Second Wave (LWR)

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In General

Second Wave options can be chosen when you start a new game. They offer simple but powerful alterations to the way the game can play.

Toggling Second Wave Options Mid-Game

If you have enabled the Dev Console, you can change second wave options mid-game by opening up the console (`) and typing the console command SetmedalpowerA followed by the second wave option you want to toggle on or off. As an example, you could type

`SetMedalPowerA 3

to toggle Predictable Potential on or off.

List of Second Wave Options

#	Name	Text	Notes
0	Damage Roulette	Weapons have much wider range of damage.	Rolls damage randomization twice.
1	New Economy	The funding offered by individual council members is randomized.	Same as in vanilla EU.
2	Strict Screening	All soldier starting attributes (including unique soldiers) are fixed at the averages of soldiers' typical ranges with +5 will.	Overrides Balanced Soldiers (#31). By default soldiers will have randomized starting attributes. Selecting this option will revert to fixed starting attributes for all soldiers.
3	Predictable Potential	Promotion stat gains are non-random.	Replaces Hidden Potential, as that feature is now enabled by default.
4	Training Roulette	Each soldier's training tree will be partially randomly generated.	Does not affect MEC Troopers. Does not affect the initial preset soldiers unless Fresh Recruits (#33) is activated.
5	Save Scum	Loading a saved game will reset the random number seed.	Unchanged from Vanilla EW.
6	Predictable Damage	Damage is not randomized. Cancels out Damage Roulette (#0).	Replaces Red Fog, as that feature is now enabled by default. Red Fog can be disabled with Just a Flesh Wound (#34).
7	Absolutely Critical	Flanking shots receive +100 bonus (instead of +50) to critical hit chances.	Unchanged from Vanilla EW.
8	Not So Long War	Overall campaign length halved (as measured in number of missions, not calendar time).
9	Very Long War	Overall campaign length doubled (as measured in number of missions, not calendar time). When combined with Not So Long War (#8), campaign length tripled instead.
10	Results Driven	A country will offer less funding as its panic increases.	Funding ranges from 150-50% depending on panic. Starts at ~100% on Impossible.
11	Elite XCOM	All XCOM units gain +15% hit chance in all cases	Same as Cinematic Mode in Long War, but now provides +15 aim by default.
12	Air Domination	XCOM aircraft gain +100% fire rate.	Replaces Diminishing Returns. This option allows greater control over air game difficulty.
13	Wear and Tear	Items carried by soldiers will sometimes wear out after missions, even if the soldier isn't injured.
14	Itchy Trigger Tentacle	Upon being revealed, some aliens may attempt to shoot at soldiers instead of moving or going into Overwatch on all missions.	Same as Long War.
15	War Weariness	Overall funding levels drop over time.	Funding drops from 130% to 40% over 18 months.
16	Bronzeman Mode	Allows restart of missions via Pause menu in Ironman mode.	Same as Long War.
17	Ease Into It	The first mission consists of only 10 sectoids.	Occurs regardless of difficulty.
18	Commander's Choice	You may select the class of each soldier upon promotion to specialist.	Use the cycle-soldier icons at the bottom of the class selection screen in the barracks view to rotate through the classes. For Controllers press L1/R1 or LB/RB or whatever you use to cycle soldiers.
19	Aiming Angles	Units receive an aim bonus the closer they are to flanking an enemy.	Same as Long War.
20	Mind Hates Matter	Genetically modified soldiers cannot undergo psi testing, and vice versa.	Same as Long War.
21	Hidden Trees	You cannot see perk options for ranks a given soldier has not attained.
22	Durability	Items never need to be repaired.
23	United Humanity	Exalt is inactive. Exalt troopers may still show up on some alien missions.
24	The Friendly Skies	Your interceptors gain +15% hit chance during air combat.
25	We Are Legion	Use 2 additional soldiers on Exalt covert op extraction and Exalt data recovery missions
26	Defective Outsiders	Outsiders no longer gain attributes from the "Growth" perk.	Replaces Miracle Workers.
27	Gentle Aliens	Aliens lose 1 damage, 10 aim, 10 will, 1 DR, and 25% base HP.	Acts as a modifier to difficulty to help players better control the challenge they receive.
28	Hidden Chances	Enemy to-hit values will be hidden.	Replaces Perfect Information, as that feature is now enabled by default.
29	Recon	You will see meld cans and bomb nodes in the fog.
30	Sturdier UFOs	UFOs (except fighters/destroyers) will always spawn a crash mission and never be destroyed in the air.
31	Balanced Soldiers	New recruit attributes are balanced instead of fully randomized. Does not affect unique soldiers.	Similar to Long War where no recruit is clearly superior to another. Weighting of attributes: Mobility = 8, HP = 4, Aim = 2, Will = 1.
32	Wolverine Blood	Injury and Fatigue times are reduced by 50%.
33	Fresh Recruits	Replaces the 15 intial preset soldiers with random recruits. Similar to Long War.
34	Just a Flesh Wound	Turns off Red Fog.	With Red Fog, damage to units degrades their aim and will by 1-35, melee damage by 1-70%, throw range by 1-35%, flat DR by 1-50%, mobility by 1-6, and increases scatter by 1-100%.
35	Consistent Fatigue	Soldiers and MECs no longer receive fatigue based on the number of turns a battle takes, but base fatigue per mission is increased to 7 days (equivalent of 14 turns).	Same as how fatigue worked in Long War.