Hi, I am Dismas Hind, also known as Gestas Hind, an old head who came back from retirement home to see how the game turned out while I was away in these long 3 years.
While I am not exactly the most robust player, I have my grain experience to share with others. This also means, I have a lot to talk about this game, especially about SL, one of my favorite roles.
What you are expected to do as a SL:
- Not die (hard)
- Coordinate your squad (VERY hard)
- Communicate the frontline situation to the CIC (INCREDIBLY hard)
Normally when playing SL the common trend is to serve as a pinpointer of where everyone is supposed to go, naturally a lot of this goes above people’s heads and tend to do their own thing, this is what many call squad cohesion, or in other words the responsiveness of a player towards commands.
How do we keep squad cohesion up?
- Talk some shit at the start of the round, anything, just ask/talk about whatever’s going on around you.
- Don’t yap too much and say information people care about on the field in a consice manner, there’s a reason people fall asleep to Greg Lauffer’s speeches
- Talk often in comms, at the end of the day you are just letters on the screen but if your letters on the screen happen to appear more often than other letters on the screen, you will catch the attention of others more easily. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have an answer to a question, just make people aware that you are paying attention to them, and they will pay attention to you back.
- Reputation, sadly your efforts alone won’t be the only thing that will keep people from walking away to do their own thing, usually how well people think about you decides whenever you have people willing to listen to you or not, and that shit takes TIME. So be patient and just play the game.
Fine… But there’s more to SL, right? What about JTAC?
While it is true that JTAC is a possibility, the role of JTAC mafia has been delegated to a new role which is the FTL, these guys not only have better equipment to deal with all your JTAC needs, but are also fitted with radiopacks in the unfortunate case you lose comms groundside.
The times of SL being a glorified CAS spotter are long gone, and while it is true you have more time to focus on the field, it also leaves you with less choices once the situation gets dire and all the CAS and Mortar ammo spent by the FTLs requests at the start of the round.
So… What should I do with my Laser designator?
Two things, first you need to grab coords of key locations, one thing I noticed nowadays is that no one bothers in getting resupplied on the frontlines because of the fast paced nature of the field, but nonetheless, keep a tab of a notepad as you are playing and quickly note down the coords of key locations you may want to OB or get supply from later, for example in Solaris ridge, main LZ being the cargo one, you may want to laze for Cargo, filtration, offices, bar and Admin.
Secondly you’re a shotcaller, meaning, you have the final say on any OB coords you send directly to CIC, you have the privilege of having command comms, do not waste that.
OBs and you, what you should ACTUALLY do with them
OBs are the type of thing that everyone knows what they do but no one knows how to use them right, the three flavors, Cluster (it used to be the worst one back in the day) HE and INC have their respective uses
Cluster is perfect for killing but moreso to bulldoze areas, its efficient at opening up the playing field and make it more easy for marines to move around, especially in maps such as prison station and Hybrisa, that are way too tight.
HE in the other hand is more for offensive purposes. The effect of the explosion is faster than a cluster, leaving little to no delay for marines to push once it lands, this OB works perfectly to clear resin walls, weeds and walls.
INC is the weaker of them all, in the sense of killing capabilities, however due to the explosion being minimal, and the trail of fire lighting up the area, it is perfect for large recovery of bodies, and area denial, sure, you have cooked up the bodies, but in scenarios where a spec or two are in a warrior occupied position, the payoff is simply greater than the loss.
But to do that type of moves, you first need to master the art of…
Shotcalling, chokeholds, pushing, etc.
I make decisions all the time, good or bad, but I make them, choosing when and where to go is decisive when getting the enemy on the ropes.
For starters, as a SL the rule of thumb is that the more open the space is, the better your squad can perform and the less likely FF can occur, the opposite is also true, the less space to move around, the more difficult it gets for anyone to move around, and the harder it is for people to avoid FF.
While it is command’s job to move everyone to a certain place, it is also known that 20% of people actually listen to command announcements, and the other 80% listen to their SLs instead. Command can be omnipotent but it can’t get everyone’s attention you can, this is why quick thinking is essential for this role.
So the big question is, when do we do a flank? I’d say, never, especially when the maps are designed to split apart the marine force by a sizeable amount, however this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, the real problem is that the marines at the other side know you are pushing, you see, its all psychological.
A jarhead may think there’s about 5 xenos camping behind a resin door, waiting to jump on them, when in reality its just a defender, as such, they avoid moving further, while you are attracting the whole hive with your flank, because they lack the information to push forwards.
