evenly distributed for DW games

LW Rebalance v1.18.2

Bug Fix: Hopefully fixed a bug where sometimes aliens would stand around in a hybrid active/inactive state and sometimes would be revealed without a 'scamper' vision Bug Fix: Field Medic incorrectly reported the medic gained 10 aim (it only gains 5) * Fixed

LW Rebalance v1.18.1

Bug Fix: Scout still was starting with Low Profile (instead of battle scanner). This is fixed now.

Note: The only file that has changed is the "defaultgamecore.ini" file. So you only need to replace that one to update from v1.18.0, but you can still replace all files for a full install.

LW Rebalance v1.18.0

New installation procedure: Patcher GUI is not necessary Simply copy the files into the associated directories (see new instructions on webpage) Will work on any clean install of LW 1.0 or any previous version of LW Rebalance -* no need to run any uninstall files when upgrading

New Incoporated Mods: The following mods are now incoporated into LW Rebalance so you do not need to install them individually: Line of Sight Indicators (by tracktwo): http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/666/? LoadoutManager (by tracktwo): http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/656/? Cleanse of the Clones (by SirDrD): http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/514/? Campaign Summary (by tracktwo): https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/626/? Squadron Unleashed (by szmind): https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/710/?

Overall Game: New Second wave option: More Than PI (Perfect Information) * Displays popups of hit %, crit % and psi % * QoL improvement New Second wave option: Fresh Recruits * The soldiers you start with will be random. Similar to LW 1.0 where all of your starting soldiers are randomized. The Training Roullette second wave option is redesigned to work with LW Rebalance now * It wasn't really working before as it had class perks as random perks and other odd things happening when you used it

Squadron Unleashed Mod Incorporation: Incorporated szmind's amazing "Squadron Unleashed" mod * Allows sending mulitple and/or damaged ships against UFOs * HUGE thanks to szmind and his amazing work with that mod as he helped me incorporate and fix it so it works well within the rebalance. It's incredible stuff. You can always send 2 interceptors out, Lt's can send 3, Majors can send 4, and Cmdr's can send 5 (so it's 2,3,3,4,4,5 from 1,2,3,4,5,6) * This allows you to always be able to send out a squadron (which feels cool), makes that initial rank feel important (so ranks feel like they matter), and makes the strength of xcom not so various throughout a campaign (helps make it easier to balance and accommodate fluctuations in how players are performing as the majority of the game will be with 3-4 planes) Enemy UFOs have no stance and the weapon item card does not show UFO stances anymore * Stops gaming the UFOs and it was getting a little too convoluted with all the different stance combinations to figure out a reasonable strategy quickly Stances/aggro are replaced with formation positions: You can set your formation in the squadraon to either Lead, Mid, or Rear and have +10/-10 aim/dodge for Lead and vice versa for Rear. Lead planes will always be chosen over Mid planes which will always be chosen over Rear planes when selecting the squadron leader. It makes for some very interesting strategy and dynamics and is more simplified and clean. Formation positions have no extra effects on modifying hits or misses above the +10/-10 (in the original Squadron Unleashed they have a 23% chance) * A little more straight forward Lone Bullets (bullets that miss the primary interceptor) work differently than in the Squadron Unleashed mod: The UFO will now target the primary plane 50% of the time and a random supporting plane 50% of the time (from always targeting lead and all misses targeting supporting ships). The UFOs will also have it's normal aim on shots against supporting ships (instead of 0/20/40% automatically based on supporting ship stance). * Makes a little more sense as it wasn't realistic that each miss had a chance to hit every single supporting plane like they were all in a line in front of the UFO. Fixed promotions to work with dynamic war and set a minimum number of kills you need for promotions to 1/2/3/4/5 so that you never actually skip ranks * Though this means at DW values less than 0.5 your pilots will rank up slightly slower than what is fair

Air Game: Lots of air game stat changes for UFO weapons, XCOM weapons, XCOM ships, and UFOs * Balancing of the squadron unleashed mod to fit LW Rebalance (see front page for details) Each kill a pilot gets grants +1 aim (from +3) and have no aim cap * It was too penalizing to lose high level pilots and now it is not so mandatory to have them (late game UFO stats were balanced around this) Pilot kills no longer grant a damage boost * It was too insignificant vs the aim boost that it didn't really matter but was making calculations difficult unecessarily Renaming ships will maintain their rank * Quality of life change Critical hits do 150% damage (from 200% damage) * A little less extreme while fighting so planes don't disappear in a single shot as much and fights are more predictable Chance to critically hit is now clamped between 0 and 100% (from 5-25%) * Makes it so the minimum crit chances aren't affecting normal ship weapons so it's easier to see your DPS (as weapons with 0 crit would previously gain 5 crit which is a really hidden mechanic that isn't obvious enough to players) I thought this point might help people understand too: Crit chance is Penetration/10 and crit resist is DR/10. So an EMP with 200% penetration has a 20% crit rate -* Against a scout (0% DR) it would keep that 20% crit and against a fighter (75% DR, thus 7.5% crit resist) it would have only a 12.5% crit rate Aim now clamped between 0 and 100% (from 5-95%) * Makes it so you can have ships that still suffer at the low end of aim and 100% is reasonable to achieve. Also, keeps it consistant with crit. Normal hits do 80-120% damage (from 100-150% damage) * Same as above: A little less extreme while fighting -* also makes the displayed damage a reasonable calculation (instead of the minimum). Now max damage is 1.2 * 1.5 = 180% damage instead of 1.5 * 2 = 300% damage. The list of interceptors does not re-sort itself everytime you select an interceptor of different aggro * Was sometimes annoying and would lead to misclicking and lack of awareness of which plane was where on the list (thanks to szmind for the code) Aircraft weapons are now all long range graphically * Helps clear things up about what's going on in the chaotic battle view You can't send the same aircraft back at a UFO repeatedly anymore -* It now must reach home and refuel before re-engaging * Stops some unintended behaviour (thanks to szmind for the code) All ships explode (instead of being shotdown) at an x% chance where x is the overkill damage divided by 10. To figure out the chance you'll destroy a UFO the formula is %chance = 1 * (0.5^[dmg/1000]) (I hope) * Makes it so early game there are mostly shot down UFOs and later game more destroyed UFOs. Having all ships the same means that you don't have to try and recalculate for each ship and you can easily understand an apply the values. DW modifies the kills you need to rank up your pilots and modifies the %aim bonus that kills net you * This is awesome and should have been in regular LW 1.0. It makes it so rank ups aren't half as effective in DW 0.5 games Adjusted what the UI Weaponcard considers a fast, medium, or slow rate of fire * Because weapons generally fire slower UFOs do not gain aim and damage bonuses each month but their health bonuses are +10% per month (except scouts/fighters which are +50% per month) * It's a lot easier to calculate the variables of the air battles and thus use strategy to win when the variables are not changing. The health means that the air game still gets a lot more difficult and even later game scouts get pretty tanky. UFOs have 50%/40%/20%/0% less health on normal/classic/brutal/impossible * This is a big and really fantastic change. This makes it so that air game actually changes difficulty based on the difficulty you choose. Now impossible can have a more challenging air game and normal can have an easier one (instead of always trying to balance one setting for all 4 difficulties). Removed wingtip sparrowhawks as a researchable tech * It made it very difficult to calculate air battle outcomes and made the air battles too chaotic when viewing. Plus, it minimizes the importance of the distinct qualities of each weapon so choosing a specific weapon became less important. Medium UFOs and Large UFOs are easier to hit (50% more aim and 100% more aim to xcom aircraft, respectively) * It makes a lot of sense that the bigger ships are easier to hit and is balanced out in ship stats.

