Your general purpose squads?

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trihero
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Your general purpose squads?

Post by trihero »

For this discussion I would like to focus on your "all purpose" squads - the one you generally go to for some generic mission. I would like to limit the discussion to 5 or 6 man squads (i.e. not the 10 man raid you bring to headquarters or the YOLO shinobi/tech team you take to a hack mission). You may assume a little bit about the mission (i.e. you might know it's a hacking mission so you might bring a specialist) or maybe you won't assume anything at all. I just want us all to learn a bit about the successful and/or fun tactics we use in terms of squad composition to get us through the early to mid game. I would also suggest not using the psi since it's not fleshed out yet and personally it takes the late game to see them. I would also suggest not relying too much on tech (like don't assume your technicals have exo suits for 2 rockets, etc).

1. "The IDK wut I'm doing squad" - this is one I'm sure we all use from time to time, some mix of all the classes. For instance technical, grenadier, assault, shinobi, ranger, gunner. You just kind of do whatever works. You have 2 "melee" guys (shinobi/assault) who can end a battle quickly, a grenadier/technical for cover destruction, and ranger/gunner to shoot stuff that's out of cover. I would probably remove the gunner for infiltration purposes if I had to make it a 5 man team

2. "Flash" - 4 assaults, 1 grenadier, + some guy you want to carry for the late game. For this squad I would have the grenadier carry 4 flashbangs and all the defensive grenade perks. The idea is to creep forward with hunkering down until the assaults can flank and kill the opposing team in one go, with the grenadier providing massive defensive capabilities. The carry can be a sniper, specialist, or gunner depending on your long term goals or short term needs (do I need a hacker now, a gunner for late game, or a sniper with ammo to kill stuff at range that the assaults can't)

3. "Vanilla" - 2 grenadiers, 1 specialist, 1 sharpshooter, 2 gunners. The 2 grenadiers each carry 4 frags (with ordnance perk putting them at 5 grenades each) and obviously the sapper perk, trying to relive the "vanilla" gameplay of blowing all the cover up then shooting what's leftover, with a specialist for general purpose healing/hacking. Gunners provide unlimited armor shredding and double shots through chain shot or if you can get their ranks up high, traverse fire.

4. "Kings of Overwatch" - 5 rangers, 1 specialist. I tried a similar strategy in vanilla which was all specialists, and it actually kind of worked (I got through commander irornman in vanilla with this). I have no idea how this would work out in LW2, but the gist is to take all the overwatch perks, hide behind cover, and force them to bring the action to you (with covering fire, you can even shoot at them if they decide not to move). The rangers can even simply shoot twice if they stand still, which is useful for either yolo shooting at targets in high cover or those huge hp targets.

What are your ideas? :P
redscare
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by redscare »

I like to have options and a good toolbox to handle anything, so I usually have 1 guy for role. I also like to keep my distance and have all my guys in hard cover, so my choices reflect my playstyle.

So if we're talking 6-guys, that means...

-Shinobi: Always have one. Scouting is extremely useful. I try not to fire a shot with this guy until the last pod by the extraction zone (until you get the skill for going back into concealment). Tradecraft skill is also VERY good if you're struggling with infiltration.

-Grenadier/Technical: Always good to have explosives. I prefer the grenadier (more shots), so technical is plan B.

-Sharpshooter (specced for long range): Depending on the mission I'll take 0/1/2. If lots of mobility is needed I may take 0. Standard missions take one. If I expect lots of combat, and I have a slot, and my 3rd SS is not in the hospital, I'll take 2 (plenty of IFs).

-Gunner: Always take one. Suppression for the guy you can't kill and you don't want to fire back, Hail of Bullets if that guy needs to die now.

-Ranger/Specialist: Generalist guy. Kills stuff. If mission requires hacking, take the specialist. Sometimes I take both and go without Assault. Early game I may take none and go with 2xGrenadier or Grenadier+Tech. These are usually my officers as well.

