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Long War notes

Gangplank: 52 elerium & 55 alloy (without 'advanced material recovery' Foundry projects), 6 computers, 5 generators, 2 fusion cores
notable Foundry Projects: ^ "advanced material recovery"; one for more alloys, one for more elerium, one for more weapon fragments.
Lab: 20% time reduct +10 adjency, $200, 21 days build, $30/mo, 11d $300 x10Meld fast build
Raider UFO: can be downed by 2 low-level Interceptors
Terror Mission: 6 Chryssalids, Metric Fuckload of pre-spawned Zombies.
Small crashed UFOs: bring SHIVs, so you don't have soldiers getting fatigue with little XP.
Sectoid Interrogation: Cybernetics credit, not MEC lab
Thin Man Interrogation: Laser credit
Request for full Credit-to-Project list in Long War Nexus Mods forum, awaiting response.
UFOs:
- Scout: Durability: Low. Armor: none.
- Fighter: Dura: low. Armor: light. Use Stingray Missiles. PS; We have Stingray Missiles??
- Raider: Dura: Moderate. Armor: very light
- Abductor: Wing: 1xCoil phoenix gun, 1xStingray, 2xLaser currently inadequate.
  - 1 finally taken down: 1xPhoenix Coil Gun Raven w3xkills, Foundry works: Amronred Fighters, Penetrator Weapons, Improved Avionics, UFO Coutnermeasures, UFO Tracking. Tracking and Dodge module used, 14 days repair, approx ~20 seconds of fire. Beta 9 of LW (normal approach).
Damaging in-flight UFOs reduces recovery/aliens?
Arc Thower, upgraded: 58%/58%/56%/55%/49%/43%

Beta 10 Changes

v3.0 Beta 10 (June 21, 2014)

NEW FEATURES:

Before most missions you will receive some general information on the type of map you'll be on. This won't apply on council missions.
Many new types and classes of weapons will be available, including a line of Marksman rifles (for scouts and snipers), machine pistols, submachineguns, battle rifles and LMGs. Scatter Blaster and Reflex Cannon will no longer be foundry projects but distinct weapons. MECs will have access to laser weapons, and SHIVs a new laser weapon. The Arc Rifle (with Disabling Shot perk) and a sawed-off shotgun (equippable in pistol slot) will also be available. These will use existing models, but they will be sized differently than other weapons of the same "look." LMGs and Marksman's and Strike Rifles can shoot 5 tiles beyond visual range (M&S Rifles require Sniper's Squadsight and are only weapon that can react beyond visual range; LMGs grant squadsight to Gunner when equipped)
Some aliens will occasionally have Extended or Squadsight range weapons.
A more involved encumbrance system will now be in use. The net effect is that some powerful and large small items will impose larger movement penalties on soldiers, and you can gain mobility by taking no small item at all. In general, you will be trading off mobility, offense and defense when you equip items. Some extant items balanced against new standards.
You may now set a combat stance for your interceptors as they launch on a mission. Aggressive gives +15% to hit for both you and the UFO; balanced plays out like normal, and Defensive gives -15% to hit for both you and the UFO. You may not use the dodge consumable when aggressive and you may not use the autohit consumable when defensive.
Added Ready for Anything (overwatch after firing if you didn't move) and Paramedic (free action to use medikit once per turn) perks
You now receive feedback on panic rolls and help from Steadfast perk
You now can see who is on overwatch (eye) and who has steadied weapon (small yellow ring)
Added a bunch of soldier heads
Exposed Red Fog penalties to DGC.ini for player modding
New Items: Reinforced Armor, Chameleon Suit, MEC Battle Computer, Fuel Cell, and a little number we call "The Thumper." Deprecated SHIV Targeting Computer.
Keybinds Alt-1 through Alt-8 select individual soldiers
Made some changes to weapon ranges. Shotguns, pistols and machine pistols now capped at 2/3 visual range. (Gunslinger now provides +1 pistol damage and pushes most sidearms to visual range). Jaeger and Pathfinder can have Squadsight at Master Sergeant, allowing shots for 5-7 tiles beyond visual range.
Overhaul of engineering capabilities. Workshops and WS adjacencies now provide cash discounts and rebates on alloys and elerium, via a diminishing return function approaching 50%. Engineers no longer provided by building workshops. Engineers now reduce build times. There are no engineer minimums to build items; instead, having too few relative to the item requirement significantly increases the time to build. Engineer minimums for additional workshops increased, and for radars they are still in place.
Reworked starting stats to reduce some extremes and SW options affecting stats
New Foundry Project: Wingtip Sparrowhawks, a secondary weapon system that is applied immediately to all interceptors and fires alongside your primary weapon. They have all Stingray stats except they do half damage relative to Stingrays.
Alien HP bars now show up to 60 hit points. This should cover almost every alien. Almost.
"Cinematic Mode" Second Wave option (replaces High Stakes) -*All soldiers, SHIVs and interceptors get +15 to hit in all cases. This bonus can be adjusted by an ini change.
Adding new inventory images as received from contributors