Strategic Game: Modified costs of multiple gene mods, foundry projects, facilities, items, etc. * See in-game for details: mostly to make things easier/harder to get and to make the resources they required more desirable Multiple modifications to starting bonuses (see in-game) * Balance reasons Alien Command and Control requires only Sectoid Command Interrogation (and not Ethereal Interrogation) * Speeds up the end game a lot as you no longer need to capture and interrogate an ethereal to pass the game You do not require mind control to use the gollop chamber, only mind merge * Speeds up the end game a lot as you not longer need to get rank 5 psionics, only rank 3 Mind control psi training chance to 2x(will-55)% (from 2x(will-35)%) * Since it is not needed anymore, it's nice to make it a lot more restrictive again as it was still somewhat abusive to the point that it's better being a more rare ability Minimum and consecutive engineers/scientists required for workshops/uplinks/laboratories increased to 20 (from 15) * Slows down covering the planet with satellites, slows down lab and workshop blocks Missions are slightly more difficult on average (0.5 increase in average difficulty) * Makes a few less light missions and few more harder missions Build times for items and buildings increased by 100% * Makes engineers more valuable and rushing buildings sometimes useful (as oppossed to almost never) Rushing a facility/item requires only 20% more resources (from 50%) and 5 meld (from 20 or 2+itemcost/40 more meld) * Makes it far more reasonable to rush something from a resource perspective To get a grade of A at the end of the month you need to have no escaped UFOs * Makes the grade more variable and gives the player something to work towards You cannot remove soldiers from psionic training once they start training * Makes psionic training similar to MEC chopping and genetic amping. The reason is because it was gamey and required unideal micromanagement to pull soldiers in and out of the labs all the time. Theoretically you should always have someone in the lab and pull them out for missions if need be, now it's more of a choice and less micromanaging knowing that they are more committed. Fusion Reactors grant 12 power (from 8) * Makes it less necessary to rush for thermal Aliens gain 20% more resources for successful harvest missions and lose 20% less from having their UFOs shotdown * overall it makes them more aggressive as they'll have a few more resources. (see: https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Alien_Resources_(Long_War)) Friends in Low Places, Confounding Light, Gangplank, Deluge, and Furies all start 1 month later * Due to increased difficultly with the new pod mechanics and their enemies being hardcoded (see below) Xenobiology and Xenoneurolofy does not research twice as quick anymore and at half the cost anymore * It was too fast off the bat with the added scientists The Improved Stun Rifle foundry project renamed to "Elerium Batteries" and additional has the effect of increasing the motion tracker charges by 1 * The stun rifle buff wasn't that great and this is a nice way to increase scouting into the mid game. Also, with the new pod reveal mechanic (see below), some additional scouting was warranted. The XCOM Training Programs have been beefed up. OTS 1: PFCs gain 20xp/day, OTS 3: SPECs gain 40xp/day, OTS 5: LCPLs gain 50xp/day (from OTS 2: PFCs gain 10xp/day, OTS 4: SPECs gain 20xp/day) * Significantly increases the depth of rosters making losing soldiers not so punishing and giving players more reasonable replacements into the mid to end game

Global Panic:

- Please note, you WILL lose more countries than before. It is a race for you to finish before the aliens successfully take over every major country around the earth.**

Initial Panic spread out slightly more to 300/500/700/900 (from 500/600/700/800) * Makes the difficulties of abductions more reasonable as the panic is a major factor in abduction difficulty. This then also makes the game difficulties a little more distinct. Panic increases for undisturbed regular UFO missions increased to 5 (from 2) * More panic generation throughout the campaign, encouraging you to end it early as the entire world panics more and more Panic increases for undisturbed bombing raids increased to 15 (from 8) * More panic generation throughout the campaign, encouraging you to end it early as the entire world panics more and more Panic reduction for adding a satellite to a country reduced to 5 (from 10) * Makes overall a little harder to reduce panic and a net panic increase when a satellite is shotdown and then you replace it Passing an exalt mission only lowers panic by 5 (from 20) * Makes it overall a little harder to reduce panic Council missions that lower panic only lower it by 5 (from 20) * Makes it overall a little harder to reduce panic, stops 0.5 DW games from getting a significant advantage in panic reduction each month Failing a council mission raises panic by only 10-20 (from 20-40) * Makes it less devestating when you do fail a bomb mission or something (remember 0.5 DW games can double everything) Terror mission panic changes are decreased to around a third of what they were: for each civilian you lose the panic goes up by 1 (from 3) in the country and 0.3 (from 1) in the adjacent countries to a max of around 15 (from 45) in the country and 5 in the adjacent countries (note: DW does double this and you still lose the country straight out if you fail the terror mission) (double note: if you do well you can still actually improve the panic situation) * It's a little more realistic. The # you save should be so essential. With the huge weight of the terror missions before it was too easy to lose countries after each mission even if you did reasonably well.

