SLA character recommendations
Posted: December 9th, 2007, 15:08
The absence of set character classes in SLA seems to be giving people problems having a vision of where they want their characters to go and what role they should be filling, so below is an overview of useful roles, skills and equipment and how they compliment each other. This is all based on my experience of playing and running the game, which is extensive, but it's only advice and players should ultimately go with what they enjoy playing.
Players should bear in mind that they will find themselves in one of three situations; combat, investigation, and support. All players should have a combat role, even if it's only that they can provide an extra gun. Not having a role in combat means you probably can't defend yourself, and it also means you'll be bored sometimes as combat can be quite a drawn out affair. Investigation roles aren't essential, but not all BPNs involve combat and if you're nothing but a big gun on legs you might find yourself with very little to do. Again it doesn't have to be much, but being able to offer some kind of contribution can often take some pressure off other players who are more specialised in investigation. Support isn't essential, but characters who are skilled in the stuff that happens between BPNs, such as media, corporate and financial skills, can be a big help to squads in keeping costs down and profiles up.
General skills and equipment:
This is stuff that everyone really ought to have just to stay alive and useful. The skills don't neccessarily have to be at a high level, but taking them at character creation will save problems in the long run.
One close combat and one ranged skill (pistol is most useful as everyone is issued one). This allows a character to at least defend themselves in combat. Throw is also useful for grenades and, well, anything else you might need to throw.
Acrobatics, climb and gymnastics are useful at a low level for rolls that involve falling and jumping. SLA is often three dimensional, and moving vertically can be a problem if a character doesn't have these skills. Gymnastics is also useful to prevent being hit in close combat. Similarly, hide and sneak are useful. Only a point or two is needed, but they are inevitably used at some point or other.
Streetwise, literacy and SLA Info are all useful skills that most characters would have. Most if not all get these in their racial skills. Detect is also a starting skill, and is essential for noticing things like clues and hostile snipers.
Some skills aren't essential, but are useful for anyone to have. Swim can be good for obvious reasons, as can drive civilian. Computer use, navigation, and drive civilian can be useful for situations when there's no specialist around who can do the skills well. Running is always useful as it increases a character's sprinting speed, which can make quite a difference in SLA combat. Weapons maintenance may not look useful, but it is used to determine if a weapon jam has occurred in combat.
Every character starts the game with a FEN 603 pistol and some ammo for it, which is the minimum needed really as far as guns go. It's worth investing in some sort of close combat weapon too, even if it's only a knife, as combat in SLA often gets close and nasty and bullets are expensive. Bear in mind that just because you might not want to engage in combat, combat might want to engage you.
Armour is pretty much essential, particularly Deathsuits for Ebons and Wasters. Blocker is fairly cheap and should be the minimum, although creative use of starting money can get people playing in Exo. Similarly, non-Ebon characters should invest in a few doses of Kick Start in order to heal themselves, and an auto-injector will help administer the drugs in combat without having to fumble for syringes.
Climbing gear and a grapple is very useful to any character. As mentioned earlier, movement is often three dimensional in the city and most characters will find themselves needing to get up or down quickly at one point or another.
Everybody should have a headset communicator. Squads often separate for combat, and trying to get information between groups is extremely difficult without one. Means of seeing in the dark is also pretty much essential. Different methods are used, from nightvision to flashlights to armour mounted spotlamps, but everyone should have something. Motion trackers are also cheap and very useful for knowing where the enemy is without having to stick your head over cover.
At home a character should keep a weapons maintenance kit and/or laser sharpener to prevent their weapons failing in combat.
General squad skills and equipment:
Many useful skills don't need everyone to know, but having one person in the squad that can is often useful. Most people can do combat in one form or another, but having at least one character skilled in investigation will make non-combat BPNs so much easier. Equipment such as an Oyster computer will make getting information on a BPN far easier, and having one member of the squad take a vehicle advantage to get a jeep or APC will make getting there much more convenient and neat. A character who has the skills and equipment to maintain the squad's vehicles will also be useful in keeping down the running costs.
Specific character roles - combat
General:
All a character really needs to do in combat is be able to fire a gun. If you don't want anything more than that then taking a general role to some extent will contribute in sending more outgoing lead. Taking an assault rifle or SMG and some basic combat equipment like a motion scanner will add firepower to your squad. Players wanting to take a general combat role further could go for a more powerful weapon and armour, and taking something with a variable rate of fire along with some close combat skills will make them versatile enough to fill most roles in combat.
