So Long War 2 just came out for XCom 2 and holy smokes, this is how the game was meant to be played. I know quite a few people here play XCom so I just wanted to give a heads up. Get this mod. I think the "normal" difficulty (veteran I think) falls right in between the vanilla XCom 2 veteran and commader difficulty. So it's a bit harder, but not in a way that makes you feel like you will never win.

Here are some of the things they changed.

Infiltration: When a mission appears, you no longer get to send your best 6 troops. You can send between 1-8 to infiltrate a city, base, prison, etc., or some good ole fashion train robbin. Depending on your gear and soldier skills, the time it takes varies. Increasing or decreasing the squad size can increase or decrease the time to infiltrate as well. So basically, you send a squad out for 4-9 days getting in position. The faster they can reach 100% or higher, the less enemies you have to face making the mission easier. This includes fewers pods and smaller pods.

Classes: There are 9 classes I think, and 10 with the SPARKs. Pretty wide array of abilities, with 3 "trees" for each class. I really like being able to craft each soldier into a specific role. Sniper, infiltrator, tank, DPS, medic. The weapon mods have also changed, so you can't use stocks to win yourself to victory by missing every shot.

Haven: You now get more control over every region you make contact with. You can send the resistance to gather intel, recruit, or gather supplies. Neat way to add more depth to the game.

I do have some issues. The game doesn't explain very much to you. I've put maybe 10 hours into a campaign, and have yet to do a storyline mission. Just don't have enough supply to build the Proving Grounds to get a skull hijack. For some reason, it says I get 250 supplies a month, but over half of it is "lost for unknowk reasons" which is super frustrating cuz I have no idea what's going on, and I can't get enough supply to actually progress. Stupid attrition circle. Also, sometimes the game gets to an impassable bug, and just crashes. Not sure what the issue is, but what makes it worse, it is the mission where I can actually generate supply and corpses. Since you don't get all the enemy bodies when you finish a mission.

Which takes me to my last point. These mission are freaking insane. The difficulty is so perfect. You no longer get to call an immediate extraction. You have to wait 2-5 turns, while grabbing intel, securing VIPs, rescuing soldiers and prisoners, or destroying targets. I can't tell you how many times I'm waiting for evac and I am taking fire from 2 sides, just barely keeping my squad together. There has been several time where I'm carrying my guys back to base cuz they get flanked and shot at the last moment. I'm winning by the skin of my teeth, and it feels good.

I'd recommend XCom fans to get this mod. It really is a good overhaul of the entire game. Some annoying bugs, but the mod team is already trying to fix it. I got mine on Steam, so I think I'll get my updates automatically.

10/10. Would send my squaddie to go knife the Muton again so I can extract my team.

Got LW: EW about a month ago. Playing that first whilst any issues get ironed out of LW2! It looks ******* amazing though.

I think it's better to start with EW LW perhaps. It's pretty perfect and has been tweaked for years for 1.0. Of course the mechanics are different, no pure stealth/concealment, different missions etc...This way you get the classic LW experience and get ready for a bug free LW2.

Got LW: EW about a month ago. Playing that first whilst any issues get ironed out of LW2! It looks ******* amazing though.

I think it's better to start with EW LW perhaps. It's pretty perfect and has been tweaked for years for 1.0. Of course the mechanics are different, no pure stealth/concealment, different missions etc...This way you get the classic LW experience and get ready for a bug free LW2.

I played EW LW, but never finished it. Got to grindy mid game and I got tired of all my fighters getting shot down. It's an excellent game, but I think they went a bit overboard with it. Some people have over 500 hours in it, which is insane. Too much for me, and I love long games.

I played EW Long War a bunch. Finishing it twice on two separate playthoughs.

I've gotten a couple of hours (barely) now of Long War 2... And although I'm still going, I'm certainly feeling like I'm constantly failing...

And I'm only on "Veteran".

I havn't ranked anyone above Sergeant yet, so getting precious skills is very difficult... The simple bits and pieces such as not having those "universal" upgrades (ie, you need to buy each and every set of Predator Armour, rather than getting an Upgrade) is constantly stretching me...

Not to mention while I was deployed in 3 places infiltrating, I had a Haven Assault that i had to Defend with 8(!) Freshly-Purchased-because-I-just-got-the-Rookies-are-Free Perk.... With no upgrades... That was rough. Trying to kill a **** ADVENT Sergeant....

Normally, not hard. You go. "Okay, I'll just flank him, and send like, 6 rookies at him at once. Two will try to hit him, the others will go on overwatch and wait for him to move...."

... Except the **** Sergeants have Tactical Sense as a skill...

So here's my Rookie - Running up to literally next to him, point blank range....... And having a 23% hit chance, because stupid.

Did the whole Haven mission without a casualty until that ONE SERGEANT was the LAST ADVENT on the map.

Then 4 Rookies Died (and 2 bleeding out) before I finally got him with a **** lucky 14% Shot through High Cover.....

I played EW Long War a bunch. Finishing it twice on two separate playthoughs.

I've gotten a couple of hours (barely) now of Long War 2... And although I'm still going, I'm certainly feeling like I'm constantly failing...

And I'm only on "Veteran".

I havn't ranked anyone above Sergeant yet, so getting precious skills is very difficult... The simple bits and pieces such as not having those "universal" upgrades (ie, you need to buy each and every set of Predator Armour, rather than getting an Upgrade) is constantly stretching me...

Not to mention while I was deployed in 3 places infiltrating, I had a Haven Assault that i had to Defend with 8(!) Freshly-Purchased-because-I-just-got-the-Rookies-are-Free Perk.... With no upgrades... That was rough. Trying to kill a **** ADVENT Sergeant....

Normally, not hard. You go. "Okay, I'll just flank him, and send like, 6 rookies at him at once. Two will try to hit him, the others will go on overwatch and wait for him to move...."

... Except the **** Sergeants have Tactical Sense as a skill...

So here's my Rookie - Running up to literally next to him, point blank range....... And having a 23% hit chance, because stupid.

Did the whole Haven mission without a casualty until that ONE SERGEANT was the LAST ADVENT on the map.

Then 4 Rookies Died (and 2 bleeding out) before I finally got him with a **** lucky 14% Shot through High Cover.....

I'm like 4 months in and have 5 regions. Haven't had a Haven defence yet. But I agree, it is awful having to buy each weapon and armor. 20 supply per laser rifle? Seriously? I can't afford that. And I don't like the idea of having an A team with all gear, and a B team with subpar since they all need to go on equally important missions.

I think I'm running like 3 squads. about 20 soldiers total. Got them all trained up to at least Corp. Flashbangs and grenades are what save me most games. Sucks grenades can't destroy walls though. Thrown too many at a wall thinking "Oh yea, this is easy. Destroy the wall with this guy, and my rookie and get an exposed shot and crit for the kill. Oh ****, the wall is there and didn't deal any damage. Well I guess the rookie is taking one for the team..."

My accuracy on my shots is all over the place. I've had one mission where 4 peeps had under 25% to hit and I killed 3 guys behind full cover. But on the next one, they all miss with over 70% to hit while it is out in the open. RNJesus is not kind.