Breakthroughs and Inspirations are special Research Projects available in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen. Whenever a Research Project is completed, there is a chance you may be offered a single breakthrough or inspiration, at random; you must research it immediately, or the opportunity will expire, unless:
- If you also have one or more "Instant" research projects available, you can research the instant options first, and the opportunity will not expire.
- If you opt to pursue Shadow Chamber project(s) instead, the opportunity will not expire. Thus, you can safely defer breakthrough/inspiration research in favor of unlocking Avatar project objectives.
Inspirations[]
An Inspiration allows an available Research Project to be completed in reduced time. Despite claims of a 50% reduction, at maximum it will reduce it by 3 days. If you do not immediately research an Inspired tech, the Research Project will remain available, but will no longer be Inspired.
ADVENT Datapads and Alien Data Caches are unique in that, once an Inspiration is acquired for one, it affects repeated research for all future copies of that items.
Breakthroughs[]
A breakthrough offers a unique bonus if researched immediately. If you allow a breakthrough to expire, that unique bonus cannot be obtained unless it happens to be offered again at a later time.
Breakthrough research times are not reduced by the number of Scientists, and equal to 5 days on difficulties up to Commander and 10 days on Legend difficulty. Once you finish all Research Projects (including all the ADVENT Datapads and Alien Data Caches), you will be offered a random Breakthrough until you run out of items to research. These breakthroughs take twice as long to complete: 10 days on difficulties up to Commander and 20 on Legend.
Some Continent Bonuses will appear as Breakthroughs that will be split into "I" or "II" grades (e.g., Future Combat) and will even have new names (e.g., Lock and Load to Adaptive Personal Combat Sims and Interchangeable Upgrades).
Research Breakthroughs are also potential rewards from Covert Actions. These Covert Actions always require a soldier and a scientist, and an optional soldier to negate a risk.
Facilities[] | |
|---|---|
| Cost in materials for building an Avenger facility or facility upgrade is reduced by half (round up). Construction time is unaffected. | |
| UFO Defense Construction | Our research breakthrough will provide a substantial improvement to the UFO tracking systems, reducing the cost of the UFO defense facility by 50%. |
| Quad Turret Construction | A breakthrough in our remote systems design will reduce the cost of upgrading the Defense Matrix with Quad Turrets by 50%. |
| Guerrilla Tactics School Construction | A breakthrough in the design of our training equipment will reduce the material expense, lowering construction costs of the Guerrilla Tactics School by 50%. |
| Infirmary Construction | ? |
| Hypervital Module Construction | A previously disproved theory was found to be effective after all, potentially reducing the cost of assembling the Infirmary's Hypervital Module upgrade by 50%. |
| Laboratory Construction | ? |
| Additional Research Station Construction | With improvements to our manufacturing process, the cost of building an Additional Research Station upgrade in our Laboratory will be reduced by 50%. |
| Power Relay Construction | A breakthrough in the design of our Power Relay enclosures will reduce their cost by 50%. |
| Elerium Conduit Construction | Improved efficiencies in the processing of raw Elerium will reduce the cost of constructing an Elerium Conduit upgrade in our Power Relay by 50%. |
| Proving Ground Construction | A redesigned containment system for the Proving Ground will reduce the overall cost of construction by 50%. |
| Psi Chamber Construction | Improvements to our containment of unbound Psionic energy will now reduce the cost of constructing the Psi Chamber by 50%. |
| Second Cell Construction | ? |
| Resistance Comms Construction | ? |
| Additional Comm Station Construction | Improved transmission protocols will allow our network to handle additional traffic, reducing the cost of an Additional Comm Station upgrade for our Resistance Comms by 50%. |
| Training Center Construction | A reassessment of planned training methods will lead to a 50% reduction in the cost of building the Training Center. |
| Workshop Construction | Streamlined construction techniques will now reduce the overall cost of building Workshops by 50%. |
| Additional Workbench Construction | An advance in materials recycling will lower the cost of an Additional Workbench upgrade in our Workshop by 50%. |
| ? | Unlock the ability to instantly excavate a room within the Avenger. |
Training[] | |
| Future Combat I | A breakthrough in our training methods will reduce the cost of all GTS Tactics by 20%. |
| Future Combat II | Further improvements to our training regimen will reduce all GTS Tactic costs by an additional 30%. |
Proving Ground[] | |
