[Game] Jagged Alliance 2

[Nimsky]

Is it just me, or have they improved the AI in the new version of 1.13? I've seen them use some pretty impressive flanking and surrounding tactics. Seems the firefights are a lot more difficult now, at least when you're outnumbered. Or maybe it's because I started all over again and my mercs still have their default weapons. Or it's because of the difficulty level (now using Expert mode).

By the way, anyone got an idea how to remove internal attachments from guns? I'd gladly take off an extended gun barrel or some rod & spring off some captured crapguns and put them on my choice hardware.

Right-click on a firearm to view its attachments. Then click on the attachment you want, right-click on the firearm, and you can then place that attachment in your inventory or on a weapon.

By the way, wow, I really should have watched that guy's Let's Play much sooner. I didn't even know you could move mercs from one grid to another using the map screen, let alone that it's possible to loot bodies using the items screen. Heh, stupid.

Those Drassen counterattacks - didn't have too much trouble with 'em in the previous version but I have the feeling it'll be more difficult this time around. But the key to holding the towns is to train elite militia. That's by far the most effective method.

So as I said, I started over - I recreated my IMP character and recruited Len. I like how the new 1.13 allows you to select the colour of your IMP character's clothes. Gave that dude some OD/khaki clothes. Ira is already part of my squad but she... well, isn't very effective in combat, especially with that revolver of hers.

My goal is to use the same kind of tactics (accurate high-caliber semi-auto fire). I might introduce a light machine gun for that extra firepower, perhaps an RPK or PKM. Can the SVD use ammo from a PKM box magazine, by the way? That would be useful. I like being able to share ammo between mercs so I usually try to give them weapons that are chambered in the same caliber.

Currently attacking Drassen from the North. The guns of my mercs aren't that good so I'm letting the enemy come to me for now.

 

[I. Kant]

Yes, if it's the same calibre, you can use ammo compatibly. You can load up the SVD, unload a mag to get a SVD mag, load it again from the PKM box, unload and keep doing that until you convert enough ammo to SVD mags (faster reloading in combat than would have been possible without an appropriate mag). You can merge two half-empty mags as well: pick one mag, hold CTRL and click on the other one.

And the right-click on weapon, yeah, I knew about that, but the problem is with internal attachments (like extended gun barrel or internally mounted rod & spring; can't seem to take 'em out like any other attachment).

Also, I cheated a bit, because I created a few IMP mercs, tailored to my needs. Currently having fun with sniper rifles, but I think I'll have to put a brake on this, as it's totally overpowered. Got Raven (and Raider, her husband, too, in fact) and an IMP made merc with a sniper specialisation. Raven's got a Steyr Scout Tactical, the IMP merc's some bizzare sniper rifle and the two of them are doom incarnate. I actually have to withhold from using them to leave something for the rest of the team.

About the AI: I can't really remember the old one, so can't say for sure whether it's better, but the AI has problems figuring out where you are. When they're being shot at from beyond visual range, they don't really seem to look for you, just mill around.
It's only when they find you and get into visual range and they have a numerical advantage that they become dangerous. And their tactics are simple enough: gangbang you. This is the only thing that prevents me from complete enjoyment.

Edit:
About item management from tactical. In v1.13 you can use Shift+S to sort the items on the map (from tactical view). This will pile all the items of the same type onto a single tactical map grid, so it's easier to sort things out. Don't forget to ALT+click on unnecessary items to sell them (for a fraction of their list price, but still). While this won't give you top dollar, it's enough to cover Skyrider's fees, or the like.

 

[Apos]

@I. Kant

maybe that will help:
"SHIFT + F In Tactical Map to remove all removable attachments from items and to unload all weapons in sector inventory."

I decided to start over. List of new features is so big, that I don't want to play not knowing them.

Now I have also more specific plan how to manage my Mercs. I'm going to start with one squad (2x leader, 1x mechanic, 2 medics, 1x sapper, 1x AR) of two fireteams (leader, medic, sapper/mechanic, AR AND leader, medic, mechanic). First goal will be to capture city of Drassen (airport and mine), train local and mobile militia (2nd fireteam) when 1st fireteam will on mission to secure Skyrider and localize SAM. In this time I should get enough time to get first shipment of ammunition and NVGs from Bobby's ray to attack Alma in strength of well armed section. Later on I want to train a medic from 1st fireteam as another AR (since suppression works really well) and medic from 2nd fireteam to marksman and keep both in second line.

