Difficulty (LWR)
Expectations
LWR Easy is easier than Long War 1.0 Classic.
LWR Classic is similar to Long War 1.0 Brutal.
LWR Brutal is around as hard as Long War 1.0 Impossible.
LWR Impossible is tough, unforgiving, and will sometimes feel Impossible.
Playing Ironman is like jumping all the difficulties up another notch.
It's probably best to start out a little easier if you've never played LWR before.
Landed UFOs and swarming abductions are quite challenging -- treat them with respect and do not rule out retreating.
Expect to have satellites shot down, to not be able to stop a lot of UFOs, to lose soldiers, to lose missions, and to lose around 1 country per month (give or take).
Last, if you feel like being masochistic and decide to play on impossible: please expect to lose many (literally many) times before you even come close to winning. Expect the game to feel unfair and punishing. I'd recommend treating impossible as more of a "How far can you get?" rather then a "Can you beat the game?". Impossible in Long War Rebalance is much harder than that difficulty was in Long War 1.0.
Difficulty Levels
In Long War Rebalance, difficulty levels scale many different aspects of the game. Difficulty level can also affects perks like the effectiveness of the Outsiders' Growth ability.
To select the Pain difficulty you must press the down key on Impossible difficulty and then press the space bar. It is intentionally somewhat hidden.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | .png){kind=small} Alien Level Up Speed |
 Initial Panic |
Panic Reduction per Defector |
 |
 Home Country Daily Credits |
 |
 |
 |
|
 UFO HP |
 Injury and Fatigue Times |
 Monthly Soldiers |
 Starting SHIVs | |
| Easy | 100% | 500 | 3 | 45 | 45 | 130% | 130% | 130% | 130% | 30% | 40% | 2 | 4 | |
| Classic | 105% | 600 | 3 | 40 | 40 | 120% | 120% | 120% | 120% | 60% | 80% | 2 | 3 | |
| Brutal | 110%* | 700 | 2 | 35 | 35 | 110% | 110% | 110% | 110% | 90% | 110% | 1 | 2 | |
| Impossible | 115%** | 800 | 2 | 30 | 30 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 130% | 0 | 1 | |
| Pain | 120%** | 900 | 1 | 25 | 25 | 90% | 90% | 90% | 90% | 110% | 140% | 0 | 0 | |
* On Brutal difficulty the Alien Level accelerates later into the game by the formula AL *= 1 + ((AL/18)^2)
** On Impossible and Pain difficulty the Alien Level accelerates later into the game by the formula AL *= 1 + ((AL/12)^2)
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | Base Damage |
Base HP |
 Aim |
 Will |
 Mobility |
Alien Level Attribute Gains |
Alien Leader Levels |
 Prepared Chance (0/1/2 Active) |
 Sneak Mode / CR when no LoS |
Temple Squad Size | |||
| Easy | -2 | 100% | -20 | -20 | -1.3 | 70% | -3 | 0/0/0% | No | 12 | |||
| Classic | -1 | 110% | -10 | -10 | -0.6 | 80% | -2 | 25/0/0% | No | 10 | |||
| Brutal | 0 | 120% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 90% | -1 | 50/20/0% | No | 8 | |||
| Impossible | +1 | 130% | +10 | +10 | +0.6 | 100% | 0 | 100/40/20% | Yes | 6 | |||
| Pain | +2 | 140% | +20 | +20 | +1.3 | 110% | +1 | 100% | Yes | 6 | |||
| First Mission Alien Count | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | Sectoids/Drones | Outsiders | |||||
| Easy | 5 | - | |||||
| Classic | 6 | - | |||||
| Brutal | 6 | 1 | |||||
| Impossible | 7 | 1 | |||||
| Pain | 8 | 2 | |||||
Difficulty Curve
Long War Rebalance is designed for players of all skill levels, offering a great range Second Wave options to customize your experience.
In general, the difficulties are harder compared to Long War 1.0. Veteran Long War players who are new to this mod should seriously consider dropping their difficulty a level or two as the mod can take a lot of experience to get used to.
The difficulty curve is also adjusted so that the game starts off easier and gets significantly harder as the game progresses. The exception to this is impossible level difficulty that starts off extremely difficult and continues at that level throughout the entire campaign.