SF Dragging Guide

OVERVIEW

Destroyer is finally here, and thanks to her we now have access to an efficient dragging method for SF teams. Until now it hasn't been possible to grind them without burning a ton of resources in the process. Conventional corpsedragging wasn't an option since coalitions always deploy with empty ammo/rations, thus preventing us from swapping in a single DPS to carry the team. But there's a funny quirk to Destroyer and other ringleaders with HOC capabilities: since support echelons have infinite ammo, a support echelon including them can provide infinite fire support. We can abuse them to kill enemies without giving any of our own units supplies, letting us raise SF units for free for as long as we want. Or for 99 turns at least, if what one anon reported is true.

In order to SF drag properly you'll need to have 1-2 armored tanks that can soak damage from enemies while the HOC fire does its job. While any armored SF could theoretically do this, the best choices are Aegis and Manticores for obvious reasons. Not only are they sturdier but their armor scales the fastest, making them the easiest to use while also raising them from a lower level. Add dummy links if you can for more HP (Manticores don't need them). Keep your tanks at the very front on 9 and 6, leave 3 empty, and you'll have six spots left in your formation to drag whomever you want.

As for which ringleaders to use, I don't think it matters too much, but Destroyer is generally best for this job. She's nowhere near as good as a mortar like 2B14 but she does function similarly, making her good at quickly thinning enemies out. However, doubling up on one ringleader seems to cause them to hit the same target each time which can result in wasted damage. An optimal setup might be something like Destroyer + one other ringleader like Architect who will have different RoF and targeting. I doubt it matters much though. Just grab whichever support echelon is available to you. Sidenote: Alina (White Nyto) has an even stronger HOC ability, but is limited by 1 range. She'll open up completely new dragging routes once she becomes available, but you'll be waiting until MS releases for that.

Now, you can apply this information to any number of maps, and you might be able to come up with a good dragging route with some effort. But there are a few caveats to SF dragging, goals we should aim for to make it as efficient as possible. After all, most methods will only give you one fight per turn since you need to stay in HOC firing range, so keeping turns as quick as possible saves a lot of time in the long run. With that in mind, an optimal route achieves the following:

1) An even number of AP per turn, preferably 2. By having an even number, we can queue up a back-and-forth motion with the dragging team for dozens of turns ahead of time, letting the game play things out on its own. An odd number makes this trick more difficult to pull off since, in most situations, we don't want to leave the spot we start from. 2 AP is most efficient since you waste the least amount of time ticking down AP to cycle into the next turn. Of course, to achieve 2 AP you can only control your HQ and the dragging team, with no other teams on the field or heliports under your control.
2) Building off the previous point, we want to prevent enemies from spawning aside from wherever our dragging team is leveling. More enemies = more movement = more time wasted. Since we don't want to capture heliports and gain needless AP, we have to block those spawns instead. Either we can block routes with support echelons, letting enemies suicide into them, or we can block the heliports themselves with allied/support echelons without capturing them. The latter is preferred since fighting other enemies will slow things down considerably, but it's very difficult to pull off and can only be done on a couple maps.
3) Ready access to repairs. Since an SF drag can continue near-indefinitely you'll want access to a HQ/heliport to repair your tanks as needed so you can keep going as long as possible.

I've included two grinding methods from the CN side that fulfill most of these criteria, although the second map is by far the best choice at present. That would be my recommendation if you want to try this dragging method out, though you're welcome to build off the general concepts here and come up with a route of your own. There might be an even better map available somewhere, perhaps in one of the campaigns where hardly anyone looks. You'll also want to make sure you have enough armor to tank whatever you're facing for only 1 damage. I've included breakpoints for both maps that assume a size of M. If you come up with your own routes, you'll need to look up enemy stats and run the math/test the breakpoints yourself. Remember that damage variance exists, so assume that enemy damage is +20% higher than listed.


METHOD 1: 0-4

This is the fastest map to set up, but it has several problems holding it back. The biggest issue is an enemy Ripper spawn that has Garrison AI instead of Attack like every other enemy. If they spawn, the heliport they spawn from will get blocked since they'll never move off it. While you could manually clear them out, it could happen again as early as the next turn. Doing a long AFK farm here simply isn't viable. You also have to deal with the Scarecrows wandering the map. The ones to the south and east will suicide into support echelons (assuming they can beat them, which they should). The western Scarecrow gets blocked by spawns, but if those get weird due to blockages you might need to swap a support echelon over to the HQ to catch it when it finally reaches you. All in all I wouldn't recommend doing this map unless you're in a rush to set things up, but that in itself is a huge advantage.

On the off-chance that you try this map, you'll need to watch out for Jaegers. They have way more damage than anyone else here. I did a test run with M4 soloing at the HQ and I only encountered Jaegers with her once, so I don't think they're common enough to bear consideration. However, I could've just gotten lucky, and if you plan to grind here long-term you might need to compensate for them. If you ignore Jaegers, the armor breakpoint here is 10. If you want to be prepared for them, follow the breakpoints for 10-3 instead.

Armor Breakpoint (12):
Irrelevant, all armored SF have 13 Armor minimum at M size. I'd still recommend getting a few levels/links on them first just so they can last longer between repairs.

Setup:
Deploy your dragging team on the HQ. On the eastern heliport, deploy a competent team of your choice (any will do). The remainder of your heliports stay empty.
Supply your second team if they need it, then send them two nodes SW to kill the nearby Ripper.
Move your dragging team one node SE so they come up behind your first team.
Deploy two support echelons on the HQ and eastern heliport respectively.
Swap your units around so that the dragging team is back on the HQ, the second team is back on the eastern heliport, and the support echelons are where they used to be.
Retreat your second team. End your turn.
For the rest of your turns, move the dragging team between the HQ and one node SW. You can repair on the HQ as needed.


METHOD 2: 10-3

This is the best map for SF dragging until Alina and Shattered Connexion's permanent campaign are released. Problem is, it requires a lot of setup. 10 turns to be exact. Trying to write out each move would get too complicated and would look like a ranking opener by the time it's done, so I'm just gonna link a video from Bilibili instead and call it a day. The big advantage of this map is that the enemy spawn is the same every time, and it'll spawn infinitely with no downtime. You can stay here for as long as you like, only taking breaks to reload the client or do your sims, with only the latter forcing you to end the run.

Armor Breakpoint (22):
Aegis		Level 36 (2*), Level 30 (3*)
Manticore	Level 71 (2*), Level 60 (3*)
Nemeum		Can't be reached, requires XL size and max level.
Tarantula	Level 85 (3*); I need more Tarantulas to test for 4* but it should be in the Level 70-75 range.

Setup:
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1454y1U7kn/
Once you've got everyone in position, just shuffle the dragging team back and forth as normal to keep the turns passing by. This method also creates a swap chain to the HQ via allied Hydras which you can use at any time. Move one node W, swap over, then swap and move back to your original position.