Resources: At the end of each month you will always recruit 2-4 soldiers (instead of the complicated formula) * It's actually nice to get fresh blood and it was too gamey to try to keep less soldiers to get more each month. At an average of 3 per month it shouldn't cause much bloataing and you can always dismiss excess soldiers. It also makes recruiting soldiers less necessary. Newly hired recruits take 18 days to arrive (from 9) * Encourages using which troops you have when the roster gets tight Elerium gained from shot down UFOs increased slightly to 10-20% (from 5-15%) * Helps offset RNG from screwing you as much if you don't get many landed UFOs (or fail at them because they are pretty hard sometimes) Alloy gain increased by approximately 33% * There were too many tasks that couldn't be completed upon reaching the end of the game, this should help (elerium can still be player controlled by tackling landeds which can give ample) Alloy gain per UFO changed to 15/30/60/75/120 (from 28/42-48/56/70/84) * Makes the larger ships worth the plunder and helps balance out the alloy gain curve as we were getting a little too much early Weapon Fragments increased by 15% on brutal difficutly, 25% on classic difficulty, and 50% on normal difficulty * The less aliens and more frequent light missions were yielding too low fragement amounts * this should accommodate for that Alloys and Elerium sell for 2 each (from 1, originally 3) * It's still not smart to sell them. But at least if you are really cash strapped this can help you in a pinch. It also makes resource management easier by allowing costly but at least somewhat reasonable conversion of materials to cash. Meld sells for 5 (from 10) * Prevents cash influx from being as swingy (a few triple meld missions vs a few no meld missions) and may help encourage players to hold on to meld a little longer, helps accommodate for increased meld accumulation from the 20% boost and from aliens having more resources Starting cash to 500 (from 1000) * We were getting a little too much cash off the bat. This makes some better early tension on facilities vs interceptors vs soldiers that makes early choices more impactful Overall funding per difficulty reduced to 100/110/130/150% (from 100/120/160/200%) on impossible/brutal/classic/normal * This hits normal the most and is a 25% reduction in month-end cash flow on normal and has no effect on impossible. Overall a decrease in cash flow on the easier difficulties. Overall funding from countries decreased by another 25% * We had slightly too much cash still Council requests reward more cash for fullfilling them * Makes giving away resources more appealing

Tactical Game: Revealing a pod now also reveals all other pods that that pod can see, and at the end of each alien turn any active pods will reveal any inactive pods they can see * Thanks to szmind for the code! This is a huge change in gameplay. It is a really nice realism touch (as aliens would call for help from any of their buddies they can see when they see you) but is much more than just that: It means when you are fighting a pod you will always be able to immediately approach that pod without worry about "pod mechanics" and triggering an inactive pod (as all pods within sight of the originally triggered pod would have become active. It prevents feeling like you have to "game" the pod mechanic. It means you don't have to sit back when fighting a pod worried that if you move foward another tile you'll trigger another pod. Now if you are fighting the aliens you can feel confident that no other pod is within sight range of the triggered pod. The gameplay change is a very welcomed change, especially to those players who dislike the feeling that they have to game the pod mechanic. Comments like this from levand "However, I find it quite immersion breaking that (especially at higher difficulty levels) pod activation is, by far, the most important tactical consideration. Reliably pull one pod at a time, and you can't lose. Accidentally activate 3, and you are screwed." or this from gotoucanario: "pod activation is easily what I dislikethe most of EU/EW and Xcom 2. I hate that most of the time I am more concerned on not popping another pod than dealing with the current pod, I hate that 50% of the time I want to do something aggressive I won't because there's a good chance I'll meet another pod and get insta flanked by the alien's free move. Feels like a good portion of winning is centered around "gaming" the game rather than legit tactics." won't apply anymore. Overall the testing has been really positive. This does make the game more difficult though, so alien numbers have been turned down, but it will require some adjustment to usual strategies. More prudent scouting, killing straglers quick, and battle scanning use can really help you activate in the right situation. Overall number of aliens on non-hardcoded missions is reduced by 0-50% (it's random) * Accommodates for more pods triggering at once, and makes the size of the alien force more unknown. Note that this means swarming missions can be more dangerous than ever and you may have to retreat the odd time Exalt numbers and pods on covert ops and extractions reduced to 50% and 70% (from 70% and 100%) but number of xcom sent on the missions reduced to 2 and 4 (from 3 and 5), respectively * Exalt missions were not affected by the 0-50% normal reduction of aliens. Makes the covert op more important and further distinguishes these type of mission from other missions. Less pods works better with the new pod mechanics. Exalt base raid alien numbers and pods reduced by ~30% * Was the only other missions that wasn't accommodated for the new pod mechanics (testing showed that this was a reasonable compromise to keep difficulty on par) Terror Mission pods reduced by 30% * There were too many and it was triggering a few too many at once due to the concentration. This seems to work the best. For each base health a soldier has above/below the average health of a soldier, fatigue and injury times are reduced/increased by 10% (from 5%) * Makes health more important (it needed a boost) and slightly lowers overall injury and fatigue times (as people level up and gain more base health) Acid grants -5 DR (from the greater of -3 DR and 50% of the DR) * Simplification and acts as a buff. Shotguns no longer have an overall +50% DR penalty -* instead, they only have a penalty against hardened targets (in which hardened grants 50 %DR instead of 30%) * so now they aren't worse against cover-based DR, absorption fields, damage control, innate DR, etc. Overall this is a buff to shotguns. Previously a drone with [2 innate DR and 30% DR] against shotguns used effectively have [3 innate DR and 45% DR] but now would have [2 innate DR and 50% DR]; so the shotgun would do slightly more damage to hardened targets. Previously a muton with wts in cover with [50% DR] against shotguns used to effectively have [75% DR] but now would have [50% DR]. Overall acts like +1 damage up to double damage on shotguns against hardened targets. MEC Close Combat perk does not increase the damage of the KSM anymore, it simply provides it with the light 'em up capability only * Slight nerf to damage on KSM (due to thumper dmg increase and keeping it relatively balanced) Enhanced Lasers (and thus the item Enhanced Beam Optics) is now available after researching Beam Lasers (instead of Advanced Beam Lasers) * Puts a much needed damage upgrade to laser weapons on the table a lot earlier Green Fog no longer affects SHIVs * Many people requested this and after beating my head against the wall I now realize it's a nice buff to SHIVs and more realistic Green Fog ticks down aim/will/mobility by 1-3 (from 1-2) * Makes it slightly more impactful and more random how it affects each soldier

