Storm Lieutenant's Jacket Unavailable?

[TeKNeKGeeK]

I'm Second Storm Lieutenant but I can't seem to purchase the Storm Lieutenant's Jacket from Maelstrom. Do I have to be First Storm Lieutenant?

The process for becoming First Storm Lieutenant is a bit convoluted as I don't understand the Adventure Squadron's

[Krotoan]

Yes you do. Just keep leveling your Adventure squadron through missions or training. The main reason I did the whole adventure squadron thing was for the jacket..

[Sunspawn]

Basically, get to level 40, try to get 2/3 traits and spam the mission until you get a hit.

[Frizze]

A quick primer on squadrons might be in order then. So you obviously already have them unlocked. At that point, you get 4 members. Now just play the game. Every time you complete a challenge log entry(any entry for any type of content) theres a chance that a new recruit will apply to join your squad. At first, take everyone. Once you get to 8 members you can start accepting missions, so get there sooner rather then later. After your squad is full, recruits will still continue to apply as you complete challenges. At that point you can decide which members you want to keep and who can go. Squad member stats are based solely on level and class(race and gender dont matter), and you can get books to change the classes of your team. You want to use your 3 daily 1 hour training sessions as often as possible to help level up your team(everyone not currently on a mission gets the exp from training). For leveling you generally want to focus on the general training as it gives more exp, but you also want to level up your squadrons base stats by doing the specialized trainings as well until you hit your current cap.

So with recruitment and training covered, that leaves missions. When you select a mission, it will have a listed stat line of physical, mental, and tactical. Each team member you assign to the mission will add their 3 stats to your squads base stat line. If your combined stats are better then the mission in all 3 categories, you successfully complete the mission every time(and get the exp and any items the mission may reward). If you meet none of the stats, you fail every time(half exp no items). If you meet the stat for 2/3 you usually win(but not always), and if you meet only one of them you pass sometimes(but not too often). So you go about doing missions for awhile. Once the first member of your team gets to level 20, a new mission will show up. Complete that mission, and your team levels up. Now for the level-up missions, you only pass if you meet all 3 stats - you will never get lucky and make it with 1/3 or 2/3. If no combination of your team members match up well with the requirements for a mission you can keep leveling them up, recruit new people/change classes, or change your base stats with training.

Completing that mission opens up a new set of higher level missions you can assign your squad to that give better exp. Now your team might start developing chemistries. These are special bonuses they get when assigned to a team with the right race/class members. These first chemistries are typically stat boosts. Since your squad leveled up, you can now increase your base stats again. So keep up with trainings. Repeat everything basically, then once your team hits level 40 the final special mission will open. Pass that one, and you get first lieutenant. First lieutenant also gives you more missions you can assign, and now your team can get chemistries that benefit you(my team brings me crafter scrips, gatherer scrips, and materia - ive also seen gil MGP and company seals offered), so even after maxing them out it doesnt hurt to send them on more missions.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Niwashi]

you also want to level up your squadrons base stats by doing the specialized trainings as well until you hit your current cap.

I remember how this part confused me at first, because I expected it to boost the stats of the individual members who were doing the training. Actually, the boosts and adjustments to physical, mental, and tactical stats from the training are going to a single squadron-wide set of group stats. Then, when doing missions, this set of team stats is added together with the individual stats of each member sent on the mission. Once I understood that there are team-wide stats, it started to make a lot more sense.

Also, after hitting your cap, when you cannot increase any of those stats without decreasing others, it can still be worthwhile, but will depend on which mission you plan on doing. For instance, if there's a mission you want to take and you have a party that would easily meet its physical requirement with points to spare, and could almost but not quite meet its tactical requirement, then doing training first to move stats from physical and mental into tactical might be able to take you from meeting just one stat to meeting two. How far above or below those thresholds you are does nothing; your success is based solely on how many of the three you meet.