FSS(Fire support specialist)

FSS(Fire support specialist) is among the most powerful MOS in every difficulties. He deals the potentially highest damage at lower levels and remains till the end of game. He is able to deal with any complicated situations not only dealing damage, but to provide vision, control ability and increase the survival chance of the team. His power will only dramatically vanish once his 275 CFF(call for fire) shells are used out, but he is still quite useful even when this happens. Since he can still use orbitals strikes and provide vision to the team. Even in nightmare T1 or pmc T1 difficulties, 275 shells still slightly exceeds what he actually needs, given the team is doing their job properly. In the meanwhile, FSS so far remains to be the skill ceiling of all skill-based MOS, or even all MOS. The only exception might be SFAAT, who could possibly control his 5 units at 5 different corners of the map. The full skill of FSS requires the combination of many other MOS together and even more:

1. He needs excellent kiting and gathering skill.
2. He needs good understanding of zombie spawns/PMC spawns. And therefore a good or many possible estimation(s) of where are the zombies/PMCs distributed around the map.
3. He needs good communication with teammates.
4. He needs excellent prediction of zombies/PMCs/teammates/yourselves move.
5. He requires a fast typing speed under nervous condition.
6. He needs a little bit mathematics basis.
7. He needs to pause the game if needed, and bear with teammates' blames for pausing.

But once FSS is fully harnessed, it is a game-changer MOS (AKA an overpowered hero):

1. He can solo almost every mission on his own.
2. He can carry the team's level, while himself doesn't need many levels nor items.
3. He can save 1 SI or possible 2 SIs for taking AR or BB or PU and support teammates further.
4. He can help camping, reviving, escorting someone to any place.
5. He can provide vision, eliminate T1s instantly, or save teammates from extremely far distance.

He will die only when the teammates mess up the kiting or surprise spawns on face. He will only run out of shells when teammates are all afk and taking exp from him. Therefore, in many cases, FSS is the first priority to be revived once he die, only after other medic deaths.

## Basic tips

#### Why do I pick FSS/ What is the job of FSS

FSS deals the most damage at early levels, reaches maximum utility at level 13, and slightly decays when his shells is running empty.

#### What SI(Skill Identifiers) should I take?

Since the newest update, WK (whiz kid) works on FSS and therefore it becomes an undoubtful have-to-pick SI for FSS in this version. The WK SI provides +30% damage to CFF, orbital strike, CAS and rail gun. This is equivalent to

1. +30% maximum shell number comparing to previous, i.e. 357.5 shells instead of 275 shells.
2. +30% mana cost reduction on CFF comparing to previous, i.e., you used 275 shells mana instead of 375.5 shells mana.
3. +30% cd reduction on CFF comparing to previous, i.e., you take the same time to use 375.5 shells as 275 shells.

For the second SI,

1. EN is picked for mana-regeneration. However, a FSS with good CFF settings can avoid mana waste from using too much CFF skills. And he can use energy cells for Attack Weapons Team (his skill to call an AH-25 hunter) or CAS. Therefore, FSS usually only needs EN or a kinetic integrator(KI) but not both. Only when he needs to use binocular when cooldown is ready or use orbital strike frequently, will he needs both EN and KI.
2. AR is good to carry the teams level, with an earlier time to level up Indirect Fire Support skill, in order to get railgun or 4.5s CFF delay ASAP.
3. BA is a safe pick in Nightmare Outbreak mode because FSS would never learn level4 soldier skill in an hour.
4. TT/LA is a safe pick in T1 modifiers with the same reason that FSS would learn level3 soldier skill and get +0.1ms at a quite late time. And early mutated T1s can cause big problems to survival chance.
5. SS is picked for emergency cases, e.g., get leg broken at 2min.
6. DS is picked for no modifiers, but inferior to Always Ready.
7. IS/HE is picked when no other SI is needed.

#### What skill points should I learn?

There are basically two ways to play FSS: main CFF or main orbital strike (or say, go AH-25 hunter directly). Main CFF requires more experience on the accuracy of use of skills, while main orbital strike provides almost instant damage and is easy to handle for beginners. The tradeoff for main orbital strike is lack of damage to T1s and lack of mana. Therefore, the best skill points order for main CFF FSS is:

1. level 1 CFF
2. level 1 Indirect Fire Support
3. level 2 Indirect Fire Support
4. level 3 Indirect Fire Support
5. level 4 Indirect Fire Support
6. From level 6, the skill points varies. If there are needs to kill lots of T1s, it's better to level up CFF for more damage. If there is no pressure on killing T1s and reducing infection levels, one should learn orbital strike, aiming to get Orbital Satellite Reconnaisance or AH-25 hunter. Using orbital strike is just a side product.
7. From level 11 on (since most of the games ended with level 13 and above), one can consider invest 3 skill points on soldier skill to get bonus +0.1 movement speed to help outrun T1s like Cacumen.

Meanwhile, the best skill points order for main orbital strike FSS should be:

1. level 1 orbital strike.
2. level 2 orbital strike.
3. level 3 orbital strike.
4. level 4 orbital strike.
5. level 5 orbital strike or level 1 CFF.
6. level 1 CFF or level 1 Indirect Fire Support.
7. level 1/2 Indirect Fire Support.
8. level 2/3 Indirect Fire Support.
9. level 3/4 Indirect Fire Support.
10. level 4 Indirect Fire Support/ level 5 orbital strike.
11. From level 11 to level 13, either upgrade level 3 soldier skill in order to get additional +0.1ms for incoming Cacumen, or upgrade CFF to maximum level.
12. From level 14, full soldier skills or CFF.

More level of CFF is not needed for main orbital strike playstyle since FSS would use CFF since a later time, instead of from the beginning of the game. And he is not focused on using CFF once he learned it.

#### What are the basic CFF command settings?

A CFF command settings refers to a pair of ( -s xx, -r xx, -d xx, -i xx). For the meaning of these commands, please refer to Call For Fire.

1. ( -s 1, -r 2, -d c, -i 0.2): when -s 1 is used, -r 2 and -i 0.2 actually doesn't matter. One can leave them for default values (which is -r 2 and -i 0.2) or any values. This setting is used to clear T3 hordes. It's notable that the actual bomb AOE is obviously larger than the red circle indicator.
2. ( -s 1, -r 2, -d 0, -i 0.2): an improved version of ( -s 1, -r 2, -d c, -i 0.2)