XCOM: The soldiers you start with are always the same 15 soldiers + 1 from your home country (you can use the 2nd wave option Fresh Recruits to turn this off) * This way you can get to know the soldiers are little more between campaigns and talk to others about similar soldiers. Also you'll recongize the soldiers more. It worked awesome with the few set soldiers in X2 and through testing this version it is working well in the rebalance. Some of the soldiers you start with have more unique faces * Incoporation of some of the 'cheat' character models in the set of 15 soldiers you start with (note: you can still modify how the set characters look by changing their race which resets them to a normal character so you can modify their look * but you will lose their original look if you do so) Customized unique soldiers (e.g. Van Doorn, Freaky, Zhang, etc.) will now receive the country starting bonuses (e.g. Survival Training = 2hp) and second wave options will affect them (Strict Screening and Cinematic Mode) * This was kind of ignored in LW 1.0 so it's nice to have now Zhang, Alecto, and Carlock start at lower ranks * So that it's less likely they are the highest ranking soldiers in xcom when they join (even if Carlock was a SGT in his old service) Starting SHIV base health to 10 (from 16) * Help tone back the early game SHIV dominance. Note: this does not affect alloy or hover SHIVs. SHIVs take twice as long to repair (2 days base instead of 1) * It was too insignificant before Hidden potential causes promotion aim/will gains to be randomized between 50-150% (from 0-200%) * makes it a little less extreme so you don't end up with some super soldiers and some low soldiers after promoting. It was previously more extreme because all soldiers were 'balanced'. Now that 'balanced soldiers' is a second wave option the extremeness is not as needed and some of it's drawbacks can be addressed. A few minor perk tree changes and class stat changes (see image) MSGTs always have a chance (from a 40% chance) to gain bonus stats when completing a mission (5/10/20/40% for mobility/health/aim/will) and lower ranks do not gain bonus stats * Instead of a 10/20/30/40% chance to gain the stats for SGT/TSGT/GSGT/MSGT it's simply 100% chance after each battle for MSGTs (it was too slow for MSGTs previously and barely made a difference for the other classes) MSGT xp required to 7000 (from 6500) * It was a little too tight Weighting of stats for will/aim/health/mobility changed to 1/2/4/8 (from 1/3/6/12) * Will was a little too underweighted, this mostly just gives will 50% more weight vs the other stats. Effects MEC chopping bonus stats, SGT->MSGT bonus stats, "balanced soldiers", and initial country bonus stats Psionic XP levels reverted to LW 1.0 levels * With no need for mind control to pass the game there was also no need to rush the growth of psionic units Range of mobility levels for soldiers decreased to 12-14 (from 11-15) * Makes it less likely to get the frustrating low mobility soldiers

Perks: New perk Death from Afar: activates when firing at squadsight range and grants +10 aim and removes the critical hit penalty * A new perk for snipers with distinct gameplay that encourages you to keep your sniper at range New perk Distortion: Aim-based attacks will miss 50% of the time, exposions will dissipate dealing 0-1 damage, and nearby allies in cover gain +10 cover-based defense * New perk for Ethereals New perk Brawler: Grants 30% DR and +1 damage when within 8 tiles of the target. Grants Opportunist [Reaction shots have no aim penalty and can crit]. * A perk for the assault and maruader that further distinguishes them from other classes and boosts their CCS. Dense smoke grants +20% DR on top of the +20 defense (+50 defense total) * Buff to dense smoke -* makes it useful even when you aren't interested in additional defense Holo is applied during both reaction fire and during collateral damage (it used to be applied during neither) * Makes more sense and is nice for reaction fire classes with holo rounds and the shogun Mayhem no longer grants a damage boost to the arc rifle * Due to redesign Grenadier grants +3 tiles to grenade range (from +20% range) * Acts as more of a buff to the shorter range grenades Executioner grants +50 crit (from +40) * With the recent changes in the last few versions to the perk trees it needed a little buff to be more competitive Close Encounters reduces mobility by 65% after activating * Nerf due to the +DR removal on shotguns and balance between classes. Discourages the hit and run style of approach, distinguishing it further from Hit and Run by encouarging sitting close and being engaged in the midst of it all. Focuses this perk more on damage output as opposed guerilla attacks. It pairs more with the theme of RnG which is move in but stay there. It plays out that you feel like pushing the assault to the front lines more often (which is where he/she should be). Close Combat Specialist only reduces damage within 4 tiles by 30% (from 50%) * Slight nerf as the stacking with SAA was problematic and the perk got a significant boost with the Brawler addition Battle Scanner grants Low Profile (from vice versa) * just a QoL change Hit and Run reworked: The first standard shot of each turn does not cost an action but subsequent actions are limited to moving and move-based actions. Also grants +2 mobility. * Nerf for balance (esp with the +DR removal on shotguns). Focuses the use on 'hit and run' and mobility as it was often being used as a 'use 2 actions but try not to make it dmg related' and was a little too strong. Also, the damage reduction was fairly illogical and sometimes a hard pill to swallow. Side Note: Finally I got Hit and Run to actually be about Hit and Running! =D ITZ now grants +10 aim/crit when first triggered each turn (from -5 aim/crit after each successive kill) * Buff to the subsequent shots on the perk, fits the role of feeling "In the zone". With the requirement of holding still and requiring a kill on generally more sturdy aliens this perk needed some more love to be competitive. Plus it didn't makes sense that a soldier who was "In the zone" had aim and crit maluses. This new version feels a lot better. Double Tap grants +10 aim on the 2nd shot (from +0 aim) * Minor buff to the perk Mind Merge grants +25 aim (from +0) * It was too focused on only tanking. This should make it more balanced between boosting psi, boosting damage, and boosting DR. It also means it is not a poor move when then AI does it and is now quite deadly. Also is a lot nastier with greater mind merge. Rapid Reaction grants +10 aim on reaction fire (from +20) * It was a little too strong at +20. Also gameplay was worse due to too much encouragement to save shots for only overwatch. (Thanks siemic) Ready For Anything grants +15 aim on reaction fire (from +10) * Slight buff to be more competitive on the trees Covering Fire grants +20 aim on reaction fire at targets in cover (from +25) * Slight nerf for balance Bioelectric Skin range increased from 7.5 to 10 tiles * It was a little too short range and could use a slight buff The officer's Command ability can be used once per turn (from once every other turn) * Makes officers more relevant and important Disabling shot is not affected by +dmg perks and items * makes it easier to not kill targets you are trying to disable (i.e. holo rounds would do 3 damage, etc.) Mind control has a -50% success chance (from -60%) * With it being harder to acquire, a mild alleviation in the difficulty of it's effectiveness was reasonable Blood Call grants +6 mobility (from +4) * Makes it much more effective when the mutons use it (instead of a strategically poor move) Hardened grants 50% DR against shotguns and 30% against everything else (from 30% against everything) * Buff to accommodate for shotguns not having an innate +50% DR penalty

