Crying in the corner....

[Chillin]

I'm really trying to develop a liking for this game, I truly am. Back in 1996, I played JA1, and a few years later, I spent countless hours immersed in JA2. I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I know a thing or two about playing Jagged Alliance. I even played JA2 just last year and often daydreamed about a third GAME. Little did I know that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it even on the easiest level with Forgiving mode (whatever that's supposed to mean)!

The game's economy is completely broken, and the balance prevents any enjoyment,  with a few save/load attempts per level as it use to be. It's frustrating how much time it takes to win a single battle (when it's possible to win!) with constant save/loading, and that's on Easy mode!

Where are the shops? Why simplify things to the point where hovering over a table suggests buying a specific weapon? What happened to the intricate economy that made JA2 so popular? That was half the fun, including arranging gear for the mercenaries. Okay, so you got rid of night vision and earpieces, but what about weight? Feeling the weight was part of the immersion. There's also no fatigue indicator. If you burden a mercenary too much, they tire quickly and can't move that was the deal!

In JA2, you had the option to recruit 1-2 sharpshooters, equip them with good guns, and conquer 10-20% of the map, securing a mine and starting to earn money to build a larger team. But here, that strategy doesn't work. The first mine only produces $2,600 per day, which isn't even enough to cover the salaries of 2-3 mid-range mercenaries. Before, you could fight, acquire more guns, trade, buy ammo, upgrade weapons, and win more battles. But in this game, it's impossible because there's no ammo. Maybe you're a pro who can defeat 10-12 enemies armed with RPGs and machine guns using only 9mm pistols and short-range MP5s, but I can't, and quite frankly, I shouldn't have to. It should be enjoyable, not painful. 
Furthermore, I even attempted to play it Commandos style, trying to lure enemies and take them down with knives or suppressed weapons. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The enemy AI in this game is surprisingly good. They stick together in groups, with only a few straying from the pack. Once they catch a glimpse or hear an attack, they all converge like a swarm of 10-12 heavily armed mercenaries against my humble team of 2-3 starters with no armor and inadequate weapons. To make matters worse, there is no ammunition available for better weapons like sniper rifles or machine guns.

Alright, I managed to find a couple of Gewehr rifles and added suppressors, but why can't I buy or craft ammo for them? And no, it doesn't drop from snipers either (I rarely come across another loaded rifle on a dead body).

 

One thing I did like about the game is the new engine and graphics. You kept the ability to destroy the environment and added some special effects. Visually, the game is outstanding. Admittedly, it was a bit challenging to learn the new interface, but it's manageable and you eventually get used to it.

However, the issues mentioned above make it impossible for me to develop any affection for this game even keep playing it.

[sandman25dcsss]

There are 2 mods which can be useful in such situation:

1) starting gold is 1 mln

2) mines never run out of diamonds

[Solaris_Wave]

Reading comments like this, I am glad that the enemy AI is good in some ways but question why it is that good for the lower experienced enemy soldiers. However, the constant complaint I am seeing is the lack of ammo availability, even when there shouldn't be. Too much emphasis was made on the crafting system, to the point where it impacted logic and practicality. You are forced to play by rules that the enemy doesn't. There needs to be an availability of ammunition at all times, even if guns can't be retrieved, unless all enemy ammo was expended during a firefight (in which case they shouldn't be able to fire back). 

[sandman25dcsss]

A new mod has just appeared. "Changes droprate for everything to 100%"

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005342353

[Chillin]

23 minutes ago, sandman25dcsss said:

A new mod has just appeared. "Changes droprate for everything to 100%"

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3005342353

Thank you! I will try it! 

[ninjalex]

22 minutes ago, Chillin said:

The game's economy is completely broken, and the balance prevents any enjoyment,  with a few save/load attempts per level as it use to be. It's frustrating how much time it takes to win a single battle (when it's possible to win!) with constant save/loading, and that's on Easy mode!

