XCOM 2 announced....PC Exclusive

CptCabbit said:
The first time the Bersker Queen appeared for me was on an escort mission which was less than ideal.

The only way i was able to beat the 3 of them was to fight them each 3 times. Once I got them down past 1 bar of health they would flee through a rift. I'm not sure if this is because it was my first time playing or perhaps because i was on Veteran difficulty.
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They always try to flee through a rift when they have taken a certain amount of damage. It is part of the mechanic of the game.

The difficulty level determines how much health/armor they have.
 
Damn I need to pick up this game. I even preordered it but got quickly annoyed with bad optimization and timed missions.
 
I liked both the story dlc and the add on; the chosen added a bit of flavor. I would be ok with another add on if it was long and added more flavor to the chosen and some additional content equivalent to the story dlc.
 
NoOther said:
One of the very first rules of XCOM is not to group your squad. Keeping them apart helps in a number of ways, not only keeping certain people from being pinned down, it prevents against numerous AOE attacks, and it usually provides you with flanking benefits.
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Yeah, except for when the choosen shows up, you must keep them grouped to be able to revive them. Another issue I found with keeping the squad too spread out is that one would alert an enemy that is out of attack range for others. So you must keep your squad relatively close in every situation. Of ourse not within one square close, but circumstances often cause that to happen when you flank or close in on enemies.

Either way, these hunter aliens are way overpowered, and if they show up at an inconvenient time there is no successful defence against them.
 
M76 said:
Yeah, except for when the choosen shows up, you must keep them grouped to be able to revive them. Another issue I found with keeping the squad too spread out is that one would alert an enemy that is out of attack range for others. So you must keep your squad relatively close in every situation. Of ourse not within one square close, but circumstances often cause that to happen when you flank or close in on enemies.

Either way, these hunter aliens are way overpowered, and if they show up at an inconvenient time there is no successful defence against them.
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Why do you need to keep them grouped to revive them? Do you not take a medic with the remote revive capability? I have literally never kept my squad close together in either of the games.

As for the chosen, that is different than the beserker queen. The chosen were super easy.
 
NoOther said:
Why do you need to keep them grouped to revive them? Do you not take a medic with the remote revive capability? I have literally never kept my squad close together in either of the games.

As for the chosen, that is different than the beserker queen. The chosen were super easy.
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Early in the game you don't even have the remote revive capability. And it's a one use anyway. Sometimes I had to revive my squad half a dozen times before it's possible to defeat the chosen on early missions. The assassin is particularly annoying as it always uses bending reed ability and goes out of range of any attack after knocking out a soldier. The game is full of chance, sometimes you can kill the chosen super easy, but sometimes the unique combination of the map and circumstances can cause unexpected difficulties.

And I don't keep them grouped together I only keep them within one action point movement range. And not the entire squad, just keep at least one other within range.

I watched a few streamers play the game, and I was shocked how bad they were in some situations not noticing the obvious opportunities. With the amount of time I played the game I'm fairly certain I found the best way to keep the squad far apart enough but not too far.
 
M76 said:
Early in the game you don't even have the remote revive capability. And it's a one use anyway. Sometimes I had to revive my squad half a dozen times before it's possible to defeat the chosen on early missions. The assassin is particularly annoying as it always uses bending reed ability and goes out of range of any attack after knocking out a soldier. The game is full of chance, sometimes you can kill the chosen super easy, but sometimes the unique combination of the map and circumstances can cause unexpected difficulties.

And I don't keep them grouped together I only keep them within one action point movement range. And not the entire squad, just keep at least one other within range.
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Yes, but its a two way street, you are having to revive more guys because you are putting more guys in peril also.

The assassin is the easiest to defeat and the best one to spread out on. All the chosen have weaknesses, you should pay attention to that and utilize the weaknesses. I didn't have any problems with any of the chosen, they were all pretty easy.
 
NoOther said:
Yes, but its a two way street, you are having to revive more guys because you are putting more guys in peril also.

The assassin is the easiest to defeat and the best one to spread out on. All the chosen have weaknesses, you should pay attention to that and utilize the weaknesses. I didn't have any problems with any of the chosen, they were all pretty easy.
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The assassin is by far the hardest to defeat of the chosen. I never had any problems with the other two, the hunter is child's play, and the warlock is mostly only sending spectral zombies anyway. But the assassin starts moving on you at once, it doesn't hold back, and unless by some stroke of luck you take it out of concealment before it attacks it will immediately knock one soldier out, taking at least half it's health, and then use bending reed to go out of attack range, or at least far enough that you'll only have very low chance of hitting it. And you're lucky if it doesn't have low profile ability coupled with melee immunity, oh and of course shadowstep so you can't even rule it into a trap.

