Interactive Ant Farm: Exploring XCOM’s HQ

Little kids will watch wandering bugs with an intensity most of us only display during an online deathmatch.

Little kids will watch wandering bugs with an intensity most of us only display during an online deathmatch. Firaxis wanted to recapture that childlike sense of wonder and fascination with the HQ management portions of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. This is why the studio has dubbed XCOM’s new headquarters the “ant farm.” Players will be able to watch their scientists and field officers wander XCOM’s halls as they go about their daily lives. But the ant farm has a practical purpose as well: this is where players will upgrade their tech and equip their field units before battle. Welcome to the XCOM facilities.

It should be noted that this is far from an exhaustive list of every room you will be able to construct in the final game. Every game starts with a Hanger, a Mission Control room, a Situation Room, an Armory, and a Barrack, but you will be able to customize your base as you expand, adding rooms that augment XCOM’s ability to combat the alien menace.

Satellite Uplink Facility (Not Pictured): The Satellite Uplink Facility allows XCOM to monitor the airspace over different countries around the world. Building multiple uplinks next to each other increases the number of satellites that XCOM can maintain.