I'm sorry, but if you having trouble winning battles on easymode while savescumming. I'm gonna say you need to drastically change your tactical approach to the game.

 

23 minutes ago, Chillin said:

In JA2, you had the option to recruit 1-2 sharpshooters, equip them with good guns, and conquer 10-20% of the map, securing a mine and starting to earn money to build a larger team. But here, that strategy doesn't work. The first mine only produces $2,600 per day, which isn't even enough to cover the salaries of 2-3 mid-range mercenaries.

You have to approach it differently then JA2 where you conquer each city with their corresponding mine. Here you can focus mines and grab a couple of them instead of conquering cities/zones and still they produce. So if you want income: Focus mines, and utilize other sources of income. The game is somewhat designed for the mines not being sufficient for top mercenaries, so hijack diamond transports and find other sources of income. Personally I'm playing the commandos difficulty and after grabbing a second mine, income for a mid tier team was no problem.

 

25 minutes ago, Chillin said:

Alright, I managed to find a couple of Gewehr rifles and added suppressors, but why can't I buy or craft ammo for them? And no, it doesn't drop from snipers either (I rarely come across another loaded rifle on a dead body).

 

You can craft ammo for them. You have to use operations at workshop/repair shop. Which gives you the craft ammo option.

[Elder III]

So far I've had lots of spare ammo, and haven't crafted any yet (due to very little gunpowder found up to this point). Are you searching everywhere in a sector with a high Wisdom merc? Crates and similar containers, especially locked ones tend to have good stuff in them too. 🙂 It seems that Intel operations reveals some (presumably) additional loot too.

[Jaywalker]

Being bad at the game... isn't the game's fault.

There are other ways to make money, and the income grows by a lot if you also make sure the associated town has high loyalty.

2 mines keep my team of IMP+4 comfortably supplied, and I turn a profit on intercepting smugglers and exploration, I am quite literally running your dream team of 2 marksmen with skill monkeys for support (cause it's an RPG, and you need to pass the skill checks), and this is without the guaranteed income of the "forgiving mode".

[GODSPEED]

1 hour ago, Chillin said:

However, the issues mentioned above make it impossible for me to develop any affection for this game even keep playing it.

I'm a pretty heavy 1.13 nutjob fanboy.

JA2 was a game about freedom. You were in a sandbox. It could be pretty easy to mess up a run, end up with a few dead mercs and then unable to hire decent mercs. Or run into money problems and ammunition issues very early on. Naturally, after you play that game a few times, we know the ways to get around it. But how many JA2 players ran a flawless game the first time... I highly doubt it. I remember uninstalling that game the frist time I played it. Felt my mercs couldn't hit a building at point blank.

Get through that initial frustration. Learn to conserve ammo, hire recruit mercs that offer incredible value for money (Buns, my love... I had to kick Grunty out of my team.. 🤣), and I already hit $98,000 after 4 weeks of in-game time. (2 full 14-day contracts with 5 mercs and my imp).

On my end, I'm actually thinking I should have gone with Commando (Medium) difficulty, because so far I've been floating in money. The only thing I have learnt I must do, is work on my ammo conservation. I equipped 3 AK-47's on my team very early on, and would always use burst. So now, I'm paying the price. Ran through my supply of 7.62 WP. But, that's my mistake, not game balancing. Same for the M-14 my IMP was using. I kept using it in burst. And on top of it, it had a mod to fire extra rounds on burst. I'm paying the price now, as I ran my supply of 7.62 NATO almost dry.

Honestly, I love this challenge. I love being able to resort to "survival" tactics. This actualyl works incredibly well for a game of this nature. This ISN'T xcom. I don't have a base of operations. I'm kind of a freeroaming band of mercs and I've yet to even acquire a town with a repair shop. (That's actualyl my own self-imposed main quest at the moment) I need to 'craft' some ammo now.

