LWR 1.49: Impossible March - June
I finally made it to July on Impossible difficulty. I've gotten much better at the tactical and strategic level; but the most significant gains have been to my pain tolerance.
I started to replay LWR back in April, and chose Brutal difficulty at first, wanting to learn the new rules with a more casual campaign. It was actually too easy at first (I made it all the way to July without any soldier deaths) then altogether far too hard (Incursion spiked to 131, leading to a disastrous mission where everyone was wounded or dead). I really wanted to continue the campaign, but I had made too many mistakes, the most significant of which was not purchasing any recruits while also retiring 3 soldiers, and so I just didn’t have enough manpower. I blamed Incursion for spiking the difficulty.1 This was supposed to be a training campaign! I decided that if Brutal was going to be this hard I might as well just move up to Impossible, which is where I was headed anyway. And so here I am.
The good news is that the Incursion mechanic is not a problem at Impossible. The bad news is that this is because deaths and defections are far more common. It took 3 tries (maybe 4? it’s all a blur) to take an Impossible campaign into July, and it has been touch and go since May. Below is the butcher’s bill through June…
Not pretty.
Increased Pain Threshold
At Impossible difficulty the loss of soldiers or satellites are usually not the reason a campaign ends. These things can end your campaign, sure, but more likely than not, you will quit and restart before these failures have actually defeated you. Rage quitting is your real enemy.
My current campaign is only alive because I willed it so, and by that I mean I accepted all my failures, and moved forward, rather than indulging that insidious temptation to restart and try to get everything perfect - which of course never works out.
When Brad Greene was one-shot by a surprise flank, I just kept playing. When a Thinman ran an OW to flank and killed Friendly, I had to turn off the game for a bit to cool off, but eventually I kept playing. When Stanislov was killed by a LOS hacking Floater Ace; and when Liora died (along with a SHIV) to a Raider command pod; and when 2 soldiers died on a Light mission, for which I chose to bring only 5 soldiers… Oh how I wanted to restart. But I kept playing.
And that’s what you have to do when playing LWR at this difficulty. It demands more pain tolerance than pretty much every other version of XCOM, which is not a bad thing, though it is, well, painful.
To help mitigate all this pain, I did however give myself some room to learn.
Some Leeway when Learning
My current campaign is not an I/I run. I am giving myself some leeway to reload for those circumstances where I am unfamiliar with the game mechanics and make a move that I otherwise would not have chosen to make. In practice this has meant a total of 4 reloads during this period of the campaign.2
For some players, this may sound a lot like cheating - but it’s not. There is a clear line between reloading to alter outcomes, and what I’m doing (and I’ve got a long list of names in my memorial to prove it). I’ve implemented this policy in the past, when learning both Long War and Long War 2, reloading only for bugs or misclicks or game mechanic confusion. Eventually I went on to win both LW 1&2 under strict I/I rules, and I intend to do the same for LWR.
Ironman victories are more impressive, of course, and winning an I/I campaign proves you’ve mastered the game - but that setting is not a great way for me to learn. I just end up restarting the campaign too many times.
Starting Country: Assembly Line
Assembly Line is a solid starting bonus, granting a lot of economic benefits at the start of the campaign, two free Workshops, and a decent long term advantage; workshops have zero maintenance. This in turn enables the quick completion of the Workshop block for a 25% reduction in equipment costs, and speedy construction times. An extra 10 engineers will guarantee that you can build a Satellite Nexus in April, which is also nice.
With 3 satellites in April, I’ve been opting to cover all of Asia and push my economic advantage even further by grabbing the resource efficiency projects (Alien Metallurgy, Alien Nucleonics, Improved Salvage) much earlier than usual. This has been good but not great. These investments require a lot of cash and get in the way of purchasing all the recruits, SHIVs, equipment, etc. that I need to keep the campaign alive. Also there aren’t many other projects that can be built early on - Asia is better as your 2nd continent bonus, rather than your first.
And so I am considering another option. In my next campaign, I might start with Assembly Line but cover North America first, to gain an edge in the air game. (Edit: probably a bad idea to split your air force.)
Class Builds:
These are the primary builds I’ve been using. They work pretty well at the start of the campaign.
Sniper: Magnum
All the Sniper builds can push out a lot of damage, but the Magnum build is more mobile than ITZ, and more flexible than DT; Magnum Snipers are more capable of finding and exploiting murderous flanks.
Scout: Support
Someone has to carry the support grenades. The other builds are unexceptional.
Infantry: WtS
WtS conflicts less with LEU than the OW build. Grenadier build is fine, but someone needs to be the tank.
Assault: WtS
I mostly build WtS Assaults which gives them a solid role when they are unable to get in close. Run & Gun Assaults are better for some Exalt missions.
Gunner: Mayhem
Good early build; strong against fliers and lids.
Rocketeer: Support
I really like the LEU/Holo build but someone has to go Support and the Rocketeer is great in that role. LEU/Holo is strong against lids and so I give one Rocketeer that build for terror missions.
Medic: OW
I like the Support Medic, but OW build can more easily carry extra medikits.
Engineer: Support or Grenadier
I like all three Eng builds but with OW medics the engineer class is getting mostly low aim soldiers and so I am using the non-shooter builds.
