Long War 2 - AWC Tricks
Tons of potential. Not enough time. Here is how to get the most out of the AWC.
Great we have an AWC! Now who do I train? Well, let’s open up the AWC and take a look. No not him. No not her. Maybe that guy later. What about the guys in the haven? Do they have any good abilities? I don’t want to pull them out of the haven just to look at their AWC abilities… Hmmm. This is taking too long. Let’s just stick that guy in there. No wait, that is my only soldier of that class, I may need him… And so on.
This is how I used the AWC when I first started playing LW2. It is less a strategy, and more a confused and haphazard mess. Since then I have adopted a better process to prioritize soldiers for training, and I have also defined a few clear targets I hope to achieve.
The whole process of using the AWC should be quick and orderly, and to accomplish that, I need to go through my whole barracks and take note of which soldiers have a great tier 1 AWC ability to fast track for training. I do this immediately when the AWC is constructed, but I do not do it in the AWC, which only displays soldiers that are available. I want to look at everyone, including those who are injured, in a haven, or on a mission. There is an easy and fast way to do this. Pick any soldier in the barracks, and click on their AWC abilities. From the AWC ability screen, TAB will loop through every soldier, regardless of their status. If a soldier should be fast tracked I add their name to the list, then TAB to the next soldier, and so on, until I have listed every soldier I want in the AWC soon. It takes only a couple minutes. And its fun!
Stage 1: Low Hanging Fruit
I am looking for incredible Tier 1 abilities that demand immediate training.
Tier 1:
Shredder - Ranger
Flashbanger - Grenadier
Deadshot - Sharpshooter, Ranger, Gunner, Assault
Steady Hands - Sharpshooter, Ranger, Gunner
Center Mass - Assault
Ever Vigilant - Gunner
Guardian - Gunner
Damn Good Ground - Ranger, Gunner
Quick Study - Shinobi Officer
Usually there are only a handful of soldiers with these abilities. Which is fine. I am not going to train on modest abilities, yet. I can make an exception for Quick Study when the other tier 1 skill is great; for efficiency. But anything else must wait, Instead of picking decent skills I want to start looking for abilities that will have a large impact, and that is what I do in Stage 2.
Stage 2: Field Medic, Reveal Tier 2 Offense on Shooters
In this stage, there will be far more candidates to put in the AWC, and I will need to upgrade the AWC to speed things up. Because so many soldiers will qualify now, it may not be necessary for me to write a list, but if I can’t decide who to train, I go back to the AWC ability screen and loop through the barracks again, this time making a far longer list. Often precedence is given to higher ranking soldiers, as this will give the lower ranks a chance to catch up with experience.
Tier 1:
Any Tier 1 Defense - Psi Operative, Shinobi, Assault - I am looking for Field Medic, only available at Tier 2 Defense
Quick Study - Ranger, Sharpshooter, Gunner
Any Tier 1 Offense - Ranger, Sharpshooter, Gunner
Sprinter - Assault, Shinobi
Resilience - Any Class
All of these abilities are just good. Or not good at all. The primary concern is no longer to improve soldiers, but rather to reveal their tier 2 abilities. Here is what I am really looking for:
Tier 2:
Field Medic - Any Class
Shredder (2nd chance at Tier 2) - Ranger
Deadshot (2nd chance at Tier 2)- Sharpshooter, Ranger, Gunner
Bring’Em On - Sharpshooter, Gunner
Aggression - Gunner
Cool Under Pressure - Assault
Center Mass - Assault
Evasive - Any Class
Formidable - Any Class
Hard Target - Any Class
Infighter - Assault
The highest priority during this stage is to find Field Medic, which is only available at tier 2 Defense, on a couple soldiers. I do not use the Healer build on my Specialists, so finding a Field Medic will enable me to take extra Nanomedikits on long missions, such as HQs. To this end, I will start taking any Tier 1 Defense ability on those classes I would prefer to have Field Medic; Psi Operative, Shinobi, and Assault are the best for this duty. If I don’t find any Field Medics in those classes I keep looking on Gunners, then Technicals, then Rangers, then finally Sharpshooters. Specialists can’t get Field Medic in the AWC; Grenadiers need their utility slots for other gear.
The next priority is to start digging into the Offense Abilities for the shooter classes (Sharpshooter, Ranger, and Gunner in that order, also maybe Assault). For these classes I take the tier 1 Offense ability regardless of what it is. This will give Rangers a second chance to find Shredder at tier 2, and all shooter classes a second chance to find Deadshot, as well as some other nice skills. There are some powerful Defense abilities at tier 2 that may be uncovered in my quest for Field Medic, which I will also grab. It is a good idea to grab any good tier 2 ability right away, as it will also reveal what is on tier 3. I never really finish Stage 2, but at some point decide to start digging deeper.
Stage 3: Reveal Tier 3 Offense on Shooters, anything good
Now we are digging. In this Stage the focus is on improving my shooting classes; Sharpshooter, Ranger, and Gunner, by finding awesome tier 3 abilities. I take all tier 2 Offense abilities for those classes. For the Gunner we also take the Tier 2 Defense, as they have a large number of shooting abilities on Tier 3 Defense; In particular Rapid Reaction and Sentinel will make a Gunner incredibly dangerous on overwatch. For the Assault, they can benefit from both Offense and Defense AWC perks. I try to fit them in, but often don’t have the time.
Tier 1:
Ever Vigilant - Any Class
Will to Survive - Any Class
Any Tier 1 Offense - Assault
Any Tier 1 Defense - Gunner, Assault
Tier 2:
Any Tier 2 Offense - Ranger, Gunner, Sharpshooter, maybe Assault
Any Tier 2 Defense - Gunner, Assault
Here is what we are really looking for…
Tier 3: Offense - All Shooters
Aggression - Gunner
Bring’Em On - Sharpshooter, Gunner
Combat Fitness - Sharpshooter
Holo Targeting - Ranger, Gunner
Hunter’s Instincts - Ranger, Gunner
Lethal - Sharpshooter, Ranger, Gunner
Tier 3: Defense - Gunners, maybe Assault
Formidable - Gunner
Hard Target - Gunner, Assault
Implacable - Gunner
Rapid Reaction - Gunner
Sentinel - Gunner
Tactical Sense - Gunner, Assault
Untouchable - Gunner
Combat Fitness - Assault
Cool Under Pressure - Assault
Stage 4: Master Sgt. Only, Defense on neglected classes
When I get closer to the end game, I abandon all my previous strategies and I just ask myself who are my best soldiers and what can the AWC do for them. Usually this means looking at classes that I’ve neglected so far, such as Specialists and Grenadiers and Psi Operatives. Since I don’t build these classes to shoot, they benefit far more from Defense perks. My best soldiers in these classes can maybe find a couple nice abilities before the game ends. Or not. At this point it usually doesn’t matter too much. Still if they are not doing anything they might as well be in training.