If you keep the squad too far apart then how do you combat newly revealed enemies? Then you won't be able to kill them all before the end of the turn, giving them opportunity to attack your squad. With my tactic regular enemies are rarely even able to get off a single shot, I'm able to kill gatekeepers, andromedons and sectopods this way 8 out of 10 times without allowing them a single attack.
 
M76 said:
The assassin is by far the hardest to defeat of the chosen. I never had any problems with the other two, the hunter is child's play, and the warlock is mostly only sending spectral zombies anyway. But the assassin starts moving on you at once, it doesn't hold back, and unless by some stroke of luck you take it out of concealment before it attacks it will immediately knock one soldier out, taking at least half it's health, and then use bending reed to go out of attack range, or at least far enough that you'll only have very low chance of hitting it. And you're lucky if it doesn't have low profile ability coupled with melee immunity, oh and of course shadowstep so you can't even rule it into a trap.

If you keep the squad too far apart then how do you combat newly revealed enemies? Then you won't be able to kill them all before the end of the turn, giving them opportunity to attack your squad. With my tactic regular enemies are rarely even able to get off a single shot, I'm able to kill gatekeepers, andromedons and sectopods this way 8 out of 10 times without allowing them a single attack.
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I don't know what to tell you, the assassin was the first one I killed and it was super easy.
 
Put the kids to sleep. Finally fired it up. Man, I suck at this game. Struggling with the first mission! Never really played a game like this.
 
EvilViking said:
Put the kids to sleep. Finally fired it up. Man, I suck at this game. Struggling with the first mission! Never really played a game like this.
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The first mission is actually one of the harder ones, since the time limit is actually a problem if you miss too many shots.
 
EvilViking said:
Put the kids to sleep. Finally fired it up. Man, I suck at this game. Struggling with the first mission! Never really played a game like this.
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It might take some getting used to. It is very much a tactical strategy game. It helps to understand how to use cover, flanking, and the various types of effects (ammunition that either ignores or shreds armor, explosives that stun or freeze units, etc).

Another thing that gets a lot of players in trouble is movement. Oftentimes players will attempt to move to far and walk right into ambushes. It is far better to scout and see how the enemy is positioned and get them to walk into your ambush.
 
It also helps to forget everything you think you know about numbers, percentages, and how they work together.
 
NoOther said:
I don't know what to tell you, the assassin was the first one I killed and it was super easy.
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As I mentioned the game is primarily based on chance. I've had encounters with the assassin that were super easy as well. But I must have did at least two dozen new campaigns by now, mostly on veteran and legend difficulty. And whenever things got heated it was with the assassin, and not the other chosen. Just to make sure we're talking about the same thing: The assassin is the female one with the sword, and not the sharpshooter with the sniper rifle, which is referred to as hunter by the game.
 
gamerk2 said:
The first mission is actually one of the harder ones, since the time limit is actually a problem if you miss too many shots.
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The first mission has no time limit, unless we're talking about the tutorial first mission.I think the actual regular first mission where you have to blow up a statue is a better introduction to the game (except on legendary difficulty).
 
EvilViking said:
Put the kids to sleep. Finally fired it up. Man, I suck at this game. Struggling with the first mission! Never really played a game like this.
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As others have mentioned, the game does need getting used to, especially if you haven't played anything like it before. I played the original from 1993, as well as a lot of Jagged Alliance so I was at least familiar with how things are supposed to work.

  • The main thing is being defensive. If there is no timer on the mission take your time, don't venture too far ahead, especially if you already used up some of the squad's action points.
  • Sometimes taking the low % shot can make the difference. I used to play in a way that I only took shots that were at least 75% hit chance, but that's not the best strategy.
  • Always try to flank enemies. Try to position your squad in a way so that the enemies can't find cover from all.
  • High ground gives a huge advantage to hit chance, but soldiers on a ledge are also easier to hit by the enemy.
  • I was reluctant to use hunker down in the game at first, but it actually gives a huge advantage to defence, it's very unlikely that a hunkered soldier will get hit. So it is better to put soldiers in danger to hunker down than to try a last ditch desperate attack with them.
  • Oh and always look for high cover, preferably double cover, never leave any of your squad in the open as long as there are enemies you haven't dealt with yet.
  • And don't get into a position where the enemy can flank you, I think this needs some getting used to, before you'll be naturally able to see which position is safe and which is not from the enemy.
On the first mission on regular difficulty the easiest strategy is to throw a granedae at the grouped enemies, since the basic grenade has 3 damage, and they also have 3 hp, you can take the entire group down with a single action before you're revealed. As on almost all missions you start with concealment, meaning the enemy won't see you until you get within their detection range (red sqares) or initiate an attack. Use that to your advantage. You don't have to attack as soon as you see the enemies, take your time to get into a position where you have the upper hand. I've had first missions where I waited 10 turns for the right situation for an attack.
 
