BE AWARE: This guide is intended for brutal difficulty. On lower difficulties you can make most units work if you have patience and time.

Battle Tier 1 consists of your most basic units. While overall a mixed bag, each unit below (with the exception of snipers and the tactical officer) provide a valuable fundamental service unique to them or superior to their counterparts.

RIFLE TROOPERS

Rifle Troopers will form the backbone of your army on several different missions in Starship Troopers: Terran Command. On brutal difficulty, these troopers are good at two things: killing Warrior bugs, suppressing enemy advances, and most importantly, acting as a meat shield for your more damaging forces.

Except for the early missions, Rifle Troopers should never be spammed in isolation. In order to deal with the variety of bug types you will find on the battlefield, it is essential that you mix and match these men and women with more damaging counterparts such as MK 2 Troopers or Rocket Troopers. Despite sounding useless, their ability to soak damage at close range and slow down advances with their rapid fire rate and elite shotgun ability make them extremely useful in all missions. Contrary to some belief, they are NOT outclassed by E-Pulse Troopers. Their greater range and suppression ability make them extremely more valuable and much more versatile when mixed with other units, a value that E-Pulse Troopers do not have. Their Big Boom elite ability is not very useful and is more of a suicide ability than anything else in my experience.

The best way to utilize rifle troopers in my experience is to mix them in a 1:1 ratio with MK 2 Troopers, bringing along a radio operator or fleet liaison for replenishment. Rifle Troopers will keep the enemy advanced slowed down, which makes those pesky bugs easy targets for grenades launched by MK 2 troopers which can be inaccurate otherwise. Mixing in rocket troopers or a tactical officer can add additional firepower, but is generally only necessary if facing numerous amounts of heavy bugs like Scorpions / Tankers. Overall, an extremely versatile unit well worth what it offers on the battlefield.

COMBAT ENGINEERS

Combat Engineers are relatively anemic when it comes to combat situations by themselves, however they can provide good suppression against warrior / tiger bugs so that your more damaging units have more time to clean them up before they get into range. Their flame grenade is an extremely valuable tool on cramped maps as you can deploy it in tight spaces which will force the bugs to walk around it or completely stop them in their tracks. This makes them easy pickings for your Trooper Squads.

More importantly, Combat Engineers are able to build turrets. While Rocket Turrets and Grenade Turrets are of questionable use (I beat brutal difficulty while never seriously using either), HMG turrets are extremely practical due to their suppression effect and ability to mow down warrior hordes when deployed in duos or more. Using HMG turrets to defend your forward positions is a potent way to lock down sectors as long as heavy bugs are not assaulting said area.

I usually only temporarily train Combat Engineers on most missions to build turrets and then disband them, as they don't offer enough utility. There are two special exceptions. The first is because there are several underground maps in this game where you will spawn / acquire Combat Engineers. In these situations, try to position your Engineers up front where they can slow down the advance and use their flame grenade to great effect. If you're lucky enough to get a veteran 3 engineer, the blue flame ability is extremely potent and clearing out hordes in tight spaces. The other elite ability is not useful. More importantly, in the late game Engineers are able to repair your Marauders. This is a very valuable utility which we will discuss more when we talk about said Marauders.

RADIO OPERATOR

The Radio Operator is a must when spearheading large infantry assaults. His ability to call in reinforcements is great and in many circumstances will passively earn Vet 3. While his close air support ability is lackluster, his broadcast ability is great in a pinch as it increases the fire rate of all troopers in a medium radius.

In short: You want this guy attached to your infantry pushes in pretty much all scenarios. Keep him behind the front line and use a brood nest / bug hive to farm vet 3 for maximum effect.

SNIPERS

Snipers, in my opinion, are probably the worst unit in this game. Their damage output is borderline pathetic and only useful against spitter bugs, which are not particularly dangerous to begin with and can be dealt with relatively easily by your other forces. They have two niche uses: They have a long line of sight which can rarely be exploited, and their vet 3 sensor flare ability can provide vision onto high ground where you can't see for a small period of time. It is not practical as a distraction tool due to being destroyed quickly. Do not take crippling shot, I find that it rarely works on targets I would want damaged/stunned and often does nothing.

