I have had great success with an unusual choice for my main lockpicker/mechanical. Barry Unger. On the good side, he comes with lockpicking and electronics skills, solid physical stats and good explosives. On the bad side, his mechanical skill is ... less than inspired to say the least. This said, when he is not fighting, I have him repairing and sleeping the moment he can. He comes along on major attacks (and his mrk comes along fine if you use the right kind of shots from the right kind of guns with the right mods on them), but stays behind and fixes if half a squad is going out to wipe out 8 low grade bads lurking menacingly around drassen. At the start it is irritating to not have a better mech, but within about a week to 10 days or so, something remarkable begins to happen. Locks begin to open ... all locks, electronic and otherwise... AND ... it's all in one place. Physicals, trap disarms, opening the door, blowing the head off the guy on the other side, maybe even punching him out or grabbing his weapon (he's mediocre at fisticuffs, decent stats, no skills, good AP). The electronics means he never becomes useless, and you never have to pay the small fortune needed for Trevor Colby. All of this for the bargain price of about $5500/2weeks. This goes up ... slowly as he gets xp, but at that price, if you know how to get money early game, if you so desire, you can buy him up at that price for like 10 weeks. At the start, if you give him something better than a pistol (gus' G41, starting merc's mp5k, whatever you find on the last guy in the first sector if it's usable), he can comfortably clear Drassen at night, leaving your other mercs to take out another target (like chitzena, and/or chitzena SAM site depending on how you are inclined). All of this is tried on 1.12 expert mode, but there is no reason he should not be a solid skills core of your team in 1.13 (notwithstanding medical, but I can't throw "a rock" without hitting a medic that needs mrks practice but is a combat beast once they get it), allowing you to basically choose the rest of your team based purely on their ability to seek out the enemy and deliver them into death's greedy yet strangely bony grasp.
Barry Unger is my usual start merc. Even his picture is really unassuming - isn't he in a blue blazer? Since you get Ira for med/training, it is a great first group. I used to take Trevor, but now I find I try to take the mercs with high wisdom and low cost, and build them into a crack commando team.
And I always try to get an oddball, someone I haven't used before - Bull Peters, or the guy that keeps calling me "Ace".
isn't he in a blue blazer?
Yes
Since you get Ira for med/training, it is a great first group.
Agreed, and if you need a second team, ira and gumpy/biff for constant hiring, the other on a second team, backed up by, well, I just started using fox (in anticipation of early pair of automags with my new starting strat) for when extra training/medical/shooting is needed.
I used to take Trevor, but now I find I try to take the mercs with high wisdom and low cost, and build them into a crack commando team.
Trevor Colby... argh, the pain. (waits for the searing flames) For his price tag, you can get Igor, Barry, grunty, fox, and blood. Almost a full squad, a night ops, a heavy weapons, all of them having 25AP from the start, a stealthy, a throwing, a martial artist, militia teaching, and an ambidextrous, for if you like paired automags or mac-10s in the dark. (actually, colby is VERY slightly less than that whole list, but gets more expensive by high levels). I totally agree with high wisdom, low cost, though I've made 25AP from the start a new requirement. They need to be able to run up and beat someone to a bloody pulp then the next guy grabs the gun. That and fire and retreat. I could SWEAR in the non gold edition, there were a LOT less instances of 'light grenade, bang, bang, buddabudda, dead merc'
And I always try to get an oddball, someone I haven't used before - Bull Peters, or the guy that keeps calling me "Ace".
Bull peters is fantastic... ok, not quite fantastic, but he fills a role for cheap early. You send him to san mona. He helps run guns and can win the extreme fighting championship most of the time. He is not ideal since his AP are low, so sometimes he can lose the efc, but he's passable at it. I would advise starting with Bull and using Blood to recruit militia with ira, buns, or fox (a teacher so he learns faster) until he has the leadership to get into the bar. At that point, he can become the new gun ferry and extreme fighter. Being cheap, high ap, and with martial arts, he's ideal once the ldr. problem is solved.
I have used and abused everyone on the bottom cost row of AIM except grizzly, who, regrettably has a personality conflict with Dr. Q. Another personal favorite for degunning and beatdowns early game, with physicals good enough to be a fairly nasty merc later game (did I mention the night ops? :ghost:).
As a rule, I go for 25AP mercs. less than 75 wisdom, I usually pass on. 90+wis is a selling point. 25AP means respectable agi and dex. I would rather see agi than dex since dex is increased WAY more often from general use (not abusive training, though dex is way easier in that too. Just throwing various grenades and beating down bads to keep things quiet AND get their weapons). I consider 2 people with night ops per 6 man team manditory, and I go for double night ops on my main mercenary. Marksmanship fixes itself if you like head shots, leg bursts followed by beatdowns or gun grabs, out of (night) sight range shots, and the like, so that means I end up taking a lot of people in what I call "Doctors without marksmanship" (and there are OH so many that are so VERY fun once they learn to shoot).
As for who I go for for night ops... I used to go for spider... then I learned she had some ... large problems (like an abysmal 56 agi). Now I use ... well... anyone BUT spider, pretty much.
Remember, Agility. It's not just a stat. It's the "I don't die as much" stat.
Arise!
Should I get JA2 & JA2:UB from GOG.com or JA2 Gold from Steam? Wikipedia says that the Gold edition has some improvements on the individual games, but that the Steam release has the financial bug. Or are there patches out now that nullify any variations in editions?
