What is the optimal route difficulty-wise after reaching the main land?

[J1v1n]

Where would you go first once you reach the main land if you would start over? Would it be Fleatown, the Refugee Camp, Port Cacao, or even something completely different? Are there any things you should consider first because they help you a lot for the rest of the game (e. g. recruiting a certain RPC)?
For the main part I'm interested in the optimal approach regarding difficulty, meaning easy sectors first and the advanced ones at a later point in time. 🧐

[GODSPEED]

I guess you have to wait for multiple persons to have finished the game, or the strategy guide.

I don't know if my route was the "best".. but once I left the island, I "felt" like the game WANTED me to go to the nearest port..
..so I went to the mine up north instead. 😅

Turned out to be a decent choice I think. It wasn't the "easiest" set of battles, but it was a good way to capture some income quickly. ..and I've been floating in money since, even started a second squad and haven't even needed another mine yet.

[LXant]

I'd say Fleatown, then up to the outpost (where you find Larry), then to the Refugee Camp and to unlock the communist questline and get the brothel quest going in Pantagruel. That paves the way to later go south and recruit Smiley once you go back to Fleatown.

But before you go there, you first go west to recruit Flay, get the mine ($6k or $7.5k, depending on your choice there, no loyalty requirement), the unique sniper rifle "Gold Fever" and then you can mostly forget about the entire area. It never comes under attack, makes you a good amount of money and you have the benefit of an early free merc.

With the Communist pamphlet in hand, and if you managed to get the ad for the brothel on it, you can hand it out practically everywhere (even to Flay when you recruit him) and under the most absurd circumstances, gives you free loyalty with Pantagruel and when you hit 100% loyalty there, you get the mine for free. A pretty powerful mine, which operates at $10k per day at 100% loyalty.

With Fleatown you also have access to the medicine from the loot boxes to recruit Larry, who you can later fully restore in the hospital in H12 for another good free merc. So now you have Flay, Smiley and Larry.

The free mercs, the money and the weapons provide you with enough means to get two full teams (or more) to actually fight the big battles, like rescuing Biff or defending the Port Cacao Museum from 20+ enemies.

After that it's up to you where you go, but if you did everything right, you should be on your way to also get Pierre to join you for another free merc. To my knowledge there are no more free mercs beyond those, although I hope there are.

But that's about how I think is a good way to approach the mainland.

[J1v1n]

That definitely are some good hints, thank you! 🤗

[Melliores]

@LXant There is at least another free merc with an achievement tied to recruiting them. 🙂

 

I went towards Fleatown and you do get a lot of good opportunities there to recruit mercs and get a lot of quests. That said, it might be better to start off with the mine at A2 - it does not have the Loyalty requirement and gives very good income. Also due to its location, it will never come under attack. From up there you can focus on Pantagruel and the Poachers, to get quickly another good mine once you hit 100% loyalty with the town and the Maquis.

 

The third option is port Cacao but that might be a bit of harder route, as the mine there is further inland and you will have quite a few fights before actually obtaining your first mine.

So I vote for Diamond Red mine at A2. 🙂

[LoboNocturno]

15 hours ago, LXant said:

I'd say Fleatown, then up to the outpost (where you find Larry), then to the Refugee Camp and to unlock the communist questline and get the brothel quest going in Pantagruel. That paves the way to later go south and recruit Smiley once you go back to Fleatown.

But before you go there, you first go west to recruit Flay, get the mine ($6k or $7.5k, depending on your choice there, no loyalty requirement), the unique sniper rifle "Gold Fever" and then you can mostly forget about the entire area. It never comes under attack, makes you a good amount of money and you have the benefit of an early free merc.

With the Communist pamphlet in hand, and if you managed to get the ad for the brothel on it, you can hand it out practically everywhere (even to Flay when you recruit him) and under the most absurd circumstances, gives you free loyalty with Pantagruel and when you hit 100% loyalty there, you get the mine for free. A pretty powerful mine, which operates at $10k per day at 100% loyalty.

With Fleatown you also have access to the medicine from the loot boxes to recruit Larry, who you can later fully restore in the hospital in H12 for another good free merc. So now you have Flay, Smiley and Larry.

