The following is a game guide to the Squad Leader Profession.
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Squad Leader - Being all that you can be.
Tagri has written a great guide on how to become a Squad Leader in the world
of Galaxies. This addendum is on how to use your newfound skills effectively
during your group�s adventures.
Remember, as Squad Leader you are awarded many skills and modifiers which
are beneficial to yourself, but more so to your group members. It is a
selfless profession in which the rewards are not in bigger payouts or
massive amounts of destruction, but rather witnessing the unifying of team
members effectively in combat. If you like to play the lone-gunman or go in
for the big kill yourself, Squad Leader is not the profession for you.
Also, since Squad Leader requires you move up skill trees in both scouting
and marksmanship, it can be difficult to simultaneously master professions
which are unrelated to either of those careers (if we only had 300 total
Skill Points, the galaxy would be so much more fun!) I myself am currently
approaching master Squad Leader and master Combat Medic, and the skill
points are running low!
As Squad Leader you have some responsibilities that extend above and beyond
that of the regular group leader. (For an extensive guide to forming and
leading groups, refer to Arcas� article entitled �The Humble Grouping
Guide�) These are, 1) Combat Awareness and Support and 2) Effective
Communication.
COMBAT AWARENESS AND SUPPORT
Your group has just come upon the big yellow pillar in the sky which
signifies a Mountain Squill Lair that is terrorizing the local population.
That one erratic member of your group (you always have one) decides to run
right into the lair without his masked scent on. All of a sudden, three
Mountain Squills and a baby are all pounding him into the ground. A medic
rushes in to keep him from being incapped yet again and finds herself in the
middle of the fracas herself. Within a few swings, both of them are stunned
and their hams are reduced to nubbins� it�s time to come to the rescue!
But wait! Don�t go in with guns blazing quite yet. Don�t run in for the
quick heal and get stuck in the fray yourself. Your support comes in
different and sometimes much more effective ways. You�ve automatically given
your party a boost in melee and ranged defense and terrain navigation with
your passive skill modifiers, now you can use those new skills to quietly
save the day. Just remember, in order to use these skills YOU MUST BE THE
LEADER OF THE SQUAD! If not, you can�t use the skills, nor are you getting
Squad Leader xp.
-Formup-
This skill has the effect of curing stun and dizzy effects on all party
members. The two stuck in melee range of those squills will instantly have
better bearings on their targets. To use this skill effectively you have to
keep a close eye on the status bars of your squad members. If you see that
a few of them, especially your melee fighters, are stunned or dizzy, use
/formup to knock the clarity back into them.
-Volley Fire-
If you have heard of pulling targets, this is the ultimate �Pull.� It is a
fact that your squad members will kill creatures faster and take less
overall damage if you all attack the same creature. It is also a fact that
when there are three Squills and a baby attacking your melee fighter, that
some Novice Rifleman will go for the baby. Volley Fire will allow you to
redirect all of your group�s current ranged attacks to the target of your
choice. This is much faster than using /assist and MUCH faster than sending
a group chat message with instructions. So instead of very slowly killing
two squills simultaneously, you can obliterate them one at a time with
lighting speed.
When is the appropriate time to use this skill? All the time! Don�t be
afraid to use your executive privelage to the benefit of the squad. Your
proven experience as a Squad Leader should be all the resume you need to
convince your squad. The reduced number of incapacitations and death should
speak for itself as well. Just be smart when choosing which creature to
volley.
-Rally-
This skill allows you to temporarily increase the defensive and aiming
abilities of all of your teammates. This is pretty self-explanatory and to
most it is obvious that this skill should be used as often as possible. The
only drawback, it is not guaranteed to work all the time� but when it does�
creatures beware.
-Steady Aim-
This is my least favorite and most unused skill. It increases the hit
chance of each party member, but only on there VERY NEXT TURN. In the heat
of most battles where a player can strike every other second, I rarely see
the need to use this skill. The only addendum to this is when a creature
and our melee fighter are both about to die. I sometimes use Steady Aim to
help guarantee that our strikes will all hit and cap the creature before he
can cap our own.
