Soldier

Soldier
Type	Fighter
Acquisition	Contacts Military >3
SKILLS
Primary Skill	Rifles
Secondary Skill	Evasion

The quintessential warrior, solders form the backbone of most FDF forces. Exceptional at long range, their hexshell rifles are devastating, even to heavily armoured targets.

Skills

As a character advances in the Soldier Job, he or she gains the following Skill points at each Rank.

Ranks 1 to 12

Rank	Rifles	Evasion
1	3	1
2	4	3
3	5	3
4	5	4
5	6	4
6	7	4
7	8	4
8	8	5
9	9	5
10	10	5
11	11	6
12	12	6

Ranks 13 to 24

Rank	Rifles	Evasion
13	12	7
14	13	7
15	14	8
16	14	9
17	15	9
18	16	9
19	17	9
20	17	10
21	18	10
22	19	11
23	20	11
24	20	12

Ranks 25 to 36

Rank	Rifles	Evasion
25	20	13
26	21	13
27	22	13
28	23	13
29	24	13
30	25	14
31	26	14
32	27	15
33	28	16
34	28	17
35	28	18
36	29	19

Talents

Each Job provides a series of Talents representing the special abilities granted by this specific training. As a Character progresses through Job Ranks, more and more Talents become available.

ON INIT	Rank: 1 Ferocity On Initiative When making Initiative Roll in Crew Combat, Buff yourself with -10% Ranged Accuracy, +30% Ranged Damage, +15% Critical, -25% Ranged Defense for 3 Turns (requires rifle)
	Rank: 1 Burst Fire 2X Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Rifle Attack hits 2 targets with -35% All Damage, +10% Armor Piercing, +10% Critical
	Rank: 1 Discipline 6 Initiative In crew combat, Removes all Debuffs; Buff yourself with +25% Ranged Defense, +10% Armor, +25% To Resist Debuffs for 3 Turns (requires rifle)
	Rank: 1 Suppressing Fire Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Rifle Attack with +10% Ranged Accuracy; successful hit causes -25% All Accuracy for 2 Turns, knocks target back 1 slot
	Rank: 1 Roaring Barrels Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Rifle Attack with +25% Ranged Damage, +20% Armor Piercing and removes all Buffs from target

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	Rank: 5 Backline Leader 10 Initiative In crew combat, Buffs entire team with +10% Ranged Accuracy, +10% All Damage, +10% Armor, +25% To Resist Debuffs for 3 Turns
	Rank: 5 Covering Fire Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Rifle Attack; successful hit Pins Target and causes 25% Stun for 3 Turns, retreats 1 slot
BOARDING	Rank: 5 Ferocious Crossfire 9 weeks Cooldown After a successful Boarding, sprays the corridor and decks with hexshell fire and leaves a trail of wounded; 4 enemy crew suffer 30 - 50 Damage plus Rifle Skill
	Rank: 5 Blowback Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Rifle Attack; successful hit causes 25% Stun, +4 Bleeding, -20% Deflection for 3 Turns, knocks target back 1 slot

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	Rank: 8 Full Auto 2X Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Rifle Attack hits 2 targets with +10% Ranged Damage, +10% Armor Piercing, +20% Critical. Successful attack Debuffs yourself with -25% Ranged Accuracy, -25% All Damage, -10% Ranged Defense for 2 Turns
	Rank: 8 Concussion Grenade 14 Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Grenade Attack hits 2 targets with 20-30 Morale Dmg and 50% Stun, -4 Initiative for 3 Turns
	Rank: 8 Frontline Brave 12 Initiative In crew combat, Buffs entire team with +2 Initiative, +10% All Damage, +10% Critical, +10% Armor for 3 Turns