-Assault: Currently not knowing how to properly use these guys. Sending them with the Shinobi usually means activating a new pod, keeping them in the back means they're not that useful. Got to try some slug-shot/arc-thrower. Cos run-and-gun is too good to pass on.
Jeancly
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Jeancly »

I ideally bring :
1) suppression gunner
2)Damage assault
3) sword shinobi
4) granadier with tons of flashbang
5) Specialist for opening doors from afar, hacking for afar ecc
6) if there is room also a technical
7) HATE sharpshooter as i think he is useless and disappointed on the ranger as it is nice on paper but since the cover bonus is so high they are useless, i have a nice ranger with 83 aim ( still levelling ) but he can never hit. never.
Jesterofgames7732
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Jesterofgames7732 »

Jeancly wrote: 7) HATE sharpshooter as i think he is useless and disappointed on the ranger as it is nice on paper but since the cover bonus is so high they are useless, i have a nice ranger with 83 aim ( still levelling ) but he can never hit. never.
ok i don't mean to start an argument
But the sharpshooter is insanely useful

Even if you don't bring them along for there rifle
the reason lies in the middle tree where you can focus on skill's for the holo-targeter

the holo-targeter add's +10 aim on one target for all of your squad mates
not to mention the holo-targeter doesn't break concealment and work's at squad site range (might be fixed later But you also get phantom in this tree)

and that's before all the neat upgrade skill's
with skills you can Increase Crit chance (10%)
be able to holo target as a free action (For ever 4 turns)
increase damage of anybody shooting at the holo targeted foe (add with focus fire for extra fun against armored targets as that ignores a point of armor)
Make holo-targeting last for 2 turns
Holo-target multiple people in one turn and that's not counting the 2 other holo target's you get from rapid targeting as it make's holo-targeting a Free action every 4 turn's and make's it no longer end your turn if you use it before moving


so yeah
I'd say the sharp shooter is insanely useful even if you use it's rifle to occasonally take pot shot's at anybody you've flanked from squadsite range

however you are still free to hate them and not use sharpshooters


as for the OP:
I tend to bring a specilist for hacking
A technical for when things go wrong or to start a party of an ambush
a grenader for when things actually start going wrong
a sniper for support
And a shinobi to scout
redscare
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by redscare »

Jeancly wrote:I ideally bring :
1) suppression gunner
2)Damage assault
3) sword shinobi
4) granadier with tons of flashbang
5) Specialist for opening doors from afar, hacking for afar ecc
6) if there is room also a technical
7) HATE sharpshooter as i think he is useless and disappointed on the ranger as it is nice on paper but since the cover bonus is so high they are useless, i have a nice ranger with 83 aim ( still levelling ) but he can never hit. never.
Well, I think that 7 relates to 4. If you use a grenadier with sapper to blow cover up, your sharpshooters and rangers have a field day. Myself only use flashbangs as a "shit, he didn't die!" counter. But there are many valid tactics, I'm not saying yours is bad :)
Zavek
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Zavek »

i have the following setups

rescue squad: 4 shinobis 1 specialists 1 grenadier
this squad is armed with SMGs and shotguns and they sneak in to the objective before engaging.
the specialist disables robotics and scanners in order to aid in moving unseen.
usually i leave the map with only 2-3 turns active combat (sometimes not even a single shot/nade fired) and i have about 4 turns remaining.

Assault: 2 tech 3 grenadier 1 shinobi 2 spec
this team deals with objectives in aggressive manner when i know i cant get infiltration to set the enemy at below normal.
i have a distinct feeling i need a gunner. no assault due to techicals destroying cover and grenadiers using flashbangs to.
this team take some wounds but are equipped for it, generally deployed to destroy relays or if ''fishbarrel'' is unavalible

Fishbarrel: 2 shinobi 1 grenadier rest sharpshooters (untill infiltration timer is unsuitable)
this is for untimed missions such as ambush or supply. shinobi flank out to find a firing position and to get a flank on enemy patrols.
once set up the shooters picks the enemies off at great distance only using the grenadier for extra protection for the shooters if the enemy gets too close, shinobi generally never reveal themselves unless dire need.

