The USCM Survival Guide for New Marines.

[Craftedminer]

The USCM Survival Guide for New Marines!

So I decided to make this guide as an expansion on the Quickstart guide currently on the wiki, I'm sorry if this is a bit poor as this is my first time writing a guide, and i have currently only played about 20 games as a PFC, so suggestions and criticism on what to add and improve on this guide are well appreciated, as suggested by the title this is aimed at new players to CM/SS13.

Congratulations! You’ve just begun your very first operation as a marine in the USCM, you probably have a lot of questions such as What is FOB duty? When can I shoot stuff? And can I go home yet? Well, you’re in luck because this guide was made just for you and your questions, so let’s begin.

Before you head down towards the planet.

So like the good marine you are, you’ve probably already survived the stampede out of Cryo Bay, remembered to collect your gear, and complained about how long the queue is for attachments. (If not, please look at the Quickstart Guide on the Colonial Marines wiki, click here -> wiki/Marine_Quickstart_Guide).

Firstly, check your equipment and say hello to your squad using the radio, depending on your squad the radio channel you'll be using will be different but it goes as follows; Alpha ( Say :q) Bravo (Say :b) Charlie (Say :c) Delta (Say :d), the general grey chat you see is the common channel that everyone has access too, just use Say; to talk in it.

Well as this is your first operation, I would recommend pulling up the Colonial Marines Wiki homepage (wiki/Main_Page), and getting yourself a copy of the map of the Colony/Outpost that you’ll be seeing after briefing. This will come in handy if you’re separated from your squad and have no idea where to go. Take the time to look at the key areas of the map, such as the landing zones etc…

Now, one of the people from the bridge will normally address you in briefing and give your squad their objective, these are normally one the following:

FOB Duty-FOB or (Forwards Operation Base) is the heart of the operation, if a marine needs medical attention or needs to resupply, they will head here and expect it to be safe. That’s where you come in, your job will be to make sure that no intruders access the FOB, by standing guard at the entrance points and helping to fortify the place. This may be a dull job but its important, no marine wants to come back to the FOB to find a communist rave party happening right in the centre of the FOB.

Restoring Power- In the event of a colony losing power, a squad will normally be sent to get the lights back on. If this is your squad then have a look at your handy map and find the Engineering dome, that’s where your squad is heading. Once you get there it’s a just a matter of not getting in the way of the engineers as they restore power, after this command will normally send you to the FOB or to help another squad.

Scouting-Congratulations! You’ve got the pleasure of having a lovely tour of the colony as you look for survivors or try to find useful equipment for the FOB. The SL will normally specify where the squad will be heading, so feel free to check your map or simply stick to your SL like you’re made of glue. Stay vigilant as you may run into resistance from survivors who suspect your motive for helping them, to potentially hostile wildlife.

Response Team- This objective is fairly uncommon but some commanders like the flexibility of a response team. The objective of a response team is to be ready at a moment’s notice to help any of the other squads with their objectives, often response teams will assist with FOB duty until called upon by command to assist another squad.

After this section you’re now ready to head down to the surface, over time you’ll be assigned new objectives, but as a general rule of thumb stick to the orders you’re given and you should have a fair chance of surviving your first operation, the remainder of this guide will now be dedicated to combat, assisting your squad, and in the event of evacuation and enemy boarding of the ship.

The Rules of Combat

So, you and your little squad have been getting along having some laughs, as you’ve been busy with one of the objectives listed above when it happens… You finally get to shoot at something! But hold on there, this isn’t boot camp and you’re going to learn very quickly that fighting against a cardboard cut-out is slightly different to real combat, but don’t worry here’s a couple of times to help you out.

Don’t Go Alone-Every marine has that dream of being Rambo, charging head first into the enemy with a knife and murdering an entire squad, but sadly you’re not Rambo, and running off into the darkness alone to meet the enemy is a sure-fire way of getting yourself killed, unless you’re in a dire situation make sure you stay within view of at least another marine, that way there’s at least a chance someone might come to your rescue if things go badly.

