Research - Inspire and Breakthrough | Game mechanics XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Game Guide

Breakthrough grants access to previously unavailable research.

In addition to the new research projects, the War of the Chosen add-on introduces yet another innovation related to the development of new technologies. These are inspirations and breakthroughs. Both allow significant improvements in the research process and introduce some freshness, but they differ significantly in their performance. Both can occur after the development of any technology - at such a moment there is a chance that the place will have either an event of inspiration or a breakthrough. You can increase your chances by building a laboratory in the base. The most important thing about the breakthroughs and inspirations is the fact that they have to be done immediately - if you do not order them at the time of such an option, the opportunity to take advantage of the bonus will be lost.

The differences between Inspire and Breakthrough:

1. Inspire - let you develop technologies much faster than usually. This allows you to finish lengthy research much sooner, gaining access to better technology.
2. Breakthroughs - when a Breakthrough happens, the player will be able to work on an additional technology that would regularly be unavailable. You can choose weapon upgrades that increase damage, reducing construction time by 50% or 100% or adding an upgrade slot to a weapon.

Inspire greatly reduces time needed to complete a research.

Finally, some tips that may be helpful when using this mechanics:

1. Inspire allows you to greatly reduce the time of a research - instead of laborious research that takes weeks you'll be in for a few days of exercise in science. Use them when you don't have a very important project to work on.
2. If you do not use the inspiration, they will be lost forever - at least until the next appearance. So if you do not need "Inspired" technology at the moment, it is better to focus on other research.
3. If you do not take advantage of the breakthrough, it will be lost until all research projects are developed. Once you've done all the research unrelated to the breakthroughs, these will start to appear again. It is worthwhile to do so at the time of appearance, as they generally last very short time (3-5 days) and the bonuses they offer are very useful -especially those that give the weapon extra damage.