I'd get JA 2 from GOG. There is a lot of game-changing mods out there and I think steam might get picky about that.
I'd get JA 2 from GOG. There is a lot of game-changing mods out there and I think steam might get picky about that.
Wise!
Third thread resurrection! Jezus himself could learn a thing or two from this thread 
I bought JA2 from gog.com after reading this and the other JA2 thread. I'm a JA1 + expansion veteran but could never really get into JA2, because I never really knew what to do next and I kept losing sectors to the enemy.
So I really want to prepare before I venture forth again. For starters with my personal character. Would it be wise to just eliminate every skill except marksmanship and leadership? I figured I'd just hire the other specialists and make myself a sniper/leader. Also I've buffed my wisdom as to learn faster. What about physical traits? Because I read in one of the FAQs posted here that DEX rises fast I buffed the others mostly. Any thoughts on that?
I've always loved the idea of Jagged Alliance, but I've never managed to stick with any of the games for too long. The combat just always gets to me sooner or later. Having to stand next to people before you can hit them with a gun is really annoying, the movement gets very tedious after a while, all the micromanagement... And this from a guy who loves and has played the absolute crap out of all the X-Com games.
Damn you all, you filthy enablers. 
I played through this last about 4 years ago. at this point I only have the vaguest memories of the story and maps so I think it might be a good time to revisit.
Been thinking of picking this up off GoG. Does the regular install run okay with XP or are there any patches and mods I should play with? 1.13 is mentioned a lot but would it be better to play without it for the full experience?
Also, is JA1 worth picking up too? I heard you can import your party from 1 to 2 but does that still work on XP?
I'm a JA1 + expansion veteran
JA1 had an expansion? I hadn't heard of one till you mention it here.
I only finished JA Deadly Games. I've started JA1 several times, but always get distracted along the way...
Been thinking of picking this up off GoG. Does the regular install run okay with XP or are there any patches and mods I should play with? 1.13 is mentioned a lot but would it be better to play without it for the full experience?
Also, is JA1 worth picking up too? I heard you can import your party from 1 to 2 but does that still work on XP?
GOG games are "supposed" to be setup to work for XP/Vista. I think you'll be fine, the Steam version I bought works just fine in XP. oh and addons seem to work fine on the Steam version, though I've only tried one so far.
Having to stand next to people before you can hit them with a gun is really annoying
Try shooting them with something other than a pistol.
dejanzie wrote:I'm a JA1 + expansion veteran
JA1 had an expansion? I hadn't heard of one till you mention it here.
I only finished JA Deadly Games. I've started JA1 several times, but always get distracted along the way...
Deadly Games is probably what I meant. I don't know, that's more than 10 years ago. That's like, soo last century man!
I love this game. Love love love love it. I break it out at least once every six months or so and play it. JA2, Disciples II, and Age of Wonders II are all games that will never fully go away for me.
Having to stand next to people before you can hit them with a gun is really annoyingTry shooting them with something other than a pistol.
Yeah, your first task is to find a rifle.
Or mortar! Willage on fire! Woohohoohooo!!!!
ahem...
Just grabbed this from GoG.com. Can someone point me towards some of the patches and mods? I want to be totally updated before I start tooling around.
Just grabbed this from GoG.com. Can someone point me towards some of the patches and mods? I want to be totally updated before I start tooling around.
You should definitely get the 1.13 mod/patch. Check out http://ja2v113.pbwiki.com/ for more info.
Has anyone played Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge?
I read somewhere that it was supposed to be Jagged Alliance 3 but that they lost the contract or something and now they're releasing this as a different franchise.
It's available on Steam for 29.99$ and Gamestop for 19.99$ (though Backordered)
If anyone has made the jump, let me know because I'm dying to get my hands on a good turn-based tactical game
Gamersgate has Hired Guns for $24.99. They also have Brigade E5, not sure of the price, and the sequel to that is $9.99 this week. All the 1C games are discounted this week.
GG is the best place for strategy game downloads, in my experience. It's Paradox's venture and worth supporting.
Gamersgate has Hired Guns for $24.99. They also have Brigade E5, not sure of the price, and the sequel to that is $9.99 this week. All the 1C games are discounted this week.
GG is the best place for strategy game downloads, in my experience. It's Paradox's venture and worth supporting.
Note that I've heard that Hired Guns is buggy and not very good. But ymmv. Maybe look it up at the Wargamer forums.
I seem to recall that SpyNavy purchased it and said it was awful.
That he did.
Is the DS one ever coming out?
Is the DS one ever coming out?
It's out. What little information is out there seems to indicate that it's decent port of Jagged Alliance 1, but there's not much info out there.
Jagged Alliance 2 on sale on Steam for $6.79.
Arise! After 3 years, there's a finally *new* release of the 1.13 community-patch available. (Yeah, it's a bit confusing, since they're all just "1.13" but now it's up to build 4452.) Among other things, this release adds coop play. O_o
Arise! After 3 years, there's a finally *new* release of the 1.13 community-patch available. (Yeah, it's a bit confusing, since they're all just "1.13" but now it's up to build 4452.) Among other things, this release adds coop play. O_o
Co-op? How does that work? I'm definitely up for checking it out.
Pages