You can skip the loading screen for heading back by hitting Caps Lock after waiting a few seconds. I don't know why it works, it just does.

On a side note, I absolutely love new design for rocket launcher. It looks just like HISHE's tank missile! :D

if you want to change soldier numbers, it's a pretty simple .ini edit. I'm sure there's guides for it on the reddit.

I like the idea of the micromanagement... not macro. It's a squad, not an army :(
Rangers are OP early/mid game, then grenadier are a must, pistol sharpshooter feels broken and psi soldiers are fun.

@GoGoGadgetPanda: you need grenadiers to shred 4-6 armor enemies. You need specialists to hack stuff and disable robot nasties. Snipers and psyonics are generally OP. But yeah, double ranger team FTW.

Loving the game so far, they really improved a lot (apart from the performance). Also Ranger class feels like it outclasses all the others by a huge margin. I haven't finished my first playthrough yet, so maybe they fall back in line in late game.

Jo have you played Xenonauts? I think you'd appreciate it, it's like old-school hardcore X-COM. :)

@Korey Marklin: Superior scopes for everyone! It's the only way I get through missions.

@Sindri: YES!!!
Also nice info about more soldiers. On the other hand 2 more guys is a HUGE increase in tactical possibilities. Might make the game to easy. (I like that I lost 5-6 soldiers already, and restarted 2 missions, something that did not happen in X:EU. It reminds me of the old UFO:EU)

@Leen Geerts: it makes sense for going TO a mission to take a while while they generate everything. But coming FROM a mission should be instantaneous. All they have to do is load the state the game was in before you went on that run.

Actually the UI works fine with up to 8 soldiers. So you can set the INI to give you 6 soldiers at the start, and upgrade to 8 in game, without any issues. And in fact there's a mod on the steam workshop for that if you don't want to change game files manually.

@Lunar Requiem: And make sure the change it to 100 so you can curb stomp ADVENT with a whole platoon MWUHAHAHAHA! (note the interface only works for 6 any over that are taken from the top of available troops so make sure you have those troops ready)

Yeah, that's the difference between loading and generating. XCOM 1 loaded premade maps while, XCOM2 with its procedural generation has to create one from scratch every time you start a level. The later takes a bit longer.

You know what I miss from the first Alien War? Soldiers that could actually hit something...

My graphics card runs at about 50C at high load, but when I played XCOM 2 it literally set on fire.

If you are using an SSD, then there is no excuse for long loading times (or at least should).

Go to common\XCOM 2\XComGame\Config\DefaultGameData.ini and change m_iMaxSoldiersOnMission to a higher number to raise the squad size.