Offensive Equipment: Shotgun reaction range reduced to 7.5 tiles (from 8.75 tiles) * Due to increased damage of shotguns when the target gets closer this seemed like a more ideal time to fire an overwatch as previously it was often just slightly too far away Rocket radius increased to 8 tiles (from 7) * Further boost to rocketeers and distinction from grenades Arc Rifle redesigned. It can be created as soon as alien computers is researched. Damage:3 (+6 against robotic targets), Crit:0, Aim:10, Ammo:2, Mobility:0, Range:18.8. Grants Disabling Shot. Assault, Engineer, Medic, Sniper, Scout, and Infantry only. The Arc Rifle is designed to combat any robotic threat. It is lightweight, easy to handle, and will severely damage any robotic target. It can temporarily disable alien weaponry, allowing our soldiers to assist in alien captures. * Gives us more early game options for countering mechanical units and makes the rifle more competitive and useful. Gauss weapon technology aim to -5 (from -10) * Increase the weapon tier distinctions more, slight boost to gauss Pulse weapon technology crit dmg to +100% (from +50% like normal) and crit to +25 (from +40) * Basically making a shot from a pulse weapon do 2x dmg on crit instead of +50% dmg on crit -* overall boost to pulse strength Plamsa Stellerator grants +2 damage (from +1) * Was too weak at +1 because the plasma weapons already had a lot of damage Plasma carbine grants +10 def (from +5) * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons Plasma Rifle grants +3 crit damage against biologics (from +1.5) * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons Heavy plasma rifle grants +2 damage when steadied (from +1) * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons Reflex Cannon grants 3 crit damage (from 1.5) when within 4 tiles * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons Reflex Rifle grants 3 crit damage to flanked and uncovered targets (from +1.5) * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons Plasma sniper rifle bonus crit damage against targets >20 tiles away to +3 (from +1.5) * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons Plasma Dragon grants +2 damage against flying targets (from +1) * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons MEC Partical Cannon grants +2 damage to mechanicals (from +1) * Boost to unique capabilities of plasma weapons Laser sight crit to +10 (from +0), aim to 0 (from +5), weight to 0 (from -1), and does not benefit from the foundry upgrade * Makes it a lightweight boost to your soldier's shooting power and distinguishes it from the scope (worse offensive increase, but light weight) Markmsman's Scope aim to +10 (from +5) * Buff to the strike rifle scout Strike Rifle mobility to 0 (from -1) * Buffed Breaching Ammo nullifies any DR gained from the hardened perk but also has a -30 crit penalty * Against hardened targets, shotguns will be doing double normal damage and 50% more than regular weapons. This ammo makes them the superior anti-chrys and anti-zerker weapons and also quite effective against mechanical units. It also works great on CCS builds as they can't crit anyway and will be used commonly against hardened melee units. However, losing the crit makes them worse at dealing with soft targets (especially when flanking them). Thumper grants +5 damage to the KSM (from +3) * Was a little too weak at +3 Shotgun ammo to 4 (from 5) * slight nerf, puts it at +1 compared to normal weapons AP Ammo mobility to -1 (from -2), and crit to -20 (from 0) * While it is the most damaging small-item, it's only more useful on low crit builds or against hardened and crit resistant targets. This gives it a nice niche to make it still useful and competitive. Alloy bipod mobility to -1 (from 0) and aim to 0 (from -5) * It's a lot better than the scope now (as it grants double aim) but is more expensive and requires no movement LMG/SAW ammo to 5 (from 8/6) * Balance to nerf the suppression effectiveness Reaper Rounds grants +20 crit (from +15) * It was not competitive enough at 15 (5 more than targeting module but doesn't increase damage), especially with the draw back and restriction to laser/pulse

Defensive/Other Equipment: Impact vest redesigned. Renamed to Regenerator Vest. It now grants 4 health, 1 DR, and Repair Servos. It can still only be equipped by the assault. It can be produced as soon as the experimental warfare foundry project is reserached * Makes it come online early, buff to tank assaults to give them a method to heal themselves that they really needed as they are often away from the medic on the front lines. Combat Stims no longer require an action to use, DR to 0 (from +1), mobility on use to 6 (from 4) * Makes it easier to use in a bad situation and opens it up to non-tank classes a little more Stun Rifle mobility to 0 (from -2) * With the decreased throw range and missing primary weapon the rifle has sufficiently nerfed one of your soldiers and does not need the decrease mobility as well. This was an old solution to make item-based classes still nerfed (e.g. supports or grenadiers) but is less necessary now as the throw range is halved. It's also nice to not have to rely on speedy classes to use the stun rifle. Alloy plating health to 3 (from 2) * Buff to make it more distinct and more useful Walker servos grant 0 mobility (from +2) but grants the jetboot module perk -* also costs 50 more elerium and alloy * Make items not so inexpensive and makes them item stronger (at peak +5 mobility and trasversal of heights) Elerium Turbos grant +3 mobility (from +2) costs 120 elerium * Make it not so trivially inexpensive and is basically like +4 mobility Corsair armor gains 1 hp (from 8hp to 9hp) * Slight buff Aurora armor gains 0.5 DR (from 0DR) * Makes it more useful for tanks and a slight buff to psionics Vortex armor gains 1 DR (from 0.5DR) * Makes it more useful for tanks and a slight buff to psionics Elerium Emitter mobility to +1 (from +2) * Was a little too strong at +2

Aliens: Upgraded Enhanced Tactical Info * You can view alien stats if you have autopsied them when you click F1 * So instead of just their perks you can also view their aim, mobility, etc. * Slight modificaitons to display Uber Ethereal no longer starts with 4 DR * He is hard enough to kill without it (considering his buddies) Drone base health to 1 (from 2) * Makes them easier to drop Sectoids lose supression * Encourages them to use psionic abilities or fire Damn Good Ground on Exalt snipers and Thinmen replaced with Death From Afar * The DGG was too frustrating when they got into a good position at long range Outsiders lose suppression * Encourages them to be more aggressive (due to their high aim high damage shots and being commonly approached alone, suppressing was often a bad AI decision) Mechtoids no longer start with combined arms but do start with sentinel * Makes their overwatches more dangerous, tones down their damage a little. Encourages use of disabling shot. At 1200 research (really late game) aliens gain quadruple their normal bonuses (from double) * Puts an end to the game if you take too long (some of the aliens are LOL) =P Sectopods gain 2 DR isntead of 1 DR at 120/240/360 research * Makes them more tanky and less likely to be 1-rounded (overall +3 DR) Sectopod aim increased by 10 * Not a huge deal, just makes their cannon slightly more deadly Ethereals are no longer hardened (as it really didn't make sense for such frail bodies in robes) and no longer reflect damage (made it too frustrating to attempt to damage them with low hit chances) but gain Distortion (50% dodge, virtual immunity to explosives) * Overall, this actually doesn't change them that much except for making explosives ineffective against them. Hardened was 30-50% DR and -60% crit so losing that and gaining Distortion (50% dodge) is a bit of a wash. This accomplishes a few things. 1) It makes a lot more sense that an 'ethereal' unit is not hardened and instead could dodge more. 2) Shotguns were too weak against them, this makes them more like other weapons. 3) Reflection was fairly poor verisimilitude and poor gameplay due to frustration with low chance shots. 4) Explosives were buffed in the rebalance and were too effective at dropping ethereals. Now you pretty much have to get close if you want to drop an ethereal. Both sectopods and ethereals are enemies you really don't want to see and are part of the end-game encouraging you to finish things before it gets out of hand. Sectoid Commander defense to 40 (from 30) and lose Distortion * Makes them slightly harder to kill from a distance and obviously they really shouldn't be gaining distortion. =P

