Lets Play "Jagged Alliance 2" with mods (no videos)

[mythos]

Greetings generals and welocme to my Jaggeds Alliance 2 LP/AAR thread

Jagged Alliance 2 was released in the late 1990's. It includes a "tactical" part and a "strategical" part.
In tactical, you explore sectors, interact with NPCs (both in real-time, usually) and do "direct" combat (the latter in turn-based).
In strategical, you explore the world, give long-term assignments to your characters, do "auto-resolve" battles - also you have access to your in-game laptop, which allows additional options, like hiring more personnel. In strategical, the time passes in selectable speeds modes of slow/medium/fast (called 1/30/60 minutes, although the latter 2 are really just a greatly speeded up "1 Minute" ).

I play with the v1.13 and AFS mods.



Preparations

- difficulty: Experienced
It is the second of four difficulty levels. I modified it a little to beef things a up a little.
The reasoning: the third and fourth difficulty levels throw a lot of enemies at you, resulting in more micromanagement - i don't like too much micro. Thus, modifying the easier level was simpler than the other way round.
Example of changes, the enemy now has unlimited pool of troops (this only affects how easy they can replace losses), and the "Drassen/Massive Counter Attacks" consist of only 10 soldiers (plus a random number IIRC - and this is per "squad". A couple of squads team up for each counter attack).

- starting options
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- JA2Options.ini
A very short list of changes i made - in particular i only list the micromanagement stuffs that i changed:
* enabled: Allow Reinforcements, Drassen Counter Attack, Massive Counter Attacks, Strategic Militia Command, Individual Militia, Mines Require Workers, Advanced Repair, Sell Items via Sector Inventory (for 10% value), and sidenote: (the AFS mod slows down the progression of XP by ca 40%. In addition i set LDR to grow 60% slower (during tests i had the impression that it grows too fast))
* disabled: AI Player 2 (aka "Arulco Special Division" ), Creature Raids, Crepitus (*), Zombies, Diseases, Food, Dynamic Opinions, Take Prisoners, Intel, Equippable Militia, Militia Ressources, Militia Volunteers, Private Military Company
one could surely go on for a couple hundred lines, explaining/detailing this or that and the reasoning behind it, but IMO, the above is the more interesting part

(*) the Sci-Fi mode adds a couple of weapons (prototype and fictional) which i would like to see - however, it also adds a rather lengthy quest resolving around fictional enemies. The latter i want to avoid, hence i took the offer of disabling the enemy type




Final Notes...
n/a

Table of Contents

1) Abbreviations, Game Basics and Superstitions
2) Character Creation
3) Unintended Shenanigans
4) Meet the Team
5) Day 1: Arrival and Battle of Drassen
6) Day 2-14: Northeastern Campaign
7) Day 15-21: Battle for Chitzena
8) Day 22-25: Northwestern Campaign, conclusion
9) Day 26-29: San Mona Holidays

[mythos]

pictures missing
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Abbreviations, Game Basics and Superstitions

Abbreviations

The following should be all the terms, that i will be using often.

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* game related
JA2	 - Jagged Alliance 2
1.13	 - JA2-113 / v1.13 / etc, relate to the JA2 v1.13 community-patch-turned-modding-platform
AFS	 - Arulco Folding Stock, an item mod

* in-game related
AIM	 - a source for recruiting characters (mercs)
MERC	 - also M.E.R.C., another source for recruiting mercs
IMP	 - actually the ingame organization letting you create own mercs, but generally the term used for these characters
AE	 - Alter Ego, older term for IMP mercs


* character related
merc	 - mercenary, the named characters you hire, or recruit, into your team
HP	 - Health Points
EP	 - Energy Points (stamina/endurance/etc)
BP	 - Breath Points, different term for EP
AP 	 - Action Points, this defines how much a merc can do during a turn
HLT	 - Health...i generally use "HP" instead, since that is what i'm used to, but just-in-case
AGI	 - Agility
DEX	 - Dexterity
STR	 - Strength
WIS	 - Wisdom
LDR	 - Leadership
MRK	 - Marksmanship
MEC	 - Mechanical
EXP	 - Explosives
MED	 - Medical
XP	 - XP-lvl/lvl/etc, Experience Points respectively Experience Level


* Items
NVG	 - Night Vision Goggles
LBE	 - Load Bearing Equipment...including (but not limited to) Vests and Backpacks
SA	 - Side Arm, a collective word including Pistols, Revolvers and sometimes MPs
MP	 - Machine Pistol
SMG	 - Submachine Gun
Rifle	 - context sensitive: hunting rifle, or general term including several categories of long-weapons
SG	 - Shot Gun
SR	 - Sniper Rifle
DMR	 - Designated Marksman Rifle, different term for SR
AR	 - Assault Rifle
LMG	 - Light Machine Gun
GL	 - Grenade Launcher
UGL	 - Underbarrel GL, also Underslung GL
LAW	 - Light Anti-tank Weapon...general term for not re-usable rocket launchers
RPG	 - Rocket Propelled Grenade...general term for the re-usable launcher unit, as well as its ammo
MG	 - Machine Gun
AW	 - Auto Weapons
HW	 - Heavy Weapons
Auto	 - Automatic/fullauto/auto fire/etc...a volley of many bullets, or a weapon capable of autofire
Burst	 - special firing mode of many guns, firing only 3 bullets (there are also a few weapons with 2 and 4 bullets)

Ammo	 - ammunition/munition/launchables, etc
Ball	 - basic ammo without special properties
AP	 - Armour Piercing ammo
HP	 - Hollow Point, ammo against unarmoured targets
Glaser	 - a kind of more specialized HP ammo
Match	 - competition/long range ammo
Tracer	 - LMG ammo
S + type - SAP/SHP/etc, Subsonic AP/HP/etc ammo...make guns less noisy

CTH	 - Chance To Hit
OCTH	 - Old Chance To Hit, one of two systems to calculate CTH
NCTH	 - New Chance To Hit, the other system to calculate CTH

Soldier			 - the enemy horde
Yellow/Red/Black Shirts	 - from easy to difficult, the Soldier types, as identified by their shirt colour

Militia			   - trainable locals to defend cities (and maybe move out into the wilderness)
Green/Regular/Blue Militia - from easy to difficult, the Militia types

Game Basics

This is a mix of non-obvious common stuff, basic combat strategies and helpful hotkeys, to ease up game play.

The civil stuff:

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* Back Packs vs Combat Packs
This is so fundamental in a way, that i start with them (maybe it is common sense by now, but i saw some Lets Plays...).
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The smaller Combat Packs pose zero hindrance in movement and are there to carry only the "must have stuff" into [combat].
The bigger Back Packs are draining on EP and deny jumping/climbing - they are there to haul "lots of stuff" [back] to base.
Whenever you enter a sector, press <Shift><B>: this makes all mercs drop their Back Packs. Then you can "easily" go on
exploring the sector or do combat, jump over fences and climb on roofs.
When your done in the sector, press <Ctrl><Shift><F>: the mercs will pick up their Back Packs, and items on the ground will
emptied (ammo) and sorted into stacks.
During combat, assuming the merc and his/her Back Pack are on the same tile, you can open the Back Pack and pick items from
it (good for mortar or other "immobile" mercs) - this will cost AP, however, thus it is more efficient to just have the
needed stuff in other inventory slots, if possible.
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* before leaving a sector
"leaving a sector" not only means to physically leave it with your mercs, but also when you compress time so that your mercs
go on doing their assignments. Anyway, "before leaving a sector", check the inventories of your mercs:
- do they really need all that stuff "now" ? Better drop something into the sector inventory to lower their load to 60%
-> if combat occurs and your mercs get wounded, they might suddenly be above 100%, which will apply severe penalties
- is item X better kept in the chest/leg/Combat Pack slots, or can it be moved to the Back Pack ?
- does everyone have enough ammo ?
- does someone have 2 Canteens or Medical Kits, and somebody else has none ? Share them
- is gun Z at a higher status % than gun Y ? Also if you lack the time for repairs, consider switching to avoid weapon jams

* sector exploration
- first and foremost: talk to all civilians. They might shed some info or add a quest. If you don't want to read all their
chatter, just click them a couple times: only the "important" stuff is copied over to the text log on the Strategic Map
- open all doors and containers (chests, lockers, etc), they might reveal needed supplies or even a weapon in good shape.
Plus, depending on the method used (lock picked for someone with Locksmith Kit, lock broken with kick/Crowbar for everyone)
it will train some stats and Experience

* tired mercs are less effective
Once a merc drops to a certain EP state, he/she will be less efficient at doing stuff.
During tactical, the EP state is (usually) only temporarily changed, thus with some waiting or water consumption it can be
restored.
However during strategical, where the time passes larger phases (minutes to hours instead of seconds to minutes), the EP
state is semi-permanently lowered and at some point, mercs need to sleep to restore it to 100.
But back to start: below 86 EP mercs will lose efficiency. It starts at a couple % but soon becomes much more noticeable.
Basically, at 70-75 EP you will want them to rest, restoring their efficency.
In particular you want them to get rested before entering a hostile sector, because their combat efficiency is also
proportinally lowered: never fight while tired.