I have a couple questions:
- Do you know how to order mobile militia move somewhere on map screen? I'm referring to this:
"You can also have your militia follow and reinforce you when you attack a city sector. Watch out though - enemies can call in reinforcements too."

- militia loots weapons and gear from a ground during battles, but I didn't notice that they grab anything in non-combat mode. Or is it only me?

Btw:

YouTube - ‪Jagged Alliance 2 - Episode 13 (Alma Vehicle Depot)‬‏

I love a moment when he's shooting thru a roof/walls, kills enemies and blows up stuff. Must try it on my own.
Also I noticed watching him playing, that I have different version of 1.13 mod. E.g. I have different aiming system and some smaller changes in GUI. Perhaps he uses older version?

 

[I. Kant]

Yes, militia do pick up weapons during combat, but they do not do it outside combat. About mobile militia: yes, when you click the mobile militia map, you can change their orders. Haven't figured out what they mean yet, though. You can click and change the colour of some sectors from green to yellow to red. I have no idea what they mean, though, haven't seen it in the manual. However, I suppose yellow is for marking the sectors you want your guys go to (it seemed to work that way for me).

 

[Nimsky]

@Kant: thanks for the tips. About the AI: oftentimes they gangbang you, true, but almost every battle I fight they try to flank me, and sometimes succeed. So maintaining security in all three directions is quite important. As for the rod & spring, maybe you need a higher mechanics skill? Not sure about that... don't know much about mobile militia either. 1.13 was updated in May 2011, the first update since 2008. The first time I played JA2 was in 2010 so I'm still not very familiar with the latest update of 1.13, but suffice to say the update changed a lot.

@Apos: the new update changed the aiming reticule, yes. You can change it back to the old one in the options screen.

Anyway, my attack on the Drassen airfield went pretty badly. I had only three mercs; my IMP guy, Len and Ira. I thought I could easily win the battle by letting the enemy come to me, but this game isn't that simple. After reloading many savegames I finally managed to kill the first bunch of opponents without dying (it's cheating I know, but Iron Man mode isn't my kind of thing). I could then move my squad further down the airfield but it was so difficult to gain the upper hand. By the time I reached the last 10 or so enemies (and 10 enemies is quite a lot in JA2-terms), I was out of ammunition and all of my mercs were badly hit and tired. Some of them kept passing out so I had to constantly make them drink, rest and loot for weapons. By the end all of my mercs had only 5% health, 5% energy, were limping, and were equiped with nothing but a couple of ****ty 9mm pistols. But I did capture the airfield eventually. Took me about four RL hours to do (battles can last pretty long in this game).

Needless to say I restarted. This time I set the difficulty to Experienced rather than Expert, created two IMP characters (saves a lot of money) and gave myself a PLAYER_AP_BONUS of 20. This didn't go very well either. I captured all of Drassen with relative ease, but as soon as I captured the mine the **** hit the fan. I immediately trained militia, but Deidrianna's elite troops (~70 of them!) reached Drassen within only a couple of hours. I could do nothing to prepare myself for the coming onslaught so I was stuck again. With only four mercs with crappy 9mm weapons + 40 inexperienced militia I am no match against 70+ elite troops. I didn't have enough money and time to buy better weapons, either.

So I guess I'll have to start over again, this time making sure that I'm 100% ready for the counterattack. That's one thing I don't like about 1.13. Anything above lowest difficulty seems to be way too hardcore. It's a lot more difficult than the previous version and rather than simply choosing a difficulty level you have to create one yourself using all kinds of settings and .ini modifiers. That's part of the charm of course, that the mod is so modifiable, but it does ramp up the learning curve big time.

To really stand a chance in the beginning I guess you need to:

- Create at least two IMP mercs
- Save money, so hire cheap but good mercs
- Buy better guns as fast as possible
- Create elite militia in every Drassen grid (this requires a lot of money though)

How do you guys defend yourself against the Drassen counterattacks? Which difficulty settings are you using, and how many IMP profiles do you have?

