Troops

When you've set out to take control of an unstable region defined by strife between warlords, the first thing you need is an army. As far as troops go, they are fairly simple. There are a few different kinds of soldiers, and unlike Mount and Blade, or older versions of Freeman: Guerilla Warfare, they DO NOT level up into upgraded soldiers. A militia sniper will remain a militia sniper. However, soldiers still do fall into certain tiers which become obvious over time.

The lowest tier units are the generic bandit troops. They generally have slightly worse stats compared to village recruits, and cost twice as much. You should avoid bandit troops outside of one specific scenario: they make a great frontal assault team for a heavily defended town, making a valiant sacrifice while you better (read: literally any other) soldiers capitalize on the distraction. After that, you have village recruits, who at least know their worth and demand very little pay. The next tier up is the militia, who are largely weak troops when hired, but are the first troops with long-term potential. High level militia troops can hold their own in squads of low to mid level elites. After that are the regional bandits, like the desert and mountain bandits. The only reason I rank them higher than militia is due to their tendency to specialize with assault rifles and machine guns, which are largely the best weapons in the game for NPCs. Faction troops are around this skill level, but have the advantage of reasonably good kit and generally decent leveling by the time you capture them. Finally, you have the elite troops, which are named after various animals.

One thing that you should always consider is the specialties of your troops and how they compliment each other on the battlefield. Ideally, you want your squads to be divided by weapon type, though some consideration is in order for skills. A squad that contains elite snipers side by side with pistol troops will only be partly effective: When the snipers are doing work, the pistols will be out of range, and when the pistols are in effective range, the snipers will be extremely exposed and easily killed. On the other hand, a mixed Close Quarters squad that contains pistols, shotguns, and SMGs will be relatively balanced, though not as effective as three individual squads of pistols, shotguns, and SMGs working in concert. The flip side of this is skills--if you have something like Vultures mixed with female villagers, the Vultures will not be able to use their speed due to the female villagers slowing them down. Sometimes, it's worth putting elite soldiers in mixed weapon squads to make full use of their speed and sight stats instead of grouping them by weapon type with lower quality soldiers.

=Statistics=

The following tables list the statistics of the various troops and companions at level 1, lifted directly from the game files and accurate as of version 1.33.


 * Type: Preferred engagement range? [testing needed]
 * Cost: The purchase cost of a soldier without equipment. Leveling costs 20% of this amount for level 2, 40% for level 3 and so on.
 * Growth: Each levelup raises all stats by this percentage. Skills are capped at 100.
 * Fire Interval Override: If not zero, the unit fires all weapons at this speed, regardless of type.

Companions
=Handgun=

If you manage to get close to your enemy and sneak up on them, and you have a nice pistol like the Eagle80, you can lay some bustas down when it's time to regulate. Otherwise, pistols are rarely useful. Even if you're a frontline fighter, you shouldn't be running out of ammo with the generous inventory in F:GW.

Similar logic applies to pistol troops, which are not the best. Pistol troops have generally low but universal stats. Unlike most troops (excluding elites) in the game, pistol troops have non-zero skill with every weapon type, making them true jack of all trades, capable of wielding whatever low end weaponry you find. At higher levels, they may even become competent general close quarters combat troops, with respectable SMG and shotgun skills.

What pistol troops do very well is raise that garrison count in your city. Even hardened veterans are gonna think twice about attacking 50 or so panicked peasants holed up in a village with a ton of pistols. Especially if there's a veteran squad of your own that can put in some work while the pistols cause a bit of chaos.

Female Bandit

Female Villager

Female Militia

Armed Escort Guard

=Rifle=

Rifle troops will be your bread and butter infantry in the early game, and remain quality fodder throughout. You'll probably have a squad or two of rifle militia backing up the forlorn hope when you take a city.

Higher level and higher end rifle troops are quality sniper support squads if placed correctly on the field and armed with powerful scoped weapons like the SVD. Snow Foxes and Owls are just generally deadly. Get them in position early, and defend them well because they are slow and their armor sucks. On the other hand, anything they notice dies.

Looter

Male Villager

Militia Rifleman

Militia Sniper

Trained Marksman

CFR Rebel Fighter

VFA Fighter (likely better with an AR)

Pozna Sniper Elite

Federal Sharpshooter

=SMG=

As far as troops, SMGs are probably going to be a constant fixture in your army. They probably won't level up too much due to their particular specialty, however. These guys are fast and deadly at close range. They also level up their armor skills quickly, to cover their main weakness: survivability. Due to their high speed, low sight, and short range automatic weapons, there are three primary roles for the SMG troops in this game. First, they will be your early game assault squad. They will likely help protect your riflemen and counterattack. As your SMG troops raise their speed to the 1.5 range, you will want to begin using them as flanking cavalry units after distracting with heavier frontline troops. If you can get your SMG troops in position while another squad engages the enemy, they can quickly end a firefight. Finally, SMG troops can make great ambushes, especially in night battles. The enemy AI occasionally uses valleys as cover as they advance, and a well placed squad or two of SMGs ordered to hold their fire until everyone is in position makes a devastating opening salvo for an ambush.

Raider

Gangster

Militia SMG Fighter

Desert Bandit

Armed Bodyguard

Solitary Wolf Scout (technically, but give these guys ARs)

=Machine Gun=

Some people feel the need to speak their mind on occasion. The machine gunner most definitely speaks their mind on the battlefield. Of course, they also have to carry around a metric ton of bullets and make themselves a bit bright target. As a result, they are not a direct upgrade to the SMGs. While machine gunners can lay down impressive firepower and take some punishment, they are generally quite slow. This makes them more useful as frontline troops that help support and reinforce an initial advance.

Terrorist

Rattlesnake Special Soldier

=Assault Rifle=

Assault rifles combine the deadly efficiency of the SMG with the range advantage of the rifles. These are the most flexible troops in the game, capable of performing every role adequately. Most of the elite troops are AR specialists, or should be kitted into AR specialists even though they have other skills.

Armored Marauder

Pirate

Pirate Leader

Uman Terrorist

Uman Militant

Desert Armed Bandit

Trained Infantry

Federal Commando

VFA Women Marine

Pozna Commando

Spetsnaz

Sea Lion Special Soldier

Solitary Wolf Scout (Technically SMG specialist, but give these guys ARs.

=Shotgun=

Against unarmored opponents, shotguns are excellent. Heck, if you can get your hands on a shotgun early on, you'll be knocking out early unarmored bandit squads with ease, even at range. Once your opponents start using armor, the effectiveness of shotguns drops off severely unless you're willing to get up close and personal. I suggest bringing your own armor, and making sure it's heavy armor.

Female Civilian Fighter

Female Civilian Fighter Captain

Vulture Special Forces