Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Carecat
Apr 27, 2004

Buglord


Jagged Alliance is a turn based isometric tactical game from 1999. It was pretty well received at the time due to it's mix of realism, complexity and freedom. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as rivaling XCOM in quality and depth of tactical gameplay, unlike XCOM it works perfectly on modern computers with no effort, has much better graphics and most importantly for us, can be modded.

Why's it fun?
* Mustard gas! Isn't that against the Geneva protocol?
* Dropping mortars on unsuspecting people!
* Making heads explode from 800M with your fully ghille suited sniper with a 12mm anti material rifle!
* Lockpicking doors with explosives, shotguns and rocket launchers!
* Landmine suprises!
* Putting drum magazines on most of your assault rifles!
* Full auto shotguns!
* Rotary grenade launchers!

1.13 is the unofficial fan made patch, with 1.12 being the last official patch for JA2. The game has been massively overhauled almost entirely for the better and it's one of the best examples of modders making a good game even better.

The changelist is huge and like the rest of the mod quite poorly documented but in short,

* Bugs fixed.
* Balance changed.
* 100 AP system to properly balance AP cost of actions.
* Much smarter AI (flanking, taking cover etc).
* Suppression system to make light machine guns more effective.
* Simulation improved, more detailed damage and weapon systems.
* More options and settings.
* Improved inventory menus and interface.
* Data externalized into XML files to make it easier to edit.
* Hundreds of new items, weapons, attachments, equipment.
* Multiplayer?!

A collection of guides about 1.13 is here:
http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=198979&page=1#Post198979



The 1.13 website: http://www.ja2v113.pbworks.com

Do I need 1.13?
No but there's little reason not to. 1.13 adds some complexity to an already complex game but it also simplifies and improves things (inventory, weapon mods, 100 AP system), fixes things (AI, bugs) and adds a couple of things the developers never finished (suppressing fire) as well as changing balance. Almost everyone in this thread will be playing with 1.13 and the rest of these two introduction posts assume you are using it, so get with the times sonny!

1. Purchase and install Jagged Alliance 2:
Good Old Games - $9.99
Steam - $19.99

2. Download and install 1.13:
You do not need to install any other patches first.

The mod is available as an installer:
http://ja2v113.pbworks.com/w/page/4218334/Downloads

1.13 is the name of the mod, not a version number. Make sure any version you get is at least 28 August, 2014 (Build: 7435).

For an SVN installation:

quote:

2a. Install Tortoise SVN
http://tortoisesvn.net/downloads

2b. Create a folder and download 1.13 unofficial patch

Right click, choose SVN Checkout, put this in URL of repository:
https://81.169.133.124/source/ja2_v1.13_data/GameDir

Username will be "TestUser" note the capital letters. Password is "testreadonly"

Click ok, don't change any other settings. The download will take awhile.


SVN releases can be buggy and have a larger download size but are updated frequently.

3. Copy your downloaded 1.13 files over your JA2 install.

4. Set your options by opening the INI editor

Gameplay settings of note:
Tons of junk here, you will probably want to up the game resolution, chance the CD/DVD drive option if you didn't install to C and disable the intro.

By default a very hard Drassen counterattack is enabled! Change this INI option!

TRIGGER_MASSIVE_ENEMY_COUNTERATTACK_AT_DRASSEN - Set to false to disable the massive counterattack when you take Drassen.
PRICE_MODIFIER - How much you make from quick selling items.
EXPLOSIVES_DAMAGE_MODIFIER - Makes explosives not suck, set from 50-100.
MERCS_DIE_ON_ASSIGNMENT - Set to FALSE to stop random death of unhired mercs.
STEALING_FROM_SHIPMENTS_DISABLED - Set to TRUE to avoid having to deal with Pablo.
CHANCE_OF_SHIPMENT_LOST - No lost Bobby Ray's orders.

sean10mm posted:

If you want to reduce the scope minimum range penalties to something more realistic, open C:\Program Files (x86)\Jagged Alliance 2 Gold\Data-1.13\CTHConstants.ini in a text editor and make the following changes:

SCOPE_RANGE_MULTIPLIER = 0.5
AIM_TOO_CLOSE_SCOPE = -2.0

This reduces the minimum effective ranges for scopes to a more manageable 350/245/140/70m for 10X/7X/4X/2X scopes.

There are tons more for you to fine tune.

5. Start the game and set your options

Start the game with ja2.exe, not the numbered one. It will say 7435 (or higher) in the top left.

Mostly the options are obvious but make sure to take Enhanced Description Box, Silent Skyrider, Show Movement Path, Show Wireframes and Use Metric System.
Do not use Enemies Drop All Loot, there is already a default INI setting to use improved loot tables.

6. Start a game!

Difficulty Level
Depends on your INI file settings but mostly controls money, how experienced the opposition is, their amount of AP, their bonus to chance to hit, how quickly they attack you and how many of them there are. Novice/Experienced aren't too bad, you should be able to start on Experienced if you've played an isometric tactical game before.

You can modify the effect of difficulty levels in the INI files.

Bobby Ray's selection
How quickly higher quality equipment and weapons are unlocked at Bobby Ray's online store. This can have a big effect on difficulty as you will have access to superior weapons, Great or Excellent are appropriate for a first playthrough.
Great is slightly faster progression than Normal with more quantity.
Excellent is a good choice if you want to reduce the difficulty of the game.

Game style
Realistic is regular, Sci-Fi is a bit harder but lets you get a rare weapon and an item that improves armor.
The main feature of Sci-Fi is a new enemy, adding hostile giant bugs to one of the mines who are a pain in the rear end.

Available Arsenal
How much equipment the game makes available.

"Reduced" setting actually *is* the original Tons of Guns settings, with all the weapons from the expansion thrown in as well.
"Tons of Guns" actually includes about 700 community-added guns.

Inventory system
Should only be set to new. Old is the original unpatched system and much clunkier.

Now press go!



Try to remember your hotkeys!
http://ja2v113.pbwiki.com/ja2_and_1_13_hot_keys

A makes your merc automatically bandage his wounds.
B toggles your weapons fire mode, this also activates attached grenade launchers.
Shift + N swaps your night and sun goggles around, very useful.

Hold down shift while clicking on stuff in the inventory to pick up the whole stack at once.
To unload a gun, right-click on the gun to see the description window, click on the ammo icon in the corner, right-click again to close the description window.

Right click to change the length of your auto fire, the number of bullets fired is only a rough estimate.
When aiming burst or auto fire you can hold down left mouse and move left or right to sweep your bullets across that area.

??? for an ammo count means your merc isn't sure how many rounds there's left. Higher wisdom mercs keep better track. Letters are rough estimates: L for low, M for medium and H for high.

To close a door hold down the control (Ctrl) key while hovering the mouse cursor over the open door. The hand will go red and will say "Opened door." Click and you will get the option to close the door.

Walking sideways? You pressed ALT, try it again.

Aiming

If you have someone unaware of you and want to spend a turn aiming before firing press the L key over the person you want to hit. You can see a red AP number inside the rotating arrows, click now to spend these AP on readying your weapon. You are now aimed!

The inner, shrinking circle is the potential area your bullet will land. It is random and has an equal chance of hitting any pixel within that circle. Huge circle means huge spread, a circle that's mostly within the body of your enemy will almost definitely hit. Note that this doesn't take into account cover or any other obstacles between you and the target.

You can use the mousewheel to set the aim levels. You can use this to aim burst or full auto fire (in new CTH only).

Detailed explanation of the math behind aiming: http://ja2v113ham.wikia.com/wiki/New_Chance_To_Hit

Grenade launchers
Stand alone grenade launchers work like a regular weapon. Rifle mounted GLs are a bit more awkward to use.

Attach GL to weapon. You can't use a bipod/gripod at the same time.
Attach grenade to an attachment slot. Yes this is kind of dumb.

Toggle your weapon onto GL mode using the burst/auto key.

Take aim! Use Q to toggle to high angle launch and actually get some decent range.

Health

Getting hit can cause open wounds, reducing your AP and rapidly bleeding out health!

Individual mercs can carry small first aid kits for quick patch up jobs but you will need a dedicated doctor with a high medicine skill and large first aid kits to look after your combat groups. Ira makes a reasonable doctor for free.

Stat damage can be treated by a Paramedic or Doctor.

Burning Mustache posted:

The health bar has 3 conditions:
Dark red: Good. Completely healthy and no wounds.

Yellow: Very bad. Open wounds which can bleed, if the yellow bar is large enough. Fix this immediately by using a first aid kit. Not fixing this will eventually make your merc bleed (depending on how severe the wound is) and it will make him lose stamina as well as reduce the overall APs available, make him less accurate, etc.

Orange: Bad. This is an open wound that has been patched, and it will not cause immediate danger (unlike yellow). However, an orange health bar means your merc has a wound that requires more in-depth medical attention. You can fix this by having someone with a good medical skill use the "Doctor" option on your merc (in the strategic screen, on the left you will find a list of your mercs and what they are currently doing (Default: "Squad 1", which means they're assigned to .. Squad 1! Click on this for a number of other options such as Training (Militia or practicing skills), Repair, or Doctor. In order to heal another merc the doctor needs to have a medical kit in his hand and the patient needs to have the assignment "Patient"). Not fixing these wounds means your mercs don't have their full potential (APs, accuracy, etc.) available. Do not attack a sector with wounded mercs!