These guys aren't worth training / keeping around unfortunately. Only time I utilize them is when I have to. Just keep them in your backline, deploy a flare when you need vision, or use them as bait to draw bugs into your firing line since they can sprint and are small enough to not block much friendly fire via line-of-sight.

TACTICAL OFFICER

There's not a lot to say about tactical officers. You could probably go the entire game without training one, but they are useful on the underground missions where you are forced to use them. They aren't bad and if you have a spare supply point these can be a good investment for your gunline. Designate Target and Aggressive Tactics (elite ability) are both pretty solid for different scenarios, the former especially in killzone scenarios due to its AOE damage increase where targeted. Defensive Tactics could be useful if you had something very beefy like a marauder taking hits in your front line.

Basically: If you have a supply point, no reason not to get this dude. If you don't/can't, not the end of the world. Just have him sit in the backline of your troopers and passively shoot stuff while using abilities when off cooldown.

Battle Tier 2 consists of your bread and butter damage-dealers. These units are very good at dishing damage but are weak at close range and best kept a bit further back to reach their full potential.

ROCKET TROOPERS

Rocket Troopers are an exceptionally powerful unit in the Federation's arsenal. They are by far your most reliable and damaging source of armor-piercing, particularly useful against Scorpions and Tanker bugs. In addition to this already valuable use, their abilities are also quite useful. High-Explosive Warhead is good to utilize against clumps of armored and unarmored bugs. Canister Warhead is very good against swarms of warriors, drones, or spitters. Firestorm Warhead can be utilized similarly to the engineer's incendiary grenade, blocking off approaching bugs but with a larger AOE and a greater cast radius.

Rocket Troopers will usually form the core of your anti-armor detachments. Due to not needing a clear line of sight, it is difficult to use these troopers incorrectly. They have only two negatives: Firstly, they automatically fire at the closest target to them, which means you have to micro to hit the heavier and dangerous bugs in the back. Secondly, they are an extremely squishy unit. Bad positioning, not paying attention, or circling hopper bugs can tear your Rocket Troopers apart if you don't pay attention.

In summary: Rocket Troopers will be involved in almost any attacking composition. They are versatile, powerful, and any downsides are greatly outweighed by the armor-piercing they bring to the battlefield. Putting ~3-5 of them in your battle line supported by Rifle Troopers and MK 2 Troopers is a sure way to put down bugs. These troops are useful against all enemies to a point, but are weakest against: Warriors, Tigers, Hoppers. Be sure to provide plenty of crowd control for them.


MK II TROOPERS

MK II Troopers are an effective unit whose primary purpose is to hunt bugs with medium armor. Their grenades are especially effective in numbers against Tigers and Scorpion bugs. While initially they might seem like a straight upgrade to your Rifle Troopers, they will need the rifles suppressive effect to increase their own accuracy as they tend to not lead their grenades enough to land hits. Their ripper grenade ability is great in a pinch although it will shred your own troops if they are anywhere near the cone of fire. Basically, use it when your MK II squad is about to be overwhelmed or engaged in melee. Their airburst grenade ability is fantastic if you're facing swarms of hoppers which can otherwise be troublesome.

Watch out, because MK II Troopers have a minimum range where they cannot utilize their grenade launchers. Bugs that make it inside of this range will tear your MK IIs apart, so be sure to protect them. The best way to utilize these troopers is to mix them with Rifle Troopers, a Radio Operator, Rocket Troopers, and a Tactical officer. Such a combination is extremely powerful and can generally handle most threats it faces.

Battle Tier 3 is unfortunately the weakest tier in terms of what it offers your army. Each of the units introduced to the player here have a role that is already fulfilled by an existing unit, or are not particularly good at any one specific job. An army composed of several different units will do better, and neither of these units lend themselves well to a mixed environment.