Thus, when executing a flank, you have to keep these three pointers
- Always have more than 6 marines on you.
- Announce you are going to perform a flank
- Avoid useless/lethal struggles for little payoff
Flanks shouldn’t be considered lethal or game ending when used agaisnt xenos, they have high movement speed and likewise a lot of lethality, instead, you should see flanks as a deviation, you want to make the xenos panic and give up the chokehold at the front to deal with you.
Suicidal? Yes.
Effective? Probably.
To deal with this however we have to make sure you have,
The tools of the trade
For starters, every SL that respects the time and wellbeing of the squad will bring with themselves a MD, bring it in a sling pouch, on the belt, whatever, Buy that MD, wear it, it gives you valuable information on threat assesment, and with time, you will be able to direct the attention of everyone to action, instead of wasting it on nothings.
Secondly, bring flares, marines do not shoot what they can’t see, and even then they don’t shoot at all, but that’s beside the point, flare the frontline when pushing, when holding chokes, you name it, the new shadows update has made it way harder for marines to see probable threats, the game has become darker so xenos have an easier time slipping through and do a sneak attack, flare the area your squad is in, and they will have your back.
Lastly, you want to bring something to bring walls down, either a breaching shotgun or a C4 will do the trick, you aren’t expected to be the squad’s demolitionist, but 2 blocks of C4 never hurt, especially when you want to do a flank.
What kits are good? And a few concluding words
If you are on Bravo, the supplies kit is a no brainer, you can also donate it to some other squad.
Otherwise, the options widen a lot, I personally choose the Pyro kit because of the ability to clear weeds from afar, as well as being efficient for self defense.
The M2C and M56D kit are too slow for my taste, the M2C is just bad at choke pushes, exposes you to boilers, praes, spitters, etc, the M56d is the opposite, works the worst in open grounds where xenos can move around lots. It all depends on the map then, maps like Solaris are a no brainer for M2C while LV is best for the M56D
The grenade launcher is worthless as a grenade launcher (its ironic how everyone BEGGED for this weapon to be added in the past and now no one uses it as much) anyways, its a strictly support weapon, don’t bother with this gun, the ammo managment with this thing is a nightmare.
XM88 is a hit or miss, while the bolt action stopping power of the gun sure is handy, it does take its time to build up damage, I don’t use it a lot, but I’ve seen people use it and either, lose the gun after 10 minutes of first contact or become a nuisance near chokes.
The MOU kit in the other hand is handy if you know what you are doing, sadly flechette does more in terms of FF than killing xenos, this gun just relies on open spaces when you are most likely moving in chokeholds most of the time as a SL, you can donate this kit to someone who wans it instead.
Now, lets forget of the standard M41 and M4RA kits and instead tell you what your main gun could be, the MK1, with 91 rounds to spare, you are expected to be at the frontlines doing your job of coordinating the team, so staying in one position for long periods of time is expected, thus, this weapon is perfect for you.
My usual loadout is,
I grab the mats kit usually, toss it somewhere near req or engineers. Otherwise I can also pick the pyro kit
Leave a MD on my belt, alternatively wear it on the suit slot and leave an ammo belt pouch
Injector pouch, L. Magazine pouch - Alternatively, wear a Injector pouch and a general pouch, to put normal flares on
MK1 on suit slot or in hand.
Rifle ammo box on back or a satchel full of flares
You can use drop pouch here for CAS flares, I personally don’t bother since FTLs carry two already, instead I carry the normal flares, alternatively I carry a webbing with autoinjectors and ditch the injector pouch.
You may say that I should use a sling pouch for the MD, but I have found it with two drawbacks, the first one is that you can’t really see the circles when leaving it at the pouch, you need to pull it out, which by itself gives away you are carrying a MD, secondly you have to do more hand managment than you have to do when wearing it on belt or suit, I just am that fucking old I guess.
A few parting words, the game right now feels like its full of people who are just not having fun with the game? I personally don’t really think that I should be the one to say this, but it seems the mentality of getting dopamine rush everytime a runner goes horizontal is more alluring than comradery, which is why having a no-bullshit leadership style is important nowadays, someone needs to wrangle the ADHD riddled marines, the question is, are you the one who will help them?
I’ll probably quit once I finish a pending matter I have in this game, there’s no “Hurrah, we won the round marines” feeling anymore, well, maybe I am jaded as fuck, but it doesn’t feel satisfying winning, hopefully the guys who do join to play roles like these get the same type of satisfaction I felt when winning games, anyway, hope the info here helps you out, good luck soldier.
Ex-Commodore Dismas Hind, out.