How does BB compare to XCOM 2 in terms of strategy?

[full stamina gaming]

I got BB in the recent sale and played just under 2 hours of it. It seemed fun so far, but it wasn't enough to really get a feel for the game since the low level bros I was using had pretty much no skills and combat was extremely simple.

How does BB hold up in terms of strategy (in combat) against XCOM 2? Is it comparable at all? I have several hundred hours and loved the variety of builds and squad compositions in it and the different kinds of situations you have to respond to. Does BB grow meaningfully in complexity? Do bros get interesting skills later on? I'm very short on money so I'd like to make the most informed purchase possible. Thank you in advance ♥

[ImaginaryFriend]

BB is much more unforgiving than xcom2. You will lose bros even if you do everything right, some times many of them and the learning curve is more steep.

There are many different equally good/useful bro builds. The game has a lot of armor and weapons to choose from.

If you do put in the time to learn the game and can stomach the misery of being hated by RNG gods then it does offer some very rewarding moments.

[Včelí medvídek]

I love both games but frankly BB is quite limited in options compared to XCOM.

Battle map is small and most battles supposed to be short. 9/10 you do in very basic 2 line formation. There is only few extra encounters, limited number of skills same as somehow limited number of extra tools that can be used in battle - usually effective against particular enemy type. There is pelthora of armor and wepaons but if you bro swing with flail or mace dont make exactly different tactic choice.. *to some very limited degree)

Though overall playing is extremely fun, I am totally in love of the gameloop and the unique sandbox story.

Overall the complexity in BB is much lower, there is almsot no strategy layout either - but it is not exactly for bad - some combat mechanic can be in opposite almost science, RNG is quite fair, the difficulty keep you in and game is quite addictive for trendemous amoutn of time. One of my favorite games ever, worth every penny.

[Heron]

I've played Xcom 1&2 both for several hundred hours, BB for over 1100 hours.

BB is much more diverse and complex than Xcom in terms of builds and equipment. There are a lot of viable possible builds and the different base stats & star distributions of individual bros make deciding on the right build & equipment a beautifully complex affair. You'll have standard builds eventually, but you'll see opportunities to try something new even after 1k hours. It will probably take you over 100 hours to fully grasp all concepts to get to that level though.

The campaign mechanics are arguably more complex too. There are no hard choices between a few hard coded possibilities here. Instead it's a sandbox. You decide what to fight, what quests to take, if you focus on quests or camp raiding or attack a noble house etc. Judging what fights are worth taking and when to pass / run is an integral part of the game. Campaigns don't have a hard win condition, but some late game content presents good goals to work towards (late game crises, unique legendary camps).

Where it can fall off compared to Xcom is in the complexity of the tactical fights. In BB you win most fights before they have started. When you're properly equiped, well prepared and know what different roles your bros have to fulfill on the field, fights are often just a routine of playing optimally and without casualties. You don't have to think about tactical situations and opportunities as hard as in Xcom because fights are generally more static and less terrain dependent than in Xcom. Interesting tactical situations and tense moments still happen, but it heavily depends on how much a given fight pushes the comfort zone of your company. Some fights are just grind.

Tldr: one could argue that BB is more focused on strategy & builds and less focused on interesting tactical situations than Xcom.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Heron:

I've played Xcom 1&2 both for several hundred hours, BB for over 1100 hours.

BB is much more diverse and complex than Xcom in terms of builds and equipment. There are a lot of viable possible builds and the different base stats & star distributions of individual bros make deciding on the right build & equipment a beautifully complex affair. You'll have standard builds eventually, but you'll see opportunities to try something new even after 1k hours. It will probably take you over 100 hours to fully grasp all concepts to get to that level though.

The campaign mechanics are arguably more complex too. There are no hard choices between a few hard coded possibilities here. Instead it's a sandbox. You decide what to fight, what quests to take, if you focus on quests or camp raiding or attack a noble house etc. Judging what fights are worth taking and when to pass / run is an integral part of the game.

Where it can fall off compared to Xcom is in the complexity of the tactical fights. In BB you win most fights before they have started. When you're properly equiped, well prepared and know what different roles your bros have to fulfill on the field, fights are often just a routine of playing optimally and without casualties. You don't have to think about tactical situations and opportunities as hard as in Xcom because fights are generally more static and less terrain dependent than in Xcom. Interesting tactical situations and tense moments still happen, but it heavily depends on how much a given fight pushes the comfort zone of your company. Some fights are just grind.

Tldr: one could argue that BB is more focused on strategy & builds and less focused on interesting tactical situations than Xcom.

I have played both games hundreds of hours (thousands in case of BB), and Heron pretty much said everything I was going to say.

[CHOO CHOO]

What Heron said above. I'll only add the following: BB is a mercenary company sim, XCOM is a world-saving super-soldier sim.

What I'm trying to say with this is that everything in BB is far more mundane, more subtle, less grandiose and obvious than in XCOM. There are no character classes with special weapons and abilities, there's no base-building, no moving across large maps in each fight, no tech tree, and saving the world is entirely optional. In BB you're simply running a business, and you need to think less like a tactician and more like a businessman.

[Red Bat]

Originally posted by ImaginaryFriend:

BB is much more unforgiving than xcom2. You will lose bros even if you do everything right, some times many of them and the learning curve is more steep.

Assuming lowest difficulty in both games maybe. XCOM 2 borders on being a brutal puzzle game on the hardest difficulty if you aren't doing Reaper exploits and the game forces you into near unwinnable battles without loss early on due to the Chosen or certain events. The RNG is also about as unforgiving in both games, except in BB your guys can be turned into nigh unhittable armored tanks if you do optimal builds with good bros. The first XCOM reboot game is even more brutal as it's even more on rails and on the hardest difficulty your guys die in one hit more often than not early on.