E-PULSE TROOPERS

E-Pulse Troopers are absolutely fantastic- on normal difficulty. On Brutal Difficulty they bring little to the table that MK II Troopers, Rifle Troopers, and Rocket Troopers do not already provide. E-Pulse Troopers are essentially a jack of all trades. They are not particularly effective against any one specific unit type, but are not particularly weak against any unit type either. Unfortunately, their real weakness comes in the team environment. When the Federation asks if you're doing your part, the E-Pulse Troopers definitely respond with a no.

What makes them such poor team players is that they have low range, are restricted by line of sight, and have situational abilities that are only really useful up close. Their default Rifle Overcharge is their best ability, but the resulting overheat makes them completely unable to fight back until gone, therefore limiting its usefulness. In mixed combat formations, E-Pulse Troopers are simply outclassed by Rifle Troopers.

If you must use E-Pulse Troopers, then spamming them is generally the correct course of action. An E-Pulse frontline + Rocket Trooper backline is a useful tool and will service you okay, even on Brutal Difficulty. Your lack of mid and long range firepower will hurt, but with dedication can likely get through it. When it comes to Elite Abilities, I usually go for battery flashbang for some up close crowd control. The other one could be good if you were having fog-of-war troubles, but it just isn't worth it.

FLEET LIAISON

Okay, the Fleet Liaison is not a bad unit necessarily. And at first, it might seem pretty good actually. It costs one supply less than the Radio Operator and provides a similar function, and even has an airstrike ability!

The issue comes down to the following: The Fleet Liaison only has one model, which is actually a huge weakness. Any damage that the Liaison takes cannot be "repaired", meaning that she is very squishy and can easily die over several encounters. Couple this with the fact that she is short range, meaning that utilizing the attack move command will often result in her charging past the frontline to get a few shots in with her pistol. Her elite abilities are pretty meh, with orbital bombardment being worse than the airstrike. Marines talked about a bit further down.

Overall, you could choose to use the Fleet Liaison over the Radio Operator team if you want. But in my opinion, the radio operator team is clearly the superior of the two. Additionally, the support center is a more valuable building (giving you access to engineers as well) than the Fleet Relay, getting more use out of the 2 war support you might have to use to construct one or the other. When wanting to get to Battle Tier 4, you can always build the power plant and play around with E-Pulse Troopers.

A potential combo I have not personally tested is using Radio Operators as well as a Fleet Liaison. This combo might have some potential fun for those interested as it would allow you to be extra aggressive with the Fleet Liaison's airstrike ability without losing the ability to call for reinforcements now provided by the Radio Operators.

MARINES

Marines can be called in via the Fleet Liaison once she reaches Veteran 3. Marines, while fun to use, are not a very good unit. Their gimmick is that they can shoot through friendly forces, which while allowing you to be braindead, does not justify their heavy 5 supply cost. Probably worth trying just for fun, though. Pro Tip: Kill all the drones in a brood nest and sit around with the Fleet Liaison shooting the nest itself for a while and she'll farm Vet 3 safely.

THE M11 BABAR "MARAUDER"

Battle Tier 4 is the Marauder Tier. I will talk here about the Marauder chasis as a whole, and then discuss the three different variants you can recruit.

The Marauder unit is primarily characterized by its extreme durability. By far, it is the tankiest unit that you can deploy on the battlefield. This means that even the worst of the three marauders can be effectively used as a meat shield against all bugs except the scorpion bug, which it is shredded by. In addition, the Marauder is completely immune to plasma bug strikes.

All Marauders come equipped with a heavy cross Morita machinegun. It's nice to have I suppose, but offers little in terms of damage and is primarily only decent in massed numbers. It does provide okay single-target suppression.

All Marauders share the same Elite Abilities at veteran 3. The proximity charges are useless, ignore them. The Mortar Strike however is useful especially if you have multiple marauders, and a good way to augment your mechs with a situational long range strike ability.

Marauders can be repaired by Combat Engineers, even during combat. This reduces overall downtime and can get you out of sticky situations.

Finally, Marauders are able to shoot through friendly units, have friendly units shoot through them, and provide line-of-sight up to one elevation above their own. This makes them extremely valuable and versatile in any formation. Keep them protected against Scorpion bugs with Rocket Troopers and they will reward you well.