BALANCING:

Spaced out early Drone DR upgrades
Spaced out EXALT trooper upgrades
Scaled back pace of difficulty increase of Exalt missions
Sniper Rifles and Marksman Rifles will have much greater aim falloff at close ranges
Adjusted several perk trees
Ignored UFOs raise panic by 2 (just like damaged ones), so there's no reason to game the system by quick-intercepting/retreating UFOs
Adjusted panic rolling so the chances of catastrophic panic outcomes are lower, but panic remains a problem for longer in the campaign. You will now get some onscreen feedback about your panic rolls.
HEAT Ammo perk now only applies to your primary weapon.
Using training roulette means you no longer get stat bonuses from specific perk selections
Eliminated multi-country Exalt clues, meaning it's gonna take awhile to find their base
Lock N' Load now grants +1 ammo in all cases, and if you take it as a perk ability, using reload as your first action does not end your turn
Adjusted Diminishing Returns SW option to be compatible with LW
Red Fog aim penalty capped at -40 instead of -50.
NSLW: Increased threshold for XCOM HQ Assault to occur
Captured plasma weapons may no longer be used directly by XCOM; instead they are necessary for XCOM to construct their own plasma weapons of any type
Significant increases in many mid/late game research times and engineer requirements
Foundry buildable at start
New foundry project to unlock air consumables, available at alien materials. UFO Tracking (Boost) unlocked with project; Aim and Dodge unlocked with project and prior techs. Some changes to costs of all consumables.
EMP Cannon effectiveness at causing artifacts to survive a crash reduced to keep late-game economy from getting out of control.
Increased engineer and scientist minimums to build more workshops and labs
Reworked some council item requests to grant more engineers
Rookies will equip alien grenades instead of HE grenades once you finish the alien grenades foundry project (when they randomly roll up that kind of grenade)
Significant rebalancing of Not-So-Long-War SW option so the economy scales properly with reduced mission density; removed most time-related settings impacted by NSLW
Improved Ethereal Psi Drain ability
Abduction cash reward now scales a little with mission difficulty
Removed short-range interceptor weapon quality entirely from the game; all interceptor weapons will now fire from the same (long) range. Balanced several weapon values and alien UFO upgrades in light of this increased capability for certain weapons.
Interceptor experience now provides +3% to hit per kill (up to + 30%) and +1% damage per kill (with no top limit)
Genemods now have variable timeouts that scale with their utility; Amount of extra timeouts for genemods and psi powers now described in perk texts (current +12 for all psi powers, +3 to +12 for genemods)
Added condition that will force alien assault on XCOM HQ late in the game if you haven't had one yet.
Smart Macrophages genemod now also confers complete immunity to poison and acid
Repair Servos perk made more interesting, now heals up to half your HP at rate of 2 per turn (total healable amount goes down as you take more damage)
In The Zone confers a cumulative critical hit % penalty after each successive shot
Lotsa little stuff

BUGFIXES:

Fixed: You can now shoot down the Overseer instead of just blowing it up
Fixed: Ghost Grenade, Psi Shield, Neural Gunlink will now be equippable by psis
Fixed: Laser and Pulse carbine strat game texts
Fixed: Borked Phalanx/Carapace and other decos
Attempted fix: Altitude strings being buggy; shortened to NOE (old Low), Low (old High) and High (old Very High/Suborbital)
Attempted fix: Intact UFO Power Supplies blowing up after a turn
Fixed: Acidized rocketeer fires shredder rocket and gets shredded effect
Fixed: You can't sell "rebuild SHIV" projects in the Gray Market
Fixed: Bugged settings for alien upgrades; they should scale properly with difficulty now
Attempted Fix: Rapid Fire does not work on Carbine weapons
Attempted Fix: Certain items applying Alien Grenade charges
Attempted Fix: Ammo Conservation failing sporadically with soldiers
Fixed: Seekers re-strangling targets when they should be running away.
Fixed: Seeker AI also trying to cloak repeatedly when in range of battlescanner. Reported CTDs possibly related to this (or vanilla bug)
Fixed: Suppression bugfixes leaving space formerly occupied by suppressor closed off and interfering with sightlines
Fixed: Should be able to equip advanced MEC weapons now
Fixed: Soldiers should properly load saved loadouts during alien base assault
Attempted fix: Satellites being randomly shot down with no visible hunt mission at end of month
Attempted fix: Implemented updated pod randomization code to eliminate bad spawns and mix up the altitude an alien will appear at on multi-level maps
Fixed: SCOPE upgrade bonus not appearing for SCOPES in crit line items (but is appearing for laser sights)
Fixed: Rush-building a Foundry project initially displays the wrong (unrushed) time in the upcoming events list.
Fixed: Rush-building a facility is confusing. In the upcoming events list, it displays the full time required to build, which then decrements twice as fast. In the facilities UI, it is displayed correctly.
Fixed: Proportional meld on rush build projects not working
Fixed: "Click to remove" option in gene lab (after picking a gene mod, and then trying to remove it) doesn't remove the gene mod from your queue
Fixed: Covert operative loadout doesn't report hp bonuses from covert ops armor/plating items
Fixed: You sometimes have a "build the arc thrower" objective after building an arc thrower
Fixed: Removed Neural Damping from aliens (was causing lockups)
Fixed: Animations firing at odd times when using certain carbines
Fixed: Psi soldiers can no longer select neural damping
Fixed: Too much psi training success
Fixed: Removed ability to build alien grenades after they are made infinite
Fixed: Panic bars for terror alerts and exalt propaganda should work correctly now
Fixed: All new campaigns will automatically reset the map cycler, so there should be no more need to do this on your own
Fixed: Bombardier and Grenadier perks will now properly increase range for MEC long-range weapons
Fixed: Random stats on level up SW option was giving WAY TOO MUCH STATAGE, now fixed
Fixed: Some work on malfunctioning psi-related AI that should make sectoids take flanking shots way more often
Fixed: CTD on using Flush on a brainsucking seeker
Fixed: Soldier mind-merge / heal issue
Fixed: Vanilla-rooted exploit that gave you unlimited rocket launcher range
Fixed: More work on psi-related AI so they are smart about when to shoot
Fixed: Removed too-buggy launch ability from seraphim armor, and improved SA's mobility & defense stat instead
Fixed: Disabling Shot can no longer cause critical hits
Fixed: Mayhem bonus damage now applies to Head Shots
Fixed: Repairing SHIVs with an Arc Thrower will now remove Red Fog penalties
Fixed: Upsized aliens will remain upsized upon reloading tactical save games
Fixed: VANILLA bug in which ITZ didn't trigger if kill was caused by bonus shredder or HEAT damage
Fixed: VANILLA bug in which the Aim interceptor module DID NOTHING HELP YOU AT ALL. SERIOUSLY. THIS HAS NEVER WORKED.
Fixed: Bug in which unequip all button gave SHIVs an assault rifle
Fixed: Too-large MEC armor inventory images
Lame Fix: Updated XCOM database text to explain that all construction and research stops during combat missions, as all personnel are busy providing mission support

Panic Management

It is possible, if exeedingly difficult, to last out the first month (and hopefuly, a campaign) without losing any countries in Impossible. Required is luck, extreme skill and knowledge of the game, and probably a lot of save-state abuse. Slingshot (and Progeny, if in Enemy Within <need to check if it's usually late-month, I think my plan kinda depends on it being so>) is extremely helpful, and should be used if you have it.