* multiply your roles
Because of the "tired mercs are less effective", you should have several mercs which can do the same stuff, so that they
either can take turns in napping and doing their business, or together "work out" during their wake times.



* Attributes

This might be incomplete, example i am not sure if DEX and WIS are not involved in even more checks. Also, i play without the
Disease feature, where MED plays a bigger role.

HLT	- if this drops below 25 your merc is as good as dead (another hit, continuous bleeding), unless a medic acts quickly
AGI	- how fast a merc (re)acts and dodges attacks. Probably affects melee combat. Also: speeds up movement animation
DEX	- supporting Attribute to MRK, MEC, EXP, MED related skillchecks
STR	- how well a merc can punch enemies and break containers, also governs Carry/Weight Capacity
WIS	- supporting Attribute to MRK, MEC, EXP, MED related skillchecks, speeds up learning/practicing related checks
LDR	- how well a merc can train Militia and communicate with people, also involved in other stuff, like the Spotter Role
MRK	- how well a merc is at hitting targets
MEC	- how well a merc repairs items, picks locks, and merges complicated stuff
EXP	- how well a merc defuses bombs, and merges EXP related stuff
MED	- how well a merc treats wounds and heals Attribute loss from critical hits
LVL	- improves a merc's overall efficiency at skillchecks, and during combat helps interrupting enemies 

Combat related stuff:

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* "i'm awake...i'm awake"
If your mercs were sleeping before the start of combat, press <R>, <S> or <C> (for Running, Standing or Crouching) for them.
Otherwise the game assumes them still sleeping and they will be Prone (hotkey <P>).
Unless of course, you want them to be prone, because you organized them in specific positions in advance of fights.

* don't use up all APs
It is almost always advisable to have a reserve of APs:
- they can be stored and taken into the next turn, thus refreshing the EPs of mercs (otherwise they will have less and less)
- if an enemy pops up, your merc can interrupt them, allowing another/more efficient attack or to get into better cover
- if they have unspent APs, but get attacked (no matter if hit or not), their APs will be reduced. If this goes on they might
get into the negatives, thus reducing the APs of the next turn
Of course, if firing that last shot or running that couple extra tiles will save a merc's life, then go for it.

* bite the dust
A standing (or even running) merc is an invitation for the enemy to kill that merc - also, Milita will easily hit your
standing/running mercs with friendly fire incidents (after all they are just a bunch of civilians with a 24 hour crash course
in fighting).
At least move around crouched, or even prone. If prone, the merc is more difficult to spot, and being on the ground, his/her
gun is considered resting/mounted and as such is more stable when firing.

* lets cuddle...or not ?
In the early stages of the game your mercs should stay close together (say, within 10-15 tiles for 6-8 mercs - change this
depending on team size), allowing them to each other cover their flanks and if needed run up to a wounded merc for bandaging.
Once you see more and more Vacuum Grenades, Mini Grenades, Frag Grenades and Flashbangs drop (or even one of them thrown at
you), you should start spreading out, so that at most 1-2 mercs get struck by a grenade.

* blood and gore
Example, you fight 6 enemies and have enough APs to attack 6 times. Lets assume all would be hits, each enemy has 100 HP and
each hit would deal 50 damage.
Thus, you could either kill 3 enemies, or wound all 6.
In such a situation: 6 wounded enemies are better, than 3 dead and 3 at 100% efficiency.
A wound causes EP loss, AP loss, fear and suppression (for mercs: also adds a penalty to Carry/Weight Capacity), thus if all
6 are wounded, the chance that they hurt your mercs is greatly reduced.

A short run-down of what has an effect on CTH (most of this also applies to enemies and Militia):

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Attacker

- Character
Example, a "sociable" attacker with at least 2 other mercs nearby operates more "efficiently", including CTH.
"nearby/in a group/alone" and similar wording corresponds only to other mercs, and the radius is 20 Tiles.

- Disability
Example, a "heat intolerant" attacker will operate less efficiently in Tropical and Desert sectors.

- Background
Several backgrounds increase effective Marksmanship/Dexterity/Wisdom/Strength (the actual effect is invisible on stats pages),
this can go beyond the "100 max" cap of attributes, when calculating CTH and Counterforce.
A few backgrounds also raise effective Max-CTH-cap.

- Armour, Face Items
Helmets and Vests give a penalty to several factors of CTH, same for Gas Masks and Night Vision Goggles.

- Attribute
* Single-shot is affected by: Marksmanship > Dexterity > (Experience * 10) > Wisdom
* Burst and Auto Fire additionally include Strength (not for the first bullet of the volley, but to calculate "Counterforce",
to control the weapon's recoil for the following bullets)

- Traits
Per default, each weapon has a negative Max-CTH-cap (each trait, if picked once, cancels this penalty for its respective
weapon(s)) and additionally, weapon related Traits add boni to specific areas of their governed weapons (like Auto Weapons
reducing Burst/Auto Penalty)


Weapons

This is an incomplete list. Each weapon and several attachments affect
- Accuracy
- Gun Handling
- Muzzle Stability
- Recoil
and several other aspects, all of which influence CTH.


Target

The more a target has
- Agility
- cover
- moved around
and probably some more factors, the more difficult it is to hit.

Often used hotkeys (all for tactical screen):

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<R>		- merc gets into Running stance - uses fewer AP for movement, but is less perceptive to surroundings
<S>		- merc gets into Standing (walking) stance - uses more APs, but is less dangerous
<C>		- merc gets into Crouching stance - uses even more APs, but is even less dangerous
<P>		- merc gets into Prone stance - uses the most APs, but merc is more difficult to spot, and his/her gun is
		  more stable when shooting

<B>		- merc switches through selected weapons firing modes (if any)
<.>		- merc switches through selected weapons scopes and scope modes (if any)
<END>		- shows the selected merc's sight radius, based on equipped items
<DEL>		- shows the selected merc's "good cover spots", according to enemies spotted by this merc
<F>		- shows the distance between the selected merc and mouse cursor (among other stuff which might be helpful

<Ctrl><D>	- skips own interrupts for the current turn
<Z> 		- selected merc starts sneaking around (aka Stealth Mode), making his/her movement less noisy
<Alt><Z>	- same as above, but for selected squad (if a merc was already sneaking, this will turn the Stealth Mode off)

<Shift><B>		- mercs drop their Back Packs
<Ctrl><Shift><F>	- mercs pick up their Back Packs, also performs <Shift><F> and <Shift><S>

<Shift><4>	- opens one of several special action menues
<Ctrl><V>	- opens one of several special action menues
<Ctrl><.>	- opens one of several special action menues
Note: not all of their special actions work during combat, and some might require specific items

<Shift><F>	- separates ammo and attachments from items (for items lying on the ground)
<Shift><S>	- sorts items into stacks (for items lying on the ground)

More can be found at:
~~JA2 install folder/Docs/Manuals/JA2_113_hotkeys.pdf



Power Napping

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On strategical map, when characters are either
- on Assignment (Doctor, Repair, Train Militia)
- Training (Self-Practicing, Trainer/Student)
- on Facility work (example, a Mine sector offers speeded up "Self-Practice: Explosives" but there are different Facilities)
- travelling (in particular between non-city sectors, and especially on foot)
- act as Administrator to others (making the others more effective at their job)
they spend Energy, in a "semi-permanent" way, meaning: only rest/sleep can restore EP back to 100.

An Assignment (Training etc are effectively also assignments) generally requires 45 minutes to take effect, example
if you start at 7:16 or later, the Assignment will not generate any effect (yep, the game simplifies the process to 
always check at h:00).

Now, Sleeping is hypothetically also an Assignment (you actively order mercs to go to sleep), since its "effect" (regen EP)
will only be calculated at full hours. However, it ignores the 45 minutes rule.
Thus, if starting to sleep at h:16 or h:33 or h:59, you will still receive the full Sleep effect.
Dunno if the concept of "power napping" was already known when the game was created, but this sort of seems like it.

