Tactics in Star Cadre: Combat Class

Saturday, 21st March 2026

I haven't written much about tactics in Star Cadre: Combat Class. So nearly two years after release I thought it was about time. In this little blog post I'll write about a handful of tactical concepts and practices in the game. Opportunity Attacks allow units to attack enemies during the enemy's turn. If a unit has enough action points when an enemy appears within attack range, the unit will attack. Using opportunity attacks you're not taken by surprise when the enemy takes their turn! But beware, because the computer can use opportunity attacks too.

For this reason, entering a large room can be intimidating. You've no idea how many enemies are lurking behind that door, and if they have action points left they can fire on you. This is a good time to make use of Stealth. Having a unit with a good Stealth skill creep into the doorway allows you to see how much danger there really is. Make sure you don't leave your unit in the doorway though, or they will be seen and attacked during the enemy turn! If the Stealth capable unit, usually a Scout, isn't too strong at combat, then you might want to withdraw them from the room and bring stronger units forward to deal with the enemies you find.

If a unit carries more items than they can manage, they'll start to slow down, and nearly everything they do will take more of their precious action points. This is known as encumbrance. So don't over-equip your units, and when on a gathering mission, share out the load between the units that can manage it best. Each unit can carry a number of items equal to their strength minus 2, before encumbrance takes effect.

Remember to check out fallen enemies' inventories, and not only in Retrieval and Gathering missions. Some of your units might be lightly armed, and benefit from weapon and armour upgrades kindly bequeathed by the enemies you've dealt with. You might also find an extra blade or two for freeing hostages more quickly, and to allow hostages to take a greater role as discussed next...

There's more to a Rescue mission than getting those hostages out of there. Some of them might have useful skills, including combat skills. Giving them weapons looted from fallen enemies turns them into useful members of the team. Giving them blades in particular allows them to help free their colleagues more quickly, something that rquires no skill.

After your first game, you have the opportunity to choose the mission and the team for your next game. The default choice is one of each unit type, but you can choose a mission and tailor your team to perform best at it, e.g. more soldiers for an Annihilation mission. Or you can set everything to Random for a more interesting challenge!