My last (and only) tactics guide for LWR was made for version 1.36 and is woefully outdated. No surprise there. In retrospect, that guide was pretty good, but given the fluctuation of rules, any guide to LWR is going to deteriorate over time, and eventually become useless.
I may eventually update that guide, but first I am going to discuss recent updates to the game (since v1.36), and I expect that this will be more useful for veterans returning to the Rebalance.
What’s New in LWR
Shorter Campaigns: The default campaign length is now much shorter. Yay! This isn’t really new (it’s just like using the Not So Long War setting previously), but it’s a big change and worth mentioning. By making shorter campaigns the default length, new players will be steered to the game experience that most veterans prefer, and perhaps this will also help with game balance, which is usually focused around the default setting.
Chryssalids: These guys have been altered dramatically, and they are much more dangerous if you are not prepared for them. The Newfoundland mission ended my first attempt at Brutal v1.42, but on my next campaign, having made a few adjustments, I was able to rid Canada of their infestation. Lids have a new perk, fleet, which replaces their high innate defense and instead grants lids defense equal to 5 times their mobility (usually around 60-70). That bonus is temporarily removed when they are injured, but only for that turn. Their Acidic trait now causes corrosion on any soldiers within 2.5 tiles of a lid, after it moves. To deal with this, you need a soldier on point, and the rest of your squad 3 tiles back so that only one guy is corroded when the lids rush in. Equipping that soldier with the new Chitin plating will reduce corrosion time to a single turn. If you don’t yet have Chitin plating then you should bring extra medikits. Next you will probably want to carry ample concussion and explosive grenades on missions with numerous chryssalids. Concussion grenades are still critical - they not only help you kill lids,1 but also reduce melee damage by 60%, allowing your point soldier to survive multiple attacks. Explosives remove the fleet bonus entirely, and when combined with concussion grenades, will make most shots guaranteed. There are a few other options for handling large numbers of lids (flamethrower, rocket, collateral damage) but those options are more limited or unavailable when the Newfoundland mission occurs. Of course, the Assault class, with Close Encounters and a Shotgun is great, and I strongly recommend rushing Tactical Rigging so that you can carry more ordinance. For terror missions, you should expect to see Chryssalid leaders, against which the KSM is quite useful.
Exalt Overhauled: While the exalt mission structure has not changed, their forces have been completely reworked and are now more complicated, which can make them more dangerous. Every exalt unit has a way to attack twice per turn, and some have serious damage mitigation as well. Their perks aren’t listed on the wiki so I have included them in the footnotes.2 When in overwatch, Heavies are very hard to kill. Sentry reduces the damage of the first attack by 50% and so you probably need to remove that overwatch before running your assault over, because 2 shotgun blasts often won’t result in a kill. This is often the case with Medics as well, before you reach Gauss tier weapons, because they have Grit. Exalt Operatives are less tough, but incredibly dangerous. They have LnL, and so they can reload and attack even when disarmed by hacked relays. They have CE, which means they can kill your soldiers in a single turn if they manage to get in close; and they have Sentinel, making them dangerous at long range as well. All of these changes make it harder for your Assaults to run around with impunity. You can no longer rely on Assaults to finish off enemies, and you can no longer rely on those enemies to remain harmless for a full turn. Its best to use the relays to turn off their overwatches, and so you need to time the movements of your operator, or have ample concussion grenades and smoke. Also, you can no longer use Command on your Operator.
Environment HP Accessible: There is now a very easy way to reveal the HP of environment objects. Just hover your mouse over an object and press the L key. This is so awesome. We now have a much better idea of which cover objects can be destroyed, and whether or not that soldier hiding behind a burning bookcase needs to be repositioned.
Meld Deficient Maps Improved: On maps without meld cannisters, it is possible to acquire meld by finishing the mission quickly. Picking abductions based on meld cannisters was always annoying, and this removes most of that consideration.
Combat Patrols are Important: Countries can now leave before the end of the month. The chance they defect is 1% for every point of panic over 80; but it’s automatic if their panic reaches 100. This makes it more important to tamp down on panic by running combat patrols a little earlier in the campaign, and keeping some aircraft on other continents to interfere with their panic increasing projects.
*Grenade Damage Nerf: This change hasn’t quite gone into effect yet, but when it does grenades will do 50% less damage to the environment. Additionally the Sapper perk will only double env damage, bringing them back up to what they were previously. This makes grenadiers even less effective at removing cover - but it also makes Muton and Cyberdisc grenades much less dangerous to your squad.
MEC Classes Overhauled: All the classes have changed but none more so than the MECs. The Jaeger and Shogun have new and cool abilities, and each class of MEC now fits more neatly into a given role. The Goliath is a tank; the Jaeger a shooter; the Shogun a grenadier; the Marauder a puncher. Every MEC class can be built to perform another role (Goliaths can be grenadiers, and Shoguns can be shooters), but every build will still possess the core specialization of that MEC class.