Some consider this cheesey or an exploit, i shamelessly use it, since i think this was intended behaviour (after all, the
Sleep "assingment" overrules the actual Assignment, without replacing it).

Superstitions

Actually, i only know of 2 superstitions, and both have something to do with hitting enemies.
These (at least the second) also seem to be known to others - some say they work for "average shooters" while having less of an impact for experienced mercs - some say they are pure fantasy.
Anyway...

1) wait, i'm still aiming
When the weapon is raised to shoulder and while Standing or Crouching (also when Prone, but there the motion is barely discernible), mercs (actually, any human wearing a weapon) "swivels" the upper body and thus the weapon from left to right.
When pressing the Left Mouse Button to attack, you have a higher chance of hitting the target when the gun's barrel is aligned with the target.

2) lets calculate wind and bullet drop
Similar to the above, but this directly relates to where you put the cursor over the target.
Lets say, you see that the bullet passes the target to the left: move the cursor a little to the right to re-align.
Or the target is out of effective gun range: move the cursor up, to compensate for bullet drop.

-> i personally don't remember how effective they are, but i did 1) prior to NCTH and new cursors, and 2) ever since. The feeling of doing something yourself and directly helping your mercs, so to say, sure adds a whole new level to the game's immersion

[mythos]

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Character Creation and other stuff

Character Creation

JA2 allows creating an "IMP", sort of your personal merc for the game.
113 expanded on this by recycling open slots. IIRC, at the moment 25 IMPs are hypothetically possible - hypothetical, because there are "only" 10 portraits and 8 voices for male, and 10 portraits and 7 voices for female IMPs avalable in the stock data set.

Originally, character creation consisted of a questionnaire with more or less subtile questions, resulting in specific (though somtimes random) outcomes.
With 113, the process has been rationalized...and expanded with more choices. In pictures...
(those are thumbnails, click to enlarge)



Type in the nickname of a preciously created IMP to recreate him/her (at lvl 1), or enter the code from the email to start from scratch.



After having chosen name, nickname, gender, portrait and voice, you get to customize your character...

...please note that this is just cosmetical: the IMP can wear a pink shirt and still achieve maximum camo values, since the latter come from equipment. Also, the difference between "normal" and "big" body types is cosmetical: they are as easy/difficult to hit as the other type.
The checkmark with big body type is alternate weapon holding: instead of aiming them with both hands, they are "ramboing off" by holding even the meanest MG with just hand. Again, this is cosmetical: no dual-wielding SAWs or sniper rifles


"Actual" character stuff.

Character Traits have an advantage and a disadvantage - IMO most boni outweigh the mali - allowing to tailor your IMP into more specific roles.
Character Disabilities on the other hand have only negative affects - in turn picking one gives +25 points to distribute between your Attributes later (there is no similar effect for Character Traits, no matter if you pick one or not).


Prejudices...

...have some minor effect on the IMP Email you receive after finishing character creation.
They have a big impact on merc interaction though, when playing with the Dynamic Opinion feature. If not, they are just there for flavour.


Skill Traits

You can choose 0-2 Major Traits - either twice the same category or two different. Picking the same category increases the boni in that field and gives a different name (example, instead of "Heavy Weapons" the char would be a "Bombardier" ).
You can choose 0-1 Minor Traits, +1 for every Major you didn't pick. The Minors don't have a second tier.
For every Major/Minor Trait you don't choose, you get +35 (for Major) respectively +25 points to distribute between your Attributes later - however: Attributes can be trained during campaign play, Skill Traits cannot.


Backgrounds...

...just add a little extra flavour, and can add a wide range of boni and/or mali - like Suppression Resistance or Drug Addiction (just like before: hovering the mouse above the text reveals a tooltip with details).


Attributes...

...are what makes up the role(s) of a merc. Unfortunately there are no tooltips (check the Game Basics posting above for details).
If not picking any Skill Trait, each Attribute would start at 35, but Skill Traits usually raise the need for specific Attributes, below which they can then not be lowered (the above example is for a Sniper+Noght Ops combination).
An Attribute can be raised for 1 point - up to 85.
LDR, MRK, EXP, MED and MEC can be set to 0, thus handing out +15 points each.
Raising the Level costs [target LVL * 2] points, example to raise it from 1 to 2 costs 10, to lvl 3 costs 15 points, etc.


After distributing your Attributes, you get to decide whether you want to select your items via Old Method or New Method.
The Old Method randomizes the items you receive according to a pool of tables (which were determined by your choices above).
The New Method looks a little different...

...i emptied the selection to have a clean view. Depending on what is set up in the tables (again: in relation to your prior choices), you get to choose between weapons, miscelanous items, armour pieces, head gear (example: Gas Masks) and LBE gear (sidenote: LBE Holsters are also called Leg Rigs and Thigh Rigs).
For weapons, there is primary (anything from Pistols to LMGs - except Heavy Weapons) secondary (Pistols - and Heavies, like grenade launchers) and tertiary (example throwing knives) weaponry, for primary and secondary also the ammo can be choosen (from the complete pool, thus also "late war" ammo).
For ammo and miscelanous items multiple pieces can be selected (there are small <+> and <-> symbols if a piece is selected), 6 and 4 respectively.
If an item is available at all, then for miscelaneous, head gear and Leg Rigs the same item can be selected multiple times.
As long as your selection doesn't exceed 3 grand, you don't pay extra - otherwise you also pay for the excess, as indicated by the counter at the bottom.
(ever since JA2 vanilla, creating an IMP costs 3 grand)




All of the above assumes default settings (and of course, that there are items to choose from for the item selection).

[mythos]

*place holder*

[mythos]

.

Meet the Team

This post is dedicated to the characters accompanying me through the journey.
I will sporadically replace older screenshots with newer ones, to keep track of their development.



The Brain

Deputies/Squad Leaders are not that great fighters, but they help the team passively by
- raising their Fear and Suppression resistance
- quickening their Morale growth and slowing Morale loss
- increasing their APs per turn
and other things.
Scouts can see farther with binoculars - the Spotter background improves the Spotter Tactical Assignment.
I would have liked to keep EXP at 35 and set AGI to 85, but i ran out of points - i could have dropped her LVL, but i neglected the other stats exactly for the LVL (some Skill Trait boni work better if the Deputy/Squad Leader is higher level than the others).


The Boyscout

I was sure to get a Survivalist (they speed up Group Travelling in Strategical view), but there were so many options for weapons.
Hunters/Rangers have primarily Shotgun boni. I never played with SGs (apart from "don't have another gun right now" ) even though they are quite powerful. This should be fun
Stat-wise, LDR is overkill and i usually don't pick that much MRK at start, but both were set by Skill Traits - and it worked out like this.


The Man, nuff said

Got a problem ? Call The Man


The Deadeye

Actually, dunno if i will need a Sniper. Usually i would go with more personnel in the Auto Weapon and Heavy Weapon departments and have a Marks(wo)man in a subordinate role. I hope picking the Sniper as a main character will be fun, or at least interesting.
Usually i wouldn't set that much MRK at start, but it was set by Skill Traits - and it worked out like this.


The Tech Wiz

Another non-combatant, Technicians/Engineers keep the guns firing and the armour in one piece.
Demolitions is more for throwing grenades, but it also helps with disarming stuff - this was also what set the EXP beyond needs.
MacGyver, anyone ?


The...well...ehh........it's just Ira

As a Paramedic she fills a role not yet present in the group - and with her Teaching, once she has 20 LDR, she will speed up Militia Training.
Her STR and HLT are a little low, but overall a solid character.
I didn't know she had the Scouting trait, too - one per team is the maximum needed (to prevent ambushes and serve as a Spotter in tactical), unless you want some of your mercs to make use of the bonus to spotting range with scopes (useful for Marks(wo)men and Snipers).


The Deputy

Overall solid character. A weapon Skill would have been nice though, but he comes as a Teacher and Deputy.
Deputy has the same but lower boni as a Squad Leader, but 1x Squad Leader + 1 Deputy (or 3x Deputy - or 2x Squad Leader but then not at full eficciency) fully add up their boni for the team.


Oh-la-la

Solid attributes, Teacher, Paramedic and foxy


The Party-zombie

Originally Dimitri was a supporter in combat and repairer outside of combat. But i had to realize that with all the changes to the game in the past years and Dimitri's low DEX, he is quite useless. I'll see what to make out of him - i still lack ammo+supply mules, for example.


The Exile

Dunno what to make out of him. Survival could be nice for speeding up strategic travel times of a second team, but being a Loner and the lack of a Weapon Trait and/or Teaching make him uninteresting. His Attributes are nice though.