The free mercs, the money and the weapons provide you with enough means to get two full teams (or more) to actually fight the big battles, like rescuing Biff or defending the Port Cacao Museum from 20+ enemies.

After that it's up to you where you go, but if you did everything right, you should be on your way to also get Pierre to join you for another free merc. To my knowledge there are no more free mercs beyond those, although I hope there are.

But that's about how I think is a good way to approach the mainland.

Totally agree, this route seems like the best so far, especially getting Flay is a key (if you can get Larry & Smiley even better), i tried to go directly from the Ernie Island to the North West where there is a mine with 10 slaves and their slave master with a "Golden Sniper Rifle", tried to kill a couple of his men by stealth but once you are detected he is sniping the slaves 1 by 1, guess you need 2 or 3 silenced sniper rifles for that sector if you don't want any of the slaves to be killed, so i changed my route to Fleatown (guess they took the name from Sierra Leone`s capital Freetown, where is also lots of blood diamonds), it makes sense to control Fleatown first then you can go slowly to the northern part of the desert land.

 

PS : How to recruit Flay, you need go to the "Poacher Camp" first in C5, you need to kill all enemies in the sector before you can talk to the hunter "Hyena Gilbert", then you need to find 3 dead bodies (1 in C6 and 2 in B4) after finding all 3, Flay will also appear in B4 where you can talk and get him. (Need a merc with wisdom 90, Barry or Buns as example could do it easily)

 

I didnt get Larry & Smiley yet, though i tried to get Smiley the first time i arrived to Fleatown, he is locked up in the room, behind the church, cracked the wall with C4 and talked to Smiley but once the convo is over the church getting ambushed by many strong enemies (Boss`s thugs i guess) so i just left it and will get him later.

 

Yes overall i also noticed only 4 recruitable characters, which is pretty small compared to JA2 which had (over 10).

 

BTW a question, i got Livewire as my mechanic (perhaps the most cartoony merc of the game) as she has a unique USB for hacking but she goes really into my nerves with her childish voice and speeches (we cant mute our mercs neither like in JA2) "I want my 15 minute break", but i noticed other mechanics such Steroid or Vicki can hack exactly the same amount of stuff too, guess i will change Livewire with Steroid for now and later on will get surely Vicki as my main mechanic.

Edited July 19, 2023 by LoboNocturno

[J1v1n]

I think I know now where my journey will take me. 🤠

PS: I see there is also already some information and tips on recruiting mercenaries outside of A.I.M..
Maybe we can summarize them in this thread.

[Skaldy]

On 7/19/2023 at 8:33 AM, LoboNocturno said:

Totally agree, this route seems like the best so far, especially getting Flay is a key (if you can get Larry & Smiley even better), i tried to go directly from the Ernie Island to the North West where there is a mine with 10 slaves and their slave master with a "Golden Sniper Rifle", tried to kill a couple of his men by stealth but once you are detected he is sniping the slaves 1 by 1, guess you need 2 or 3 silenced sniper rifles for that sector if you don't want any of the slaves to be killed, so i changed my route to Fleatown (guess they took the name from Sierra Leone`s capital Freetown, where is also lots of blood diamonds), it makes sense to control Fleatown first then you can go slowly to the northern part of the desert land.

 

PS : How to recruit Flay, you need go to the "Poacher Camp" first in C5, you need to kill all enemies in the sector before you can talk to the hunter "Hyena Gilbert", then you need to find 3 dead bodies (1 in C6 and 2 in B4) after finding all 3, Flay will also appear in B4 where you can talk and get him. (Need a merc with wisdom 90, Barry or Buns as example could do it easily)

 

I didnt get Larry & Smiley yet, though i tried to get Smiley the first time i arrived to Fleatown, he is locked up in the room, behind the church, cracked the wall with C4 and talked to Smiley but once the convo is over the church getting ambushed by many strong enemies (Boss`s thugs i guess) so i just left it and will get him later.

 

Yes overall i also noticed only 4 recruitable characters, which is pretty small compared to JA2 which had (over 10).

