Squad Leader Hints: ------ Submitted by: rickHH Always try to end each character's turn with enough action points to kneel. This improves their return fire and makes them more difficult to hit. First move should always involve a scout moving as far forward as possible. They can be used to trigger ambushes, reveal enemy locations plus all the rest of your troops get a shot if the enemy is uncovered. This is a good thing when you have artillery or tanks. Use grenades on enemies inside of buildings, bunkers, or trenches. Don't use smoke grenades until after all your men have fired their shots. That way, you get to maximize your attack and minimize the enemies' options. Tips from the Boss ****************** Submitted by: Onellan Govender E-mail: de_scorpion@freemail.absa.co.za ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Kevin Jamieson's Hints + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Stock up on grenades and throw them in bunkers to see if anyone is home. 2. Missions require 4 or less squads, so with 8 squads to choose from, right-click to swap soldiers from squad to squad and stack the squad(s) you bring into battle with your best soldiers. 3. Check for underground tunnels in enemy bunkers. 4. Be careful with grenades near obstacles where they might bounce back,and on roads where the open terrain increases their area of effect. 5. If possible, clear buildings of enemy soldiers and place snipers on rooftops where they are the most effective. 6. Always try to leave enough Action Points (AP's) to at least kneel (3AP) at the end of a soldier's movement as this increases hit potential for the kneeling soldier, reduces the hit potential for enemies, and often reduces the number of enemies that can fire. 7. Place demo charges at the beginning of an engineer's turn to ensure that they have enough Action Points to move out of range of the explosion. 8. Since the player gets to go first, place soldiers where they can see enemy soldiers during the deployment phase. Use the Quick Enemy Select Bar, located in the top middle of the interface area, to facilitate this. 9. Use a bazooka, artillery fire, mortar fire, or grenades on an enemy vehicles until the fuel line is hit or the vehicle is destroyed. 10. Whenever possible, keeps troops far enough apart to avoid multiple deaths from enemy fire yet close enough to support each other. 11. There is no such thing as "friendly" fire. +++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Ellie Crawley's Hints + +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Remember that tanks usually have a secondary weapon or machine gun as well. The machine gun can be fired more often than the main guns and they are particularly effective against soft targets. 2. All squad-based soldiers will have a small graphic just to the left of their AP icon indicating what squad they belong to. Hitting the 'Y' key will show all of the Squad icons. 3. Remember to place soldiers that have enough Action Points to fire in opportunity fire mode. This will allow them to fire at enemies that move into the soldiers line-of-sight during the computer's turn. If done right, opportunity fire can really hamper the enemies' attack. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Corey Navage's Hints + ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Smoke can be your soldier's best friend in a combat situation. A well-placed smoke grenade can shield your troop movements from enemy eyes. Heavy smoke at one level does not necessary mean heavy smoke at all levels. A smoke cloud that prevents a soldier from being seen while standing may not prevent the same soldier from being seen in a kneeling or prone stance and vice versa. 2. The player can see how the smoke deployed at various levels by cutting the level up and/or down using the 'raise/lower cut away level' tool in the game interface. 3. Soldiers can not see into or out of a smoke cloud. This can make for some interesting 'blind' close-quarter fights. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Jeffrey Tolleson's Hints + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Be very careful throwing grenades inside or out of buildings; they often don't go where you intended them. 2. When moving in the presence of the enemy, leave enough APs to fall prone or at least to kneel for protection. 3. If you need to advance under heavy enemy fire, try the smoke grenades. And be careful of standing at the edge of the smoke coverage. 4. Try to keep your soldiers within 6 squares of your squad leaders (same colored dot or square above left of your insignia and APs) and platoon leaders. Those extra 6 APs are golden. 5. You can ignore your medics in the single scenarios, but they are valuable for keeping your troops alive from mission to mission in the campaign game. 6. The armored vehicles rule the battlefield. Concentrate on destroying the enemy's and keep yours operational whenever they are present. ++++++++++++++++++++++ + Rex Martin's Hints + ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. Most small unit tactics in WW2 revolved around the movement-and-fire methods perfected during WW1. In effect, one element of the squad or platoon would provide cover while the other moved; once the moving element was in position, it would provide cover for the rest to move. In Squad Leader this is recreated by the Opportunity Fire command; at the end of any turn, you should have several of your soldiers, with a good line-of- sight (LOS) to a large area, placed on Opportunity Fire at the end of each turn. During the war, the usual rule-of- thumb was that half of the troops should be providing cover while the other half moved during any attack or retreat. By "leap-frogging" the two halves, the tactical commander was always able to react to any unexpected threat. In a static defensive situation, this percentage should be somewhat higher, and it was not unusual for 75% of the force to be on Opportunity Fire, while the rest provided a mobile reserve, moving to plug any holes as casualties occurred. 2. If you are expecting a long-range firefight, take along a sniper ortwo. Put them in a position with long LOS, preferably with some cover between them and the enemy. During your turn, stand and use Aimed Fire, keeping enough AP to again kneel or go prone so that the enemy will not be able to return an aimed shot (any fire the sniper will draw will be a Snap Shot enemy Opportunity Fire). With their excellent marksmanship, a sniper can often pick off an enemy soldier each turn. Snipers want long-range duels; don't allow your snipers to be caught in close (which also means that snipers have little use for grenades). 