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.