The Screw Monkey

Technician + Demolitions are great for backup "engineering", once his MEC rises he will be a good repairman. Overall nice Attribute scores.
Again no Weapon Trait, but this is not what i was looking for anyway.


The Psycho

Ambidex (shooting 2 Pistols/SAs at once) is slowly loosing its attractiveness, due to item progress of enemies and thus longer combat distances, but still okay. The main deal with her are Gunfighter (close range backup, if enemies make it through your defensive barrage) and Heavy Weapons (Grenade Launchers are mean but helpful, and governed by this Trait).


Only bears bear arms

Lots of HP and STR, and the Body Builder Trait - all will be useful for a side source of income and to haul stuff...like Rocket Launchers, for which Heavy Weapons is good to have. His DEX is a little low, but considering his low salary, i cannot complain.


The Hitman

With their high precision, Snipers can be quite helpful in tough corners. With Athletics, he can quickly change positions as needed.

[mythos]

Btw, do you train your mercs by exploiting some "features"? Like punching all the cows on every farm or operating dozens of broken and jammed guns. Carry a lot of weight into the next sector and abort the travel, then let them travel again, abort, travel... ?

When i was younger i did a lot of that stuff (as said: min-maxer) but at some point i started realizing that i was spending a lot of time to increase "a couple %" in areas which are often times not needed much, and "a couple %" in areas which didn't gain a lot from them either. And that i more or less was creating mono-clones. It was fun for a while, but also got boring, although i do understand why people do it.

Today i answer your question with a clear: yes and no



No:
A favourite character of mine is Fox:
- not too expensive
- a medic
- a teacher
- + sky-high Dexterity + high Agility + good Marksmanship, she can also shoot and still hit enemies
A solid Jack *eh* Jane of all Trades. However, items are heavy (medium armour (even if leaving leg armour aside) + rifle + ammo + medic supplies etc) thus she easily ends up at 70% load, because of her low Strength.
Now, if she gets hit, she gets a penalty to Action Points AND to carry weight, for the wound - thus probably ending above 100% load, which would add another AP penalty. Still, i don't actively train her Strength, just take her as is - this makes her "RPG-ish" in a sense.

Also, for example i don't go on stealth-sneaking around enemies to raise Agility, despite AGI is very important - and such.
If i think character X does need a little of this or that, i might try out a Facility (example, San Mona offers a fitness club -> Health training) and do it that way.

Or lets take Ira, she starts with less than 20 Leadership - 20 is required to be able to start Militia Training and Ira is technically a prime candidate as instructor, thus i set her to "Self-Practice" (even though there is an exploit to raise it "manually" ).



Yes:
On the other hand, if i think that a character "really" needs a stat "now", then i might take a shortcut via exploits.
Example, the Auto Weapons expert i have in mind is a little short on Dexterity and Strength. While i could
- add a disability to him (didn't pick one) or
- drop his Leadership to 0
this doesn't quite fit into the picture i have in mind of him, thus i might do some "cow pushing" with him.



As said, i find exploiting a bit boring and not exactly needed, but i don't advocate against it "per se", i only say "don't overdo it".
Once i write up the starting posts i will detail an exploit, which i use and abuse alot, because i think that at least this one was possibly intended by the developpers. Dunno if i explain the others too, but since they were mentioned already, i can easily do that as well

[Ale]

actually i don't have it... have JA & Deadly games. guess that means i never played it, correction. it was first one i remembered properly and how i had no idea what to do (been kid) and then killed all civilians on first map section, before dying a lot found version of some post 2010 game "from series" in collection, though never touched it yet... mixed idea of having all titles with some UFO/X-com series

anyway, must have then and thanks for reminding, have fun

[randowe]

I must admit, i usualy make use of all the exploits and i usualy let my mercs sneak around the enemy to increase agility.
To train strength i stuff some of the 50kg utility boxes into each other. The merc in the picture carries 7 of them for 350kg
When you have a soldier with low strength and travel/abort travel he or she might get 5 to 10 strength points with the first try, depending on their actual strength (and wisdom?). They'll also get many health points en passant.

If you let your mercs train something on their own or even have a "coach" it take soooo long for them to gain a single point, the game would last much longer while the player is doing nothing

There is also one thing i always noticed when i play the game and i am asking myself everytime if it can be true: When you hire a merc with high marksmanship, let's say 90, he/she can only gain up to 10 more points. But when i have a merc, with 50 MRK points, he/she can gain 50 points, but once they reach the level of the "better" merc, the second one will have much higher hit percentage. They will hit everything!
That's why i like to start with a low MRK skill

[mythos]

actually i don't have it... have JA & Deadly games. guess that means i never played it, correction. it was first one i remembered properly and how i had no idea what to do (been kid) and then killed all civilians on first map section, before dying a lot found version of some post 2010 game "from series" in collection, though never touched it yet... mixed idea of having all titles with some UFO/X-com series

I see. Yes, i heard that JA1 had a more difficult start - JA2 simplified that, probably to attract a wider audience.

UFO/X-com was also a time sink, though not nearly as much as PG and JA. I somewhat miss UFO's base building aspect in JA2, in particular the feature of producing your own stuff. Just at the same time i don't miss it

My installation is quite old and i always feared, that it will stop working when i change something or i never get it to work again when i reinstall the whole thing.

Actually: you can have multiple JA2 installations, as long as you have disc space and come up with new folder names. They don't conflict with each other. As for compatibility with Win8-10, after installation check the "~~/JA2/Docs" folder, it includes a "how to".

To train strength i stuff some of the 50kg utility boxes into each other. The merc in the picture carries 7 of them for 350kg

take that Super Man

he or she might get 5 to 10 strength points with the first try, depending on their actual strength (and wisdom?)

Wisdom helps in these cases:
* "scholar" practice
- Self-Practice
- Trainer-Student
- Facility use
----> to raise any Attribute (except Experience Lvl)
* "field" practice
- attacking
- walking
- mine defusing
etc
----> to raise any non-physical Attribute, thus: Explosives, Leadership, Marksmanship, Mechanical and Medical

If you let your mercs train something on their own or even have a "coach" it take soooo long for them to gain a single point, the game would last much longer while the player is doing nothing

Exactly. Like i said: i understand why players are doing it

There is also one thing i always noticed when i play the game and i am asking myself everytime if it can be true: When you hire a merc with high marksmanship, let's say 90, he/she can only gain up to 10 more points. But when i have a merc, with 50 MRK points, he/she can gain 50 points, but once they reach the level of the "better" merc, the second one will have much higher hit percentage. They will hit everything!

Chance to Hit calculations are a boss. And i mean of the "final chapter, tier 10, sadistic challenge, end boss" type
As far as i know, the following affects CTH...

Merc

- Character
Example, a "sociable" merc with at least 2 other mercs nearby operates more "efficiently", including CTH.
"nearby/in a group/alone" and other stuff, as far as i know, corresponds only to other mercs (Militia is ingnored), and the radius is somewhere between 10-15 Tiles, i forgot. Don't ask me how a Deputy/Squad Leader with Extended Ear (which increases his effect radius to 20 Tiles) is calculated in.

- Disability
Example, a "heat intolerant" merc will operate less "efficiently" in Tropical and Desert sectors.

- Background
Several backgrounds increase effective Marksmanship/Dexterity/Wisdom/Strength (the actual effect is invisible on stats pages), this can go beyond the "100 max" cap of attributes, when calculating CTH and Counterforce. A few backgrounds also raise effective Max-CTH-cap.

- Armour, Face Items
Helmets and Vests give a penalty to several factors of CTH, same for Gas Masks and Night Vision Goggles.

- Attribute
* Single-shot is affected by: Marksmanship > Dexterity > (Experience * 10) > Wisdom
* Burst and Auto Fire additionally include Strength (not for the first bullet of the volley, but to calculate "Counterforce", to control the weapons recoil for the following bullets)

- Traits
Per default, each weapon has a negative Max-CTH-cap (each trait, if picked once, cancels this penalty for its respective weapon(s)) and additionally, several Traits add boni to specific areas of their governed weapons (like Auto Fire reducing Burst/Auto Penalty)


Weapons

This is an incomplete list. Each weapon and several attachments affect
- Accuracy
- Gun Handling
- Muzzle Stability
- Recoil
and several other aspects, all of which influence CTH.


Target

The more a target
- has Agility
- has camo
- moved around
and probably some more factors, the more difficult it is to hit.