Hoodlums : 1 shinobi 4 assault 1 spec 1 grenadier 1 tech
its all about run and gun crushing your way forward, very effective at kidnapping VIPs.

as noted rangers and gunners generally fill reserves for me, The rangers bonus feels useless since the enemy rarely allows you to do 2x flankshots and the gunners cause ive not learned how to use them very well yet.

shinobi is present everywhere due to their high mobility and it allows me to find routes and ''damn good ground'' to use when opening the engagement grenadiers cause flashbangs and smoke not really explosions.
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Devon_v
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Devon_v »

If I could go into every mission with a Shinobi, two Grenadiers, two Technicals, and an Assault, I'd be happy.

That's 15 frag grenades, 2 rockets, 4 four doses of napalm, a pair of flashbangs, a sword and a load of buckshot.

Go ahead ADVENT, show me an 8-man pod.
Jeancly
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Jeancly »

redscare wrote:
Jeancly wrote:I ideally bring :
1) suppression gunner
2)Damage assault
3) sword shinobi
4) granadier with tons of flashbang
5) Specialist for opening doors from afar, hacking for afar ecc
6) if there is room also a technical
7) HATE sharpshooter as i think he is useless and disappointed on the ranger as it is nice on paper but since the cover bonus is so high they are useless, i have a nice ranger with 83 aim ( still levelling ) but he can never hit. never.
Well, I think that 7 relates to 4. If you use a grenadier with sapper to blow cover up, your sharpshooters and rangers have a field day. Myself only use flashbangs as a "shit, he didn't die!" counter. But there are many valid tactics, I'm not saying yours is bad :)
Indeed, my tecnique is hard su pressi g and flash banging everything can not kill with the other guys.
trihero
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by trihero »

Devon_v wrote:If I could go into every mission with a Shinobi, two Grenadiers, two Technicals, and an Assault, I'd be happy.

That's 15 frag grenades, 2 rockets, 4 four doses of napalm, a pair of flashbangs, a sword and a load of buckshot.

Go ahead ADVENT, show me an 8-man pod.
Hmm I like this idea a lot.

I think I need to revisit grenadiers more; I was leaning away after all the nerfs to nades and introduction of the technical but I have to agree with some reasoning I've seen here that destroying corpses isn't that big a deal in most missions, and proabbly grenades don't even kill things outright later in the game and is more for opening cover or drenching them in debuffs. And push comes to shove, grenadiers can simply carry 4 frag grenades compared to 2 in vanilla
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Valaska
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Valaska »

Whatever I do I ALWAYS have a field medic.
trihero
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by trihero »

Valaska wrote:Whatever I do I ALWAYS have a field medic.
For some reason the enemies always target my field medic first. It's kind of silly when my medic gets knocked unconscious when he's the one supposed to revive unconscious people =_=. I like the idea but find the space hard to justify and his offensive abilities are yucky especially if you focus down the medic line.
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Valaska
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Valaska »

trihero wrote:
Valaska wrote:Whatever I do I ALWAYS have a field medic.
For some reason the enemies always target my field medic first. It's kind of silly when my medic gets knocked unconscious when he's the one supposed to revive unconscious people =_=. I like the idea but find the space hard to justify and his offensive abilities are yucky especially if you focus down the medic line.
Give them one of your best weapons (or one from), elite scope, stock, and extended magazine. Have them steady their weapon when they need to be doing the shoosting soon, if you can't steady for a turn (remember you can use aid protocol then steady to open up an engagement) then the elite scope should help you out abit.

Give them high, high HP stuff, and a PCS for survivability, as you said enemies absolutely want to butcher your medic lol. Keeping them abit further back with an elite scope and steady weapon will make them really viable, plus they still do have haywire so they can help out a bunch when robotics hit the field, might not be taking control but definitely shutting them down!

I am playing Ironman Commander right now and I have only three on my wall of dead, two before I had the medic and one because Spark effing sucks and I can't fix him.
Goumindong
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Goumindong »

I don't think there really are any "all purpose" missions..

As it stands i have four squads a fast squad, a heavy squad, a body retreival squad, a precision squad.

Fast is : Overwatch Specialist (revival protocol only real deviation) + Support Grenadier + Fill with Shinobi.