 

BTW a question, i got Livewire as my mechanic (perhaps the most cartoony merc of the game) as she has a unique USB for hacking but she goes really into my nerves with her childish voice and speeches (we cant mute our mercs neither like in JA2) "I want my 15 minute break", but i noticed other mechanics such Steroid or Vicki can hack exactly the same amount of stuff too, guess i will change Livewire with Steroid for now and later on will get surely Vicki as my main mechanic.

Game says Livewire can hack and obtain additional intel . I have never used someone other than Livewire so i cant compare but i believe she unlocks some interesting unique secret stashes and intel for nearby regions.

[Elder III]

Livewire gets additional bonus intel from hacking (I don't think it applies to cash from hacking, but not sure). With her I rarely have to use the Scouting Operation for Intel, which saves time and time is money. However, I think Livewire's greatest strength (aside from learning super fast with her 94? Wisdom), is her passive "Wallhack" ability. With her on my team I can see where every single enemy is as soon as I enter the sector, which makes stealth and combat both a breeze.

[LoboNocturno]

2 hours ago, Elder III said:

Livewire gets additional bonus intel from hacking (I don't think it applies to cash from hacking, but not sure). With her I rarely have to use the Scouting Operation for Intel, which saves time and time is money. However, I think Livewire's greatest strength (aside from learning super fast with her 94? Wisdom), is her passive "Wallhack" ability. With her on my team I can see where every single enemy is as soon as I enter the sector, which makes stealth and combat both a breeze.

Hmmm ok, yea her special skill is good for stealth missions (operations) but its not really needed imo, since the AI is so dumb i can also find the enemies easily by myself in stealth mode(the map is small anyway so it takes some seconds to detect them.) If the AI was really strong and the maps bigger only then her special ability would make sense imo.

Edited July 22, 2023 by LoboNocturno

[Skaldy]

3 hours ago, LoboNocturno said:

Hmmm ok, yea her special skill is good for stealth missions (operations) but its not really needed imo, since the AI is so dumb i can also find the enemies easily by myself in stealth mode(the map is small anyway so it takes some seconds to detect them.) If the AI was really strong and the maps bigger only then her special ability would make sense imo.

I agree, but in some maps AI is just a minor inconvenience. For example on Brothel map, there is a sniper on the roof next to warehouse building, that guy made my combat 10 minutes longer by skipping his turns and not revealing himself. I cleared that map with stealth, yet this guy who didnt know where we were stayed in combat so long, i had to search for him in turn based combat mode for 5 minutes. Only if i had Livewire with intel i could highlight him and make the entire thing easier. Livewire unique perk sometimes compensates for dumb AI

[Jaywalker]

1 hour ago, Skaldy said:

Livewire unique perk sometimes compensates for dumb AI

A sniper, unaware of the enemy position, chose not to compromise his own...

And this is bad AI... because he didn't run into the open for you to swiftly execute?

You people are really inconsistent with what counts as good/bad AI. 😅

[Skaldy]

2 minutes ago, Jaywalker said:

A sniper, unaware of the enemy position, chose not to compromise his own...

And this is bad AI... because he didn't run into the open for you to swiftly execute?

You people are really inconsistent with what counts as good/bad AI. 😅

No, you just dont understand the context here

Good AI should have done:

a)scan the area from vantage point to locate my team

b)React to combat sounds when he had alive friends and provide cover

c)try to leave the map after losing all radio contact with his buddies.

What bad AI did was:

a)Standing still on the spot when i was slaughtering his buddies

b)Standing still in same location after he lost radio contact with everyone else

c)In some cases snipers RUN at you. KEK

You are just being unreasonable for no reason. Trying to improve a game you cherish from your childhood is not nitpicking. I am just tired of this amount of laziness netting THQNordic and similar companies millions of dollars(161 million THQNordic revenue lol) with no effort or passion or even care for their products

[LoboNocturno]

4 hours ago, Skaldy said:

I agree, but in some maps AI is just a minor inconvenience. For example on Brothel map, there is a sniper on the roof next to warehouse building, that guy made my combat 10 minutes longer by skipping his turns and not revealing himself. I cleared that map with stealth, yet this guy who didnt know where we were stayed in combat so long, i had to search for him in turn based combat mode for 5 minutes. Only if i had Livewire with intel i could highlight him and make the entire thing easier. Livewire unique perk sometimes compensates for dumb AI

As example i just entered to Camp Grand Prix without intel, my very first sector where were 20 enemies so far. It was piece of cake to detect them all.

