#xcom: war of the chosen

[andymakesgames]

Andy’s LWotC Notes & Guide (v 1.2)

This is pretty niche, but I maintain extensive notes while playing XCom 2 Long War of the Chosen (a very expansive/brilliant overhaul mod).

Andy’s LWotC Notes & Guide (v 1.2)

I took some time to clean it up into a very large collection of tips & tricks learned from several successful and many unsuccessful Legend/Ironman campaigns.

It is a hard mod to get into because it is very deep but not tutorialized well so I'm hoping this doc can be helpful to anybody curious about it. I'm particularly pleased with the class guides which are the result of a lot of experimentation.

It recently got pinned to the LWotC subreddit!

[foremanissleepy]

Are you ready to die for humanity's freedom? You, specifically. Not me, I'm the Commander.

[anaveragedisaster]

I've been thinking of how a Nine Sols story set on a modern Earth would play out, as one does.

So far I've had two ideas. One's a follow up to the Shooting Star ending that involves the Solarian ship used by Kuafu and the Apemen getting unearthed that I might post separately about if I can actually get my thoughts in order. The other is basically 'what if New Kunlun showed up in the Solar system in our time.'

The thing is, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Solarians/Sols and the Ethereals from the Xcom games. Both are technologically advanced civilizations being driven to extinction by a disease and have invaded Earh to harvest humans in their efforts to find a cure, all the while presenting themselves as benevolent gods to those humans.

So now I've spent a considerable amount of time brainstorming how a Nine Sols and Xcom crossover au / total conversion mod would look like lore- and gameplay-wise. Here's the setup:

After realizing that the sapients on the Pale Blue planet are more advanced and numerous than initial images from the Haotian Sphere suggested (though still primitive by Solarian standards), the Tiandao council decides that instead of abducting a few hundred (or however many Apemen there were on Kunlun in canon) and leaving the rest of the species to fend for themselves in an ice age caused by the Fusang blocking sunlight, they'd colonize the planet proper. Not only would this make it easier for them to access their precious livestock. In their minds, it would also only be fair, even noble of them to uplift the remainder of the species with their science (or at least it's how the Sols that aren't Jiequan cope with the abject atrocities their plan involves).

For their invasion, they bring along a larger number of the biomechanical soldiers we see in the game, a fleet of Yuanbao ships (which do kind of look like flying saucers and by extension the xcom UFOs), as well as unseen warmachines from the Turbulent Era.

Right before Kunlun launches, like in canon, Yi discovers the secret behind Tianhuo and is murdered by Eigong.

After warping to the Solar system, the Sols spend maybe a few years preparing for the invasion, during which they abduct some humans to more thoroughly study what they're like. The actual invasion goes the way it does in XCOM 2 canon, with the Sols defeating any resistance and creating their worldwide regime (I haven't thought what it would be called yet, but it wouldn't be something as western as ADVENT). The date New Kunlun makes landfall on Earth is celebrated like Unification Day at the start of XCOM 2. Though I haven't decided whether it should be situated in the middle of the Pacific like the Etherals' facility or somewhere closer to land.

Instead of XCOM 2's Psionic network, there's a Rhizomatic/Fusang network created by the spread of Fusang roots from Kunlun throughout the Earth, generating clean energy and allowing for communication and maybe even teleportation due to their connection with the Limitless Realm.

The Gene therapy clinics are still a thing in this version of the story. We know Solarians in canon did gene modding. The Apemen were modified and the reason Tianhuo even exists is because Eigong tried to make Solarians genetically immortal. Like in XCOM 2, the clinics are also used to disappear an increasing number of humans, to be harvested for their brains, as well as biomass for Jiequan's transmutation factories and after a certain point, for Eigong's experiments with Tianhuo and the Tianhuo mutation.

As for Tianhuo itself, it is obviously kept secret from the humans. The official narrative as to why most Solarians are still in cryosleep is that humanity still needs to be 'raised' some more before they are ready to mingle with such an advanced species. The few non-Sols that have been woken up to help administer the planet are ones Eigong's made sure are loyal to her and even then, still closely monitored so they don't reveal anything.

Again, like in XCOM canon, at a certain point, survivors of the invasion led by Bradford get together to reform XCOM to start a guerrilla war against the Sols, steal an alien ship to use as a mobile base etc, etc. But no matter what they do, they can't seem to find the Commander. It's at this point that Yi wakes up.

Because Yi becomes the Commander in this au.

Instead of getting revived on New Kunlun, the Fusang roots, which stretch across the Earth now, spit him out in rural China. He's found and nursed back to health by Shuanshuan, whose parents left to get gene therapy in a city center some time ago but haven't been heard of since (the local representative insisted that they decided to stay, since the Sols make sure life is so much better there and as soon as there's an available spot, Shuanshuan will be able to join them).

