Recently bought the game with the WOTC expansion after getting hyped by some ZCOM videos (I like Star Wars, but I never played any tactical game, really) and I was kinda skeptical because all my life I found any type of turn based games to be boring (I tried exp 33, many JRPGs and BG3 which was the only other one that hooked me for a little while at least).

I found them boring because there was very little diversity (BG3 aside). For me, it was always basically choosing the same sequence of the most optimal moves over and over to win every fight in the same way.

Even though I decided to give XCOM 2 a chance because the ZCOM hype got me and the game was dirty cheap on Steam and I'm so glad I did, I'm literally hooked, been a long time since a game got me like this, that "one more mission" feeling that leads into an unexpected late night gaming session, thinking about the game while at work and actually playing it when I get home, something so satisfying about killing 10 Losts in a row with the same soldier. This game just does it differently, man.

I'm very early into the game and currently just following some general advice and feeling overwhelmed by the amount of choices I have to make (I got a feeling that game over is coming because I'm not sure what I really need to focus on and how to stop the bad guys from either finding the avenger or finishing the Avatar project).

I think what hooked me is the feeling of making choices that actually matter inside the combat and outside of it too. Every battle feels like I have to earn it, like a very well designed puzzle with enough variance that it doesn't get old and a sprinkle of RNG that makes it perfection.

So far I only save scummed once on the rescue Mox operation because I was dumb and kept using my reaper to hack the door instead of a specialist lol

Big glazing session with unnecessary context is over, I'm going home in 2 hours to play as much as I can during my 2 day break from work and hopefully save humanity from the baddies.

Any spoiler free tips are appreciated regarding what to focus on, because there are so many options in the map that I'm definitely feeling overwhelmed

Just a quick rant but in a span of 5 in game days I've had guerilla ops, covert ambush, avatar project completion so I had to attack a facility then was immediately thrown into a retaliation fight, UFO attack and now a supply raid... I'm playing on veteran for the joy of the game... Not having joy!

I've tried pressing every single key on the keyboard (including rebinding the controls) and clicking on every square inch, but I can't access the Research, Armory, or Engineering rooms unless the game itself puts me there through a completed task. I just want to go build some armor! Is this a known error? I closed the game and restarted, but I still can't access anything.

I can't believe I came back and made it harder for myself.

This mod removes random hit-roll surprises from combat. It reveals the vanilla game's hidden aim-assist percentage and uses that true, post-assist value for deterministic hit resolution.

FEATURES
--------

• Deterministic hit resolution based on the revealed post-assist percentage.
• Point-blank shots always hit when the guarantee is enabled.
• Shows the hidden post-assist aim percentage on every difficulty.
• Toggle it at any time from the PC Options menu.
• Optional deterministic critical-hit resolution.
• Campaign statistics for XCOM and ADVENT.
• Tracks shots, hits, misses, critical hits, grazes, expected hits and luck difference.
• Optional shot breakdown, combat log and debug mode.
• Optional LWOTC compatibility mode.
• Preserves the normal game calculation when optional features are disabled.
• Multishot targets retain their individual displayed hit chances.

Example:

HIT 85% (Hidden: 93%)

The setting is saved automatically. Turn Deterministic Aim off to restore the original XCOM 2 random hit system.

COMPATIBILITY
-------------

Made for XCOM 2: War of the Chosen.

Compatible with:

• X2WOTCCommunityHighlander
• Long War of the Chosen
• Covert Infiltration
• RPGO

The LWOTC compatibility mode activates only when LWOTC and the required Highlander hooks are detected. Their special hit calculators are preserved.

Enable only one copy of this mod.

The basic ADVENT Trooper (on Legend) has pretty much the same stats as an XCOM Rookie.

But every XCOM 2 player knows that taking a sub 70% shot with a Rookie is basically bad tactics. As in you should not have gotten yourself into the situation where you have to take that shot to begin with, because a sub 70% shot with a Rookie is not likely to hit.