 

Making your battle 10 mins longer how nice, i wish the fire fights lasted a lil longer as in JA2 (back in JA2 i was taking sometimes for 1 single sector a hour or more). I feel like the battles ends too quick in JA3 since the maps are way smaller and the enemy bull rushes on you without tactics, yes in JA2 the enemies were also keep coming at you most times but at least they were harder to defeat as they would throw at you the flare, grenades, mustang gas, RPG etc... In my 20 hours of gameplay they thrown me only once a pipe bomb.

[Skaldy]

Just now, LoboNocturno said:

As example i just entered to Camp Grand Prix without intel, my very first sector where were 20 enemies so far. It was piece of cake to detect them all.

 

Making your battle 10 mins longer how nice, i wish the fire fights lasted a lil longer as in JA2 (back in JA2 i was taking sometimes for 1 single sector a hour or more). I feel like the battles ends too quick in JA3 since the maps are way smaller and the enemy bull rushes on you without tactics, yes in JA2 the enemies were also keep coming at you most times but at least they were harder to defeat as they would throw at you the flare, grenades, mustang gas, RPG etc... In my 20 hours of gameplay they thrown me only once a pipe bomb.

That is not what i am saying here. 10 minutes of nothing happening you walk around turn based combat vs 10 minutes of intense firefight. Two different things. Obviously i prefer 10 minutes longer intense firefight. Care to point out which one is not fun and bad after thought mechanic here? XD

Edited July 22, 2023 by Skaldy

[J1v1n]

Guys, why not move your discussion about Livewire, AI, and such to a fitting thread. This one was about the optimal route after reaching the main land. 🤣

[LXant]

After playing around with different approaches over the last couple days, I can only repeat my earlier assessment and recommend it over other immediate approaches. Just a few more things to add, to make it more effective:

When you first go to Fleatown, you want to have at least 5 tiny diamonds on the way. You get a few from Bastien on Ernie Island, so you should explore each and every sector you enter for more diamonds. The reason is to have enough for a few lootboxes, until you get the Metaviron needed to recruit Larry. You also want to buy the two magazines from both traders for two additional skill points. If you go to G8, you can also get the M14 rifle from the cellar, and Boss Blaubert's gate house has also a chance to spawn a good lategame weapon, although it's random. Still, a good way to get your hands on an early G36, FN-Fal or AA12. In the tiles around Fleatown you can also find a good number of night vision equipment.

At this point, after the mine got you a bit of money, you hire two cheap mercs. Doesn't matter who, as long as you have bodies who can train militia. It's not ideal if it takes longer due to low skill, but it's ok. What's important is to have someone who can stay behind and train them, while your main team moves until someone drops from exhaustion. Otherwise you move.

With control over Fleatown established, you move to G10 and take over the camp. It's important, because it blocks all assaults from the East. This is where you put mercs #7 and #8 and let them train 8 veterans.

Your team moves to Refugee Camp, where you pick up quests, meet Bastien and get friendly with the locals. Just don't talk to Herman, if you didn't hang him! Just don't, I explain later why. Then you attack the camp at D10, that also blocks attacks from the East. G10 and D10 are your main line of defense, so keep them always stocked up on militia.

I also recommend having a doctor with a good med skill, who is not part of your main team. You can hire MD as #9 merc, if he isn't already #7 or #8. He'll heal the Shaman's family through the special operation, which costs time. Your main team can always come back there and collect his gratitude later.

Anyway, from D10 you move to F7, because Pentagruel won't give you the mine immediately anyway, and it's more important to cut off any possible attacks from that base. Plus you get to recruit Larry, who can help with training more militia if nothing else. From there you move up to Pentagruel, liberate the city, get the mine liberated from hostiles (even if the sector stays neutral for now), buy the .50 ammo that is sold there, also get the girls on the communist manifesto, get the Smiley quest going and all that. I think there's also more night vision equipment there.