Bug Fixes: Fixed LW 1.0 bug where Muton Elites were triggering shredder when using grenades * This has been fixed so only their primary weapon triggers shredder (thanks tyranthym for pointing it out) Fixed LW 1.0 bug (I think I fixed it) where HEAT ammo would sometimes trigger on explosions of aliens (e.g. cyberdisc explosion) * Thanks AxemanUnique for pointing it out Fixed LW 1.0 bug with close proximity perks not triggering at the correct range Fixed LW 1.0 bug where shredder damage was not being calculated correctly Fixed LW 1.0 a bug where crit damage would sometimes be 1 less than normal Updated MEC conversion description to include the fact that there is a stat bonus based on current rank Fixed incorrect text suggesting that intel scans increased in cost each month and reset at the end of each month Fixed typo on mayhem saying it only gave 5 damage to sniper/arc rifles (it gives 6) Fixed some errors in stat progression on MEC classes Fixed incorrect description on Psi Panic Fixed typo on command suggesting you got 2 command charges perk rank (you only get 1) * Thanks Seph67 Fixed typo on carbines showing lower crit than intended * Thanks tyranthym Fixed some exalt accidentally still having resilience Fixed a bug where psi panic chances were not being displayed correctly Fixed incorrect text on motion trackers interaction with packmaster * Thanks mmd1x2 Fixed a bug where the bonus stats post-mission to soldiers were not applying * Thanks tyranthym

LW Rebalance v1.17.9

Perks: Snap Shot grants +10 aim instead of +1 mobility * Needed a boost against the competition on the tree, gives the RR rocketeer a pick to help with firing a rifle

Equipment Ballistic Sniper and Strike Rifle ammo to 3 (from 5) * It was out of line with everything else and made the laser and even gauss upgrade sometimes not worth it AP Ammo grants -2 mobility (from -1) * Was too strong compared to the other options Carbine crit to 20 (from 15) * Needed a buff SMG ammo to 3 (from 2) * Needed a buff

LW Rebalance v1.17.8

Tactical: Smoke now provides 30 defense (from 20) * Generic smoke was too weak at 20 Dense Smoke now provides 50 defense (from 40) * Buff to concur with smoke buff to keep dense smoke a strong and effective perk Limited squad sight is now 5 tiles more than normal (from 3.8 tiles more than normal) * This affects Strike Rifles, MEC Weapons, and aliens. It was buffed to give a little more wiggle room and buff to the squadsight perk on mobile snipers, strike rifle scouts, MECs, and aliens.

Perks: Combat Drugs and Dense Smoke grants an extra smoke grenade charge if the user has the smoke grenade perk * With the smaller AoE's having a few more smokes isn't as much of a visual and/or gameplay problem

XCOM: Converting (chopping) a soldier into a MEC now grants a 5/10/20/60% to gain +1 mobility/health/aim/will for each rank the previous soldier had acquired * Gives a small reward for coverting higher level soldiers into MECs. This reward is identical to the reward a high ranked soldier can receive when completing a mission.

Bug Fixes: SHIVs had incorrectly assigned mobilities (thanks Lafiir) Some dnvironmental damages were assigned incorrectly (thanks Lafiir) Shredder ammo had an accidental -5 aim malus (thanks Lafiir) Some descriptions of class stats were inaccurate (thanks Lafiir) Some descriptions were missing the line break (thanks Lafiir)

LW Rebalance v1.17.7

Bug Fixes: Some gauss weapons still didn't have the correct ammo and penetration descriptions MSGT exp was set a little higher than intended at 7000. It is now fixed at 6500.

LW Rebalance v1.17.6

Aliens: Alien explosives no longer trigger the shredder effect * This was never an intended effect (thanks for help szmind!)

XCOM: Telekinetic Field and Mind Merge have their pre-requisites removed * Makes it easier to advance through psionic ranks if you don't have all the research OTS Training Programs increased in xp gained per day to 10/20 (from 2/8) * Due to decreased number of soldiers we often have less rookies that can benefit making the programms insignificant. At these number the programs should be significant again. (thanks for pointing it out tyranthym!) Officer OTS ranks required reduced to 10/50/100/150/200 (from 10/70/130/190/250) * Due to generally less soldiers the ranks needed to be reduced some (thanks forefal) Officer Squad Size upgrade ranks required redcued to 80/250 (from 100/300) * Due to generally less soldiers the ranks needed to be reduced some (thanks forefal) GSGT and MSGT xp requirements increased to 3500/5000/6500 (from 3000/4000/5000) * Prevents capping out on exp too early (MSGTs before the new year) (thanks for pointing it out tyranthym!) Coverting to a MEC now removes all ranks and experience and does not grant bonus will * Prevents starting out with GSGT MECs. Provides late game growth potential. Stops MECs from being so powerful too early. All MECs now start with 0xp and as a SPEC. The will bonus was bugged and would give too much too often.

Equipment: Hi Cap Mags and Ammo Drum mobility to 0 and -1 (from -1 and -2) * Makes getting more ammo on your soldiers easier and makes these items more competitive Gauss weapons receive +1 ammo (back to standard levels, 1 less than LW 1.0) * Makes all weapon ammo standardized across weapon tiers. Gauss didn't seem to need a boost vs the other tiers (almost the opposite) Gauss weapons grant 0.5 penetration (from 1) and the quench gun upgrade grants 0.5 penetration (from 1) * Nerf to gauss tier penetration (was too much penetration) Shotguns lose their +1 mobility (except scatter laser stays at +1 mobility and alloy cannon goes to -1 mobility) * Balancing out the tiers of shotguns (scatter laser was a little too weak and alloy cannon was a little too strong) Alloy and Hover SHIV DR back to 4/3.5 (from 5/4.5) * Helps prevent static-DR stacking and the mobility was already a lot of help KSM damage to 30 (from 24) * Surprisingly even with the 100% penetration it still needed a little boost as getting close is dangerous Carbine crit to 15 (from 5) * They needed a slight boost Version 1.17.5 Tactical: Close range aim bonus on shotguns weapons decreased slightly to 8 aim per meter (from 10) * Makes it a little less likely to get 100% aim when you are still multiple tiles away (encourages closer play) Sniper/Strike rifle aim malus increased slightly to 8 aim per meter (from 7) * Helps offset their buff slightly and make being within range of an enemy more significant The "shred" effect is permanent throughout a battle (from 3 turns) * Makes it more effective against xcom units and really makes more sense (shredded armor shouldn't become unshredded after a few turns) Full/Half cover-based DR to 15%/25% (from 20%/30%) * Slight reduction on the amount of %DR units gain from cover. Only really effects tanky xcom/aliens and makes them less tanky in such cover. Both WtS aliens and xcom units were too resistant to damage. Full cover grants 50 defense (from 45) * Slight buff to the ability to stick around when in high cover for all xcom and aliens. So half cover = 30def and 15%DR; full cover = 50def and 25%DR

