Facilties, basebuilding, how should u build?

[freolo78]

Now i think its like annoying like hell when u try and build some facilities without knowing the importance of them as well as what adjacent bonuses there might be in them so im starting this discussion to try and get some kind of clarity in the matter.

Starting with Power. What is the optimum way of building a solid powering facility with adjacent building bonuses? u have the shielded power thingies so is it worth the wait to reach those hotspots to build ur power facilities there or is it better to build other "powerdemanding" facilities there instead that u can upgrade since facilities there doesnt cost any power?

Science and workshops - how do u build labs and workshops to ge the most out of those? what gives the best bonuses?

in what order should u start to build ur facilities? when should u start building ur AWC or GTS? ur resistance comms? does it pay to build a defense matrix at all?

im sure its also dependant on how u want to play, for instance if u want weaps and armor or psi or tech....what should u build for those specs?

list of the facilities:

Advanced Warfare Center
Guerrilla Tactics School
Proving Ground
Laboratory
Workshop
Power Relay
Resistance Comms
Defense Matrix
Psi Lab
Shadow Chamber


its not as easy as it was in the previous xcom since u should spec it more if u want to get some stronger soldiers and a working Avenger that works in an optimum way.

anyone care to shed some light on to this matter??

[Ender]

I like to build the Tactics School early so I can train up rookies and yes i waited for the shielded power to build my first power relay. It is too early for me to suggest any optimized build though.

[Kushko]

The only thing you really need to worry about is putting 4 slots of engineers worth of buildings around a workshop (not diagonally) since you can put 2 engineers in a workshop and each can man two gremlins that act like engineers to adjacent buildings. Other than that theres really nothing else you need to worry about when placing buildings.

As for priority on building first, i personally think Advanced Warfare Center is a must ASAP since it will help your soldiers heal faster AND grant a chance for them to get extra perks when they level up. After that the Guerrilla School to increase squad size and after that the Proving Ground, Workshop, Resistance Coms are about on the same level priority wise with Power relays and Resistance Comms as you need them.

Labs and Defense Matrixes are sort of useless (Defense Matrix more so) in my opinion. Psi Lab if you intend to use Psi Soldiers (could rush it but tbh i think you would gimp yourself too much in the early game if you did).

And last but not least Shadow Chamber whenever you feel like progressing the main story and/or want to see how many and what type of enemies you will come across per mission.

*edit* As for power relays, i personally used 1 normal one and one special slot one in my first playtrough and that along with the Asia +5power bonus was enough for my entire base. As for when to build the special power one it really depends how deep down it is. Mine was on the third level so it came just as i needed the power, but if it were on the 4th level i reckon id struggle for power for a month or so.

[Gaz]

Workshop is the only building that technically provides adjacency bonuses now via having up to 4 Gremlins (after upgrades). I would suggest putting it in the middle of the second row. Def need your GTS for extra soldier slots, followed by AWC for 100% soldier healing speed. You will need at least 2 resistance Comms so you can expand and take out Advent facility sites reliably.

My power coils were on the bottow row, but I had no trouble with 2 power relays (unupgraded) before I managed to excavate. Laboratory is kinda useful, but I wouldn't worry about it unless you are having trouble finding scientists but have more engineers. I have barely touched the proving ground, imo you can hold off of it until later.

[Rogue]

PSI is overrated, takes too much research, time to build and you have to park a rookie soldier over weeks in the base doing nothing but learn psi abilities. If he dies when he actually goes outfield....same process again. My first commander game, I have zero psi operatives. Now I'm working on legendary, again not planning on Psi...

Engineers > Scientist at first. If the opportunity presents, I grew to 4 engineers before I actually go for scientists.

First thing is to focus on Guerrilla Tactics School to unlock bonuses like more loot... Then Resistance Comms to reach the first alien base site. At this time, you should focus on making contact on the regions in your continent for the bonus. E.g Europe/Spymaster -> 50% off on Intel costs.

Power relays, Proving grounds and Workshop. The workshop put at a junction to provide "free engineer gremlim staff" for the adjacent facilities. Then you can focus on Laboratory and then Shadow Chamber.

Advanced Warfare Center -If you have lots of gravely wounded, you can build one after building your first Power relay, else you can depend on paying for healing bonuses at Resistance HQ.

I did not rely on Defense Matrix so I did not build any.

Note: Layout of the Avenger is different for different new games. Some have shielded power room(facility don't cost power), exposed power room (more power if you build a relay), etc. You have to plan accordingly.

[obliviondoll]

Originally posted by Rogue:

Note: Layout of the Avenger is different for different new games. Some have shielded power room(facility don't cost power), exposed power room (more power if you build a relay), etc. You have to plan accordingly.

Actually, there are exposed power cores. Instead of clearing the room, you shield the core, turning it into a shielded power core, and gaining some elerium crystals. Building on the room after shielding EITHER produces a facility which costs no power, OR produces extra power if you build a relay there.

Also, as mentioned, there is no adjacency bonus. The Workshop can provide adjacent facilities with up to 2 drones for each engineer staffing it. As such, building a workshop somewhere which allows for multiple gremlins to staff adjacent facilities is beneficial. The two middle rooms in the central column of the avenger's construction area are the best to build in, so on your upper level, you should build a power relay or AWC in the middle to benefit from the availability of gremlins.

[Premier Kisov]

First Tactic School and then Advance warfare.

[freolo78]

ok so the basics so far would be to start of with GUerilla tactics and then pending on how things evolve u should try and construct workshops first in the center then on the sidefor the gremlins being able to provide adjacent bonus with engineers. how to construct the power im still not sure off.....is it better with Power relays on the unshielded cores rather then facilities that u can upgrade and draws a lot of power?

[obliviondoll]

You'll probably only need one workshop. Either second level in the middle, or third level in the middle are the best positions. Make sure the facilities above, below and to each side are places which can be staffed by engineers. If the workshop is staffed by one engineer, it lets you put 2 drones which "count as" engineers in adjacent facilities. after upgrading, you can staff it with 2 engineers and get 4 drones.

[✚ Mariel ✚]

If you use grenadiers you want the proving grounds fast. Keep it converting elerium cores into experimental grenades, acid ones are awesome but fire is good too. Or you can save your cores til muton autopsy and get plasma grenades but they cost supplies as well as cores and can be expensive

[Egro]

Some engineers may give you more bots in the workshop, the best one give you 7.

[la_nague]

geurilla, advanced tactics and proving gournds are all nice.
which one to go for first is up to you, healing wounded is pretty good because armor doesnt prevent injuries now. Extra traits are good.
ammo and grenades are good, more xp and more soldiers is also good....


PSI soldiers are super strong, no idea what that guy above is smoking, stasis alone changes the game.




workshop can provide 4 gremlin workers, idk if a gremlin can work the workshop, that would multiply workers even more lol.
So build them near things you need worlers on, psi lab needs constant worker, so does your com and your energy room and my proving grounds.

try to build your first power generator on those alien thingies, it helps a lot early to have that extra powr for free.

[Anelyn]

Build your first power relay on top row. With an engineer in it, will provide enough power for whatever else you need to put on row 2 while you dig towards the power coil rooms, then once you build a new power relay on a power coil and upgrade it, remove the top one and place a new building as needed.

If you start with AWC and GT you will have to build a power relay on top row as you will be at max power w/o bonuses.

[CoffeeDeamon]

alot of great advice here, thx alot...though i'd need to mention that from what i've seen the continent bonus are random for both locations and what they do