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M76 said:
As I mentioned the game is primarily based on chance. I've had encounters with the assassin that were super easy as well. But I must have did at least two dozen new campaigns by now, mostly on veteran and legend difficulty. And whenever things got heated it was with the assassin, and not the other chosen. Just to make sure we're talking about the same thing: The assassin is the female one with the sword, and not the sharpshooter with the sniper rifle, which is referred to as hunter by the game.
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Actually the game is not primarily based on chance. The game does have an element of probability, but there are several factors that are not at all based on chance.

I know who the assassin is, and again, she was the easiest to deal with. And again, in my various run ins she is usually the one I kill first because she is particularly easy.
 
NoOther said:
Actually the game is not primarily based on chance. The game does have an element of probability, but there are several factors that are not at all based on chance.

I know who the assassin is, and again, she was the easiest to deal with. And again, in my various run ins she is usually the one I kill first because she is particularly easy.
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Well then we have to agree to disagree. Because everything in the game is based on chance. Even the map generation is random, and slight variations in terrain can make the same mission much harder or easier. You can't control it if you get a streak of bad luck and 2-3 high percentage attacks miss in a row. Also enemy movement is random as well. You can't anticipate the fact that your ranger sword attack will reveal two other groups of enemies. These things happen in the game and sometimes they can ruin your day despite the best forethought.

And after about 25 playtroughs I think I can safely judge which chosen is the least convenient to deal with in the game for me. But you can help me with your strategy. How do you anticipate the assassin's sneak attacks? It always has shadowstep so, it basically always gets a free attack on one of your squad at least. And how do you attack after it uses bending reed and goes so far away that it's already difficult to find it, let alone getting a shot off at it that has better than 20-30% chance?
 
M76 said:
Well then we have to agree to disagree. Because everything in the game is based on chance.
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Grenades with stun abilities, shred armor abilities, freeze abilities, etc. are based on chance? What soldiers you take into combat and what attributes they have, what weapons they have is based on chance? Where you go or position units on a map is based on chance? What enemies are going to be in the combat is completely based on chance? What facilities you build is based on chance? What you research is based on chance? All of these things are things you know ahead of time and can prepare for. So how is everything in the game based on chance? Also literally when you go to take an action, it gives you a probability indicator for a shot. And no, not all shots are probability based, some are automatic. So I really fail to see how "everything is based on chance".


M76 said:
Even the map generation is random, and slight variations in terrain can make the same mission much harder or easier.
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And? once the map is generated, it does not change. That is why you scout, that is why you plan out your moves. This is where strategy comes in. It is not just all chance.

M76 said:
You can't control it if you get a streak of bad luck and 2-3 high percentage attacks miss in a row. Also enemy movement is random as well. You can't anticipate the fact that your ranger sword attack will reveal two other groups of enemies. These things happen in the game and sometimes they can ruin your day despite the best forethought.
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This is actually not true. Some enemy movements are extremely predictable. Melee units are going to go for melee, range units are going to go for range, psychic units are generally going to use psychic power, etc. Before the mission it also usually gives you an indicator of what enemy units are going to be present. You can also control what actions you are going to take, and not all actions are probability based. Some actions are 100% every time. As for not being abie to anticipate what your ranger attack is going to do, that is absolutely false. That is why you scout, so before you charge into a situation you know what is there.

M76 said:
And after about 25 playtroughs I think I can safely judge which chosen is the least convenient to deal with in the game for me. But you can help me with your strategy. How do you anticipate the assassin's sneak attacks? It always has shadowstep so, it basically always gets a free attack on one of your squad at least. And how do you attack after it uses bending reed and goes so far away that it's already difficult to find it, let alone getting a shot off at it that has better than 20-30% chance?
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It is not so much a matter of knowing who she is going to attack as preparing for a possible attack. Also, she generally is not going to attack someone she cannot see. So yes, there is some way to control who she will attack. Depending on what skills you have you can keep some people hidden. You can have others setup on overwatch. Other abilities like certain automatic attacks based on proximity help. Setting up clay-mores or traps helps. When she also goes far away, having things like squad sight and snipers helps. There are all sorts of things you can do.

