Is this game far too easy?

[mauricemoss]

Do you feel the same?

I’ve been playing about 35 hours so far on normal difficulty, captured some towns, got the 50 tiles achievement. And I feel that there isn’t any challenge anymore although half of the map is still not explored. All the fights feel the same. I have my equipment set, enemies don’t get stronger. I kill half the guys with silent kills. Rarely take any damage to myself. There is no need or incentive to play differently as long as this works. Others complain about ammunition, but I only use single shots and have plenty of ammo. I only need to throw a grenade every 10 fights. Or maybe not at all. Enemies run into my firing range every time. They should stay in hiding and wait for me to run in. Instead they leave their position every time. I still play with my starting crew of 6 tier 1 people (now level 5) and there is no need of hiring anyone else. Money is endless, no worries. I leave all the guns on the ground, because I don’t need new gear anymore.

The only reason to keep playing is the exploration and story part of the game. And i like that part, even though it gets tedious to run around searching for collectibles, disarming traps, lock picking the same stuff over and over again (with Barry and Livewire, who almost never fail anything). But still, the main reason of playing should be the tactic fights. And they are just plain boring.

Is it any better on higher difficulties? I mean, if enemies just have more health and you get less money or something like that, there won’t really be any difference in play style. It will just take longer to clear the map.

Maybe I have to restrain myself and don’t use silencers. Or deliberately use weaker weapons to make it more interesting. Or try to disarm all landmines with Mouse.

 

[LoboNocturno]

Once you mod your weapons well and get mercs with good stats you just keep sniping them from distance (half of the enemies as you said), the rest of them will try to rush on you, which you can set overwatches, especially with the light machine gun you can take the rest down easily.

The enemies seriously has no strategy and keep coming to you, the only concern is taking covers, most covers are not giving you a feeling where you can be very safe as in JA2. So thats where i am getting some damage now and then.

 

As i heard later in the game comes stronger enemies, with heavier armor which will need more damage to take down and in few sectors the enemies coming with some reinforcements. Didnt reached there as yet but the prison sector should be pain in the @$$ as i heard.

[Jaywalker]

You get to struggle for a bit longer on higher difficulty, but without a balance pass (or mod) to make sniping less powerful I'm afraid that's what you'll end up doing.

For the record though, once you get their relevant perks and/or mods rolling, the same will happen to melee, machine guns (all overwatch really) etc.

Big battles are where the fun is, but those only happen at outposts if you didn't do your due diligence.

[D13]

I remember one very detailed and spoiler-free review based on a 70-80 hour playthrough that describes exactly what you're seeing, and what I'm beginning to see (I haven't played and seen as much as you, but thanks to sniping and grenades I'm also noticing a shift from "almost too difficult" to "not taking any damage"). The review is in German but translates well; I'll quote the relevant parts below:

Quote

I started on the lower difficulty, but without the additional beginner mode that lets me heal faster and earn more money. I found that sufficiently challenging for many hours as well, before later switching to the medium, Commando.

What I want to emphasize: Use the option to adjust the difficulty even during a game. In retrospect, I would have been better off switching to Commando earlier, because that also affects the loot frequency.And in the last 10 hours or at the very latest before the final battle, I should have switched to the highest level Mission Impossible to compensate for the suboptimal game balance.

I did that afterwards, so I started a new game on "Impossible" and played for several hours (in the test there are now about 80 hours).Result: The AI does not behave noticeably smarter than on "Commando" or "Hard to Die", it is just better armed and has more hit points.

I don't know if the combat AI, which is strong in principle but often seems moronic due to its death wish and other lapses, can be improved.Nevertheless, I felt challenged by the superior personnel over long stretches of the game. I only really felt sorry for the AI comrades after the second "boss battle" (in my case against a certain fort...). And it's always a shame when the player has to correct the game balance by raising the difficulty level - Jagged Alliance 3 runs out of steam towards the back.

In the last third of the game, I spent less time in combat and more time on the overview map, watching the AI constantly send inferior forces and diamond couriers against my bases, which gave me a surplus of equipment and diamond extra income, but also a lot of clicking. Jagged Alliance 3, in my last 10 or 15 hours of play, was almost like one of those mobile games where you're constantly clicking on something but not really doing anything. In Jagged Alliance 2, MadLab and SirTech used some tricks to make sure that the dictator forces remained dangerous until near the end, but that doesn't work so well here. And above all, the counterattacks didn't seem so stupid there, namely attacking the exact same sector on the exact same path over and over again.

