- For people who think the nu-Xcom formula (two actions, pod activation, single base etc) is fundamentally terrible. All mods can do is (maybe) improve some aspects of gameplay that a veteran player might consider lackluster.
- About cosmetics. Yes, you can have Miranda Lawson in your squad, you can make your guys look like stormtroopers and you can even give them the classic look of the Personal Armour. But cosmetics are very subjective and I won’t bother with more than a few pointers
- Meant for people who don’t own all DLC for whatever reason. I won’t go into the DLC requirements of each mod as it would make the thread unreadable. Just keep in mind that WOTC is pretty much a new game and vanilla X2 mods will NOT work, unless otherwise specified.
I will start by providing some information on how to setup your game, following that with a copy of my AML generated modlist.txt. My list should be used as a foundation for your own list. Topics in this guide will match categories on my list, with Core Mods getting their own category, together with their dependencies. The idea is to keep things as modular and compatible as possible, so you will always be able to mix and match mods to suit your vision for the game.
Setup and general information
Xcom 2 + Wotc takes about 76 GB of Disk Space, with mods taking anything from 26 KB to 1.2 GB each. And YES, it should all go into your SSD, otherwise you risk minute long loading times. In my own setup everything runs smoothly thanks to a Samsung 960 PRO M.2 NVMe SSD, in my rig all missions load in a matter of seconds. But I’ve read nasty stuff about loading times with mods + conventional HDD.
Now that you installed the game and ran it once, download the Alternative Mod Launcher here and never use Firaxis' shitty launcher again. AML detects mod conflicts (with some false positives), sorts mods into categories, saves/loads mod lists, points out missing dependencies, AVOIDS bloating your INI file, does your dishes, fills your tax forms and probably has other features I never used. That last serious point is in fact something you should know: as you add and remove mods the INI files of the game might end up with duplicated entries that result in lower performance. AML fixes this issue to an extent, but you should know how to run an INI purge in case you need it. It’s simple, really:
- Go into “C:\Users\[Name]\Documents\my games\XCOM2 War of the Chosen\XComGame\Config” and delete everything.
- Disable all mods and restart the game
- Quit the game, enable all mods again, restart
- REDO ALL YOUR SETTINGS (mod and regular options)
- Start/resume your campaign
If the game soft crashes, open the console
The last mod related problem that you might run into is a mod conflict. If you notice a massive drop in your game’s performance, chances are you have two conflicting mods. Even simple things like “show HP in numbers” conflicting with “additional icons” can result in your Geoscape becoming unbearably slow. Other causes for performance drops can include VRAM becoming insufficient due to too many modded units, CPU bottlenecks due to increased enemy count and your PC straight up exploding if you install the “idle suppression” mod.
The List
You can download my txt here or you can simply copy paste its contents into your own txt.
DO NOT START THE GAME WITH THIS LIST "AS IS"!!!
You must choose a core mod and uncheck the other core mods. Sadly AML doesn't save currently disabled mods to the TXT, so I had to enable EVERYTHING, which means incompatible stuff is enabled. This list was never meant as a quest compass anyway, so I trust codexers will be able to load the list and uncheck undesired stuff before launching the game.
Core Mods
The first thing you need to decide when making your X2 mod list is your Core Mod or “Major Overhaul Mod” or whatever you want to call the thing that messes with soldier classes, perks, items, weapons and attachments. Compatibility with your Core Mod is your main concern when adding anything else into your list. Don’t just assume something is compatible with your core mod, especially if you choose to play Long War of The Chosen. MANY mods have a vanilla version and a LW or RPGO version. Read mod descriptions carefully and be wary of anything that messes with the stuff I put in bold. I will point out exceptions when discussing each Core Mod.
The second thing you need to decide is the overall “power level” of your campaign. All Core Mods have the end result of changing your squad’s overall effectiveness. It’s no secret, for instance, that Long War classes are generally weaker than their vanilla counterparts. Many consider the “Vanilla Core” to be way too strong, which is why 2 out of the 3 most popular Core Mods are strict nerfs to XCOM. This is done in an attempt to restore some measure of back and forth between aliens and XCOM, instead of the later obliterating the former as soon as it shows up. But XCOM’s power level is only half of the equation, which is why you should also take your choices of aliens, neutral factions, difficulty level, pod behavior and AI improvements into consideration. Whenever I present a mod I will also try to point out its effect in terms of balance. Without further delay, these are your main options for Core Mod:
a) Nothing aka Vanilla: even if it is your first playthrough I would still recommend using some QoL mods. By not installing any overhauls you can use the vanilla XCOM and then mod other, minor aspects of the game to suit your taste.
b) Long War of the Chosen: the largest and most ambitious overhaul. Personally I dislike LOWTC, but I did play it for about 20% of a full campaign. This mod heavily influences other mods as you will notice “LW Secondaries” is a dependency for other Core Mods. You can read my impressions here. LW is a standalone mod, so you really shouldn’t run other gameplay changing mods unless they clearly state being “LWOTC Compatible”. XCOM gets a noticeable nerf compared to vanilla and you are not supposed to fight out the aliens, even though they aren’t significantly buffed. LW tries to capture the feeling of hopelessness of fighting an enemy that severely outnumbers and outguns you, a feeling Vanilla misses entirely as you mow down hordes of aliens and wonder how XCOM ever lost the war in the first place.
c) Musashi’s RPG Overhaul: hands down my favorite Core Mod. RPGO abolishes classes and replaces them with the “Universal Soldier” class that has access to all perks from all classes. Stats are also manually assigned, so you have full control over your soldier’s progression. Equipment is no longer class locked, so you can equip any primary/secondary combo you want. This represents a massive buff to XCOM and should be countered with increased difficulty, enemy packs or whatever, unless you want your campaign to be piss easy. Keep in mind RPGO only affects regular soldiers, which means faction heroes, SPARKs and Psi Operatives will be like in vanilla. Therefore, RPGO is fully compatible with any overhaul to the non-regular troops. Remember to enable “The New Perk Order” before starting a new campaign.
d) A Better Barracks: from the same author as “A Better Advent” and the rest of the “A Better” mods, however this one is a different beast entirely. While all other mods in the series can be used to change your game in a modular fashion, ABB is an overhaul/core mod and should take precedence in case of conflicts. ABB is probably the harshest mod in terms of curbing XCOM’s power level. There are 8 classes, each with a fixed Secondary and a choice of 3 semi-random perk trees + the TC tree. The end result is that two soldiers of the same class might end up being built to fulfill completely different roles. One Infantry might be a support/suppression machinegunner while another Infantry might be a frontline rifleman and occasional close quarters shotgun surgeon. One agent might be knife/shotgun fighter while another is a hacking sniper with extra medkits. If you like the “perk roulette” system, you might wanna try RPGO’s option to do the same. If you dislike it, tough luck, since there’s no option to disable it, TC respecs won’t reroll your perks and “I’m the commander here” only affects the TC perk tree (the ones you can’t take until you build the training center). ABB doesn't touch Psi Operatives, so it is compatible with the Psionics Overhaul (under "partial overhauls").
Lastly, here’s a quick gross oversimplification summary of how every mod impacts XCOM’s power level:
ABB < LWOTC < VANILLA <<< RPGO
( THIS IS NOT A “MOD RANKING”!!!!)
Take this information with a grain of salt, since I read LW soldiers have a decently high ceiling to grow, so they might end up on the same level as vanilla. RPGO soldiers may also struggle during the very early game on higher difficulties since some important perks have been pushed further into the promotion tree compared to vanilla.