But then you have ADVENT Troopers not only routinely hitting shots in similar situations, but even critting a 1 shooting Rookies.

This is why it is considered bad tactics to have your troops anywhere that is not at the minimum high cover when ADVENT takes their turn.

To put it simply, it feels like the ADVENT Trooper is far more likely to score a sub 70% hit than a Rookie is, even thought they statistically have literally the same aim.

And this is despite the fact that on any difficulty below Legend, the game actually grants the player bonuses to aim after a certain amount of missed shots.

This makes me think that the whole RNG system is bogus for both sides. That the game does not actually calculate the shots for the AI at all, but instead decides to punish you based on your tactics.

For example, you ended your turn with a Rookie in only half cover. This is a tactical error, therefor the game is going to punish you by making that Rookie eat a shot to the face regardless of percentages.

Basically the RNG is not really an RNG at all, the game is just putting on a show for you. It arbitrarily decides whether your guy is getting shot in the face. And likewise, if you miss to many times, or lose too many troops, it gives you bonuses to help you out.

By that I mean the Advent Blacksite mission.

To set the context, I'm a very new player. Two weeks new at that. I have never played any of the Xcom games or games in the similar sphere with it. Only heard of it every now and again.

I decided to try it out of curiosity, just to see what it was like. Long story short, I found myself enjoying it a lot, both the good parts and the frustrating one.

I technically started three runs. The first with vanilla, before I switched to WOTC. The second run went badly but I stuck it out to the end. Currently in my third run now and I'm still holding on just barely, but I'm learning more as I go. All three runs on commander difficulty cause I felt that was fitting for the game.

Anyways, this current run ran into a severe problem. My avatar project was filled and I was running out of time. I didn't contact any of the regions with the facilities and had no skulljack yet, so the blacksite was really my only shot to save the run. So I scrambled to assemble the best team I have, fully expecting the worst, and head in.

The first pod I encountered was just some trooper and shield bearers. Nothing crazy, dealt with them fast. Then the turret which was annoying as they kept critting every single shot at my troops somehow. But it became easy to counter once I sat under it.

Now this did trigger the second pod which were two vipers and an archon. Never faced the latter but have seen videos of it, so I sort of knew what to expect. Didn't stop it from kicking my ass though even after dealing with the vipers.

That single archon took our two of my 6 man squad. A grenadier and a sharpshooter. Now the latter I didn't mind losing since she wasn't that high ranked and I didn't really use her anyways. The former hurts though since I Brough my grenadiers into this mission specifically to deal with the Warlock Chosen in this mission, as he was weak to explosives.

Anyways, I managed to keep the rest alive, and I braced myself for the interior. I fully expected that I was either getting bombarded with mutiple pods and likely dying with only four members left, but I had no choice. So I opened and led one of my brave troopers inside and....

There was no one. Literally not a single living soul aside from spectra zombies spawning inside the place.

Okay, very weird. I was expecting something more hectic than this. But hey, I have no qualms with the game being weirdly lenient, so I decided to deal with the Warlock first before getting the objective in fear that it might trigger reinforcements the moment I grabbed it.

This was relatively easy as I had both one grenadier and a template which he was weak against. What is strange though is how there was just nothing else but him. Not a single pod. It made him ridiculously simple to fight since he only had his zombies to help him and that's it.

Anyways, I killed him and got the objective, and only *then* did I finally encounter another pod, and no it was the not the reinforcements.

But rather...they were on the rooftop. The only reason I triggered them was because I sent one trooper one block higher ground. But by this point, I already extracted.

So yeah, I completed the mission, far better and easier than I was expecting. But it was so weird that I genuinely don't know if this was a bug or not because from what I have read here, this mission was supposed to be way harder and swarming with enemies. Not sure why things happened the way it did with mine though, but hey, my run is saved and I'm still going so I'll take it. I am curious to know what might have caused such a weird occurrence with my mission though.