Stamina

Moving around the map overview will wear your mercs out quickly and they will need sleep to recover. Some mercs will need less sleep than others.

Getting shot, being exposed to some kinds of gas and running on the tactical view will lower stamina. Your mercs will pass out if their stamina drops too low. Water bottles will boost stamina but the real way to recover is sleep.

Suppression

Each time a bullet passes through a square a character is standing on or an adjacent square there is a chance of it contributing to a suppression effect. The formula behind this is pretty massive but experience, morale and personality traits increase tolerance.

Friendlies are immune to suppression within three tiles of the shooter. Outside three tiles your bullets can suppress them!

To put it roughly the more bullets going past the worse the effect is going to be. This is a real benefit to automatic weapons, especially light machine guns. If they are in sight and the chance to hit isn't too atrocious, light them up.

Target loses APs
Target becomes inaccurate
Target becomes harder to hit
Target loses morale
Target loses situational awareness
Target drops a stance
Target becomes even more vulnerable to suppression

Repair

To repair stuff, give a repair kit to a merc with good Mechanical skill and set him to repair (on the Map Overview screen). 1.13 uses a newer algorithm to prioritize weapons and important kit over small stuff like break lights and is on by default

Guns and equipment decrease in effectiveness when worn out.

Gun jammed in combat? Try to fire it and it should unjam. Beware, if it's worn out it might get worse instead. You can go a good amount of time without repairing things but you will need a mechanically skilled merc to keep your nice guns in shape.

quote:

RELIABILITY appears for all weapons; knives, launchers, anything. This is a relative indication of how likely the weapon is to degrade each time it's used. The higher this factor, the more resilient the weapon is to damage, meaning it is less likely to degrade.

Reliability isn't a final value though, as it too gets calculated in a formula. But each point makes a big difference, so this is a pretty powerful factor in a weapon. If you want to keep shooting without having to repair the weapon (and prevent jamming!), you'll want a weapon with higher reliability.

Please note that ARMOR-type items also have reliability, but it's called a "degrade value".

Reliability can be MODIFIED, and some types of ammo do this. They increase the chance of the weapon to degrade, meaning that you'll have to repair it more often. Since weapon status also affects how likely the weapon is to JAM on you, you'll want to stay away from reliability-reducing ammo on long journeys into enemy territory!

REPAIR EASE - this should be obvious. The higher it is, the easier to repair the weapon. Again, this factor gets calculated in complex forumlae, and most of us don't even know how long it takes to repair their rifles anyway.

Mercs

Unless the merc is specifically working for you for free they do need paying according to contract. Sometimes they will deny a new contract within the last 72 hours so make sure you keep aware of their status and renew early.

You get to keep any equipment the merc brings with them.

Some mercs hate other mercs!

Barry and Buns are solid cheap starting mercs. Both have high wisdom and learn quickly, although Buns isn't very popular. Ice is a decent, well armed merc who won't break the bank to hire for a few days, he has an assault rifle chambered for pistol ammo which you will find a lot of at the start.
You get the free merc Ira, within the first five minutes but she has pretty poor stats.

Statistics for all mercs:
http://www.fadden.com/techmisc/ja2/stats.html

physeter posted:

Some good basic teams:

Ice/Blood/Grizzly/Magic/Wolf/Fox
Ivan/Igor/Iggy/Grunty
Raider/Raven/Spider
Stephen/Meltdown/Malice

Fidel / Razor / Haywire / Maddog

Raising stats

Leadership
Train militia. If you have two people in the same sector training, some of the leadership may rub off from the higher skilled merc to the lower.
Strength
Punching things, opening crates. You can increase strength rapidly by finding something you can punch indefinitely without penalty. These things include the crows that appear on rotting bodies, vehicles you don't own, cows, and the robot (if you don't own it).
Dexterity
Punching (see strength), throwing knives, repairing.
Health
Travelling, especially with heavy equipment (ie, your merc's weight percentage is over 100).
Agility
Getting interrupts, crawling with stealth mode in the presence of enemies. Someone suggested an easy way to raise this was to crawl around in front of the bugs while you are using the elixir.
Wisdom
Combine TNT and a detonator. Plant the bomb and disarm it. After doing this about 15 times your wisdom should increase. However, there is a chance that the bomb will explode as you try to disarm it. Another way to increase wisdom is using a merc as doctor. It takes a very long time to increase the stat this way, but it happens.
Marksmanship
Goes up by firing weapons and throwing knives. Can be raised by throwing knifes at crows (they are not consumed), or shooting off otherwise useless .38 ammo
later in the game.
Mechanical
By repairing things, picking locks, repairing
Medical
Do first aid or doctoring. Someone suggested that if you beat up your militia and then heal them you can gain points easily.
Explosives
Setting and disarming explosives. To gain this skill quickly, set and disarm a mine over and over in real-time.

Income

Your primary source of income will be from captured mines, you can see the locations of them on the mines. Some mines will go dry depending on your difficulty level.

There are some other ways to make money but don't count on selling looted weapons unless you heavily boost the sale value in the INI.

quote:

At the start of a new game 50 points (normal; easy will get more, hard will get less overall points) will be distributed on the five mines. The range goes from 6 points to 14 points for each mine (The exact values may be a little off, but I think, this is the way it works.).
The distributed points are then multiplied with the base income for each mine (400$ (Chitzena), 800$ (Drassen), 1200$ (Alma and Cambria), 1600$ (Grumm)) to give you the maximum income of a mine. So the maximum income for the Drassen mine will range from 4800$ to 11200$ per day.

To get the actual income you have to multiply max. income with town control and loyalty. So if you control 2 sectors of Drassen (66% town control) and have a loyalty of 45%, while the mine has a max. income of 8000$/day, your actual income will be:

8000$/day x .66 x .45 = 2376$/day

The daily income will be paid in four shares at 9.00, 12.00, 15.00 and 18.00.

You can check the maximum income of all mines at the start of a game. Just click on the mine (?) tab in the map screen and then right click on the mine sector itself. An information window should pop up and tell you, among other things, the max. income of the mine (This is from memory, so if it doesn't work, try similar things).

Sector Defense

The army will attempt to recapture towns but you can't be everywhere at once. Train militia to help defend, you can assign this task to a merc with leadership skill when they are in a town you have captured.

quote:

Militia come in 3 flavours, green (green dots on the map), experienced (light blue on the map) and veteran (dark blue on the map). More experienced militia will perform better and have better equipment. Militia are confined to the town you train them in. Within this town, you can move them around the various town sectors using the strategic map. Each sector can have a maximum of 20 militia. To get militia, you must train them. You must first liberate a town sector and have a certain minimum loyalty score (forgot what it is) before you can train militia (note: you can not train militia in Omerta). To train militia, you must set your mercenaries to this task on the strategic map. They will then train a group of 10 miltia in their sector. Obviously this only works in towns. You can still train militia if the sector they are in already has 20 militia, as long as other liberated sectors of the same town still have room. Up to 2 mercenaries can train militia in 1 sector at a time. Having high leadership and/or the Teacher trait will speed up the training process, which is why Ira can be more useful than she looks at first. Training militia will increase a merc's leadership score. Two mercs training militia in the same sector will be training the same 10 militia, speeding up the process. Having mercs training militia in different sectors of the same town will see them training different batches of 10 militia each. Training militia requires a (if I recall correctly) $1500 fee (to pay for equipment and salaries and such) up front per batch of 10 militia. Once each liberated sector of a town is fully saturated with 20 militia, mercs can continue training green militia and turn them into experienced militia. Militia can not be trained to veteran status, they can only achieve this through combat experience. Every time militia take part in a fight, they have a chance at promotion. A town fully saturated with experienced militia will be able to hold off a decent number of attacks, even of a elite enemies, especially if you allow reinforcing from the other town sectors (a new 1.13 option). Like most any battle you win, if militia hold off an attack, this positively affects town morale.

SAM sites can also hold up to 20 militia, but these can not be exchanged with militia from towns, even if the towns are nearby. Because of this they can generally hold off only a couple of attacks before their numbers are depleted.

Camo paint/canteens

Camo paint increases your stealth rating. More stealth is always a good thing, even for a LMG operator.
Canteens restore stamina in tactical mode.

Gashroom posted:

Pick up the camo kit (left-click) and then left-click it on the outline of the soldier in the HUD. Canteens and energy boosters work the same way.
To refill a canteen, combine a canteen with a cola can.

Sun goggles/Night vision goggles

Required equipment, increases your view distance. Make sure you are wearing your sun goggles during the day and night vision goggles during the night :science:

AG3 posted:

This may or may not be obvious, but as written in the OP you can wear Night vision Goggles on the head/face slot or helmet. If you wear it on the helmet (as an attachment), you will NOT get any benefit from it. This is purely to make switching between sun goggles/night vision goggles or taking them off more convenient (aka not take up space in your inventory). This is fairly easy to see at night, as you will get a bigger "light" radius around your character when the NVG are on your head/face than when they are attached to the helm.