After that you go to the Poacher camp, where you get the Flay thing going and buy a Dragunov with a thermal scope for just $2000. If you dare, you can also take out the first abuser group, which is in the poacher camp, if you took the quest from the brothel.

Use Flay however you like, in any case you move up to B2 and A2. I could say more about how to deal with Graaf and how to lose no slaves, but the important thing is to take both sectors and then use the boat to get down to F5 and get the port on your way back to Fleatown.

In Fleatown you can get more magazines from the traders, sell small diamonds to the priest (for $700 instead of the standard $500 from cash in), maybe make deeper repairs of your equipment, a bit of R&R etc. Here you can also kill the 2nd group of abusers in the market, hire workers for the mine in A2 from the Foreman, before you move up to the Refugee Camp. By now you should've dealt with all the quests there, you also meet Herman again. Now you talk with him and you can give him a job at the mine in A2. There's also an interaction with the notice board, where you can hire more refugees for the mine in A2. Do it. Since one of your mercs should've healed the family of the Shaman, he'll give you his unique Deathsquad Armor as a thank you.

From here you move to D11, take the port, jump to F13 and take it. Have two other mercs follow you and train militia here, because this place will get attacked heavily from there on. Your team will now attack F19, where you recruit Pierre. If you did everything right on Ernie Island and helped people and dealt with Bastien (without killing him), he'll join you.

On your way back you should definitely visit Landsbach. If nothing else, it has a bunch of random loot. The container in Siegfried's room can have high level stuff. I got the M82 AMR sniper rifle from there, but the container also can drop the G36, FN-FAL and other nice stuff. Or just a bunch of ammo if you're unlucky. Anyway, the loot rolls on the first time you enter the map, so if you save before that and savescum your way through, you can do it until you get the M82. Ammo for it can be bought at the Pentagruel mine. To my knowledge that's the only place you can get that weapon before you progress into the lategame.

NOW, after you're done in Landsbach, you go to Port Cacao. Take it over, get loyalty up, resolve the conflicts, do your quests, rescue Luigi (because you want to resolve this quest before you recruit Smiley, as recruiting Smiley requires you to help killing the Boss), and prepare for the N-Night fight. Use your time to finally get some rest, repair, distribute the good equipment you got, buy more if need be. Also recruit more mercs, because you'll absolutely need them.

I don't know the exact triggers, but owning 3 mines seems to progress the game in some way and triggers the Corazon event. Which is why I advise against going to Port Cacao before you secured your position and recruited most free mercs; otherwise you'll have your hands full for the time being. At this point you'll also hit 100% loyalty with Pentagruel. Don't talk to Chimurenga, because the moment you get the mine is the moment Biff calls for help. Although you have a bit of time, because the attack squad will move through F13, which you previously took and hopefully fortified. If you have 8 veterans there, you can auto resolve the fight and you get more time to help Biff.

If you were fast about it, you should also be around end of April at that point. That's where the Refugee Camp situation arises, either because a month has passed or because you have three mines. Whatever quests you didn't at the Refugee Camp become impossible now. The important thing here is that the game can and will wait for you. Now is the time to do all quests on the entire map, to train mercs, collect more equipment, get money to have the max of 15 AIM mercs and the 4 free mercs. Do whatever you have.

Now we get to the spoiler-y part of the guide, so stop reading if you absolutely want the surprise. I won't give details, but once you visit the Refugee Camp, all your positions on the entire map will come under heavy attack. Auto-resolve can't deal with it, even if you have mostly elite defenders.

In my current playthrough I'm right before this point, and my goal is to send teams of 2 or 3 good mercs to help defend the most crucial positions. I think I have enough mercs to deal with the Refugee Camp and have several of those small teams in Ernie, Diamond Red, Port Cacao, Fleatown, Landsbach and maybe Ille Morat.

From what I saw, if the attackers take over, they seem to slaughter some of the people living there. So 2 or mercs and 8 veteran/elite defenders should hopefully help defend all those cities against the 12-14 attackers. The outposts and ports can and will fall, but you can always take them back rather quickly.

And once you have most towns and mines secure and the outposts and ports back, you're in the perfect position to deal with everything else and hopefully win the game.

