XCOM 2, a turn-based strategy game from developer Firaxis Games, took the world by storm after the studio rebooted the classic franchise that pits an alien race against those human beings fighting for their planet.
Like many PC games these days, the entire experience is made infinitely better by the inclusion of the modding community. Steam's Workshop functionality was taken full advantage of by Firaxis to ensure the gamers can implement their very own items, tweaks, and full expansions.
These are ten you should install today:
Optimizing Everything!
Let's be honest here -- XCOM 2 had quite a few optimization problems. While the strategy game is a lot of fun, there were issues some players could not look past. Thankfully, those in the modding community had a grand vision to fix those optimization problems and make the vanilla game ten times better.
Reliable Smoke
Reliable Smoke is a relatively simple mod for XCOM 2, but one that helps immensely. Basically, the entire premise of the modification is to fix how unreliable the smoke grenade indicator is within the vanilla game. A quick download via Steam ensures all smoke will provide the defense coverage originally claimed. No more aliens shooting through the fog like it was completely clear.
How To Use Mods On Pc
Stop Wasting My Time
Stop Wasting My Time is a bit of a mouthful for a mod, but so very useful. The community loves the mod, having voted multiple times to ensure it is top rated on the Workshop. Ministry bloodlines.
So, what does it do? This simple fix removes the lengthy wait time in-between slow elements, such as when the Avenger is moving. Nothing is messed up, thankfully.
EU Aim Rolls
In terms of optimization, there are no other mods that best EU Aim Rolls. The brilliant patch fixes a whole host of issues within the vanilla game, many of which you probably overlooked at first.
To start, the chance to hit and the chance to receive a critical have been separated, whereas they were originally combined into one. Grenades have also received a buff, as an on-target grenade will now actually cause damage when near an Archon, for example.
Adding In Content
Content is the lifeblood of a video game. Without great content to keep you captivated, a video game is just a narrative. The following three mods will offer new maps, new customization options, and new ways to catch your attention.
World Expansion Project: ADVENT
WEP: ADVENT has one goal in mind for XCOM 2: improving the map generator within the vanilla game. For those who have played the main game for lengthy periods of time, the maps will eventually become stale and old. The new environments within ADVENT fit nicely into the world, as they all use setpieces in the game at some point to form entirely new arenas of combat.
Uniforms Manager
A wonderful little mod that allows the player to create, save, and apply customization options to a single soldier or to the entire squad with ease. For those players who enjoy making each soldier unique and their own, this is one of the more necessary additions to the game.
Free The Hood
Free the Hood allows you to combine different headgears by separating the upper and lower face, removing most limitations from the customization of each soldier, and ensuring just a bit more uniqueness. So, for example, if you want to craft a unit chewing on a cigar while wearing a bandana, then go right ahead!
Upping the Difficulty
After playing through a campaign or two..perhaps even three, some players find themselves wishing for a higher difficulty level. Popping aliens from behind cover, tossing a 'nade over a wall, and blasting down alien ships can become too easy after a little while. These mods ensure you keep on your feet at all times.
A Better AI
This is hands down the most impressive difficulty mod available on the Workshop for XCOM 2. Every single enemy in the game will receive an overhaul, so expect ruthless decision making and a more animalistic killer nature in each AI. In the vanilla game, the AI enemy sometimes grants you a reprieve, but that won't happen any longer. Though you may want to complete the game at least once before downloading, just to get your bearings.
Grenades Damage Falloff
The easiest solution to any problem within the world of XCOM is to launch an overwhelming amount of explosives in the direction of the enemy. The true power of your Grenadiers will finally be let loose on the battlefield. Grenades deal less damage when further from the center of the blast radius. Closer to the center, however, and you will lose a life easily.
Total Overhauls
An overhaul to a video game basically changes the entire structure of the vanilla game. Everything from new content to massive tweaks, a whole new story to completely different game mechanics. An overhaul can breathe new life into your favorite game.
Guerilla War
Guerilla War, despite being in Alpha right now, is probably one of the biggest overhaul mods available for XCOM 2 currently. Instead of simply wiping the arena clear of all enemies and acquiring every reward, each mission only requires you to complete an objective and extract, making it a bit more difficult in the long run.
ADVENT can call in reinforcements when they are alerted to your presence, which means more enemies to fight the longer you have boots on the ground. While still in development, Guerilla War is totally playable at the moment, and will completely change how you play the game.
Wave COM
Wave COM drastically changes the nature of this sequel. For those who love tower and wave defense type games, this mod should be dear to your heart. You begin with just a small squad of rookie soldiers fighting against increasingly more difficult waves of enemies on a variety of random maps. Your soldiers gain experience and level up based on their kills, making them stronger and more capable. Troop customization, save game support, and optional boss waves with new types of aliens are all included within the mod.
