Surviving the Armageddon: Rifle Squads!

Ten HUT, soldier!

Listen up, and listen up good! Unless you want to be a warm, pink, squishy picnic lunch for the zombie hordes, you have got to understand how best to use your squads to defend yourself in your trip across the ruined city to the harbor. Knowing the enemy is important, but so is knowing your own men... knowing their strengths, their weaknesses, and how best to use them. So listen up, and I'll explain to you the basics of your Rifle Squads, Grenadier Squad, and Science Squads.  Since a lowly grunt like you can only understand so much in a day, today we will start with the most important squad at your disposal... the Rifle Squad!



RIFLE SQUADS

The most critical squad for holding back the zombie hordes is the Rifle Squad. These dedicated soldiers pack good firepower and are relatively inexpensive, and are instrumental to your survival.

There are two key points to always remember about your Rifle Squads. First, remember that they can only effectively engage a few enemies at a time, making them especially efficient at killing the biggest, baddest, and meanest enemies... but not as good at splattering the endless hordes! Second, Rifle Squads will always target the enemy closest to your base. These guys' sole objective is to keep the baddies back, so place them with care, and an understanding of who they will target first!



Rifle Squads can be upgraded, from Light Rifle Squads to Rifle Squads, and then to Reinforced Rifle Squads. Each upgrade allows them to shoot faster and do more damage as the men are armed with more and heavier caliber guns. Reinforced Rifle Squads are particularly effective, as they have better range as well... so as quickly as you can, get your men into those Reinforced Rifle Squad bunkers and fire away!

At this point, you have an important command decision to make. Reinforced Rifle Squads can be upgraded again, but you have to pick which path to take. They can either be equipped with a Machine Gun, which is fantastic for mowing down the onrushing walls of moaning monsters with its huge rate of fire. Or they can be designated as a Sniper Team. Sniper Teams are armed with heavy caliber sniper rifles that will drop anything they hit. Unlike other Rifle Squads, Sniper Teams will target the toughest enemy within range, rather than the enemy closest to your base. They have fantastic range, and if carefully placed on a tall building with a good line of sight, Sniper Teams can make short work of the largest monsters as they lumber towards your base... especially the vile creatures who lead the zombie hordes! However, because of their slow rate of fire and their ability to only target a single enemy at a time, Sniper Teams often need to be supported by other squads when the larger, faster hordes attack.

Both Machine Gun Squads and Sniper Teams can be further upgraded with superior ammunition for more effective killing. Machine Gun Squads can also get Supercooled Housings, which allow them to fire at a faster rate. Sniper Teams can be upgraded with Extended Barrels and Auto-Acquisition Scopes, enabling them to reach out to the very ends of the boards and kill anything that moves.

That's it for today, soldier... it's enough to keep you alive for the first night, at least!  Next time we'll discuss those high-explosive happy maniacs who will save your bacon... the Grenadier Squads!