Holo Targeting (and related To-Hit changes): Holo Targeting is now much harder to apply to a target, requiring that you actually land a hit or shoot at the same target twice. Perhaps to compensate for this, Snipers have higher base aim, and Battlescanners now grant +15 aim but only during your turn (so it won’t affect overwatch shots). I have found that all these changes collectively improve the value of the Scout class, regardless of build, as they offer the easiest way to boost squad aim. The nerf to holo weakens some enemies; drones and seekers, as well as some leaders.
Officers AWOL: The OTS schedule has been reworked, and the most significant change is that your officers will arrive later in the campaign, and the higher ranks won’t be available until the late game.
Smoke Lasts 1 Turn: This is a big nerf and it’s pretty rough. I have often relied upon smoke to keep my squad alive for a half dozen turns after accidentally triggering the whole map. With this change, we must either spend less time in the protective embrace of smoke, or else find a way to carry more of it.
Tinker: There is now a Tinker perk available to Scouts and Rocketeers. It grants shred to concussion and psi grenades, and makes acid grenades strip armor immediately. It also increases throw range 20%. This is really strong, and a big buff to those support builds.
Flat DR replaced by Base DR: This is a big change to the underlying mechanics, but it doesn’t alter game balance too dramatically. Base DR is steadily removed from a unit when it takes damage, like Flat DR, and it is compounded by other forms of DR. To find the DR of any unit. just hit the F1 key, and it is displayed in the top row in the format [Total DR]/[Base DR]. At a high enough level, enormous amounts of damage can be negated. In such cases, acid/penetration are still the best (only?) ways to counter the DR. To keep your own tanks safe, it’s worth knowing which enemies can counter a portion of DR. Currently Mutons and Muton Elites have the penetrator perk (which ignores Base DR), while Muton Elites, Heavy Floaters, Cyberdiscs, and Sectopods have penetration (1,1,2,5 respectively). CST is only found on Sectopods and the leaders of Drones, Floaters, Outsiders, and Heavy Floaters.
Other significant Changes:
Cyberdiscs gain +50 Defense when in the closed state, making them incredibly hard to hit. However, they don’t have a ton of DR in the closed state, and so high aim attacks are modestly effective after they turtle up.
Disabling Shot currently has -30 aim, and still requires 2 AP. The aim malus can be mitigated by using the Arc Rifle or a Strike Rifle, both of which have a significant aim bonus.
Gene Mods have been buffed generally and assist a wider range of builds. eg. bonus overwatch shot, resist overpower, grant crit resistance, reduce rocket scatter, immunity to shred, etc.
Starting bonuses are better balanced over all, and its a good idea to reconsider what is available.
Research times have been increased, making technology less accessible and research focused starting bonuses more valuable.
Soldiers cost money now, and the larger your barracks gets, the more each new soldier will cost.
Ethereals and Sectopods have been buffed, and are even more terrifying.
All the soldier classes have been tweaked, of course. Have fun pondering over all the various builds and squad compositions, and their various trade offs. I’m sure that if you think about it long enough, you will find all the optimal choices.
Units on overwatch or steadied, are now 30% more likely to be critically hit, unless they are in smoke.
And so that is most of the big changes. I am sure that I missed a few things. Almost everything else has changed as well, but not so much that you will necessarily notice.
The Most Important Thing
One thing that has not changed, is that getting flanked is incredibly bad. My highest priority at the tactical level is still and always to prevent my soldiers from being flanked. My second highest priority is finding ways to flank the enemy.
Good Luck Commanders!
Concussion grenades will not remove the fleet bonus, but they greatly diminish mobility, thus reducing the size of the fleet bonus, and applies the disoriented status which grants a bonus to hit, effectively negating it.
Thanks to Blacklight for this Discord Post.
Full List of EXALT Base Perks Operatives: Opportunist, Impact, CE, Sentinel, LnL Elite Operatives: Opportunist, Impact, CE, Sentinel, LnL, Enhanced Metabolism Heavies: Suppression, DZ, WtS, Holo, Sentry, LeU Elite Heavies: Suppression, DZ, WtS, Holo, Sentry, LeU, Iron Skin Medics: RFA, Dense Smoke, Smoke Grenade, Deflection Shield, S&M, Field Medic, Grit Elite Medics: RFA, Dense Smoke, Smoke Grenade, Deflection Shield, S&M, Field Medic, Grit, Smart Macrophages Marksmen: Eagle Eye, Squadsight, Exe, Holo, Impact, LeU Elite Marksmen: Eagle Eye, Squadsight, Exe, Holo, Impact, LeU, Muscle Fiber Density SHIVs: DC, Repair Servos