JA2 - Unknown happenings and details

[Taurean]

So i was inspired by some posts this thread: https://community.jaggedalliance.com/forums/topic/50-blood-amd-meat/#comment-2330

 

How about we all share strange things that was in the game, that we either found out by accident, by trying out, or some other way? I thought i knew almost everything. But reading those posts again i see there are things i didn't know. It enhances the game experience to know these things. This will be a long-running thread.

I can just share some few things to get things started. May be known to most players but maybe not to everyone.

- Though it's not a very ethical thing to do, you can marry Ira, or i think any woman, to the main hick Daryl, and they will give you access to the barn with the sniper scope and other gear. It is obviously best to dispose of them, since they are stealing from the shop in cambria, which will go out of business if they aren't disposed of in time. But remember to capture the town and get acquainted with Keith the shop owner before doing so, because i don't think you get the favor bonus if you don't. This may be a weigh-off, since the supplies the hicks have is a huge upgrade at this stage in the game. Personally i do dispose of them before taking cambria to get the supplies.

- If you make it to the end game, and face down Deidranna and Joe before her, if you can run up to him with a merc and offer him 20 000$, he will retire and run away.

- As someone did write in the thread i linked to, if Pablo starts telling you that equipment is missing, you can either hit him or shoot him (i think), and he will come clean and find it. This, along with the fact that if you talk to him directly with a high leadership merc, he will tell you "Pace is brutal around here, it would bury someone like you!" indicates that he is overworked and underpaid. If you give him a small amount of money between shipments, "coffee money", he will not lose shipments. This is a more ethical way to do things. If you kill him, a new worker will take his place, but he is worse, because he will simply forget things and you will lose the articles forever. If you kill him, there will be no option to order in supplies anymore. So "greasing Pablo's palms" is the only way to secure shipment, apart from the very rare occasions where it gets lost in the mail.

- Maybe a very known thing, but hiring Fox for 1 day, running to Estoni and hiring Maddog, you can do this early, will let you have him for free almost from the start of the game. He can pick the lock to the small room in the factory in Drassen and you will get the h&k mp5 there. He is free, high hp, an expert lockpick and a great asset to the team this early. He is obsessed with Fox since he obviously has seen her in the porn magazines ^^ and you can hire him with her, even if she has below ~30 leadership, which is normally required to hire him.

- Probably most know this, but you can dispose of the criminal mob in san mona when you feel ready for it, and the arms dealer Tony and his associate Hans will still let you trade with them, they will not turn hostile unless you act aggressive to them first. They are obviously not part of the mob.

- Despite being considered the "worst" merc, Flo can actually have a good use. It is mentioned in her dossier that she worked in a library and has extensive knowledge about guns and firearms. This will give her a +10% sales bonus when selling guns and firearms, as well as a 10% discount when buying. Put her in san mona with a couple of repair kits. Have a mule camp in Estoni and buy ceramic plates, and worn out guns, which jake sells very cheap. Occasionally run this mule to san mona and have flo start repairing these guns. She must be practiced up 5-6 points in mechanical skills before being able to repair, though. Then have her sell 100% repaired guns to Tony occasionally. This method guarantees that 1) You have a person in estoni that can continually buy compound 18, ceramic plates, and cheap medical gear and such, and also someone in san mona that continually are updated with buying new equipment from tony, as well as trading and netting you money everytime he returns from being out. You can use a cheap merc from M.E.R.C. for this, for example Gasket which has high mechanical skills, and have him repair items in san mona so flo doesn't have to do it all. You can travel with her from san mona to estoni continually, but this is very tiresome because you have to avoid combat, and she is weak and gets tired easily, making the travel planning a hassle.

- This may be seen as a cheat, although i do not think it is. If you want to avoid combat in a certain square, use this method: Enter the square with all the mercs either at the very top or bottom, or left or right side of the screen. Have them all sent out of the square, so that you are taken to the map again. Now, click on the travel orders, and cancel their travel destination. 5 minutes will automatically pass, and they will return to the square. Now, you can place them at the other side of the square, and leave the square in the direction you originally wanted to go, without facing down the enemies. This is very useful for making advances on towns without having to run low on bullets or medical gear, while also not wasting time. The town militia can deal with the enemy troops later, it takes you less time.

I will stop here because my dinner is ready ^^

Edited March 23, 2023 by Taurean

[Sarin]

You can send Deidranna flowers, and be rewarded with amusing cutscene (involving obligatory Elliot slapping). I have not yet experimented with sending flowers to other NPCs.

[Taurean]

I also wanted to share a post i made on the bear's pit forums, i'll copy it over since i made it myself. It's about hit percentage calculations, it is quite complex and i didn't find out 100% how it works, but here's a good part of it. If anyone has any more information about it, i would greatly appreciate it.

I just read through this guide: https://www.fadden.com/gaming/ja2/ja2-official-secrets.txt?fbclid=IwAR0GVDFORvV5H900H_QA6d0EBiTEqWB7LT26OLFFQYNwPbfUkh8U -2hWn0A

Guns with weapon range: https://fadden.com/gaming/ja2/weapons.html

I wonder if i have gotten it correctly with this:



Scope or Lynx shooting while prone against a prone enemy at 25 range with a Mini-14, 0 health and breath loss, 0 shock value, 4 aiming points. No bipod, laser scope or sniper scope. First time hitting, so the 10% bonus to hitting same enemy as last is ignored.

99 = Marksmanship
40 = Aiming points spent
20 = 10% bonus crouched, 20% bonus prone
-40 = 2% penalty each tile after the 5th; 2 x 20.
-29 = Gun range - (Sight range x 3) / 1.7. (Mini-14, 25 sight range x 3 - 25 = 50 / 1.7 = 29)
-40 = Prone enemy above sight range 14. 3% penalty up to 20% or 40% depending on crouching or prone.
-00 = Shock value = 10% of health loss and 5% of breath loss, up to 10, 5% to hit penalty each point.
-00 = Breath value, up to 50% with 0 breath points left. Reduced by dexterity; 100 dexterity = 10% of penalty.
-00 = Life loss value, up to 66%. Reduced by experience level; Level 9 = 80% reduction. Bandaged wounds penalty is halved.

159 - 109 = 50% chance to hit.
 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Taurean