General research | New technology XCOM 2 Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Similarly to the previous installment of the franchise, XCOM 2 gives the player access to numerous research projects, which unlock new weapons, armors and other pieces of equipment. Without proper planning and selecting most important projects from dozens of options, you can quickly end up in a situation in which the enemies are simply too strong for your soldiers and further game will simply become impossible.
Below you can find a table representing all the possible research projects in the game - projects unlocked by them can be found in the following chapters.
Name | Costs | Effect | Requirements |
Modular Weapons | none | New research: - Magnetic Weapons | none |
Hybrid Materials | none | New research: - Plated Armor New item: - Nanoscale Vest | none |
Alien Biotech | none | Allows you to perform autopsies. | none |
Resistance Communications | none | New research: - Resistance Radio New facility: - Resistance Comms | Finishing a Guerilla Ops mission. |
Resistance Radio | none | Allows you to build Radio Relays on the map. | Resistance Communications |
Magnetic Weapons | none | New research: - Gauss Weapons New item: - Mag Pistol - Magnetic Rifle - Shard Gun | Modular Weapons |
Psionics | 5x Elerium Crystals | New facility: - Psi Lab New item: - Advanced Psi Amp | Sectoid Autopsy |
Plated Armor | 10x Alien Alloys | New research: - Elerium New item: - Predator Armor New project: - E.X.O. Suit - Spider Suit | Hybrid Materials |
Gauss Weapons | none | New research: - Elerium New item: - Mag Cannon - Gauss Rifle | Magnetic Weapons |
Elerium | 20x Elerium Crystals | New research: - Powered Armor - Plasma Rifle New upgrade: - Elerium Conduit (Power Relay facility) | Plated Armor |
Powered Armor | 20x Alien Alloys 5x Elerium Crystal | New item: - Warden Armor New project: - Wraith Suit - W.A.R. Suit | Elerium |
Plasma Rifle | 10x Alien Alloys 10x Elerium Crystals | New research: - Beam Cannon - Plasma Lance - Storm Gun | Elerium |
Plasma Lance | 5x Alien Alloys 5x Elerium Crystals | New item: - Plasma Lance | Plasma Rifle |
Storm Gun | 10x Alien Alloys | New item: - Storm Gun | Plasma Rifle |
Beam Cannon | 5x Alien Alloys 5x Elerium Crystals | New item: - Beam Cannon | Plasma Rifle |
Alien Encryption | none | New facility: - Shadow Chamber | Object: Codex Brain |
Facility Lead | none | +50 Intel A random alien facility appears on the map. | Left by enemies |
Advent Datapad Decryption | none | Intel | Left by enemies |
Alien Data Cache Decryption | none | Intel | Left by enemies |
Note
You should remember about a couple of things:
- Items described as "new item" are the ones that can be made in the workshop and you only have to craft a single piece - all of your soldiers will be then given the specific type of equipment, a new weapon, armor, upgraded grenade, and so on.
- However, some of the items are still created as a single piece, to use on a single soldier only. Those are new types of grenades, ammo, as well as the Battle Scanner, Skulljack, Mimic Beacon, Mind Shield, Medikit, Overdrive Serum, Proximity Mine.
- Items described as "new project" are available from the Proving Ground facility and creating them gives you only a single piece of a given equipment - a single W.A.R. Suit for instance.