Squad Alpha is a fast-paced top-down shooter game. Featuring 3D stick figures wielding the world’s most powerful guns, the game lets you equip weapons ranging from magnums to Uzis, even laser rifles.
You will be hiring “agents” whose task is to eliminate the bad guys for cash. Reminds me of Hitman, but there are few stealth kill opportunities in this shooter. Yes you can equip a sniper rifle to go for a silent kill, but a sniper has a longer reload time and few ammo loaded. You can take cover behind the wall and shoot, and sometimes may even shoot an unsuspecting enemy from behind. Be quick in switching weapons to find the best one for the right situation.
Getting Started
Squad Alpha is one of the best games that can be played with one hand. Press and hold the screen to reveal a floating directional pad. Drag the directional pad with your finger to move your character in the desired direction and release to shoot.
Before releasing your finger to shoot, make sure bullets hit the enemy. When the circle below the enemy is in red, it means that there are no obstacles blocking your view. However, when the circle is greyed, it means that there’s some object that’s acting as an obstacle or he is not within your weapon’s range so firing would be futile.
Always check your weapon’s range. During combat, your weapon’s range is displayed by dotted lines. The circle below an enemy turns red when he is within your weapon’s range, albeit there is no obstacle between you and the enemy.
Eliminated enemies drop cash, weapons, gear crafting materials and grenades. Be near them to collect these items. You may also find a loot box in the middle of a battle arena. Kill all enemies and then go near the loot box to open it for some bonus cash!
Enemies running towards you with batons and swords? No worries! Choose the Uzi to get rid of them even before they get closer. Shotguns are extremely effective in close range, but is of no use if the enemy uses a long ranged weapon or throws a grenade at you. Your loadout plays a very important role in this game. Here are some useful Squad Alpha tips, tricks and strategies to clear all areas and defeat bosses.
Examine an Area before proceeding
Think before you shoot – that’s the tagline of this game. You just can’t go out with all guns blazing. When a level starts, don’t just run straight to your enemy. Check the area to look for covers or places to hide. You will have to take cover when enemies attack. You can also sneak behind a cover to attack an enemy. Each map has enough areas where you can take cover and hide.
Enemies can’t see you unless you are within their field of view. Also, shooting down an enemy will alert nearby enemies, so make sure you find a place where you can quickly hide or take cover when they start shooting at you.
Love shooting games? Check out our Cover Fire Guide and Tips!
Beware of Grenadiers
Grenadiers will throw explosives at you from distance. They will run away when you go near them and again try to throw explosives from a safe distance. The best way to get rid of them is using a weapon that has an excellent fire rate. You want to eliminate a grenadier as fast as possible before he inflicts damage, so the best way to kill him is to use an Uzi since Uzi has a great range.
Salvage Duplicate or Unwanted Items
You might obtain a duplicate weapon from a loot box after winning an area or from a boss mission. You won’t be needing them, so the best option is to salvage your weapons to get scrap.
Go to “Inventory”. It has a briefcase icon and can be found on the bottom of the home screen.
Press the orange “salvage” button on the inventory screen.
Select a duplicate weapon, a weapon that you already have in your loadout. On the screen, you will see the amount of scraps and cash you will be getting once you press the salvage button again.
You may also want to salvage lower-grade guns. For example, if you have a higher grade pistol with a high CP or combat power, then it makes no sense to have it in your loadout. You can get rid of it to get bonus scraps and cash.
How to Upgrade Equipment
Leveling up a weapon increases stats and combat power. You will need a certain amount of scraps and cash to upgrade a weapon.
Tap on inventory (briefcase icon), under loadout 1 (or 2 in case you have chosen different weapons in the second loadout), tap on a weapon and then tap on “Info”.
Press the upgrade button. Before leveling up, check which stat is being improved. In most cases, it’s the “Damage” stat. You will also notice a significant improvement in combat power once you have finished leveling up.
You will obtain scraps and cash from loot boxes after winning a level. Make sure you press the open now button once the loot box appears on the empty loot slot on the home screen. You will have to watch a 30-second advert to open a loot box instantly.
Defeated enemies and bosses may also drop them, so make sure you collect them. The boss round is the best level to grab plenty of scraps and cash.
You can also scrap unwanted/duplicate weapons to salvage cash and scraps.
Scraps are weapon-specific. For example, SMG scraps can only be used to upgrade SMGs, such as Uzi. Shotgun scraps can only be used to level up shotguns. Go to inventory and check out all scraps collected so far under the “Resources” section.
Higher Combat Power Increases Winning Chances
In Squad Alpha, Combat Power (CP) is a crucial metric that describes how effective and powerful a player’s loadout is. Your weapon loadout determines the overall CP. Each weapon has a CP displayed on its icon. Equipping weapons with high CP will ensure a higher total combat power.
Go to inventory (briefcase icon) and check your Total CP. It’s shown just below your agent’s portrait.
Check your loadout’s total combat power. Displayed under the agent.
Total combat power is calculated by adding the CP of all weapons in your loadout. Remove one weapon and your total CP decreases to a certain value. You can see a breakdown of your combat power if you click on the tiny “?” on the “Total CP”.
