Signal Ops is a very well designed game, but requires a lot of micromanaging of your squad which can be very difficult to overcome and can be very frustrating. Generally I found it's better to make it as easy for yourself as possible. I'm not exactly a pro at micromanaging but there are a few things that I've picked up which made the game way easier to play.

I'm going to assume you already know the controls; if not there is a manual that contains all the instructions, and a few things you wouldn't know without it, inside the directory for the game.

This part is extremely important. To make things as easy for myself as possible my lineup usually consists of a main merc, utility, support, and with 4 screen secondary utility. You always want someone who can open doors (demo or wrench). With this strategy you will have someone to put most of your focus on, and not have to focus as hard on controlling the other two.

Main
The main merc is the one I have take up the biggest screen and spend most of my team controlling moving through areas and fights. I usually pick someone who has really good offensive power so I can lead fights well. For this reason my main merc is either Shield, Wrench, or Demo.

The only instances I pick shield is when I have no bolt or have 4 agents. This is because I like to have someone who can open doors, and the two people who can open doors (wrench and demo) have pretty decent fighting ability.

Utility
This is someone who has a job that needs to be preformed and is your second option for a fighter. For that reason my uttility merc is almost always bolt. He doesn't have much offensive power, but is required for a lot of missions to do jobs and can still help in teamfights. If I don't have bolt it will be either demo or wrench for opening doors and helping fights.

Support
This is someone you don't need to worry about too much but can still help, and will always be alive for when your whole team dies or gets captured.

The two mercs who support best are sniper and spy. Sniper is usually too far back to take any damage but can still help cover you, and scout out areas. Spy will never be shot at (as far as I know) so he will usually never die, and this also helps for scouting out areas and he can also do objectives.

This is an image made from parts taken from the manual which shows the agents weapon abilities







If you use a weapon an agent isn't familiar with like the assault rifle on bolt it will have horrible spread and you wont hit anything. Ontop of that I'm pretty sure (not 100%) that there is some recoil added to weapons (mainly pistol and smg probably not assault though), so trying to fire a pistol as fast as you can wont hit anything but if you watch the ai it will take bursts and usually have better luck hitting things. For this reason I typically use the shotgun or assault rifle (if shield) on the main agent I'm using, and if I have an agent who is good with smg or pistols I leave that to them.

I've found shotguns are effective regardless of what merc you're using since it oneshots at a fairly close distance (further than melee), and if you don't oneshot it shoots in a 2shot burst so you can usually get a quick kill if it's not at medium range. A trick I usually do on someone like wrench is carry 2 shotguns and switch them out when I used up the ammo on the first one.

Melee weapons are also a good thing to carry since they oneshot every single time, and scope can throw them (still oneshotting). I usually don't have them on my main merc, but usually have one on the team (not including Bolt's electricity detector).

Movement is vital beacuse if you move in a bad position your whole team can get killed, and if it's bad enough you will have difficulty retrieving your gear. Death can be very punishing, and on some levels it means spending tedious time retrieving gear and risking dying again.

The support is the one you want to position first.
If it's the spy you want to get a good look in the area ahead if you can and think of a plan, distracting guards you think you can take out without the others seeing first or distracting any guards who look like they could cause serious problems (snipers, guards in weird locations, etc)

If your support is the sniper you want him to be in a spot where he can overlook the area you are moving into (if he can) to get a good view of what you're getting into, clear out enemies, and cover you if more enemies show up. If he can't get to a vantage point of the next area put him in a spot to watch over your team and keep an eye out for spots your team can run into and hide to bait enemies into the snipers view site.

Figure out what you're doing with your utility (or 2nd utility).
To avoid getting overwelmed in the teamfights you don't want to control your utility manually when moving so you need to figure out what you're doing with him.

There are a few options I see:
1) You can either have him sit back but aim his gun through a chokepoint (doorways would be an example) so if you see an enemy you can retreat and take him out and fend off any more guards by hodling the area (if the support is unable to)

2) You can have him follow your main as you move and then when you see and enemy that is attacking order your utility to attack him with #+m1 or just kill the enemy yourself if it's simple enough.

3) You can have him hang back and as you cover more ground move up but pointing his gun from behind a corner or something so if enemies show up you can retreat and hold your ground a bit back.

Each of these options depend on the situation. For example if you are in a very complex area and could be attacked from any corner option #1 is better.

If there are several places you can be attacked from and you're not in a good position you probably want your utility keeping an eye on one of those areas while you watch the other ones.

Finally with your main
Now that you have the utility and support taken of you can cautiously move your main like you would in any other tactical or stealth game (remembering to micro your utility every instance). Remember to avoid areas where you can be ambushed (multiple ways someone can come in on you).


This is mainly for covering ground, so if you have to do something like preform some menail task in a area you already are sure you control or just need to do something barely outside of your safe zone you should just control him yourself and do it.

This guide isn't 100% set in stone, and some parts of it might be possible to ignore or look over in some situations so if you think you can do something which goes against this then go for it just don't do anything stupid or be lazy. Hopefully this will help some of you manage your team.