 

[Shepherd]

This didn't go very well either. I captured all of Drassen with relative ease, but as soon as I captured the mine the **** hit the fan. I immediately trained militia, but Deidrianna's elite troops (~70 of them!) reached Drassen within only a couple of hours. I could do nothing to prepare myself for the coming onslaught so I was stuck again. With only four mercs with crappy 9mm weapons + 40 inexperienced militia I am no match against 70+ elite troops. I didn't have enough money and time to buy better weapons, either.

Elite troops as in blackshirts? Holy ****. I don't remember the counterattack to be that fierce. Well, the 1.13 readme says somewhere that any attempt to takeover Drassen as your first city is supposed to be suicide. So maybe head to San Mona first, buy some guns from Tony and then go for the Chitzena mine?

Dayum, this thread makes me want to reinstall.

 

[Nimsky]

Elite troops as in blackshirts? Holy ****. I don't remember the counterattack to be that fierce. Well, the 1.13 readme says somewhere that any attempt to takeover Drassen as your first city is supposed to be suicide. So maybe head to San Mona first, buy some guns from Tony and then go for the Chitzena mine?

Dayum, this thread makes me want to reinstall.

Well, more like elite troops as in half the force she sends consists of blackshirts. But even her regular army is dangerous as they're armed with rifles, shotguns, tear gas grenades etc. So that's 30 elite troops + 30 well-equipped regulars. It's very difficult to do defend yourself against anything like that. So yeah, it seems that capturing the Drassen mine early on is indeed suicide. You can disable the counterattack in the .ini but I think I'll try something else.

I still have a savegame from day 4 (I captured Drassen on day 7), so I think I'll load that one, capture 2/3 of Drassen, train militia there and then attack a different mine / town first. Once I have more money, militia and better weapons I might capture the Drassen mine. If that fails, I'll have to do a restart.

One thing is for sure, this game is challenging.

And reinstall already dammit, let us know what you do

 

[Shepherd]

I'm terrible at the game, I still have to rely too much on quickloads. Anyway, help my memory, can you hold just the Drassen airfield sector and order guns from Bobby Ray's or do you need to take over the whole city? Might help to order some ordnance in time for the counterattack. My usual tactic was machine gunner in building, sharpshooter on some roof, Shadow sneaking around, killing bad guys with burst fire. Automatic guns are so good in this mod, they make me feel funny in my pants.

I just saw that I never uninstalled the game. No quicksave novice difficulty incoming. It's on.

EDIT: So I had to reinstall the game for some reason and found out the mod team still releases patches.
Damn, lots of new faces at AIM with the latest patch. Has anyone hired any of the new guys? Currently looking at the Estonians and that Spetsnaz guy.

 

[I. Kant]

Nimsky, truth be told, unless you use extremely gamey tactics (hiding in buildings where you stockpiled spare mags and letting the enemy come to you, shooting them in the doors, etc.), the Drassen counterattack is annihilating.
[Edit: Oh, just remembered: Glaser ammo. Or, if you don't have that, HP. You're going to be hit by elites, true, so they'll be armoured, nullifying the effect Glaser has - but there's a way. None of them (or very few) should be wearing leg armour. Hit them in the legs and watch that damage fly.]

I did it on experienced, with 3 IMPs (.30 cal M1, 2x MP5s), 2 AIMs (Meltdown & Raider) and Ira. Had 15 militia with me, turned buildings into small Alamos, until it was down from 65 enemies to a mere 15 (about 4-5 of them heavily wounded).

If you have had enough but would still like to play on a higher difficulty level, you can use the INI editor provided with v1.13 (it's in the game folder). You can change initial game options, including disabling the Drassen counter-attack (watch out about modding some fundamental options to a game-in-progress, will bork it). You can customise practically everything. Take a look at that. I've upped starting cash on higher levels, but upped the number of men available to Deidranna at start (will have to tone it down a little in the future); I've also increased the maximum number of enemies/friends on the tactical map at the same time, etc., etc. I suppose it's worth taking a look at it, before you grow frustrated and just give up.