Line of Fire-Before firing your weapon you need to ask yourself two questions; Can I justify firing my weapon and do I accept the consequences for doing so? And can I actually hit my target in the first place? ( Don’t worry we’re not talking about your awful aim). When firing your weapon make sure that there is no marine between you and your target, otherwise you’ve probably just added to the medic’s workload and still have the target to deal with.

Use those Legs- If you’re fighting in a fairly open area that lacks any sort of decent cover, movement becomes your best friend. Moving around during combat decreases the chance of you being hit by enemy fire and allows you to attack the enemy from different angles, but bear in mind your fellow marines behind you as you may be walking into their lines of fire, otherwise head for adequate cover that still allows you to fight the enemy.

Down but not out- Casualties are always to be expected in combat, but even you the lowly marine can make a difference here. When you see someone go down, first analyse the situation and look out for any threats to yourself before you go charging in to help your fellow marine, no-one wants to see their would-be saviour slipping on a peel and landing on his backside. When you reach the fallen you can do one of two things: shake them up (Have your intent set to help and make sure you’re not holding anything in your active hand, you want to help this marine not beat them up). Or drag them to safety, (Right click them, hover your mouse over them in the pop-up menu and select pull). Please bare in mind that if a marine is badly injured dragging can worsen their injuries in some circumstances, so only do this if you’re both in immediate danger.


General Tips to Help Your Squad

So, knowing how to fight is all well and good as that’s your primary function in your squad, but how can you help your squad outside of combat?


Scavenge-Gather up some of your newly made friends and get permission from the SL to go on a scavenging mission to bring supplies back, this is a good way of killing time during FOB duty and can help out the engineers in your squad if you return with metal or plasteel sheets they can use to make fortifications, same goes for getting medical supplies for the medic from the medical dome.

Keep Command Updated- Sometimes command will ask for squad updates, if the higher ups in your squad are busy, inform command of what’s happening and relay requests the SL or Specialist that they mentioned recently.

Late Arrival- If you’ve woken up from cryo later then everyone else ,ask your squad if they want anything brought down from the ship to the surface, this will mostly likely be ammunition, armour, and welder fuel or medicines.

Remove Fauna from face- Space as humans have discovered is full of things that love to kill other things, specifically us. This part has been added after a marine on the USS Redemption allowed fauna to stay on his face from a prolonged period of time, resulting in the whole ship and the crew being placed in quarantine for a month because he ‘liked the way it felt on his skin’. If something alien attaches itself or becomes stuck to any part of your person, pry it off immediately.

(To get rid of a face hugger from yourself, grab the bayonet from your boots with an empty hand and then click on the hugger in the face inventory spot to kill it, to take the hugger off your face after that just simply click on it with an empty hand and drop it on the floor, if the facehugger dies on your face without stabbing then you’ve become infected and a larva will burst out of you in about 10+ minutes, if it’s the beginning of the round, then play as normal since you wouldn’t logically know you have a larva inside you. However if infection is common knowledge, you can potentially report to the medbay on the Sulaco and have the larva removed via surgery).

If all has went well, then congratulations! Your first mission was a success and you may only have had to witness 2 or 3 of your newly made friends die a painful death in the process!

In the Event of an Enemy Boarding Party- (Marines are forced to evacuate from the planet).

In the unlikely event that enemy combatants attempt to capture the USS Sulaco, the first indication of this will be by the M.O.T.H.E.R system or an announcement by the commander, this will then be followed by an order to fortify certain positions on the Sulaco, depending on the severity of the situation, the commander may activate the Sulaco’s distress beacon requesting assistance. This will result in a ERT responding (Emergency Response Team), and docking with the Sulaco to provide support (wiki/Mercenaries these are the possible types of ERT + There is also a chance of Xenos responding to the distress call known as a XRT). Otherwise, the evacuation of the Sulaco will be authorised allowing people to escape via escape pods, 20 minutes after the order is given, then another additional 3 minutes on top of that.

[Kerek]

Wiki main page - wiki/Main_Page

Quickstart guide - wiki/Marine_Quickstart_Guide

Include those for the nubs in their respective positions.

[Craftedminer]

Wiki main page - wiki/Main_Page

Quickstart guide - wiki/Marine_Quickstart_Guide

Include those for the nubs in their respective positions.

Okay thank you, I will add them now.