To be brief, I think comtechs are right now a really fun role to play, both defensively and offensively. However I have noticed that compared to other roles, their list of “chores” to fulfill if they want to be fully effective as other marines is quite a handful.
Depending on their loadout, they have to visit Requisition to grab extra C4/Breaching Charges or restricted weaponry as they want, and then they have to head to medbay to nab two medkits for storage purposes (I’ll explain why two later). After that they have to help move medvendors from the medbay to the Alamo and hack it, and finally visit the tech storage south of the Alamo to grab both a APC module and the electronic vendor itself and load it to the Alamo.
If you have a vague idea of how comtechs work, you may now be telling yourself “But the comtech vendor has all of those things, why not dispense it with points?”, and the issue is that Comtechs (especially non bravo comtechs as they aren’t fed metal by req drops) are expected to dispense at least 50 additional metals to fill their construction pouch, totaling around 25 points if I’m not remembering wrong. Besides that, if you want to indeed play as a more versatile role, the Sentry upgrade kit also costs yet another 15 points, resulting in a generous total of 5 points for the comtech to spend now freely.
This leaves the comtech in a position in which they TECHNICALLY can get all they need through REQ and MEDBAY and TECH STORAGE as needed, but the amount of setup they have to go through is a real chore that while may be okay one or two time, quickly loses charm especially in a game in which you can spend 30 mins prepping just to die on deployment permanently.
And on the issue of inventory space, it’s sort of funny how the comtech, an engineering specialist, has to take empty medkits from medbay to fill it with both engineering and medical supplies. It is not worth it for the comtech to carry with them a first aid pouch of any kind, and usually veteran players will just place all the medical supplies they need on a second medkit inside their backpacks, saving the second pouch for either yet another construction pouch or a large ammo pouch.
On that note, and to give a short resume of why I feel that Comtech is the least played of the basic marine roles… TL;DR: Comtechs suffer from too much gear up chores to be fully effective. They suffer from point scarcity which can be solved with adquisition from other sources, which while fair does add to the issue of the initial gearing up being a pain in the ass, and them having to carry so many things forces them to meta-game the medkits out of all things for extra inventory space.
This is not a “how I’d solve these issues” post, rather, I’d like to hear from the community on their experiences playing as Comtechs and how you guys think it could be fixed, or if it is just fine as it is now. Cheers!
For what its worth we did just add a lot of free “toolkits” to ComTech storage vendors that are basically resprited medkits. Its a small thing but it should help cut down on a bit of prep time since you can vend as many “medkits” as you need.
The rest of the points are fair as I do find ComTech has the longest setup time of a Marine role outside of Synthetics.
I personally do not even carry a backpack with inventory storage space and I find enough space for all of my engineering and medical supplies. I think you’re just inefficiently managing your inventory and pre-drop time.
Screwdriver → Ear
Cable, Multitool, Battery, Power Mod and C4 from essential kit → Black/Brown Webbing
Crowbar, Wirecutters, Wrench, High cap industrial welder → Tools pouch
Bica, Trama and Kelo Injectors in M3 armour (Emergency auto too if you take M4 armour)
This leaves you 1 pouch slot, for your construction pouch, a belt of your choosing (probably ammo) and an entire backpack that you’ll probably only be putting in sandbags and an E-Tool and a sentry which leaves you with still quite a bit of room to work with. Drop our medkit entirely, put bandages in your helmet and for any injuries more serious than that just see a medic.
I personally just see people saying ComTechs have equipment bloat is cope, I manage as I mentioned previously with no backpack and no construction pouch. Toolkit now eliminates a lot of issues as already stated.
Is this a FOB comtech build? Usually we try to carry 2 C4s and one breaching charges (completely dependent on the comtech’s preferences), a few apc controller modules and extra cables for vital area power repairs (such as comms), and more often than not a fully kited medical supply is needed due to how unreliable corpsman can be due to too many wounded/rout/lack of corpsman/etc.
M4 Armour - Bica, Kelo, Trama and E-Autos
Webbing - Cable, Multitool, C4, Battery and Power Mod
General Utility Pouch/Belt - Plas, Metal and Sentry Gun
Slings pouch - mini welding tank
Tools Pouch - Crowbar, Wrench, Wirecutters and hi-cap indy welder
G4-1 Pyrotechnician Tank - 3 Flamethrower tanks
Then I carry my welding technician bag separately. In there I stuff 3 more C4, sandbags, light replacer, e tool etc
Rather than carrying a lot of things like power modules for APCs, you should learn how to find them in the field same with cable coils. Knowing the map helps you save space since you’ll know where salvageable APC parts are and where the electronic vendors are for instance. Drop the fully kitted medical stuff too, just keep bandages and or splints a single stack of each and that’s alright to be honest. I think you’re just trying to do too much.
Thank you for the build. I will remember this for the future. I would advise you to make a guide. With your knowledge base, it would be very insightful.
comtech main - have logged a LOT of hours as comtech
no one is expecting you to buy a stack of metal from your vendor - you’re a goober if you spend your points on that. Near everything in your vendor, you can get on the ship, it just takes time. You can easily get a stack of metal in 3 or 4 minutes if you know where to look
and inventory space is an issue that you create - you don’t need everything the vendor gives you. I don’t carry sandbags or the shovel. and youre kind of a goober if you take the toolbelt
The limit of effectiveness playing as a comtech is something that the person playing them creates - the colony is your oyster man. You have the tools to bend it to your will, do so
ill just drop my loadout
welding goggles (no comtech helmet that bitch is ugly af)
screwdriver on the ear
light armor
black webbing (swag factor) - put you wirecutters, c4/charges and whatever else
welderpack (most of your shit goes in here)
ammo belt
whatever gun
tools pouch (welder, crowbar, wrench and multitool)
construction pouch
you are a GOOBER if you take multiple bags
i have considered creating a video guide on how to play comtech but im never sober enough to actually make it
It’s even MORE fun when you don’t prep and complain about CIC orders though. It’s easy to get more c4 than you can even carry as an Engi - mats and building stuff is more point-demanding. Roll delta engi, prep for tunnel/wall busting, get assigned to comms duty, have squads of people who sat in the DS instead of briefing whine about no comms? Can’t put a vendor point price on that.
honestly it doesnt really effect me too much to prep, like - i can pretty consistently get onto the DS by the time it launches and even then my ADHD kicks in and i tab out to youtube every 30 seconds before tabbing back in
my process is really convoluted
run to CIC. ask an officer to open the SO locker for me so I can grab ext. webbing / service uniform / officer cap
run BACK down to comtech room, grab entire kit, upgrade sentry, grab first aid kit
run ALL the way to the IO room (sometimes), pester them and take one of their logistics bags
run BACK down to requisitions, grab mk1
run over to medical/point defense port, grab medkit, fill with medical goodies (can’t use toolkit, doesn’t look cool enough)
run to the dropship, if vendors arent already there grab them and hack them
pray that i didn’t forget my welding goggles (half the fucking time i do it’s unreal)
i can see how it’s grating though sometimes it does get a little old
and for the record, nobody’s forcing you to get more metal, and if they tell you that you should have used all your points to buy it they can hush up.
yah, people are focusing too much on the “we lack points” part of my whole thing.
I get it, after reading the comments of more veteran players I’m now trying to save points used on metals and procure more on-ground. It does get hairy if I get thrown into combat instantly (happens often as alpha comtech) and I need to cade flanks on the go, but now I can manage.
But still, part of my whole point was that getting fully prepped as Comtech can be tedious, especially if you are planning to play Comtech repeatedly.
