Squad Leader Archive

The SL "Leadership XP" implemention provided a profession-specific method of advancement for the Squad Leader. This was changed, with progression for that profession being measured by Weapons (Pistol) XP.

Spinning off of pub-24 related threads regarding whether or not SLs should be required to be player Group Leaders in order to either progress in their skills or gain access to certain profession abilities, it is clear that some people see value in retaining the progression based on a measurement of leadership quality.

This begs the question of 'how' to measure Leadership. I'd suggest that being 'Group Leader" is not a valid measurement of leadership ability. One reason thatI suggest this is that you can in fact be a Master Squad Leader, but be completely ineffective as a Group Leader. The challenge or issue that contributes to this phenomena is that being a good Group Leader is SWG is solely based on whether or not the human being at the keyboard behind that Squad Leader character is an effective player. Another reason I'd suggest this is that the Group Leader role in SWG is a human player function, and not an in-game character function.

Not being very creative myself, I've looked at other (game) systems where attempts were made to actually measure the quality of leadership abilities with a given specific Squad Leader character. In those systems, a 'good' squad leader contributed to the overall success of a unit. Conversely, a 'bad' squad leader had a real and measureable negative effect on the total potential effectiveness of a unit.

One game system that I'm familiar with, a board game from the now defunct Avalon Hill company,is ironically named "Squad Leader" (and 'Advanced Squad Leader', both of which still sit dusty on my bookshelf about 7 feet from where I type this now). Amongst the decreasing circle ofwargamers still mucking about with cardboardfold-out hexagonmapboards, and arthritis-inducing little cardboard unit counters....this game is still argued as being the single most comprehensive (and incredibly cumbersome) rulesetfor tactical sizedWorld War II combat ever published.

I can't detail specifics here, at least within my remaining lifetime, but they did introduce the concept of leadership (in fact, it was at the core of the game as indicated by the name), and a method for measuring the 'quality' of leadership as a game session unfolded.

In it's simplest terms it was based on whether or not a squad leader unit (stacked with it's squad) was effective - in game terms - at achieving an objective. Penalties to the Squad Leader (and any squad 'stacked' with that unit) were assessed as well. If a unit 'broke' under fire (failed a 'morale' check) a Squad Leader unit had a chance to 'regroup' the squad and re-form it once again into an effective combat unit. As members of a squad perished (or broke) under fire, the Squad Leader's chance of success also dwindled. In Squad Leader,the simple metrics for Leadership Quality (and thus, the squad leader's method of progression) revolved primarily around whether or not members of the squad survived. There were quite a number of other considerations, but this was at the core.

Now, to make this relevant to SWG... How would you implement a system to measure Leadership ability in SWG?

Could such a metric be based on combat effectiveness, e.g., the number of creatures/NPCs killed versus the rate ofcharacter incaps/deaths? The number offaction bases blown into smithereens versus therate of casualty within a Squad Leader's group? These are just some quick thoughts, but I'm hoping others can flesh out such concepts - or provide better ideas on how to measure the quality of leadership for a Squad Leader in SWG.