Once all of this is calculated, weighted and compared to each other it gets checked whether the attack connected

[mythos]

i have written up Abbreviations, Game Basics and Superstitions (though superstitions are still missing).

[mythos]

Sorry for the delay, i'm recently having health issues - and i had a lot of trouble picking the starting team.
The trickery around the latter is:
- i have played with all of the "interesting" mercs already
- i like to experience something new when re-playing
- IMP mercs have less dialogue than AIM/MERC mercs
thus i was running in the hamster wheel, rolling options back and forth. Yesterday i finally kicked my back and started putting up a team of IMPs - that's cheap (quite literally: IMPs don't require daily/weekly payment - IMO, managing your finances can be part of the fun), but will get the party started.

I already have the Squad Leader and 2 fighters, currently pondering who/what else i need. I hope to finish today and finally start playing.
My IMP choices are rather streamlined, though

Before we meet the team...



Starting post:
complete write up (except for the "Table of Contents" of course, which is "Work In Progress" until campaign end)



"Abbreviations, Game Basics and Superstitions" post:
correction

A short run-down of what has an effect on CTH:

Attacker

- Character
Example, a "sociable" attacker with at least 2 other mercs nearby operates more "efficiently", including CTH.
"nearby/in a group/alone" and similar wording corresponds only to other mercs, and the radius is 20 Tiles.

correction

Often used hotkeys:

<Shift><B> - mercs drop their Back Packs
<Ctrl><Shift><F> - mercs pick up their Back Packs, also performs <Shift><F> and <Shift><S>

<Shift><F> - separates ammo and attachments from items (for items lying on the ground)
<Shift><S> - sorts items into stacks (for items lying on the ground)


More can be found at:
~~JA2 install folder/Docs/Manuals/JA2_113_hotkeys.pdf

added

Power Napping

Code: Select all

On strategical map, when characters are either
- on Assignment (Doctor, Repair, Train Militia)
- Training (Self-Practicing, Trainer/Student)
- on Facility work (example, a Mine sector offers speeded up "Self-Practice: Explosives" but there are different Facilities)
- travelling (in particular between non-city sectors, and especially on foot)
- act as Administrator to others (making the others more effective at their job)
they spend Energy, in a "semi-permanent" way, meaning: only rest/sleep can restore EP back to 100.

An Assignment (Training etc are effectively also assignments) generally requires 45 minutes to take effect, example
if you start at 7:16 or later, the Assignment will not generate any effect (yep, the game simplifies the process to 
always check at h:00).

Now, Sleeping is hypothetically also an Assignment (you actively order mercs to go to sleep), since its "effect" (regen EP)
will only be calculated at full hours. However, it ignores the 45 minutes rule.
Thus, if starting to sleep at h:16 or h:33 or h:59, you will still receive the full Sleep effect.
Dunno if the concept of "power napping" was already known when the game was created, but this sort of seems like it.

Some consider this cheesey or an exploit, i shamelessly use it, since i think this was intended behaviour (after all, the
Sleep "assingment" overrules the actual Assignment, without replacing it).

added

Superstitions

Actually, i only know of 2 superstitions, and both have something to do with hitting enemies.
These (at least the second) also seem to be known to others - some say they work for "average shooters" while having less of an impact for experienced mercs - some say they are pure fantasy.
Anyway...

1) wait, i'm still aiming
When the weapon is raised to shoulder and while Standing or Crouching (also when Prone, but there the motion is barely discernible), mercs (actually, any human wearing a weapon) "swivels" the upper body and thus the weapon from left to right.
When pressing the Left Mouse Button to attack, you have a higher chance of hitting the target when the gun's barrel is aligned with the target.

2) lets calculate wind and bullet drop
Similar to the above, but this directly relates to where you put the cursor over the target.
Lets say, you see that the bullet passes the target to the left: move the cursor a little to the right to re-align.
Or the target is out of effective gun range: move the cursor up, to compensate for bullet drop.

-> i personally don't remember how effective they are, but i did 1) prior to NCTH and new cursors, and 2) ever since. The feeling of doing something yourself and directly helping your mercs, so to say, sure adds a whole new level to the game's immersion

[mythos]

More write up time...


Character Creation and other stuff
added
Texts and pictures.
This was the first time i added thumbnails to a post of mine *proud*


Meet the Team
added
The starting characters.
When newcomers arrive i will also post their statistics picutres there - instead of during the "campaign" posting. For the "campaign" posting, i will add a different picture.


Now i only need to figure out how to write an AAR posting, without annoying everyone to death

[randowe]

Yeah i will never forget the code: XEP624 It's in my brain since i was a child.

I see our mods are different from the looks and IMP creation.

I edited the ini files so i pay only 300$ instead of 3000$ to create a player character. I never understood why i get money at the start of the game, only to loose it right in the next minute I also set the skills a IMP can have from 3 to 6. But there is no "Background" in the mod i play.

I started a game with INSANE difficulty some days ago. In my mod all IMPs arrive without any guns in the first sector. After few seconds the sector gets attacked by more than 60 elite enemies. All militia got killed and i had to flee the sector. I could pick up only two guns with my ninja. Then i was wandering around, to weak to fight. I was just looting some farms, but you know there is not much to find.
In the next city in the west i could pick up a sniper rifle and another handgun after ninja had killed two enemies, but then i had to flee again
Then i went to the very east of the map, avoiding any contact with the enemy. I found a secret weapons cache or a gun runner hideout where i captured some SMG's and rifles. I also recruited a free merc on the way, he carries a M4. Now i started to liberate the city in the northeast, the one with the airport...

[mythos]

Yeah i will never forget the code: XEP624 It's in my brain since i was a child.

when i started the game after so long for the first time, i only clicked the mail to get the link and a moment later i was already at the page to enter name+nickname, wondering "wait, what did i do just now ?"

I see our mods are different from the looks and IMP creation.

Yes, a lot changed between the last official Stable Release and today. If you haven't done so already, Flugente's sub-forum is the go-to place since he created most of the new features. If you consider updating, i guess the Radio Operator would probably one of the bigger changes affecting your play.

i disabled quite a bit of the stuff you will find in his subforum: IMO some features just add too much micromanagement for my taste without adding immersion, and others just bring the game farther away from the original "smooth journey on highest difficulty" and closer to "novice is the new insane"

I edited the ini files so i pay only 300$ instead of 3000$ to create a player character. I never understood why i get money at the start of the game, only to loose it right in the next minute

The game explains it (click on "About Us" at the IMP starting page: they actuqally wanted 5,5k ) as the cost of an IMP - remember, you were only considered bringing 1 to start with. IMO 3 grand is very little, compared to the usefulness of a custom-created freebe merc
I also thought of it as funds for starting equipment: military-grade weaponry is not easy to come by, and protective/anti-ballistic clothing is black market stuff even in the US.
Finally, the player is not considered to be a professional soldier (both in the meaning of "experienced" and "working soldier/mercenary" (Berufssoldat) ), but a tourist who just happens to catch Enrico's request first. Seriously, a professional wouldn't try liberating a whole country with just 15-45k US $.
Or would you try ?

I started a game with INSANE difficulty some days ago.

This explains some things
I tried Insane a couple times, but never progressed very far. At some point i decided to pretend, that this difficulty mode doesn't exist
This is also a question of time investment: if a single battle takes the whole afternoon and cheesey tactics to reslove, then what am i doing there ?

I started a game with INSANE difficulty some days ago. In my mod all IMPs arrive without any guns in the first sector.

Proof of concept: i am only mad, not crazy

I could pick up only two guns with my ninja. Then i was wandering around, to weak to fight. I was just looting some farms, but you know there is not much to find.

IIRC, there is a high chance that the A.C.A. building in San Mona has a 556-NATO rifle (Mini-14 ? ) and some ammo, this could help for a fight or two to get more guns.

Now i started to liberate the city in the northeast, the one with the airport...

Yes, Drassen was usually also address no.1 after Omerta, to liberate the airport and start getting supplies. However, at some point i started to change the route: you usually don't have many funds and with default settings Bobby Ray's selection doesn't offer much in the beginning. Ammo, MED and MEC supplies - but with their weight you could probably not afford the "over night express".
Going with "Chitzena first" has some advantages, like the city is easier to fortify and you can start a certain quest there (actually 2, but the one from Janny takes a little longer to solve) - and San Mona is nearby, with its options for quick funds.

I edited the ini files
In my mod

yep, customizing the game for your own needs is part of the fun. I modified
- experienced difficulty to be a little tougher
- the IMP starting gear tables to offer more stuff in some and less stuff in other categories, for a weaker start...but with overall more inventory space
- lots of things in the JA2Options
IMO, those are the most interesting files, but yes there is tons of externalized data to modify.