BB also lets you pick your fights. Almost every loss is entirely your fault and a campaign loss is definitely your fault if it's not within the first week. This isn't quite true in the XCOM games as they force you into bad situations sometimes.

Originally posted by Heron:

Tldr: one could argue that BB is more focused on strategy & builds and less focused on interesting tactical situations than Xcom.

IDK. That perk list and even attribute list really narrows down considerably when you want to be near optimal. In terms of likely options people might take I'd say BB only slightly has the lead.

Also while build variety is more limited in XCOM 2 (albeit less so with the DLC) it also has different classes and the different skills vastly change how a character performs.

[Cat®]

Without being redundant to already good responses:
I loved XCOM EU\EW, I liked XCOM 2: Thinman Lust, I loved Battle Brothers.

Battle Brothers is sleeker for both good and bad, for me it was mostly good.

[suejak]

From an ironman perspective - since this is all I've ever played of either - I think BB is much better than XCom 2, which is also a game I love. IMO both games are most fun early on and become extremely easy and grindy as the campaign progresses, such that builds etc. become mostly irrelevant. I'd say BB maintains its teeth significantly longer than XCom 2. Both have lots of different enemy types and situations, but XCom 2's enemy types stop mattering pretty quickly because everything dies before it gets a chance to attack, while BB's enemy types continue to matter for longer due to not dying quite so quickly.

You will find a lot of people who say BB does not have a lot of build diversity because the freeform perk system enables people to use the same build on all their characters, which means people tend to use a couple of builds they decide are the best. I don't think it's true that there's a lack of build diversity in BB - there are a ton of build types that even experienced players use - but this is what people say, so you may feel the same way.

By contrast, Xcom 2 tends to enforce diversity by having fixed classes with restricted access to various abilities. So you may well see more diversity in your Xcom 2 characters.

I agree with the idea that Xcom 2 becomes more of a puzzle game of "how do I kill this pod before it gets a chance to do anything?" BB feels more like a battle simulator with more back and forth. However, the proportion of meaningless, grindy fights really picks up in BB towards the later game.

[Draba]

Didn't like the modern XCOM 2 too much, but tactical combat in XCOM EU/EW with Long War mod is no comparison better than Battle Brothers IMO. Once you are on the field terrain and various loadouts make battles deeper. Long war mod is basically the "default" way to play, and between classes, equipment, officers, psionics, gene mods, MECs and shivs it's also no contest. Don't think BB having more depth in character building is true, even for the base XCOM game. BB with a full roster and some levels gets a bit more involved, but there are only so many options available and it never really felt that varied for me.

Map overlay is very different, BB is a sandbox leaning heavily into atmosphere and setting. XCOM strategy layer is closer to a strategy/board game, and encourages taking risks so you do not fall behind in resources/tech.

If you expect something like XCOM then BB will probably be a disappointment, in comparison it also felt very restrictive to me. Still, it's good at what it does and definitely worth keeping if you are bored of XCOM. Can't think of any other recent game that comes close to those 2. If you only have XCOM2 then I'd recommend XCOM:EU+EW and Long War first instead of BB, but you'll get around to BB sooner or later anyway :)

[CHOO CHOO]

XCOM with Long War was quite the accomplishment. It really felt like the modders had a better sense for game design than the base game developers. But not even they could fully salvage the mess that was XCOM2.

Fortunately they're making their own game now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1176470/Terra_Invicta/

[Včelí medvídek]

Originally posted by stonks:

the biggest difference in BB is the lack of a doom timer. it's more sandbox where you control the pacing. Sure, there's permanent destruction mode, and crises, but nothing is ticking down to instantly end the game. XCOM railroads you with a relatively short win or die timer

Doom timer in Xcom2 is irrelevant. With WoTC it can be porolonged literally indifinetely and even without it there is lot of ways to prolong game many months behind point there is nothing else to do beside go final mission.

[CHOO CHOO]

Originally posted by stonks:

try Pheonix Point if you haven't. It's fun, i prefer it to XCOM

This time instead of a doom timer, you get a doom non-renewable population counter.

I'd rather recommend X-Piratez than XCOM2 or PP; doom timers annoy me to no end.

Originally posted by Včelí medvídek:

Doom timer in Xcom2 is irrelevant. With WoTC it can be porolonged literally indifinetely and even without it there is lot of ways to prolong game many months behind point there is nothing else to do beside go final mission.

Then it's even worse! Why even have a doom timer?

[Decado]

Both games are excellent have have amazing modding communities that really enhance/extend the experience. I've gone back to XCOM 2 lately for LWotC and have been enjoying it. Apparently there is a re-balance of LWotC in development that tackles the pod management aspect (the biggest issue IMO along with power creep).

Legends + PTR is quite a huge content boost for BB.

If you look purely at vanilla I'd say BB is the better package for what it is trying to do. Mods are more of a necessity when playing XCOM 2, IMO.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Decado:

If you look purely at vanilla I'd say BB is the better package for what it is trying to do. Mods are more of a necessity when playing XCOM 2, IMO.

I agree. BB is one of the few turn-based tactics games I can tolerate without using a single mod; I cannot play XCOM 2 without 50-plus mods (just like WH2).

[Včelí medvídek]

Originally posted by CHOO CHOO:

Then it's even worse! Why even have a doom timer?

To give player feeling of urgency and push him to progress. Of course ti is bit silly if it wont work.

In PP Doom timer serve is purpose very good - by time it is ticking off human race is at edge of extinction, Heavens are lost left and right and it is heading toward all or nothing.

Btw in BB there is variant for this by turning on permanent destruction - good motivation to really care about late game crisis.