Assault:
Assault characters specialise in taking down large targets by shooting them with large guns. Assault characters are the opposite of stealthy. Their role is a focal point in combat, directing fire away from less armoured squad mates and dealing out high damage in return. To begin with it's worth taking a Mangler or assault rifle with HESH or HEAP rounds, and taking as heavy armour as possible. Later a large calibre weapon such as a MAL assault cannon will be a great asset. Stormers make great assault characters, as do Frothers, and they are often death squad trained.
Close Combat:
While not that tactically viable, close combat characters are nontheless popular. Melee specialists tend to be flamboyant in order to attract the attention of the camera, but can also do large amounts of damage in a short amount of time. A high running skill is good, to help close the gap to your target, as well as gymnastics skills to stop you being hit back. Many melee characters take the kick murder package, and the role is commonly filled by Shaktar and Frothers.
Support:
Support characters are there to lay down fire in support of the assault and close combat characters. Taking weapons with a high rate of fire they can suppress the enemy until the big hitters get there. It can be expensive on ammo to be support, so low calibre weapons are adviseable at first. Later, larger weapons such as Power Reapers will be more effective. Auto support is predictably an important skill, as is rifle. Support characters are usually death squad trained.
Sniper:
Eveyone loves friendly snipers, and lots of people like to play them. Most will probably start with an assault rifle, but there are some extremely powerful dedicated sniper rifles out there for when the money is available. A sniper needs to be able to climb better than most in order to get into position, and hiding and sneaking skills are useful too. Detect should be high for a sniper, not only to enable them to spot their targets, but also to spot other people who might have seen them and be taking aim themselves. Obviously a high rifle and marksman skill is essential to a sniper, less obviously are skills like rival company knowledge, tactics, and evaluate opponent. The sniper's overview of a combat situation combined with these skills will enable him to relay information to the squad that will be useful when the bullets start flying, such as which targets will be causing the most damage, or how they will be likely to react. Most Snipers tend to take the scout package, and access to a Scout Helmet is a big advantage.
Point:
A point Op is similar to a sniper in that he can perform reconnaisance in order to establish enemy strength before a combat. The difference is that the point man will get in close to do it. Skills like hide, sneak and detect are extremely important, and rival company info, tactics and evaluate opponent can help the squad before the combat starts. The difference between the point man and the sniper is that the point will get stuck in close and dirty once the fighting starts. Close combat is popular and can be very effective, and looks good on camera as they leap from cover to eviscerate the enemy. Alternatively, shotguns and SMGs are good close up and can be devastating. Point characters are often scout or kick murder trained.
I'm a bit typed out at the moment. I'll do investigation and support later.
Players should bear in mind that they will find themselves in one of three situations; combat, investigation, and support. All players should have a combat role, even if it's only that they can provide an extra gun. Not having a role in combat means you probably can't defend yourself, and it also means you'll be bored sometimes as combat can be quite a drawn out affair. Investigation roles aren't essential, but not all BPNs involve combat and if you're nothing but a big gun on legs you might find yourself with very little to do. Again it doesn't have to be much, but being able to offer some kind of contribution can often take some pressure off other players who are more specialised in investigation. Support isn't essential, but characters who are skilled in the stuff that happens between BPNs, such as media, corporate and financial skills, can be a big help to squads in keeping costs down and profiles up.
General skills and equipment:
This is stuff that everyone really ought to have just to stay alive and useful. The skills don't neccessarily have to be at a high level, but taking them at character creation will save problems in the long run.
One close combat and one ranged skill (pistol is most useful as everyone is issued one). This allows a character to at least defend themselves in combat. Throw is also useful for grenades and, well, anything else you might need to throw.
Acrobatics, climb and gymnastics are useful at a low level for rolls that involve falling and jumping. SLA is often three dimensional, and moving vertically can be a problem if a character doesn't have these skills. Gymnastics is also useful to prevent being hit in close combat. Similarly, hide and sneak are useful. Only a point or two is needed, but they are inevitably used at some point or other.
Streetwise, literacy and SLA Info are all useful skills that most characters would have. Most if not all get these in their racial skills. Detect is also a starting skill, and is essential for noticing things like clues and hostile snipers.
Some skills aren't essential, but are useful for anyone to have. Swim can be good for obvious reasons, as can drive civilian. Computer use, navigation, and drive civilian can be useful for situations when there's no specialist around who can do the skills well. Running is always useful as it increases a character's sprinting speed, which can make quite a difference in SLA combat. Weapons maintenance may not look useful, but it is used to determine if a weapon jam has occurred in combat.
Every character starts the game with a FEN 603 pistol and some ammo for it, which is the minimum needed really as far as guns go. It's worth investing in some sort of close combat weapon too, even if it's only a knife, as combat in SLA often gets close and nasty and bullets are expensive. Bear in mind that just because you might not want to engage in combat, combat might want to engage you.
