Squads (EU2012)

Squad Size/Deployment

Four-Man Squad

The four-man squad is your default squad size.

The majority of your units this early will be rookies and therefore not have a class. Once you obtain sufficient ranked soldiers, you can start adjusting your squads for the missions you're embarking upon. The standard "one of each" is a typical approach here.

This is how the squad on the equip screen are deployed during game start:

Equip Screen

1 2 3 4 

Mission Start

2 3

1 4

Five-Man Squad

The five-man squad is unlocked after purchasing the Squad Size I ability from the Officer Training School.

Besides the additional firepower adding the 5th squad member also makes it safer to bring a rookie/squaddie for training, in addition to the four classes.

Equip Screen

1 2 3 4 5

Mission Start

3 5 4

  2 1

Six-Man Squad

The six-man squad is unlocked after purchasing the Squad Size II ability from the Officer Training School.

The sixth soldier makes it safer to split the squad into two similar elements with separate roles during a fight. For instance, while one element of three soldiers keeps a pack of alien pinned down, the second element maneuvers itself for a close assault or flanking shots.

Equip Screen

1 2 3 4 5 6

Game Start

3 4 1

2 5 6

Squad Formations

These formations are used specially on open maps where there's more freedom of movement.

Square/Diamond

This are the starting squad positions and they are usually used at the start to advance the squad together and try to kill alien patrols with combined Overwatch shots. This formation can be used again, as long as there aren't any active aliens (i.e. that have seen you and made the duck for cover movement)

Wedge

The axis of advance is towards the top (I usually set the camera like that to help me remember the axis of advance). Good for advancing, either using cover or out in the open (if your armor/weapons overwhelm the aliens), if you are sure of the aliens' location but haven't spotted them yet. Position #1 goes to an Assault or a Support, 5 to the Sniper (if he's advancing) or the squad leader. #1 slot can also go to a Heavy with Suppression to pin down aliens the moment they're spotted. After enemy contact the wedge usually breaks into a line or another formation.

Line

1 2 3 4 5 6

For trading shots with the aliens (if you can take their return fire!) and try to outflank them. #1 and 6 slots go either to an Assault or a unit with a sentry role (to prevent the enemy from outflanking.

File

This is not a typical formation but sometimes it can be advantageous to switch from a line to a file when in need of a hasty retreat or redeploy a squad from one area of the map to another without activating additional packs of aliens. The main problem with this formation is security - you may ran into trouble and find out that there's no more space to maneuver and worse, there's more alien packs on your flanks about to be activated.

V/W

This can be used two ways: to advance under cover and try to encircle an alien pack (with two flanking movements). Or to set up an Overwatch ambush - #1/6's role is to draw aliens into the kill zone on the middle. Or you can set the squad as a W and have the center soldier to attract the aliens into the kill zone.

Echelon (Left/Right)

Depending on terrain and other circunstances, a Line/File/V formation can be turned into an Overwatch ambush by redeploying the squad as an Echelon. #1-3 can't be seen by the alien (A). The other squad members draw the alien towards their location and as it advances towards the bottom, the soldiers on #1-3 fire separately at the alien as they see it during its advance - the more it advances the more shots it will receive. And since they fire separately, it's possible for them to fire (and kill) more than one alien - no wasted shots. The risk is that the aliens will advance instead towards #1-3 (to try to occupy their positions) or another pack appears on the other side and outflanks your entire squad.

Squad Types

Mobile Squad

This squad makeup is designed around Terror and Bomb Disposal missions because of their time sensitivity; the core 4-person squad is tailored to moving through maps quickly for those missions with the expectation that Soldiers 5 & 6 are identically built and likely not a Support (only Class that doesn't get a real two-action ability). The remaining missions can mix in other builds more suited for slower, methodical planning and endurance. Note these are just the abilities that would be chosen; ones you can't choose or ones that could go either way are not specifically listed.