Yes, many game mechanics are different from JA2, but after a dozen hours of resetting my brain from 15+ years of 1.13... I'm quite enjoying this game and the surprises I'm getting.


The balance in the firefights, the tactics and the overall balance so far is quite forgiving. I've had my own imp be downed twice, but managed to save him from death twice. In JA2, he'd be dead. Game is a touch easier than I initially thought it would be.

Just push through it... you'll be fine!

Edited July 16, 2023 by GODSPEED

[Chillin]

Thank you all for your suggestions and thoughts!
I had to enable the mode for one battle. Now I have a hundred rounds of NATO ammunition, I can disable the mod and try to enjoy the game. 

[Grim]

Sir, I'm sorry to read you're having difficulties playing the game and enjoying it.

You shouldn't have such difficulties, especially with the options you took. Your playstyle may be unsuited to Grand Chien.

A few advices I can throw in :
- Recruit an IMP. From the start, you can access an I.M.P. web site. Go there, make your avatar, or follow my advice and make a leader (highest leadership, Negociator, Teaching, high WIS)
- Recruit ONLY cheap mercs, with specialities in Explosives, Medicine, Mechanic and preferably high WIS. Barry, Livewire and MD make one of the best starting teams you can have. Add in a combat engager if you want, I mean a merc that can stealthily engage an isolated enemy (knife or silenced snipe). Examples : Mouse, Igor, Blood for knife. Fox for shooting and keep surprise. Soo...
- Use Stealth and overwatch to engage combat. All team stealthed, position your shooters with overwatch over the enemies. Approach with your beast stealthy merc, knife the isolated enemy (takedown), or snipe (silenced) in the head for one-shot kills. You can keep undercover if done well. Using knifes and snipers that way you will spare a loooot of ammo.
- Go in every corner of each sector with your whole team, use ALT to highlight interactible containers. Loot them all. Hack the green things with High mec mercs (Livewire the best). Disarm traps with your explosive expert (ex : Barry).
- Do not loose too much time on non essential operations. Limit doctoring to mercs with more than 2 wounds. Put all team on different operations. Exploration can help a lot with intel on sectors, do not underestimate it (especially if you have Livewire, she can see all enemies in sector with intel). Recruit militia with your leader, but not too much. In Ernie recruit just once for the counter-attack and then leave. You can recruit another leader (ex : Raider) later to fill the place to avoid raids.
- Disassemble all weapons and armor you don't need for scraps. Use them to repair and mod your weapons. If you really lack ammo, make some at repair shops. Try to use snipers, knives, shotguns and SMGs in the beginning. Later use MGs sparingly, they are extremely powerful but eat bullets fast. Use grenades too, they are plenty and in the hands of a good explo expert they can do marvels on grouped enemies.
- During combat, snipe heads at max aim, use free movement as much as possible to close in, and pistol/smg special move+attack. When close use shotgun (devastating).
- Perks. Choose them accordingly to how you want to play the merc and what he already has. Free movement perks are great. Distraction shot can become super useful when the enemy starts to have overwatch or MGs, grit perks can be very good to tank. There are different ways to make melee effective via perks. Full stealth, free movement ninja, grit tank, or a mix of all. Dex perks are great for overwatch or snipe. The return fire perks tend to be really sub par in my experience.
- After Ernie island. Go get a mine first, and then start questing in a town. My advice is to go H7 (mine) then conquer Fleatown. You will be able to buy things there (ammo inc), start several quests and trade in the tiny diamonds (Oh, keep them for here by the way, and the relics for elsewhere, you'll thank me later). Then Port Cacao is a great next step but you choose.
Another route is going first B2, then Pantagruel, but it's a very long road and a big desert to cross.

Of course, you are free to play as you want, but since you are having a lot of trouble playing on the lowest difficulty, I can garanty you that playing as I said will make your adventure much easier.

Enjoy the game!