Burning Mustache posted:

Pro-tip: Disable the light radius around your mercs py pressing "G" and use the END key to determine your merc's vision range. I think that "glow" around your mercs used to be a representation of that merc's vision range before 1.13 and is outdated and obsolete today.

It's also easier to navigate your mercs around actual environment light sources with the glow disabled.

Crafting items

quote:

X-Ray Tube:
Makes X-Ray Unit. See below.
Chewing Gum:
Makes X-Ray Unit. See below.
Fumblepack:
Makes X-Ray Unit. See below.
Copper Wire:
Makes LCD Display. See below.
Lameboy:
Makes LCD Display. See below.
LCD Display:
Makes X-Ray Detector. See below.
X-Ray Unit:
Makes X-Ray Detector. See below.
X-Ray Detector:
It functions like a small radar device, which detects nearby enemies not already
highlighted on your miniature combat map and reveals their positions. It has a
limited range, however.
Batteries:
Powers X-Ray Detector.

Energy Booster:
A drug that temporarily increases your APs over their normal maximums. After it
wears off, though, your merc will go well below their normal APs, so only use it
when you know you will be down in five turns or less.
String:
Combine with soda can to make alarm.
Soda Can:
Combine with string to make alarm.
Alarm:
Attach it to a door and whenever the door is opened there will be much noise.
Spring:
Combine with aluminum rod to make AP enhancer.
Aluminum Rod:
Combine with spring to make AP enhancer.
AP Enhancer:
When attached to a gun, it will make the gun fire faster.
Glue:
steel pipe + glue + tape -> Barrel Extension
Duct Tape:
steel pipe + glue + tape -> Barrel Extension
Steel Pipe:
steel pipe + glue + tape -> Barrel Extension

Stealth

You become fully visible if you fire an unsuppressed weapon. You become fully visible at night if you fire a weapon that is not flash suppressed.

The two things to manage for stealth are visibility and noise. Running or walking normally is noisy, standing is more visible than crouching or prone. Camouflage rating makes you less visible and the stealth mode toggle makes your movement quieter.

Stealth really comes together at night where the combination of suppressed weapons or knives and night vision goggles can really let you mess up the enemy.

Lege posted:

Just to quote and expand on this, camoflage effectiveness is reduced by (I think?) 10% per tile of movement per turn (meaning it will reset to whatever amount the camo status tells you at the beginning of the player turn). If you really want to make sure you're not noticed don't take a single step if an enemy soldier is looking at your general direction. The stealth modifier just tells you how much noise you make when moving.

Also something that's worth mentioning and a lot of people miss; walking around in stealth mode only reduces the amount of noise, you're still as visible as ever. You're only wasting AP if you're sneaking while the enemy sees your mercs or you've fired a weapon that's not silenced.



Your primary objectives
1) Create an IMP merc
2) Hire other mercs (unless you are suicidal/lucky/skilled)
3) Enter Omerta and contact the rebels
4) Free Drassen to secure a supply route (make sure to contact Bobby Rays)
5) Secure towns and mines


By default a very hard Drassen counterattack is enabled after you capture it! Change this INI option!

You start at your laptop. You'll mostly be using the web and email buttons, email is where Enrico nags you a lot and the web is where you spend money.

To actually get playing we have to:
* Read our email.
* Setup our IMP merc.
* Hire an AIM merc or two.
* Shutdown the laptop and enter the tactical screen.

IMP

The IMP is a player created merc. They have fixed cost, unlimited duration contract, custom defined stats and never argue with other mercs. In the original game you only got one, now you can have six by default. The game wasn't balanced around having more than one merc so abusing this limit may make the game too easy.

Skills pretty much only come down to night ops, auto weapons, stealth and sniper. The others aren't really much use unless you want to make a really specialized character. Night operations is the golden skill as very few other mercs have it and the enemy are at a major disadvantage.

Your IMP (player generated) mercs are effectively free but limited by how many your INI file says you can have, which is usually one.

Recommended stats:
79 marksmanship
85 health
85 wisdom
85 dexterity
65 strength
85 agility
0 explosive
35 medical
0 mechanical

The best IMP stats are Wisdom, Agility and Marksmanship. Wisdom makes your skills grow faster, agility gives you more AP and marksmanship lets you actually hit stuff. 79 marksmanship starts you with an MP5A4, a great SMG which you can easily get 9x19mm ammo for. You can lower mechanical and explosives to 0 as it's easy to get specialists to handle them when you need it. Keep 35 medical so your IMP can still bandage themselves.

quote:


MAJOR TRAITS

(can have one on expert or two different; numbers are doubled for experts if not said otherwise)


AUTO WEAPONS -> MACHINEGUNNER : (mrk 45-60, str 40-55, dex 50-65, hlt 45-60)
* +5% Chance to Hit with Assault Rifles, SMGs and LMGs
* -30% penalty to chance to hit on auto fire/burst
* Reduces chance for shooting unwanted bullets on autofire
* -10% APs needed to fire light machine guns
* -10% APs needed to ready light machine guns
HEAVY WEAPONS -> BOMBARDIER : (str 45-60, wis 55-70, exp 35-50, dex 45-60)
* +25% chance to hit with rocket launchers and grenade launchers (even underbarrel)
* -20% APs needed to fire rocket launchers and grenade launchers (even underbarrel)
* -10% APs needed to fire mortar
* Reduce penalty for mortar CtH by half (penalty is set to 60% by default)
* +30% damage to tanks with heavy weapons, grenades and explosives
* +15% damage to other targets with heavy weapons
MARKSMAN -> SNIPER : (mrk 65-80, dex 55-70, wis 50-65 )
* +5% Chance to Hit with Sniper Rifles
* -5% effective range to target with all weapons
* +10% aiming bonus per aim click (except for handguns)
* +5% damage on shot per aim click after third
* -25% APs needed to chamber a round with bolt-action rifles
* Adds one more aim click for rifle-type guns (max is eight)
HUNTER -> RANGER : (mrk 55-70, agi 45-60, hlt 55-70, ldr 35-50)
* +5% Chance to Hit with Rifles
* +10% Chance to Hit with Shotguns
* -25% APs needed to pump Shotguns
* +20% group travelling speed between sectors if traveling by foot
* +10% group travelling speed between sectors if traveling in vehicle (except helicopter)
* -30% less energy spent for travelling between sectors
* -50% weather penalties
* -50% worn out speed of camouflage by water or time (i.e. experts have permanent camo)
GUNSLINGER -> GUNFIGHTER : (mrk 55-70, dex 50-65, agi 50-65)
* +10% chance to hit with pistols and revolvers
* +5% chance to hit with machine pistols (on single shots only)
* +5% aiming bonus per click with pistols, machine pistols and revolvers
* +15% firing speed with pistols and revolvers
* +10% effective range with pistols and revolvers
* -15% APs needed to raise pistols and revolvers
* +25% reload speed of pistols, machine pistols and revolvers
* Adds one more aim click for pistols, machine pistols and revolvers
HAND TO HAND -> MARTIAL ARTS : (dex 55-70, agi 55-70, str 50-65, hlt 45-60)
* +30% chance to hit with hand to hand attacks with bare hands
* +25% chance to hit with hand to hand attacks with brass knuckles
* -15% AP cost of hand to hand attacks(bare hands or with brass knuckles)
* +30% damage of hand to hand attacks(bare hands or with brass knuckles)
* +30% breath damage of hand to hand attacks(bare hands or with brass knuckles)
* enemy breath lost due to your HtH attacks takes much longer to regenerate
* Focused (aimed) punch deals +75% damage (spinning kick in case of regular merc)
* +35% change to dodge hand to hand attacks(+another 5% with bare hands or with knuckles)
* +20% chance to dodge attacks by melee blade
* -33% APs needed to steal weapon from enemy hands
* -25% APs needed to change state (stand, crouch, lie down), turn around, climb on/off roof and jump obstacles
* +25% chance to kick doors
DEPUTY -> SQUADLEADER : (ldr 50-65, wis 60-75 )
* +5% APs per round of other mercs in vicinity
* +1 effective exp level of other mercs in vicinity, which have lesser level than the squadleader
* +20% total suppression tolerance of other mercs in vicinity and squadleader himself
* +1 morale gain of other mercs in vicinity
* -1 morale loss of other mercs in vicinity
* +50% fear resistence for Squadleader (expert SL cannot cower)
(Only three bonuses can stack, i.e. for one expert squadleader and one deputy or three deputies)
(Minor Drawback: triple morale loss for squadleader's death for all other mercs.)
TECHNICIAN -> ENGINEER : (mec 45-60, expl 35-50, dex 50-65, wis 45-60)
* +30% to repairing speed
* +30% to lockpicking (normal/electronic locks)
* +40% to disarming electronic traps
* +40% to attaching special items and combining things
* +20% to unjamming a gun in combat
* Reduce penalty(which is -75%) to repair electronic items by half
* increased chance to detect traps and mines
* +10% CtH of robot controlled by Technician (it has normally -10% CtH)
* Only Technicians can repair the robot
PARAMEDIC -> DOCTOR : (med 45-60, dex 50-65, wis 55-70)
* Ability to make surgical intervention by using medical bag on wounded soldier instantly returning 30% of lost health back to him (50% with expert). This drains the medical bag a lot. (This can only be done once for every injury, the remaining HPs missing have to be regenerated normally.)
* Can heal lost stats (from critical hits) by the surgery/doctor assignment.
* +25% effectiveness (speed) on doctor-patient assignment
* +30% bandaging speed
* +15% natural regeneration speed of all soldiers in the same sector