I think the main problem you are having is understanding how to put together the proper strategies. All of the things you listed have easily been talked about over a ton of forums by people playing the game. I already linked a strategy guide specific to the beserker, you can find these things pretty easily.

Honestly I am confused if you have done 25 playthroughs why are you having so much difficulty?
 
First when folks talk about the game being hard or easy they should talk about difficulty level they play and if it is first play through or 100'th. The first time I encountered the assassin I was playing on hard and it was very hard because I set up for a fight and did not yet know its strength/weakness. The troupes composition and layout was awful (I liked to snipe which was not a good approach with the assassin). Later plays it was much easier because I knew what to expect and better composition for my squad. Saying it is easy on your 100th play-through is a bit misleading imho because it should be bloody easy by the 100th (or even 2nd or 3rd) time. But that first time it can be bloody had.
 
NoOther said:
Grenades with stun abilities, shred armor abilities, freeze abilities, etc. are based on chance? What soldiers you take into combat and what attributes they have, what weapons they have is based on chance? Where you go or position units on a map is based on chance? What enemies are going to be in the combat is completely based on chance? What facilities you build is based on chance? What you research is based on chance? All of these things are things you know ahead of time and can prepare for. So how is everything in the game based on chance? Also literally when you go to take an action, it gives you a probability indicator for a shot. And no, not all shots are probability based, some are automatic. So I really fail to see how "everything is based on chance".
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What enemies are in combat, how is that not based on chance? You can't control what enemies are present on the map, and if they happen to get triggered by one of your melee attacks. Unless you have a reaper in the squad and be able to scout ahead enough to see everything. But that's not always the case. Or you never do melee attacks unless you're 100% sure you won't trigger any enemies?
What do you mean automatic actions? Those are also based on chance. Like bladestorm and overwatch actions are all chance based, and there is fuck all you can do, when 5 out of 6 overwatch shots miss, or the shots are carried out in the worst possible combination. That's all chance. There is no way in hell you can arrange an ambush to make sure the soldier with shred will attack the armored enemy at all, let alone before everyone else. The probability indicator is just that, you can't rely on it. Just because it says 94% you can still miss. Unless very far ahead in the game when you're so buffed up with attachments and augs that everyone is a sharpshooter. But for that exact reason after you pass a treshold in the game it becomes too easy. That's why I started 25 games because after a while the campaign gets dull, I didn't play all to completion because I lost interest. Starting a new game is more exciting.


And? once the map is generated, it does not change. That is why you scout, that is why you plan out your moves. This is where strategy comes in. It is not just all chance.
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You scout out the entire map before doing anything? I don't have the patience for that.



This is actually not true. Some enemy movements are extremely predictable. Melee units are going to go for melee, range units are going to go for range, psychic units are generally going to use psychic power, etc. Before the mission it also usually gives you an indicator of what enemy units are going to be present. You can also control what actions you are going to take, and not all actions are probability based. Some actions are 100% every time. As for not being abie to anticipate what your ranger attack is going to do, that is absolutely false. That is why you scout, so before you charge into a situation you know what is there.
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I'm not talking about combat moves of already revealed units, that is predictable. I'm referring to the movements of other groups that weren't revealed yet. Do you keep one of your squad in concealment and keep it hidden so you can scout ahead before all attacks? I used to do that but I got bored of it. Now I never even get the concealment ability for rangers.


It is not so much a matter of knowing who she is going to attack as preparing for a possible attack. Also, she generally is not going to attack someone she cannot see. So yes, there is some way to control who she will attack. Depending on what skills you have you can keep some people hidden. You can have others setup on overwatch. Other abilities like certain automatic attacks based on proximity help. Setting up clay-mores or traps helps. When she also goes far away, having things like squad sight and snipers helps. There are all sorts of things you can do.
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And what good overwatch does if it has shadowstep? Sure squadsight helps but I never take more than one sniper on a mission, they're pretty useless unless they have high ground to fire from.

It just happened recently that I encountered the assassin in the sewers, and it kept using bending reed and went around 2-3 corners, so there was like 2-3 turns where I could only get off shots with very low chance at it, most of which missed. It was also early in the game so basic abilities only.



Honestly I am confused if you have done 25 playthroughs why are you having so much difficulty?
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That's an overstatement. It's not that I have that much difficulty, it's that I'm a maximalist. Anything bellow flawless annoys me. And I absolutely don't want to loose soldiers.