M-11 MARAUDER (FLAMETHROWER)

The Flamethrower Marauder is touted as being the ultimate weapon for close-range engagements. Unfortunately, this is far from the case. While its flamethrower is absolutely devastating, it can only fire in short bursts before needing to be recharged. This limits its utility substantially and results in it primarily falling back on its main attribute to be useful: tanking damage.

The Flamethrower Marauder is easily the weakest of the three. It can be utilized when its all you have, but I highly recommend either of the other two. In short: Don't buy it.

If you would like a much more respectable flamethrower marauder, I would highly recommend editing your weapons.csv file found in Steam\steamapps\common\Starship Troopers - Terran Command\Starship Troopers_Data\StreamingAssets\Data. Open the document up with excel and change the delay value for M11_Flamethrower to 0.15. This basically makes the flamethrower have no delay like the combat engineer flamethrower, and makes them an actually viable option without feeling overpowered.

M-11 MARAUDER (GATLING GUN)

The Gatling Gun Marauder is effective against almost all targets. It needs help against Hoppers (which it cannot target), Tankers, and Scorpion bugs. Otherwise it provides a steady stream of suppressive fire that is useful in any formation. Essentially a walker that brings a similar amount of suppressive firepower to 1-2 rifle squads. My favorite late-game tactic is to spam 3-5 of these babies with 3-5 rocket troopers and 1-3 combat engineers, effective against everything besides Hoppers.

The Gatling Gun Marauder's durability, decent damage output, and excellent suppression make it a fantastic tool for your most powerful armies. It will do well in the frontlines as long as you cover its weaknesses, and is very forgiving to mistakes due to its substantial durability.

M-11 MARAUDER (HOWITZER)

The Howitzer Marauder utilizes a slow firing armor-piercing howitzer to bring the hurt to some of the more armored bugs. While still mostly ineffective against Tankers, this variant is capable of dealing with Royal Guard and Scorpion bugs. Do not be fooled however, it will still trade poorly against Scorpions and can be easily defeated by 2 or more.

The Howitzer Marauder is essential if you decide to use only marauders (for the fun), as you have no other source of reliable armor piercing damage. Otherwise, it is a decent addition to any battlegroup, but Gatling Gun Marauders fit that role better. Basically an average pick, but definitely a fun one. It trades the extreme damage of rocket troopers for okay damage and crazy durability (Rocket Troopers perform the anti-armor role better).

Battle Tier 5 is composed of only one unit - Power Suit Troopers. Once reaching veteran 3, they can permanently equip heavy machineguns, back mounted rocket launchers, or engineering tools. I will discuss Power Suit Troopers first and then each of their variants.

POWERED SUIT TROOPERS

Power Suit Troopers are an exceptionally powerful trooper squad. They wield rapid-fire rifles that deal a small amount of armor piercing damage and are capable of dealing with most bug types that they face on the field. While they can deal with everything when positioned / micro'd correctly, the general version you recruit before veteran 3 is not particularly effective against heavy bug types such as Scorpions or Tankers.

Beyond their good damage, they are also extremely fast and much more durable than your standard troopers. This makes them ideal at lightning assaults and very capable of kiting enemies to wittle them down, meaning you can do a lot with these soldiers. Power Suit Troopers are more than capable of taking on any task and can do well with other units or by themselves. They are also a unit that lends themselves to more skilled players due to their micro capability.

POWERED SUIT TROOPERS (SAW)

Power Suit Troopers equipped with the Morita MK III "Saw" are exceptionally good at dishing out damage to all bug types without heavy armor. This version of the Powered Suit Troopers is slightly slower than the default, but in all other capacities is basically a direct upgrade. If you plan on using Power Suit Troopers, at least 1-2 of your units should equip this upgrade to deal with Tiger bugs and warrior hordes. Otherwise you can use them the exact same as the default version.

POWERED SUIT TROOPERS (ROCKET)

These Power Suit Troopers find themselves equipped with a Twin-Rocket pack, moderately effective against heavier bug types. While this upgrade doesn't turn them into Rocket Troopers in terms of damage output, it is a fine addition and be quite useful in basically all situations. The main negative regarding this upgrade is that the unit requires line of sight and no friendlies in front of it in order to use its rockets, something that holds it back from being truly fantastic.