MINOR TRAITS

(you can trade major traits for minor traits, so if not taking major trait at all, you can have three of these; if one major taken, you can have two minors; if both major taken, you can have just one minor trait; the minor traits have no expert level;)

AMBIDEXTERITY: (dex +10 / 60)
* Eliminates the penalty for using two guns at once
* +20% reload speed of all weapons with magazines
* +33% reload speed of all weapons with loose rounds or wrong magazine
* -33% APs needed for picking items, work backpack, handle doors, traps, burying/disarming bombs and mines, attaching/removing items
MELEE: (str +10 / 60 )
* -20% APs needed to attack by blades
* +40% chance to hit with blades
* +30% chance to hit with blunt melee weapons (except brass knuckles)
* +30% damage of all melee weapons (except brass knuckles)
* +30% chance to dodge attack by melee blades (+ another 20% with a blade in hands)
* +20% chance to dodge attack by blunt melee weapons
* Aimed attack by any melee weapon deals +50% damage
THROWING: (dex +10 / 60 )
* +15% max range when throwing blades
* -20% basic APs needed to throw blades
* +20% chance to hit when throwing blades
* +5% chance to hit when throwing blades per aim click
* +20% damage of throwing blades
* +5% damage of throwing blades per aim click
* +20% chance to inflict critical hit by throwing blade if not seen or heard
NIGHT OPS: (wis +10 / 60 )
* +1 to effective sight range in dark
* +1 to general effective hearing range
* +2 to effective hearing range in dark on top
* +2 to interrupts modifier in dark
* Needs to sleep less than others
STEALTHY: (agi +10 / 60)
* -50% APs needed to move quietly (does not work for 25AP system)
* +40% chance to move quietly
* +25% stealth (being "invisible" if unnoticed regardless the terrain)
* -25% reduced chance to being seen for movement
ATHLETICS: (agi +10 / 60 )
* -25% APs needed for moving (running, walking, swatting, crawling, swimming, etc.)
* -33% energy spent for movement, roof-climbing, obstacle-jumping, swimming, etc.
BODYBUILDING: (hlt +10 / 60 )
* Has 20% damage resistance
* +30% effective strength for carrying weight capacity
* Suffers only half energy loss when hit by HtH attack
* Has lesser chance to fall if hit to the legs
DEMOLITIONS: (exp + 10 / 45 )
* +20% max range when throwing grenades
* +30% chance to hit when throwing grenades
* -25% APs needed to throw grenades
* +25% damage of bombs and mines
* +50% to attaching detonators and planting/removing bombs
* Decreases chance enemy will detect bombs and mines set by ourselves
* increased chance shaped charge will open the doors
TEACHING: (ldr + 10 / 45 )
* + 40% bonus(speed) to train militia
* + 40% bonus to effective leadership for determining militia training
* + 40% bonus to teaching other mercs
* Skill value counts to be +25 higher for being able to teach this skill to other mercs
* +25% speed to train stats through self-practising assignment
SCOUTING: (wis +10 / 60 )
* +40 to effective sight range with binoculars (and scopes separated from weapons)
* +10 to effective sight range with scopes on weapons
* -20 tunnel vision with binoculars (and scopes separated from weapons)
* If in sector, adjacent sectors will show exact number of enemies
* Prevents the enemy to ambush your squad
* Prevents the bloodcats to ambush your squad


AIM



Make sure to go to links and click bobby ray's, this will give you a website bookmark to the gunstore you can use when you take Drassen.

Your IMP merc comes with some equipment but you should hire at least another merc to secure Drassen.

You can either hire one of the top row mercs for a day, with equipment and use that time to secure Drassen, then keep their nice toys or pick a cheaper merc for a week like Ice, Wolf or Fidel with equipment.

Press shutdown to get to the map screen.



This is the overview, it's where you will pretty much do anything that's not combat. On the left you can see characters and status, you can split them into different squads, send them to grid squares or put them on jobs. The time controls on the bottom right are crucial for moving around as well as completing jobs such as healing, repairing or training.

Getting started

You'll arrrive by helicopter in the crappy looking village of Omerta. There will be a number of enemies with pistols. These guys are pretty bad but you will have a really hard time if you don't have any particularly good guns.

Once they are all dead find a woman called Fatima inside a house in the middle right side of the map and give her the letter from your inventory. Then follow her off the map to the East. She will lead you to house where you meet the rebels. After the conversation you can talk to and recruit Ira who has an annoying voice but is free and can be trained up to be a medic/mule.

After this head to the top square of Drassen. You will have to work to clear all three map squares to claim the town which can be a little tricky. Once you hold it, train milita and look at ordering some supplies from bobby rays.

Carecat fucked around with this message at 10:33 on Sep 13, 2014

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Carecat
Apr 27, 2004

Buglord


Keep in mind, more equipment = more weight.

LBE means Load Bearing Equipment.

Which LBE vest to use
Unless you are running some kind of full auto crazy merc you really want a LBE vest with a mixture of magazine and general pouches.

General combat:
The TT Utility vest and Russian vests have quite a nice mix of pouches.

Grenadier:
Hong Kong police vest.

Other LBE

The leg LBE makes for some good extra ammo space, if you are using a rifle grenade launcher then the grenade one is a great place to keep the ammo for it.
Leg holsters are fairly useless except for snipers or anyone with a heavy weapon. They really want a machine pistol holster as pistols are kind of sucky and the extra firepower is really useful up close.

There are two types of backpack, big and small. Big backpacks weigh a ton, to open and close the backpack requires action points and movement costs are increased for the merc who wears the backpack, and they can't mantle low walls or climb to the second story of buildings.

Big backpacks go in the upper slot with the buckle and zipper icon. Small backpacks go in the lower one. You can only wear both at once if they are a TIMS pack.
Small backpacks can be kept on and are pretty great. The Tactical Tailor 3 day backpack is really awesome for a combat soldier.

-

The A-Z of armor

Each piece of armor covers one of three zones, head, torso and leg. Protection isn't perfect, you can get hit outside your armor depending on the dice roll, see the "coverage" value.

Vests need armor plates to be effective.

Concordat posted:

The Dyneema vest and leggings protect just as much as the Spectra equivalents do, but they weigh less. For some odd reason the Dyneema helmet doesn't follow this, and actually has slightly worse protection and coverage than the Spectra helmet. It's still lighter though.

Also Compound-18 makes your equipment heavier, whereas the Royal Jelly makes it slightly lighter.

The Zylon and SWAT equipment have the added bonus of letting you attach more than just a plate or knee protector.

The EOD equipment provides the best protection but is very heavy and reduces your APs slightly. Also you can't put Sungoggles/NVG on the helmet. I would say best overall setup would be Coated Spectra Helmet, Coated Dyneema Vest and Leggings, with Ghillie equipment, Ceramic plates, and leg protectors.

The German Flecktarn Vest also provides some Woodland camo, allowing you to max out your camouflage when combined with Ghillie equipment.

quote:

PROTECTION is basically how good the armor is at stopping a bullet or other attack from reaching the target's flesh. It actually removes some (or all) of the bullet's damage potential. The higher the Protection value, the more damage it can stop. Also, the more protection an armor item has, the less it will be damaged by any attack it manages to block (partially or completely).

This value also takes into account any attachments added to the armor, such as Ceramic Plates. Please note however that the value shown in the Enhanced Description Box is not the ACTUAL value - it doesn't take into account the armor's status! To see the actual value, hover your cursor over the armor item in your inventory screen.

COVERAGE is also very helpful in stopping bullets. Actually, it determines whether the armor gets a chance to interfere at all! An armor item with low coverage is unlikely to prevent any bullet from slipping through and causing full damage to the target. For instance, a helmet with very good Protection value but very low Coverage value will simply not get the chance to stop the bullet! Waste of helmet space!

The DEGRADE PERCENTAGE icon looks the same as a weapon's "reliability" indicator, as they have a similar effect on two completely different types of items. In essence, it controls how quickly the armor disintegrates whenever it is hit by an attack, just as weapon reliability controls how quickly a weapon degrades through use. Powerful bullets with armor piercing properties will hurt an armor more, but a low armor degrade percentage helps balance this out. Degrade percentage is better when lower! A lower value means sturdier armor that does not easily degrade when struck.

