Squad Leader

MARINE
Squad Leader	Difficulty: Hard Supervisors: Commander, XO, Staff Officers (Overwatch) Rank: Not defined Duties: Lead your team. Follow orders from command. Guides: Leadership Unlock Requirements: Not available. Detailed Description: |__________| Not defined |__________|

All right, sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed? It's another glorious day in the Corps. A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm: Every meal's a banquet. Every paycheck a fortune! Every formation's a parade! I love the Corps! - Sergeant Apone, Aliens

You are the Squad Leader of one of the main squads aboard the USS Almayer. You are entrusted with the lives of your soldiers, the men and women you will be fighting with on the frontiers of space, and the battlefields on various stations and colonies. You're the one keeping your squad together, so do it right. Your role is primarily Leadership and only secondarily combat. You're practically the only one with a brain down there, so you should do most of the thinking, and let your marines do most of the shooting. Don't leave your squad leaderless by ramboing into combat and becoming a casualty. It's important to know when to fall back. Ensure that your squad makes it back in one piece.

Master Sergeant Apone. A very model of a USCM Squad Leader

Duties

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As the Squad Leader, you need a robust and sophisticated knowledge of fighting a war and protecting your squad, as well as fighting. Manage your squad's supply lines and make sure your marines make it back in one piece. No one wants another folded flag being sent home so keep as many of them alive.

Know the Map

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For you to survive, you need to know the ins and outs of the battlefield. There are maps of the Area of Operation (AO) scattered across the ship. They can be a useful asset when you’re new to the role. A warning: Only one half of the map is revealed and the rest is unknown territory.

Communicate

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Your headset channels are :h for your squad channel you are designated (or :q, :b, :c, :d for Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta squads, respectively) and :v for the command channel. Please communicate with command to relay any and all information. Your Staff Officer should be able to give you a lot of useful information about your squad's composition and whereabouts, along with what's happening with the other squads or aboard the Almayer . You must follow the chain of command, meaning you follow orders from your superiors, meaning the Commander, Executive Officer, and the SOs all outrank you. You should always follow their orders. This also means that if you're denied supply from the Requisitions Officer, then you're denied. If a lieutenant gives you an order, they expect you to follow it.

Squad Leader Equipment

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Equipment

The squad leader ranks as a very important soldier on the field. The equipment they are issued includes:

• 2 M240 Incinerators,
• 8 Fuel tanks,
• 1 Squad Leader headset,
• 1 M11 Squad Leader helmet with a built in camera,
• 1 set of B12 Pattern Personal Squad Leader Armour,
• 3 M40 HSDP Smoke Grenades,
• 1 pair of tactical binoculars,
• 3 Supply beacons,
• 1 Orbital bombardment beacon,
• 1 Webbing,
• 1 Plastic explosive (C-4)
• 1 Motion Detector.

These necessary tools are located in the Squad Leader vendor.

Support Equipment

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In any situation, the Squad Leader comes in prepared in the battlefield with 3 supply beacons, a pair of binoculars and only 1 issued orbital bombardment beacon. This a must-have for every Squad Leader. And here are the uses of each equipment available.

Does your squad have enough ammo, has your Specialist run out of rockets/sniper magazines/grenades? Your squad depends on ammunition from the Almayer if they are away from any supply point. This is where your Supply Beacon comes in. Co-ordinate with the Overwatch officer in launching supplies onto the supply beacon. This will take time as requisitions needs to load the crate onto the supply pad and have the Overwatch officer launch it so do keep in touch with your officers to organise supplies.

Sometimes, the enemy breached into your defenses, or maybe your squad want to breach their defenses. But of course, your squad also relies on firepower to destroy those defenses, usually explosives or something bigger. This is where your Orbital Bombardment Beacon and your Tactical Binoculars does it's purpose. It's just like a Supply Beacon, but instead of sending crates containing supplies, the Orbital Bombardment Beacon sends loads of heavy shells that are shot from orbit. While Tactical Binoculars designates a laser which allows your Pilot Officer to perform a Fire Mission on the designated zone. Of course, while it does not fire heavy shells, it does have a variety of arsenal, from rockets to the 30mm cannon.

