Red

CONTRACT

HIRING COST : $10,000
EQUIPMENT COSTS : $3,680
TOTAL COSTS : $13,680

STARTING GEAR

GEAR	IMAGE
Klock 17 pistol
9mm Parabellum x15
Field cleaning kit
C4 with timer
Land mine
Light flak jacket
Flannel dress-shirt
Trousers – green
Casuals

ATTRIBUTES

SKILLS

TRAITS

Explosives : Expert at using explosives

Team player : Morale rises when working in a full squad

Short sighted : Morale decreases when not wearing any glasses

Strengths/Weaknesses

Red is similar to Barry in many ways, except that he's slightly more expensive to hire (something you can do from the start) and he won't fit into the dual role of explosives/mechanical merc as quickly because of his significantly lower starting rating in mechanical.

Red also takes an immediate morale hit from the short-sighted trait and the fact that, for some strange reason, he left his glasses at home.

The tradeoff is that he has higher starting dexterity and marksmanship ratings than Barry, making Red a more potent force on your front lines. Once you buy him a pair of glasses, that is.

Tactics

Red can serve as a front line explosives merc from the very start. Replace his starting pistol early on with a machine gun or SMG. He's also the guy you'll eventually want to equip with a rocket launcher of some kind.

It's been mentioned already, but the key to adding Red to your squads is to get a pair of glasses on his head immediately.

The fact that he doesn't start out with them means that he's taking a constant morale hit, which has an adverse effect on all checks until you correct the problem.

Also be aware that Red is no fan of Buns, so if you want them on the same squad, you'll need to hire her first.

However, you might just want to skip Red and go for the cheaper and more immediately multi-purpose Barry instead.

Long-Term Play

Sprinkle skill points you earn each level into marksmanship, with a lesser, but still constant, focus on improving dexterity and explosives.

A good formula to go by is two points apiece for mechanical/marksmanship, one apiece for dexterity/explosives, and then the last point wherever you think it will do the most good.

Just remember that Red's explosives expertise means that he's getting a bigger boost when using heavy ordnance than when he's performing any other checks.

If you do end up going with Red, and you want to multitask with him then focus on building up his mechanical.

Because explosives and mechanical both rely on dexterity, there's really no reason that explosives experts on your squads shouldn't also be mechanics.

Just be aware that you'll have to earn at least three levels with Red before you can get him to the point where he can use the highest level mechanical tools.