Hogs of War/Promotions

This page will go over all of the single-player game hog promotions there are (multiplayer promotions are covered in the Multiplayer appendix accessible from the main Hogs of War page), their stats, uses and drawbacks. Any equipment listed has infinite uses unless specifically stated after it, e.g. Grenade (x3).

Grunts

 * Health: 50
 * Equipment: Bayonet, Rifle, Grenade (x3)

Grunts are your basic squad members. All eight of your hogs begin like this (even though you never use all eight). They are pretty pathetic, but are good enough to get you through the first few missions or so. When promoting them, you are required to select a career path for them, which cannot be changed afterwards. That hog will then proceed through each of the three levels of that career. You should aim to upgrade all of your five active hogs to at least Level 1 of a particular career as soon as possible as Grunts are really not that useful - it takes a perfect Rifle/Grenade combo just to kill another Grunt, let alone effectively deal with even a Level 1 promotion like a Gunner or Scout.

Level 1: Scout

 * Health: 75
 * Equipment: Knife, Rifle, Poison Gas (x1), Pickpocket (x1), Hide

Scouts are a pretty poor initial promotion. The only thing that does any more damage than the Grunt's weapons is the Knife, which does 5 points more damage than the Bayonet. Posion Gas does 15 damage on impact, and then 10 damage to the infected hog each turn afterwards, until they die or pick up a health crate, which is worse than the Grenade. Hide is only useful in a select few missions, and Pickpocket can't be used enough times to do any real damage, and there's nothing worth stealing during the part of the game when you're most likely to have these. However, all hogs on this promotion path cannot be seen on the mini-map, and cannot be targeted by homing weapons as such.

Level 2: Sniper

 * Health: 90
 * Equipment: Knife, Sniper Rifle, Poison Gas (x1), Suicide (x1), Pickpocket (x2), Hide

Snipers are an enormous improvement over Scouts. The Sniper Rifle will be a useful weapon throughout the game if and when your big weapons run out, being able to accurately deal 40 damage over all ranges. Other than that, you get an additional Pick Pocket use, which now becomes useful because by the time you have a Sniper the enemy will have at least one thing worth pinching. You should never ever consider using Suicide - it might do 60 damage if you use it next to an enemy hog, but because it is a waste of a valuable hog, and your Survival Bonus, it's simply not worth it.

Level 3: Spy

 * Health: 120
 * Equipment: Knife, Cattle Prod (x3), Sniper Rifle, Poison Gas (x1), TNT (x1), Pickpocket (x3), Hide

Spies are very useful in a lot of missions. Spies are often a real pain to kill, especially if they are enemy ones. Suicide has been swapped for an ever-useful TNT charge, and you get a third Pickpocket use. By the time you have a Spy (or Spies, for that matter) there are many uses for Pickpocket, as well as the Spy's decent offensive capabilities and immensely cool costume:


 * You can potentially steal Flamethrower, Mortar, and Airburst uses from enemy Pyrotechnics.
 * Pickpocket can steal Pickpocket uses from enemy Espionage pigs, effectively giving you enough uses to render them completely useless.
 * Surgeons/Medics have a wide variety of healing equipment up for grabs.
 * Commandos/Heroes/Legends have a collection of the best equipment in the game.
 * Well-placed TNT charges can use the landscape to instantly kill even enemy Heroes (i.e. into a minefield or off the edge of the map).
 * Cattle Prod can knock enemies a significant distance and inflict 25 damage in the process.

Level 1: Gunner

 * Health: 75
 * Equipment: Trotter, Pistol, Bazooka

Gunners are pretty decent first-level promotions, and their upgrades are useful too - providing you can aim weapons well. If you can't, it's unlikely you will ever achieve full potential with a Heavy Weapons pig. The Bazooka can do 40 damage on a direct hit and it has a blast radius, and infinite uses. But I would advise you steer clear of Heavy Weapons big unless you're good at using things like Bazookas, Airbursts and Mortars.

Level 2: Bombardier

 * Health: 90
 * Equipment: Trotter, Pistol, Bazooka, Mortar (x3)

Bombardiers are Gunners with 15 extra health and 3 Mortar shots. As the Mortar is incredibly hard to aim and a very unpredictable weapon damage-wise, the Bombardier isn't that much of an improvement over the Gunner. However, it gets much better when you upgrade one to....

Level 3: Pyrotechnic

 * Health: 120
 * Equipment: Trotter, Pistol, Bazooka, Flamethrower (x3), Mortar (x5), Airburst (x1)

Pyrotechnics can easily become very useful if used properly. The Airburst is an easier-to-use, more effective Mortar. On top of that, the Pyrotechnic gains the Flamethrower, which isn't tremendously useful against single enemies, but is a very effective anti-vehicle weapon if used at point-blank range, capable of dealing almost 100 damage to one.

Level 1: Orderly

 * Health: 60
 * Equipment: Knife, Rifle, Grenade (x3), Healing Hands (x3)

Orderlies are basically Grunts with a Knife instead of a Bayonet and three uses of Healing Hands. Although combat-wise an Orderly is virtually no better-off than a Grunt they can heal hogs. Healing Hands has the advantage of being able to be used as many times as you like in one turn, allowing you to restore 60 health total and then go on to damage the enemy. These Hogs are integral for maintaining your all-important Survival Bonus.

Level 2: Medic

 * Health: 80
 * Equipment: Knife, Rifle, Grenade (x3), Healing Hands (x3), Medicine Dart (x3), Medicine Ball (x3)

Medics are still at a health and combat disadvantage over other pigs but their healing capabilities greatly increase. 3 Healing Hands and a Medicine Dart allows for 100 health restoration in one turn, and Medicine Ball, although less useful, can heal multiple targets at once. Medicine Dart also has the useful "vertical shot" trick outlined in the weapons page, but Medicine Dart (or Ball) does not have the draw of Healing Hands for being able to be used multiple times in one turn.

Level 3: Surgeon

 * Health: 120
 * Equipment: Knife, Rifle, Rifle Burst (x3), Grenade (x3), Healing Hands (x3), Tranquiliser (x1), Medicine Dart (x3), Medicine Ball (x3)

This is where the combat disadvantage of the Medic is rectified. This promotion adds a full 40 health, as well as Rifle Burst, capable of 45 damage on a single pig, and Tranquiliser which is a godsend. Surgeons are able to save your Survival Bonus and act as a powerful fighting tool at the same time. In terms of overall usefulness the Spy and Pyrotechnic are sometimes more useful, and all of them are pretty bad compared with the Saboteur, but the Surgeon is still incredibly useful.