So, apparently there's a squad leader...

[Rox]

Seems that the character in the first slot, the one that has the soldier stands foremost in the screen, will be designated as the squad leader. This is reflected by a star being shown on their rank icon in combat. If he dies, your soldiers are more likely to panic and suffer Will penalties.

This doesn't seem to be explained ANYWHERE in the course of the game. You'd think something important like that would be explained in a brief tutorial, at least.

[Nu-men von Kryt !!XD]

Well to some degree is both sefl explainatory and confusing. XCOM,DOW etc. Vets will know from the start since one of the officer upgrades makes him even more important this is how the game will work. But confusing part is lack of information about this in general.

[Mandemon]

It was obvious to me, but I guess that some people are not (yet) used to the mechanic (I learned it from several other games that use same type of mechanic). Tutorial could have mentioned, that could have solved this.

Guess the devs overestimated their playerbase.

[Rox]

Well, it's also the fact that it's just a gold star on the rank icon, something you normally wouldn't look at, given that it's in the bottom-left corner of the screen. I barely notice it half of the time.

[hghwolf]

Until I read about it I never realized it was a thing, mostly because it`s hard to tell when it affects something.

Maybe that means I`m dumb but it just doesn`t seem a worthwile feature to me in the base game.

[Ruin]

I had to go and check this... After 98 hours of gameplay I had NEVER noticed this, nor is it mentioned in any of the documentation I have seen...

Goes to show just how relevant it is to gameplay I suppose...

[Lord Doober De La Goober MXI]

Originally posted by Ruin:

I had to go and check this... After 98 hours of gameplay I had NEVER noticed this, nor is it mentioned in any of the documentation I have seen...

Goes to show just how relevant it is to gameplay I suppose...

This,
I always saw the star never knew what it meant, I guess its good if you like RPing with your characters...I guess....
I wonder if theres any kind of beneficial bonuses…

[Hutchy]

Oh that's what the star means ... makes sense.

[Old Atrocity]

This just seemed obvious to me.

[P-47 Thunderbolt]

The turn order for your squad is also 5 3 1 2 4 6 based on position in the deployment menu.

[Dracon]

To me the middle one was always the squad leader. i also realised the gold star from time to time (quickyl fgorgot about it though).
About the gold star:
When I got reminded about it (again) recently I actually thought the soldier earned a promotion lol

[leandrombraz]

I didn't knew that. This explain some s-hit that happened in my last playthrough....

[Araxiel]

It took me some time until I realised that this feature exists. I always thought the star means this soldier leveled up during the mission. Then later I thought that the "star" means squad leader, but is given to the highest ranking member.

Just a few months ago I realised it's like OP says.

Now the question is, does it matter who 'leads'?
I think this should be a feature, that others get buffs depending on who leads them.

[leandrombraz]

I never saw this star, probaly because it show up in a place that I don't feel the need to look at while playing.

[Dracon]

Originally posted by Araxiel:

It took me some time until I realised that this feature exists. I always thought the star means this soldier leveled up during the mission. Then later I thought that the "star" means squad leader, but is given to the highest ranking member.

Just a few months ago I realised it's like OP says.

Now the question is, does it matter who 'leads'?
I think this should be a feature, that others get buffs depending on who leads them.

it matters, as in 'if he dies people will panic'

[howard]

I agree that it doesn't really make much difference who squad leader is (especially late game, when most your souldiers have high will anyway)
although the role is not determined by the place they have in the "mission menu", but the number of missions they've been on.
At least in the latest expansion (I dont think they changed it)