Group Terrain Negotiation Context 2 (Source)

http://soe.lithium.com/board/message?board.id=squad_leader&message.id=15628

Just to note, all Squad Leader skills and bonuses work for the Squad Leader himself/herself, with the exception of /retreat. Also, if you can't find a group, pull a pet and group with it...see your local BE, CH, or DE today... With the Space Expansion out, I'd just like to point out that we have the only skill that can be used in space, /sys. Please note, this skill only works for your members in space, while you are in space, and your members on the ground, while you are on the ground respectively. As of a few patches ago, any commands that /shout something can be used as often as you want, but the /shout will only happen every 30 seconds...the skill should still be working though. First, this is my list of all bonuses and skills - All Passives should work galaxy wide, though there are some cases where I've noticed I am not getting the terrain negotiation bonus when grouped with a Squad Leader.

• ------------------------------------------------SQUAD LEADER ABILITIES----------------------------------*

PASSIVE ABILITIES

1. Group Terrain - If your people already have explore 4 in scout, have them look at their crawl speed when you are grouped....Yes, I said your prone crawl speed...It's comparable to some of the rifle crawl speed bonuses. Some of my rifleman friends used to have prone races sometimes when we were bored. If they don't have explore 4, then they basically do now...

2. Group Melee/Ranged defense - Lowers your chance of getting hit by melee/ranged attacks, respectively.

ACTIVE ABILITIES

1. Group Burst Run -

Lowers the HAM cost of each burst run. Does not shorten regen time, or lengthen run time.

2. Steady-aim -

similar to /aim, but if you can time it right, your group members can use specials with this. As fore-mentioned, HAM costs are high. Works on the same server boundary as your group members.

3. Volley-fire –

DOES work; look at your combat spam. “%TT’s volley hits %TT for X amount of damage” Not really worth it, but it does work…It doesn’t really give any damage bonus that I’ve noticed, and most Squads never even know that the skill is working, because it doesn’t re-target the SL’s target, it just auto-shoots the target. No, specials will not carry over. (Probably could have been clearer, but hope this helps) Group members out of range of the target (65m) will do nothing.

4. Rally –

I was a little confused when I first read about this ability – I thought that it meant that you got a slight damage bonus, and that the damage that you take was lessened. What this bonus does is increase accuracy, as well as increase your defenses, but to a somewhat hard to notice extent. A drawback - people can't harvest, drag, or rez while rallied. Generally you want to use /rally on high end mobs in a hunting group, such as Krayts, where the chance of /rally lasting past the kill time is not as great. I noticed a 65m cap on /rally, though sources suggest it is in fact determined by server boundary.

5 Boostmorale –

one of the few specials that you can take at face value…it does indeed re-distribute wounds amongst the group…however, I wouldn’t use this in a random hunting group; most people get pretty upset. Works within the same server boundary.

6. Form Up –

Does indeed clear dizzy and stunned; does not work on pets. I was just informed by ShadowLightning that this skill will work as long as you are on the same planet as the Squad Leader. You cannot use this skill while dizzy, you can use it while stunned.

7. Retreat –

A short burst run given to the OTHER members of your squad. *NOTE* this is a short extra burst run, and does not count against their actual burst run. Any Squad member on the same planet as you will get this bonus. Can and should be used to suprise a group, and is useful for taking out back-row support classes such as CMs in battle. (thanks to for DanteCalvert this info) Works within the same server.

8. /System Message (AKA /sys) -

it sends a system message to the group. Works, though sometimes it thinks that the first word you write is a name, and therefore deletes it, and if you type in an actual name, it just shows up %TT. *TIP* place a period before all comments in /sys; ie, "/sys .Oberon rules the world" Now, how to make the most of your skills -

Know your group.

Know the professions in your group. If you are getting a group together just for a short time, ask the people in your group. Make sure you are communicating. The only good Squad Leader is an effective one, and an effective Squad Leader knows his/her group.

Commandos...

/rally and /steadyaim are your best friend. Commandos are reporting close to 100% accuracy when these moves are used in combination...anyone who is a Commando knows that the biggest bane of the Commando profession are misses.

TKA/any Brawler/Melee class....

/rally works great. When a person uses /warcry while /rallied, once again, they rarely miss, though in this case, it's more appropriate to say they almost never "fail".

Yet another useful skill to use with these classes is /retreat, if you can spare the HAM cost. It has been reported that if the melee person uses /burstrun, and then you use /retreat, they get a 2x bonus...In essence, they run 2 times as fast as a normal /burstrun. Use this, and watch the compliants about attack range dwindle away

Rifle/Carbine/Pistol/Smuggler/Bounty Hunter/Marksmen...

/rally and /volleyfire are useful.../rally for riflemen especially. /volleyfire ONLY works with these classes, and if you have a large group filled with these professions, you CAN do fair amounts of damage, if /volleyfire actually succeeds.

Medic/Entertainers/Crafting classes...umm.../retreat?

Another tip for making the most of your Squad Leader experience: Make use of /sys. Most Squad Leaders say that it is our only useful skill; I agree that it is useful, so use it. Make sure that you are constantly in communication with the rest of your Squad, and if you are acting as an intermediary, whoever is relaying all of the info through you will love you for this skill.

This next section is courtesy of ob194

"I'm going to add a section entitled "Making the most of /sysgroup" a.k.a. "Alias and colors. You can set up aliases in the game to make communication easier. You can also add color to your system messages in order to make them stand out more. I'll attempt to walk you through the process.

1) What do you want to say? Think of something that you say (or will say) a lot. My personal favorite is "Hit the spawn!" (It boggles my mind how often people continue to shoot up the lair after it pops. Death ensues).

2) Pick a color. I like to color-coordinate my messages. Red = urgent, yellow = warning, etc. I would call this an urgent message, so it gets colored red. Each color has a code. These are the ones I can think of off of the top of my head:

\#ff0000 = red \#000000 = black \#00FF00 = green \#FFFF00 = yellow \#0000FF = blue \#00FFFF = light blue \#FF00FF = purple

There are a bunch more out there.

3) This is what you will end up typing in to set up your alias: "/alias rh /sysgroup \#ff0000\ Hit the spawn!" Allow me to explain how we got to that. First, pick two letters.

I chose "r" because the color is red, and "h" because the message starts with that letter (hit the spawn). This is your "/rh"; the alias command. Remember it. Next is the command: /sysgroup. Then a space and the color code. We are doing red, so the code is \#ff0000. Then type your message.

4) When you go to use the command, all you have to type is "/rh", and you will system message, in red, Hit the spawn!

5) You cannot create an alias for every situation, but there are, what I call "general purpose" color aliases. Lets say that Johnney_n00b is running around pulling aggro like a moron. He's not noticing your tells. What do you do? You need a general purpose alias. This one will be red. It is almost the same as above. Here are your alias keys:

use /rr for red, /yy for yellow, /bb for blue, etc.

So lets do a red. All you have to do is Key+command+collorcode, or "/rr /sysgroup \#ff0000"

Now to send a message you must type "/rr [text]"

In the case of Johnney_n00b you would type "/rr Fall in soldier, or you will be washing urinals for a month!"

It aught to get his attention. If not, boot his butt."