LW Rebalance - The Rest of the Starting Bonuses
And even more options...
This is the “Everything Else” Starting Bonuses post. In previous posts I considered both Tactical Bonuses, and Economic Bonuses, which has also been revised to include both Public Heroes and Global Networking. Those 2 bonuses are somewhat weird, and I completely missed their significant economic advantages at first glance.
The remaining 10 bonuses can be sorted into 4 categories: Research, Panic Reduction, Air Game, and Resources.
Research Starting Bonuses
All of these starting bonuses have been approved by Dr. Vahlen.
Jai Vidwan: Increases the bonus research from laboratories/lab adjacencies to +45/15% (from +30/10%), start with 50 elerium, and gain double scientists from all abductions. Research Focus: 2 laboratories, 50 elerium, and 20 extra scientists in your base. We Have Ways: Reduces time required for autopsies and interrogations by 65%. also Elerium Batteries.
In version 1.34 all of the research bonuses looked mediocre to me. The main problem was that cash and resources are severely constrained, and so boosting research would cause your technology to outpace your pocket book. Now that interrogations take twice as long (version 1.35), research is a more reasonable area to focus on.
All of these bonuses will boost research by a lot which is nice. I think Research Focus is the strongest, because it helps with research immediately, and also has a strong economic benefit ~800 worth of construction costs.
Alternatively, the Public Heroes starting bonus offers a modest boost to research, as well as an economic advantage, and more engineers.
Panic Reduction Starting Bonuses
Both of these starting bonuses help defend against global panic.
Quai d’Orsay: Requests occur 40% faster, and give +40% defense. Also Intel Scans cost 40% less. Daredevils: Combat Patrols are 3 times as effective and cause half as much damage to the aircraft.
Quai d’Orsay looks like a decent bonus. Country defense is very helpful, though it must to be boosted significantly in order to be impactful. There is also a modest economic benefit because requests are occasionally lucrative, and the reduced price of Intel Scans saves you about $160 a month, starting in June.
Daredevils does not impress me. Often when the aliens target a country for panic, they hit it very hard, and send it to 100% very quickly. In this common scenario, only a huge investment can prevent that country from leaving. My hangar is usually shorthanded as it is, and I also lack the cash to spare for combat patrols.
Air Game Starting Bonuses
These bonuses will help you in the air game.
For the Sake of Glory: Advanced Repair Foundry Project. Born to Fly: Pilots gain 4 aim per kill instead of 1.
For the Sake of Glory looks just okay to me. Reducing the repair time for interceptors is going to have a very positive effect on your hangar, but the other starting bonuses that improve your air game have a larger economic advantage and so they are better in my opinion.
Born to Fly is very cool. There are lots of UFOs in LWR and if your hangar does well in March and April, this starting bonus will lead to a very strong advantage in the air game.
There are 2 additional air game starting bonuses: Sukhoi Company and Their Finest Hour. I categorized them as Economic Starting Bonuses, because they grant free foundry projects that would otherwise be quite expensive.
Weighing all 4 of these air game starting bonuses, I think Sukhoi Company and Born to Fly are the most appealing.
Resource Starting Bonuses
These starting bonuses are probably not great.
Resourceful: 15% more alloys and elerium from the Alien Metallurgy and Alien Nucleonics foundry projects. Ready For War: Start with 200 alloys,100 elerium. Also research credits give +30% bonus. NeoPanzers: 70% reduction in credits, alloy and elerium required for MECs, SHIVS and their primary weapons.
I don’t like Resourceful and Ready for War because cash is a far larger constraint than resources.
At first glance, NeoPanzers looks terrible. The cost in cash and resources for your SHIVs, MECs, and their weapons is just not high enough to justify selecting this starting bonus. However, if you are playing at Impossible Difficulty, where SHIV casualties are expected, NeoPanzers offers you something quite strong; an unlimited supply of free SHIVs (free after considering the sale price of their destroyed hull). It is also worth noting that you start with only a single SHIV at Impossible difficulty, and so NeoPanzers will immediately save you $200 if you intend to buy a second SHIV.