Squad Power Cores are class specific (Warrior, Air, Medic, Special and Gunner) power cores that enhance attributes of the attached bot and other bots same class bots in a squad. From a surface perspective, Squad Power Cores may not provide the same enhancement to the attached bot versus regular Power Cores in TFEW. In comparing the Medic Medical Command/Force Squad Core to a standard Ray Booster Power Core, the Squad Power Core healing boost to the attached Medic will be less than what a standard Ray Booster Power Core can provide. However, the benefit is, all other Medics in the same squad will receive an increase in healing even if they do not have a Ray Booster Power Core attached. Team composition matters though. If you are not running two Medics on the same squad, there is no reason to attach Medic Medical Command/Force Squad Core over a standard Ray Booster Power Core. The standard Ray Booster Power Core will provide a greater healing percentage than the Medical Command/Force Squad Core to the attached bot. If you choose to utilize a Squad Power Core, be sure the team composition is of such to take advantage of the benefits. As an example, the composition of my primary war team is five Specials and one Triple Changer, a Gunner and a Medic. The Medic-specific Squad Power Cores would make little sense in this setup. However, the Special Squad Core would benefit the attached Special plus enhancing the other four Specials.
It should be noted as well as Squad Power Cores enhancements do stack with other Power Cores. Utilizing the Medical Command/Force example above, if the team was comprised to two healers, one with the Squad Core attached and the other with a standard Ray Booster Power Core, the Medic with Ray Booster (Maxed Gold provides 12%) attached would also be boosted by the Squad Power Core (Maxed Gold provides 4.8%) allowing a greater percentage of healing (16.8%).
There is always a philosophical discussion to be had around using a Prime Core versus a Squad Power Cores. The Prime Cores are the most powerful in the game by design, but not every player has every Prime Power Core. In the absence or Prime Power Cores, Squad Power Cores, based upon team composition, are very useful.
Warrior
Ground Command – Trithyllium Plating (Autobot) / Ground Force – Trithyllium Plating (Decepticon) – Restores a percentage of the equipped bot’s health every 5 seconds. Percentage reduced damage from Auto Cannons for all the other warriors.
Ground Command – Attack (Autobot) / Ground Force – Attack (Decepticon) – Restores a percentage of the equipped bot’s health every 5 seconds. Boosts damage of regular attacks all other warriors by a percentage.
Of these two Ground Squad Power Cores for Warriors, the Attack is of great benefit given the low DPS of most tanks. If the team composition is made up of two or more Warriors, attach these cores to a high health bot such as Headstrong/Jumpstream in order to take full advantage of the health rejuvenate attributes.
Air
Air Command – Reflective Coating (Autobot) / Air Force – Reflective Coating (Decepticon) – Increases special ability damage of the equipped bot by a percentage. Adds a percentage protection from Laser Turrets and Beam Lasers to all other Aerial bots.
Air Command – Attack (Autobot) / Air Force – Attack (Decepticon) – Increases special ability damage of the equipped bot by a percentage. Boosts damage of regular attacks all other aerial bots by a percentage.
Reflective Coating might be most beneficial between these Power Cores, especially for Air Show strategies if laser turrets are equipment with Anti-Air Laser Power Cores. For context, Air Show strategy is typically defined by utilizing Gunners to clear defenses so that bot pathing leads toward the HQ where the natural Special Ability range of Aerial bots allows them to repeatedly drop their ordinances directly on the HQ. If the team composition is made up of two or more Aerials, attach these cores to an bot that has a high Special Ability damage like Skywarp/Skydive or one that remains in the air for extended period of time such as Scourge/Swoop.
Medic
Medical Command – Flak Jacket (Autobot) / Medical Force – Flak Jacket (Decepticon) – Increases the healing done by the bot equipped by a percentage. Reduces damage by a percentage from Mortars and Missile Launchers for all the other medics.
Medical Command – Ray Booster (Autobot) / Medical Force – Ray Booster (Decepticon) – Increases the healing done by the bot equipped by a percentage. Increases the healing done by all other medics by a percentage.
Ray Booster is the most beneficial of these two Power Cores. If you run two or more Medics (and there are only three Medics per faction released in the game currently), the Ray Booster Squad Power Core would be best on Shockwave/Wheeljack or Hook/Ratchet due to their higher healing percentage versus Reflector/First Aid. In the absence of Prime Power Cores, if I was running Reflector, I would want a standard Ray Booster Power Core due to the greater percentage of healing and attach the Ray Booster Squad Power Core to Shockwave/Hook. This is primarily due to Reflectors lower healing percentage per second as he provides healing in a small area and potentially to a group.
Special
Special Command – Flak Jacket (Autobot) / Special Force – Flak Jacket (Decepticon) – Adds a percentage of health to the bot equipped. Reduces damage by a percentage from Mortars and Missile Launchers for all the other special bots.
Special Command – Attack (Autobot) / Special Force – Attack (Decepticon) – Adds a percentage health to the bot equipped. Increases the attack damage of all other Special bots by a percentage.
Oh SpaceApe, please bless me with a Special Force Attack Power Core. I’m joking. Not really. As I indicated above, I use five specials on my primary war team. The Special Squad Attack Core is not just a DPS increase for other Special bots, it might also benefit the Prime Cores that may be attached such as Alchemist and Megatronus, which have healing or damage attributes that are derived from the attached bots DPS. There is not any one Special class bot that is a better fit for this Squad Power Core. While this is not empirical, the community overwhelmingly utilizes Special class bots over the other classes when it comes to war team composition. Due to that subjective observation, directly increasing the DPS of all Specials bots on a war team plus the potential indirect benefit of enhancing other Power Cores attached to those bots is a no brainer.
Gunner
Artillery Command – Flak Jacket (Autobot) / Artillery Force – Flak Jacket (Decepticon) – Increases the special ability damage of the equipped bot by a percentage. Reduces damage by a percentage from Mortars and Missile Launchers for all the other gunners.
Artillery Command – Attack (Autobot) / Artillery Force – Attack (Decepticon) – Increases the special ability damage of the equipped bot by a percentage. Boosts damage of regular attacks all other gunners by a percentage.
Like the Ground, Air and Special, the Artillery Command/Force Attack is the most beneficial of these two Gunner class Squad Cores. My recommendation here is to utilize the Attack or Flak Jacket Core on non-oneshot Gunners such as Skullsmasher/Warpath, Onslaught/Sky Burst, Octopunch/Seaspray, Break-Neck/Smokescreen, Kickback/Cliffjumper and Vortex/Dustup. You will want to make sure to keep Volatile Mixture on one-shot bots such as Mixmaster/Jazz and Brawl/Prowl.