Difficulty (LWR)

Back To Main Page

Expectations

LWR Easy is easier than Long War 1.0 Normal.

LWR Classic is similar to Long War 1.0 Classic.

LWR Brutal is around as hard as Long War 1.0 Impossible.

LWR Impossible is tough, unforgiving, and will sometimes feel Impossible.

Playing Ironman is like jumping all the difficulties up another notch.

It's probably best to start out a little easier if you've never played LWR before.

Larger UFOs and swarming abductions are quite challenging -- treat them with respect and do not rule out retreating.

Expect to have satellites shot down, to not be able to stop a lot of UFOs, to lose soldiers, to lose missions, and to lose around 1 country per month (give or take).

If you are wondering how your campaign is faring (especially after a few squad wipes), use the grade the council gives you at the end of the month as a good indicator. This grade reflects how well you are doing in your campaign and how likely you are to pass it. C or higher is a good grade.

Last, if you feel like being masochistic and decide to play on impossible: please expect to lose many (literally many) times before you even come close to winning. Expect the game to feel unfair and punishing. I'd recommend treating impossible as more of a "How far can you get?" rather then a "Can you beat the game?". Impossible in Long War Rebalance is much harder than that difficulty was in Long War 1.0.

Difficulty Levels

In Long War Rebalance, difficulty levels scale many different aspects of the game. Difficulty level can also affects perks like the effectiveness of the Outsiders' Growth ability.

To select the Pain difficulty you must click down on Impossible difficulty and then press the space bar. It is intentionally somewhat hidden.

Strategic Changes
Difficulty	XCOM Research Speed	Alien Level Up Speed	Initial Panic	Panic Reduction per Defector	Starting Power	Home Country Daily Credits	UFO Alloy Yield	UFO Elerium Yield	Fragment Yields	Meld Yields	UFO HP	Injury and Fatigue Times	Monthly Soldiers	Starting SHIVs
Easy	150%	80%	500	6	45	60	100%	100%	100%	100%	50%	80%	3	4
Classic	133%	90%	600	5	40	55	80%	80%	83%	83%	60%	90%	2	3
Brutal	117%	100%	700	4	35	50	60%	60%	67%	67%	80%	100%	1	2
Impossible	100%	110%	800	3	30	45	50%	50%	50%	50%	100%	110%	0	1
Pain	83%	120%	900	2	25	40	40%	40%	33%	33%	120%	120%	0	0

Alien Changes
Difficulty	Base Damage	Base HP	Base DR	Aim	Will	Mobility	Base Defense	Alien Level Attribute Gains	OW Chance (Drop-in/Launch)	Prepared Chance (0/1/2 Active)	Sneak Mode / CR when no LoS	Temple Squad Size
Easy	-2	50%	50%	-20	-20	-1.3	50%	25%	25%	0/0/0%	No	11
Classic	-1	75%	75%	-10	-10	-0.6	75%	50%	50%	10/0/0%	No	10
Brutal	0	100%	100%	0	0	0	100%	75%	75%	35/10/0%	No	9
Impossible*	+1	125%	125%	+10	+10	+0.6	125%	100%	100%	100/35/10%	Yes	8
Pain*	+2	150%	150%	+20	+20	+1.3	150%	125%	100%	100%	Yes	7

First Mission Alien Count
Difficulty	Sectoids/Drones	Outsiders
Easy	5	-
Classic	6	-
Brutal	6	1
Impossible	7	1
Pain	8	2

Difficulty Curve

Long War Rebalance is designed for players of all skill levels, offering a greater range of difficulties and even more Second Wave options to customize your experience.

In general, Easy difficulty is easier and Impossible is harder (vs Long War 1.0). Veteran Long War players who are new to this mod should seriously consider dropping their difficulty a level or two as the mod can take some experience to get used to.

The difficulty curve is also adjusted so that the game starts off easier and gets significantly harder as the game progresses. The exception to this is impossible level difficulty that starts off extremely difficult and continues at that level throughout the entire campaign.