And I still can't find the stun gun. I might have to start a new game again, because this is really annoying. How could a weapon get lost if I never even had a squad member die? This must be another glitch in the game.
 
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you2 said:
First when folks talk about the game being hard or easy they should talk about difficulty level they play and if it is first play through or 100'th. The first time I encountered the assassin I was playing on hard and it was very hard because I set up for a fight and did not yet know its strength/weakness. The troupes composition and layout was awful (I liked to snipe which was not a good approach with the assassin). Later plays it was much easier because I knew what to expect and better composition for my squad. Saying it is easy on your 100th play-through is a bit misleading imho because it should be bloody easy by the 100th (or even 2nd or 3rd) time. But that first time it can be bloody had.
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For reference I have played through the expansion twice, once on Veteran and once on Commander.
 
M76 said:
You scout out the entire map before doing anything? I don't have the patience for that.
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No, I scout enough ahead to know if I run in with a melee attack it is not going to awake other squads. I also pay attention to how many enemy are visible and the usual squad makeup of that enemy type so I know how much I need to scout around that area. I haven't found it that difficult or that time consuming to scout ahead and try to avoid as many surprises as possible.

As for the rest, I don't really know what to say. It really sounds like some of the challenges you are facing is wanting to expedite missions, but also wanting to do them perfectly. This isn't really the game that offers much in that capacity, which is probably why you feel so strongly about it being about chance. This game is more about thoughtful strategy and eliminating as many unknown factors as possible. That is how you eliminate chance and create more certainty in actions. Some of the things you keep saying are unpredictable are actually fairly predictable. I am honestly surprised you say you have played through 25 times, but you have not noticed the patterns. A good way I found to force myself to be more patient and pay more attention is playing in iron-man mode on harder difficulties. All your decisions become vastly more important and poor decisions quickly lead to disaster.
 
Getting easier after reading posts here. Half coverage / full coverage / flanking. But yea, the chance thing is a bitch. Absolute first mission. One of my crew got mind controlled. She throws a grenade at the dude standing next to her. It blows up, then blows up the truck they are hiding behind....they both die. This was my fourth move ever playing the game. Haha
 
EvilViking said:
Getting easier after reading posts here. Half coverage / full coverage / flanking. But yea, the chance thing is a bitch. Absolute first mission. One of my crew got mind controlled. She throws a grenade at the dude standing next to her. It blows up, then blows up the truck they are hiding behind....they both die. This was my fourth move ever playing the game. Haha
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Yeah, NoOther will say: Don't stand behind a truck that can explode, don't let your squad member get mind controlled, and if you do, then predict which one will get mind controlled and deliberately get rid of the grenade beforehand :ROFLMAO: Or something like that.
 
NoOther said:
No, I scout enough ahead to know if I run in with a melee attack it is not going to awake other squads. I also pay attention to how many enemy are visible and the usual squad makeup of that enemy type so I know how much I need to scout around that area. I haven't found it that difficult or that time consuming to scout ahead and try to avoid as many surprises as possible.

As for the rest, I don't really know what to say. It really sounds like some of the challenges you are facing is wanting to expedite missions, but also wanting to do them perfectly. This isn't really the game that offers much in that capacity, which is probably why you feel so strongly about it being about chance. This game is more about thoughtful strategy and eliminating as many unknown factors as possible. That is how you eliminate chance and create more certainty in actions. Some of the things you keep saying are unpredictable are actually fairly predictable. I am honestly surprised you say you have played through 25 times, but you have not noticed the patterns. A good way I found to force myself to be more patient and pay more attention is playing in iron-man mode on harder difficulties. All your decisions become vastly more important and poor decisions quickly lead to disaster.
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I only play on ironman, mostly because I hate the clutter that regular auto-saves cause in the saves menu :p
BTW I won't change my playing style to suit the game, I'd rather struggle than use a full on defensive strategy. I know I should be less aggressive in my moves but meh, just fuckit, I'd rather take my chances than bow down :D
 
Stubborn to the last man.....

M76 said:
I only play on ironman, mostly because I hate the clutter that regular auto-saves cause in the saves menu :p
BTW I won't change my playing style to suit the game, I'd rather struggle than use a full on defensive strategy. I know I should be less aggressive in my moves but meh, just fuckit, I'd rather take my chances than bow down :D
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M76 said:
I only play on ironman, mostly because I hate the clutter that regular auto-saves cause in the saves menu :p
BTW I won't change my playing style to suit the game, I'd rather struggle than use a full on defensive strategy. I know I should be less aggressive in my moves but meh, just fuckit, I'd rather take my chances than bow down :D
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But realize, you are essentially saying that the failure is the game, not your own. Several times here you have made statements that bely that argument. It is not the game's fault that you do not wish to play by its rules...
 
