xcom 2 research

XCOM 2/Research

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• Additional game options
• Geoscape (World Map)
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• Engineering
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• Proving Ground
• Advanced Warfare Center
• Shadow Chamber
• Guerrilla Tactics School
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• Psi Chamber
• Black Market
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• Resistance Orders (WotC)
• Covert Actions (WotC)
• Chosen Activity (WotC)
• Avatar Project
• Dark Events
• Enemy Force Level
• Attachments
• Sharpshooter
• Psi Operative
• Reaper (WotC)
• Skirmisher (WotC)
• Templar (WotC)
• Unique Units
• Aim bonuses/penalties
• Concealment
• ADVENT Trooper
• ADVENT Officer
• ADVENT Priest (WotC)
• ADVENT Stun Lancer
• The Lost (WotC)
• ADVENT Purifier (WotC)
• ADVENT Turret
• ADVENT Shieldbearer
• Spectre (WotC)
• Operation Gatecrasher
• Guerilla Operations
• Priority Missions
• Retaliations
• Supply Raids
• Haven Assault (WotC)
• Avatar Facilities
• AlienBlacksite
• The Nest (Alien Hunters)
• Lost Towers (Shen's Last Gift)
• ADVENT Forge
• Avenger Defense
• Chosen Avenger Defense (WotC)
• ADVENT Network Tower
• Operation Leviathan
• Resistance Factions
• Integrating DLC with WotC
• Lost and Abandoned

"Hello, Commander. Research is well underway." ~Dr. Richard Tygan

Research is the process of developing new technologies, most of which will unlock new facilities, items, or missions for XCOM. Researching technologies quickly is paramount if the player wishes to stay ahead of alien technological development, which will likewise upgrade the enemy forces at a fixed rate without respect to your own development (or lack of development).

Research speed is determined by the number of scientists you command, whether or not you have a lab, and the Pursuit of Knowledge continent bonus.

• 1 Research Speed
• 2 Technology research point costs
• 3 Rushing research via Black Market
• 4 Cancelling and postponing research

Research Speed [ edit ]

All technologies have a research point cost . The Avenger earns research points towards the technology at a fixed rate as long as the clock in the bottom-right of the screen advances. The following sources give research points:

• Tygan , who is always present and working, gives 10 research points per hour
• Each scientist earns 5 research points per hour
• When a scientist is staffed in a laboratory, they earn an additional 5 research points per hour
• If you have the pursuit of knowledge continent bonus and a laboratory, multiply your research point income by 1.2

To determine the time it will take to research a technology, add up all your sources of research points to find your hourly income, then divide the tech cost by that number in order to find how many hours it will take to research the technology.

Technology research point costs [ edit ]

* Facility lead cost will increase by 2080 (2800 on legend) each time it is researched. ADVENT datapad cost will increase by 800 points (1200 on legend) each time it is researched. Alien datapad cost will increase by 840 points (5000 on legend) each time it is researched

Codex Brain, Encrypted Codex Data, Blacksite Vial, ADVENT Stasis Suit, Psionic Gate, and Avatar Autopsy must be researched in the Shadow Chamber.

Rushing research via Black Market [ edit ]

Occasionally, the Black Market will offer "rush research" as an option. When this is available, the Commander may pay some intel for immediate progress towards a technology. On Commander difficulty and below, 50% of the tech's remaining research cost will be immediately completed. On Legend , only 25% of the remaining research cost will be completed.

Cancelling and postponing research [ edit ]

"Commander, we've already dedicated considerable resources towards our current project..." ~Dr. Richard Tygan

Despite Tygan's groaning, it is possible to change XCOM's current research priority without suffering additional cost or losing any progress. Simply choose a new research directive, and all progress and costs currently spent toward the old technology will be preserved.

It is also possible to cancel Shadow Chamber projects if playing on PC. To cancel a Shadow Chamber project, click the "pause project" button in the bottom-right corner of the screen. This option is unavailable when playing on a controller.

Sources [ edit ]

Tech point costs for commander vanilla from source code: XCOM 2 SDK\Development\SrcOrig\XComGame\Classes\X2StrategyElement_DefaultTechs.uc

Tech point costs for commander WotC from two source code files: XComGame\Classes\X2StrategyElement_DefaultTechs.uc and expansion techs XComGame\Classes\X2StrategyElement_XpackTechs.uc

Tech point costs for Legend vanilla from configs: steamapps\common\XCOM 2\XComGame\Config\DefaultStrategyTuning.ini

Tech point costs for Legend WotC from configs: steamapps\common\XCOM 2\XCom2-WarOfTheChosen\XComGame\Config\DefaultStrategyTuning.ini

Tech Rush reduction scalar (from Black Market) found in configs steamapps\common\XCOM 2\XComGame\Config\DefaultGameData.ini as TechRushReductionScalar

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[Top 3] XCOM 2 Best Research Orders That Are Excellent

3. Armor Research

This Sharpshooter, rocking the Warden Armor, is ready to face alien forces.