Second Wave options:
- High Stakes is effectively a requirement for Option B/EW, but still a great help for Option A/EU. It randomizes the rewards for Abductions. The rewards are unseeded, but the countries are not, so savescumming from before the Abduction alert can give you different rewards for the country you want to take. The maximum rewards are §300, 6 Scientists, or what you'll be aiming for in Abductions: 6 Engineers.
- Hidden Potential and Not Created Equal are a bit of a gamble, but any higher-statted soldiers you get will help make the battles much easier.
- Damage Roulette and Absolutley Critical: since your soldiers are, normally, liable to get 1-shotted anyways in Impossible, early on the odds are in your favor for Roulette to help you and hinder the aliens; there's nothing quite like taking a critical hit from a Light Plasma Rifle... for 1 damage. And being able to 1-shot many aliens even with starting weapons (such as in the first mission, when everyone has just Assault Rifles), is a great help if you're good at flanking.
You starting country; 'New Economy is another gamble, but may help if there's a continent bonus you usually rely upon, and may get you moer starting funds.
- Alternatively, if you're just out for not losing any Continent Bonuses, and don't mind one or two losses; start in either Asia or Europe, and let that one take a hit if you have to choose to 'sacrifice' a country.
The biggest threat is, naturally, the two Abduction missions: Since Asia and Europe have 4 countries each, any passed Abduction mission each means 7 Panic points total, while South America with 2 countries can suck it up untill you get your sattelites in.
Normally, with those two Missions, and helping one country each, that means (with luck) 4 countries exactly that'll be at full panic by the end of the month
Don't forget that the most efficient Uplink/Nexus setup is a 2x2 block of 2 Uplinks and 2 Nexi.
After starting the campaing and beating the first mission, you should check to see if you have decent soldiers in the barracks, and have steam vents in good locations (ie: not in the upper left quarter of the base)

The key is the Council Mission/Request, that needs to happen before the 16th

Theory: "schedual" for month is made by AI at start of month;
There can be two Council "events" per month total: one mission and one request.
- Ergo: Dates for Council events are given, but what occurs is part of RNG, even through save-scumming. ie; Mission, Request, or nothing.
- If Mission is taken for the first event, second event cannot be a mission (have not tested inverse)
  - Exception: Slingshot (and probably Progeny).

Option A: Panic Reducing Council Mission, Sattelite Rush

In essence: when the Council event comes around, save scum until you get a Council Mission with panic reduction (and hopefully a large amount of cash and/or Engineers)
- panic reduction in withdrawing country, 3 left, one Uplink, get requisite 10 engineers before 16th, build 2nd Uplink, 3 satts for the 3 remaining countries

Pros: flexibility to let second Abduction Mission be for cash or scientists, and not have to be before

Enemy Within Option B: Council Mission/Request w/Engineer reward

This option is for Enemy Within, as there is a lower requirement in cost and Engineers for Uplinks. As such, while A will still work in EW, you now have a few more oppertunities and moves; there is the possibility of building two Uplinks in March, which is what this option aims for.
If you relied on Zhang and his missions for the scientists, engineers, resources, and money: the earliest Slingshot can start is late April now.
- Theory: Slingshot/Friends in Low Places in EW has two hardcodings: one Council mission must happen before it, and "April at earliest".
The larger research requirements for some items will push back progress even farther.
After completing the Seeker Autopsy, the Respiratior's poison & choking resistance, and health bonus, supersedes the Nanofiber Vest, which only has the same health bonus. Before that; see their entry for strategies and tips on how to deal with them.
When EXALT begins to show up: doing Covert Operations reduces panic in target countries; after doing an Intelligence Scan, you often get a selection of revealed cells to choose from. But, starting in the third month, it doesn't come soon enough, and is too random to rely upon as a rescue method.
At least for now, theres a stacking glitch with MEC's Punch and Flamethrower: one foundry upgrade to those, per campaign, adds an additional 50% damage to those abilities to your copy of the game.
- Ergo: First playthrough's Kinetic Punch, base 12 damage, upgrade to 18, 2nd playthrough, upgrade to 27.

Month 1 (March):

The more luck-dependant method, in that both Abductions, chosen to provide Engineers, and the Council Mission/Request needs to happen before 16th, and you need to get at least an additonal 15 Engineers total from them for the two Uplinks (12 from the Abductions, and 3-5 from the Council event). Missions seem to come faster in EW, so this schedualing is not as hard as it sounds.
- You'll want to build the two Uplinks to the left of the starting one.
  - Don't forget to dig if you need to, plus you'll need one Generator (§60, 5 days), ideally placed on the other side of the base, so it doesn't get in the way of your Sattelite block.
- You'll need at least 4 Sattellites to save all at-risk countries for this month, but the Adjency Bonus will give you a capacity of 8, so up to 7 more can be built.
  - If you've been lucky enough to get all 3 missions before the 10th, and possibly the first UFO: the engineers will vastly reduce the cost of sattellites, so you should go for all 7 if you can (though 4-5 is more realistic). You won't be doing research very quickly anyways, (or building anything else for that matter) so don't fret too much about dumping corpses and artifacts into the Grey Market-- except for Navigational Computers: you'll need them later to reserach and build Sattelite Nexi later (Power Sources sell better anyways; here's hoping the RNG is generous about letting them survive UFO crashes).
  - Elerium; you won't be using it for a long while, dump it in. Alloys, enough to pull this off. But since fragments don't sell well and you'll need them later, should be last resort.
With luck of where Abductions take place, and sufficient sattellites, you might be able to take one, possibly two Continents right off from Abductions by the end of the month.
Later in the month, as soon as you got some more stuff to sell for the §, you should at least open up the second level of the base, and make any headway you can digging for steam vents.
Portent's §150 may be more than a Council Request may be, and the scientist and engineer is useful-- though reports are that it may not appear in March.