Combat soldier essentials:
* Helmet
* Armor vest (with ceramic plates)
* Leggings
* Extended ear (worn on head)
* Night vision goggles/sun goggles (worn on head/helmet)
* Gas mask (readily accessible, eg on vest)
* LBE vest appropriate for armament.
* First aid kit
* Canteen
* Camo paint



Leg LBE is optional, you might want it for more ammo capacity.
The big backpacks can be used but you have to remember to drop them everytime you enter combat to decrease your weight.

Sniper essentials:
* Ghille suit
* Extended ear (worn on head)
* Night vision goggles/sun goggles (worn on head/helmet)
* Gas mask (readily accessible, eg on vest)
* LBE vest appropriate for armament.

Leg holster with a machine pistol is a very good idea.
Big backpacks are do-able but you have to take them off to get on roofs.

Medics/mules should just take LBE and backpacks to carry your heavy stuff like tool boxes, medical kits, extra ammo and possibly heavy weapons.



Availability of equipment from Bobby Ray's is based off a "coolness" rating and the stock option you chose when starting a game.

quote:

Current Coolness level = (Current Progress / 10), Rounded down, +1.
So, if your current progress is 15, the coolness level is (15/10=1.5), rounded down (to 1), +1 = 2.

To find your current progress, press V in tactical or strategic mode.

Ammo

Check calibers carefully. At the start of the game the army will use old weapons with weird calibers that your fancy modern guns will not take.

If you want to scavenge then you should be aware that for a few weeks most ammo will be 9x19mm. This is an SMG caliber so rifles, battle rifles and shotgun ammunition will be in very short supply. If you have a 10mm SMG or a 7.62mm battle rifle you probably aren't going to get anything in the field until the game has progressed to three cities captured.

Huszsersvn posted:

-Red numbers indicate armor-defeating rounds.

-Blue numbers indicate hollowpoint rounds (extra damage to unarmored targets).

-White numbers indicate match ammunition (extra range).

-Yellow numbers indicate tracer ammo (increased autofire accuracy).

-Pink and light blue indicate cold-loaded ammo (reduced noise, best paired with silencers).

-Green numbers indicate frangible ammo (severe damage to unarmored targets, no effect with armor present).

Mister Bates posted:

You can actually crate ammo up and magically transform it into any sized magazine in that caliber (didn't know that until I asked around in this thread, funnily enough - it's not really documented anywhere). Ctrl+shift+A on the tactical map automatically crates up all your ammo by caliber, then you just pick up a crate in the sector inventory and click on one of your merc's guns to dispense magazines of the appropriate size.

Explanation of gun stats

http://www.bookgallery.co.il/JA2PublicPosts/statsguide/statsguide.asp

Which gun is right for me?

CQB = Close quarters battle

The most important thing to keep in mind is the range you are working at. Generally the longer effective range a gun has the longer it takes to aim and shoot, a sniper rifle might take out one target in close quarters but the SMG will chew through two or three.


* Pistols
Single handed, can be dual wielded
- High precision backup weapon, go for large calibers.

There is very little to compare between pistols, as they differ mostly by damage, range, and the caliber they can use. Since bullets are equally available for all these calibers, then we'll be concentrating mostly around range, damage and speed.

Due to the way we use pistols, the most important factor is usually their speed. We'll want a pistol that can put a large number of bullets into an enemy in as little time as possible. This is especially true in the late game, when pistols become sidearms and are used when an enemy has been detected in very close proximity. Due to their 0 AP-to-draw value, you can switch to a pistol immediately, which makes it exceptionally quick.


* Machine Pistols
Single handed, can be dual wielded
- Low precision backup weapon. Should always be used on burst/auto.

Machine Pistols are very similar to pistols, and in many cases offer the same stats, except with burst/auto capabilities. Therefore, Machine Pistols compete with regular pistols in range and speed, as well as with other Machine Pistols also in the AP to Burst/Auto and the Burst/Auto Penalty stats.

On the whole, Machine Pistols outclass many Pistols. Later in the game, Machine Pistols will completely outclass the Pistol category in all but size and caliber. Of course, Machine Pistols will also themselves be outclassed by SMGs.


* SMGs
- Close quarters only, big magazines, quick to aim and shoot, good for stealth work.

SMGs cover the range between "Close" and "Sight" distances. They are often very quick, at least compared to assault rifles, and some of the later SMGs are as quick as pistols, making them some of the best (if not the best) close-range weapons in the game. SMGs also carry the same amount of ammo as assault rifles (30 bullets, usually), and retain good accuracy and firing rate. They are limited in the number of attachments they can use, but the available attachments are usually the most important ones for the ranges involved.


* Assault rifle
- The jack of all trades workhorse. Slower in CQB than an SMG but better range and more damage.

With the appearance of assault rifles that can fire beyond visible range, the tactics of the game change considerably. Scopes allow us to target enemies that would otherwise be untouchable, and requires us to establish firing positions rather than outmaneuver the enemy. The Assault Rifle family is probably best suited for this role, mainly because its versatile members can act at mid range and also supply firepower for closer encounters, at rather reasonable AP costs.

Assault Rifles can take a whole lot of different attachments, tailoring each rifle to a specific purpose. Even without these attachments, ARs can still effectively engage enemies at sight-range and closer, although they are less suited for this role than SMGs. Scopes are almost essential for proper AR use. For the first time, accuracy becomes very important, as it will greatly assist these rifles in aiming at their targets.


* Rifle
Semi auto only
- Decent range. Not as good as an assault rifle at close range, not as good as a sniper at long.

The Rifle category is a bizarre one, as it acts mostly as "filler" between the pistol category and the sniper-rifle category. These guns offer an alternative to the comparatively-innaccurate Assault Rifles, while giving up the ability to fire on full-auto or burst mode. As such, they are suited for players who like firing accurately at longer distances, but often become rather useless at closer range.


* Sniper rifle
- Great at range. Low firerate makes poor CQB. Generally go for semi-auto.

The sniper rifle group appears relatively late in the game, and is comprised of particularly accurate, albeit slow weapons. Often firing special ammunition, these weapons cause exceptionally high damage. Their ability to use 10x Scopes allows them to effectively hit targets that are out of sight range, and some of these are so good they can hit a target clear across the sector.

Most sniper rifles are bolt-operated, meaning you have to pay a certain amount of APs between each and every shot. This effectively reduces their speed dramatically. But of course, they are more accurate, and hence still useful.


* MG
High weight!
- For dedicated firesupport. Too slow for CQB. Bulky but useful at mid-long range.

The biggest drawbacks of machine guns are weight (can be over 10kg empty!) and high AP cost to draw. This is why they are best used when already prepared and lying down - in which case they can start raining lots of fire before they have to reload. Unfortunately, they often have relatively low rates of fire, so it will actually take them longer to fire the same amount of bullets as an assault rifle. The rule of thumb is - if you find that you keep reloading in combat, use a Machine Gun. Otherwise, stick with assault rifles - they have the advantage of aimed-shots, and can usually take much better attachments. Naturally, many rifles can also accept magazine enhancing attachments, so always consider those before switching to a Machine Gun.


* Shotguns
- For close range combat with Mercs who have poor marksmanship.

The shotgun family is quite diverse, because it is defined not by range or attachments but by size. Therefore, we have pistol-sized shotguns, and big repeating shotguns, and long-ranged shotguns, pretty much everything. The shotgun's main advantage over weapons similar to it is the huge amount of damage caused by the shell. Additionally, Buckshot bullets behave VERY differently from regular shots - they'll often knock a target out even if they don't kill it, and can hit a target even if the shooter missed. All in all, these can be considered specialty weapons - they don't outclass any other weapons, and they aren't outclassed by any other weapon.

With recent updates to 1.3 shotguns have choke attachments that can make them terrifying in close combat.


* Heavy
High weight!
- The fun toys. All do the same damage, only accuracy, weight and range vary.

Grenade launchers, rocket launchers and mortars. Grenades are anti-infantry, rockets are anti-vehicle and mortars are multipurpose. Grenade launchers are the fastest and most flexible which can make them quite a devastating middle range weapon. Rocket launchers are too expensive and slow to use which makes them more specialized and less suitable against infantry. Mortars make you stay stationary to use so occupy a true support role.

Combat range

CQB

Machine pistols, SMGs or assault rifles.
No calibers above 5.56.

Soldiers

Assault rifles
5.56-7.62

Sniper

Rifle, sniper rifle, some assault rifles.
7.62 minimum.



Hover your mouse over a weapon to see available attachments in Bobby Ray's (guns only).

* Barrel extensions
Pretty rare, increases maximum range.

* Bipod

Only works when prone. Increases the chance-to-hit of any shot fired by a flat amount. Also reduces the Burst/Autofire penalty by the same amount.

* Caliber kits
Rare. Increase the caliber of the specific gun. More damage but increased weight and decreased magazine capacity.

* Foregrip

Reduce penalty for firing burst/auto.

* Gripod

Bipod and foregrip in one, slightly worse than each on their own but a lot lighter. Useful on assault rifles and MGs.