At this point, I'm split on some key details. An idea I have is that initially, the roots revive Yi in a human disguise, specifically as a dead ringer for the missing Commander. This would make it easier for the rest of XCOM to trust him at the start, but would cause interesting conflict later (plus it would be so wonderfully karmic for him to have to be one of the humans he condemned into the role of cattle, and also I like me some TF in my fanfic). However, I'm worried about the effect this would have on Yi's and Shuanshuan's relationship. We know he's older than he looks in Solarian form, but still not that much older, so them as brothers still works. The Commander would have to be an older human, so if he looked like that, it'd start feeling less like a brotherhood and more like a father-son thing, which I'm not sure I want.

Otherwise, he'd claim he's a random defecting Solarian, demonstrating his hatred for the Sols in some way that convinces the humans to let him join them (though his getting the Commander's role is harder to justify in this case).

Either way, Shuanshuan refuses to part from Yi and is begrudgingly let on board the Avenger (which Yi realizes is his former personal transport and research ship, even being partly modelled after his Pavilion back on Kunlun). Either way, Yi gets to witness the devastation caused by the colonization that he masterminded and to work to dismantle it.

I haven't fully thought up how the rest of the story would play out, what the missions would be like and whatnot.

One thing I want there to be is XCOM being the one to discover an actual cure for Tianhuo, preferably through a method that combines science and the supernatural power of the Limitless realm. I like the sci-fi trope where humanity is the key element in figuring out something important, even when more advanced civilisations are involved. And I know that accepting the inevitability of the Solarians' extinction is a main theme in 9s, but it would also be fitting and nice if genuine help from humans (instead of them as cattle) proved to be the salvation not only for Yi, but for all remaining Solarians, giving them some hope.

Though Yi still gets to die heroically at the end and reunite with Heng within the infinite Tao, as a treat.

I''ve got more ideas about this that I want to share, but am too tired to rn. As a final note for now: Advent Burgers (or a differently named equivalent) are also very much a thing in this au and are enjoyed by both humans and awoken Solarians.

[comic-inc]

Xcom "COMMANDERs" Friends and own sona uvu

[kerri-the-skunk]

The fact that XCOM 2 doesn't have a gore mod is frankly homophobic

[icyzoie]

[sirloozelite]

XCOM... I both love and hate you at the same time. 🤣

[xcomresistanceradio]

King and Lionheart

[akitoscorpio]

Okay who's the asshole with the daddy issues naming my Ops?

[aaronpullinteeth]

SAVING THE PEOPLE - X-Com 2 War Of The Chosen - Ep4

We got some enemies now...

New episode of XCOM 2 War Of The Chosen out now.

[mass-effect-galaxy]

I just can't do without them

I have now modded XCom 2 to basically be a KOTOR game. However, I didn't want to leave the Mass Effect voice packs behind. So I added a team of four Twi'Lek mercenaries to the Star Wars (personal head)canon.

The game also created the proper bondings:

Other than that, we have business as usual

Even Juhani found someone

We also have our first casualty

[mmeveronica]

WOOOOOO!

I just beat the last Chosen in my first compain of XCOM 2 Long War Of The Chosen on Rookie difficulty! Let me tell ya, going up against the Assassin without any battle scanners or people with the scanning protocol ability was a bad idea, at least my sharpshooter took her down quick, but another soldier got down to 1hp while wearing a war suit.

The other two chosen were wimps though, like the Hunter only got one turn in that's how much of a wimp he was. Turns out the highest tier of weapon is pretty good.

[obviouslyanalien]

[killerrobot-killingmatch]

Bracket 1, Round I, Attack 4

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!!!

Agent Texas Propaganda

Spectre Propaganda

[russanogreenstripe]

This soldier in #xcom2 got this procedurally-generated codename, and

C'mon, I know the size makes sense, but Aureia is more of a melee type, she'd probably be a Blademaster Ranger

[mulberriesandtea]

Hey y'all! I'll be playing an Archipelago Randomizer all month long for Absolute Pride Resonance this year. All proceeds will go to Outright International. The included games and their participants are~

lebkuchens with Ender Lilies!

Kaskozhuk with Library of Ruina!

ArcAngela with Pokemon Emerald!

Me, Mulberry, with Stardew Valley!

Alyssciel with XCOM 2: War of the Chosen!

Saphera with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky!

We will all be streaming at 6pm EST, hope to see you there! (Here's my POV)

DONATION LINK: https://tilt.fyi/ffv2cY3moV