Any tips for a good squad?

[Nesprito]

I'm wondering which characters would be the best options for each class (Scout, Shock, Lancer, Enginer and Sniper) and if there is a recommended ammount of soldiers of each class to have in the squad.

[Turtler]

First and foremost: the strength of the wolf is in the pack. Each unit has its' very definitive purpose and should be used for it. Keep that in mind, and don't send a lancer to do a scout's job or a scout to do a lancer's.

In terms of unit composition, scouts and shocktroopers are your bread and butter, and should make up the bulk of essentially any force you field. With Engineers likely running in a distant third place.

Deploy Lancers if you're going to be facing hardened opposition- tanks, bunkers, et cetera- and snipers if you need to whittle down the enemy infantry from afar before closing in.

That should give you a decent starting point.

[Clove]

1 Lancer is usually all I need. Especially if his name is Largo. If the mission is a special one with lots of tanks or a really big tank, take more. Or if your forces are split up (or spread out), and you want one with each group. If there isn't an enemy tank, Largo can still be useful in blowing up enemy cover with his rocket. Or if he shoots a guy in the face he goes flying and is no longer in cover. It's not reliable, but it is useful. So just bring Largo.

1 or 2 snipers can be very useful. The reason you might want 2 snipers is because once they both fire all their bullets, you can have your engineer give them both a refill with one action. Same could go for lancers or with a mob of lancers and snipers.

If you have only 1 good sniper rifle, then you probably only want 1 sniper. A better rifle makes all the difference.

I find 1 engineer is often all I really need a lot of the time, but sometimes 2 is good if your forces are split up and you need 1 with each group. Dallas has good traits that are also funny when they activate. (oooh, Alicia!)

I don't use many scouts. Often my only deployed scout is Alicia. I think you get an extra command star for having Alicia deployed.

Shocktroopers are a good bread and butter unit. I want lots of these guys. They are tough, and if they fire when standing near each other (or scouts) they will activate a team attack that is much stronger. (if a lancer fires a rocket at an enemy dude, it will also activate a nearby troopers team attack, funnily enough. Another way to get good use out of Largo when no enemy tanks are around.)

Once I figure out how many of the other units I need/want, I fill out the entire rest of the squad with shocktroopers.

I haven't gotten around to finishing this game, so I'm probably not the most informed person. But this kind of group makeup gets me good results.

[Xgpmcnp]

I finished the game (Currently grinding New Game +) and my squad often consisted of this:

End game, you get 2 tanks, since Zaka joins you, so I had 2 engineers, each escorting a tank and ensuring their health is fine.

Oscar was the only sniper I ever used, only getting a second sniper if Oscar had to retreat.

I often used 2 Shocktroopers (Wendy and Rosie) but often ended up ordering Wendy to retreat, so I recommend getting 1 Shocktrooper (You defenitively do not need to start will a 10/10 squad rooster, deploying 9 out of 10 to redeploy later is better strategically) and calling in a second later if needed

I always had 2 Scouts (Alicia and Freesia) as those are perfect to quickly capture a base or go save a unit that was downed. Scouts moves just so much, they're great

Largo always was in my squad because even if there is no tanks, he can serve as a good way to destroy enemy cover or deal damage to multiple, weakened enemies. Or destroying key location which is very common.

In short, my squad always had: 2 Tanks, 1 Sniper, 1-2 Shocktrooper, 2 Scouts, 2 Engineers and 1 Lancer. With a squad like that, I managed to go through the whole game without a single casuality. Hope it helps.

[busards]

The good characters within each class depend on your class levels (meaning stats and potentials unlocked).

Scouts:
Low level:
- Alicia has the best stats and personal potentials.
- Musaad and Nancy also have good personal potentials.
- Susie can unlock a very bad personal potential (Humanitarian) you will want to avoid!
Level 6+:
- Power Scout (Musaad, Wavy and Nancy) is a great anti-personal potential, easy to trigger and powerful, even better when you get the grenade launcher.
Level 14+:
- Resist Crossfire (Alicia, Wavy, Ramona, Freesia, Aika) is the best scout defensive potential, greatly reducing damage taken from enemy interception fire

Troopers:
Low level:
- Rosie has the best stats and personal potentials.
- Lynn can unlock a great personal potential (Hard Worker).
- Dorothy can unlock a very bad personal potential (Stage Fright) you will want to avoid.
- Aisha and Edy have Panicky, a pretty bad personal potential you will also want to avoid.
Level 3+:
- Undercover Fire (Rosie, Lynn, Jane) is the best accuracy potential for troopers and those 3 troopers have high natural accuracy. Hannes also has that potential but his accuracy is so bad to start with.
Level 7+:
- Fearless Will (Mica, Jane, Nina) is an awesome offensive potential, not only increasing anti-personal power but also defense.
Level 18+:
- Ultimate Damage (Alex, Hannes, Aisha) doubles anti-personal power and activates 100% of the time.
Note: there is a generic trooper with Fearless Will, Mid-Range Skills & Ultimate Damage; a great combo of Battle Potentials for troopers.

Lancers:
Low level:
- Rosina, Audrey and Yoko are the most accurate.
- Largo and Audrey have the best personal potentials.
Level 4+:
- Stand Ready (Nils, Walter, Rosina) increases defense, always useful to reach a tank's radiator and better than anything you will get until a very long time...
Level 20:
- Ult. Anti-armor (Jann, Audrey, Elysse) doubles anti-tank power and activates 100% of the time. Once you get that potential, you won't want to deploy any other lancer.
Note: there is a generic lancer with 72 accuracy at level 20 (for comparison, the second most accurate lancer is Yoko with 32 accuracy).

Engineers:
Low level:
- Nadine being a darcsen, she helps triggering your tanks potentials. And she might have the only personal potential worth noting among all engineers (Rear Guard).
- Herbert, Ramsey and Claudia can unlock bad potentials you may want to avoid (Moody, Maintenance Lazy and Unlucky respectively).
Level 20:
- Double Action (Knute, Dallas, Nadine) gives 10% to act a second time, great.
- Invincible (Karl, Ramsey, Claudia) gives 10% to be invincible, great.
- Ultimate Defense (Herbert, Homer) gives a permanent boost to defense, great (if you have upgraded armors as the buff is proportional to your armor defense).
Note: yes, I know, that names all engineers, but what can I say, their only good potentials are the ones they get at max level and they are all good. Engineers jump from "meeh" between level 1 and 19 to "great" at level 20.

Snipers:
Low level:
- Most of your snipers accuracy will come from the rifle and your snipers accuracy stat won't really matter (only exception is Marina at level 16+, see below).
- Emile may have the only good personal potential worth noting among all snipers (Good Buddy, combo it with Nancy who also has Good Buddy).
Level 13+:
- Critical Shot (Emile) gives Emile a 10% to do critical damage (even if the target is crouching/crawling).
Level 16+:
- Ult. Accuracy (Marina) gives Marina a permanent boost to accuracy to the point where it goes over 100 (i.e. her aiming circle is a dot).

As for the amount of soldiers per class.
It depends how you play but I wouldn't recommand having too many lancers or snipers in the squad as you rarely deploy many of them (3~4 lancers including Largo and 2 snipers) and at least two engineers (you may always need them and two in case you lose one). Then scouts and troopers should be your main offensive force (with maybe a few more engineers as they are similar to scouts with more utility).

And aside from all that, you can also make a squad of people you like (looks or personality). The game is not difficult enough that you would need to use the best characters.