Shield focused squad theorycrafting

[ovoron]

I've done a few commander playthroughs over different patches and it seems like a squad with 5-6 shieldbearers could be really strong, perhaps owing to how weak the AI in the game currently is, i.e. it doesn't try to match your numbers, while you can move like the ancient phalanx formation, shielding every vulnerable side. It would also be quite easy to rotate full HP shields in front of the most dangerous side. So this is what I came up with after thinking about the meta a bit.

 

Enemies DO NOT get any AoE attacks outside of Cleaner burst fire for a very long time, so everyone getting suppressed is not going to be that big of a concern.

 

As for the other 3-4 members it would probably be 1 MG, 2 Snipers and perhaps 1 Shotgunner for extra surgical DPS, though close range DPS with this many shields probably isn't something you'd lack.

 

What seems promising about this strat:

 

1)You can reliably tank shots, meaning you can close the distance. You can get Lots of captures, meaning lots of $$$, meaning you can get the extra labs early and snowball to Dragonfly/Phantoms quickly.

 

2)It actually gets stronger and stronger (both in the literal, as well as soldier attribute sense) as you begin the game with barely being able to carry anything aside from the shield and pistol/baton, but you get more and more consumables as your soldiers gain more Strength, and the vital Assault Shield upgrade is very timely in the tech tree to keep using this squad composition. More TUs also mean you can close the distance faster, which is of obvious importance with a very short range focused squad.

 

3)It is very, very cheap to fully equip this squad: Batons are free, while pistols are the cheapest weapons to manufacture.

Edited December 4, 2023 by ovoron