Starship Troopers: Terran Command — Unit Skills and Abilities Guide

There are several kinds of units that you can control in Starship Troopers: Terran Command. Each one has unique actions, and they might even turn the tide of battle depending on the situation. With that in mind, it’s important to know units and their skills and abilities to pick what’s ideal for you squads. This guide outlines them.  

Unlockable Unit Skills and Abilities

Your units in Starship Troopers: Terran Command will unlock skills once they reach Level 3. A small star icon in the unit’s panel will appear, telling you that an upgrade can be selected, and you may only choose one out of the available options. Also, these skills don’t carry over to succeeding missions, as you don’t necessarily keep the same squads throughout the campaign.

Rifle Troopers

Rifle Troopers units are your basic frontline squad is equipped with automatic rifles. They can easily deal with weaker Arachnids, but they’d get chewed up by tougher variants.

• Default ability: MX90 Grenade — Has a small kill radius, though it can stun nearby mobs; takes three seconds before it explodes.
• Skill upgrade 1: Shotgun Suppression — Blasts Arachnids at close range.
• Skill upgrade 2: Boom Bundle — Throws a bundle of grenades; has a shorter throw distance compared to the MX90.

Combat Engineers

While fewer in number than your regular squad of troopers, your Combat Engineers are armed with flamethrowers that will make them useful in narrow chokepoints.

• Special function: Turrets — By spending War Support, Combat Engineers can construct specific kinds of turrets (i.e., Heavy Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher, and Grenade Launcher).
• Special function: Repairs — The Combat Engineer is the only early-game unit in Starship Troopers: Terran Command that can conduct repairs. These are tasks that can appear in certain missions.
• Default ability: M7 Incendiary Grenade — Sets fire on the target area to deal damage and block the movement of units.
• Skill upgrade 1: Demolition Charge — Place the charge on the ground, allowing you to detonate it after either 10 seconds or 30 seconds.
• Skill upgrade 2: Blazing Spear — Fires a high-pressure stream that scorches foes in a straight line.

Snipers

Although these units are comprised of a two-person team, Snipers can easily eliminate weaker targets from a distance, especially those annoying Spitter Bugs. They’re also fairly helpful if you want to stealthily make your way around the map or if you wish to distract your foes.

• Default ability: Action Mode — Increases movement and rate of fire but decreases range.
• Skill upgrade 1: Crippling Shot — Hits an enemy’s weak spot to deal high damage and periodically stun.
• Skill upgrade 2: Sensor Flare — Shoot out a decoy that removes the fog of war in a small area; can distract bugs so they don’t aggro.

Tactical Officer

The Tactical Officer is a support unit in Starship Troopers: Terran Command that has buffing abilities.

• Default ability: Designate Target — Mark a location on the ground, causing enemies that pass through it to receive more damage from your team.
• Skill upgrade 1: Aggressive Tactics — Increases a unit’s XP gain, movement speed, firing accuracy, and armor-piercing damage.
• Skill upgrade 2: Increases a unit’s XP gain, movement speed, rate-of-fire, and suppression resistance.

Radio Operator

The Radio Operator is another support unit that offers buffs and utility effects for your team.

• Default ability: Assign Dropzone — Create a temporary dropzone that lets you call in reinforcements.
• Skill upgrade 1: Dropship Fire Support — A dropship will hover and shoot enemies for a few seconds.
• Skill upgrade 2: Inspiring Broadcast — Increases allied rate-of-fire but also attracts nearby foes.

Rocket Troopers

The first of your specialized hard-hitting units, by default, Rocket Troopers have powerful missiles that can crack the carapace of tougher targets.

• Default ability: High-Explosive Warhead — The rocket deals high damage over a medium-sized area, but it becomes ineffective against armored bugs.
• Skill upgrade 1: Canister Warhead — Covers a larger radius but is ineffective against armored bugs.
• Skill upgrade 2: Firestorm Warhead — The projectile bursts into an impassable wall of flames.

MK. II Troopers

Somewhat similar to your rocket-armed soldiers, MK.II Troopers use grenade launchers that are effective up to medium range. They can make mincemeat out of deadly Tigers and horde swarms.

• Default ability: Fragmentation Barrage — Indirect fire support over an area.
• Skill upgrade 1: Flak Grenades — Damages air units in a medium-sized area; next to useless if you don’t encounter a lot of flying mobs.
• Skill upgrade 2: Ripper Blast — Does a conal volley to sweep a section of enemies.

E-Pulse Troopers

E-Pulse Troopers are armed with unique energy rifles that are great against light and medium-armored opponents.

• Default ability: Rifle Overcharge — Temporarily increases the damage, rate-of-fire, and armor-piercing damage of the weapon. Unfortunately, it requires a cooldown of about 10 seconds before the weapon can be fired again. This makes your unit vulnerable since they can’t attack at all.
• Skill upgrade 1: Battery Flashbang — Stuns enemies in a small area.
• Skill upgrade 2: Light the Way — Ignores sight-reducing effects but decreases the rate of fire by 20%.

Fleet Liaison

The Fleet Liason is a single character, so make sure you take care of them. They’ll often head to the front of the group during engagements since they can only use a pistol.

• Default ability: Assign Dropzone — Similar to what the Radio Operator has.
• Default ability: TAC Strike — Calls on a squadron of fighters to do a bombing run; can drag-click to set the direction of the strike.
• Skill upgrade 1: Marines Drop — Marines will be spawned at your chosen location.
• Skill upgrade 2: Orbital Strike — Calls for a fairly inaccurate orbital bombardment of the target area that lasts several seconds.

Powered Suit Troopers

Your Rifle Troopers did their part, and now they have the best that the Federation has to offer: Powered Suit Troopers.

• Default ability: MX90 Grenade — Similar to what your Rifle Troopers have.
• Skill upgrade 1: Morita Mk. III “SAW” — Slightly slows down movement, though the unit can fire strong automatic weapons.
• Skill upgrade 2: Twin-Rocket Pack — Shoots a rocket launcher in a straight line (requires a clear line of fire).
• Skill upgrade 3: Engineering Tools — Adds some Combat Engineer functionality.

M-11 Marauder

These gargantuan mechs are some of the best units in Starship Troopers: Terran Command. M-11 Marauders are heavily armored, too, which means they can take quite a beating. They may also be equipped with a Gatling gun, flamethrower, or howitzer, though they’ll consistently shoot hostiles with an attached machine gun.

• Skill upgrade 1: Mortar Barrage — Bombards the target area with a devastating artillery salvo.
• Skill upgrade 2: MX-113 Incendiary Drop Charge — Drops a demolition charge that scorches everything around the Marauder.

Those are all of the units and their skills and abilities in Starship Troopers: Terran Command. To keep the fight going against the Bugs, you’ll need to know how to call in reinforcements. It’s also useful to know how True Line of Fire and True Line of Sight work. Capturing outposts, too, is important knowledge.