3. If you face a firefight in close terrain (urban, heavy vegetation, and such), take along more automatic weapons and grenades than the default order-of-battle usually offers. In environments such as Arnhem, you should be looking for a fast-paced, highly mobile and confusing firefight. Lines-of-sight will be short, the enemy will be moving in good cover, and you won't have many opportunities for aimed fire. Urban firefights, especially, were bloody affairs, so expect high casualties and make sure that your critical specialists for the mission have back-ups. 4. Mortars and the heavy MG for the Heavy Weapons squads are of most use in open terrain with long LOS. They are especially useful in defensive actions, and of little or little value if you plan a rapid advance. In the latter case, leave them behind and focus on your Rifle squads. 5. Trucks, at the ranges depicted in Squad Leader, are a liability. They tend to be deathtraps for your troops. Never expose a loaded truck in range of any enemy troops. The half-tracks are slightly better, but even here the standard practice for armored infantry units was to dismount from the vehicles when they engaged in a firefight. Indeed, the half-tracks usually served as a mobile heavy MG that protected the flanks or provided covering fire for the infantry movement. 6. Tanks, on the other hand, in those scenarios where they appear, tend to dominate the immediate area they occupy. In general, it is a waste to use their main guns on infantry targets. The bow MG takes fewer AP to fire (meaning more shots per turn), will do as much damage to a soldier if it hits, and still leaves room for movement in the same turn. Never expose your tanks to enemy infantry without infantry support themselves. The limited range of vision of a tank means that it is vulnerable if the enemy can close in. 7. One of the best uses for your tank is as cover for your soldiers in any attack. If you can keep several of them behind it, not only do they provide close infantry support, but if they stay low (kneeling or going prone every turn) they will avoid most enemy fire. Be warned, though, if the tank goes up, the infantry might suffer the unpleasant effects of the explosion as well. 8. Conversely, if you are facing enemy armor, you will need some sort of long-range anti-tank weapon - a bazooka, PIAT, panzerfaust or panzerschreck. Always take more than one. And if a trooper carrying one goes down, do your best to recover it. Otherwise, taking out an enemy tank at close range is a costly affair. 9. If you are blessed with artillery support, use it frugally. Don't waste it on a single, annoying enemy soldier. Use it much as you do a mortar, to clean out enemy trenches and fortifications and to break up masses of enemy troops that you cannot fire on directly. 10. In summary, the most important principle in tactical combat, as at any other level of military operations, is planning. Read the mission objectives carefully, consider the minimum forces necessary, understand your resources, prepare for contingencies and the unexpected. Succeeding in a campaign game means far more than just taking the best marksmen every time and loading them down with lots of grenades. If war was just a single battle, anyone could be a squad leader. But, to lead a platoon through a major campaign takes planning, understanding and quick thinking. Good luck. +++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Jason Gleason's Hints + +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. On the first turn, save some people with smoke grenades for last. Shoot anyone around you with the majority of your forces, move them into position, and THEN toss the smoke grenades. You'll get the advantages of having had the first attack as well as having the smoke cover. 2. Don't underestimate the value of concussion grenades. They have a radius one square larger than frag grenades. This means that they cover an extra 133%! This is especially effective when throwing over hills where you can't see your targets but know they're out there. 3. Throw grenades liberally. Not only is it cathartic, it also can take out lots of units in bunkers and trenches. When they're all bunched up like that they're just asking for a concussion grenade. 4. Don't underestimate the value of suppressing fire. Don't waste good AP on enemies that have just been pinned down. Only fire on enemies that have just been pinned when all other bad guys are also pinned. 5. Alternate suppressing fire with movement. Spending even turns moving and odd turns shooting works like a charm. Pin down all of the enemy troops and then worry about moving into position. That eliminates the fear of opposing opportunity fire. 6. Flamethrowers are pretty... pretty devastating, that is. 7. Remember that tanks run over enemy units. Remember that enemy tanks run over friendly units. Don't let an enemy tank get within driving distance of your units in smoke cover, because an enemy tank will not hesitate to "accidentally" run over five, six, or seven of your best marksmen. 8. Use hand-to-hand combat in trenches in the cover of smoke. 9. Always, always, always take out radio operators if you have line of sight. If you don't, get it. If you can't, move around a lot. If you see the enemy radio operator call in an artillery strike, move ALL of your units away. 10. Save early, save often. I recommend at the beginning and end of every turn. That way, if something REALLY BAD happens, you're not sunk. 11. Don't bring medics into non-campaign missions. 12. Heavy machine guns on vehicles seem to work well at killing trucks and half-tracks. They deliver vehicle-killing critical hits with surprising frequency. It must have something to do with their rate of fire. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ + Doug Atwell's Hints + ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. During your turn, always take your sniper's shots first, they may take out an enemy with opportunity fire just waiting for one of your other soldiers to cross his path. 2. Sometimes the closest enemies are not always the easiest to hit, be sure you consider all your targets with the quick enemy selector before firing. 3. Your Radio Operators are your best friends, find them the best possible cover with the farthest line-of-sight. 4. Before opening a door with a trooper, place another trooper behind him so that he can fire with all of his action points. 5. Once victory is achieved in a mission, you don't have to exit right away. A good idea, if you have a surviving medic, is to run around and treat any wounded soldiers so you can use them for your next mission.
