Fire Support Squad (AEF)

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The **Fire Support Team** is a specialist unit available to the American Expeditionary Forces. Capable of putting out laying down suppressing fire from the back, this squad is great at pinning down targeted squads to take pressure off of your mainline squads and open up opportunities to advance.

## Overview

The Fire Support Team is one of two pseudo-elite units available to the AEF. Compared to Rangers (same cost and same means of production), they are more of a supportive unit that provides suppressing fire from the rear as opposed to an up-front assault unit.

Although one might assume that this squad would have good damage output due to the their automatic weaponry, this is not the case. This unit instead favors volume of fire over accuracy. As such, this squad cannot be relied upon as a main-line damage dealer, with that job being best left to other more potent units. Additionally, its high cost to produce and reinforce makes any losses the squad suffers hurt more to the very high reinforcement cost per model (almost 3x that of Riflemen).

As such, this squad is best used as a second-line supportive unit that lays down fire on lynchpin enemy squads. Due to its ability to passively suppress enemy squads, it is able to provide consistent long-range harassment without the inherent inflexibility that traditional HMG teams have. The most common use this squad has as a support unit that passively suppresses targeted enemy squads to reduce their damage output and make them more vulnerable to incoming threats.

With all that being said, Fire Support Teams are not entirely helpless on their own. While they might not be able to outright eliminate enemy units like Rangers can, they are practically impossible to actually rush down due to their ability to simply suppress approaching units before they get close enough to do significant damage. Additionally, if it is possible to safely close the distance, Fire Support Teams can very quickly pin down enemy squads due to the massive RoF boost that the squad gains when in close-combat. They also have access to the full grenade set that Rifleman Squads have, which allows further enhances their flexibility.

Overall, while Fire Support Teams aren't quite as flashy as many other pseudo-elite units, they still provide a unique and often valuable service in most army compositions. Although they may not be the best unit to use in some situations, they often are a good squad to have at least one of if you don't have access to something stronger via specializations.

## Pros-and-Cons

### Pros

* Good suppression capabilities
* Durable compared to Rifleman Squads
* Wide selection of abilities

### Cons

* Mediocre direct damage output
* No sprint ability

## Upgrades

Due to the fact that the Fire Support Team has no available weapon slots, this squad is unable to pick up weapons from the three Weapon Racks, effectively leading to the squad having no upgrades.

## Abilities

### Mk 2 Frag Grenade

20 Munitions; One of the squad members throws a standard Mk 2 fragmentation grenade at the target location, dealing significant damage to enemy infantry caught in the blast.

### M23 Smoke Rifle Grenade

15 Munitions; A squad member fires an M23 smoke grenade at the target location, laying down a smoke-screen shortly after impact.

### M9A1 Anti-tank Rifle Grenade

20 Muntions; A squad member fires an M9A1 Anti-Tank Grenade at the targeted vehicle, dealing damage and potentially causing critical damage to the engine.

## Constructions

**Sandbag Fighting Position**

Builds a long wall of dirt and sandbags. Provides heavy cover to units behind it and can accommodate more troops without clumping models together.

**Round Trench**

Builds a large trench that provides heavy cover for any squad inside it; can garrison one squad or team weapon.

## Veterancy

*\*\*\*Exact values are unknown due to limited access to mod files\*\*\**

Veterancy One

Reduces received accuracy (??)

Veterancy Two

Increases accuracy and reduces received accuracy (??)

Veterancy Three

Increases weapon lethality (??) and ability throw range while reducing received accuracy and ability cooldown (??)