Currently I am stuck at Balime, fortifying it with mobile and normal militia, but D's sending more and more troops at me. Have to send her some flowers, again, I suppose My main squad took the hummer and drove back to Alma to stock up the vehicle, I'll be hitting the jail to break out Dynamo. Need to move up the secondary squad next to the jail, so I can hit them with 12 mercs in a coordinated assault.

 

[Nimsky]

Great success! After a fierce and long battle I managed to capture grid H14 of Alma. San Mona was too dangerous; too many ambushes along the way. Too much for me to handle. So I went south and managed to avoid the patrols, and then hit Alma. I ordered Igor to cut a hole in the fence and sneaked my squad through it, into the compound next to a large building in the center. I ditched my backpacks and ordered my entire squad to climb onto the roof. On top was a sniper. I dropped him and ordered my main character, Nimster, to loot his SVD Dragunov, as he is the best marksman in my squad. Finally a good weapon! Too bad I already ordered an SVDS the day (in-game time) before the battle... by the way, yes, when you capture Drassen airfield you can order guns from Bobby Ray's.

I noticed a lot of army reinforcements coming from the north-west so I placed Nimster and Peck in a prone position near the edge of the roof to take them out. Peck is a good marksman and teacher. My SVD was an effective killing machine, but Peck got wounded pretty badly early on in the battle, so I had to retreat him towards the safer central part of the roof (he will be my automatic rifleman once I get myself an LMG). Occasionally a couple of enemies would climb onto the roof and flank me, but Igor and Ira took care of them by shooting them in the face.

While Nimster was shooting faces below, I ordered Ira to bandage Peck's wounds, as he was losing a lot of blood and passed out. Ira was rudely disturbed however as an enemy climbed onto the roof and not only punched her but also unconscious Peck in the face, almost killing him. Luckily he was quickly taken care of and Ira continued to stop the bleeding. But it shows that even on a rooftop you're not 100% safe.

Two of the enemies that climbed onto the roof dropped assault rifles; I gave the Valmet M76 to Peck and the Colt Commando to Igor. There was a lull in the firefight so I had the confidence to let Igor and Nimster climb down from the roof. Igor picked up a couple of 5.56mm magazines and a grenade. I knew the rest of the soldiers were hiding in the building but I couldn't find a way in. All the doors were locked and were too strong to be kicked in. Then I pressed a switch, which opened the garage doors, and army troops poured out. Igor and Nimster wounded some of them and climbed back on the roof. From there it was super easy to make headshots, although by now my SVD was empty. Luckily I still had an SMG. Igor threw his grenade into the middle of a group of 5 soldiers - killed them all. I then killed the rest and the battle was won. I don't know how many troops attacked me but there were a LOT of them. I never would've survived such odds had I not climbed onto the roof. So that's a great tactic. The battle took about 2 RL hours I think. Victory feels so damn satisfying in this game. Much more so than in any other game I've played.

So I'm still on Experienced. Screens of the battle below. Third pic shows part of the aftermath. Again, screenshots don't do the graphics justice.

Now I'm in need of monies, as I'm completely broke... capturing Alma mine is top priority.

@Kant: thanks again for the tips.

What I love about this game - each battle is a unique story. THIS GAME IS AWESOME!

 

[I. Kant]

Yeah, Drassen counter-attack is madness, but the Alma battle - with all the reinforcements coming in - is mega awesome. I picked up the Chinese AR (QBZ-something) with an extended barrel and a good scope for my IMP marksman (and he's topping the kills list) and an immaculate Steyr for my mechanic there.

Currently, however, I have a bit of a, let's say, shrimp problem. Ordered a ton of HP/Glaser ammo, because otherwise the bastards just won't die. They so totally creep me out.

Also, Ira's got to be my fav character - don't let her stats fool you, because of the "teaching" trait, she learns awfully quickly. In fact, I gave her a Ruger M-14 with a x7 scope (she has had that for a while now) and her marksmanship has gone from 55 to 75 and it's still growing at a good pace.

 

[Apos]

Ira is indeed fast learner. She is my combat lifesaver. She stays on second line, but still gets some kills and action. My fav character so far is Igor, I equipped him with looted AK-107 (AP and Tracer ammo) + 4x scope, silenced pistol (glaser and HP ammunition) and NVG III. He has some bonuses to stealth or night ops so he's a freaking predator at night and great assaulter at day.

