The chosen!!!

[foreverdead]

Maybe a little retcon that chosen are the real avatars? I wonder with that scene that looks like a faction leader rescuing the commander means they are retconing a few story elements.

Also did you guys see the new room? Thought we almost had Alien captures back again . Looks like VR training and maybe something to do with the buddy system (since its shown with the buddy info the site).

[Sir_Dr_D]

I have wondered why, up until now, we never faced anyone who sort of "represented" Advent. We are told that it is a hierarchical organizations, but all we ever face are advent mobs and some aliens. Who is actually running things? I cannot imagine a Muton holding sales meetings, so there must be some leaders there. Humans might have some influence, but surely there must be a liason between the Ethereals and, say, Advent Officers.

Perhaps these Champions have been there the whole time, serving as generals in the war.

Does this mean Avatars are getting buffed? Because these Chosen should not be more powerful than the Elders themselves, especially ones who have their new fancy bodies.


The Chosen are almost certainly not enemies of Advent.

Who politically represents Advent? I always assumed it was the snakes. And isn't the 'Speaker' in the opening cutscene sequence a thin man?

[Content Consumer]

What I am most curious about is whether or not they intend to alter the storyline in anyway, since in the trailer, there was a woman who appeared to be freeing the commander.

Huh. I didn't even think of that. When I first saw it, I thought "Hey, is that Vahlen in a stasis suit?"

[MaxAstro]

I swear, if Vahlen doesn't make an appearance... >.>

...Geez. Never thought I'd be looking forward to getting chastised about my use of explosives... XD

[sarge945]

What I am most curious about is whether or not they intend to alter the storyline in anyway, since in the trailer, there was a woman who appeared to be freeing the commander.

I have a theory:

At the start of XCOM 2, it says they have a "lead" on the location of the commander in the tutorial mission. They would have had to acquire that from somewhere. I think they are expanding on that by explaining that XCOM bought that intel from one of these factions, and that's how they know about them in the first place.

It might explain the "so you do exist" thing, like they are only just discovering it for themselves.

Also, the new SMG models look sikkkk. The ones in Long War 2 and the SMG Pack always bothered me, I always found them a little silly looking.

This is what I am talking about

https://xcom.com/media/entries/xcom2-wotc-screen-03

[MrStraw]

By the way, the new achievements for the expansion pack are already on Steam. There are a few interesting ones:

Zombies in a Barrel
Get 15 Headshots against Lost in a single turn[/b

Thoughts - we will be able to target body parts?

Headshot might be just a skill, probably a reaper can use.

No One Left Behind
Rescue a soldier who was captured by the Chosen

Thoughts - I wonder why and how will the chosen capture soldiers. From the trailer it seems they only want to kill them.

There are a few more achievements as well.

The description says, the chosen will kidnap, interrogate or kill Xcom' soldiers.

[LordYanaek]

What I am most curious about is whether or not they intend to alter the storyline in anyway, since in the trailer, there was a woman who appeared to be freeing the commander.

Is it the Commander or the Avatar? Both were in the same stasis suit.
It might even be a 3rd stasis suit for what we know.

Also, the new SMG models look sikkkk. The ones in Long War 2 and the SMG Pack always bothered me, I always found them a little silly looking.

Not sure it's an actual new weapon. It might be a hero-specific weapon like Central's gun. Of course some modder will find a way to make it available if it's the case.

Who politically represents Advent? I always assumed it was the snakes. And isn't the 'Speaker' in the opening cutscene sequence a thin man?

Looks like he's indeed a Thin Man but for the population he's certainly "human". I always thought ADVENT was mostly represented by real humans (an maybe a few Thin Men still undercover) with only few aliens publicly active. Aliens want to stay hidden as much as possible, why disguise their soldiers otherwise so those who politically represents ADVENT are probably the Dark VIPs you kill/capture during missions (and many more you never had a chance to ambush)

[Dagless]

Who politically represents Advent? I always assumed it was the snakes. And isn't the 'Speaker' in the opening cutscene sequence a thin man?

Looks like he's indeed a Thin Man but for the population he's certainly "human". I always thought ADVENT was mostly represented by real humans (an maybe a few Thin Men still undercover) with only few aliens publicly active. Aliens want to stay hidden as much as possible, why disguise their soldiers otherwise so those who politically represents ADVENT are probably the Dark VIPs you kill/capture during missions (and many more you never had a chance to ambush)

I always thought it was a shame we never came across Thin Men in human(ish) form. It would have been a nice little surprise to get the occasional Thin Man Dark VIP later in the campaign, who suddenly starts leaping around and shooting back, perhaps with a couple of new abilities. Maybe some kind of shield to reflect him being a high level target, and an extra bonus for somehow taking him alive (not shown on mission rewards until you uncover him).

[fowlJ]

Also, the new SMG models look sikkkk. The ones in Long War 2 and the SMG Pack always bothered me, I always found them a little silly looking.

Not sure it's an actual new weapon. It might be a hero-specific weapon like Central's gun. Of course some modder will find a way to make it available if it's the case.

It might be specific to that particular faction unit, but that's more like how sniper rifles are specific to Sharpshooters than how Bradford's gun works - The faction units, unlike Bradford, are an actual part of your roster that stay in the barracks and gain abilities (though by a different mechanism than regular soldiers).

[hewhoispale]

I've never bought that The Speaker was a thin man/reptilian/secret snek. There are far too many humans that would be willing to collaborate for their own comfort/benefit. He might have been given some secret genemodding or such, but I suspect he was probably part of the dissolved Council or some other equally high ranking political figure. ADVENT could not possibly work as peacefully as it does without a collaborationist government giving them legitimacy.

[LordYanaek]

I've never bought that The Speaker was a thin man/reptilian/secret snek.

I don't have a screenshot under hands but look at the marks in his neck next time you see a video (it's easy, just click new game), they are quite similar to the marks seen on Thin Men.

[hewhoispale]

I've never bought that The Speaker was a thin man/reptilian/secret snek.

I don't have a screenshot under hands but look at the marks in his neck next time you see a video (it's easy, just click new game), they are quite similar to the marks seen on Thin Men.

I understand that read, but they leave it somewhat ambiguous I just prefer to read it the other way. The Speaker, always seemed too human to me with his reactions and mannerisms.
I suppose I just find my head-canon of a more Free v Vichy France, morally grey war to be a more compelling narrative with collaborationist humans instead of all the politicians being secret aliens infiltrators. If all the ADVENT governing heads are just appointed by the aliens anyway, why bother masking them? I can't imagine that anyone that was skeptical of the aliens' motives wouldn't be skeptical of the "human" politicians they pulled out of no where.

[LordYanaek]

I suppose I just find my head-canon of a more Free v Vichy France, morally grey war to be a more compelling narrative with collaborationist humans instead of all the politicians being secret aliens infiltrators. If all the ADVENT governing heads are just appointed by the aliens anyway, why bother masking them? I can't imagine that anyone that was skeptical of the aliens' motives wouldn't be skeptical of the "human" politicians they pulled out of no where.

Oh, i completely imagine a lot of the ADVENT face being real humans and Dark VIPs being just a tiny fraction of those. I even imagine human collaboration going further than just a political face, a soldier from my character pool have suffered from bad experiments by a human "doctor" after visiting a Gene Therapy Clinic. But i imagine the Speaker being in direct contact with the Alien head of ADVENT a thus being one of the last Thin Men still in disguise, probably one of their best specimens.
Having new "politicians" rising out of nowhere would certainly be something to expect with such a drastic change of government and you'd be surprised what real people would accept with the proper level of "guided information"