* Flash supressor

Hides muzzle flash at night, silencer does the same. This makes you harder to be detected.
You can tell if you are flash suppressed by a crossed out thunderbolt icon on your weapon's stat sheet.

* Folding/retracting stock

Lower AP cost for first shot aiming but reduces CTH by one percent. Beware, folding stocks attach to some guns, retracting to others.

* Lasers

Increases CTH depending on range to target, shown as Best-Laser-Range stat. Won't work at long range. Must be in good condition to provide maximum bonus.
There are several combo laser units, they mostly add some kind of visible range enhancement.

* Silencers

Only for stealth. Reduce loudness rating of gun. Needs cold loaded ammo to work well. It's very hard to tell how effective this is.

* Scopes


Affect your aiming bonus and maximum damage. Keep in mind the higher the zoom, the higher the tunnel vision. Close range combat you want less zoom, you'll still get an aiming benefit from the scope without restricting what you can see.
Reflex: For CQB guns
Kobra: Reflex for AK style guns
2x: For CQB to medium range
4x: For medium range
4x Combo: Has a built in reflex, giving you best of both worlds.
7x: Medium-long range
10x: Long range
Other scopes: Specialized scopes for guns that don't take regular ones.

Check out what the blind spots are like on a scoped FOV, you can see why this would make it problematic in CQB:


* Beta C adapter
This lets you use the 100 round drum magazines. Increases AP to reload, takes up an attachment slot and substantially increases weight
You do not actually need a 100 round drum, you can load from any magazine of the right caliber to get a total of 100.



CTH = Chance To Hit

Damage

The short of it is,

1. Base damage is decided by the weapons damage stat (Remember, this stat changes based on the ammo loaded)
2. This is further affected by where it hits the target, head more, limbs less.
3. A random value of up to +/- 25% is added or removed from the damage.
4. The damage then has a boost based on how good your CTH roll was. The higher the CTH the higher the average damage will be, this represents your aim being better instead of just winging the target.
5. The target's armor is now removed from the damage. This is where the type of bullet you are firing comes into play, cold loaded and hollowpoints do worse against armor.

You do 1.5x damage to the head.
You do 0.25x damage to legs and crit chance is reduced by half.
High damage and high amount of AP spent aiming for a shot increase crit chance.

If the head is hit, reduce wisdom.
If the torso is hit, reduce either Strength or Dexterity. There's a 50/50 chance for either skill to be damaged, but not both.
If the legs are hit, reduce Agility.

The full math behind damage:
http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=195232&page=1#Post195232

Armor

Here's the good news, your armor degrades way slower than the enemies! Anywhere from one to a couple of shots can destroy a piece of armor on the enemy, removing all protection from that body part! Even those hollowpoint 9mm rounds will negate armor, eventually.

Teargas

Burning Mustache posted:

Tear gas will essentially drown the stamina of any person not wearing a gas mask and standing inside its radius. The reduction works pretty quick and will usually drain enough stamina for an unprotected person to fall to the ground in the initial turn (when the grenade "explodes"), and the rest of the entire stamina bar in the turn afterwards, which will knock any merc or enemy out for at least 3 or 4 turns.
Also note that gas masks should always be maintained at 100% status for full protection.



Efficient use of AP
* The right tool for the job
Use the right size of gun for the range you are working at. A lot of the time you won't have a choice but a sniper or support mercs are much better off swapping to their backup weapon when repositioning. You don't want to get a surprise interrupt at close range while holding a long range rifle or heavy weapon.

* The right stance
If you are in a situation where you might need to change your angle of fire then prone might not be a great idea. It costs a lot more AP to look around when you are prone than the other stances.

* The right magazines
As pointed out by XTimmy reloading from magazines that aren't the right capacity for your gun costs more AP. You do not want to try and reload a SMG from pistol mags or an unmodified AR from drum mags when in combat.

* The right amount of firepower
Aimed shots always get good results but at close range burst or auto fire can give more efficient use of your AP. It normally takes two shots to kill a target, two aimed shots could cost 50-80AP each but one burst might only be 45.

* Preparation
If you have less than half a magazine left then reload in any breaks in combat. Always move in crouch-run to avoid having to change stance for an interrupt. Position support mercs in advance of combat to cover where you estimate the enemy will be found.

* Muling
Like a lot of RPGs it's a good idea to use a non-combat character to carry the heavy stuff. Higher weight sucks your APs so let your medic carry gear or ammo you don't need for a round of combat. A soldier shouldn't be lugging a repair kit around.

Burst and auto

Yeah there's less AP used in burst but two aimed shots is still going to kill anyone so why use anything else? Burst and auto have a lot of benefits, so long as you are within a reasonable range. An aimed shot can still miss, every shot from burst or auto is another chance to hit, although that decreases some each shot. On top of that every hit reduces the target's armor even if it does no damage, so there is a lot more killing potential in giving someone several bullets. At close range you should be lighting someone up with three rounds minimum and you'll get a great CTH due to the range.

Tracer ammunition also boosts your chance to hit in burst and auto fire mode.

Fields of fire

Stick to a wall at all times and you have one direction you are guaranteed to be covered from. Use walls and other obstacles to limit your exposure, standing next to a wall limits you to fire from only 180 degrees instead of 360.

Rooftops

A mixed blessing. Makes a great prone spot for snipers and machine-gunners but leave them extremely vulnerable due to tunnel vision.

Carecat fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Nov 5, 2012

LumberingTroll
Sep 9, 2007

Really it's not because
I don't like you...
Awesome, Wish this was here when I was fighting with mine to work properly :) You should also point out the custom interfaces, they help to make it look quite a bit nicer.

Link
http://rapidshare.com/files/111124911/ja2v1.13-interfaces.zip

I used the woodland one, but there are three or four in here. there is also a couple more promising ones being developed still but are not done just yet (unless you don't mind only plying in 800x600)


EDIT: I'm not sure if its a general bug but Ive noticed when I open inventory on some characters the game will CTD in full screen mode, haven't seen it happen in windowed though.

LumberingTroll fucked around with this message at 18:22 on Jan 11, 2009

The Noble Nobbler
Jul 14, 2003
This game is fun, it's too bad you can't mod gametap games

edit: I also miss sirtech, wizardry owned :(

Carecat
Apr 27, 2004

Buglord

TR0LL posted:

EDIT: I'm not sure if its a general bug but Ive noticed when I open inventory on some characters the game will CTD in full screen mode, haven't seen it happen in windowed though.

I haven't had it CTD yet. but I'm not using a custom inventory. It might be related?

There seems to be a CTD on the sector inventory if there are hundreds of items lying around.

LumberingTroll
Sep 9, 2007

Really it's not because
I don't like you...
not using the new inventory? you should try it, its awesome, and I dont thing the CTD is related to that, when I was using the other exe it never happened. dunno I guess

Also anyone know where to get some custom face packs?

Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.

webcomics thread posted:

I haven't had it CTD yet. but I'm not using a custom inventory. It might be related?

Same. Gotta be the custom skins.

Also, you might wanna put this in the OP
http://ja2v113.pbwiki.com/ja2_and_1_13_hot_keys

Lots of useful shortcuts, including a lot of 1.13 specific ones that let you sell items, unload equipment, stack equipment in the sector inventory (usfeul if you don't want to have 3 inventory screens full of 5.56 magazines) and tons more.

BiggestOrangeTree
May 19, 2008
REVEAL_ITEMS_AFTER_COMBAT = TRUE
Enemies drop all items
CAN_SELL_ALT_LMB = TRUE
PRICE_MODIFIER = 1

Who needs mines? :cool:

Ichabod Tane
Oct 30, 2005

A most notable
coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.


https://youtu.be/_Ojd0BdtMBY?t=4
I love this game. It might be my favorite one; I always seem to come back for more. I just wish there was a bigger map these days. Different cities too.

Sigma-X
Jun 17, 2005
Bought this game during the steam sale and it's absolutely fantastic.

You can get a one-click installer here rather than downloading Tortoise because you're not going to be changing the source so who the gently caress cares:

http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/board/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=172234&page=1#Post172234

LumberingTroll
Sep 9, 2007

Really it's not because
I don't like you...
That one click installer is nice but its not the most recent version, the most recent is 2445 and that version is 2296

This is what we mean by they suck at documentation and organization.

Also "Enemies Drop all Items" should be unmarked in the 1.13 there is a new drop table

options.inf entry
ENEMIES_ITEM_DROP = 1

Which drop item system for enemies and militia would you like to use?

0 = Use default drop item system for enemies and militia.
1 = Use the new drop item system from XML-Files (EnemyWeaponDrops.xml, EnemyAmmoDrops.xml, EnemyArmourDrops.xml, EnemyExplosiveDrops.xml, EnemyMiscDrops.xml) for enemies and militia. You also have to disable "Enemies drop all items" in the option screen, to use the new drop item system.

fungi^2
Oct 2, 2004

people say i'm a fun guy
I wish they'd go ahead and make another real release of 1.13 so we wouldn't have to do all this svn stuff.