Fast is for VIP missions/rescue missions and basically nothing else. Hard timers only. Specialist is for hacking doors at range. Ever vigilant lets me more easily cover a dashing retreat. Ditto rapid deployment for the grenadier. Shinobi are full offense and hide until needed.

Heavy is: One Medic, One Hacker, One Support Grenadier, 1 Sharpshooter (DFA), 2 technicals, 1 sapper, 1 gunner.

Heavy is for soft timer missions. Idea is simple. Set up in range of target. Hack/destroy it from range. Blow up any pods that get in the way

Body Retrieval is: Medic, Hacker, Gunner, Spark(if available), fill with needle grenadiers

This is for "enemy material" missions. Where you want to go in as low infil as possible and still walk away. The only real way to bring down a lot of bodies is explosives. The only real way to bring down a lot of bodies while still getting loot is needle grenaders.

Precision is: Snipers+Assaults. +1 hacker specialist + 1 medic +1 spark if available.

This is mainly for haven defense. Body works if this isn't up yet but you need to go fast to rescue your haven buddies but also have problems with explosives killing your friends.
trihero
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by trihero »

I like your tailored strategy guomindang. I myself try to maintain 4 squads with roughly the same composition for redundance when teams are injured or doing other missions, but I can see where you maximize the success/reward of each mission type. Do you have a "raid setup" for headquarter/objective assault? My guess is you extend your "body collector" team to include more raw firepower since explosives won't carry you far enough especially as enemy gets huge hp pools.

Just an idle thought for anyone out there - I have recently thought about building shinobi skills in a non-covert oriented way, as to provide some much needed help in the later missions where their sword just doesn't cut it anymore (see what I did there?). I don't like the respec time so I just straight up build things like low profile, hunter's instincts, and ignore typical skills like covert, tradecraft, ghostwalker, and I also ignore sword skills since you don't want to be activating extra pods of 8+ later into the game. While they are a tad worse at sneaky operations in the early game, I don't really play that way anyways and their fleche carries them through the first stages of the game.
cryptc
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by cryptc »

Maybe it would be good to have a "Special Ops" team, which specializes in doing small (3-4 man) missions such as assassinating VIP, rescuing rebels, destroy relay, etc.

So something like

Long range sniper
Hacker specialist
Scout Shinobi (or two)
Technical
and some sort of damage dealer type

The way you'd use them is that whenever there isn't a mission suited for them you send them to infiltrate a low priority target, if a target that suits the team pops up you either abort or launch their low priority target, then hurry to send them to the mission they are specialized for. That way they spend as little time as possible idle, and get some training between their special missions.
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Arcalane
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Arcalane »

I have four squads;

VIPER is my A-Team, the elites, the "do anything" crew. Viper typically takes point on any major op like the Blacksite, and has a Ranger CO, Sharpshooter, Grenadier, and stungun Assault as the core team. They are usually accompanied by at least one of my two SPARKs.

COBRA is my B-Team, the backup unit. Nothing much to be said here - they're the "good but not great" bunch. Yes, I make Cobra Commander jokes when nobody is listening.

COPPERHEAD is my FNG squad. Lead by a grenadier officer, Copperhead is who I send to do V. Light and X. Light tasks in low-strength regions, to get the rookies some experience without throwing them straight into the shit.

Finally, KRAIT (pronounced like 'kite', apparently) is my stealth team - two Shinobi, two SpecOps, and one dedicated Specialist. Krait is who I send for time-critical high-risk essential missions, like the Liberation Defectors. They have misdirection tactics and defensive/evasive gear primarily.

All other specialists are free-floating and rarely assigned to squads on a permanent basis.
trihero
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by trihero »

two SpecOps
wot? is that some kind of specialist?
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Arcalane
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Arcalane »

trihero wrote:
two SpecOps
wot? is that some kind of specialist?
Custom class. It's a kinda shinobi-esque commando with plantable X4 charges; http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =721031946

Sneaky explosions, basically.
trihero
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by trihero »

I'm beginning to like having a fairly broad base of all classes, and multiples of each working on different trees. I really enjoy the variety and finding different ways to succeed.

Right now my setup is

1) 1 sharp 1 shinobi 1 assault 1 gun 1 spec 1 gren - a half/half melee/ranged dps team, with a defensive grenadier, hacking specialist, holo sharp
2) 2 gren 1 sharp 1 rang 1 spec 1 gun - complete lack of melee, both grens are sappers so the idea is blow cover and shoot whatever's left, medical specialist, this sharpshooter is completely a ranged attacker with no holo perks
3) 4 assaults 1 spec 1 gren 1 gun - defensive grenadier with flash/smoke/rapid deployment to cover while assaults run in, 1 gunner is for opening concealment since smgs/shotguns are terribad for that, messing around with an overwatch specialist here
4) 1 shinobi 3 assault 1 ranger - same overall idea as 3)

Technicals go into haven defense since for me they provide an optimal amount of safety for those missions at the lowest cost of lance corporal officers.

For HQ/supply raid I take some elements from different teams; 2 sharps 1 defensive gren 1 offensive gren 2 spec (1 medical 1 hack) 1 rang 1 gun 1 shin 1 assault

Then I'm slowly aiming to grow my pool by purchasing troops from the black market to fill in injury gaps and also to station new officers in new havens.
ZenGilgamesh
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by ZenGilgamesh »

I don't have the mental capacity to put forth the effort to micromanage different teams for specifically different purposes, so I forgo that in the spirit of "general purpose" by having two types of squads: All-Purpose and Infiltration.

I have three of each type of team, All-Purpose teams are comprised of eight hand-picked members while the three Infiltration units are cookie-cutter Specialist/Twin Shinobi teams. The Specialists on the Infiltration units are the Officers, though in hindsight after running missions I think it would have been better had one of the Shinobis been the team Officers.

The All-Purpose squads adopt a familiar mindset of "trying to have something from each archetype". They're the ones that assault Nerve Towers and HQs, go to Blacksites (even though I've yet to do the first one in this newest campaign). Eight members is so I have some leeway to pick and choose who goes on which missions if I can't infiltrate the whole unit. While there are minor differences to composition, I did keep some staples:

-Two Gunners, both Officers. If they can go on a mission together, great, otherwise one is always training/covering for the other while out on a mission.

-One Shinobi. If you're not scouting in LW2 I feel like you're doing something wrong.

-One Field Medic Specialist.

-One Sharpshooter, for your "easy pickings" snipe kills as well as holotargets for the rest of the unit.

-One or two Crowd Control Specialists, either Technical or Grenadier. I've read a lot of others using Grenadiers as Sappers but I prefer to keep that role to the new Technicals (at least so far). I enjoy using my Grenadiers as flashbangers with Bluescreen Protocol. Love hacking MECs.

The three Infiltration squads run all of your quick, no-kill (or as little as possible) get-in-and-get-out missions. Your Extract VIP, Download Data Cache, Vehicle VIP Rescue, etc. So far they've been suuuuuuper efficient. Although, I've considered making them 4-man squads by adding in a Technical perhaps, for when I'm out of the early-midgame gate. Thoughts?

So far on this latest playthrough (this is my fourth run at LW2, the three previous runs have failed) I've been fairly successful. It's July 9th, I'm infiltrating my second HQ to liberate and already finding Liberation leads on the third. I haven't assaulted the Blacksite the first time yet.

EDIT: Also, I want to add that running the three-man teams has been a godsend in the sense that I've been able to reach ranks like Staff Sergeant wayyyy faster than I did in previous runs (when I only had 5+ squads), unlocking my GTS and AWC upgrades faster.
trihero
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by trihero »

I like your setup gilga, it seems like it would work really well. I like your core team members, and I totally agree with you on support grenadiers, they are actually quite decent. I think at the end of the day you choose to sacrifice assaults/rangers if you can only take 6 members, but your team setup seems to account for it (looks like gunners are your guaranteed dps).
Solomani
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Solomani »

This is my latest setup in the game... three types of teams: General, Strike, and Stealth

General Purpose Team
I actually do not prioritize a shinobi for my general purpose squad. Reason being is that this team will utilize heavy firepower over everything else. Bad things in your way, blow the F*** out of it, loot be damned. As long as the enemy is eating frag and burning, this squad is doing its job.

