History VideoGame / XCOMLongWar

* FissionMailed: No matter what you do, in the first month one country is guaranteed to withdraw from [=XCOM=]. This is required thanks to new alien base mechanic - they can only spawn in countries that left the Council and you can regain them by destroying the base, but clearing one base is also required to progress the story.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** The ''Long War 2'' experience is a bit more like how a guerrilla movement would operate, prioritizing speed and stealth, with trying to go in too heavy likely to get you crushed by Advent's superior resources.
** The new Infiltration system ties this into the way extraction works. Since you no longer deploy immediately, instead having squads prepare on-site for the mission over time, extraction takes several turns to arrive once called. This means you have to plan your extraction much more carefully, since the dynamics of the battlefield can change a lot in four to eight turns, and a spot that was safe at first may be much more dangerous after two or three turns of enemy activity and reinforcements.

* NintendoHard: ''[=XCOM=]'' wasn't an easy game, but ''Long War'' really takes the difficulty UpToEleven. Even the mod's readme file essentially says "We don't care how many times you've beaten Impossible; here, you play on Normal or you lose all rights to complain".

** In the original game, [[TheQuisling EXALT]] could be a challenge early on, due to starting with decent gear and some unique powers, and the [[ScrappyLevel Covert Ops missions]] could occasionally be a pain, but whereas the player started developing better equipment and more capable soldiers, EXALT [[CantCatchUp never grew beyond their initial level of power,]] meaning that they quickly became {{Money Spider}}s and little else. In ''Long War'', they grow and gain upgrades at the same rate as the player, and can even field their own versions of your super-elite top-tier soldiers; watch in awe as EXALT Snipers OneHitKill you from beyond your visual range, EXALT Heavies demolish entire swaths of cover with Blaster Launchers, and EXALT [=MECs=] run down your squishy fleshlings. [[FromBadToWorse They also get larger numbers]], AND [[UpToEleven can appear alongside aliens in any missions they'd normally appear in - including Terror Missions!]].

No ''Long War'' was made for the ''War of the Chosen'' expansion, but there have been a number of fanmade attempts at creating one. ''[[https://www.nexusmods.com/xcom2/mods/757]]'' is the current furthest-along of them.

* RealityEnsues:

** Played straight but at the same time rigorously opposed by the game itself; soldiers that never see use will never get stronger, and overdepending on your elites can leave you crippled if they [[FinalDeath die off]], leaving you to recruit newbies who can't compete against the just-as-powerful enemies. ''However,'' the game introduces a "fatigue" system that weakens and wounds soldiers if used too often back to back, so players are encouraged to mix up their rosters between missions.

** Surprisingly [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] for the infamous [[DemonicSpiders Chryssalids]]; they're still fast, durable, and hit like a truck, but their overall damage output has been [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]] slightly which, along with the generally-increased toughness of XCOM operatives, means their attacks aren't quite the OneHitKill they used to be; they're still a major threat, but you can survive a hit or two with sufficient armor, meaning no more fears of sudden, unexpected FinalDeath.

* AwesomeButImpractical: High-explosives, especially if used recklessly. Explosives are powerful, dealing great damage, and they obliterate cover, meaning survivors will usually be Exposed and thus easily taken out with a follow-up shot. However, overuse of them can destroy cover ''your'' squad could have used, and you can potentially wind up needing to advance through a killing field of enemies with no cover locations. Additionally, enemies killed this way don't drop any loot; while the larger number of missions and aliens in general makes this less of an issue, overuse can still leave the player short on needed materials later on down the line. Finally, rockets are heavy, and each additional one a Rocketeer takes will slow them down a little bit more, forcing them to either sacrifice firepower or armor to make up the difference or else lag behind the rest of the team.

No ''Long War'' was made for the ''War of the Chosen'' expansion, but there have been a number of fanmade attempts at creating one. ''[[https://github.com/long-war-2/lwotc/wiki/Installing-Long-War-of-the-Chosen Long War of the Chosen]]'' is the current furthest-along of them.

