Who are these squad leaders?

[YurdleTheTurtle]

I've noticed people talking about squad leaders and squad leader weapons in Axis infantry, such as Volksgrenadiers. CoH-Stats supports this too.

I have never seen this before. Can anyone explain how they work?

Specific questions:
- What infantry squads from all factions have these special individuals? Is it Wehrmacht only for certain veterancy levels?
- How different are they? I honestly have never seen a standard Volks squad carry 1 MP40. Are they significantly different or is it simply just the gun they carry that makes them special?
- What do they look like, do they look any different from the other troops? And, if a squad leader is killed, does another squad member take over his stats/weapon, or does he only reappear through reinforcing?

[Zwebbie]

They're just part of the squad; zoom in on a Volks squad squad and you'll see that one of them has an StG44 (though it doesn't work like one). One man in every Riflemen squad will carry a phone-transmitter thing on his back (you must have noticed this!) and carries an M1 Carbine.

[Cobra5]

For the american rifleman, the leader is wearing a radio backpack. I think he has one of the airborne carbines, instead of the normal Garand.

And for volks, the leader is carrying an MP44, while the others are carrying normal rifles. He fires his MP44 in single fire though, so it ends up being about the same.

If they get killed, I think they don't come back until reinforced. however, they're pretty much the same as normal soldiers, only very minor differences.

Dunno about the other factions. I'm pretty sure PE don't get any leaders, even with the upgrade. Brits I hardly play as.

[edit] beat me to it, heh

[YurdleTheTurtle]

Ah I never knew the radio backpack Riflemen were leaders, I thought they were just the radio operators.

So if the differences are only very minor, then what's the point of them (I don't think Relic had modding in mind?)? Well maybe for Wehrmacht there's no difference, but for U.S, is the M1 Carbine any different from the M1 Garand, and does that make the leader slightly stronger?

I checked around and apparently a Kar98 PE squad leader weapon exists. Dunno if it's actually in a squad though. I'm also pretty sure British don't have squad leaders.

[Zwebbie]

There really isn't much difference; it's a layer of polish. The Volks leader is better than his fellow Volksgrenadiers, but I think the Riflemen leader is worse or only better at short range. It's a bit confusing that the Volks and Grenadier leaders seem to be carrying StG44's, but are in fact carrying better Kar98's, though.

The PE Kar98 Leader is for the Luftwaffe Ground Forces; they have exactly the same weapons as a squad of Volksgrenadiers.

Fun fact: in the tutorial, you get a Rifle squad which has a leader equipped with a Thompson.

[Panzer Jager]

Volks, Grenadiers, Stormtroopers, Luftwaffe, and Fallschirmjagers all have Squad Leader weapons. The Panzer Elite version is slightly inferior to the Wehrmacht verion. On the Allied side, Riflemen and Ranger Leaders have M1 Carbines, which is inferior to the M1 Garand. The Squad Leader Rifle for Wehrmacht is inferior to the Elite Kar98k, (Grenadier and Stormtrooper), and superior to the Volks Kar98k. For Panzer Elite, the Squad Leader Rifle is inferior at long range to the PE Kar98k, but superior at short range. Luftwaffe Ground Forces use the Volks Kar98k.

[Luaey]

Ah this is all really cool, im with turtle on not knowing about it. Doesnt seem to matter though, just cool little tid-bits to the game

[fallen soldier7]

I think when doing something like throwing a sticky bomb or a grenade, the squad leader always does it. It's been a long time though, so I could be wrong.

[Rotlung]

The difference is quite small to make a significant difference.

Regarding who throws the grenades and sticky bombs, if memory serves me well, I'm quite sure only the guy with the receiver/transmitter throws it. I'm not too sure what happens if he's dead though.

[Zallis]

The closest person to the target throws the grenade or sticky. It doesn't matter who it is.

And the wehrmacht squad leaders' weapons have higher DPS than the volks Kar98s at all ranges. It's also better at short range than the regular grenadier/stormtrooper Kar98s.

And for the wehrmacht squads, aside from the weapon being different, there's another way to tell the squad leader apart. The squad leader will wave his hand around and stuff between shots, presumably directing his squad to do something. It makes no difference, but it's those little details that make CoH so immersive at times.

[Dymo]

@Zallis

The "waving" action seems to be his way of signaling orders to the Squad that one ahole should run out from behind cover to see what is actually going on, despite the incoming withering fire in most cases. LOL :)