So far I captured Omerta, Drassen, Alma, Chitzena and visited San Mona. In Drassen I lost one of my mercs in huge counter attack. I could avoid that by retreating my section and recapturing Mine in another assault but I fought for a all cost. It was one the toughest battles I have ever had, but I won.

Right now I have two full sections (2x 6 members) almost fully equipped. My next step is Grumm for section 1 and Cambria for section 2. Probably do an attack at night because 3/4 of soldiers have a NVGIII which is very powerful tool. Combined with 40mm flare grenades it's like a shooting to ducks .

I'm very glad that I have done most quests. My soldiers get experience points fast and extra profits for doing missions. Also Tony has quite good weapon and ammunition supply at San Mona. I recommend to visit him!

What's more I found a M224 60mm mortar at Alma and only if I only would find an ammo I would use it as my heavy support weapon .

ps. equip your mercs in ACOGs or similar optics as fast as you can!

Edit:

Question: is there any way to storage equipment? Does 1.13 mod adds such feature?

 

[I. Kant]

You can use the Hummvee to store stuff, once you get it - and if you have enabled this option in the .ini (it's on by default). Just load stuff up to backpacks (I mean in addition to those that your merc normally carry around) and store those full backpacks in the 'vee. Will give you more than enough carriage capacity.

I find that my mercs tend to lug around a lot - with backpacks some of them are pushing 120-140% of their loads, but I make sure to transport them by heli or in the jeep. If they're going on foot, I try not to make them carry more than 110% of the load, because stamina gets hit bad.

Also, the bull-pup Dragunov SVU is mega-awesome.

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

On a sidenote, for those who missed the GoG sale: JA2 Gold (meaning + Unfinished Business Addon) is 4.99 € on Steam until the 10th.
I rebought it (because this threda go me eager to play it, I can't be arsed to search my parent's basement for the propably now dysfunctional CDs and for the english voices, even though the german dubbing wasn't atrocious.)

 

[Nimsky]

Ira is indeed fast learner. She is my combat lifesaver. She stays on second line, but still gets some kills and action. My fav character so far is Igor, I equipped him with looted AK-107 (AP and Tracer ammo) + 4x scope, silenced pistol (glaser and HP ammunition) and NVG III. He has some bonuses to stealth or night ops so he's a freaking predator at night and great assaulter at day.

Identical to my strategy, except I still use only four mercs, so progress is kinda slow. Any more than that and I run the risk of going bankrupt. Unless I make a ton of IMP characters of course, but I only have two of those (which is my max). Igor is the only merc I have to pay as of now, so I guess I could hire another one, but I'll wait until I've rescued Dynamo and Shank because they don't cost any money. They're not the best shots though, and they get encumbered very quickly. So I dunno. We'll see. How many IMP characters do you use, Apos?

And yes, Igor is a good man. He is good at assaulting, is relatively cheap and is Russian. Gotta love him. Oh, I become very attached to my mercs, much more so than in any other game I've played. In most game the AI is replacable. But in JA2 they are very valuable as they become more and more reliable over time and you'll never know when they leave. Sometimes a merc simply refuses to renew the contract, which really sucks if you've become attached to him / her. I've had that happen a few times in the past.

So anyway, Alma is mine now. It was counterattacked many times by Miss D's troops, but they were all repelled by my veteran militia. Drassen though... not so simple. The airport was counterattacked at least four times, unsuccesfully, but Drassen's mining town turned into a killing field as soon as the Queen counterattacked it. She sent many of her blackshirts and regulars, as I expected. After a long and difficult battle I managed to win. Drassen is still mine.

Currently Nimster is still carrying the SVD, and an FN FAL (with 7x battle scope) I ordered from Bobby Ray's. Igor is carrying a G3 I've looted from an enemy general (+ 7x scope from BR) and a GALIL SAR in 5.56x45mm (+ 2x scope). Ira now uses Peck's old Valmet M76. Peck uses a looted M1919 Browning machine gun in 7.62x51mm, which is very heavy, so I distributed its ammo belts among my mercs which works quite nicely. It's very effective at killing and suppressing, so having an LMG in your squad is highly recommended. The problem is that, after the battles of Drassen and Alma, Peck is almost out of ammo and 7.62x51mm is hard to come by in Arulco. So I'll have to order more ammo or switch to an RPK or something. What I can also do is order a drum magazine from BR, load that into an assault rifle, and use that as a SAW. It would certainly solve the weight and ammo problem (for the price of less range and damage).

