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Surviving the long war achievement in Halo Wars 2

Surviving the long war

Complete the Campaign on Legendary (original campaign)

Surviving the long war0
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How to unlock the Surviving the long war achievement

  • Grape VansGrape Vans
    26 Feb 2017 26 Feb 2017 18 Jun 2020
    *Edit* It has been confirmed that this can be completed in co op.

    I would highly recommend running through the campaign on easy/normal and getting all the skulls unlocked before trying this. Once I had all 15 skulls, I ended up turning on all the skulls that made it easier and let me tell you, with the skulls on you don't even need a guide. It's a walk through the park and I never had to restart once.

    Skulls to activate

    Pain Train - All player units train 50% faster
    Bountiful Harvest - Supplies from supply buidings arrive 25% faster
    Emperor - All player powers recharge in half of the time.
    Total Annihalation - Spartan special ability slams create and even more powerful explosion upon landing.
    Firestarter - Grunts and Marines explode on death inflicting damage on enemy units.
    Things That Go Boom - Here units unleash a nuclear explosion on death.
    Sugar Cookies - All player units have 50% more hit points.
    Shadow - Player core infantry units start cloaked.

    **Note** The only skull that is beneficial that I didn't turn on is After Party. It spawns units anytime a firebase is destroyed (never happened) and I just didn't want it messing with my population cap. However, it's been brought to my attention that it could be a strategy in itself to use that skull on the earlier missions, but it comes at a cost. Destroying an enemy base means they get units too. I didn't find it necessary but completely up to you.

    Basic Strategy

    Everything was essentially getting air units and upgrading them to max damage/health. Obviously some missions won't allow that, but with the skulls on you shouldn't have any problems with any combination you choose. When aircraft was not permitted I upgraded marines and just kept pumping them out to max cap and assaulting. It depends on some maps, but have at least two anti-air turrets as defense on your base for the banshees are the primary pests that keep coming periodically just to make sure you're aware that your base should have turrets. Too easy.

    Important Update

    From Xavier0080:
    Ok, so this mission can glitch (as of May 6th). Whenever you complete any mission when going for any campaign achievement, NEVER HIT "Exit to Menu." While the game will record your progress, the achievement counter may not. Always continue to the next mission and then if you want to stop hit resign after the auto-save.

    I had to replay the campaign on Legendary until i found the mission that glitched for me (which showed i had already beaten it on Legendary), once I completed it the achievement popped. This same glitch can also happen to Skulls/Gold Medals/Bonus Objectives. Just play it safe, and never hit "Exit to Menu"

    If you're still struggling, check out the thread of comments below. Some guys tweaked it to perfection for some of the hard missions like using pestilence to your advantage and turning off emperor because that also works for the AI as well.

    Guide not helping? View 1 more guide for this achievement.

    Showing most recent comments. View all comments.
    PorkyI had the same thing as Fuzzy Churro, I started The Signal on the off chance it would work and it did, I also quit to menu several times, I equipped all the skulls I needed and I hate the Banished leader powers, have fun everyone!
    Posted by Porky on 30 Jun 20 at 22:44
    Dr Marty
    While the game will record your progress, the achievement counter may not.
    When you refer to the "achievement counter", do you mean the actual tracker app or some in-game tracking? Because my achievement tracker does not track at all. Just wondering if it will still pop. The log book achievement also didn't track but popped just fine.

    ANSWER: To answer my own question, the tracker app doesn't show any progress. But the achievement pops without problems.
    Posted by Dr Marty on 05 Aug 22 at 20:54
    EarthboundXOddly my Xbox achievement tracker doesn't show anything, but on the mobile app it does it track. It shows Heroic is 67% complete, but only 63% on Legendary, which doesn't make any sense. Hopefully that doesn't mean one or the other won't pop at the right time. I've been exiting to the menu after each mission, but just in case I'll start the next mission right away and then back out from now on.

    Edit: They both ended up unlocking just fine, no clue why the tracker percentages weren't in sync for both difficulties though.
    Posted by EarthboundX on 09 Mar at 13:26
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  • Trollin RYNOTrollin RYNO
    09 Mar 2017 09 Mar 2017
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