Introduction
Now that the new Girls’ Frontline Client update has been released, it has never been easier to pick up the game and make progress. Thanks to the revamped Early Game Rewards and the introduction of the Forward Basecamp to the game, the way in which a new Commander may make their way to the frontline has been significantly improved.
Previously, the script for a new Commander’s progression may have consisted of:
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Making and focusing on one Echelon
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Using friend Support Echelons to clear stages and unlock the AR Team story rewards.
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Progressing the main story until reaching a good leveling map, such as Chapter 4-3 Emergency
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Running the leveling map until the Echelon is strong enough to progress further
Thanks to the Early Game Rewards update, a new player can now:
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Maintain two Combat Echelons while initially progressing
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Avoid a lot of the grind, as the story reward T-Dolls are now pre-leveled and pre-Dummy Linked
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Clear Night chapters and unlock Equipment research sooner thanks to the new, free T-Doll chapter rewards
New Commander Priorities
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Remember to claim the 7-Day Frontline Supplies for free T-Dolls (M14, M2HB, FNC) and other rewards.
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Craft for a Main Tank SMG with their T-Doll Production contracts.
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The 400 Manpower, 400 Ammunition, 91 Rations, 30 Parts recipe is recommended.
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After acquiring two good Main Tank SMGs, the AR recipe of 91 Manpower, 400 Ammunition, 400 Rations, 30 Parts can be used.
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Progress through the story, relying on friend echelons if needed, to claim the clear rewards and story dolls.
Team 1
Form an ARSMG Echelon as follows, using Skorpion and a Main Tank (MT) from the SMG craft results and using a decently balanced backline:

Tip: OTs-12 can stand-in at position 7 until the player acquires ST AR-15 from story.
UMP45 is optional, but recommended if the player is lucky enough to get her early. Other good starter maintanks include but are not limited to:
Players without any of the above T-Dolls can use the free quest reward, STEN Mk II. While she does not have a tanking skill or good tile buffs, STEN's base stats are good enough for the early game.
She can be replaced by one of the aforementioned Main Tank SMGs when the player acquires one.
Why M14?
M14's base stats are so good that she can deal comparable damage to ARs even without any tile buffs. Plus, the backline-targeting feature of RFs allows M14 to bypass enemy tanks and dispose of high-damage backline threats like Jaegers.
Additionally, by training M14 in the first echelon, dealing with Night battles will become much easier thanks to her compatibility with Armor-Piercing Ammo.
Team 2
After fully forming the first team, leftover units may be placed in the second team. This can result in a functional echelon similar to the following image, but possibly with some units swapped out:

A second echelon can help improve map control significantly when clearing story stages by reducing the reliance on friend echelons. As most of the listed units are cheap to raise, a Commander can safely substitute in one 5★ or 4★ unit without much risk of running out of cores.
Some of the recommended high-value substitutions are as follows:
Note: Do NOT make more than one substitution! If you must, make sure that both are 4★ or below. Otherwise you will run out of Dummy Cores!