Great post though.

a podcast for cats
Jun 22, 2005

Dogs reading from an artifact buried in the ruins of our civilization, "We were assholes- " and writing solemnly, "They were assholes."
Soiled Meat

TR0LL posted:

Also "Enemies Drop all Items" should be unmarked in the 1.13 there is a new drop table

What are the new drop tables like? Namely, how much and what do the enemies drop in comparison to the drop-all option?

LumberingTroll
Sep 9, 2007

Really it's not because
I don't like you...

Tonton Macoute posted:

What are the new drop tables like? Namely, how much and what do the enemies drop in comparison to the drop-all option?

Im not sure really, I guess you could open the xml files it lists.

Carecat
Apr 27, 2004

Buglord
We could host the SVN build but at 600MB~ it's not going to fit most places. Fileplanet might take it but we have to get it on there somehow.

A few things we need to investigate,

Can we find out the current effect of all the skills?
Do tracers have any effect?
What do flash hiders do?
What are the downsides of Beta C magazines?
What does tear gas do exactly?
Can a stealth camo merc with a cold loaded silenced SMG successfully ninja a night map or is he still going to get swarmed?

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

Put this link in the OP. Some of the guides there aren't for newbies, but it divulges a huge amount of info about the game and 1.13 that isn't otherwise documented. Of particular interest is the Chance to Hit guide, it's massive and goes into great detail.

Folding/Retractable stocks may or may not improve interrupt chances, but it certainly reduces the AP required to ready a weapon, making it "faster".

Tracers have an effect on accuracy in Full Auto mode. Usually I believe you have a penalty for each subsequent bullet, tracers reduce this penalty.

Flash suppressors do what the name suggests. It reduces the muzzle flash when firing your weapon, making you less visible. You can't target someone directly if you spot their muzzle flash, but you do see where they fired from, this is what the suppressor eliminates. It has a bigger impact in night missions, obviously.


Also I just compressed the latest SVN build down to 187MB and can upload that somewhere if someone finds me a place to do it at.

Carecat
Apr 27, 2004

Buglord

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

Flash suppressors do what the name suggests. It reduces the muzzle flash when firing your weapon, making you less visible. You can't target someone directly if you spot their muzzle flash, but you do see where they fired from, this is what the suppressor eliminates. It has a bigger impact in night missions, obviously.

:confused:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_suppressor

quote:

A flash suppressor does not reduce the visibility of the flash to anyone down-range of the weapon, including the would-be target of the shooter.

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004


I guess that shows my complete inexperience with real world weapons.

I still think it reduces your visibility to the enemy when firing a weapon in game though. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, though.

ElProducto
Oct 9, 2001
if you want to live low, live low

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

I guess that shows my complete inexperience with real world weapons.

I still think it reduces your visibility to the enemy when firing a weapon in game though. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, though.

It's been a long time since I played, but I don't remember there being any way to see muzzle flashes anyway. I always assumed it just made you a little more accurate.

Beeb
Jun 29, 2003

Good hunter, free us from this waking nightmare

Flash suppressors are often used to reduce the blinding effect on the user of the weapon, especially at night. Doesn't really apply to the dudes they're shooting at. At least that's how I've always understood it. Honestly, a suppressor should be able to fill this role as well as make your weapon quieter, provided you're using subsonic (cold) ammunition.

Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

I guess that shows my complete inexperience with real world weapons.

I still think it reduces your visibility to the enemy when firing a weapon in game though. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, though.

ElProducto posted:

It's been a long time since I played, but I don't remember there being any way to see muzzle flashes anyway. I always assumed it just made you a little more accurate.

There is a muzzle flash simulated in the game. Sometimes, especially during night missions, you may get enemies firing at you which you cannot see. Once they have fired one shot though, they may become visible for a very brief time, this is supposed to simulate the muzzleflash. Sometimes you can even get an interrupt on an enemy in this situation.
The system works both ways of course, thereby creating situations where, after you have fired a single bullet on an enemy, another enemy, who may have just been looking in your merc's direction, may get an interrupt on that merc.
Muzzle flash surpressors will avoid this and are therefore very, very useful in night missions. I don't think they do anything else though (like improving accuracy).


As for some of the other questions:

Beta C-Mags don't have a downside per se, but if I remember correctly, some guns need to be equipped with an adapter to take them, which means one less slot for other attachements. I might be wrong on this though.

Tear gas will essentially drown the stamina of any person not wearing a gas mask and standing inside its radius. The reduction works pretty quick and will usually drain enough stamina for an unprotected person to fall to the ground in the initial turn (when the grenade "explodes"), and the rest of the entire stamina bar in the turn afterwards, which will knock any merc or enemy out for at least 3 or 4 turns.
Also note that gas masks should always be maintained at 100% status for full protection.

Single merc ninja missions in non-special sectors (like SAM sites) are definitely possible on experienced difficulty and with a top-notch merc (Shadow, Magic, etc.), though you may always have some bad luck of course.

Carecat
Apr 27, 2004

Buglord
I just found out how you aim properly :ohdear: I thought it was automatic when you started shooting at someone.

It might though be as it seems a bit excessive to have to look at every target before you shoot?

Thanks for the help though guys. I have a crappily timed save so I need to do a load of fighting before I can call in equipment and test things myself. Not that it always helps, bipods for example are only listed as having a +10 bipod bonus without any indication of what this affects although it must be CTH.

Carecat fucked around with this message at 00:43 on Jan 12, 2009

particle409
Jan 15, 2008

Thou bootless clapper-clawed varlot!
I love this game, but haven't played it in a while. Time to try these new mods. I periodically check to see if any news about JA3 is out. Apparently the release date got moved from Q4 2008 to Q1 2010...

Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.

webcomics thread posted:

Not that it always helps, bipods for example are only listed as having a +10 bipod bonus without any indication of what this affects although it must be CTH.

Might wanna check this page out:
http://www.bookgallery.co.il/JA2PublicPosts/statsguide/statsguide.asp

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

webcomics thread posted:

I just found out how you aim properly :ohdear: I thought it was automatic when you started shooting at someone.

It might though be as it seems a bit excessive to have to look at every target before you shoot?

It is automatic. What happens is that you only have to ready your weapon once. If it's not readied, it'll spend an extra couple APs to ready the weapon when you start firing. If it is already ready, you don't have to spend these APs. So it doesn't really matter if you're moving and shooting on the same turn, but if you're not, it's always smart to aim your weapon in a direction before you end the turn.

There are a few side effects to this. If you have a scope on your weapon, doing this will force your mercenary to look through the scope. This can often reduce peripheral vision, so keep a person looking through their scope covered on the sides. Also every time you move, you put the weapon down again.

For people unaware of what we're discussing, if you press L and click on a square, you look in the direction of that square. If you press L again and look in the same direction, you raise your weapon and start looking down its sights.

Idiot
Dec 21, 2006
AM I DOING THIS RIGHT?

webcomics thread posted:

Do tracers have any effect?
Tracers boost your chance to hit in burst and autofire mode. I'm pretty sure they also light up the path the bullet takes for a moment so you can see any enemies that may be hidden in the darkness.

webcomics thread posted:

What do flash hiders do?
When you fire your gun without a flash suppressor the muzzle flash from your gun will reveal you in the dark for a moment every time you fire. I consider flash suppression to be required gear for all my mercs, but the flash suppressor is still useless since silencers have the same effect plus the bonus of sound suppression.

webcomics thread posted:

What are the downsides of Beta C magazines?
Well, they take longer to reload, but that probably won't be a problem anyway.

webcomics thread posted:

What does tear gas do exactly?
I'm pretty sure that teargas very quickly drains the victim's stamina, which will make them pass out or at least put them at a huge disadvantage. I think mustard gas also drains the enemies stamina in addition to the health drain, so it's probably best to just use mustard gas all the time.

webcomics thread posted:

Can a stealth camo merc with a cold loaded silenced SMG successfully ninja a night map or is he still going to get swarmed?
The most fun I've had in the game is starting up a new Iron Man game, giving my IMP Night-Ops, hiring Igor, taking Drassen Airport, and buying a pair of Magpul PDRs and NVGs. The highlight of taking the other sectors of Drassen was a turn where I got no fewer than 6 interrupts in a row at nearly point blank range. One of my mercs had taken his first hit in the previous turn and I knew he couldn't handle the group of enemies hanging around just outside of my sight range, so I had him stand up and run straight away from the enemies. I positioned my other merc around the corner of the building that the enemies would run by. I had no idea it would work out so well. I've never killed so many enemies in one turn with one merc before.

If I hadn't been in Iron Man mode I probably would have just reloaded after I got shot. For people like me who have problems with saving way too much I highly recommend Iron Man mode. It makes the game way more fun.

Edit: Wow, I'm slow.

Sigma-X
Jun 17, 2005

TR0LL posted:

That one click installer is nice but its not the most recent version, the most recent is 2445 and that version is 2296

This is what we mean by they suck at documentation and organization.

Also "Enemies Drop all Items" should be unmarked in the 1.13 there is a new drop table

options.inf entry
ENEMIES_ITEM_DROP = 1

Which drop item system for enemies and militia would you like to use?