No ''Long War'' was made for the ''War of the Chosen'' expansion, but there have been a number of fanmade attempts at creating one.

* GuideDangIt: There are a lot more elements both in the strategic and tactical layers that bleed into each other and are poorly explained. This opacity is cited by none less an avid player of the first mod than Beaglerush himself as [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/5sobfe/long_war_2_critique/ddhdoj5/ the main reason why he gave up on LW2]]. As just one example, even starting a liberation chain requires you to find a mission to hack a workstation that gives an intel reward and nothing else. Given how it's possible and even encouraged to be selective in which missions to take, it's entirely possible to give it a miss and never end up starting a liberation chain until the Avatar Timer invisibly dooms your campaign.

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* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: Ablative body armor is one of the few items XCOM has in abundance. More often than not it makes the difference between death and a long stay in the infirmity.

* GuideDangIt: There are a lot more elements both in the strategic and tactical layers that bleed into each other and are poorly explained. This opacity is cited by none less than Beaglerush himself as [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/5sobfe/long_war_2_critique/ddhdoj5/ the main reason why he gave up on LW2]]. As just one example, even starting a liberation chain requires you to find a mission to hack a workstation that gives an intel reward and nothing else. Given how it's possible and even encouraged to be selective in which missions to take, it's entirely possible to give it a miss and never end up starting a liberation chain until the Avatar Timer invisibly dooms your campaign.

* GuideDangIt: There are a lot more elements both in the strategic and tactical layers that bleed into each other and are poorly explained. This opacity is cited by none less than Beaglerush himself as [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/5sobfe/long_war_2_critique/ddhdoj5/ the main reason why he gave up on LW2]].

* VillainForgotToLevelGrind: Averted. Both aliens on the ground and [=UFOs=] will get upgrades over time, making even early-game mooks able to remain nasty even against a lategame XCOM squad.

* ZergRush: One of the main sources of increased difficulty is that pods are often larger than in vanilla, meaning it's much harder to kill off a whole pod in one turn.

* ObviousRulePatch: Berserkers were given the Muscle Fiber Density perk after the devs found Beaglerush abusing their inability to climb rooftops if XCOM soldiers physically blocked all the pipes or ladders.

* KnowWhenToFoldThem: Unlike in vanilla, not every mission is expected to be winnable; every now and then you will encounter missions that are just too tough and it's preferable to abort rather than risk a TotalPartyKill or, possibly worse, a PyrrhicVictory where you clear the mission but at the cost of wounded soldiers losing valuable Will and other stats. Fortunately, the new ability to retake countries back into the Council fold makes panic increase for doing so less punishing than in vanilla.

** [=LMGs=]. Heavy guns that can't be moved and fired in the same turn, they have huge range, essentially making them mini-Sniper Rifles, and MASSIVE damage output. While their accuracy is a bit low, this is easily compensated for, and Gunners can get a variety of perks that make them even more deadly. Properly-deployed LMG Gunners can wipe out swathes of enemies on their own.

* OptionalStealth: Stealth receives a greater emphasis in this mod compared with the base game, but it is still possible to operate very loudly and aggressively. However, this often results in huge numbers of enemies swarming your squad, since large squads with heavy weapons have a hard time infiltrating. It is often much more effective to sneak in with a smaller squad of lighter, stealth-specialized troops, at the expense of having little heavy firepower if they do get detected. Some missions can potentially be completed with only a single Shinobi trooper or Sharpshooter, although getting detected can be an instant mission failure as the Shinobi or Sharpshooter gets gunned down by an entire squad of enemy troops.

* KnowWhenToFoldThem: Unlike in vanilla, not every mission is expected to be winnable; very now and then you will encounter missions that are just too tough and it's preferable to abort rather than risk a TotalPartyKill or, possibly worse, a PyrrhicVictory where you clear the mission but at the cost of wounded soldiers losing valuable Will and other stats. Fortunately, the new ability to retake countries back into the Council fold makes panic increase for doing so less punishing than in vanilla.