Combat Technician

Introduction

The mainstay of any squad, you can have all the guns and funs in the world, but if you can't get through that bolted airlock door, your squad is as much use as a chocolate fireguard!

As a Marine Engineer, having completed the six month basic training course followed by a further three months of specialisation in the role of Combat Engineer, you can both fix a door and fuck up Aliens.

When you awake from Cryo and get yourself down to the prep rooms, you'll find your very own Engineer room with a ColMarTech vendor that contains everything you'll need to secure sites, build FOBs, set up defences and injure any hostiles that might come your way.

Playing an Engineer

There are two routes you can realistically go down as a Combat Engineer.

• Combat Engineer
• Combat Engineer

Note the emphasis!

From the ColMarTech Vendor you obtain mines, Incendiary grenades, C4 explosive charges and, oh yes, a top of the line, assembly required, batteries provided, UA 571-C Sentry Gun. If you decide to support your team offensively, then you can use these to support the squad with flexible heavy duty firepower as you tow the Sentry Gun around, place mines and throw grenades. It's a tricky style to play and one that demands a higher level of skill than just running around guns blazing. If however, you can deploy and orientate that turret quickly enough when the Alien wave falls on you, it may turn the tide of the battle.

If on the other hand, you decide to go down the Engineer route, then your strengths will lie in your ability to open any door, repair structural damage, set up near impassable defensive lines, rig up some booby traps and of course, sort out the power.

Engineer Tactics

• Space is your enemy. Not the black space, but the bag space. You will want more than you can possibly carry, and the god of meta-gaming might whisper in your ear just to take some more stuff down in a locker or crate. Don't do it! - remember, you're just a Marine on a routine mission drop like any other. You wouldn't go down towing a cargo hold worth of gear with you.

This is why you need to decide if you want to play Defensive Engineer or Offensive Engineer. The UA 571-C takes up one hand slot and cannot be stored anywhere on your person. If you take any part of it out of its storage crate, it will not go back in. There is however, nothing stopping you from carrying a grab bag in a free hand filled with other equipment you might need.

• There will be enough material on the planet to keep you supplied in metal, but pack wisely on the Sulaco as you may not get a chance to go back for more. If the worst comes to the worst, you can cannibalise an out-building for more materials.

• If you're setting up a FOB, take a moment to assess routes of ingress and egress. Only the worst Engineer blocks off entry and exit routes so that when you're overrun, reinforcements either can't get in, or the wounded, dying and fleeing, can't get out.

• Cover from view and cover from fire. Two totally different things. If you're building cover from fire (Acid attacks) then consider grilles and windows rather than walls so your Marines can see the approaching enemy. Marines don't need cover from view, they're not sneaking up on anyone - they're big, loud and it's hard to hide a dozen men.

• UA 571-C locations. It's critical you identify a killing zone for the sentry to be most effective. If there isn't one, consider making one through wall structures. Don't be afraid to move it around as the tide of battle flows around your location either, and don't be afraid to move it duringthe battle as long as you're confident you can resite and get it powered up quickly enough. There's nothing worse than watching a sentry get smashed to pieces just because it got left behind in the withdrawal.

• Geothermal Generators. If your squad is tasked with getting these generators running, that's your job. Anyone other than an Engineer working on those it's meta-gaming to fuck. Because of this, it's your job to stay with them and maintain them. They break. A lot. Don't set them up then run off. If your squad is holding that area, stay with the generators. Get your sentry set up, place out your mines and reinforce the building with structural adjustments in between fixing the generators as they break.

Engineer Quick Reference Guides

Setting up the UA 571-C

1. Open the crate
2. Take Plasteel
3. Activate it and select the turret frame
4. Wrench turret in place
5. Add cable
6. Add turret
7. Add sensor
8. Add metal
9. Weld together
10. Add battery (Try to put in a High-Capacity one rather than the bog standard one that comes in the box)
11. Click on turret to activate

To re-locate

1. Select screwdriver
2. Access turret menu and power-down
3. Activate screwdriver on turret, you'll unscrew the bolts
4. Drag it to new location
5. Activate screwdriver on turret, you'll screw down the bolts
6. Click on turret to power it up