-Retreat-
A skill you don�t want to use often, but is sometimes called for. Retreat
grants the Burst Run ability to all members of the group at times when the
battle takes a turn for the worse. The benefit of Retreat is that is grants
Burst Run no matter the players HAM levels at the time, nor their level of
tiredness. The trade-off is that it is granted at a severe loss of HAM to
you, the Squad Leader, leaving you susceptible to attack and very weakened.
But like the captain of a ship, you must be willing to give your seat on the
life raft to a member of the crew.
-Boost Morale-
Finally, you�ve take out the lair using all of your other skills and you are
setting up camp. A player who died and cloned is just about to rejoin you at
camp. His wounds are extensive and without a competent doctor in your group
you know that he�s squill bait on the next mission. It�s now time to use
the skill most loved and hated by your group members. Boost Morale will add
up the total wounds suffered by the group and average them out amongst all
party members. This works especially well for mind wounds which can be
healed in camps by entertainers. If one player has 200 mind wounds and they
are redistributed amongst the ten members of a group, then each member has
20 mind wounds to be healed by the entertainer. The time spent healing the
mind wounds of your group has been reduced ten-fold. Of course, some of
your group members will be resistant at first, but after only spending two
minutes camping and healing as opposed to twenty, I think they�ll come
around.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
One of the greatest skills you get as a Squad Leader is a chat skill called
Send System Group Message. A System Group Message is a message that appears
to your squad members in center of the screen where other system messages
appear. This allows your messages to stand out from other Group Chat
messages. And why shouldn�t they? You are the Squad Leader aren�t you?
Actually, I like to use the /sysgroup chat command along with other Squad
Leader skills in macros which not only execute the above mention skills, but
also inform group members (sometimes in witty ways) of what commands I have
just executed. For example, here is my macro for Volley Fire.
/volleyfire;
/sysgroup Concentrate Fire on My Target!;
/sysgroup Do not falter in the face of fear!;
/cheer;
or for Retreat:
/retreat
/sysgroup They got us pinned down!
/sysgroup Run Like Hell boys!
/pause 5
/sysgroup Lose your tails and regroup at my position.
I put this macro into a quickslot and by targeting a creature and selecting
this macro I not only Volley Fire to my target, but I also inform the group
with a prominent message that I have done so. I feel this helps the other
group members know why all of a sudden their targets have been changed
during mid-fight.
These types of macros can be used for any of your Squad Leader skills and I
feel they make the game more entertaining for your group members as well.
And speaking of entertaining, the System Group Message is also great for
giving much needed appreciation to members of the group which have
contributed a great deal to a battle or are leaving the party. For example�
a single line /sysgroup message followed by a short macro:
/sysgroup Three Cheers for !!!
(macro)
/sysgroup Hip Hip� Hooray!
/pause 2
/sysgroup Hip Hip� Hooray!
/pause 2
/sysgroup HIP HIP HOORAY!
/cheer
Anyway, the /sysgroup skill is great for many reasons, find your own. But
make sure not to spam the /sysgroup. Overuse can be annoying too.
Lastly, don�t be hindered by the huge numbers of XP needed to level up in
Squad Leader. If you are in decent sized groups hunting relatively big game
you will level up in no time. I was able to level up in my first four
skills of Squad Leader after only one Squill Hunting party on Tatooine in
which we destroyed 6 mountain Squill lairs.
So you still want to be a Squad Leader? Fantastic! I knew you would. In
fact I have found being Squad Leader to be a very rewarding profession and
also in high demand. Because of it�s skill point requirements it is rare
that you find many Squad Leaders around, especially those that have
progressed to Master Squad Leader. Just remember that your contribution to
your squad is not made through your fists or your trigger finger, but rather
through your ability to rally your troops and make that rag-tagged group of
veterans and noobs alike, turn into the finest killing machine in the
galaxy. Keep your wits about you and always be aware of your soldiers. Good
Luck! And God Speed!
-Illiana
Bria Server
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