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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 2263266" data-attributes="member: 13966">BTW, Arscott: You're assuming that Terran Marines all start training from their youth to enter the military, which isn't really accurate.  Many Marines are convicts forcibly lobotomized, brainwashed, and "re-educated" to function as Marines.  Other Marines enlist sometime after adulthood when they're feeling patriotic and their colony is in peril, or when they lose a job and are strapped for cash, looking for some way to survive, so they join the Marines to get food, water, shelter, and pay, serving their initial term and then hopefully getting honorably discharged or relegated to the reserves, so they can go back to their lives with some money in their pockets to survive on until they get established with a new job.  Certainly, there are some career military families and such, folks who do train from youth to enter the Marines and hopefully move up the ladder to serving as a starship or base officer.  They just aren't necessarily going to be the majority (though they could be on some worlds that have a strong Confederate history and the trust of the populace, unlike many Confederate-held worlds).That's why many Marines aren't going to have a starting profession that grants Personal Firearms Proficiency or Light Armor Proficiency, and why they aren't likely to have any of their 1st-level feats be appropriate to the required Marine training.  Most will join the Marines, forcibly or voluntarily, around 2nd to 5th level, likely receiving 1 level's worth of training or brainwashing to make them Marine-capable.  At most 1 or 2 of their starting feats might be amongst those needed (and if not, they'd need to wait till 9th-level or so to be proficient in the Marines' power armor and gauss rifle)....Lessee.  Light Armor Proficiency and Personal Firearms Proficiency at 1st-level, for self-defense.  2nd-level Dedicated Hero bonus feat of Advanced Firearms Proficiency as the character volunteers in the local militia or military reserve.  Takes 2 Strong Hero levels after that, bonus feat doesn't matter because Strong Heroes have no useful bonus feats for a Terran Marine who intends to take Soldier.  3rd-level feat of Medium Armor Proficiency.  Becomes a Soldier at 5th-level as they join the Marines.  Gains power armor proficiency at 6th-level, taking Burst-Fire as their bonus feat later at their 3rd level of Soldier (7th character level).  Marine gauss rifles only seem to fire on burst-mode, but that might be full-auto, either way they'd need at least Advanced Firearms Proficiency, and preferably Burst-Fire too (which requires the previous feat).  An optimal build would have them taking Military Occupation, starting as a Dedicated Hero, taking 2 levels of Dedicated, then 3 levels of Tough, then entering Soldier.  Light Armor Proficiency as their MilOcc feat, Medium Armor Proficiency as their human bonus feat, Personal Firearms Proficiency as their other 1st-level feat, plus Simple Weapon Proficiency.  Talents Skill Focus (Listen), Remain Conscious, Damage Reduction 1/-.  Advanced Firearms Proficiency as 2nd-level Dedicated feat, Toughness as 2nd-level Tough feat.  Power Armor Proficiency as 3rd-level feat, Burst-Fire as 6th-level feat.  And even that build requires 6th-level to get full normal use out of the gauss rifle, though capable enough as a Marine by 3rd-level.  Thus, a standard Marine must be 3rd-level to proficiently use their power armor and gauss rifle, though 6th-level is needed to make the best use of a Marine gauss rifle.</blockquote>

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