Mechanics (LW2)

To-Hit Mechanics

The following hit mechanics in Long War 2 have been modified:

Critical chance is no longer an absolute chance

In base XCOM 2 a 10% hit and 10% critical chance would land 10% of the time, and if it hit would always be a critical. This is no longer the case.

Dodge no longer supersedes crit. (In base XCOM 2 if dodge + crit chance was greater than hit, crit chance would be removed in favor of dodge.)

Soldiers can graze even if the target has no dodge (In base XCOM 2, grazes were only possible if the target had dodge stat)

These changes apply completely symmetrically to both sides

All units will now graze if their to-hit roll is “close” to the required to hit

This is referred to as the “Graze Band.” The measure of “close” is configurable in-game, and defaults to +/- 10%.

Example 1 : Base 70% chance to hit results in 60% chance of a normal damage hit and 20% chance of a graze. The displayed to hit is 70%.

Example 2 : Base 20% chance to hit results in 10% chance of a normal damage hit and a 20% chance of a graze. The displayed to hit is 20%.

Critical Hit Chance is now a chance to “promote” the damage type. A successful critical roll will:

Promote a graze hit to a regular damage hit

Promote a regular damage hit to a critical damage hit

Dodge Stat is now a chance to “demote” the damage type. A successful dodge roll will:

Demote critical damage hit to regular damage hit

Demote a regular damage hit to a graze

Demote a graze into a miss (configurable)

Good Angle Bonus Removed

The good angle bonus of XCom 2 vanilla is removed, this bonus used to give you aim bonuses as you got closer to a flanking angle. There are no bonuses to aim and crit until you are fully flanking a target now.

Consequences:

Low % shots are generally more likely to do something, but that something results in less damage, and is very unlikely to deal critical damage

90% to-hit and above won’t entirely miss enemies (unless they have dodge)

Dodge and Crit counter each other, so a high critical chance helps counter high dodge units, while a good dodge helps protect against critical hits

When using Not Created Equally, soldiers may have negative dodge, increasing the chance hits against them will be promoted

Example 1: 90% to hit, 50% to crit

In base XCOM 2, this will result in Critical damage 50%, Normal damage 40% of the time, Miss 10% of the time.

In Long War 2, this will result in Critical damage 40% of the time, Normal damage 50% of the time, Graze damage 10% of the time.

Pre-critical results are 80% hit, 20% graze. Critical chance promotes half of the normal hits (40% of total) to critical, and half of the grazing hits (10% of total) to normal hits.

Example 2: 20% to hit, 10% to crit

In base XCOM 2, this will result in Critical damage 10% of the time, Normal damage 10% of the time, Miss 80% of the time

In Long War 2, it will result in Critical damage 1% of the time, Normal damage 11% of the time, Graze damage 18% of the time, Miss 70% of the time

Pre-critical results are 10% hit, 20% graze. Critical chance promotes one tenth of hits so 1% normal hits become critical, 2% grazing hits become normal.

Enemy Patrol Behavior

In Long War 2, enemy patrol behavior and vigilance is more complex than in vanilla.

Green Alert Mode

Green alert level is most commonly the beginning of a mission when a squad is still in concealment. Advent has no idea that XCOM has infiltrated and as such, is on low alert. A pod activated on the alien turn in this state will not get free actions upon activation. In other words, they will not get a chance to take a free shot at XCOM.

Yellow Alert Mode

An enemy pod at Yellow alert level is not activated yet. However, it is aware of XCOM activity in the area due to sound from rocket/grenade explosions, gun shots, yelling civilians, or by finding the corpses of dead allies. Pods at this alert level will move toward any suspicious sounds they hear. If a pod is activated on an enemy turn, they may take opportunistic shots at XCOM as they scamper for cover. Patrols in yellow alert run instead of walk. You can use sound to create a diversion and draw pods away if you are attempting to stealth a mission or draw pods into your overwatch traps.

See the Sounds subpage for details.

Red Alert Mode

This is an activated pod.

Status Effects

Disoriented

Applies a two turn debuff causing -25 Aim, -6 mobility, and -25 will defense. Additionally it will lock out most but not all abilities; moving, shooting, and overwatching remain available. Disorient will break overwatch and suppression when applied to a unit currently doing those actions. If Sectoids and Gatekeepers are hit they will lose any mind controls and their Psi Zombies will be destroyed. Disorient on a mind controlled unit will not free them.

It is currently confirmed that a bug exists with disorient: applying disorient to an already disoriented unit will not break its overwatch. This will be fixed in the next patch.

Stunned

Stunned units cannot act. Stunning a Sectoid or Gatekeeper will release any mind controls they have active, destroying their Psi Zombies.

Burning

Burn applies a two turn damage over time and lockout of all abilities. Burning enemies will take 1-3 damage twice and can not perform any action besides moving.

Poisoned

Applies an aim penalty and damage over time.

Acid Burn

Applies a damage over time.