Month 2 (April):

With a signifcant lead on money, engineers, and a small boost of Scientists, this month is much easier (on top of having leveled soldiers in the battlefield, hopefully).
The main push done with, you may only need to add one more Uplink (don't forget a Geothermal/Generator) to survive without losing any countries (ideally on the second level, on the far left, or the immediate left of the access elevator)
- if you find you have the need this or next month, a fourth can be built on the other mentioned spot; you'll want to save the middle spot for your first Nexus; either way, 1-3 month(s) from now, you'll be able to keep advantage of Adjency Bonuses while you deconstruct a no-longer-needed Uplink and replace it with the second Nexus, giving you the 2x2 Uplink/Nexus block to fully cover all Council nations.
With luck, you may only need to cover 3 countries this month; Terror Missions begin late April, and they tend to occur in countries with high panic, possibly clearing at least one of the 4 at-risk nations.
So, you may only need 3 sattelites. But, since our goal is total global saturation- and keeping cost and efficiency in mind;
- As many sattellites as you can to fill capacity of your L-shaped Uplink block, particulary any number of the 7 sattellite goal you weren't able to finish last month, on top of the new 3 spots.
- But: order them individually. After the second Abduction Mission (and after the Terror Mission), you may want to only use enough to save any at-risk nations, and after that, finish covering any continents you can. Cancel the rest (and perhaps the new Uplink if you don't need it yet), and use the money to dig and build Base Facilities; a laboratory would not go amiss, to catch up on Research.
Since South America (and it's two countries) are easiest to cover, and you might be able to manage Arc Thrower research and Containment construction, capture any availible alien types for research credits, particularly Thin Men.
- In the meantime, you can research the Computers: due to a programming oversight, you can stop researching it at 50% completion, and continue with researching something else while wating to cover South America; once you do, use your new We Have Ways to isntantly interrogate the Thin Man, and Computer research will automatically jump to 100% (just spend a moment in Mission Control to get the notification)!
- Same thing for your progress on the Fragments/Beam Weapons tree and Sectoids, and Alloys/(early) Armor tree with Floaters.
- Don't worry: switching between those projects does not consume their material cost until completion.
Slingshot can start some time this month, with a signifcant reward (§200, 2 Engies, 2 Scientists) that will help on all fronts in your base.

Month 3 (May):

You may have as good as won by now; with the high amount of money, Scientists, and Engineers you now have, you should be progressed enough to open up the Alien Base and use it as your 'rescue' method (or continue with doing so with Sattelites), and have made headway into construction of your own. In which case, you can choose Abduction rewards as you wish now, and focus on getting that Nexus up (if you have the Computers for it), and completing any left in capacity.
Your biggest threat now is now the Abductor UFO, since you may still be a bit behind on research: at bare minimum, you'll need a Raven with a Laser Cannon, or two or three with Phoenix Cannons. Since you've probably needed to savescum to get this far, you can do so to get ships on the right continent to intercept. Take it out, or it'll summon a battleship to undo all your hard work.
Like last month: order sattelites to cover continents/rescue, but maybe cancel any others.
Also: EXALT's shennangians begin this month.

Congratualtions: you've made it!

Pros: early Sattelite Coverage and the rewards/panic control thereof, stuff from Engineering will be cheap and low resource cost, once you finish the research.
Cons: You'll be low on resources, and slow on research.

Supreme Luck: Sgt. Carlock Escort

By default, the Sgt. Carlock mission gives § and Engineers, and possibly Panic Reduction. One more lucky roll of the RNG may therefore place this mission in an at-risk nation.
Same/mix as the above two options, but you'll have that one less country to worry about at the start; that's one more satellite could go to covering one more continent, instead of just rescuing one country.

Ironman Mode: You can't hear it, but the RNG is laughing at your naivete.

User talk:Xuncu

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