Armour is pretty much essential, particularly Deathsuits for Ebons and Wasters. Blocker is fairly cheap and should be the minimum, although creative use of starting money can get people playing in Exo. Similarly, non-Ebon characters should invest in a few doses of Kick Start in order to heal themselves, and an auto-injector will help administer the drugs in combat without having to fumble for syringes.
Climbing gear and a grapple is very useful to any character. As mentioned earlier, movement is often three dimensional in the city and most characters will find themselves needing to get up or down quickly at one point or another.
Everybody should have a headset communicator. Squads often separate for combat, and trying to get information between groups is extremely difficult without one. Means of seeing in the dark is also pretty much essential. Different methods are used, from nightvision to flashlights to armour mounted spotlamps, but everyone should have something. Motion trackers are also cheap and very useful for knowing where the enemy is without having to stick your head over cover.
At home a character should keep a weapons maintenance kit and/or laser sharpener to prevent their weapons failing in combat.
General squad skills and equipment:
Many useful skills don't need everyone to know, but having one person in the squad that can is often useful. Most people can do combat in one form or another, but having at least one character skilled in investigation will make non-combat BPNs so much easier. Equipment such as an Oyster computer will make getting information on a BPN far easier, and having one member of the squad take a vehicle advantage to get a jeep or APC will make getting there much more convenient and neat. A character who has the skills and equipment to maintain the squad's vehicles will also be useful in keeping down the running costs.
Specific character roles - combat
General:
All a character really needs to do in combat is be able to fire a gun. If you don't want anything more than that then taking a general role to some extent will contribute in sending more outgoing lead. Taking an assault rifle or SMG and some basic combat equipment like a motion scanner will add firepower to your squad. Players wanting to take a general combat role further could go for a more powerful weapon and armour, and taking something with a variable rate of fire along with some close combat skills will make them versatile enough to fill most roles in combat.
Assault:
Assault characters specialise in taking down large targets by shooting them with large guns. Assault characters are the opposite of stealthy. Their role is a focal point in combat, directing fire away from less armoured squad mates and dealing out high damage in return. To begin with it's worth taking a Mangler or assault rifle with HESH or HEAP rounds, and taking as heavy armour as possible. Later a large calibre weapon such as a MAL assault cannon will be a great asset. Stormers make great assault characters, as do Frothers, and they are often death squad trained.
Close Combat:
While not that tactically viable, close combat characters are nontheless popular. Melee specialists tend to be flamboyant in order to attract the attention of the camera, but can also do large amounts of damage in a short amount of time. A high running skill is good, to help close the gap to your target, as well as gymnastics skills to stop you being hit back. Many melee characters take the kick murder package, and the role is commonly filled by Shaktar and Frothers.
Support:
Support characters are there to lay down fire in support of the assault and close combat characters. Taking weapons with a high rate of fire they can suppress the enemy until the big hitters get there. It can be expensive on ammo to be support, so low calibre weapons are adviseable at first. Later, larger weapons such as Power Reapers will be more effective. Auto support is predictably an important skill, as is rifle. Support characters are usually death squad trained.
Sniper:
Eveyone loves friendly snipers, and lots of people like to play them. Most will probably start with an assault rifle, but there are some extremely powerful dedicated sniper rifles out there for when the money is available. A sniper needs to be able to climb better than most in order to get into position, and hiding and sneaking skills are useful too. Detect should be high for a sniper, not only to enable them to spot their targets, but also to spot other people who might have seen them and be taking aim themselves. Obviously a high rifle and marksman skill is essential to a sniper, less obviously are skills like rival company knowledge, tactics, and evaluate opponent. The sniper's overview of a combat situation combined with these skills will enable him to relay information to the squad that will be useful when the bullets start flying, such as which targets will be causing the most damage, or how they will be likely to react. Most Snipers tend to take the scout package, and access to a Scout Helmet is a big advantage.
Point:
A point Op is similar to a sniper in that he can perform reconnaisance in order to establish enemy strength before a combat. The difference is that the point man will get in close to do it. Skills like hide, sneak and detect are extremely important, and rival company info, tactics and evaluate opponent can help the squad before the combat starts. The difference between the point man and the sniper is that the point will get stuck in close and dirty once the fighting starts. Close combat is popular and can be very effective, and looks good on camera as they leap from cover to eviscerate the enemy. Alternatively, shotguns and SMGs are good close up and can be devastating. Point characters are often scout or kick murder trained.
I'm a bit typed out at the moment. I'll do investigation and support later.
