Let's talk about my overarching strategy for XCOM 2. Not just base-building but the goal that drives my. I consider myself a very good player, as much as I expect the most of you to be. But I am beginning to doubt myself. 10 seconds ago I lost my.

• Xcom 2 Command To Win Mission

Shares many elements from its predecessor, but there’s plenty of differences that’ll catch even a veteran player off guard. For this guide, I’m assuming you have a basic familiarity with XCOM—knowing important basics such as ‘What is Overwatch?’ and ‘Are aliens good or bad?’ Read on for nine things you should know before kicking off your campaign.Stall the Avatar ProjectPlayers of XCOM: Enemy Unknown (henceforth known as EU) will remember the ‘doom ticker’—the bar that represented how panicked Earth’s countries were as a whole. When the panic rose too high, it was game over.In XCOM 2, the aliens are working on something called ‘Project Avatar,’ creating facilities and events that produce steady progress towards the end of the world. Unlike EU, when the Avatar bar fills up you don’t instantly lose. Instead, a big red timer starts counting down, and when it hits zero your campaign is over.However, there’s a critical function of the countdown that gives you some breathing room.

The countdown timer starts at around 20 days but can be stopped as soon as you reduce the Avatar progress by any amount. Assaulting an enemy facility removes all of the Avatar progress it’s developed, and completing story objectives also chips down the progress bar significantly.What’s more, once you’ve stopped the countdown timer it eventually resets back to its starting value.

That means to make the most of your time, you can ride the timer—instead of immediately assaulting an available facility to stop the clock, you can deliberately let the doom timer tick down as you prepare to assault other facilities or complete story objectives, then quickly enact those plans when you’ve only got a few days of time left. Stalling for time like this gives you precious extra weeks to expand to other regions and build up your power.Choose your early prioritiesTwo of the most important choices you’ll make in XCOM 2 are what to research and build first. There’s a few key things to focus on early: Modular Weaponry research allows you to apply looted upgrades to your guns, increasing their power. Next, do Alien Biotech, which opens up the Advanced Warfare Center for construction and gives you access to the Officer Autopsy research. Completing that will let you build the Proving Grounds, another critical structure.Resistance Communications should be next, allowing you to activate the resistance in new regions to increase your reach and your income.

After that, you’ve got two roads to go down—Magnetic Weapons, or Hybrid Materials and then Plated Armor. If you can’t decide, get Magnetic Weapons first. Armor lets you get shot at more, but enemies can’t shoot you if they’re already dead.As for buildings, always start with a Guerilla Training School, allowing you to purchase upgrades and increase your squad size. Next, an early Advanced Warfare Center maximizes the chance of troops gaining a bonus perk when they’re promoted, which can be an incredible power boost. Finally, a Proving Grounds lets you build new ammo and grenade types along with many other important gear upgrades. You’ll need a power plant to support all of these facilities, and soon a Resistance Comms center to continue your worldwide expansion. All this construction will cost a pretty penny, so keep earning supplies through your missions and through the black market to keep that progress rolling.The LoS indicator will keep you safeOne of XCOM 2’s friendliest new features is the line-of-sight indicator.

When moving your soldier’s movement cursor around the map, a small crosshair appearing next to an enemy’s health bar means you’ll be able to see that enemy if you move to the square you’re hovering over.While this has obvious benefits, like ensuring you never again scream “WHY CAN’T I SEE THAT GUY,” there are some advanced ways to use the indicator that will boost your tactical ability. For starters, you can also use it to move in ways where the enemy can’t see you—for example, when trying to move without triggering an enemy’s overwatch. You’re allowed to move one tile inside an enemy’s overwatch radius before they’ll attack you with reaction fire, so trace out a path that the enemy can’t see, using obstructions like walls and pillars to move without being shot at.Another good use of the indicator is to avoid triggering patrols who’ve yet to spot your squad. The Ranger’s Phantom perk allows your soldier to remain in stealth when the rest of your squad is revealed, and the standard sight range of an XCOM enemy is 17 tiles. In other words, your Phantom can move ahead and scout out unaware enemies, and your soldiers can use that recon to stay at least 17 tiles away, ensuring those ADVENT or aliens will remain oblivious to your presence.Don’t sneak into a crossfireConcealment is a powerful new stealth ability for your squad in XCOM 2, but it can be a double edged sword. You’ll often be tempted to sneak past patrols entirely, avoiding them while accomplishing your objective. In your head, this seems like a natural thing to do when given a stealth mechanic.Don’t do this.

Or if you do, be very aware that those enemies will come back to bite you. By sneaking past patrols, you make it likely that they’ll catch up with you later, rolling up behind you at a critical moment. Imagine being stuck in a hard fight in XCOM, then imagine another patrol of angry aliens showing up directly behind you. It’s not a good thing.There are times when sneaking past enemies can be very clever—on missions where you need to grab an objective and then extract, or you need to beat a tough time limit before worrying about difficult firefights. However, in most missions where killing all enemies is an objective anyway, it’s often faster and safer to kill every alien you meet ASAP, using stealth to set up powerful ambushes rather than attempting to Solid Snake the operation.

