XCOM 2 - Modding Potential @ IGN

“We're going all-out with modding on XCOM 2” told Creative Director Jake Solomon Dan Stapleton (IGN):

Either day-and-date with XCOM 2’s November launch or soon thereafter, Firaxis intends to release a full suite of modding tools – an Unreal Development Kit (UDK) and the editor the developers use to create content – that will enable modders to run wild with XCOM 2.

Solomon wisely sees supporting modding as a win-win situation for both Firaxis and gamers. “Because we're a Firaxis game, we're committed to this idea of player value. We want our players to play our games forever, and so we want to have this sort of vibrant community around the game,” he said. “We want people to talk, to communicate with us, and for our games to have this really long life cycle, because that increases the value of our games.”

More information.

That's great news for modders. Look at JA 2…

Hopefully someone adds TU and battle inventory system

All these talk of XCOM 2 and I haven't played the first one yet despite having it on my "need to buy" list for a long while. I can't even say if I think mods are a good idea or not.

Note: I finally purchased the discounted complete pack last week, just need to finish TW3 first.

I don't see how mods could ever be a bad idea. Unless it becomes, as apparently in Bethesda's case, an excuse for devs to let modders fix sloppy work.

I'm generally "eh, whatever" about modding since the bulk of it is garbage, but out of that see of garbage a few gems often arise, and I did play and enjoy LongWar for XCOM:EU (and only that one but it had some elements of other mods mixed in).

I buy good games because they are good games, not because some random person editing text/xml files or game assets is going to push a game over the top.

Originally Posted by Archangel
Hopefully someone adds TU and battle inventory system

I like TU based systems and thought I'd hate the new system in XCOM:EU but I ended up liking it a lot - you end up doing the exact same things and getting the same results without bean counting TUs, and as with TU systems some soldiers can move further than others depending on their stats and loadout.

On top of that the perks and class abilities in XCOM:EU's system give you more strategic depth and options than most TU-based systems, which are often pretty vanilla outside of snap/regular/aimed shot bits which aren't exactly all that compelling.

Battle inventory is another thing I like in XCOM:EU - having limited inventory instead of carrying a small military base on your back forces you to make strategic choices about what you carry into battle - and having to make choices is one thing drives good strategy games. Things like micromanaging ammo in inventory are a waste of time when the only thing that really matters is the time/disruption from reloading and when you do it (have you ever played a TU based game and failed to bring 2-3x more ammo than you could ever need on each soldier? (usually for multiple weapons along with a multitude of grenades and other junk)).

Originally Posted by Voqar
I like TU based systems and thought I'd hate the new system in XCOM:EU but I ended up liking it a lot - you end up doing the exact same things and getting the same results without bean counting TUs, and as with TU systems some soldiers can move further than others depending on their stats and loadout.

On top of that the perks and class abilities in XCOM:EU's system give you more strategic depth and options than most TU-based systems, which are often pretty vanilla outside of snap/regular/aimed shot bits which aren't exactly all that compelling.

Battle inventory is another thing I like in XCOM:EU - having limited inventory instead of carrying a small military base on your back forces you to make strategic choices about what you carry into battle - and having to make choices is one thing drives good strategy games. Things like micromanaging ammo in inventory are a waste of time when the only thing that really matters is the time/disruption from reloading and when you do it (have you ever played a TU based game and failed to bring 2-3x more ammo than you could ever need on each soldier? (usually for multiple weapons along with a multitude of grenades and other junk)).

Everything you said here both Open Xcom and Xenonauts did better.

And both have very limited inventory were you cannot carry much and weight limits fast influence that. And I didn't carry too much ammo because I wanted more grenades or some stun items. Also I knew if it comes to that, I could take ammo from some other guys. Sometimes, I needed to decide to carry a backup weapon for snipers or put more ammo or grenades in there.

Only thing 2012 Xcom has over other xcoms is character perks but at same time it removes options of those classes using any weapon but class weapon.

Problem with Open Xcom is that it is not balanced. I finished it easy on hardest difficulty/ironman because you can get plasma weapons early and psi powers are just soo OP.

Xenonauts on other hand was too buggy and not enough map diversity and you could not enter enemy UFO except through doors. Also no Psi for humans and I found the art style less interesting than Open Xcom and uglier than 2012 Xcom.

If one thing 2012 did better with no bad side, it was Psi. It felt both useful and balanced in it. It also didn't feel unfair when used vs you.

Get yourself that long war mod Archangel! Even better psi.

I played Long war. I found Xenonauts and Open Xcom superior to that mod as well.

Jake hopes that fans will fix XCOM2 and make it as playable and fun as Long War is. Look at how many iterations - and suffering because of lack of mod tools - Long War has gone through.. ..