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	Rank: 11 Fearsome Charge Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Rifle Attack, advances 1 slot. Successful attack Buffs yourself with +25% All Damage, +25% Critical for 3 Turns
	Rank: 11 Shrapnel Shell Weapon's Initiative In crew combat, Crippling Rifle Attack with +25% Ranged Damage, -25% Armor Piercing, +20% Critical; successful hit causes +7 Bleeding, -20% Melee Defense for 3 Turns

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Rank: 15 Still Standing 16 Initiative In crew combat, Removes all Debuffs; Buff yourself with +60% Melee Defense, +60% Ranged Defense, +60% Armor, +33% To Resist Debuffs for 1 Turns (requires rifle)

Talent Strategy

Ferocity

Good for use when you have a backline soldier unlikely to be in range of foes' attacks. It gives a serious offensive bonus, but unlike other on init talents, it has a defensive penalty and actually hurts your accuracy. Be careful you have a lot of accuracy to start with before choosing this talent as it will effectively compete with other on init talents.

Burst Fire

Good for finishing off two weakened foes at the end of a combat round. This talent competes with Full Auto in terms of utility but is available much sooner.

Discipline

This is a powerful defensive buff for very little initiative. It is very helpful to use for soldiers using snubbers in positions 1 or 2 but still has some value for other soldiers as well.

Suppressing Fire

A common go-to early talent. Not only is it slightly more accurate than a basic attack, but the debuff on your foe can save you from return fire. Even if it misses, it still pushes a foe back a position. This can be helpful to push a swordsman out of position 2 and into position 3, forcing him or her to waste a lot of time repositioning. The only limitation of this talent is that it cannot hit the third position, unlike the basic attack with a rifle.

Roaring Barrels

This is the standard attack talent for snubbers. The bonus damage and penetration make it very deadly. Removing all buffs can change the tide of a battle as well.

Backline Leader

A powerful group buff, it can only be used in the 4th position. It is useful to use with a Soldier with at least 11 initiative who can follow up with a Full Auto and have an improved chance to avoid the self-inflicted debuff from that talent.

Covering Fire

This talent is particularly helpful when foes have been pushing your squad out of position. You can attack while retreating to your usual attack range. The pinning and stun are just a nice bonus at that point!

Ferocious Crossfire

One of the easiest to get, and most powerful, boarding talents available. While it doesn't deal a ton of damage to the opposing crew, it can often finish off multiple weakened foes or injure them to the point where a followup lance from your vessel will finish them. It is very satisfying to score four kills with this one talent!

Blowback

Blowback is a hard counter to swordsmen in position 2 where it will knock them out of position, greatly weaken their defenses, and even give them some stun. The trouble is, this requires your soldier to be in position 1 which isn't always easy to maintain, and generally means you are using a snubber.

Full Auto

This talent can change the course of combat. Bonus damage, piercing, critical in serious amounts AND hitting two targets. The downside is the massive AP cost and the harsh debuff you'll incur. If a fight is ended with its use though, the debuff doesn't matter. Also, this talent pairs well with someone who has the calm trait granting +10% debuff resist, and has used Backline Leader which grants another +25% resistance. You can resist the debuff as though it were applied by an enemy if you're fortunate. This talent competes for use with the more conservative _Burst Fire_ talent. Consider Retraining Talents to only have one of the two learned if you've chosen them both.

Concussion Grenade

These grenades are quite powerful at shutting down enemy teams composed of non-Xeno foes. Despite its description, it does deal a very small amount of damage in addition to the morale loss, stun, and initiative penalty. The grenade's initiative cost makes it very costly to miss with. Be sure to review the Skills page to see what contributes to grenade accuracy.

Frontline Brave

This is another group buff, but requires you to be in positions 1 or 2. It costs more AP than Backline Leader but is still a powerful early-combat move as long as you have at least 13 initiative so you can take a second action in the round.

Fearsome Charge

This is the only attack talent that is extremely useful for both machine guns as well as snubbers. Snubbers can use it to get back into position while gaining a mighty buff, while position 4 soldiers can use it to gain a buff before unleashing Full Auto as their following action.