ByContributorThe tactical, turn-based combat of XCOM 2 involves a significant amount of depth and strategic complexity. Though you’re guaranteed to lose a few good soldiers on the battlefield, we’re here to help minimize your losses. Keep these combat tips in mind in order to successfully complete each mission with your entire squad intact.Although resource management plays a large role in XCOM 2, your success in defeating the alien oppressors relies heavily on the quality of your squad and overall tactical approach during each mission. This guide features several combat focused tips and best practices that will help you complete each mission with minimal casualties. Cover Your FlanksAs a general rule of thumb, you should always move to keep your soldiers in cover, ideally full cover, whenever possible. Tiles marked with half or full shield icons indicate spots that provide partial or full cover, respectively.

Enemies will often miss shots on soldiers in full cover, but keep in mind that soldiers are still vulnerable to attacks while in partial cover. Try to keep your flanks protected and predict the direction which enemies may come from. The goal is to keep a barrier between your soldiers and the enemy forces as you move toward the objective, so try to position your team accordingly.At the start of most missions, your squad begins in a state of Concealment. This means each soldier will move in an undetectable stealth mode until you decide to shoot or otherwise become detected. Utilize Concealment for as long as possible to prevent an early conflict from delaying your plans.

Make Overwatch a HabitOne of the first actions you learn about early on in XCOM 2 is the Overwatch ability, which allows you to put soldiers in a battle-ready attack mode at the end of their turn. Soldiers on Overwatch will react to any enemies that come within range. Overwatch is perfect for ambushing unsuspecting enemies and for squeezing in some extra damage between turns.

Make it a habit to put at least one or two of your soldiers on Overwatch each turn in order to defend and potentially save nearby squadmates. Upgrade and Promote SoldiersSoldiers that perform well during each successful mission will likely have promotions waiting for them in the After Action Report screen. If you forget to promote your soldiers at the end of a mission, make sure to go back into the Armory to promote them there. Promotions assign class types to recruits and grant new skills and abilities for soldiers who partake in successful missions.The Armory is also where you can edit your soldiers’ loadouts and upgrade their arsenal.

As your scientists continue their research, new gear upgrades will become available and must be built by the engineers. Make sure to apply newly built weapons and armor to all of your soldiers in order to improve their effectiveness during combat.

Balance Squad and Play Roles EffectivelyAs soldiers gain combat experience, they will be promoted to specific class types. These classes break down into Rangers, Sharpshooters, Grenadiers, Specialists, and the coveted Psi Operatives. Each class type features their own unique style of combat, from close-quarters sword strikes, to long range sniping.Try to include one of each soldier type on your squad for each mission, in order to balance the roles necessary for combat. Make sure to play to each soldiers’ unique set of skills by putting them in situations that optimize their abilities. For example, your Ranger can take point and move along the frontline, while your Sharpshooter can provide cover fire from a distance in Overwatch mode.

Use Medkits and Gremlins for HealingAfter a bit of research, Medkits become available as an equipment item for your soldiers. Medkits allow soldiers to partially heal themselves during battle, which can come in handy during more challenging missions. Try to equip at least one member of your squad with a Medkit before each mission to aid their survival. However, keep in mind that equipment slots are limited early on, so Medkits will need to replace existing frag grenades or other utility items.Gremlins are unique remote-controlled drones that are available on the Specialist class. Initially, the Gremlins cannot heal squadmates, but will provide a level of protection for one turn instead. Apply this protection buff to squadmates that have taken damage and are in danger of an enemy attack.As you promote the Specialists, new features become available for their Gremlins, including the ability to heal squadmates. Utilize a healing Gremlin to heal soldiers from afar during combat.

This eliminates the need for additional Medkits, allowing your soldiers to carry different utility items. Push Toward Timed ObjectivesMost missions involve a timed objective that must be achieved within a certain number of turns, which will be indicated on the upper right corner of the screen.

Continue to advance your soldiers toward the objective location, even if enemies have spotted your team.While it’s important to eliminate enemies as soon as possible, it’s more important to reach your objective in a timely fashion. Even if you are able to kill a handful of enemies, the number of turns it takes to do so may be more than you have to complete the mission. Once your primary objective is complete, only then can you focus on defeating any remaining enemies, as indicated on the objectives list.

Extract Fallen Soldiers in the FieldIn XCOM, there’s nothing worse than watching one of your favorite soldiers bleed out on the battlefield. Though losing a soldier is always unfortunate, you can take comfort in the fact that their gear can be salvaged with a bit of extra effort.During combat, soldiers can carry fallen squadmates to a nearby extraction point to rescue their body from the battlefield. This allows you to keep any gear that may have been equipped on the fallen soldier’s body.

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However, extracting soldiers poses an added risk to surviving squad members, so just make sure the coast is clear before sending a soldier on a rescue attempt. Extract If NecessarySome missions simply take a turn for the worse.

Xcom 2 Command To Win Mission

When your soldier numbers are getting low and it seems as though your squad has little hope for recovery, call in an extraction helicopter using the button in the upper right corner, or “P” on the keyboard. This will allow one of your soldiers to place an extraction zone on the ground. You then must get all of your remaining soldiers into the extraction zone to escape via helicopter. This will usually result in mission failure, but if you are desperate for an extraction, then you likely were going to fail the mission anyway. It’s better than losing an entire squad of soldiers in the process.