Mods (Long War)

Some players prefer to change certain settings on top of the stock Long War mod. This page is an effort to track standard changes by players. Unless otherwise noted, code changes occur in the DefaultGameCore.ini file. Some suggestions can be found [1] (remove this link once most of the mods are added).

Base Changes

Energy Changes

Alternative Fission and Thermo changes are proposed:

________________Pwr__Cost__Cost/Pwr_____
Fission Current --- 6 --- $120 --- $20.00
Fission Change --- 8 --- $150 --- $18.75

Thermo Current -- 25 -- $350 --- $14.00
Thermo Change -- 20 -- $300 --- $15.00

In addition, increase Adjacency bonus from +3 power to +4.

With this, Fission is still less efficient than a thermo, however players shouldn't feel like they are getting an extra difficulty tacked on because they didn't get a good steam vent. Now if there is a good steam vent, it's simply a bonus. To change these options, examine lines 1395 and line 1800.

Appearance Changes

How to Remove the Gene Mod Armor:

This will replace the gene mod armor with a sleeved chest plate. However, said chest plate was designed to have shoulder pads, which are missing, so there will be a noticeable gap with either gene mods or those who use tactical vests instead of tactical armor. The gap is textured, so it won't break any models. You can still add shoulder pads by using decos ingame.

Use CTRL + F To find the following

UnitPackageInfo=(PawnType=ePawnType_Male_1_Kevlar_GM,ArchetypeName="Soldier_MaleKevlar_GM.ARC_MaleKevlar_GM")

Remove both GMs from "Soldier_MaleKevlar_GM.ARC_MaleKevlar_GM"

Now the game will read the normal armor instead of the GM version. 
You can choose to do this to specific models, or use find and replace to change them all. 
To use find and replace, I recommend you find _GM" and _GM. and replace them with " and . respectively.

How to change default color, and headgear.

In your DefaultGameCore.ini file, you'll be able to find lines that alter the rookie's starting color, and headgear, as well as the first time they are promoted to a class. Acceptable values, and their definitions, can be found here. http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Initial_soldier_appearance_-_XCOM:EU_2012#Tables (< Someone hyperlink that for me, please.)

If you press "CTRL + F", you will open up the find menu. Locate the comment;

; Initial soldier appearance

and you will find directly below it;

DEFENDER_MEDIKIT	= 6		; Rookie armor color: Sets the initial color of rookie armor; stay within default range (0..32)
COUNCIL_STAT_BONUS	= -1	; Rookie armor deco; -1 is default; for other basic kevlar variants, try 67 through 79; otherwise you may see high-tech armor images (not all numbers work on all computers; if you get lockups, change back to -1)
ShowUFOsOnMission	= -1	; Rookie headgear; See readme for acceptable values. This will overwrite any randomized hair. Set to -1 for no change.

Use the values linked above to find exactly what you want. 
To change the promotes, find the following lines directly below the rookie's section, and change the numbers to any value between 0-32 or -1 for no change.

; One-time deco color and headgear change upon selection of soldier class; set to -1 for no change. See Armor Kit codes text file in EW directory for acceptable values. Do not reorder these entries!
HQ_BASE_POWER = 32			; Sniper Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Sniper Headgear
HQ_BASE_POWER = 15			; Scout Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Scout Headgear
HQ_BASE_POWER = 12			; Rocketeer Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Rocketeer Headgear
HQ_BASE_POWER = 9			; Gunner Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Gunner Headgear
HQ_BASE_POWER = 29			; Medic Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Medic Headgear
HQ_BASE_POWER = 22			; Engineer Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Engineer Headgear
HQ_BASE_POWER = 21			; Assault Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Assault Headgear
HQ_BASE_POWER = 19			; Infantry Color
HQ_BASE_POWER = -1			; Infantry Headgear

Please note, that any text after a ; is a comment, and editing anything past them will do nothing.

