Squad Leader Archive

When I originally jumped into the game, I thought that I would enjoy playing as a combination of combat classes, simply based on my experiences with MUD's and old school RPG's. When the option for Squad Leader opened up, I figured I might give it a shot, just for the simple sake of trying a new class. (Not to mention it fits my personality).

I was pleasantly surprised at the time by the reception of PC's to me being an SL. There was an assumption that I knew everything there was to know about a planet. I was asked to lead hunting parties even without real SL skills (although we all know even having our skills may not mean much).

That aside, now that I'm running low on skill points, I'm trying to refine my character. As SL stands currently, SL xp is based on combat and how many people you lead into combat. Thus, in the eyes of the developers, the SL should be a powerful character in order to be successful.

I know that the community of SL's marks this as a point of contention. However, based on my experience with some groups, I can see how this would be useful. Many of the eager hunting parties are newbies or developing characters. Hunting Krayts, visiting Endor, or taking a tour of Lok, is significantly more difficult when in a group of 15, you are the only person who can hit a single target. *laughs*

In any case, now that I have been an SL for a while, I have found that the majority of skills that I am being given at this point are overpowered by my own personal leadership skills. People don't join my parties because I have volleyfire. People join my parties because of my history on my server, or from what they hear from their friends. So I wonder if I should strive for master BH, phase out my CH skills, and just train up in two SL trees, or if I should train up as a master SL, hope that the changes make the SL class more effective, and train up in two trees as BH (LLC and Carb).

I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Good questions. I would say it depends on your goals, or at least your goals of the moment. I think the beauty of the swg skills system is that you can surrender, and then relearn, and then surrender again, until you find that build that fits just right.

You sound like you have a very good rep on your server, so you don't need a SL title to get youa group to lead. So, if you want to supply more firepower to your group then surrendering SL and mastering BH can be a great help, or perhaps mastering two elite weapon trees + marksmen. If you want to keep your groups alive longer there's always Medic+Doc+CM. I think if you enjoy leading newbie/greenhorn groups out in the wild your SL can do more to keep them all alive longer (Def bonuses+TerrainNegotiate+retreat to get them outta danger) then an extra gun shootingEye Shot or Advanced Strafe. So many options.

Myself, I'm currently Balancing SL (Moble III, Tactics IV), Pistoleer, Fencer, Medic, and Ranger, and the points are getting thin ( = 0 ). I'm also wondering if it's worth giving up other skills, that I very much enjoy, just to Master SL (I don't see much return on investment for getting any more SL skills, cept maybe the melee +def) But I do plan on eventually mastering SL, just to say I did it, then from there look at surrendering it for other more "useful" skills (usefulness, is of course in the eye of the beholder).

And whether or not the proposed changes to SL are beneficial, let alone if they'll even appear, remains to be seen.

Thanks,

-Psquire

My char ended as Master SL, Master TKA, Novice CH. (no I'm not a bandwagon CH, was one of the original master CH's in beta, couldn't give up the proffession =P ).

If the SL changes don't pan out I'll probably pick up rifleman or some smuggler underworld instead.

I just finished my character a few days ago, and I ended up like this: Master Squad Leader, Master Pistoleer, Marksman Rifles to IV, Novice Medic to First Aid III. My usual core-team has two doctors in it, one novice with rezand one master, but I got Novice Medic for emergency situations - that was a "for the team" decision at first, but now I enjoy my added usefulness.

Being a class-warrior and a champion of the Squad Leader class, I will of course tell you to stay as a Squad Leader. I find that my class combination works very well - despite what most pistoleers will tell, I can dish out a ton of damage in most situations with fan shot and stopping shot. Warning shot and suppression fire help control crowds and enforce a flow of battle that works to my group advantage. Having Rifles IV from the Marksman tree allows me to tote around a sliced and powered up medium AP laser Rifle for pertinent situation.

This combination (or probably a combination like this with any elite weapon skill) will also work great for the newbs too. Rally shows that it makes a serious difference when you're dealing with several Novice Marksman or Brawlers. Steady Aim will be useful for them on their next shot and if your group is big enough that could make a big difference. Obviously your terrain navigation will help a pantload.

I'm heavily biased because I love my character so much, and as with all things, results may vary.