Since the original question is where to go difficulty-wise, I'd say this is it. The most difficult fights on this route will be Fleatown Market, getting Graaf without losing slaves, and maybe taking D10 if you attack it at full strength and didn't manage to delay the battle starting before you got into a better position. Because if you come from the wrong direction, you'll deploy right at a guard and no way to avoid beeing seen the moment you unpause. Quest-wise the most difficult battles are saving Boss Blaubert from Luigi and then keeping Smiley alive through the church ambush and the Blaubert battle. Had to reload at the ambush, because on turn 1, before I even got to attack, a sniper shot at Smiley and killed him with a crit. Oh well.

That's my take on where to progress. I hope this helps.

[J1v1n]

This is awesome and very detailed, thank you! 😍

[Skaldy]

1 hour ago, LXant said:

After playing around with different approaches over the last couple days, I can only repeat my earlier assessment and recommend it over other immediate approaches. Just a few more things to add, to make it more effective:

When you first go to Fleatown, you want to have at least 5 tiny diamonds on the way. You get a few from Bastien on Ernie Island, so you should explore each and every sector you enter for more diamonds. The reason is to have enough for a few lootboxes, until you get the Metaviron needed to recruit Larry. You also want to buy the two magazines from both traders for two additional skill points. If you go to G8, you can also get the M14 rifle from the cellar, and Boss Blaubert's gate house has also a chance to spawn a good lategame weapon, although it's random. Still, a good way to get your hands on an early G36, FN-Fal or AA12. In the tiles around Fleatown you can also find a good number of night vision equipment.

At this point, after the mine got you a bit of money, you hire two cheap mercs. Doesn't matter who, as long as you have bodies who can train militia. It's not ideal if it takes longer due to low skill, but it's ok. What's important is to have someone who can stay behind and train them, while your main team moves until someone drops from exhaustion. Otherwise you move.

With control over Fleatown established, you move to G10 and take over the camp. It's important, because it blocks all assaults from the East. This is where you put mercs #7 and #8 and let them train 8 veterans.

Your team moves to Refugee Camp, where you pick up quests, meet Bastien and get friendly with the locals. Just don't talk to Herman, if you didn't hang him! Just don't, I explain later why. Then you attack the camp at D10, that also blocks attacks from the East. G10 and D10 are your main line of defense, so keep them always stocked up on militia.

I also recommend having a doctor with a good med skill, who is not part of your main team. You can hire MD as #9 merc, if he isn't already #7 or #8. He'll heal the Shaman's family through the special operation, which costs time. Your main team can always come back there and collect his gratitude later.

Anyway, from D10 you move to F7, because Pentagruel won't give you the mine immediately anyway, and it's more important to cut off any possible attacks from that base. Plus you get to recruit Larry, who can help with training more militia if nothing else. From there you move up to Pentagruel, liberate the city, get the mine liberated from hostiles (even if the sector stays neutral for now), buy the .50 ammo that is sold there, also get the girls on the communist manifesto, get the Smiley quest going and all that. I think there's also more night vision equipment there.

After that you go to the Poacher camp, where you get the Flay thing going and buy a Dragunov with a thermal scope for just $2000. If you dare, you can also take out the first abuser group, which is in the poacher camp, if you took the quest from the brothel.

Use Flay however you like, in any case you move up to B2 and A2. I could say more about how to deal with Graaf and how to lose no slaves, but the important thing is to take both sectors and then use the boat to get down to F5 and get the port on your way back to Fleatown.

In Fleatown you can get more magazines from the traders, sell small diamonds to the priest (for $700 instead of the standard $500 from cash in), maybe make deeper repairs of your equipment, a bit of R&R etc. Here you can also kill the 2nd group of abusers in the market, hire workers for the mine in A2 from the Foreman, before you move up to the Refugee Camp. By now you should've dealt with all the quests there, you also meet Herman again. Now you talk with him and you can give him a job at the mine in A2. There's also an interaction with the notice board, where you can hire more refugees for the mine in A2. Do it. Since one of your mercs should've healed the family of the Shaman, he'll give you his unique Deathsquad Armor as a thank you.