Aliens: Muton Berserkers gain 4 health * they were a little too weak All aliens gain 5 aim on impossible difficulty only * Helps accommodate for the increased defense full cover is granting xcom (as we tend to use it to a far greater extent than the aliens)

XCOM: DGG on the Jaeger replaced with platform stability and LnL swapped with Jetboot Module * Really DGG just didn't work well on the jaeger and Jetboot Module didn't work that well since ITZ requires no movement Distortion field removed as a psionic option leaving only mind merge as the option on the 3rd psionic level * It was buggy in the sometimes you didn't get the 10 defense. It also had a visual effect that could be annoying. It also buffed the defense of XCOM a little too much and I couldn't affect it.

Perks: Mind merge now grants %DR equal to a third of the caster's will (from 2% of the caster's will in static-DR) * Makes it more useful and not abusive with static-DR stacking Javelin Rockets now grant +2 penetration (from 0) on rockets * Helps them stay more relevant in the late game against high DR enemies Lightning Reflexes loses it's 2 mobility * It was already plenty strong and didn't need the mobility boost, acts as a nerf to the pathfinder Mayhem grants sniper/arc rifles +6 damage (from +5) * Needed a slight boost considering the higher penetration rifles on the sniper and the earlier +dmg perks Ready For Anything grants +10 aim on reaction shots (from 0) but requires no movement again * Surprisingly, it was still not that strong with the move and fire and was bugging so I switched it back to how it was before: +10 aim on reaction shots and you can't trigger it if you've already taken a costly action ITZ aim/crit malus to -5/-5 (from -10/-10) * Slight buff to consecutive shots Covering Fire grants +25 aim against units in cover on reaction shots (from +20) * Slight buff

Equipment: Chameleon vest increases dodge of LR to 90/75% (previously it was 90% on all reaction shots) * Makes clearing multiple overwatches not as easy thus making multiple enemy overwatches more 'pinning' and not as much 'wasted enemy turns' Gauss tier weaponry has -1 ammo (vs +1 ammo) * Gauss was too much of an upgrade over laser and too close to pulse. This makes ammo small items more useful and puts gauss more firmly between laser and pulse. Titan Armor and Archangel armor gain 1 mobility and 0.5 DR * buff to make them a more obvious choice over the previous tier Alloy and Hover SHIV both gain 3 mobility and 1 DR * Significant buff to make them more useful into the later game Elerium Emitter mobility to +2 (from -1) * Buff to psionic units; and this item was too lack luster previously LMECs defense to 20/30/30/40 (from 30/40/40/50) * Was a little too strong previously making the LMECs superior to the HMECs Sniper Rifles and Strike rifles grant 1 penetration * Buff to snipers and strike rifle scouts, specifically against mechanized units and cover-taking units. Makes sense that these higher calibre weapons would have more penetration. Puts these weapons more into the 'hit hard' category even against DR enemies. Arc Rifle damage to 1 (from 2) * With the penetration and mayhem buff it was getting a little too strong Scope grants 5 aim (from 10) and cost to 20 credits (from 70) * Nerf to offensive items to make more room for defensive/grenade/support items Alloy bipod grants -5 aim (from 0) and mobility to 0 (from 1, originally 0) * Nerf to offensive items to make more room for defensive/grenade/support items, gets a slight boost because it's actually worse when you move now Illuminator Gunsight aim/crit to 10/15 (from 15/25) * Nerf to offensive items to make more room for defensive/grenade/support items Neural Gunlink aim/crit to 10/10 (from 15/15) and weight to 0 (from 1) * Nerf to offensive items to make more room for defensive/grenade/support items, gets a slight boost to boost psionics and make them more competitive Cognitive Enhancer aim/crit to 5/5 (from 10/10) * Nerf to offensive items to make more room for defensive/grenade/support items Impact Vest DR to 1.5 (from 1) * Slight buff Carbide Plating to 6 hp (from 8, originally 4) * Was a little too strong

LW Rebalance v1.17.4

Strategic: Exalt multiclues are disabled again (like LW 1.0) * Due to the exalt intel tweak (by Eclipse666) being implemented a while ago, multiclues are not necessary to make exalt doable in DW games and they were allowing players to find Exalt HQ a litte too quick. Exalt data recovery missions have a few more exalt * They were slightly too easy, you should feel forced to fall back to the transmitter sometimes You still gain 1 soldier at the end of each month if you have 50 or more soldiers * Prevents gamey behaviour around 50 soldiers (e.g. dismissing soldiers to get under 50 to get more) Gollop Chamber build time cut in half * Helps accelerate the end game Cash and Meld cost of Alien Metallurgy, Alien Nucleonics, and Improved Salvage Techniques reduced by 50% * Improves player agency for how they use and acquire resources by making these changes more attainable

Perks: Grenadier grants +1 damage to grenades again (from 0) * Explosives needed a buff Mayhem grants +3 damage to strike/marksman rifles (from +5) * Nerf to the mobile mayhem sniper Mayhem grants +3 damage to rockets (from +2) but does not increase their range * Minimizes squad sight engagements (which can be bad gameplay) and gives the perk more hitting power Hit and Run grants 75% less damage (from 50%) on subsequent shots * Encourage more 'hit and run' instead of 'hit and hit' and nerf the perk a little more overall to make it more balanced vs other options

XCOM: Infantry picks up grenadier at LCPL and Tandem at MSGT * Gives another class reasonable grenade use and prevents the overwatch and crit infantry from being so one-dimensional Lone Wolf and Ranger swapped on the sniper * Deadeye was too strong vs ranger considering all the damage the sniper was already dealing and the early +dmg perks

Equipment: Rockets do 7/10/10 damage (from 6/9/9) * Explosives needed a boost

Bug Fixes: The medic was only getting 5 aim during his promotions (when he should have been getting 10) Research speeds accidentally set too fast (fixed) * Overall result is things take a little longer to research Fixed missing information on some air weapon descriptions