| Reduce the cost of all subsequent projects in the Proving Ground (rounded up), including all Supplies, Alien Alloys, Elerium Crystals, Elerium Cores, and various corpses. The two projects are additive, resulting in a 50% reduction with both. | |
| Spare Parts I | With improvements to the efficiency of our supply chain, all Proving Ground project costs will be reduced by 20%. |
| Spare Parts II | A breakthrough in our materials processing operation will further reduce the cost of all Proving Ground projects by an additional 30%. |
Reusability[] | |
| Unlock the ability to reuse Weapon Upgrades or Personal Combat Sims for the remainder of the campaign. | |
| Adaptive Personal Combat Sims | A breakthrough in the interface design of our Personal Combat Sims will allow us to reuse them indefinitely. |
| Interchangeable Upgrades | By redesigning our modular systems to improve access to their consumable parts, our Weapon Upgrades could be reused indefinitely. |
Armor[] | |
| Increase the health bonus of an armor class (Light/Medium/Heavy). | |
| Reinforced Light Armor | A previously unrealized breakthrough in our Light Armor development will allow our lightest variants to provide +1 HP going forward. |
| Reinforced Heavy Armor | Our research breakthrough has yielded a new means of reinforcing the durability of our Heavy Armor without increasing weight, providing an increase of +1 HP. |
Weapons[] | |
| One type of breakthrough can increase the damage output of a weapon class by +1 and stacks with weapon class improvements up to +2 damage. A second type of breakthrough can add an additional Weapon Upgrades slot to generic X-COM weapons. Both will benefit all tiers of weapons. | |
| Improved Conventional Weapons | Through the use of advanced materials and greater understanding of the aliens' technology, our Conventional Weapons now deal +1 damage.
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| Improved Magnetic Weapons | By integrating new components devised during our recent breakthrough, we've increased the damage output of all Magnetic Weapons by +1.
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| Improved Beam Weapons | Our recent breakthrough has led to immediate refinements in the manufacturing process for all Beam Weapons, improving their damage output by +1.
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| Improved Assault Rifles Modular Assault Rifles |
An innovative new cartridge design came about as the result of our recent breakthrough. All Assault Rifles now deal +1 damage.
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| A redesigned frame system for our Assault Rifles has allowed us to attach an additional weapon upgrade slot. | |
| Improved Bullpups Modular Bullpups |
Improved compensators for the Skirmishers' Bullpup rifles have diminished muzzle rise concerns and increased damage output by +1. |
| A new modular frame design for the Skirmishers' Bullpup rifles has opened up the possibility of adding an additional upgrade slot to all weapons of this type. | |
| Improved Cannons Modular Cannons |
By creating a heavier barrel cross section for our Cannons, we were able to increase stability and improve damage output by +1.
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Our breakthrough has allowed us to add an additional upgrade slot to all Cannons without sacrificing balance or firepower.
| |
| Improved Pistols | Breakthroughs in composite material research have allowed us to increase the caliber of our Pistols without sacrificing control, improving damage output by +1.
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| Improved Shotguns Modular Shotguns |
Our research breakthrough led to the creation of a new choke design allowing for shot patterns better suited to our targets. As a result, all Shotguns deal +1 damage.
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| Our recent breakthrough has led to the creation of modular Shotguns, allowing for an additional upgrade slot versus the standard variant. | |
| Improved Sniper Rifles Modular Sniper Rifles |
With improvements to the precision of our manufacturing process, new barrels will provide our Sniper Rifles with an increased output of +1 damage.
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| Despite initial concerns over balance, our recent breakthrough will allow us to add another weapon upgrade slot to all Sniper Rifles. | |
| Improved Swords | Breakthroughs in both our manufacturing and finishing processes should further improve the balance of our swords, increasing their damage by +1.
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| Improved Vektor Rifles Modular Vektor Rifles |
Micro-rifling applied to the Reaper's Vektor Rifle barrels has increased damage output by +1. |
| A breakthrough in the configuration of the Reapers' Vektor Rifles will allow us to add an additional weapon upgrade slot. | |
| Improved Autopistols | By redesigning the Templars' Autopistol recoil compensators, we've increased the effective damage output of these weapons by +1. |