Your total CP should always be higher than the recommended CP in each stage. You can view the recommended combat power below an “area” as shown in the screenshot below:
Pay attention to recommended CP. Your loadout’s CP should be higher than the recommended CP.
Here are some ways to obtain higher combat power:
Upgrade weapons in your loadout.
Add newer, higher quality weapons to your loadout. But before that always “compare” their stats and combat power. More on weapon comparison in the next paragraphs.
Evaluate and Compare Weapons before Equipping
Go a new swanky weapon from a loot box/boss mission? Why not compare its stats with your currently equipped weapon? Here’s how to do it:
Go to inventory and tap on a new gun under “Weapons”. Don’t tap on an equipped weapon.
Press the “Info” button.
Now tap on the “compare” button. This button is displayed on the top-right corner of the info screen, just below the weapon’s icon.
Tap on a weapon which is already in your loadout. Make sure you compare weapons that belong to the same type. So it will always be sniper vs. sniper or shotgun vs. shotgun.
Once you have selected a weapon from your loadout for a proper evaluation against a new weapon, check the stats. The comparison screen will display two very important metrics – combat power and attributes – to judge the strengths and weaknesses of both weapons. You can check attributes of individual weapons from the inventory screen.
Compare Weapons at Max Level
Always compare weapons under “Max” level. Base is the current level of both weapons, whereas “Max” projects metrics of both old and new weapons at level 20. It lets you know whether the power and attributes of the new weapon are still higher at level 20 when compared to your currently equipped weapon.
In the screenshot below, I have compared a new sniper weapon, the AX 50 with the XM 7000 sniper rifle, which is my currently equipped weapon:
Under “Max”, the AX 50 sniper rifle wins the stats war as it shows a higher power and attribute at level 20 when compared to the XM 7000 at the same level.
How to Choose a Powerful Weapon
With so many weapons up for grabs, it becomes difficult to say which the best weapon in Squad Alpha is. For starters, your loadout should have a primary weapon that has a high “fire rate” and a good range. Fire rate stats determines how fast a weapon will shoot when you release your finger from the screen. When it comes to choosing a good weapon with high fire rate, the Uzi comes to mind. Make sure you have the Uzi in your loadout. This weapon also has a great range. You can check its range from the white dotted circle while playing a level. For me, the Uzi SMG is one of the best weapons in Squad Alpha and every player should have it, at least in the initial levels. Don’t forget to upgrade it from time to time. Make sure you have Uzi as your primary weapon instead of a pistol. I the inventory screen, drag the Uzi’s icon to the first slot to make it your first or primary weapon.
You should also have a good sniper rifle in your loadout. Sniper rifles can be very effective in boss levels as they have a very high range compared to all weapons. However, their reload time is pretty high. When choosing a sniper rifle, always check the damage, fire rate, range and ammo stats.
For example: In AX 50 sniper rifle, the ammo loaded is 4 compared to XM-7000, which can load max 3 ammo. However the fire rate of the XM-7000 is tad higher than the AX 50. The reload or Cooldown time of the XM-7000 is lower than the AX 50.
Such stat comparison on an individual equipment level will help you decide which weapon will go in your loadout.
Force Reload a Weapon ASAP
Each weapon has a “Cooldown” or reload time and this stat varies from weapon to weapon, based on their type and rarity. A sniper rifle will always have a higher Cooldown time than an SMG.
During combat, you will see the balance ammo under each weapon icon on the bottom of the screen. Don’t unload your weapon completely. You will have to wait until the Cooldown time is over.
When a weapon unloads, the game automatically switches to the next weapon. Instead of unloading a weapon entirely, you should force reload a weapon by pressing and holding its icon on the bottom of the screen. This way, you will save time and can use the same weapon in the entre level.
Upgrade Your Agent and Unlock New Enhancements
Leveling up your current agent will increase his/her health and also provides damage bonus to all weapons in your loadout.
You will need a certain amount of agent shards and cash to upgrade your agent. Special shards can also be used to unlock new agents that have greater abilities and will be stronger than your current agent. For example, to unlock “Colt Bro”, you will need 5 special colt bro shards.
To level up your agent, go to inventory (briefcase icon) and tap on the blue “Agents” button.
Your current agent’s name is “Number 7”. Tap on the “Upgrade” button. You will need at least 100 shards and 1000 cash to level up Number 7.
Upgrading an agent to a certain level unlocks enhancements, such as increased damage, bullet ricochet, higher crit. chance, increased melee/weapon damage resistance and many more.
You can see the enhancement chart under your agent’s profile page.
Craft Gear at the Workshop
The workshop lets you craft gear and then equip them, to your character to obtain buffs and stats bonuses. For example, the Common Rig “Shielding” gives an explosives damage resistance and increases total combat power.
In Squad Alpha, the workshop unlocks when you reach player level 4. Complete areas to earn XP and fill the player XP bar on the top-left corner of the screen. Reach level 4 to unlock the workshop. Reaching a new level also grants rewards, such as gems, which ca be used to speed up opening or great and rare chests.
Once you unlock this new feature, go to inventory and tap on the green workshop button. You will need certain materials to craft gear. You can get these materials from chests. Defeated enemies also drop crafting items. So make sure you collect all items from an area once you defeat all enemies.