From here you move to D11, take the port, jump to F13 and take it. Have two other mercs follow you and train militia here, because this place will get attacked heavily from there on. Your team will now attack F19, where you recruit Pierre. If you did everything right on Ernie Island and helped people and dealt with Bastien (without killing him), he'll join you.

On your way back you should definitely visit Landsbach. If nothing else, it has a bunch of random loot. The container in Siegfried's room can have high level stuff. I got the M82 AMR sniper rifle from there, but the container also can drop the G36, FN-FAL and other nice stuff. Or just a bunch of ammo if you're unlucky. Anyway, the loot rolls on the first time you enter the map, so if you save before that and savescum your way through, you can do it until you get the M82. Ammo for it can be bought at the Pentagruel mine. To my knowledge that's the only place you can get that weapon before you progress into the lategame.

NOW, after you're done in Landsbach, you go to Port Cacao. Take it over, get loyalty up, resolve the conflicts, do your quests, rescue Luigi (because you want to resolve this quest before you recruit Smiley, as recruiting Smiley requires you to help killing the Boss), and prepare for the N-Night fight. Use your time to finally get some rest, repair, distribute the good equipment you got, buy more if need be. Also recruit more mercs, because you'll absolutely need them.

I don't know the exact triggers, but owning 3 mines seems to progress the game in some way and triggers the Corazon event. Which is why I advise against going to Port Cacao before you secured your position and recruited most free mercs; otherwise you'll have your hands full for the time being. At this point you'll also hit 100% loyalty with Pentagruel. Don't talk to Chimurenga, because the moment you get the mine is the moment Biff calls for help. Although you have a bit of time, because the attack squad will move through F13, which you previously took and hopefully fortified. If you have 8 veterans there, you can auto resolve the fight and you get more time to help Biff.

If you were fast about it, you should also be around end of April at that point. That's where the Refugee Camp situation arises, either because a month has passed or because you have three mines. Whatever quests you didn't at the Refugee Camp become impossible now. The important thing here is that the game can and will wait for you. Now is the time to do all quests on the entire map, to train mercs, collect more equipment, get money to have the max of 15 AIM mercs and the 4 free mercs. Do whatever you have.

Now we get to the spoiler-y part of the guide, so stop reading if you absolutely want the surprise. I won't give details, but once you visit the Refugee Camp, all your positions on the entire map will come under heavy attack. Auto-resolve can't deal with it, even if you have mostly elite defenders.

In my current playthrough I'm right before this point, and my goal is to send teams of 2 or 3 good mercs to help defend the most crucial positions. I think I have enough mercs to deal with the Refugee Camp and have several of those small teams in Ernie, Diamond Red, Port Cacao, Fleatown, Landsbach and maybe Ille Morat.

From what I saw, if the attackers take over, they seem to slaughter some of the people living there. So 2 or mercs and 8 veteran/elite defenders should hopefully help defend all those cities against the 12-14 attackers. The outposts and ports can and will fall, but you can always take them back rather quickly.

And once you have most towns and mines secure and the outposts and ports back, you're in the perfect position to deal with everything else and hopefully win the game.

Since the original question is where to go difficulty-wise, I'd say this is it. The most difficult fights on this route will be Fleatown Market, getting Graaf without losing slaves, and maybe taking D10 if you attack it at full strength and didn't manage to delay the battle starting before you got into a better position. Because if you come from the wrong direction, you'll deploy right at a guard and no way to avoid beeing seen the moment you unpause. Quest-wise the most difficult battles are saving Boss Blaubert from Luigi and then keeping Smiley alive through the church ambush and the Blaubert battle. Had to reload at the ambush, because on turn 1, before I even got to attack, a sniper shot at Smiley and killed him with a crit. Oh well.

That's my take on where to progress. I hope this helps.

3 from Bastien, 1 from his shack, 3 from Luc. Ernie quest wise yields 7 tiny diamonds. Rest is rng but i never have found more around Fleatown. One loot box can yield 2 tiny diamonds and that's 8 for you.

[LXant]

10 minutes ago, Skaldy said:

3 from Bastien, 1 from his shack, 3 from Luc. Ernie quest wise yields 7 tiny diamonds. Rest is rng but i never have found more around Fleatown. One loot box can yield 2 tiny diamonds and that's 8 for you.

