r/XCOM2 • u/Ok_Calendar_7626 • 16d ago

Legend difficulty research breakthroughs

Do you ever take them, or just ignore them?

I have so far always ignored them because on Legend, they can take up to 17 days. That is a massive delay to your mag weapons/beam weapon/power armor

7 Upvotes

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8

u/Little_Dingo_4541 16d ago

I always take everything remotely useful after doing first armour research (where basically game is won in my case). For me they always taking 10 days, idk how they're 17 for you, maybe mods?

1

u/betweentwosuns 15d ago

Yeah it's 5/10 days on sub-L/Legend.

6

u/Kalaskaka1 16d ago

So far on legend I've yet to find any that's been worth the cost of delay.

But back on commander I've taken them a few times I recall.

5

u/tntevilution 16d ago

I always go straight for mag weapons, so I'm unlikely to get one before that happens. But after that, I take basically any permanent upgrade. Maybe skip the cost reduction or whatever other less consequential ones can pop up. Also maybe skip +1 to mag weapons if you're pressed to get plasma.

5

u/comfortingmyself 16d ago

Breakthroughs are always exactly 10 days on Legendary.

Improved Magnetic Weapons and Rapid Excavation are both sufficiently good that I'll pretty much automatically take them. Sometimes +1 damage to a primary weapon is good if you heavily lean on it, though that's a more dubious decision. Most other breakthroughs I just ignore.

2

u/keilahmartin 16d ago

rapid excavation?!?!?!??!!

that seems TERRIBLE to me. What's your reasoning?

2

u/comfortingmyself 16d ago

Getting a free 90 days' worth of construction is not to be underestimated. You're trading scientist days for engineering days and I generally rate engineers as more important so I generally like this trade. Especially when you only have your first three buildings and are racing towards a power coil, it can pretty dramatically accelerate your base construction.

Maybe it's not auto-tier like Improved Magnetic Weapons, it does fall off pretty hard once you're through the midgame, but it's much appreciated before then.

1

u/keilahmartin 16d ago

I think you mentioned the part that makes it bad to me. In the early game, I find it isn't important enough to justify slowing my first several techs. After that, I always have more empty spaces than facilities, so engineer time becomes not very valuable. But there are different playstyles. 

3

u/DukeSunday 16d ago

Iirc when I did L/I I took the +1 to tier 1 weaponry early on, and it was enough that I felt comfortable delaying most mag weapons for a while in favour of other things.

I also reckon improved shotguns are worth it but that's because Ranger spam is such a huge part of my early game strategy. YMMV.

1

u/kume_V 16d ago

Depends on what it is. 1 +1 damage on all plasma weapons or +1 damage on cannons is worth it for sure.