AFS Command reserves the right to revise this manual at any time (based on beta, game details subject to change)
Listen up, dogfaces! This is, without a doubt, the sorriest bunch of Recruits I’ve ever seen! I’ve seen more promising material come out of a Bane’s backside! You there! You look like you’re from Ali Das. Only two things come from Ali Das…and they’re both pathetic, wet-nosed Recruits! It is my tragic misfortune to have to put up with all the whining cries of, “Sgt. Spyndel, when I run around out in the open all the time without taking cover, the enemy fire…it burns my soul…!”, and, “Sgt. Spyndel, oh my god, the Bane are eating my face, please, please, make it stop…!”, and turn you into something that can survive long enough to pass on to another pitiable trainer! Those few of you that survive, will be forged into the most dangerous fighting force humanity has ever seen, and you will hold the very future of the race in your hands!
Advancement takes the form of a tiered, branching profession tree! All of you start on even footing here with me, as Recruits! You will then have several opportunities for divergence and promotion as you advance! Each new class brings with it opportunities for training in specialized skills, abilities, weapons and powered body armor! Your training time, as measured in “ability points”, is limited…there’s a war on out there! Not every member of the same class will train in the same manner! You’ll have tough choices to make, Recruits! Do you read me? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I’VE EXPLAINED HERE? DO YOU NEED ME TO DRAW YOU A PICTURE? All right then, here you go…
=========> Grenadier ======> Commando ==== [ | =========> Guardian ======> Soldier ==== | | | =========> Sniper | ======> Ranger ==== [ | =========> Spy Recruit ======= | | =========> Demolitionist | ======> Sapper ==== [ | | =========> Engineer ======> Specialist ==== | | =========> Medic ======> Biotechnician ==== [ =========> Exobiologist
Raw RecruitsRecruit
This is everyone’s entry point into the service! Whether a raw recruit or a seasoned veteran, the skills you learn here will be effective your entire career! Recruits will be offered training in the basic firearms that serve as the bread and butter of fighting men and women, like pistols, rifles, and shotguns, as well as hand to hand combat! You will be offered training in skills that will allow you to fabricate a great many useful items in the field that will aid you in the professions you choose later on! Recruits will be issued basic Motor Assist light body armor and other training that will increase their speed, which will aid you sorry excuses for infantry in your favorite pastime…running away!
Some of you exhibit special Logos powers which, like anything else I don’t understand, both frighten and enrage me! However! As much as your Sergeant longs for a simpler time when anything remotely different could be summarily hunted and destroyed, we are faced with annihilation! In such times, we must use all resources at our disposal to preserve the species, no matter how freakish and unsettling I find it! To this end, recruits demonstrating the appropriate Logos sensitivity will be offered training in the first of many unique abilities, allowing you to hurl bolts of pure crackling energy at your foes!
A Soldier opens fireSoldier (Recruit > Soldier)
Congratulations! You aren’t dead…yet! This is one side of the first major decision you will make, and it will set the tone for the rest of your career! From here on, you will rely on weapons and tactical abilities to take the fight to the enemy! Soldiers receive training in advanced machine gun weaponry, like chainguns, for when you absolutely, positively, have to deliver a hundred rounds of ammunition into your target in the next few seconds! You will be offered reflective armor that returns a portion of damage back at your attacker! Soldiers have anti-personnel ability and the power to boost damage output for a time!
A SpecialistSpecialist (Recruit > Specialist )
No doubt, some of the more technically inclined among us were hoping to be able to hang back, away from the frontlines, and tinker with your gadgets! TOUGH! This is war…everybody fights! Those of you choosing to go the Specialist route will forever more learn how to support and enhance your fellow soldier, but will also receive training in weapons and abilities as deadly as anything else on the battlefield, in the right hands! Specialists will learn how to administer first aid and recharge armor, both for themselves and their fellow soldiers! You will be offered training in Density Field weaponry, biological warfare, and Hazmat armor that resists many environmental perils!
A Commando unloadsCommando (Recruit > Soldier > Commando )
You have decided that overwhelming firepower and direct frontal assault are the best option for every situation, and in doing so, warmed the cockles of you Sergeant’s heart! Commandos will learn how to charge and knock back their enemies, and damage them with swirling clouds of debris! You will be offered training in devastating, but indiscriminate, launcher weapons, and you will encase yourself in hardy Graviton armor, resistant to the stunning and staggering attacks of your enemies!
A RangerRanger (Recruit > Soldier > Ranger)
Rangers are experts at tactical fighting and opportunistic warfare! From this point on you will perform your duties by being, in general, a very sneaky bastard! As much as I would prefer a direct frontal assault, I am forced to concede, that you cannot hit your target, if you cannot find your target! Rangers will be trained in the use of tactical Netguns to snare their opponents, as well as stealth armor that warps light around it and allows Rangers to blend seamlessly into their surroundings! You will be able to subvert the defenses of the enemy, call in battlefield reinforcements that will fight alongside you, and call down devastating airstrikes on fixed positions!