8 is plenty, especially since one lootbox contains 2 tiny diamonds, so a net win of 1. Should get you the Metaviron and then you can recruit Larry. Beyond that they only have monetary value, which isn't too huge, considering the daily amount of money you get from one single mine. Let alone two or three.

[Skaldy]

2 minutes ago, LXant said:

8 is plenty, especially since one lootbox contains 2 tiny diamonds, so a net win of 1. Should get you the Metaviron and then you can recruit Larry. Beyond that they only have monetary value, which isn't too huge, considering the daily amount of money you get from one single mine. Let alone two or three.

You dont need loot boxes for Metaviron if you are just trying to get metaviron , people who are employing Livewire can collect intel to reveal secret stashes. One of the zones(some where around I7 or I8)  yields early high tier weapon and 2 metaviron if you got the intel with Livewire.

[LXant]

35 minutes ago, Skaldy said:

You dont need loot boxes for Metaviron if you are just trying to get metaviron , people who are employing Livewire can collect intel to reveal secret stashes. One of the zones(some where around I7 or I8)  yields early high tier weapon and 2 metaviron if you got the intel with Livewire.

Good to know, thank you!

Though I'd say lootboxes are still worth it, especially since they work regardless of you having or not having Livewire with you. I mean, you also get 7.62mm NATO ammo, a pile of parts, skill magazines and some other stuff out of it.

A 2nd Metaviron might be worth it for the Shaman though, because that lets you - in theory - skip the 16h operation to heal his family. And from what I read about it, after the event at the camp you can loot it back.

[Melliores]

I actually found 1 dose of Metaviron right in Camp Savane (F7). Larry could have healed himself if he wanted to. 🙂
But I think both the I7 and F7 occurrences are random.

[Skaldy]

10 hours ago, LXant said:

Good to know, thank you!

Though I'd say lootboxes are still worth it, especially since they work regardless of you having or not having Livewire with you. I mean, you also get 7.62mm NATO ammo, a pile of parts, skill magazines and some other stuff out of it.

A 2nd Metaviron might be worth it for the Shaman though, because that lets you - in theory - skip the 16h operation to heal his family. And from what I read about it, after the event at the camp you can loot it back.

I agree, lootboxes  are worth it because one of the boxes is always guaranteed early high tier weapon. My 12th run at the moment i dropped 4 times AUG, 3 times HK12, 1 time AK-SU, few times high tier shotgun etc. Those weapons + 1 guaranteed metaviron alone worth it.

1 hour ago, Melliores said:

I actually found 1 dose of Metaviron right in Camp Savane (F7). Larry could have healed himself if he wanted to. 🙂
But I think both the I7 and F7 occurrences are random.

Maybe if you remove your fanboy glasses for a second you will understand why rng in this game is either a boon or curse(due to broken economic mechanics). Every every map has marked loot points. What is marked loot point? Devs marked loot points as  "weapons", "medical", "grenade" and "valuables". For example Fleatown outskirts, destroyed radar sector will yield ALWAYS early high tier weapons drop secret stash near one of the burned tents(if you have the intel). Thats  where i found M24 or Dragunov. Close to destroyed radar, coastline sector, there is a map with 2 secret stash points, always drops assorted nades for me. There is a diamond shipment carrier, by RNG he either spawns on port south of Fleatown or on a certain sector south of Mfunfu(or whatever mine's name is) mine coastline. Depending on this dudes spawn location loot tables change. I always found metaviron  when he spawns on port. I just hate secret stash thing, it is always locked behind something.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Skaldy

[Melliores]

Well, the RNG can and is mitigated by the persistent traders stock, which is both a blessing and a curse. For example the Poachers at C5 always sell a Dragunov with a thermal scope on it, a very good rifle for snipping and silent kills. Buy two of those and you should be all set for the early game even if the RNG does not drop many AKs and 7,62 WP ammo. There is 60 rounds of 7,62 WP hollow point at the Fleatown market each 2-3 days, which I used to build up my team thanks to those Dragunovs.

What we need is compile a list of all the traders and their stock, so new players can get a feeling where they can get good weapons at the start and some ammo for them.