Mods are such an impressive, useful way to bolster the life of a video game. XCOM 2 is, by no means, an older game, but the wide variety of mods already released and in development ensure we'll see the turn-based strategy title for a long time to come.
These ten are a great start, but there are more out there. Care to recommend a few to GameSkinny? Leave them in the comments!
When it comes to mods in the XCOM series, the most functional tools become almost inseparable from the vanilla versions of the games they're used in. The same can be said about the latest War of the Chosen DLC forXCOM 2.
This short list of the best mods that are fully compatible with WOTC includes tools that are capable of fully transforming your entire gameplay experience. Most of them are designed to save you time and effort that otherwise would be spent on unnecessary actions.
So if you do value your gameplay time, then continue reading this guide for XCOM 2: War of the Chosen.
Stop Wasting My Time
This is a super useful mod that makes things happen faster, such as shutting off unnecessary cinematics or character chatter that brings nothing valuable to the gameplay experience.
The complete list of changes that you can expect inthe SWMT mod is as follows:
- Removes various pauses:
- After shooting, throwing grenades, abilities, etc.
- After getting a kill
- After going into cover
- Reanimating corpses and unburrowing chryssalids
- Revealed enemies cinematic time
- Removes unskippable voiceovers:
- 1, 3, and 6 turns remaining warnings
- Civilians dying warning
- Increases Gremlin movement speed by 150%
- Removes 33% slowdown of enemies not being attacked during overwatch
Evac All
A simple-yet-effective mod that allows you to evac all soldiers at the same time from the evac zone instead of activating each soldier separately. Just like the previous mod, this one was designed for only one purpose -- to save your time.
The creators of the mod even left an option to change the evac animations order in the 'XComEvacAll_WotC_Defaults.ini' file that's located in your Config folder.
Free Camera Rotation
In a game like XCOM 2, having a full spectrum of vision is vital for the success of each mission. That is why camera rotation plays such a significant role in determining the best position for your soldiers and further tactical decision-making.
This little mod here gives you a complete freedom over your camera rotation options, including the following features:
- Sets default rotation angle to 45 degrees.
- Enables free camera rotation while holding down Q and E keys.
- Enables free camera zoom while holding down T and G keys.
- Enables free camera mode controlled by mouse movement (Alt + mouse).
- Allows to pitch camera with '[' ']' keys.
- Fully ini configurable.
Black Market Usage
This a perfect tool for those who are wondering what all the items listed in the market are needed for. With this mod, you will be able to hover over any item in the market list, and it will instantly show the usage attributes for each of them.
If you know how to configure '.ini' files, then you could also change the following terms in the 'XComBlackmarketUsage_Settings.ini' file:
- 'Don't show' -- only show items from your current research level.
- 'Show' -- show everything you have not researched/built yet.
- 'Obfuscate' -- obfuscate what will be shown by displaying unresearched tech/gear as '???'.
More Squad Size
If you ever needed to increase the number of soldiers in your squad, then you can do just that with the help of this mod. It will give two upgrades to your squads, such as Squad Size III (costs 125 supply, requires 'Major' rank) and Squad Size IV (costs 200 supply, requires 'Colonel' rank).
Xcom 2 Mod Folder Location
Now you will be able to take up to 8 soldiers per fight -- and in the near future possibly even up to 12, when the creators of the mod release the next version.
Gotcha Again!
Do you like indicators? Well, here's a mod that will provide you with 15 different types of mission indicators that are not available in the vanilla version of the game. Here's what you will get:
- Regular shootable indicator
- Flanking indicator
- Squadsight indicators
- Hacking indicators
- Spotted by enemy indicator
- Neutralize VIP
- Hacking objectives
- Destroy object
- Indicators for hackable doors
- Indicators for hackable ADVENT towers
- Indicators for friendly units
- Overwatch indicators
- Pod activation indicators
- Smoke indicator
- PsiBomb indicator
Yet Another F1
If you are an established fan of the series, and you feel nostalgic for the old menus from the Enemy Unknown era, then you will enjoy this mod that changes the new UI with the old one.
The mod may have a funny title, but it is actually activated by pressing the F1 button. It will show stats, active abilities, passive abilities, buffs, debuffs, the primary weapon, secondary and armor.
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That wraps up this mod list! But if you need other types of help with the game, make sure to check out the rest of our XCOM 2: War of the Chosen guides here at GameSkinny:
Published Sep. 7th 2017