Some game mods are purely cosmetic because, let’s face it, we all like hats. Some overhaul games entirely, in dramatic, sweeping fashion. And others do one small, specific, and incredibly useful thing that makes a game so much better that you wonder how you ever got along without it. The “Stop Wasting My Time” mod for XCOM 2 sounds like it’s very much the latter of the three: It speeds up the game without messing with the experience, by simply eliminating most of the pauses that happen after certain actions take place.
Combat changes:
- Removed 1-3sec pause after shooting, throwing grenades, abilities, etc.
- Removed 1 sec pause after getting a kill
- Removed 2.75 sec pause after going into cover
- Increased unit movement speed by ~20% (This is much less than other mods, it doesn’t break immersion by turning every unit into Sonic the Hedgehog)
- Removed slowdown of non-attacked enemies during overwatch slow-mo
Non-combat changes:
- Increased the speed of the Avenger on the global map
- Reduced the fade-in time of the horrendously slow color picker
The mod maker, BlueRaja, says there are two pauses he can’t remove because they’re hard-coded into the game, one after a unit becomes panicked, and a second at the end of every turn. And while it sounds like a relatively trivial thing he’s done, SWMT has earned itself five-stars across 276 ratings on the Steam Workshop.
Some users of the mod say it works perfectly, while others have run into technical issues related to keyboard controls, character voices, and even hangs. SWMT is still pretty new, and there may be compatibility issues with other mods, so as always you use it as your own risk; fortunately, BlueRaja seems very responsive to comments and committed to working out the bugs. I’d try it myself, but I don’t have XCOM 2 yet, so if you give it a shot let us know how it goes. Other writers on the team will be field testing it this weekend. And if you’re curious about the strange and wonderful world of mods but aren’t sure where to begin, our handy beginner’s guide will tell you everything you need to know.
