Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop – Gameplay Tips and Tricks

At the Beginning

The game has 4 classes and 8 people to choose from.
The first thing in this game is actually to choose 1 out of those 4 classes.

The Classes are:

• Officer
• Special Weapons
• Medic
• Tech

Each class has a “job” (dealing a lot damage, heal, build stuff,…) and is special made for something which i will explain futher on so you might see which class fits your playstyle best.

The Officer

The Officer is a attack class with a great passiv buff for his squad members close by.
The “Leadership” buff actually gives your squad members, only if they are close by, a attack and resistence buff. Everyone close by will take less damage from enemys but also is able to do more damage. The Officer should stay close or “at front” with the squad since the squad needs this buff, helping them actually to survive better and win bigger fights.

Mostly, the officer should use rifles or the “Vindicator” weapon since thats the weapon the officer actually gets HUGE bonus damage to.

His secondary can be everything (a second weapon, as sample) you like since he is mostly there to attack and actually helping out the squad with enemys.

The Officer is ingame seen as the green Marine.

The Special Weapons

The “Special Weapons” (shortly SW) is a attack class, mainly. The class is able to make huge amount of damage coz their bullets are able to pierce more targets at ones so that this class is well made fighting larger swarms and bigger enemys. the SW should be armed with a autogun since the SW is the only class able to use those which are able to kill Swarms very easy.

The SW has, unlike the Officer, no passive buff and is something like “the tank” class. That doesnt mean the SW actually should stay alone at the front, eating up all the damage but if the SW is armed with a autogun, he should “shave” down such swarms very easy.

Also coz of the heavy gear the SW is using, hes also the slowest class ingame.

As secondary, the SW should take something like ammobags since his autogun needs a lot ammo and actually he is helping the team with it the most.

The SW is ingame seen as the Blue Marine.

The Medic

The Medic is a supporter class which also has only some hitpoints ingame coz of the missing health bonus stats. The medic is one of the most important classes since its the only class ABLE to cure infestation viva heal beacon or medical gun (aka the Facehuggers which jump on you). Since the medic is pretty fast killed, the medic should never run alone around. The medic is also the only class who actually can use heal items like, as already said, heal beacon or medical guns.

The Medic should not run around at the front coz of his low damage and low hitpoints. hes best “placed” somewhere in the middle since from there the medic is able to heal the squad best.

A medic should be armed best with light weapons like a rifle, pistols or what ever they actually “like” to use. Its secondary should be a medical gun or heal beacon since its the only class able to use them and actually heal infestation with. Honestly, thats one bad♥♥♥♥♥♥move if youre the medic class and you dont even have stuff with you to heal. You will think twice about that at least if youre dieing of a facehugger…

The Medic is seen ingame as the white Marine with the red light on his bagback (which already means something like “TAKE CARE OF ME FFS!”).

The Tech

The Tech is a supporter class which also has the passiv buff to actually add a radar on the mini-map viva scanner. The Tech is able to show enemys around him (NOT his squad) on the minimap – the tech also says something if enemys are close by ingame (stuff like “I got a movement!” or “Careful, i see something!”). He is also the best class using Turrets coz of the enginerring bonus which means he builds them up way faster. The Tech is also for a lot missions a “must pick” since they are the only class able to actually hack consoles. A tech is a good allrounder but since in a lot missions they are “important”, they actually should not begin to roam around by themselves. They should stay best with the medic since they still do good damage.

Mostly armed with the PAR, the Prototype Assault rifle, they actually are at least armed to “defend themselves” and not for bigger fights. For their secondary they should best pick a turret since they can build them up very fast.

IMPORTANT INFO: A lot missions are lost if the Tech dies. If you are the Tech, try to stay with your squad and avoid friendly- and enemyfire at all costs.

The Tech is ingame seen as the brown Marine.

Some Very Helpful Advices

• Stay together! A single Marine is easy killed. Youre not Rambo even if you play a SW. If you think you can kill some swarms easy, that might be true but as soon as you can see you will be killed very quickly. 
• Dont panic! A huge swarm is up your way? You are low at ammo? You found a new facehugger friend? Dont ♥♥♥♥in panic. Creating panic makes a situation worse for everyone. Keep calm and go with your team. 
• Dont be a♥♥♥♥♥♥ Remember: this game has all the time friendly fire. try to avoid shoothing your squad and dont do it coz its “funny”. You will only ruin the fun. Also: Closing down doors behind you so that your squad cant follow counts as♥♥♥♥♥♥move… 
• Play as TEAM! If the Officer roams around alone, his passiv buff will be useless.
  If a SW uses pistols, he waists his strong power with tiny guns.
  If a medic has nothing to heal, thank him if you die coz youre infested.
  If a Tech is not able (or duno) to hack, he should stop and change class.
  Really guys, this is a team based game even with 8 people, you have a role. Try to enjoy it as team. “dicking around” is not funny. 
• Yellow = Mostly NOT good! Mostly everything what is brown-like or yellow colored in this game is bad. tiny yellow balls which explodes and hurt you or yellow split from the enemys. Try to avoid such stuff very easy by rolling away pressing space. Remember this, its pretty usefull. 
• Listen to people who knows! Some people maybe play this game longer and know something about this or that map, try to actually listen to them. Some people are actually long-time AS players since 2010. 
• Facehuggers? Find a medic! ONE reason why you should not roam around only by yourself are the fact that facehuggers can kill you very very easy coz if youre not a medic, you cant do anything against them. If you got one on your head, try quickly to find your medic in hope he has something to heal. 
• Heal with caution! If one of your squad members is hit ones and screaming for a medic you sure can ignor that. Why you might ask? The Medic is sure able to heal people but has only limited stuff for. he has only some beacons and the gun only has some ammo. As i can say for myself, if you play only with a few people, the Medical Gun sure heals faster (and youre actually able to move around) wile the beacon stays for around 20 seconds and is actually able to heal everyone in its radius instead of only 1 squad member. Its up to you what you think is actually better to use but i prefer in a 8 player online games the beacon, since you can heal up everyone who is hurt, which could be 1 guy or the whole squad in that case. 
• Remember ALT-Fire! Some weapons actually are able to use the alt. fire button, which is the middle mouse button by default. A lot people actually dont know that, as sample, your rifle is able to fire 5 granades. The alt fire is mostly very limited but a very powerful addon to your weapon. You should use it. 
• IM ON FIRE!!! Its a bit like in real life that, if youre on fire, you should roll around. Its actually never said ingame but if youre on fire and actually begin to roll around, the fire extinguish way faster by itsself. 

P.S. Im sorry if the grammar from me isnt quite “correct”. Im from germany and “try my best” with english, bare with me please.

Written by W.A. the Anum.