[Warmonger]

3 hours ago, Chillin said:

I'm really trying to develop a liking for this game, I truly am. Back in 1996, I played JA1, and a few years later, I spent countless hours immersed in JA2. I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I know a thing or two about playing Jagged Alliance. I even played JA2 just last year and often daydreamed about a third GAME. Little did I know that I wouldn't be able to enjoy it even on the easiest level with Forgiving mode (whatever that's supposed to mean)!

The game's economy is completely broken, and the balance prevents any enjoyment,  with a few save/load attempts per level as it use to be. It's frustrating how much time it takes to win a single battle (when it's possible to win!) with constant save/loading, and that's on Easy mode!

Where are the shops? Why simplify things to the point where hovering over a table suggests buying a specific weapon? What happened to the intricate economy that made JA2 so popular? That was half the fun, including arranging gear for the mercenaries. Okay, so you got rid of night vision and earpieces, but what about weight? Feeling the weight was part of the immersion. There's also no fatigue indicator. If you burden a mercenary too much, they tire quickly and can't move that was the deal!

In JA2, you had the option to recruit 1-2 sharpshooters, equip them with good guns, and conquer 10-20% of the map, securing a mine and starting to earn money to build a larger team. But here, that strategy doesn't work. The first mine only produces $2,600 per day, which isn't even enough to cover the salaries of 2-3 mid-range mercenaries. Before, you could fight, acquire more guns, trade, buy ammo, upgrade weapons, and win more battles. But in this game, it's impossible because there's no ammo. Maybe you're a pro who can defeat 10-12 enemies armed with RPGs and machine guns using only 9mm pistols and short-range MP5s, but I can't, and quite frankly, I shouldn't have to. It should be enjoyable, not painful. 
Furthermore, I even attempted to play it Commandos style, trying to lure enemies and take them down with knives or suppressed weapons. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. The enemy AI in this game is surprisingly good. They stick together in groups, with only a few straying from the pack. Once they catch a glimpse or hear an attack, they all converge like a swarm of 10-12 heavily armed mercenaries against my humble team of 2-3 starters with no armor and inadequate weapons. To make matters worse, there is no ammunition available for better weapons like sniper rifles or machine guns.

Alright, I managed to find a couple of Gewehr rifles and added suppressors, but why can't I buy or craft ammo for them? And no, it doesn't drop from snipers either (I rarely come across another loaded rifle on a dead body).

 

One thing I did like about the game is the new engine and graphics. You kept the ability to destroy the environment and added some special effects. Visually, the game is outstanding. Admittedly, it was a bit challenging to learn the new interface, but it's manageable and you eventually get used to it.

However, the issues mentioned above make it impossible for me to develop any affection for this game even keep playing it.

True Impressions. I am also wonder how to manage this all. I do not find ammo, cannot buy some and so on. I am on the main land right, got this first mine, looked into this slum town but now almost out of funds and everything wondering how to go on.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Warmonger

[GODSPEED]

14 hours ago, Warmonger said:

True Impressions. I am also wonder how to manage this all. I do not find ammo, cannot buy some and so on. I am on the main land right, got this first mine, looked into this slum town but now almost out of funds and everything wondering how to go on.

I went through this at one point.

How I fixed it:

Inventory management, made count of what I had. Took away all weapons, put all on the "ground" (sector stash).

Looked at how much ammo I had left for each caliber.

I even had to resort to going back to pistols with some mercs. MP5, Hi-Power, Shotgun. Only could have one Ak-47 and had 30 rounds with it. So no overwatch, and single-shot only.

I got through it.. and to be honest, I'm happy it happened. It taught me a lesson and actually made the game interesting. The next battle, found a little more 7.62 NATO, so I could actualyl give Buns her 98K with suppressor for a couple of takedowns.

Slowly getting back in shape. But I control my fire way more, less bursts and I don't rely on overwatch as much (I wish we could manage a weapons fire mode outside of "combat".