Squad Leader Archive

Quick question for the group...

I fancy myself as a 'tour guide' for big game hunting, would it be better to be a SL/Rifleman or an SL/Ranger?

The whole image of a big game hunter with a rifle is appealing, I'm sure ranger also has its advantages though.

What do you guys think?

Rifleman definately.

I was half-way through ranger not too long ago, and it isn't that appealing. The only thing I currently like about Rangers are the camps. Tracking is a waste of time for me personally; Trapping has its best traps at scout; and terrain negotiation doesn't get any better than scout for the MOST part.

Go Rifleman, it'll save you from having to run away from creatures all the time. Besides, if you ever feel like killing a Rebel, you can.

Kinda depends. If you want to be the hunt leader that can also shoot the rifle really well, I say go Ranger Rifleman.If you just want to be hunt leader, guide type, leading groups around to hunt, and you're just an extra blaster, go Ranger SL.

These seem biased to Ranger, because I am ranger. hehe. I would love to have the group terrain negotiation for hunting party. With the track skill, and the other previous ranger skills, people look for rangers for just your purpose, to be a hunting guide. I get tells from strangers all the time asking if I can lead a party to hunt krayts or some other beast type.

It is true, the best standing terrain negotiation is at master scout. And currently the ranger traps are not good really. But IMO tracking and the camo kits, about to be easier to make, are well worth it for hunting guides. If you are not doing anything else with your points, go all three, Ranger SL, and Rifleman.

SL are good to get groups around fast, and to help them team up on targests. They do not help them find creatures or keep the group safe. that is the ranger. That pretty much sums it up.

I'm a master squad leader and 4-3-4-3 rifleman (and i was a ranger briefly) so i think my experience might beable to lend you a hand. I do have to agree that leading a group with a big rifle in your hand does look awesome, but I would highly recommend not going this route. I got rifleman long before I got squad leader and i have to say if i could do it again I would have picked carbine, pistol, or swordsman. If you are going to be leading big game hunts the rifle is a major disadvantage for a squad leader. All riflespecials have major mind costs meaning that you have to use them sparingly with your squad leader commands. As a squad leader you should be at the front of the group, but once battle starts you have to track your way to the back of your group so you have decent range and accuracy on your target. Also, when you are at the front of the group experience has shown me that you are often attacked first by aggros that are close by, and since you will be "big game" hunting and most creatures do melee damage, you will be hit for 2.5 times the amount of melee damage just because you're holding a rifle. So when hunting with that melee modifier, you are almost guarenteed a 1 to 2 hit incap by most creatures. Now, on to the ranger issue. I got ranger because I thought it would be really useful to have as a squad leader. I often found though, that i had a much more experienced ranger in my group and I could never reach there level because I was out of skill points.I'm not trying to discourage you ToranTT, but I'm just saying that I had to give up ranger so that I could be somewhat effective with my rifle in a group. I can only say now almost being a master rifleman that I can finally hold my own better in a group whilespending less time calling for medic 30 seconds into the fight to get me off my back . So if you still want to hold that big gun, go all out rifle with no ranger. If you really want the cool tents and possibly camo kits go ranger, but get a profession that has better accuracy up close and a less of a melee damage modifier. I hope this helps you out and good luck.

Ranger offers very little to your charcter. I was a Master Ranger. It brought very little to the table. The traps offer no improvement. The camp line, while impressive looking, does not offer much in terms of functionality. The wayfaring line was useful until they changed maskscent to be scout only and added those lame camo kits. The tracking line offers both tracking and creature harvesting which have advantages for income and giving supplies to friends. So I went from 4444 to 4040 to my current 0040. Very honestly, at 0040, I feel completely the same as I did at 4444 with the exception of my camps looking different.

The class Ranger has the name Ranger which invokes a certain kind of emotion in people such that people want to be a Ranger for the title. You need to think very carefully about this and look at the functionallity the class does or does not bring to you. If you are role-playing and want to be a Ranger go for it. If you like a few of the skills...dabble and try them out. But if you believe that being a Master Ranger will make you a better "hunter" than combat skills alone are, you are unfortunately mistake (again, the name of the class invokes certain emotions in people).

Why not just mix and match with the skills that you want from all three? I'm going for Master Ranger, and taking twobranches each from Suad Leader(Strategy and Leadership) and Pistoleer (Marksmanship and Technique) and will have 11 skill points to mess around in either SL or Pistoleer a little bit more.

-Cley Ramar (Ranger/Pistoleer/Squad Leader)

Farland's Scouts

Fourthings to considder.

1)Both Rifleman and Squad leader use the Mind ham pool for thier abilities.

2) RM are just about as broken as we are. I -was- a rifleman and I could get at best 5 or 6 mindshots and my mind would be drained (and I have maxed out all my mind, focus and willpower as a human).

3) Riflemen have the single lowest DPS of all the classes (I had a 7speed on my -speed sliced- T21).They have the lowest accuracy (maybe 50% accuracy below master). The max dmg on a post nerf t21 is around 370ish.

4) They don't have any advantage on range. You can test it yourself or just go read the thread on the RM board. Pick a target, go to 65m (where the rifle is supposed to be the shiznit) get a rifleman and a pistolere to fire at the exact same time, I GARUNTEE you, the pistol will not only hit more often but it will do it faster and have less HAM cost.

Right now, the only reason to be a RM is for RPing. I won't even mention how BH have eyeshot that is more accurate, does Mind dmg and fires a hell of alot faster. See, thats me not mentioning it.

SL xp is based on damage so a SL/Rifle should advance significantly faster than a SL ranger.

A SL Ranger is a much more interesting combo for RP as it is somewhat oblique. The stations in the camps are a big boon to members especially in large groups.

Thanks guys, I'll reconsider Rifleman -and- Ranger.

Maybe pistols...