LW Rebalance v1.17.3

Quality of Life: Updated the Enchanced tactical info display to include autopsied alien stats and display both static and %-based DR * Huge thanks to the mastermind szmind for this code, it's really awesome stuff :)

Bug Fix: Typo: Fixed some 'tips and tricks' that were not updated for LW Rebalance

LW Rebalance v1.17.2

Bug Fixes: The OTS now correctly requires 300 ranks for the squad size 2 upgrade (was bugged before at 44) * Thanks kdm2k6 Typo: More clearly indentified what Australia's start bonus "Per Ardua Ad Astra" does: All soldiers receive +1 health, +2 aim, and +4 will * it has been this way for quite a few versions but it was kinda left out of the notes and never correctly described

LW Rebalance v1.17.1

Bug Fix: UK "Their Finest Hours country start was supposed to give Armored Fighters but was not * this fixes that XCOM starts with only 2 interceptors (from 4) * Cuts down on the amount of extra resources we have off the bat (this change was supposed to be in 1.17 but it got left off in one of the beta versions and I didn't notice)

LW Rebalance v1.17.0

Strategic: Failing or skipping an exalt mission now increases panic in that country by 1 bar * Gives incentive to complete the exalt missions Exalt scan cost to 50 (from 100) * It was a little too expensive to keep the scans up Number of free recruits gained at the end of each month cut by ~60% * New formula is [1 + (50-#Soldiers)/15 + Rand(50-#Soldiers)/15] * Overall this means you cannot rely on this for soldiers and must recruit some manually but still acts as a slight ecouragement to keep a tight roster and a slight help if you happen to lose too many soldiers Overall alloy/elerium gain increased by 75/50% * We were too starved in the mid to late game for expensive items and projects. Scarcity is good but it should sacrifice actually attaining most things. The first squad size upgrade is attainable at 100 ranks (from 150) * Makes the mid game not quite as difficult and gives the players a little more option in their loadouts when the aliens starts to pick up in diversity Gene mods meld cost cut in half but equivalent added to cash cost * Acts as more of a cash sink in the late game. This makes gene mods something you'll use if you're floating in cash and will give players who have extra spending $$ something to spend it on even if they didn't actually have the meld. Chopping a soldier to a MEC cash/meld cost increased to 60/60 (from 30/30) * With MECs becoming a lot stronger more resource strain was necessary to prevent fielding full teams of them Psionic training times reduced by 50% but will_required upped to 35/20/25/30/35/65 (from 35/5/5/5/5/75) and chance is 2x[will-will_require] (from 3x) * Overall a minor increase in speed. However, psionic training was too long previously which made bad luck too punishing. Also, once a soldier was psionic, will levels weren't mattering enough with 100% training chances through the middle levels. Strict Screening grants every soldier +5 will * Necessary so that they can reasonably field psionic soldiers, while almost any soldier can become psionic then, the chances will be consistently low. +5 will was felt like a reasonable balancing point. Without the +5 psionics was too hard to reasonably acquire with Strict Screening. Interceptor full repair time reduced to 450 hours (from 600) * Helps accommodate for not being able to transfer/switch loadouts on damaged ships Alien air weapon loadout time reduced to 1 day (from 7) * No need to be so long anymore because you can't swap weapons around on damaged ships Damaged interceptors cannot be transfered to other continents and their loadouts cannot be changed * Makes it less gamey (no swapping out to other continents to repair and sending back and no taking weapons of recently damaged craft and swapping to new craft after each engagement) Listed air weapon dps on their item cards * for easier understanding and calculations

Tactical: The effect of green fog has be increased by 50% (you lose 1-2 of the stat per activation instead of 1) * With the % effect, the will effect, the tapering effect, and the respirator implant effect, it cut the overall effect of green fog by more than half which started to become insignificant (e.g. a loss of 10 aim after 15 turns on a guy with 80 aim and 30 will). This makes it more significant again. Hacking trasmitters (arrays) has a 75% chance to disable each exalt (from 100%) * It was too often smarter to just avoid using them * this should make it more likely to be a tactically wise decision to use them

XCOM: Weighting of stats modified to 12/6/3/1 (from 12/4/3/1) for mob/hp/aim/will * Health was a too low and needed to be worth more due to the fatigue/injury time reductions Survival Training country starting health bonus to 2 (from 3) * Balance Reworked perk trees a lot: significant changes on Sniper and Scout (see perk tree list), moderate changes on most other soldiers and MECs Soldier experience lowered at the high end to 3000,4000,5000 (from 3500,5000,7500) * Makes it easier to acquire MSGTs and progression of MSGTs is still OK due to the bonus stats Zhang no longer starts with lone wolf * Consistency and possible conflict on trees

Perks: New Perk Medikit: Grants 2 free uses of a medikit * Spreads out the ability to heal a little more without using item slots Low Profile now grants battle scanner (instead of vice versa) * Swapped to allow the engineer to pick up battle scanner Fortified now grants steadfast and DR to +1 (from 0.5) * Buff to the perk and tanky MECs in general (thanks AxemanUnique) Lightning Reflexes mobility to 2 (from 3) * Balance on the trees Shock and Awe grants 2 normal rockets (from 1) * Buff to the perk for balance Snap shot grants +1 mobility (from 0) * Buff to the perk for balance against Tandem and S&A Combat Drugs aim to +20 (from +10) * Buff to the perk Hardened perk grants 30% DR from all sources (instead of just from explosives) * Huge buff to SHIVs/MECs. Has less effect on alien mechanicals as HEAT was commonly used against them, but does alien hardened targets so they have been accommodated for (see Alien section). Grenadier no longer grants +1 damage on grenades * Slight nerf as the engineer grenadier was a little too powerful still and the hardened buff it didn't really effect them as much as other units so they had another reason to be toned down some ITZ grants -10 aim/crit per shot (from -15) * slight buff One For All % damage reduction to 50% (from 30) but static DR to 0 (from 3) * Was too complicated a perk to include both static and %-based DR and this works similar without being as abusive at the low damage end Holo-targeting renamed to Holo Rounds and grants +2 damage against mechanical units * buffed to make it more appealing, renamed to more accurately represent it's role Hit and Run triggers off of any shot (not just flanked or uncovered units) but on subsequent shots, damage is reduced by 50% of base and proximity damage (on shotguns) is reduced by 50% * Makes you more likely to hit and run instead of hit and hit and increases the consistency of the perk

Equipment: Alien Trophy grants steadfast and will to 0 (from +15) * Originally steadfast was fairly useless on it as it buffed your will and made

Change Log (LWR)

Change Log

LW Rebalance v1.26.12

LW Rebalance v1.26.11

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