You can’t go wrong in any game for trying to upgrade your armor. With so many looming threats, you can’t be caught dead in the water with level 1 armor. As with all research orders on this list, developing the best armor will take a few steps and many days (in XCOM 2 time). The end result is worth it, as you unlock specialty armor sets that have specific features (grappling hooks, heavy weapons capabilities, erecting a barrier, etc.) as well as the Warden armor, which is the highest upgraded armor set in the game. 

Armor Research Order Details (The “->” denotes unlocked items after research, the next bullet point is the unlocked Research product)

• Hybrid Materials 
• Plated Armor -> Predator Armor, E.X.O Suit (Proving Ground), Spider Suit (Proving Ground)
• Powered Armor -> Warden Armor, W.A.R. Suit (Proving Ground), Wraith Suit (Proving Ground)

2. Psionics

Psi Operatives will shake up your strategy and add new abilities to your squad.

While it takes some time, getting to the Psionics research order is where things get wild and fun. The addition of the fifth class will make all the early game Sectoid shenanigans feel like deeply-rooted satisfying vengeance. Psionic soldiers bring a catalog of status effects on ADVENT troops. You can perform abilities like remote bomb detonation, buff squadmates, and mind control enemies. Needless to say, the earlier you do this, the better. 

Psionics Research Order Details

• Alien Biotech -> Alien Autopsies
• Sectoid Autopsy -> Mindshield
• Psionics -> Advanced Psi Amp, Psi Lab (Facility used to train Psi Operatives)

1. Weapons Research

Unlocking new weapons will improve your combat experience and keep your soldiers safe

Unlocking the best weapons in the game is your top priority because killing aliens is what gets the missions done and keeps your squadmates safe. It takes the longest time out of any research order to collect every weapon in the XCOM 2 arsenal, but it is well worth your days on the Avenger. Without these weapons, you’ll have a guaranteed tough time fighting in the later stages of the game. 

Weapon Research Order Details

• Modular Weapons -> Weapon Upgrades
• Magnetic Weapons -> Magnetic Rifle, Shard Gun, Mag Pistol
• Gauss Weapons -> Mag Cannon, Gauss Rifle, Temnotic Rifle (WOTC)
• Plasma Rifle -> Plasma Rifle, Beam Pistol
• Plasma Lance, Beam Cannon, Storm Gun (all separate research projects)

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XCOM 2 Research Guide – Best Research Paths, Weapons Armor, Psionics, Soldier Enhancements

XCOM 2 research guide to best research paths when it comes to using Weapons and Armor, Psionics and Soldier Enhancements researches. 

Research in XCOM 2 is similar to how it was in XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Most veterans of the series will understand that wasting time on irrelevant researches or rushing main mission related researches can be a dangerous task, and can often lead to your downfall as you lag behind the game’s progression.

For more help on XCOM 2, read our Class Builds Guide , PC Tweaks Guide and PC Cheats Console Commands .

XCOM 2 Research

It is extremely important to understand the path you want to follow in researching. This can be a tricky task for players new to the series, as often the game can be highly misleading in its suggestion of which researches are the most important.

Balancing and Pacing Research

Certain researches take a very long time, while others are done either instantly or within a few days. An extremely important factor in the speed of your Research is the number of scientists you have available.

Scientists are acquired through various means, though doing missions is the primary way. The more the scientists, the faster the researcher.

Even when you have a number of scientists though, you’ll need to be highly considerate in choosing your researches.

The game will recommend researches that progress the story, and while it’s tempting to rush the story, it is extremely important to carry out other researches as well. The non-story based researches determine your on-field performance during missions.

It is important that you conduct at least one or two non-priority (story-based) researches before conducting a story one. This will allow you to acquire new weapons, facilities, and items, as well as progress the story at a steady but acceptable pace.

In simple words: gear up before deciding to take a step forward.

Research Types You’ll come across plenty of different research types in XCOM 2.

Alien Autopsies These researches are usually short, take a few days, and can give a wide variety of benefits. Some will grant weapons; others will yield items. Reading the description of each research should give you a good idea about what it yields.

Facility Researches These types of researches will allow you to construct special facilities in the Avenger to take use of. These special facilities give a wide variety of benefits. These types of researches are moderate in length, take around a week or slightly more to complete.

Weapon & Armor Researches Usually extremely slow, Weapon and Armor researches can seem risky because of how long they take.

However, they are an incredible investment, and make missions significantly easier. The game’s difficult increases immensely if you continue to ignoring weapon and armor researches.

Misc Researches The remaining story-based researches like Alien Biotech come in this category. They can give a number of benefits. Some are absolutely necessary in order to progress. Such researches have a varying degree of time period.

Research Paths

While there is no formal categorization of researches in XCOM 2, one can easily deduce a path. A large portion of researches that unlock in the game are associated with weapons and armor. Others are associated with Psionics, and some to enhancing Soldiers.

