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XCOM 2is a tense game about a high-stakes resistance against an alien occupation.Resources are hard to scrounge upand personnel are even harder to find, and so it’s essential to build the Avenger’s facilities in a way that makes the most sense.
However, there are a few issues that players have to deal with before they can decide on the best layout. First, most of the rooms need clearing, and while a cleared room gives back a pile of resources it also costs valuable days and at least one engineer’s time. Second, the players' needs will change as the game advances, and soa useful facility in one monthcould end up being a waste of space in the next.
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Facility Basics
Power Coils
InXCOM 2, two random facility rooms start out as “Exposed Power Coils” and give the player elerium when cleared. They usually sit on the bottom two rows, but not always. Aside from elerium, these spaces let players build facilities with zero energy cost, and any power relays built on Shielded Power Coils give +7 power. The only two facilities (at least on Veteran difficulty) that use more than 7 power are the psi lab and shadow chamber, and since both are late-game facilities they make great choices for these rooms.
Workshops
As far as base layout goes, the most important facility inXCOM 2is the workshop. One workshop turns two engineers into four, but the four GREMLIN engineers can only reach adjacent facilities. This means the best place to put a workshop is on the second column and on the second or third row. The best facilities to build next to the workshop are ones that use two engineers, like resistance comms and power relays.
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This also means that facilities that don’t use engineers should go in the corners, far away from the workshop. This includes the laboratory, the guerilla tactics school, the shadow chamber, and the training center.
However, near the end of the game players may have enough engineers to not need a workshop. This is especially likely inWar of the Chosengames since players can get extra engineers from covert actions. If this happens, the best thing to do is demolish the workshop and replace it with something more useful, like a power relay or defensive matrix.
Removing Facilities
Not all players may know that they can destroy facilities inXCOM 2. This is because clearing a room or building a new facility is as easy as clicking on it from the main Avenger screen. However, removing a facility is a bit more involved.
To do it, players must click on Engineering and choose “Build Facilities” from the menu at the bottom. Once they do, the screen will focus on the facility grid and each one will get a big red X in the lower-left corner. Players can also see this screen by clicking on an uncleared room, but once all the rooms are clear the only way to reach this screen is through engineering.
Unlike most actions in the game, removing a facility happens immediately. It also doesn’t refund any supplies or elerium, so be careful about hitting confirm. In addition, the game won’t let players remove a facility if it would drop the total power below the power being used or drop the contacts available below the number of contacts made. This means that players who want to move power relays or resistance comms will need to build (and upgrade) a replacement first.
Overall, the base game ofXCOM 2has 10 different facilities whileWar of the Chosenhas 12. This means players of the base game can build one of each facility plus one extra power relay and resistance comms, butWar of the Chosenplayers will need to skip building something since the Avenger still needs two power relays. Losing the laboratory will make research slower but otherwise keep things the same, but losing the defensive matrix may be the best choice since it only comes up during certain rare missions. The workshop might be unnecessary towards the end of the game, but early on it’s essential.
XCOM 2is available now on Android, iOS, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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