And as I mentioned in the other thread:

Night ops:

I ordered two NVG Gen. III's from Bobby Ray's and they definitely help. I've given them to Igor and Nimster and at night they spot the enemy long before the opposition even know the mercs are there, as Arulcan army troops usually carry either ****ty NVG or none at all. I'll definitely try to fight more night battles. When I'm ready to travel deeper into the country (either west or south, haven't decided yet) I'll travel under the cover of darkness; hopefully this will prevent the mercs from getting ambushed. I should be able to destroy the light and medium patrols with relative ease then.

On a sidenote, for those who missed the GoG sale: JA2 Gold (meaning + Unfinished Business Addon) is 4.99 € on Steam until the 10th.
I rebought it (because this threda go me eager to play it, I can't be arsed to search my parent's basement for the propably now dysfunctional CDs and for the english voices, even though the german dubbing wasn't atrocious.)

Let us know if 1.13 works with the Steam version, please.

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

Let us know if 1.13 works with the Steam version, please.

It should, but it seems to be a bit of a hassle. Haven't tried it yet, but here are the instuctions:

http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=57712#Post57712

EDIT:

Nevermind the instructions, jut install the mod into the steam JA folder and it works like a charm!

 

[Lt_Kettch]

Got it from the summer camp sale.

Is there a way to get rifles early in the game? Captured Chitzena and Drassen but most of my mercs still run around with Glocks

Is there any use for stuff like duct tape and other random items (like T-Shirts).

I nicknamed Ira "shotgun Ira" because that is a weapon that suits here Are there more "free" mercs like Ira and your alter ego around?

 

[Apos]

(...)How many IMP characters do you use, Apos?

I started with 3 IMP characters and at some point it made my game (too) easy. 0 daily cost and all my IMPs have 85 wisdom so they level up fast.

Currently I have 13 members, 11 core team (two sections), Dynamo and Shank (I rescued them from Tixia prison, now I need to take them to Alma and Balime). My other team is close to Estoni, resting and repairing equipment. I had some tough fights with Bloodcats and enemies.

I really enjoy number of weapons available in game. I love new attachments as well. I found light-weight version of M224 60mm mortar and equipped Grizzly with it - he's good and cheap chap as well, Soldier's soldier type. He was the only one that accepted to join me after I lost Buns. Now he's my primary support soldier /w mortar and LMG.
I found out that P-90 /w suppressor and laser sight is great silent machine for night ops. Also I need to find that bounty hunter, I carry like 4 heads of executed criminals .

Got it from the summer camp sale.

Is there a way to get rifles early in the game? Captured Chitzena and Drassen but most of my mercs still run around with Glocks

Start it's always like that. Pistols -> SMGs -> Rifles/Shotguns -> Marksman rifles/ARs -> mortars/LAWs etc. With 1.13 mod (highly recommended!) you can adjust how fast weapon progress will be. Also some MERCs carry assault rifles or SMGs but these are expensive.

Is there any use for stuff like duct tape and other random items (like T-Shirts).

If one of your soldiers will wear Deidranna T-Shirt he might be captured. Enemy instead of killing you, just ask if you want to surrender. Your soldier will be moved to one of the prisons.

I nicknamed Ira "shotgun Ira" because that is a weapon that suits here Are there more "free" mercs like Ira and your alter ego around?

Yes there are, a lot of them actually. E.g. Dimitri and Miguel can join you later.
You can use duck tape to combine items to make new one, e.g. barrel extender.

 

[Lt_Kettch]

Good, any place or way to sell old equipment?

 

[Apos]

Good, any place or way to sell old equipment?

AFAIR Tony in San Mona buys stuff (weapons). There are also other merchants selling and buying different. You need to look around, talk to civilians. In 1.13 you can sell all items from new inventory menu, however prices are very very low.

ps. First you should capture a mine in Drassen to get some money