EvilViking said:
Getting easier after reading posts here. Half coverage / full coverage / flanking. But yea, the chance thing is a bitch. Absolute first mission. One of my crew got mind controlled. She throws a grenade at the dude standing next to her. It blows up, then blows up the truck they are hiding behind....they both die. This was my fourth move ever playing the game. Haha
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Yeah, a Sectoid can do that. Getting mind controlled in the first few missions means a bad day for everyone involved. But that's kinda the beauty of XCOM in a nutshell.

But yeah, the lesson here is to not hide behind anything that can potentially explode. Because in XCOM, it most likely will.
 
NoOther said:
But realize, you are essentially saying that the failure is the game, not your own. Several times here you have made statements that bely that argument. It is not the game's fault that you do not wish to play by its rules...
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You act as if your playing style is the only valid one and everyone should play like that. Of course I play by the game's rules, how could I not? But I also play the way I want, and you play differently. So what? Why can't both ways be valid? That's good about the game that you don't necessarily have to use the exact same tactics and the same perks to get ahead.
 
M76 said:
You act as if your playing style is the only valid one and everyone should play like that. Of course I play by the game's rules, how could I not? But I also play the way I want, and you play differently. So what? Why can't both ways be valid? That's good about the game that you don't necessarily have to use the exact same tactics and the same perks to get ahead.
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How do I act like that? I talked about all kinds of ways one could strategize and play the game, even providing a link that mentioned several strategies for battling the beserker queen that you said you were having difficulty with. I have done nothing but offer suggestions and every time you combat me. You are the only one here with the narrow view on the play. I also never invalidated your play style, I spoke directly to the things you complained of and offered solutions. So I am not really sure where you are going with that.
 
EvilViking said:
Getting easier after reading posts here. Half coverage / full coverage / flanking. But yea, the chance thing is a bitch. Absolute first mission. One of my crew got mind controlled. She throws a grenade at the dude standing next to her. It blows up, then blows up the truck they are hiding behind....they both die. This was my fourth move ever playing the game. Haha
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Yeah, this is one of the reasons to try and keep your guys separate. Also be weary of the environment, as you have already noticed several things can explode (vehicles, pumps at gas stations, oil tanks, alien power devices that typically look like green glowing squares or cylinders, etc.).

For the mind control, that is always going to be annoying and one of the reasons I tend to target sectoids first. I also tend to prioritize anything that does AOE damage/effects. One of the things that can make the game easier is to make sure you bring a specialist with the haywire protocol so you can hack mechs or towers. Once they have sufficient hacking you can generally take control of them and that effectively adds another team member for a short time. The hacking generally lasts 2-3 rounds. Having that and possibly a specialist with field medic can help a lot. I put a high value on specialists in missions.
 
Started playing this last week....any tips on what facilities I should focus on building first? I vaguely recall in X-Com 1 that the best way to avoid getting curb stomped was to build satellites as quickly as possible, but that game mechanic has been removed altogether.

I must say that the performance is also terrible for a game that's been out for 4 years now and doesn't really push graphical boundaries. Lots of choppiness and hitching, looks like very poor optimization for an UE game.
 
Have you been trying to play XCOM2 with mods lately? Well tough luck, their latest update broke mod functionality. You need to use AML to get mods working now.

Here's my take on the story.
 
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Blade-Runner said:
Started playing this last week....any tips on what facilities I should focus on building first? I vaguely recall in X-Com 1 that the best way to avoid getting curb stomped was to build satellites as quickly as possible, but that game mechanic has been removed altogether.

I must say that the performance is also terrible for a game that's been out for 4 years now and doesn't really push graphical boundaries. Lots of choppiness and hitching, looks like very poor optimization for an UE game.
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I know this is an old post, but I missed it. If you play vanilla XCOM2, then the first facility to build is guerilla tactics school, then proving ground. if you play War of the Choosen, then the resistance ring. ->guerilla tactics school ->training center. You should also focus your excavation on getting to the first power coil asap. And build the first power generator there, because then that will be able to power all your facilities and you won't need more generators.

And there is one facility you should definitely not build, because it is useless, the defense matrix.
 
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