[randowe]

Wow, seems there is still some serious modding going on.

When i talk from "my mod" i mean the mod i am using. It is 1.13 + Urban Chaos.
There is no San Mona any more. The whole map has changed. There are a lot more city sectors. In the cities you have to fight not only the enemy soldiers but also the local police. Every city has several subway stations where you have to fight local gangs. But it is not necessary to enter the undergorund.

Here is the map and the path i took after the start. You need the helo to get to the island:

[mythos]

.

Day 1: Arrival and Battle of Drassen

Starting our quest to liberate Arulco from dictatorship and evil. The arrival was pleasant...

...the people are inviting...

...what could go wrong, right ?
At least that rebel leader is an inspiration to everyone

He even sent us one of his folks, so that we don't get lost on the pampa *fingers crossed*

(her stats picture got added to Meet the Team )

Speaking of arrival, it didn't go unnoticed...


Underway to our first milestone, we stumbled upon an enemy patrol, which caused us our first setback: 2 wounded

Awesome Incompetency on my behalf indeed (i know the names are random, but this one hit the nail on the head ).
Also, we somehow ended up in Drassen, instead of Chitzena - bad Ira, baaad Ira *cough*cough* alright: bad me.

While visiting Drassen, it was time for the good deed of the day:

stop child labour !


The battle for the mine started as 6:9, but unbeknownst to me, the enemy received reinforcements, turning the battle into a 6:18 halfwaythrough (well, okay, at that time it was rather 6:11 due to enemy losses, but you get the point).
The only thing saving us (apart from my brilliant leadership, of course ) was the fact that neither side had weapons worthy for heavy fighting.
Plundering the mine added 1.900 $ to our account, but sadly there was no Tool Kit.


While it is only 18:30 in-game time, i will end the day here - it gets dark at 21:00 and i don't like fighting at night, so the rest of the day will see administration/management stuff, like Militia Training, item Repairing and Doctoring, and surely some napping.

Thus, our first day in Arulco ends with some scratches, but we managed to liberate the first town

Yep, Operation Underwear-staining Kitten will stick to mind for a while


Progress:

[mythos]

Though i have to confess that at some point i started prefering daytime combat

I always prefered night time combat. Especially at the beginning of the game when your soldiers have a hard time hitting anything with their broken pistols.

With the help of Militia i was able to defend 2 times during night (one of those additionally had rain, further reducing vision range).
However, the attacks i tried myself at night ended miserably (the "i reloaded a previous save" kind of miserable):
- the AI is much more aggressive now, in that it attacks from outside weapon range (like players often do, at least me)
- the AI now uses indirect spotting: first line soldiers sees your mercs, enemy from farther away which cannot see your mercs fires anyway, thus suppressing or even hitting your mercs

With the new features and the new AI behaviour it feels almost like a new game



A new AAR will come tomorrow: i was mostly fortifying Drassen, thus not much progress to report.

[mythos]

.

Day 2-14: Northeastern Campaign

Day 1 aftermath: one of the reasons to go Drassen first (apart from accessing the Airport, some quests and that Drassen adds a noticeable mine income) is unlocking a Rebel merc (rebels don't request a salary), thus...

...we spark a little faith to spark a large rebellion, by collecting Food for the Rebels.


On the end of day 2 i realized that with available personnel it would take forever to raise a Militia - i somehow only concentrated on combat while creating the IMPs and forgot all the little-big things you do outside of that
Quickly fixing this by hiring 2 mercs, 1 for support and Militia, the other for combat, medical treatment and Militia:



Underway to Drassen, since the "Food for the Rebels" quest was concluded, they picked up Dimitri.

(their stats pictures, including day 14 update for them (and all previous mercs), were added to Meet the Team )


The following days i raised Militia in Drassen, waiting for the Drassen Counter Attack to occur...but confusingly, it never materialized. There were the "normal" attacks, but no massive battles which the "Counter Attacks" are supposed to be.
Around day 6 i started exploring the adjacent sectors as well as the northeast - there are some houses and enemy patrols to be looted searched for supplies for the good cause.
During one of the trips Tobias got a bullet to the head - no death, but a critical wound which lowered her WIS by 32
I was confused by
- the missing Counter Attack
- me conducting the battle at night, which i wanted to avoid
- the merc getting hit while being behind cover (i know it was the angle, but still )
thus i forgot to make pictues, not only of that but also of the Skyrider quest (getting the first vehicle, a transport helicopter, afloat)

What followed was a second phase of low activity, to medicate Tobias (critical hits, respectively Attribute loss, can be healed back to original value, but it takes time). This, as well as the (to me surprisingly) trigger happy enemies, consumed the majority of our medical supplies.
Meanwhile, Glitch had also consumed quite a bit of mechanical/maintenance supplies, thus i spent money to replenish those - far ahead of schedule: i planned delaying that until after liberation of Chitzena, since with more money i could have gotten some AP ammo and/or LBE items and/or armour, depending on loots and needs. Anyway...

First item order of the campaign from Bobby Ray's:


(the weight taxes are eating up quite some funds )

Meanhile, since there were battles with Militia participation:

In earlier versions, Militia were just faceless, nameless cannon fodder. Not anymore.
Now they got a name. You can backtrack when they were raised and in which battles they took part. You can inspect their equipment (and marvel at the fact that they don't reload after battle, and also new: their guns can jam ).
I didn't turn the feature on, but it is also possible to manually equip Militia - i was afraid of the micromanagement nightmare this would have added (20 Militia per town/SAM sector, plus the ones you train for moving out into the pampa, plus the ones you raise to replace losses - all of which must be manually equipped if said feature is on), thus i stick with the traditional random items for Militia.
When Militia gets wounded, you can now heal them:

Doctoring Militia is much faster than treating mercs.
"Drilling Militia" is a little like training them, just you need Green Militia first. Past that, instead of investing time and money to get them to Regular, you invest only time - though more than during "normal" training.


On day 12 we finally moved out to take the nearby SAM site...



On day 13 the "normal" response attack occured.
Thus the Northeastern Campaign comes to an end and we will soon move out to the northwest.

[mythos]

.

Day 15-21: Battle for Chitzena

What a crazy ride. I finally learned, the hard way, that house interiors and rocks are more dangerous to mercs' health, than lying out in the open without any cover at all. The reason is, when crouching behind a window or rock the mercs' torso and legs would be protected from multiple angles - but the head is sticking out...yep, the enemy tries and every now and then manages to go "boom: headshot"
Out in the open is also not exactly "safe", since enemies will try to shoot in full-auto (more bullets, more chances to hit).
Long story short, i reloaded several times to revert mercs' deaths

Particularly ugly was the actual battle of Chitzena, where i just couldn't find enough good positions to defend the area (with 6 mercs, or 6 mercs + 10 Militia, anyway). I ultimately reloaded to a point before liberating the town and then went in phases meaning: liberate the mine, raise maximum amount of Milita, go to next sector (usually i liberate towns with less than 5 sectors in one go, unless my mercs were wounded too badly).
I have a feeling that this (or respectively [number of city sectors -1] ) will become necessary as playing style

So far, the best cover seems to be trees and thick underbrush (bushes which prevent entering their tiles) - even better if there are 2+ adjacent to each other, to protect from multiple angles - and attaching flash or sound suppressors to guns.
That, and having 2 dozen Militia as cannon fodder, a playstyle which i didn't exactly like in the past, because a) friendly fire incidents (in general from Militia and among themselves, as well as against mercs unless you put them behind Militia, respectively in a different area) and b) battles take much longer.

But back to business.



Underway to Chitzena i plundered asked the people of some farms as well as San Mona for contributions to our cause, but nothing of interest. In San Mona i started kicking doors and containers open (instead of letting Glitch using her lockpicks): i realized how heavy stuff, in particular backup ammo, can be, and "kicking around" raises strength (in turn raising Carry Capacity) - and since Glitch was advancing nicely with her MEC skill mostly by repairing stuff, i became shameless

In Chitzena Mine we found someone hiding in exile (a merc i didn't know yet):

(as usual: stats were added to the "Meet the Team" posting)

What followed was the biggest shock of the camapign so far:

This is not the first time this happens to Drassen, but AFAIR it is the first time before i have 3 mines total
I guess i should haul some weapons over to San Mona...but this is a little too far ahead of current action.