Restricted FileSapper (Recruit > Specialist > Sapper)
Junior mechanical specialists, Sappers are invaluable to have around when confronted by the enemy’s many powerful machine units! Sappers are trained in the use of Polarity Gun weapons, and in the use of ultra-durable, self-repairing Mech body armor! You can boost the shield output of your allies, and assemble mobile landmines that skitter towards the enemy with kamikaze abandon! Sappers can subvert electronic intrusion countermeasures, and even take control of enemy battle machines, turning their might against their own forces!
A BiotechnicianBiotechnician (Recruit > Specialist > Biotechnician )
As Sappers specialize in mechanical things, Biotechnicians focus on the workings of living beings! Biotechnicians are skilled in biological warfare, trained in the use of armor-bypassing Injection Guns and hallucinogens that inspire fear on the battlefield! You will have enhanced healing abilities, and your very presence will increase your squad’s health, by virtue of the Bio armor that amplifies your health regeneration and that of everyone around you!
A Grenadier barbecues a KaelGrenadier (Recruit > Soldier > Commando > Grenadier)
The Grenadier is a class after my own heart! All your training has paid off, and you are now the ultimate expression of directed offensive firepower…an irresistible force! Grenadiers will revel in a variety of concussive area attacks that devastate everything around them! You will weep tears of joy, as you set the world ablaze with your new proficiency in Propellant (flame thrower) weapons! In a berserker frenzy, you will be capable of driving the damage you inflict to even greater heights, at the expense of your own health! I get a little misty just thinking about it!
Restricted FileGuardian (Recruit > Soldier > Commando > Guardian )
If the Grenadier is the irresistible force, the Guardian is the immovable object! Undisputed masters of melee combat, Guardians are offered training in Staff weapons, the most powerful close combat weapon in our arsenal! Guardians can increase the effectiveness of their squad’s armor, and even choose to channel the damage they receive into health for others! You will reflect specific damage types at will, and draw all enemies in the area to yourself in a damaging vortex!
Restricted FileSniper (Recruit > Soldier > Ranger > TBA )
The class that appears at the end of this tree has yet to be declassified.
The forces of humanity would like to keep these underwraps for a few more weeks, lest the Bane gain an advantage.
More details forthcoming in future weeks.
Restricted FileSpy (Recruit > Soldier > Ranger > TBA )
The class that appears at the end of this tree has yet to be declassified.The forces of humanity would like to keep these underwraps for a few more weeks, lest the Bane gain an advantage.
More details forthcoming in future weeks.
Restricted FileDemolitionist (Recruit > Specialist > Sapper > Demolitionist)
While I’m not usually one for gadgets and such, I have to admit there’s a lot to admire in the Demolitionist class! These guys never met something they thought wouldn’t be better off exploding, and they are dedicated to that philosophy! As a Demolitionist, you will have a veritable buffet of methods with which to blow up the Bane, the dropship they rode in on, their houses, outhouses, and any small animals that happen to be in the area! If all that fails, you can even turn yourself into a powerful living bomb and do your part for humanity!
Restricted FileEngineer (Recruit > Specialist > Sapper > Engineer)
Engineers are the master mechanics of the AFS forces! Any squad preparing to see heavy action would benefit greatly from the massive bonuses to armor recharge and damage resistance an Engineer is capable of bestowing! You will be able to assemble automated gun turrets to assist you in battle, as well as clever turret decoys that draw enemy fire and detonate in a powerful explosion when attacked! Not to be underrated, is the Engineer’s ability to create a temporary wormhole granting access to the teleporter system from anywhere on the map, allowing their team to cover great distances very quickly!
A MedicMedic (Recruit > Specialist > Biotechnician > Medic)
Take it from me, you tend to do your best fighting when you’re not dead! A Medic is a superior means of insuring that you pass on to the hereafter only when you have been duly authorized to do so by legitimate military authority! With unsurpassed regenerative and resuscitative skills, and even the ability to siphon some of a target’s life to an attacker with each hit, you would have to try very hard indeed to suffer any irreparable damage around a Medic! As a master of medical science, you will even be able to bestow complete immunity to a certain types of damage for a time, and pharmaceutically induce insanity in your foes, causing them to attack one another!
Restricted FileExobiologist (Recruit > Specialist > Biotechnician > Exobiologist)
I won’t lie to you; these guys give me the creeps! There are some things in nature that ought not to be meddled with, and with the exception of dressing small animals in cute little human outfits, Exobiologists mess with them all! Masters of the dark side of medical science, Exobiologists use methods that were completely illegal prior to the war, to blur the line between life and death! As an Exobiologist, you will be able to create constructs from reanimated tissue that boost the regenerative abilities for nearby squadmates! You will be able to clone duplicates of yourself to assist you in battle, and turn enemy corpses into bombs! You will be able to reanimate the very dead at your feet to come back and fight for the team, you scary, godless freak!
The information I have just presented to you is subject to change at any time by AFS Command, as they are constantly reevaluating training opportunities between now and when operation: Tabula Rasa commences in full force! You will happily accept any changes, and immediately forget it was ever any different! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR? You are dismissed!
Published: Aug 9, 2007 05:35 am