Captain

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The Captain is a supportive unit available to the American Expeditionary Forces. Obtained through natural tech progression, the Captain is a valuable unit that becomes more powerful the longer he is kept alive.

Overview
The Captain is one of the two combat-oriented squads that are unlocked for free through the standard tech-up process. Unlike the Lieutenant, the Captain has a number of unique abilities (and upgrades) that make it somewhat more useful as a supportive unit.

As is typical for officer units, the Captain works best when used in support of more capable squads. Due to the small squad size and high reinforcement cost compared to traditional mainline units, it is best to avoid being part of the forward unit screen. Instead, keep the Captain a bit further back and make use of his strong defensive abilities to keep your units in fighting shape. In addition to being more valuable when used in support of other units, the Captain also has shared veterancy, meaning that the squad will get a portion of the XP that accompanying units gain during combat.

That being said, the Captain is ultimately a rather uninspiring unit when judged in a vacuum. While it isn't really possible to say something along the lines of 'This unit is underwhelming, don't bother building it' due to the primary means of acquisition, it is definitely worth noting that the Captain definitely is not worth subsequent construction when his cost is considered. Costing 50% more than Riflemen while having less effective combat power* makes the Captain a poor unit to continuously if you happen to lose your starting unit *

* Heavy Ordinance Changes these factors; see Upgrades for more info.

Pros

 * Strong supportive abilities


 * Freely obtained by teching up

Cons

 * Small squad-size
 * Mediocre combat abilities
 * Ineffective to produce beyond initial unlock

Upgrades
The Captain has two weapon slots, meaning that only two upgrades/pickups are available.



M1918 BAR

 * 25 Munitions / Pick-up


 * All-range DPS boost

Replaces one of the squad's M1 Garands with an M1918 BAR. While not a bad weapon in its own right, it is almost always better to save the resources to upgrade your mainline infantry or to save for other purposes.



M9 Bazooka

 * 25 Munitions / Pick-up
 * Mediocre Anti-Tank Weapon

Replaces one of the Squad's M1 Garands with an M9 Bazooka. The Captain can be a good squad to put Bazookas on early-on since they have no negative impact outside of reducing anti-infantry damage.



M1919A6 Browning LMG

 * 50 Munitions / Pick-up


 * Long-range Stationary Weapon

Replaces one of the squad's M1 Garands with an M1919 Browning LMG. Improves long-range damage while stationary by a large margin but reduces close-range and moving DPS. Overall a decent upgrade and compliments the playstyle of the Captain but at the end of the day it is likely better to save the munitions to upgrade other units.



Vulcan Minigun

 * 40 Munitions


 * Improves DPS at all ranges by a large margin


 * Requires the Heavy Ordinance Specialization

Unlike the previous anti-infantry upgrades, the Vulcan stands out in a spectacular fashion. Unlike the weapon rack upgrades, the damage boost this weapon provides in all situations is simply massive. This upgrade alone changes the Captain from a somewhat mediocre support unit to an excellent budget anti-infantry support. Although this upgrade doesn't fix the issues regarding the squad's overall cost-effectiveness issues, this upgrade allows the captain to remain a useful support unit while also being able to dish out a significant amount of damage at the same time. This upgrade is practically a must if one is playing Heavy Ordinance and its presence makes the Captain a potentially viable unit to build once/if you lose him after the initial unlock.

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.



On Me!
Causes the targeted squad to rally on the captain, breaking them out over suppression and granting them a slight damage and defensive buff for a short duration; 45 second cool-down.



Supervise
Increases the unit production speed of the selected building; requires the Captain to be in the HQ.

Veterancy
The Captain gains shared XP, allowing for faster veterancy gain when fighting alongside other units.

 Veterancy One 

720 XP: Unlocks the 'On Me!' ability

 Veterancy Two 

1440 XP: -15% weapon cooldown; -15% reload speed; -29% received accuracy

 Veterancy Three 

2880 XP: +30% accuracy; Squad passively sprints while out of combat.