And then it arrived, the Counter Attack i was already expecting for Drassen:

The small red dots indicate 1 soldier, the "red and silver" dots indiacte ten soldiers. That's 48 total, meaning lots of bloody business.
As said earlier, this time round i took my time fortifying the town - also, i liberated Chitzena a little later on the day (12 o'clock vs 7), which caused the enemies to wait with their attack until the next morning (yep: they started arriving the very same day i liberated the town ), so that i had the maximum of [20 Militia per town sector] available - in particular, i had 30 Regulars.


Prior to the battle i hired additional personnel - a backup technican, allround fighter and "Terminator" sort of:



A little note on "Kits" (regarding AFS mod, dunno about base 113): kit 1 holds generally the cheapest gun, kits 2+3 expand on that (also in price), kit 4 generally holds a much better weapon(s) and is very expensive. Kit 5, as you can see above, is very unexciting yet is very cheap on equipment. Since none of their kits provided anything interesting, i went with the cheap kit 5.



The results of the battle:
- out of 40 Militia (10 Green and 30 Regulars), 26 are remaining. 6 Regulars got promoted to elite, 10 Regulars and 10 Green survived
- 3 mercs got wounded: Tobias for 26, Glitch for 3 and Manuel for 3 damage (the 3's are from bullets that made it through the trees, which can rarely happen, yet 3 is much less than 26)
- loot consited of 592 items (this includes single magazines - and i play with Drop All for enemies and Militia, i'm a pussy *meow* )

After collecting ammo into boxes (right-clicking the yellow box on first picture - boxes hold up to 50 or 200 bullets, depending on caliber. Left-clicking collects ammo into crates, which hold up to 5k bullets), i also merged First Aid/Med/Tool Kits - but still 390 items from a single fight is making me a little.

To me, the most interesting items are...

Page 1: wallet (this one holds 2,2k grand), M3 convertible (shotgun caliber 12 - the caliber .410 Gunnar was using has only 6 bullets left), M-960 and Chang Feng (quick to operate, high accuracy, low maintenance SMGs in a very common caliber), the iconic Thompson SMG (almost like the 2 previous SMGs, just its caliber is a little less common...Tobias and The Man together were down to 72 bullets after the fight) and the iconic M1 Carbine - that, and all the ammo for these, i also gladly take Break Lights and F1 Grenades

Page 2: Frag/Mini/RGD Grenades (F1 are like Frag, RGD like Mini grenades) are hot, the RKG are Anti-Tank thus will only become important later (if at all), the Fleckt(arn) vest is pretty cool LBE - the armour section is nice overall, but i had so many fights before this battle that i only "need" the Kazak 4 vest and Kevlar/Tw(aron) helmets (and maybe 1-2 Kevlar leggins) to upgrade armour (i am not fond of "Plates" "Leggins" and "Leg protectors", since they add penalties) - Extended Ears/Gas Masks/Sun Goggles complete the needs (i only need to repair all of those, and quite some other stuff), First Aid/Med/Tool kits are to replenish supplies

Page 3: the CHN Red Dot scope is nice. Yep, overall boring, i mean, like serious: that magazines don't even hold pictures of Fox


The northwestern campaign isn't finished yet:

[mythos]

.

Day 22-25: Northwestern Campaign, conclusion

After the Counter Attack, i took my time replacing lost Militia and repairing loot - especially guns and equipped armour.
To speed things up, Tobias (total confusion picking her) and The Man joined the repair team - by this i found out, that DEX is not as important as i thought, and that LVL+WIS have an influence too. Maybe Dimitri can still become a helpful repairman

Once ready, we moved out to get the northwestern SAM site.
Knowing the "trick" to attack (or rather "finalize complete liberation of a town or other major area" ) at noon or later, i started the attack at 12 o'clock. While a SAM sites have only 1 sector (there is a maximum of 2 Militia trainers per "town" sector), this still gave us time to raise a sufficient garrison.
No interesting loot from the fight or the Counter Attack (which was again smaller than expected), but also no wounded mercs

With the SAM in our hands, the northwestern campaign is finished - except for sector exploration of the hinterland, but this is rather for completion than the main interest.
Also, with the SAM in our hands...

...while the air space south of the yellow line is contested by the central and southwestern SAMs, we can move the helicopter freely through the green area. This puts us in the position to combine all manpower or quickly redeploy or quickly move supplies from Drassen (airport where stuff from Bobby Ray's gets delivered to) to the west.
For the time being, i moved all mercs from Drassen, with some MEC+MED supplies and as many weapons as possible, to the NW-SAM.

Once Militia training and gun repairs are complete, we will pay a visit to San Mona questing time and other stuff ahead.

[randowe]

You spend so much time training militia! I think it is better and is also much faster (speeding around in the vehicles) to kill all enemies with your IMPs and other mercs.
Militia is not needed at all in my opinion. But yeah, depends on playing style.
Currently (yeah, i couldn't stop playing ) i am at the 11th day and my 6 IMPs alone have killed more than 1200 enemies
But i must confess, the most interesting and fun part of the game is to try to build the perfect gun by choosing caliber and attachments like scopes and reflex sights and so. There is a cleaning kit you can use on some guns and thus you never have to repair them and you can keep them in pefect condition, which is a big advantage .

Btw, can you assemble Molotov Cocktails in your mod? They are very useful because they cover a large area (larger than grenades) and burn for some turns, so they can also stop enemies from moving towards your positions.

[mythos]

.

Day 26-29: San Mona Holidays

Or "questing, fund raising, training".
Depending on your settings, San Mona can be a hot spot of your campaign for its money making options, but i'm a little ahead of it.



Newcomer

AIM offers some solid Auto Weapons experts, also some more Heavy Weapons guys, but satisfying Marks(wo)men are in short supply, so that i went with another Sniper (IMP merc).


Questing time


Damsel in distress ? Count me in, bro

The second quest is relatively obvious, thus...

After so many years, Kyle the gay tattoo artist is still making me smile

Angel's aftermath

This is new. And it seems to be artificial, since no new spoken dialogue is included, as far as i can tell.
I haven't dealt with this yet: we are the good guys, Kingpin is one of the bad guys, and the two targets of his anger are innocents



Fund raising

Liberating countries can be an expensive job, thus a solid funding is necessary. In the past, your best bet was dealing with vendors.
Vendors buy only select items - like a vendor of explosives not buying armour.
There are only a few of them in the country. And all of them have a limited amount of daily cash - you can "expand" this by buying some of their stuff.
Nowadays an additional option is available: selling via sector inventory (aka <Alt><LMB>-ing" ).
The retail value of items for vendors is ca 75% IIRC - for <Alt><LMB> it can be modded in the files, a range from 1-100% of actual value is possible, you can also make it so that in the beginning it sells for more and then depending on game progress you get less in return (the other way round is also possible). I use the default of 10%.
But back to topic.

Number one address is Tony:

He acounts for a daily influx of up to 15 grand per day.
There is actually a small substory involved before being able to visit Tony. I don't dare calling it a quest/subquest (AFAIK, there is no quest XP rewarded for solving it). And i actually started visiting Tony prior to day 20 already, and totally forgot to screenshot that substory

Another option is the Boxing Club:

I recommend someone with many muscles to participate in that
Every 4 or 5 days you can do up to 3 fights (unless you kill one of the fighters - or fall out with Kingpin), each time betting 5 grand on your fighter, for a total of +15 grand...well, since it is only doable every 4-5 days, it is "only" about 3 grand per day, but if you need funds, everything helps.




In between i also took out 3 enemy patrols which were close to San Mona, for some more loot.
The repairteam repaired stuff (including actually worn items...like looted grenades), the others were training, i was searching through loot and Tony's offers. We could get rid of all HP and Ball ammo, replacing it with Tracers for Grizzly and The Man, and AP (armour piercing) for everyone else, in more than sufficient numbers
Also got some "Backup Iron Sights" (much-much better than nothing), Foregrips/Bipods (improving muzzle stability when standing+crouching/lying respectively) and additional Sound Suppressors. The "best" is probably, that we could throw away all older weapons, and replace them with up-to-date stuff (Chang Fengs, M-960s and Tommy Guns, even an additional Taurus ( "precision rifle" of choice so far, together with the M-900)). Except for Fox and Meltdown (both Ambidextrous), who are still using double pistols.


Except for Longshot, no updating to the "Meet the Team" post (it is day 29, thus about time to update progress, but i'm lazy right now).
We are about to launch the Central Campaign, aiming at overtaking the central SAM (that Cambria with its mine lies underway has of course nothing to do with it ).


No new progress, i didn't even start exploring the hinterland yet - and no idea yet what to do about Kingpin's "kind request". Maybe i will first search the farms, as he demands, and check out what this new quest (?) is all about.