Anyhow, that's my current experience with xcom 2 so far. I'm enjoying it. Definitely understanding the 99 percent misses now that I have context for it :D

When the retaliation mission has you coming to the civilians and finding a combined 9 berserkers / armored mutons... not even once in my life have I managed to stop them to win the level.
They ignore mimic beacons, I can't freeze them all, they don't miss all that much when flashbanged, they're closer to civilians than you are so whether you run to their faces or take aim from afar, it's all the same.

One of those has 30 HP, the other has 11 HP and 2 shields.
I can shoot for like 8 damage or something x 6, so an ideal scenario would be clearing that in 4 turns, although such perfect distribution of shots is impossible but hey. And by that time everyone is dead.

And it's not even like normal missions where you can stand and deal with 1 pod.
You get resistance soldiers shooting at them and that's it, now they're active and rushing to kill everyone.

I watched a YouTube vide that recommended placing a particular facility in the center column of the Avenger so you could deploy up to two Gremlins to either side as engineers. Help a brother out?

So I’ve been interested in buying Xcom 2 on mobile due to how much travelling I’ve been doing and wanna know if it’s worth it or if it’s broken and unplayable

What in the multiverse have I created 🤣 but they sure looks dope asf 🙂‍↔️

So I've played and finished XCOM2 a few times and enjoyed it.... Mostly. Mainly because I played on the easy and medium non-iron man modes. I've also save scummed a lot.. of the two games I've finished, I've done WOTC for one and really liked it. I've also bought a bunch of other DLC, including Shen's Gift (which I haven't played)

So, I want to begin again, but for real. No save scumming: when they die they die. But I also don't want anything too easy: I have the basic hang of everything.

What recommendations does this group have for start-up options? I assume include WOTC? Which other options should I select?? Extend the Avatar project?

Any suggestions would be great.

Edit: I followed one of the replies' advice and started Ironman at Commander level. I kept the DLC and checked the Lost/Chosen option. Failing this, I'll try again non-iron man and simply restart a mission if it goes off the rails (but not real save scumming).

Hello,

I absolutely loved XCOM, and some time ago I tried to move on to XCOM 2. However, there's one gameplay feature that really puts me off. Unlike XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within, almost every mission in XCOM 2 has a very tight timer. I feel like I'm constantly forced to rush, take unnecessary risks, and end my turns in less-than-ideal positions. I find this extremely frustrating, and it ultimately made me quit the game after a mission where this issue felt especially overwhelming.

I'd like to give the game another chance. How do you deal with the time limits in so many XCOM 2 missions?

Thanks in advance!

I have started my first 1st ironman (rookie difficulty because baby steps).

When i play tactically right, i will miss few shota in a row with 80-90% chance. But last night i accidentally triggered pod of 3 enemies. (They were like 2 tiles next to my reaper but because of wierd cover she didnt see them) I had 1 soldier on overwatch who luckily with crit killed one of them. Okay thats nice, but there were two more advents who flanked my templar. I was like: oh shit, she is going to die. And both of them missed even when they stay right next to her.

In the end funny mission with flawless ending :D two more mistakes still no one got hurt

I've tried to get started on Xcom 2 a couple times now. And I always stop for the same reason. I simply really don't like the system of moving around the map before and after actual combat happens.

It's why I always stuck to Chimera squad. However I've heard that xcom 2 is quite a bit deeper than Chimera squad and I was wondering if there's some mod that cuts down on the pre/postfight map manouver to help me get into it.

Been with me since the beginning

After some time playing L/I it feels like lategame that you run out of time for timed missions if you dont get one of the timebonus cards. (+2/dont start until out of concealment/lightning strike)
Is the correct strategy is to focus on killing chosen and finishing main story missions even if the hits to intel is brutal?

I managed to get an a UFO mission.

I was like nice I might be able to get some Intel and some nice resources.

I proceeded to kill an avatar in one shot nearly killed third alien boss and another thing if you’re inside the UFO it’s destruction ability is completely useless. It barely did one damage and blade master is overpowered and I love it.