It is up to you to choose a path, and it is important to choose one early. Going forward without planning can be dangerous – you could be random in selecting researches, which wouldn’t take you anywhere on the long run.

Here are a few research paths that you should consider in the game:

Weapons & Armor Modular Weapons > Hybrid Materials > Magnetic Weapons > Plated Armour

Mag Weapons > Gauss Weapon Research > Predator Armour > Spider Suit > E.X.O. Suit > Alien Autopsies

This is an extremely aggressive type of research path that can consume a lot of type. However, its yields are absolutely worth the time and investment.

The rewards of this path are most visible during missions. Your soldiers will be better equipped, and the game will stay fairly manageable when combined with good tacks. You’ll have powerful weapons and excellent protection, giving you massive advantage.

This research type is recommended for players who are familiar with the series, as essential time manage and balancing of researches is required. If you want to follow this path, you’ll need plenty of scientists, as almost all the weapon and armor researches are highly time consuming.

You will need to start your weapon and armor researches very early in the game to get the best results from this. This will definitely slow your overall progress down initially, but once you have made significant progress (especially with weapons), you’ll be able to increase the pace.

Just keep an eye on the ADVENT counter though. It’s important to research certain facilities with this path. Proving Grounds and Guerilla Tactics School are particularly essential to get the best out of this research path.

Psionics Path Alien Biotech > Sectoid Autopsy > Psionics

Alien Autopsies > Advance Warfare Centre > Mindshield > Advanced Psi Amp

This type of research path unlocks the 5 th ‘special’ class in the game, the Psionics class. It certainly has its benefits, but it is not a research path that can be sustained by itself.

Ultimately you will need to invest in at least preliminary weapons and armor research alongside the Psionics related researches to get the most out of this path.

Psionics Soldiers themselves are absolute wild-cards, as you cannot build them in any way you like. You must choose one of three Psionics abilities every time they earn a promotion, and the three that are offered are picked randomly from a pool of abilities.

Nevertheless, the Psionics Path is a fairly safe path, and ideal for beginners to allow them to explore the game. Veterans can also take benefits from the mind-control abilities of the Psionics, though hardcore XCOM players would generally prefer pure firepower over all the psychic stuff.

Soldier Enhancements Path Alien Biotech > Modular Weapons > ADVENT Officer Autopsy > Hybrid Materials

Alien Autopsies > Advance Warfare Centre > Mag Weapons > Proving Grounds > Plated Armor

This type of path is a little mixed, and is ideal for folks new to the game. It will allow you to enhance the performance of your soldiers without needing to resort to slowing the game down excessively during the start of your campaign.

The benefits of this type of path are indirect. You will likely research weapons and armor later on, but it is highly likely that your soldiers are promoted faster and heal faster, which means you’ll be gaining an indirect advantage both on and off the field.

The main concern with this type of path is that it will cost similar time and resources to Weapons & Armor, but will yield lesser results. The only difference is that it may allow your soldiers to promote faster with the use of the perks in the Guerilla Tactics School.

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XCOM 2 Tech Tree, Research and Quests Guide

This guide for XCOM 2 will teach you everything you need to know about the tech tree, research lines, and quests.

You’ll acquire new technology through the installation of new facilities and researching your acquisition and salvage of items and aliens.

A fan of the game, u/menhirmike on reddit , has put together a detailed tech tree of all the technology you can research, acquire, and build for your squad’s use. It also includes the missions some research lines will unlock and everything else they may offer. The only thing he hasn’t listed, at least in this version of the tech tree, are perks you can research at the Guerrilla Training School.

Main quest items are all listed, though they’re free-floating as the triggers for these missions are often random and therefore difficult to predict.

Be sure to click on the image below for the full tech tree.

For more of XCOM 2 , be sure to check out our XCOM 2 .ini Modifications & Cheats Guide . You’ll be able to modify the damage, difficulty, and just about every other element of the game to make it easier or more difficult. If you’re a modder, you should take a look at that anyway as it’ll give you an idea of every aspect you can modify in the game. You could even make your own Puppy Gun .

XCOM 2 is currently available as a PC-exclusive title on Steam. There’s no word on when it’s headed to consoles, if ever.

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What to Build and Research First in XCOM 2

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XCOM 2 guide

Build the best base, form an effective research plan and unlock new combat characters on console and PC.

XCOM Enemy Unknown seemed on the surface to be a game about leading a rag-tag band of hardnuts as they battled wave after wave of invading aliens, but it was really, underneath all that, a game about managing failure. It was about fighting infinite aggression with finite resources, and about making do as best you could in a war in which every loss was both permanent and costly.

XCOM 2 offers more of the same - and that's fabulous news, especially as it's available on consoles as well as PC. If anything, Firaxis has sweetened the deal by making the whole thing even less forgiving. The turn-based battles that your squad finds itself in are now enlivened with timers, and played out across procedurally-scrambled maps, while the story sees your enemies entrenched and evolved, with new units to surprise you on the battlefield, and new means of bringing your carefully-crafted plans to ruin.

All of which means that the pleasures to be had in turning the tides have never been sweeter, whether you're limping towards your first victory in a skirmish or cobbling together the ideal base to streamline your production of enhanced tech. This is a hard game, in other words, but you wouldn't want it any other way. And there are plenty of things you can do to tilt the odds in your favour.

To help you along the way, we've put together a guide that should prove pretty handy, whether you're a newcomer to the series or a veteran of the earlier wars.

XCOM 2 guides

On this page

XCOM 2 - new player tips A handful of useful new player tips for getting ahead of the game from the start.

Other pages:

XCOM 2 - choosing the best Soldier Abilities A look at all of the Abilities available to your squad members, with tips for each character.

XCOM 2 - the best early research and how to unlock it An overview of the different paths available to you in XCOM 2's Research systems.

XCOM 2 - how to build the best base The approaches you can take to build a base that suits your playstyle.

XCOM 2 - how to unlock the Psi Operative The fastest possible route to unlocking the Psi Operative Soldier in XCOM 2.

XCOM 2 - how to unlock Hero characters Our guide to unlocking all of the known, massively overpowered Hero characters in XCOM 2.

XCOM 2 - cheats All of the handiest console command cheats you could possibly need.

XCOM 2 Ironman mode tips and tricks Here's how to survive and thrive with just a single save.

If you need help specifically with XCOM 2's expansion, our XCOM 2: War of the Chosen guide and tips can explain everything you need to know, from how to beat The Chosen Assassin, Warlock and Hunter and the new The Lost, Spectre and Advent units. Combat them by learning about each new faction with our Reaper abilities and skill tree , Skirmisher abilities and skill tree and Templar abilities and skill tree pages, as well as learning about the Resistance Ring , Ability Points , Fatigue system and Bonds . Good luck, Commander!

XCOM 2 tips and tricks

XCOM 2 enables you to do a whole host of cool and wonderful things with soldier loadouts, battlefield tactics, base building, character customisation and many more of its complex and versatile systems. The key to success lies in experimentation. Discovering an effective new strategy or a particularly deadly combination of Soldier Abilities is one of the many joys of the game and you'll no doubt find your own favourites during play.

However, to set you on the path towards halting the Avatar Project - or at least to not being steamrolled by the alien forces within the first hour of play - consider these tips as an early survival guide.

Beware the Sectoids

Far more dangerous than they ever were in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the new Sectoids have benefitted from human/alien hybridisation, giving them a more imposing form and a great deal more hit points than their predecessors had. The Sectoids' ability detrimental mind effects can incapacitate your soldiers for a turn or, worse, take over their minds entirely, turning a previously valuable ally into a deadly adversary. To make matters worse, they can also reanimate previously terminated foes as powerful Psi Zombies. In all cases, focus your attacks on the Sectoid, rather than their Psionic puppet, as taking out the alien will immediately dispel their hold over their victim.

Use the environment for both defence and offense

Taking up positions of defensive cover is imperative for survival, but in many cases the environment can also be used to your offensive tactical advantage, too. Look to destroy cars, turrets and power generators that the alien forces might be using as their own cover. After enough damage has been dealt, these hazardous cover options will explode - either instantly or on the next alien turn - dealing damage to any alien that hasn't fled from the scene of their volatile cover.

Stay on top of engineer staffing

Your helpful ally and resident mechanical whizz, Chief Engineer Shen, will often pop-up to inform you that you have unassigned engineering staff who could be put to good use. Assigning engineers to staffing facilities, building items or clearing out debris aboard the Avenger is certainly essential for maximising your initially meagre staff resources.

Equally as important, but less immediately apparent, is that having engineers assigned to facilities that aren't currently producing anything is just as wasteful. If you're lucky enough not to have any soldiers convalescing at the Advanced Warfare Centre, then you don't need to assign an engineer there to increase the healing rate, for example. This engineer can likely be put to good use elsewhere, particularly in the early stages of the game when you have limited staff resources. Good battlefield management begins with good base management.

Play aggressively but don't overstretch yourself

Pretty basic stuff, but relevant to both returning XCOM veterans and newcomers alike. Many of the missions in XCOM 2 have some form of turn timer, such as those dictating the window for hacking an open data point, or extracting a valuable civilian asset, for example. This lends a degree of urgency that was missing from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and often means it's necessary to progress through the level toward the target just a little bit quicker than feels strictly comfortable.

Ensure, however, that you remain vigilant and don't overstretch your squad, particularly when moving into fog of war territory, otherwise you can quickly find yourself under siege. Maximise the advantages of Concealment - the brief period at the start of many missions where your presence is undetected by the enemy troops - by setting up ambushes or positioning your squad effectively. Be sure to also make judicious use of Battle Scanners and Soldier Abilities that reveal the environment, as well as concealed enemies. As ever with XCOM, forewarned is forearmed.

Visit the Black Market

Once revealed, the Black Market is your go-to destination for raising quick cash by selling unwanted loot and resources - just be careful not to leave yourself short longer term. The hot goods change on a regular basis, so check back in every now and then to see what's selling for a premium as the in-game months roll by.

The Black Market is also incredibly useful for picking up various perks that can speed up research projects, which is particularly useful when you want to gain access to something that Dr Tygan is telling you will otherwise take weeks of research.

Stalling the Avatar Project

Once you get into the meat of an XCOM 2 campaign, your actions on the world map are dictated by a big, red progress bar at the top of the screen. You'll need to disrupt the alien's progress towards their Avatar Project by completing story objectives, or destroying facilities. If you don't and that bar is filled, it's game over.

Well, actually, that's not quite true. Once the progress bar is maxed out, you're given an additional 20 days to slow the Avatar Project, as the progress bar is replaced with an even-more-threatening timer. If this runs out, you've lost the game, but if you do manage to hit a facility, the timer will stop and everything goes back to normal. Next time the progress bar is filled, the exact same thing will happen.

This means that it's entirely possible to take advantage of this timer, to give yourself a little more breathing room in the campaign. Let the progress bar fill and hold off on hitting a facility until the timer is almost done and you can gain weeks of extra research/construction time. Especially useful on the higher difficulty settings.

How to approach the Alien Hunters DLC

The thing you need to know about the Alien Hunters DLC is that it will inevitably lead to your campaign being much easier and much more difficult to complete.

If you start a new game with this DLC enabled, you'll be given the option to investigate a crashed ranger on the world map, fairly early on in your campaign. Do this, and you'll discover a cache of unique weapons that you'll want to immediately equip in favour of your soldiers' starting gear. This stuff is great: a super powerful, single-shot bolt caster, a pair of axes and a frost bomb. You'll want to be using this for the rest of your playthrough.

However, once you've got your hands on this gear, you'll then be prompted to embark on a new mission, tracking down an old friend from XCOM: Enemy Unknown. From this point onwards, you can expect three alien bosses to appear at any point during your campaign. Killing them allows you to upgrade your unique weapons and unlock powerful armour sets, but oh my goodness gracious me, are these some tough units to fight.

Not only can they appear, out of nowhere, whilst you're already fighting a group of aliens, but they will also respond to every action you make. This is crucial to understand. After every individual movement you make, they will react with an action of their own. It's absolutely vital that you make good use of the frost bomb to buy yourself some extra time and use any free actions (like throwing an axe) that you have at your disposal.

These bosses will be some of the toughest fights you experience during your campaign, but if you make it through them, you'll be incredibly well equipped for whatever else is to come.

Thanks to Chris Bratt for additional reporting on this guide.

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XCOM 2 base guide — build a better Avenger

How to build a great base in XCOM 2.

Getting off to the best start in XCOM 2 is important. The sequel added a lot of strategic depth over its predecessor, and the extra events and resources you’ll encounter on the global layer bring their own new questions—what facilities, research and resources to prioritize are all more in-depth concerns than they used to be.

There’s many ways to play and you’ll need to adjust and react to the unique situations your own campaign presents, so don’t take my advice as the only way to do things, but more a general guide to give you direction and get you thinking about how to manage your own resistance operations.

This page: Research, Facilities

Page two: Engineering, Resources

Early: Modular Weapons, Alien Biotech, Advent Officer Autopsy, Resistance Comms and Radio, Magnetic and Gauss Weapons

Mid: Hybrid Materials, Plated Armor, Elerium, Powered Armor

Late: Plasma Rifle and Weapons, finish Shadow Chamber projects

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Autopsy ASAP: Muton, Advent MEC, Andromedon, Sectopod, Gatekeeper

The key to XCOM’s research is knowing what you’ll gain from each pathway and then beelining for the tools you need to succeed. Starting early with Modular Weapons, Biotech and Officer Autopsy grants key weapon upgrades and makes the Advanced Warfare Center and Proving Grounds available for construction while also opening up pathways to important autopsy tech. Resistance Comms and Radio lets you start establishing your global network, necessary for gaining income and operational reach and thus critical to start early. With these early techs complete, begin Magnetic Weapons as your first major project.

Once the Magnetic and Gauss projects are complete your damage takes a big step up, well timed to start dropping the new tougher enemies you’ll be facing as we enter the midgame. Hybrid Materials leads into Plated Armor next, and once you’ve completed these projects you’ll have strong defensive capabilities to match your offensive power. There’s some important autopsies to watch out for during this phase, but our next key project is Elerium which then sets us up for Powered Armor.

With our gear providing peak survivability and utility, it’s time to max out our firepower. Powered Armor is a simple one-tech way to enter the late game that also gives you access to advanced heavy weapons, after which we can collect all the conventional weaponry techs—Plasma Rifle, Storm Gun, Beam Cannon and Plasma Lance all take a chunk of time to complete and will keep your scientists busy for a while as you prioritize the weapons you need most depending on your squad. As you enter the final stretch of your campaign, complete whatever Shadow Chamber projects remain and don’t get overconfident as you approach the finish line.

There’s some important autopsies that you should prioritize as soon as you have the option. Muton and Andromedon autopsies will give you huge boosts to your explosive power, while MEC and Sectopod autopsies are key to improving the Specialist’s GREMLIN. Gatekeepers grant you the most powerful Amp for your psi troops. Faceless autopsy is important early to gain the powerful Mimic Beacon, but don’t jump on it straight away—you’ll need two Faceless corpses to create the item after the research, so there’s no point completing the tech until you’ve gained the extra bodies through your second Retaliation mission. All of XCOM 2’s autopsies help in some fashion, so don’t be afraid to delay starting big technologies to quickly pick up a new trick or two first. Stun Lancer and Archon autopsies deserve mentions for providing more powerful Ranger swords, so if your squad relies on melee prowess be sure to pick these up.

The Shadow Chamber is another scientific avenue that you’ll have to improvise your timing on. Without saying too much, it serves as an important way to reduce the pressure of AVATAR progress. I’d recommend researching Shadow techs whenever you need some help pushing back the doom clock.

Early to Mid: Guerilla Training School, Advanced Warfare Center, Power Relay

Mid to Late: Proving Grounds, Psi Lab, Second Power Relay, Shadow Chamber

Optional: Workshop, Laboratory

Every campaign needs to start with a Guerilla Training School, providing essential squad size upgrades and other important improvements while also allowing you to train idle rookies into squaddies (of the class of your choice) at base. The Advanced Warfare Center is a great second facility, doubling the healing of injured soldiers in its infirmary and granting extra abilities to your troops as they level. These two structures should keep your Engineers busy for the first couple of months, after which you’ll need a Power Relay to support more structures.

Once that’s complete, get a Proving Grounds up and begin churning out experimental tech. Your Sharpshooters will thrive with the extra ammo types (like AP rounds) you’ll create, while key improvements like better explosives, experimental weapons and armor and the aptly named Skulljack device will bring your squad up to a fearsome level of flexibility. Once you’re rolling along with supplies (and Elerium) to spare it’s time to establish a Psi Lab and begin adding Psi Ops troopers to your squad to benefit from their fantastic talents. You’ll need some more power soon—you can upgrade your original relay or build a new one on an excavated Conduit room to benefit from boosted power generation.

With all your tactical bases covered, you can finish your key facilities by establishing the Shadow Chamber, granting you access to explorative research that peels back the secrecy surrounding the alien’s goals. Don’t dally too long on this building, as you’ll need it sooner or later to help thwart AVATAR progress and advance your own campaign goals.

Throughout your campaign it’s up to you to decide when a Workshop or Laboratory are worth the investment. A Workshop grants two GREMLINs for each Engineer you station inside, and these drones can do the same jobs as engineers for any adjacent rooms. If you’re short on Engies, this can be a good way to double your construction and room boosting abilities when positioned and timed properly. A Laboratory simply boosts your scientific output—I think resources are too tight early on to justify the cost of this structure, but once you start having supplies to spare you can’t go wrong with unlocking tech faster. Speaking of luxuries, don’t forget a Defense Matrix in the lategame, as the extra boost it gives you on any Avenger Defense missions is worth having once your income is outpacing your expenses.

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Originally posted by Lampros : given that you cannot afford to make any mistakes at that difficulty

Originally posted by Lampros : I eventually plan on doing Legendary, and I am wondering what the ideal research path is - given that you cannot afford to make any mistakes at that difficulty. Details would be great, but any general "must have" tech advice would also be welcome. Thanks in advance!

Originally posted by Tamiore : 1) Modular weapons 2) Start alien biotech 3) Do resistance comms ASAP and contant the black site region. 4) Finish alien biotech 5) Magnetic weapons 6) Gauss weapons or Armor 7) Armor or Gauss weapons 8+ Depends on your playstyle and resources. Depending on your overoll situation you may want to do an officer autopsy somewhere after 4) but before 8+

Originally posted by Lampros : Originally posted by Tamiore : 1) Modular weapons 2) Start alien biotech 3) Do resistance comms ASAP and contant the black site region. 4) Finish alien biotech 5) Magnetic weapons 6) Gauss weapons or Armor 7) Armor or Gauss weapons 8+ Depends on your playstyle and resources. Depending on your overoll situation you may want to do an officer autopsy somewhere after 4) but before 8+

Originally posted by The Guy in Shades : I usually go for psionics ASAP so i can get a couple of good PSI operatives training in the background. Bonus points if one of them rolls domination or null lance early.

Originally posted by red255 : are we doing WotC or vanilla? occasionally you get a research breakthru to a tier of weapondry, which is +1 damage with that tier. Normal weapons -> mag is +2 damage, so a breakthru is half a point and doesn't cost you any credits. Did legendary once, Gatecrasher is a tad obsurd, theres an extra pod with a sectoid in it. I remember that fight getting pretty bad, I tried to bust his cover, took some flanks at 65% was out of grenades, and eventually burned thru his cover apparently, the rest of the game not as hard as 4 rookies vs all those pods. something like 7 advent troopers and 1 officer and 1 sectoid as I recall. with 4 rookies

Originally posted by red255 : unless you get a excavation research breakthru and manage to get to a power coil in 10 days.

Originally posted by Tamiore : Originally posted by red255 : unless you get a excavation research breakthru and manage to get to a power coil in 10 days.

Originally posted by red255 : Originally posted by Tamiore : You still need to excavate row 2 slot to get to power coil slot and that takes 30 days even if you somehow started on day 1 (you can't, since you don't have an engineer). So I agree that the breakthrough may change the timing somewhat, but at that point it raises the questions of psi lab X days earlier at the cost of X more days without tier 2 armor.

Originally posted by Tamiore : Originally posted by red255 : Best case scenario its straight down, and only takes one engineer in the slot to go down, which is 10 days on commander and 20 on legendary no? I've done it on commander. started the break thru started digging, breakthru happened as I dug, then I selected the power coil and it dug out instantly saving me 30 engineer days.

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Research Projects in XCOM 2 can be done by Scientists inside the Avenger . The Projects improve aspects of your ships, improve the quality of Weapons and Armor and generally make you more powerful. In addition to providing improved equipment and items, completed research projects can unlock brand new research projects for undertaking. As a result, many research projects have a requirement that must be met before they are available to be researched such as a specific completed project or the construction of one of the Facilities in the  Avenger . Generally, completing  Missions will earn you Items  that can be used to fund the research project.   The Alien Biotech project is the intial project available after completing the beginning mission and the numerous projects it unlocks form the initial diverse branching paths that most of the subsequent projects fall on. ADVENT Officer Autopsy is also a similar linchpin for advanced projects. Resultant items created such as Utility Items ,  Armor and Weapons must then be constructed in the Armory for a production cost before equipping on your soldiers. Below is a table of Research Projects, their costs in Resources and Items and time to complete, along with their effects. Please note that costs change depending on the difficulty setting of the game. For Engineering Projects , see the Proving Ground page. See the Shadow Chamber for a list of the special projects undertaken in that  Facility . 

Research Projects

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XCOM 2 has been largely well received by critics with a current Metacritic  rating of 88% based on 82 reviews. GameWatcher gave it a score of 9 out of 10, saying "Could we already have a Game of the Year contender? Let's see if we remember it come December, but right now every fan of XCOM: Enemy Unknown should pick up XCOM 2 ". GameSpot gives it a rating of 9 out of 10, calling it "exhilarating, even in the face of failure. It's compelling, even though we often lose. Victory is the goal, but that's just an afterthought here - it's the complex journey that counts."

XCOM 2 received "Best Strategy Game of 2016" awards by PC Gamer [2] and IGN [3] .

Console ports of XCOM 2  were officially announced on the 7th of June 2016; Firaxis partnered with developer The Workshop to produce the ports. [4] The Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions were released in North America on September 27, 2016. A Nintendo Switch version was released on May 29, 2020. [5] Additional ports of XCOM 2 were released on iOS and Android, with the first releasing November 5, 2020 and the latter July 15, 2021 respectively.

• 4 Downloadable Content
• 5.1 Digital Deluxe
• 5.2 XCOM 2 Collection
• 6 Screenshots
• 8.1 MS Windows
• 8.2 Mac OS [8]
• 8.3 Linux [9]
• 9 References

Twenty years have passed since world leaders offered an unconditional surrender to the alien forces, and XCOM , the planet's last line of defense, was left decimated and scattered. Now the aliens rule Earth, building shining cities that promise a brilliant future for humanity on the surface while concealing a sinister agenda and eliminating all who dissent from their new order.

Only those who live on the edges of the world have a margin of freedom. Here, a force gathers once again to stand up for humanity. Always on the run, the remnant XCOM forces must find a way to rise from the ashes, expose the insidious truth behind the occupation and eliminate the alien threat once and for all.

The starting date in the game is 28th February 2035.

Gameplay [ ]

XCOM ON THE RUN Take command of the Avenger , an alien supply craft converted to XCOM's mobile headquarters. Guide your strike force around the world, build popular support and expose the aliens' sinister plans.

RESEARCH, DEVELOP AND UPGRADE Configure and build rooms on the Avenger to give XCOM new capabilities on the battlefield. Use your scientists and engineers to research and develop and upgrade weapons and armor to fit your preferred tactics.

A NEW BREED OF ENEMY A diverse cast of enemies from powerful new alien species to the ADVENT , enforcers of the alien regime, offer a distinct tactical challenge.

TACTICAL GUERILLA COMBAT New gameplay systems offer more tactical flexibility in combat. The state of the world affects each combat missions environment. Use concealment to ambush enemy patrols. Loot enemies for precious gear and artifacts. Rescue VIPs and save fallen comrades by carrying them to the extraction point.

RECRUIT RESISTANCE FIGHTERS Five  soldier classes each with its own skill tree including new class abilities like Momentum, let you create specific soldiers for your tactical plan.

EACH MISSION IS A UNIQUE CHALLENGE Go on missions around the world from wildlands to the heart of alien controlled megacities, to the depths of alien installations. There are virtually infinite combinations of maps, missions and goals.

CHOOSE YOUR DIFFICULTY Select one of four difficulty modes at the start of the game and adjust it while you play.

CREATE CUSTOM MODS Community focused tools allow you to create your own campaign, tactical gameplay, aliens, classes, strategy game features and share within the Steam Workshop.

Read more at IGN

ENGAGE IN HEAD TO HEAD MULTIPLAYER Mix and match squads of humans and aliens to do battle head to head on randomly generated maps.

Research [ ]

Research is the primary way in which new technology, equipment and facilities are unlocked in XCOM 2 . Research projects include the study and reverse-engineering of recovered alien technologies and autopsies on alien and ADVENT corpses.

Downloadable Content [ ]

• Resistance Warrior Pack : Offers additional soldier customization options like bonus outfits, headgear and custom facial war paint. Also includes a "Survivor of the Old War," a new XCOM recruit who will appear in the Avenger's barracks. Players who pre-ordered the game received this for free. Released for purchase on November 22, 2016.
• Anarchy's Children : Features over 100 new exotic soldier customization options. Released March 17, 2016.
• Alien Hunters : New gameplay highlighting an elite alien hunting unit of XCOM as it tracks down "Ruler" aliens, plus a new mission, additional soldier customization options and more powerful weapons and armor. Released May 12, 2016.
• Shen's Last Gift : Introduces a brand-new sixth soldier class with unique upgradeable weapons, armor and customization features, as well as an additional narrative-driven mission and map. Released June 30, 2016.
• Tactical Legacy Pack (requires ownership of XCOM 2: War of the Chosen ): Features 4 new standalone mini-campaigns, a tactical mission editor, 28 new maps, new weapons and armor, additional cosmetic options, and a new soundtrack. Released October 9, 2018.

Special Editions [ ]

Two special editions of XCOM 2 are available that include varying amounts of the above DLC.

Digital Deluxe [ ]

The XCOM 2 Digital Deluxe Edition includes the base game, the digital soundtrack (which is unavailable for purchase otherwise), and the Reinforcement Pack, which itself includes Anarchy's Children, Alien Hunters, and Shen's Last Gift. [6]

XCOM 2 Collection [ ]

The XCOM 2 Collection includes the base game, the Resistance Warrior Pack, the Reinforcement Pack (including Anarchy's Children, Alien Hunters, and Shen's Last Gift), War of the Chosen, and War of the Chosen – Tactical Legacy Pack. [7]

Screenshots [ ]

System Requirements [ ]

Ms windows [ ].

• OS: Windows® 7, 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4700 2.6 GHz or AMD Phenom 9950 Quad Core 2.6 GHz
• Memory: 4 GB RAM
• Graphics: 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5770, 1GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 or better
• DirectX: Version 11
• Storage: 45 GB available space
• Sound Card: DirectX compatible sound card

Recommended

• Processor: 3GHz Quad Core
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: 2GB ATI Radeon HD 7970, 2GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 or better

Mac OS [8] [ ]

• OS: Mac OS X 10.11.2
• Processor: 2.4 GHz Intel
• Memory: 4GB RAM
• Graphics: 1GB NVIDIA 650ti or AMD 5770 or Intel Iris Pro or better
• Storage: 40GB
• Processor: 2.7 GHz Intel
• Memory: 8GB RAM
• Graphics: 2GB NVIDIA 700 series or AMD R9 series

Linux [9] [ ]

• OS: Ubuntu 14.04.2 64-bit or SteamOS
• Processor: Intel Core i3-3225 3.3 GHz
• Intel graphics are unsupported at the time of writing.
• Storage: 32GB
• Processor: Intel Core i7 2.7GHz

References [ ]

• ↑ https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pressreleases/261662/XCOM_2_for_Mac_and_Linux_Digital_Deluxe_Edition_andReinforcement_Pack_revealed.php
• ↑ http://www.pcgamer.com/best-strategy-game-2016-xcom-2/
• ↑ http://www.ign.com/wikis/best-of-2016-awards/Best_Strategy_Game
• ↑ http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/7/11853806/xcom-2-ps4-xbox-one-console-release-date http://www.polygon.com/2016/6/7/11867006/xcom-2-announced-for-consoles
• ↑ https://www.engadget.com/2020-03-26-borderlands-bioshock-xcom-2-nintendo-switch-release-date-2k-games.html
• ↑ https://steamdb.info/sub/91143/apps/
• ↑ https://steamdb.info/bundle/7118/
• ↑ https://www.feralinteractive.com/xx/games/xcom2/links-requirements/
• 2 Aliens (XCOM 2)
• 3 Research Projects (XCOM 2)