You must activate the beacons for overwatch to either issue you supplies or fire rounds at the designated location. They must be placed on an organic tile (dirt, foot path, outside) to be active. This will NOT work in the caves as the signal will be too weak to be sent to the ship. They can be offset up to about 5 tiles in any direction, upon request. Be warned, once active, the beacons cannot be de-activated. Once dropped, it’s anchored to the floor with no way of picking back up again. Use them wisely.

Using the Tactical Binoculars is just like placing an Orbital Beacon, you need to lase it at open ground and not on caves or inside of buildings. To designate a target for Fire Mission, you need to stand still and double click the area while using the Binoculars. It takes a few seconds to appear. But remember to stay still while designating a target, otherwise the laser will disappear.

Tactics and Fighting:

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On the frontlines:

Whether it’d be on small skirmishes, large scale offensives or just the random encounters of hostiles in the AO, you and your squad will need to fend off the invaders or if you’re attacking, eliminating the hostile that is present.

• Squad organisation:

You are the man that can lead from the front, when ever you’re going out on patrol or moving to another location, everyone is going to follow the SL since you are the person leading them so where ever you are going, they better follow you.

Your squad consists of the 2 engineers, 2 medics, 1 specialist, 1 smart-gunner and an endless swarm of grunts. Where you are the man on the ground giving orders, they will need to follow.

You may want some men to cover the rear or the sides of your squad, preventing the enemy from attacking weak points.

With the ability to assign fire teams, your squad can split up into smaller teams to cover objectives.

For example:

Fire Team 1 will patrol around the F.O.B,

Fire Team 2 will help repair the power plant.

• Situational analysis:

When in the heat of battle, you’ll need to assess the current situation, how many hostiles are in the area, who’s injured and who isn’t and how much control of the battlefield you have.

Certain situations will require quick judgement and others, a more calculated choice. While the marines are fighting for control of the frontlines, you will need to support them in their offensive and make the call on when to push or when to retreat.

Other times will be defending at certain locations, whether it’d be in entrances or at the FOB, you’ll need to devise a plan of action. Will you flank from a different location and fight your way from another angle, possibly forcing the enemy away from the defender’s location? Or will you gather your men to hold your ground until a relief force arrives?

Every decision you make has a cost to it, whether it’s lives or time, you will have casualties.

• Assaulting the enemy:

With the possibility of having your squad, accompanied with other troops, to bring the battle to the enemy’s door step, you will need to fight along side your marines. Although how you will fight is primarily up to you, many squad leaders prefer a more aggressive stance with an active role in combat as to some passive squad leaders, directing the battle behind the frontlines and supporting them with supplies and other essentials.

An Aggressive stance:

What many squad leaders tend to do is join the marines in the fighting at the frontlines, although there’s nothing wrong with it, you’re more likely to die from direct conflict with an enemy. Although your firepower of issuing orbital strikes and inspiring leadership will bolster the marines to act, you are putting yourself in harms way.

You’ll be fighting with the main force of the marines, gunning down enemy contacts as well as directly supporting your squad. Exploit weak points in the enemies defences and advance with your men to push the enemy to eliminate the threat.

A Passive stance:

With your marines on the frontlines, you are behind them or close to them to observer the battle and issue orders when necessary. You will primarily deploy supply beacons to re-supply the marines and mainly your support class marines. Although this means that you’ll need to rely on one of your marines to issue an orbital strike as well as the loss of another gun on the field.

You’ll primarily watch the battle unfold, seeing from a safe distance and calling them back when your marines are either too deep in the hot zone or pointing out gaps in the offensive.

Defending the F.O.B:

If hostile forces defeat your offensive and launches a counter attack against your defences, prepare for the worst. Expect most of the enemies forces to invade, this is the battle that determines the outcome of the next few moments, whether it’d be retreating to the ship or another marine offensive. Expect siege units and other supporting enemies to attack as well as the bulk of the enemies forces.

Depending if your engineers and other squad engineers have fortified the F.O.B or not, it will either hinder or help you defend the area.

How the enemy will fight depends on what siege units they have.

They will either bombard you or directly attack through hit and run means. And you will need to respond to these dangers in an appropriate way.

Good luck, your squad depends on your decisions during the course of the mission.

Your Skillset

To find out about how the skill system works head over to the skills system page.