0 = Use default drop item system for enemies and militia.
1 = Use the new drop item system from XML-Files (EnemyWeaponDrops.xml, EnemyAmmoDrops.xml, EnemyArmourDrops.xml, EnemyExplosiveDrops.xml, EnemyMiscDrops.xml) for enemies and militia. You also have to disable "Enemies drop all items" in the option screen, to use the new drop item system.
Is there a changelog somewhere? am I missing something important? Is my save file compatible with new versions? I'm thinking about re-starting because I'm playing sci-fi mode and gently caress that. I've got Drassen and Alma though, and they were kinda hard to win...although now that I know how to play the game it'll be easier, I'd imagine :D

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:


Also I just compressed the latest SVN build down to 187MB and can upload that somewhere if someone finds me a place to do it at.

rapidshare.com

I'm playing sci-fi mode and as a result I'm in the mines. gently caress these bugs. I'm running out of ammo fighting them - I didn't realize I'd have to be prepared for 6 or so screens worth of these fucks. I've got Tixa, Alma, and Drassen...I'm thinking about re-starting and not playing sci-fi anymore. The mines are the only thing sci-fi mode adds?

Idiot
Dec 21, 2006
AM I DOING THIS RIGHT?

webcomics thread posted:

Gamestyle go realistic. Sci Fi is annoying. It adds evil bugs to one of the mines who are a pain in the rear end.

Isn't there an INI option to turn the bugs off? I always play in sci-fi mode for the extra sci-fi only weapons.

Also, even though you linked to a big list of hotkeys I think you should specifically mention insert and delete in the OP because they are super useful and I can't be the only one that didn't know about them until a few weeks ago even though I supposedly read through that hotkey list in the past.

And I guess it is a matter of playstyle, but I consider wisdom to be essential. I've never made an IMP merc that didn't have 85 wisdom. Not only does it affect the rate that your skills increase, but it is also the hardest stat to raise.

The stats I chose for my last merc were:

HP: 65
Dex: 85
Agi: 85
Str: 85
Wis: 85
Ldr: 35
Mrk: 85
Exp: 0
Med: 35
Mec: 0

Thats a lot of 85s.

Idiot fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jan 12, 2009

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

1.13 build 2445

I hate sites like rapidshare so I decided to go with Filefront.

Beeb
Jun 29, 2003

Good hunter, free us from this waking nightmare

If someone could compile a list of what weapons can take what attachments, they'd be my new best friend.

Edit:

Is there a reliable god mode switch? I'd like to make some goofy rear end gimmick runs, like a group of mercs armed with nothing but milsurp for that TFR themed round :v:

Dr. Video Games 0031
Jul 17, 2004

Idiot posted:

Isn't there an INI option to turn the bugs off? I always play in sci-fi mode for the extra sci-fi only weapons.

Also, even though you linked to a big list of hotkeys I think you should specifically mention insert and delete in the OP because they are super useful and I can't be the only one that didn't know about them until a few weeks ago even though I supposedly read through that hotkey list in the past.

And I guess it is a matter of playstyle, but I consider wisdom to be essential. I've never made an IMP merc that didn't have 85 wisdom. Not only does it affect the rate that your skills increase, but it is also the hardest stat to raise.

The stats I chose for my last merc were:

HP: 65
Dex: 85
Agi: 85
Str: 85
Wis: 85
Ldr: 35
Mrk: 85
Exp: 0
Med: 35
Mec: 0

Thats a lot of 85s.

How did you get that many 85s? Did you edit the IMP starting skill numbers?

Also if you have really high wisdom, it would be smart to have a lower marksmanship since that goes up incredibly fast with high wisdom.

Saint Septimus
Dec 9, 2005

Capn Beeb posted:

If someone could compile a list of what weapons can take what attachments, they'd be my new best friend.

Here's a list of weapons and what attachments they take, along with their stats. The formatting on it sucks though, and it most likely is still for the 25-pt AP scale, but you can always use the XML editor to look at the stats for your version of the game.

About god mode, there isn't a specific cheat for that, but there are a few cheat hotkeys, one of which heals characters.

Filthy Monkey
Jun 25, 2007

Dr. Video Games 0031 posted:

How did you get that many 85s? Did you edit the IMP starting skill numbers?

Also if you have really high wisdom, it would be smart to have a lower marksmanship since that goes up incredibly fast with high wisdom.

Nah, that the standard number of points. Close to my normal IMP scores, except that I put the 65 in strength instead of health. Though I agree marksmanship could certainly be sacrificed instead. My personal preferences for traits most of the time are night-ops/auto weapons or expert sniper, depending on whether I mainly plan to fight during night or day.

Arven
Sep 23, 2007
Where do you get mortars? I've been playing this game off and on for years and never found one.

Perfidia
Nov 25, 2007
It's a fact!
This is my most favourite game ever, but I have never bothered to try 1.13 because I got the feeling that they stopped caring for the game and instead just wanted to put in thousands of weapons and things, and that was not what I was interested in. (I love the people, how they react and behave, and how they fight or like others in the party.) I even stopped with the svn downloading a long time ago because of this so thank-you very much Dr. Video Games for getting me that download. (I cannot even get the svn download any more because the computer sort of lost a few pieces...)

Arven posted:

Where do you get mortars? I've been playing this game off and on for years and never found one.

I always find at least one in Grumm, in that north-east part with warehouses inside fences, and also often in the SAM site south of Cambria. Plus some random patrols later in the game can have them, and half the drat enemies in Meduna love them to blast my militias...


By the way, how is the game now with using 1.13? Is it mostly just thirty tons of weapons and a few .ini options, or what? I forgot to follow the forums and see the new developments. Yes I see the OP etc, but that still seems mostly technical -- I wonder more about the "feel" of the game, if that can be compared to the original?

Burning Mustache
Sep 4, 2006

Zaeed got stories.
Kasumi got loot.
All I got was a hole in my suit.

Perfidia posted:

By the way, how is the game now with using 1.13? Is it mostly just thirty tons of weapons and a few .ini options, or what? I forgot to follow the forums and see the new developments. Yes I see the OP etc, but that still seems mostly technical -- I wonder more about the "feel" of the game, if that can be compared to the original?

There really is no reason not to play the game with 1.13.
It fixes a few bugs that were present in 1.12, it modifies to AI to be much, much more intelligent (flanking, distraction, supression fire, etc.), it adds the new inventory system which is just awesome and it adds a shitload of equipment.

Also, some of the game mechanics have been tweaked. Apart from the recently added 100 AP system (don't worry, all the movement and action costs will take a lot more APs than under the 25 AP system, obviously, it's just that some of the guns have distinct advantages / disadvantages to others when it comes to raising / reloading / shooting them), they also tweaked the armor system (taking into account that all armors have different cover percentages, only few cover the arms, and with every hit in the "torso" area, there is a chance of a bullet hitting one of the arms, where the armor won't protect you, etc.) and various other stuff.

It's a lot more than just a shitload of guns, and really, once you've played it, you will find that there really is no reason to play 1.12 again.

Treylis
Jul 8, 2004

As an American, I realize that my primary advantage lies in being as well-armed as possible at all times.
Some of the item descriptions in this game are pretty amusing.

quote:

AKS-47

Designed for portability and versatility with BMP APC's in mind, this AK is the Russian equivalent to a Walkman--trendy for its time, practical, and a cause of hearing loss.


.50 Action Express Mag

Magazine size, accuracy, and controllability are a fair trade-off for stopping power and coolness, right? Because if you're going to use an overpriced, impractical and unreliable handgun instead of a perfectly good rifle, you're going to need ammunition for it.

Treylis fucked around with this message at 10:08 on Jan 12, 2009

Carecat
Apr 27, 2004

Buglord
Thanks for the information. Updating the op.

I think that 1.13 wiki weapons and item page is out of date.

Carecat fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Jan 12, 2009

AG3
Feb 4, 2004

Ask me about spending hundreds of dollars on Mass Effect 2 emoticons and Avatars.

Oven Wrangler
This may or may not be obvious, but as written in the OP you can wear Night vision Goggles on the head/face slot or helmet. If you wear it on the helmet (as an attachment), you will NOT get any benefit from it. This is purely to make switching between sun goggles/night vision goggles or taking them off more convenient (aka not take up space in your inventory). This is fairly easy to see at night, as you will get a bigger "light" radius around your character when the NVG are on your head/face than when they are attached to the helm.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Davari
Jan 14, 2007
I do all my own stunts.
Awesome that this thread exists. JA2 is one of my favouritest games of all time and since I discovered the 1.13 patch a while back I've been playing it regularly.

Hopefully folks who have never heard of this game or don't know much about it will be inclined to buy it (since it's cheap) and try this patch out. Any fan of turn-based tactical squad games (X-Com, Silent Storm etc.) must play this game.

I'd also recommend it for people who have an abiding interest in realistic military simulations (since the array of weapons is very compelling to people who want to bone guns). Sure, computer games can get only "so" realistic, but JA2 + the 1.13 patch is still much better than most modern FPS games in terms of realism. AND it has a compelling story line and economy model to boot!

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply