Officers (Long War)

Officers are a new mechanic in Long War, replacing the medal system from Enemy Within. It constitutes a new upgrade path for soldiers, granting abilities that benefit the entire squad.

To begin promoting officers, an Officer Training School is required, which becomes available for construction after a soldier reaches the rank of corporal. Once it is built, officer upgrades can be purchased in the OTS menu to make billets available.

Any soldier that has the rank of at least Corporal, isn't a MEC Trooper or a Psionic and has participated in at least 5 missions can be promoted to Lieutenant as long as there is an open billet left. After that, further promotions, in addition to another OTS upgrade, require that:

• The officer must have been on at least 5 missions (3 by default with the Dynamic War second wave option) at his current officer rank.
• The officer must have gained a certain minimum standard rank – for example, Sergeant or higher is required for a promotion to Captain.
• The officer with higher will stat will be commanding a mission if several officers of the same rank are on the squad.

Officer ranks

• All officers are granted Lead by Example and Command for free. Each officer level grants one Command ability charge; thus Lieutenants have one charge, Captains have two, and so on.
• Each promotion presents a choice between one of two rank-specific Officer perks. This selection is permanent (and cumulative), but a different perk can be chosen for every officer.
• Only the perks of the commanding (highest-ranked) officer are beneficial to the entire squad. Officer perks of a second, lower-ranking officer present on a mission benefit only that officer.
• Officers recover slower from post-battle fatigue. The additional time is 12 hours per officer rank (6 hours with Gift of Osiris - Egypt's starting bonus).

Officer Rank	Minimum Level Requirement	Officer Ability
(All Officers get both of these abilities)		Lead by Example This officer substitutes his or her Will for that of all lower-Will squadmates within an 8 tile radius.	Command Grant a yellow move to an XCOM soldier in sight ranger whose turn is complete. Cannot be used on soldiers on Overwatch, who have Steadied their weapon, who have Hunkered Down, or used One For All. Does not allow use of multi-action perks like Close Encounters or Hit and Run. Four-turn cooldown. Note that this will NOT allow you to fire move-limited weapons (sniper rifles and LMGs), if you have taken a costly action (e.g. if you double-moved and then were commanded). The only exception to that is, after using double-tap, a unit can be commanded to fire once more, effectively triple-tapping.
Lieutenant	Corporal	Legio Patria Nostra Squad receives +1 Will per different nationality in the squad.	Stay Frosty All units in the squad have post-mission fatigue reduced by one day.
Captain	Sergeant	Semper Vigilans Squad receives +5 Defense when in cover.	Fortiores Una Nearby allies (8 tiles) receive an additional 2/3 damage reduction if they are in half cover and 1 damage reduction if they are in full cover.
Major	Tech Sergeant	Into the Breach All soldiers in the squad at Sergeant rank or lower gain +25% XP for completing missions.	So Shall You Fight All units in the squad receive +25% XP for every kill.
Colonel	Gunnery Sergeant	Band of Warriors Squad receives +2 Aim per continent bonus XCOM has earned.	Esprit de Corps Squad receives +5 Will and +5 Defense in battle. Robotic units receive only the Defense bonus.
Field Commander	Master Sergeant	So Others May Live Squad members receive a permanent increase of +1 Aim and Will for completing a mission under this officer with no soldier deaths, up to a maximum of +8.	Combined Arms Ignore one point of the enemy's damage reduction. For officers, this ability is provided to the entire squad.

Officer upgrades

Each officer rank is unlocked by purchasing an upgrade in the Officer Training School. It unlocks a number of officer billets for the new rank and prior ranks. Purchasing these upgrades costs money and requires a certain number of total soldier ranks (where a Specialist counts as one, a Lance Corporal as two, and so on). When an officer is killed or dismissed, the billet will cycle back and become available again after a few missions.

Officer upgrades
Name	Required Ranks	Cost	Unlocked Billets
Tactical officers	20 (13)	§100 (§10)	3x LT
Company officers	45 (30)	§200 (§20)	2x CAPT, 2x LT
Field officers	75 (50)	§300 (§30)	2x MAJ, 2x CAPT, 2x LT
Regimental officers	110 (73)	§400 (§40)	2x COL, 2x MAJ, 2x CAPT, 2x LT
Commanding officer	150 (100)	§500 (§50)	1x CMDR, 1x COL, 1x MAJ, 1x CAPT, 1x LT

Total number of billets unlocked: 10x Lieutenant, 7x Captain, 5x Major, 3x Colonel, 1x Field Commander.

See also

Long War: Soldiers
	Soldiers Assault Infantry Rocketeer Gunner Sniper Scout Medic Engineer
	MEC Troopers Marauder Valkyrie Archer Goliath Jaeger Pathfinder Guardian Shogun
	Officers Psionics Gene Mods S.H.I.V.s