Second War Option Changes

Aiming Angles

It may be the case that 90 degrees is too small of an arc for cover to provide full protection, so we can cut the aiming angle down to 30 degrees. This gives your cover a 120 degree arc in which it provides full protection, so you can easily fight enemies so long as you're not stupid about picking your cover.

You can change the settings in defaultgamecore.ini, and there is a diagram in there to help explain it:

; Top down view
;
;     B  
;      \ 
;       \
;  A-----^
;        T
;
; T is a target with cover in the direction of '^'.
; A is a shooter with the maximum aiming angle aim bonus 
; B is a shooter with the minimum aiming angle aim bonus
; The aiming angle bonus increases linearly in the angle range between A and B

SW_AIMING_ANGLE_THRESHOLD= 30.0f; 45.0f; SW_AIMING_ANGLE_THRESHOLD defines the angle between segment TA and TB - its valid range is 0-90
SW_AIMING_ANGLE_MINBONUS=5      ; Shooter B's aiming angle bonus is SW_AIMING_ANGLE_MINBONUS
SW_AIMING_ANGLE_MAXBONUS=-5     ; Shooter A's aiming angle bonus is [T's Cover Bonus + SW_AIMING_ANGLE_MAXBONUS]

The option for 45 degrees is commented out, and replaced it with 30 degrees. With these settings, 30 degrees to parallel (60 degrees off of perpendicular), gives a +5 to hit. Just shy of the 90 degree flank, it's +(coverbonus - 5) to hit.

Weapon and Item Changes

Arc Thrower

It is possible to equip the arc thrower as a pistol, or both as a pistol and item. Adjust the default line

Weapons=( strName="", iType=eItem_ArcThrower, ABILITIES[0]=eAbility_ShotStun, ABILITIES[1]=0, ABILITIES[2]=0, ABILITIES[3]=0, ABILITIES[4]=0, ABILITIES[5]=0, Properties[0]=eWP_AnyClass, Properties[1]=eWP_NoReload, Properties[2]=eWP_CantReact, Properties[3]=eWP_Secondary, Properties[4]=eWP_Backpack, Properties[5]=0, iDamage=0, iEnvironmentDamage=0, iRange=27, iReactionRange=30, iReactionAngle=200, iRadius=0, iCritical=0, iOffenseBonus=0, iSuppression=0, iSize=eItemSize_Small, iHPBonus=0, iWillBonus=0 )

to allow for pistol slot only (note the entries for properties 3 and 5)

Weapons=( strName="", iType=eItem_ArcThrower, ABILITIES[0]=eAbility_ShotStun, ABILITIES[1]=0, ABILITIES[2]=0, ABILITIES[3]=0, ABILITIES[4]=0, ABILITIES[5]=0, Properties[0]=eWP_AnyClass, Properties[1]=eWP_NoReload, Properties[2]=eWP_CantReact, Properties[3]=eWP_Pistol, Properties[4]=eWP_Backpack, Properties[5]=eWP_Secondary, iDamage=0, iEnvironmentDamage=0, iRange=27, iReactionRange=30, iReactionAngle=200, iRadius=0, iCritical=0, iOffenseBonus=0, iSuppression=0, iSize=eItemSize_Small, iHPBonus=0, iWillBonus=0 )

or to allow for both pistol and small items only

Weapons=( strName="", iType=eItem_ArcThrower, ABILITIES[0]=eAbility_ShotStun, ABILITIES[1]=0, ABILITIES[2]=0, ABILITIES[3]=0, ABILITIES[4]=0, ABILITIES[5]=0, Properties[0]=eWP_AnyClass, Properties[1]=eWP_NoReload, Properties[2]=eWP_CantReact, Properties[3]=eWP_Secondary, Properties[4]=eWP_Backpack, Properties[5]=eWP_Pistol, iDamage=0, iEnvironmentDamage=0, iRange=27, iReactionRange=30, iReactionAngle=200, iRadius=0, iCritical=0, iOffenseBonus=0, iSuppression=0, iSize=eItemSize_Small, iHPBonus=0, iWillBonus=0 )