If you plan on using only powered suit troopers, then you should make these the majority of your forces to effectively deal with Tankers and Scorpions. If I'm being honest, the SAW troopers combined with rocket troopers would be a better bet in a more mixed force. At the end of they day they're a solid unit, but not quite as good as rocket troopers.

POWERED SUIT TROOPERS (ENG)

Finally, Engineer Powered Suit Troopers put on a repair welding attachment to effectively make them combat engineers as well as powered suit troopers. This upgrade is more for fun as in my opinion it is the weakest of the three upgrades. The only effective use of these units is to have them babysit Marauders, which is a decent option if you have extra supply and war support lying around. Otherwise stick with the above two upgrades.

The guide will end with some powerful battlegroups you can make to really squash the bugs. It will also include some fun ones, but any group included here is at least decent.

BULLETS AND GRENADES

This was my bread and butter formation throughout the most of the game on brutal difficulty.
2-3 Rifle Troopers
2-3 MK II Troopers
1 Radio Operator (Or fleet liaison)
(Optionally) 2-3 rocket troopers, 1 tactical officer.

My Bullets and Grenades battlegroup is extremely effective against all bug types. Rifle Troopers keep the enemy pinned down and moving slowly while the MK II Troopers mulch them from a distance with grenades. The Radio Operator replaces battlefield casualties.

The main difficulty with this battlegroup is that it can be micro intensive and is very dependent on positioning. If you aren't using rocket troopers, then your men will get torn to shreds if the enemy manages to get close enough. If you find yourself being overran, then the ripper grenade ability from your MK II troopers are the shotgun ability from your rifle troopers can buy you time.

FIREWORKS

An effective formation that requires less micro and is more forgiving to less experienced / casual commanders.

3-5 E Pulse Troopers
3-5 Rocket Troopers
1 Radio Operator (or fleet liaison)
(Optionally) 1 Tactical Officer

The Fireworks formation is effective against all bug types and requires less micromanagement. The main weakness is the short range of the E-Pulse troopers which will make you potentially vulnerable to Grenadier, Spitter, and Scorpion bugs if you don't use any micro. Your biggest weakness is the spitters, as they sit outside of your range of fire and rocket troopers are not great and dealing with them.

MULCHERS

An extremely powerful formation that can be used in the last few missions of the game. Effective against all bug types except hoppers and IMO the most powerful formation that can be made. The only weakness this formation has is hoppers. If you are on a mission with hoppers, you can sub out 1-2 combat engineers for powered suit troopers, rifle troopers, or veteran 3 MK II troopers with airburst grenades which should make short work of them.

3-6 M-11 Marauders (Gatling Gun)
5-6 Rocket Troopers
3 Combat Engineers (or 3 powered suit troopers with the engineer upgrade)

The M-11 Marauders sit in the front, using their gatling guns to massively suppress oncoming forces while acting as a shield for your rocket troopers. Because enemies only target the enemies closest to them, they will always target the marauders and never your rocket troopers. I was able to clear the last mission on brutal difficulty without losing a single marauder or trooper once I was able to create this formation after clearing the initial hives. It requires a minimal amount of micromanagement as marauders can be shot through by friendly units.

ARMORED FIST

A very powerful formation consisting only of power suit trooper veterans, which means this formation requires some farming. It is effective against all bug types although micro is required due to these units not being able to shoot through each other.

2 Powered Suit Troopers (SAW)
4 Powered Suit Troopers (Rocket)

The SAW Troopers clear out masses of bugs, Rocket Troopers focus down big ones. Your speed allows you to pull out of any sticky situation. Make sure to reinforce when necessary, although having a Radio Operator or Fleet Liaison tag along is debatable as they can't keep up with the speed of the Powered Suit Troopers.

Thank you for taking the time to read through any (or all) of my guide! Let me know what you think down below and if you have any critiques, suggestions, or comments. Have a battlegroup that you love to use? Share it and I'll add it if I test it out and find it fun!