March:
Research:
Xenobiology
Alien Weaponry
Sectoid Autopsy
Alien Materials
Beam Lasers
Improved Body Armor (partial)
Alien Circuitry
Engineering:
Mar 01: Access Lift lvl 2, Fission Generator, Motion Tracker, Sawed-Off x2
Mar 06: Alien Containment, Stun Rifle
Mar 08: Access Lift lvl 3
Mar 15: Scope x2
Mar 16: Foundry
Mar 26: (Excavation for 2 more Fission Generators 3/4)
Mar 27: Fission Generator #2
Mar 29: Laser Rifle x2, Laser SMG, Rookie x2
Notes:
No deaths in March, but not as many missions as I'd like. I was offered 8 Scientists for a satellite and took the deal, and it retrospect it feels prophetic. All campaign I've been comfortable with the pace of Research while constantly low on funds.
April:
Research:
Improved Body Armor
Thinman Autopsy
Floater Autopsy
Interrogate Sectoid
Drone Autopsy
Xenogenetics
Engineering:
Apr 01: Rookie x2, Phoenix Cannon x3, Fission Generator #3/#4, SHIV, Laser Scattershot, Laboratory, SHIV Advancements I
Apr 04: Repair Bay
Apr 05: Shredder Ammo
Apr 06: OTS
Apr 07: Laser Carbine
Apr 14: Satellite Nexus (quickly - was missing Flight Computer)
Apr 18: Satellite x3 (replacing 2 traded Satellites)
Apr 22: XTP I, Phalanx Armor x2, Rookie
Apr 28: Phalanx Armor #3, Proximity Sensor, Enhanced Ballistics, UFO Scanners
Notes:
I don't get the 2nd UFO until after April 10th and so I have to quick build the Satellite Nexus.
2 Deaths in April, both very avoidable.
May:
Research:
Alien Biocybernetics
Muton Autopsy
Interrogate Thinman (pause)
Chryssalid Autopsy
Engineering:
May 01: Phoenix Cannon x2, Advanced Scavenging, Improved Salvage (too early)
May 04: Alien Nucleonics(too early), Rookie
May 05: Rookie
May 06: Access Lift lvl 4
May 09: Alloy Enhanced Rounds, Genetics Lab
May 25: (Council Loan) Fission Generator, Rookie x3, Enhanced Lasers, Laser Battle Rifle, Alloy Plating, Laser Autocannon
May 28: Enhanced Beam Optics, (Council Loan #2) SHIV
May 29: Interceptor #6
Notes:
3 Deaths and a destroyed SHIV this month. Also numerous wounds. Despite the numbers, I am not playing poorly- it's just super hard missions. I chose to take on a landed Raider and did about as well as could be expected. I also had some bad luck on the terror mission.
Because of all the losses and wounds I'm having trouble fielding squads.
I take out 2 council loans, which is terrible, but I need the money to buy more troops, a SHIV, and other equipment. It's better to spend money inefficiently than to increase the risk of casualties or miss out on a lucrative mission.
I've mismanaged my spending and should not have done the Improved Salvage/Alien Nucleonics projects this soon. I needed recruits instead.
Also I traded away my 2nd sectoid capture, and had trouble finding a 3rd. So the Market was delayed till much later, and this also limited my ability to find funds.
All my mistakes have me thinking about abandoning the campaign.
June:
Research:
Advanced Body Armor
Interrogate Thinman
Adv. Beam Lasers
Experimental Warfare
Gauss Weapons
Engineering:
Jun 01: Lieutenants, Rookie x2
Jun 02: Laboratory #2
Jun 03: MEC Augmentation, KSM
Jun 09: Carapace Armor x3, Kestrel Armor x3
Jun 14: Grey Market
Jun 19: (Council Loan) MEC-1, Alien Metallurgy
Jun 20: Laser Strike Rifle, EBO #2
Jun 21: Laser Cannon, Rookie
Jun 23: MEC Augmentation
Jun 24: Laser Autorifle
Jun 25: Arc Rifle
Jun 29: Thermo Generator, Rookie
Notes:
Really struggling at the start of the month. Barracks is deep into a fatigue spiral. I am taking multiple fatigued soldiers on every mission, but I manage to win a Data Recovery, and FiLP in early June.
Then I get a set of abductions and I just don't have the manpower. I skip the first one. I hate skipping missions. The 2nd set has a Light abduction, and so I decide to go for it with only 5 soldiers (how hard can it be?). 2 soldiers are killed. It's devastating.
I decide to abandon the campaign.
But then I decide to keep playing.
I finally get a respite, and we also finish building some armor. I win a couple easy missions, as well as a hard one (Newfoundland), and by the end of the month things are looking up.
I am really not fond of the Incursion mechanic. The idea is fine - some additional difficulty when your campaign is doing well. But Incursion pegs out at 150 which would add 50% more enemies on every mission - that’s too much. I think the old limit of 20 is more than sufficient. Also, Incursion falls slowly on lower difficulty tiers because the aliens are less aggressive in taking over countries, meaning a player can get stuck at high incursion.
The first two reloads involved the mechanics of running OW fire safely. In the first instance, some detective work by Ucross established that the LOS indicator was not working correctly because of step out interference. The second time was for some other unknown reason. I have to accept that the LOS indicator can’t be trusted. The third reload was due to a misunderstanding of how pursuit works (breaking LOS will sometimes prevent pursuit, much like OW, but not all the time), and the fourth was due to a misunderstanding of how Fast & Furious works.