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 +8 will.	By default soldiers will have randomized starting attributes. Selecting this option will revert to fixed starting attributes for all soldiers.
3	Wild West	All shots deal triple damage.	Makes shots and alpha-striking a lot more important, just like the Wild West.
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 save game will reset the random number seed, so taking an identical action may yield different results.	Note: In LWR, some abilities always yield different results.
6	Predictable Damage	Damage is not randomized. Cancels out 'Damage Roulette (#0)'.
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). When combined with Very Long War (#9), campaign length quadrupled instead (Epic Long War).
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 quadrupled instead (Epic Long War).
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	Jump Start	Start the campaign 3 months in at Alien Level 3.	XCOM gains various bonuses to make starting 3 months into the campaign more doable.
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	AYYLMAO	Replaces much of the information in the game to crude and often humorous alternatives. WARNING: Not Safe For Work.	No effect on actual gameplay.
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	Super Soldiers	Soldiers can be genetically modified, psionically trained, and officers all at once (except Neural Damping is incompatible with psionic training).	Opposite of 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	Friendly Skies	Your interceptors gain +15% hit chance during air combat.
25	Desperate Odds	XCOM can only deploy half as many soldiers to all missions. New recruits cost double and SHIVs cost triple.	A tactical-level change.
26	Blitzkrieg	You will have 10s (plus 5s per activated unit) to complete each turn (this value is dgc.ini adjustable). Changing game speed is disabled.	Anytime a voice-over is occurring or the active unit is performing an action, the timer is paused.
27	Difficulty Drop	Aliens lose 1 HP, 1 damage, 10 aim, and 10 will. Decreases Alien Level Up speed by 5%.	Acts as a modifier to difficulty to help players better control the challenge they receive.
28	MECs Galore	Removes the 2 MEC restriction per mission.
29	Recon	You will see meld cans and bomb nodes in the fog.
30	Multitasker	Big Sky can control multiple SHIVs per turn (removing the restriction of 1 SHIV acting/moving per turn).
31	A Few Good Men	XCOM has half as many soldiers, but each soldier can do double the number of missions.	A strategic-level change.
32	Wolverine Blood	Injury and Fatigue times are reduced by 50% (this value is dgc.ini editable).
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 base HP 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 4 days (equivalent of 12 turns).	Same as how fatigue worked in Long War.