You spend so much time training militia!

Yes and no. Of course it takes time raising Militia, but i now have enough personnel to speed this up
- 3 Teachers (this Trait greatly speeds up training)
---> 5 people above/at/close to 60 LDR (60 LDR = 10 militia trained per session), one of these a Teacher
---> the 2 other Teachers not too far away from 60 LDR
LDR, LVL and WIS (or "LDR, WIS and LVL", not sure about the order of LVL+WIS) are what improves the "training points" per hour, and those 7 mercs have quite good scores now.

I think it is better and is also much faster speeding around in the vehicles

My worries are the funding for the helicopter and the fuel for the cars.
Sending the heli around can be expensive, and i have only 2 fuel canisters (a total of "156 %" if i would merge them) and no source of more fuel yet, and more critically: i haven't found the Ice Cream Truck yet and it is still a few miles to the Humvee.
Also, moving on foot raises STR and HP - since i don't "actively train" my mercs, this little help is nice

I understand that M.E.R.C. mercs and many of those "hinterland mercs" are much cheaper than AIM mercs, also IMPs and RPCs work for free. But i went with AIM mercs, even though cheaper ones, i still have trouble raising enough money to finance everything (example, i made 100 grand with Tony, but am down to 14 grand again, after extending AIM contracts), especially with the better of my 2 mines having run out of deposits.

Militia is not needed at all in my opinion. But yeah, depends on playing style.

I have heard of people playing without Militia, but i am wondering: how do you defend your mines and SAMs ?

And yep: i am definitively a slower player in JA2

i am at the 11th day and my 6 IMPs alone have killed more than 1200 enemies

I am at day 29: 360 kills by mercs, plus 20 by "Militia participating with mercs", plus 30 by "Militia-only fights".

As said: the real thing that slowed me down is the new AI.
Example, all mercs combined suffered a total of 60 wounds. Part of those were so minor that i could go on without treatng them. Part of those were adressed to my clumsy play (not having played the game for years).
However about 40-55% of those wounds were caused by the more aggressive and effective AI and were so bad (in the 20+ range) that i had to stop my advance and cure them (or even reload and replay fights because of merc deaths).
More wounds also means more repairing time (armour).

But i must confess, the most interesting and fun part of the game is to try to build the perfect gun by choosing caliber and attachments like scopes and reflex sights and so.

definitively. There are so many options to put a gun together, so many iconic and (to me) new weapons, that one could spend hours just to build-up a single gun for a single soldier
I have yet do dig through everything (currently, Bobby Ray's selection is nothing to brag about yet and drops are still "pre-Assaul Rifle-era" ), though.

In the past i tried different concepts, like
- Rebels+mercs from eastern Europe and Russia get Russian guns, mercs from the Americas get US guns, everyone else gets German guns
- US or European or Russian guns only
- only guns created past 1999 (if anyhow possible, thus in the beginning other stuff was used)
- only pre-1990 guns (again, if anyhow possible)
Dunno what i will do this time round, but i'm already excited

There is a cleaning kit you can use on some guns and thus you never have to repair them and you can keep them in pefect condition, which is a big advantage .

Btw, can you assemble Molotov Cocktails in your mod? They are very useful because they cover a large area (larger than grenades) and burn for some turns, so they can also stop enemies from moving towards your positions.

Yes, the Cleaning Kits were a good step from the old repair system (also something new to me)

And yes, there are Molotovs, but i only found 2 T-Shirts in Drassen for making Rags and only one additional Rag so far. I could drown in the booze you need for making "Mollies", but i don't have enough material for the fuses

[randowe]

I was wrong. It was more like 1350 enemies in 11 days. My free mercs and Gumpy have killed an additional 200 enemies or so.
That brings a lot of money when using "drop all". Even when i use a small percentage (5%). So i am not bound to the mines so much and often give them up for strategic reasons. As i had said, i am using mostly free and cheap mercs, so i never spend much money for high-level AIM soldiers. Often Gumpy is the only one i recruit from the "internet" because he is a technican and used for lock-picking.
I use all my money to buy guns and attachments

In 1.13 Urban Chaos you can recruit three free mercs + one jeep in the starting town which has 4 sectors now. In Calisto (Drassen) there is another one. Then i already found Postie and his truck (Hamous). Then i always try to make my way to the little village early, where you can recruit Maddog. I then withdraw, recruiting Maddog is more important than controlling the area.
Fuel is found on the farms when looting them. Later you can buy it from Maddogs father or uncle or what that guy is. So i don't use the helicopter much.
Rags and bottles of alcohol are very common and you just put them together to assemble a Molotov Cocktail. Bartenders in the towns sell both of the ingredients too.

Now i have my free mercs in Calisto/Drassen, guarding the town and my IMPs are operating in the southeast while the north and central sectors are often recaptured by enemy patrols. But in insane mode there are so many enemies, it is not necessary to kill them all early. Then you would constantly fighting without any break...

Anway, i see it comes down the mod one is unsing as they are very different from each other.

But every time i play i end up with the 7,62 NATO beeing the caliber of choice. It has a very good range and damage and the weapons do not need too many APs to operate. At the moment i try to find a good semi-auto sniper rifle with the same caliber (and cleaning kit usage). My sniper is using a powerful .338 Laupa gun at the moment, but i am not happy with it. When everyone is using the same caliber it is also easier to supply them because i just need to buy some ammo boxes at Bobby Ray's every now and then.
My Ninja is using a 9mm silenced SMG. Mostly on full auto, shooting just 3 or 4 bullets every time. Ninja (Called Chacal in the game) also used another 9mm gun with 3 bullet burst, which is very good, but that gun could not attach the cleaning kit.

[mythos]

No update today: the Cambria Counter Attack is killing me
But i think i finally have an idea: instead of waiting for the complete Counter Attack to unfold, move out of town ahead of time and take out 1-2 enemy groups. Preferably 2, to cut the whole thing in half. Should have thought of this much earlier





Thanks alot for explaining Clemens

Rags and bottles of alcohol are very common and you just put them together to assemble a Molotov Cocktail. Bartenders in the towns sell both of the ingredients too.

Then either i am out of luck or the loot tables in the mod are much different (for both: enemies and "containers" ).
However, i just checked 3 bars: i bought some booze in the beginning to have some supplies for later, but at that point there were no rags, now they sell these

But:
I totally forgot yesterday: Grenades are dropped quite often. I like throwing Smoke around for cover, Mini at longer ranges and Vacuum+Frag at medium to shorter ranges. I haven't tried with this version yet, but wasn't it so that Molotovs cannot be thrown as far as Grenades ? Anyway, AFAIR, i never played that much with Molotovs, because of the low amount of Rags i found.

Anway, i see it comes down the mod one is unsing as they are very different from each other.

I doubt it is the mod itself, because AFS is just an item mod. The AI behaviour has something to do with the 113 version - and in fact, sevenfm created a separate branch of 113 (based on the last "official stable" ), which has much more AI updates. Some of those made it into the "unstable" code - and those are causing me headaches

But every time i play i end up with the 7,62 NATO beeing the caliber of choice. It has a very good range and damage and the weapons do not need too many APs to operate. At the moment i try to find a good semi-auto sniper rifle with the same caliber (and cleaning kit usage). My sniper is using a powerful .338 Laupa gun at the moment, but i am not happy with it. When everyone is using the same caliber it is also easier to supply them because i just need to buy some ammo boxes at Bobby Ray's every now and then.

Yep, i agree with you: while the .338 and 12mm (12 ? *ehh* those really big caliber sniper rifles) sniper rifles look impressive with their long ranges, high accuracy and damage, they really get in the way with logistics - and are slow to operate.
I generally still mix calibers, though: frontliners get the quicker to operate 5,45 and 5,56 guns, while MGunners, Snipers and in general "second liners" get the 7,62 and 7,92 guns - which, while more powerful and longer range, have smaller magazines or higher recoil.

[mythos]

Sorry for the delay. First there was a slight lack of motivation which led to a break, then there were problems with the .

The central campaign is mostly finishied, i'm just waiting for the Cambria-SAM Counter Attack to occur.
Then it's digging through the hinterland to raise funds and digging through Bobby Ray's (a major source to get items). The latter, since it is time to update/standartize the mercs' inventory loadouts, maybe get some new armour pieces (there are quite good helmets on sale, which were rarely among loot), but definitively get some "end game worthy" weapons, which appeared at Bobby's. Actually, i already started digging through Bobby's inventory, but am not finished yet: the infamous freedom of "decisions, decisions, decisions"...