In writing Reflex, I didn't assume that the majority of players were going to be well-versed in tactics, which is why I chose to include a Tactics skill. My feeling at the time was that the system needed to model all reasonable aspects of a successful PC group's skill set rather than assuming player knowledge of certain key items. Some of my recommended tasks for the skill are setting (and detecting) ambushes, analyzing a battle as it unfolds, and determining an enemy commander's likely intentions from intelligence and biographical data. In the absence of a Profession cascade skill, I also used it as the wildcard skill for combat troop tasks - calling for and adjusting fire, communication with simple hand signals, and the like. I did toss in a sidebar for the "know the right thing to do" application, too:
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GM Hint: Team Orders
Given the often vast discrepancies between the capabilities of players and their PCs, your group may wind up with a team leader whose player has absolutely no sense of small unit infantry tactics. Unless you’re using the Reflex System as an instructional tool in a military academy, we strongly suggest that you cut such a player a fair amount of slack. Before the character issues a team order, allow the player to solicit advice from more experienced players as to which orders to give to minimize PCs' chances of dying poorly. If no one has any good ideas, a Tactics (EDU, TN +1) skill check is appropriate for determining how well the character understands the situation. While a firefight is no place for democracy, the characters in it may have years of experience that allow them to make split-second decisions. Most players have no such live-fire experience, regardless of how much time they’ve spent in front of their PlayStations.
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- C.