Core Four

Sniper: Snap Shot, Damn Good Ground, Battle Scanner, Opportunist, Double Tap. Snap Shot lets you move and shoot; crucial for time-sensitive missions. Damn Good Ground is generally a good pick; you could choose to improve pistols through the Foundry and go with Gunslinger as a hedge against running out of ammo, but why not just get Ammo Conservation through the Foundry for the entire squad instead? Battle Scanner is simply a better alternative to Disabling Shot; the Scanner could actually be useful for seeing how many aliens/civilians/(zombies?) are hanging out inside that building. Go with Opportunist to allow the Sniper to give some helpful Overwatch at the back of the squad and address aim with a SCOPE instead of Executioner that only improves aim against half-damaged targets. Double Tap guarantees two attacks; relying on aliens to be flanked or out of cover and succeeding in the kill shot can be risky for the reward of additional actions via In The Zone.
Support: Sprinter, Smoke & Mirrors, Rifle Suppression, Sentinel. Sprinter will help you flank or reach a position with decent cover where you can reach squadmates with a Smoke Grenade. (Covering Fire is a close second option) In fast missions, the extra Smoke Grenade from Smoke & Mirrors will be more beneficial than extra heals; you need all your firepower mowing down aliens so a strategy involving multiple heals will be too slow. Same theory for Rifle Suppression; pin down an enemy and maneuver to kill them rather than worrying about the rare instances where your Soldiers are critically wounded and need Revival. Either Dense Smoke or Combat Drugs would be helpful; maybe Dense Smoke has a slight edge because it increases area of effect and you'll be moving quickly only needing defense in the smoke rather than sitting in the smoke and attacking with the extra Will and Crit Chance. Sentinel is as close to getting two actions as the Support class gets. It would also combine well with Covering Fire if you choose that over Sprinter.
Heavy: Bullet Swarm, Shredder Rocket, HEAT Ammo, Grenadier, Mayhem. Get two shots with Bullet Swarm; especially helpful against zombies and Chryssalids in Terror missions. Shredder Rocket and Grenadier are blowing sh-tuff up; do you really care about saving Weapon Fragments during a time-urgent Bomb or Terror mission? HEAT Ammo will be good when you start running up against Cyberdiscs and eventually Sectopods. Rocketeer is tempting, but you'll already have a Shredder Rocket and an extra grenade, so get some extra damage to supplement Bullet Swarm via Mayhem.
Assault: Close & Personal, Rapid Fire, Close Combat Specialist. The Assault is pretty open. In general, you'll probably want to lean to the Crit/High Damage side for your primary Assault to really blast aliens in the Terror and Bomb missions. Close & Personal would be particularly effective combined with Close Combat, especially with Chryssalids in Terror missions or if you Run & Gun an Assault to save a civilian in a Terror mission where the aliens tend to be more mobile and pop around corners right on top of your soldiers unexpectedly. Rapid Fire can help ensure a kill and doesn't get used if you make the kill on the first hit.

Slow Mission Additions / Alternatives

Sniper: Squad Sight, Damn Good Ground, Disabling Shot. Would be a good unit to bring along on slower missions where you can take your time, especially when you're hoping to stun and capture an alien for interrogation (e.g., Earth base invasion).
Support: Cover Fire, Field Medic, Revive, Deep Pockets, Savior. Another good choice for slow, long missions like the Earth base invasion, Overseer, or large UFO (the one with cow carcasses) where you need every one of your 6 Soldiers fighting at full strength.
Heavy: Holo-Targeting, Suppression, Rapid Reaction, Danger Zone. All these abilities contribute to each other, potentially suppressing multiple units, potentially getting an extra reaction shot, and increasing Aim to hit those suppressed enemies for the rest of your squad.
Assault: Lightning Reflexes, Flush. Lightning Reflexes may be the most important supplemental ability for any squad, Terror/Bomb mission or not, so you can run that unit first to waste an enemy's Overwatch or to neutralize the Sectopod's Overwatch. Flush can be useful if you're low on ammo for Suppression and want to back the enemy off for a turn to get some space. It's also useful as a high-accuracy shot to finish off enemies with only a couple HP left. It's use is limited though against melee and units (e.g., flying) not using cover.

Achievement: Single-Man Squad

Clear a UFO crash site with one soldier on Classic or Impossible difficulty.

This mission is likely easiest towards the start of the game, when the aliens are not very strong. Heavy or Assault units would be most effective due to their high damage output and and their respective moving and firing abilities (Run & Gun or Bullet Swarm). Taking a medikit over a grenade will increase your longevity if you aren't killed outright, but the area of effect damage will be beneficial when trying to clear enemies more quickly.