Having trouble finding the Black Market in XCOM 2? Let us help you find the only organization still willing to exchange goods with the resistance and offer up some advice on what you should/shouldn’t be buying and selling when making a trip to the Black Market.
If you’ve been frantically searching for the Black Market in XCOM 2, and wondering why you can’t seem to find the damn thing, don’t feel bad. It took us a couple of hours to realize, unlike Enemy Unknown, the Black Market is a location on the map in XCOM 2. It's no longer part of the tactical menu, instead being dropped somewhere onto the Geoscape near whatever region you began the XCOM 2 campaign. And players can’t even access it until they’re prompted to investigate the local Black Market by XCOM high command.
Unfortunately, we haven't figured out an exact trigger for the Black Market investigation. It seems to occur a couple of hours into the campaign and both of our reviewers mentioned it appearing after they'd established connection with at least one new region. But that's about all we've got right now. Of course, it'll probably be a few hours before you can get much use out of the shop anyway. So perhaps this is just Firaxis' way of (temporarily) saving players from themselves.
We recommend investigating the Black Market as soon as you’re prompted to do so. It’s quite a bit more useful than you might remember from EU. For starters, research projects can be expedited using Intel – which can also be swapped for extra Supplies if you’re flush with intelligence – and weapon mods can be purchased for your soldiers. Those with a few extra corpses to sell will also be pleased to know they can offload them for extra Supplies, too.
Be careful not to go overboard while shopping at the Black Market. Players will want to keep around 50 Intel available at all times, to establish connections with new regions in case a crucial Avatar Project mission (the big, scary red bar that fills whenerver the aliens finish a project) pops up somewhere you haven't been yet. A decent stash of Supplies is nice insurance for your squad, too, in case you suddenly find yourself in need of new recruits. It’s also important to remember weapon mods can be recovered on the battlefield, and you generally can’t attach more than one to a weapon, so you probably don’t want to overspend on those, either.
Experienced players, planning to sell off all their enemy corpses, might want to hold off on their get rich quick schemes. Enemy remains play a much larger role in XCOM 2’s research trees. Occasional sales won’t cripple your organization, so don’t hesitate if you need a few Supplies for something important. Just remember there are other ways, like trading Intel, to get those Supplies if/when you need them.
And if you’re unhappy with the prices in the Black Market, buying or selling, try to figure out which regions you'll need to liberate to shift the prices a bit more in your favor. Typically, one continent will offer a steep discount on Black Market goods, while another will increase the amount of Supplies players will receive when selling extra corpses and other items. The effects of liberating each continent seem to change from one campaign to the next, so poke around your map a bit the next time you're looking at the Geoscape.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more XCOM 2 coverage throughout 2016 and for however long Firaxis continues to support XCOM 2 in the months ahead.