The squad is built to take cover, dig-in, and fight (not maintain freedom of movement). In order to do so, the squad will need to be large and have a diverse set of skills which emphasize heavy firepower, suppression, and strong defensive capabilities. The main goal of the squad is to keep the enemy at range (do not let them close in) and eliminate their ability to fight through attrition and/or Red Fog.

A Shinobi, while useful in providing sight range.. is not useful in providing firepower and will sit dormant for too long.

In order of priority:

[5 - 6 Team]
Two Gunners
One to Two Rangers
One Grenadier [Sapper]
One Technical

[8 - 10 Team]
One Specialist [Medic]
One to Two Sharpshooters [One DFA and one Snapshot]

[10+]
One Shinobi
One Assault


While this team can do timed missions, it isn't optimal for it. For the intensely timed missions, I use a strike team which emphasizes freedom of movement.

Strike Team
They lack heavy firepower so it is very important that they do not get locked down into fire fight. When the team gets locked down, there are a couple of options that will free them up. If they are unable to move due to enemy Overwatch, use an Assault with Lightening Reflexes to break the overwatch. The second option is to Flash Bang the enemy and move upon them. In the case where neither option seems good, you may be in a losing situation and should evac as soon as possible.

[4 - 6]
Two Shinobi and/or Assault
One to Two Rangers [one with Overwatch Suppression]
One Specialist [Combat Specialist with Revival Protocol]
One Grenadier [Support Flashbanger]

[7 - 8]
One Gunner
One Sharpshooter [Snapshot]

The idea is every turn you are moving. When you make contact, your shinobi/assaults should be on the flanks ready to pounce. They ride the flanks and wait for the opportunity to strike. Ideally, both will strike in the same turn. Their strike should devastate the enemy enough to allow the rest of the team to move forward. Typically when they strike, they will be flanking other enemy troopers which will cause them to move.. your overwatch/suppression will pick them off.
nightwyrm
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by nightwyrm »

My general purpose squads setup consists of 5 soldiers:
1 Shinobi - scouting
1 Specialist - hacking and mission completion
1 Grenadier/Tech - crowd control
2 of Assault/Ranger/Gunner/Snapshooter - shooty guys that can still move and shoot

This gives me a versatile base with which I can call up quickly in the load screen and then add or subtract dudes to fit infiltration time or mission parameters. For example, I'll add a Sharp for destroy relay missions; I'll add a DFA Sharp and 2 other dudes on a Enemy Column mission etc.

I also have one or two stealth specialized squads with 2 shinobis and 1 spec for low infiltration time, emergency missions.
Elder_Basilisk
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by Elder_Basilisk »

My generalist squads depend upon who is wounded at the time. I have 5 full squads, but sometimes I have to mix and match.

Ideally, I go with a DFA sharpshooter, a specialist officer, and a mix of 3 Gunner/ranger/grenadiers. Maybe a technical if there's room. And a shinobi scout if there's room for an 8th. Depending upon the AWC, I might run a shooty shinobi in place of a Gunner/ranger/grenadier to scout as needed and shoot as needed.

For specialty stealth squads, I've got 4 squads of shinobi. Sometimes I'll bring a phantom sniper along for assassinate missions or a specialist for hacking missions but I've found that it's generally easier to put a hacking PCs and a skulljack on a shinobi than it is to manuever a specialist to the relay and hide them while waiting for an evacuation flare. Likewise, I found it's usually easier to sneak a shinobi with a shotgun next to a relay, and rapid fire+command+rapid fire than it is to kill it with a sniper. I have been experimenting with assaults for VIP kidnap missions though and it seems to work well.
stefan3iii
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Re: Your general purpose squads?

Post by stefan3iii »

Ideal 6 man squad?
1 serial sharpshooter
1 hybrid grenadier with sting/incendiary, ideally an officer
4 mix of gunners/assaults to your taste. 4 gunners is safer, 4 assaults is probably more fun, but either will work.

4 gunners can usually shoot 8 times a turn (more if you consider chainshot or cyclic fire), sharpshooter will usually kill something each turn, and can go really ham with serial when needed. Grenadier is there as a contingency when not everything dies after an activation.
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