Which brings us to the satellite map, where you move squads and plan your course of action. I am quite disappointed by the AI behavior there.After a certain point, only the same points are attacked, with too weak forces.Or precious diamonds are delivered directly to my camp by the evil enemy. In Jagged Alliance 2 - and especially 1.13 - I had much more of a feeling that I was dealing with an opponent who wanted to destroy me.

 

[MateKiddleton]

Tbh I felt the same with JA2. Once everyone was fully decked out in top gear and all my mercs had 90+ MRK, the rest of the game was EZ mode. I don't mind too much, it rewards your early struggles.

[mauricemoss]

Thanks for your replies. Meanwhile I found a topic on steam discussing the exact same thing.

I guess I will switch to higher difficulty. Let’s see if I can stay motivated till the end. I just wish the developers would make some changes to force me not to use this play style. It’s really hard for me to avoid if I know it’s still possible.

I would need AI staying in cover, more close combat maps, significantly less sniper ammo or some other sniper/stealth restrictions.

 

[D13]

I'm trying to recall how Silent Storm solved this. I'm not sure, but I believe sniper rifles and grenades were far more expensive in terms of AP, and the throwing range for grenades was a bit smaller than it is in JA3. So both weapon types were just as powerful and lethal, but the decision when exactly to use them was more difficult. If I were only able to snipe, say, every second turn, then most of my battles would have played out quite differently (not just in terms of outcome but also tactics).

[MateKiddleton]

Making sniper rifles more AP costly might not work as well in JA3 because of the smaller AP pool and lower AGI marksman mercs not being able to fully aim, or even fire the rifle at all.

[D13]

Yes, getting this balancing right is a complex issue and I'm not saying there's an easy solution.

I think some early JA 1.13 sniper rifle had to be reloaded after every shot, after which too few APs we left for a well-aimed shot. That was also an interesting mechanic because it gave one more meaningful combat decision (reload now and try lucky shot, or reload now and wait for next turn, or reload later but do sth else now, or change weapon, ...).

In JA3 we have the Cover mechanic to transfer APs to the next turn, I'm sometimes using it like that if I want to shoot twice next turn.

[Grim]

Concerning enemy progression, there is some. New roles appear from time to time, their stuff gets better, their perks too. At some point *spoilers* you will face stronger enemies, triggered either by region or by story.
However, some of your uses will remain the same (not all). I guess you can up the difficulty level or try new mercs with different approaches.
 

[Melliores]

Silent Storm balanced this more on the enemy side - it had more numerous enemies and they were fast. The main tactic was to rush you in order to make you relocate and thus not shoot on your turn.

Some things that can help balance the game loop:

- introduce a short range aiming penalty for some weapons. Thus, you will want to switch to a pistol if the enemy gets too close.

- have the enemies use more grenades, including gas grenades. Give them weapons with a grenade launcher. Most of the weapons that currently drop are optimized for Overwatch (which does make sense) but we need more enemy variety in roles and approach. Chucking grenades at a lone sniper might make him relocate, especially with tear gas.

- Make the enemies throw flares and use flareguns at night. Even if one or two die before launching the flares, this will illuminate a big portion of the map and will make you think twice where to position your snipers.

- introduce counter-sniping. The current Snipers the enemy has also rush, but usually to the back. They rarely take some cover though. Introducing a better behavior where they climb to high ground and go prone might help. Also give them more weapons with a bipod - the accuracy bonus from that modification alone should be enough to make counter-sniping dangerous.

- have more animals. They can have guard dogs at certain bases to make it harder to sneak to good positions for sniping. Also hyenas could be faster. Currently they are as fast as humans which is strange.

 

Or they could go with a different approach, make the other fighting styles more optimal. 🙂

[Hendrix]

Although not as far into the game as @mauricemoss , I'm experiencing the same things, having my starter squad all set up with scoped and suppressed rifles. Really feels like all other weapon types are obsolete at the moment.

The enemies "tactics" of just bull rush at you is getting old by now.

I had really hoped the enemy would seek proper cover at strong points, forcing you to get in there and flush them out. Try to flank your team when attacking etc.

[sandman25dcsss]

I played first campaign without any weapon mods, then snipers are not that great. The game needs many mods and self-imposed limits to be fun for me 😞

[LoboNocturno]

10 minutes ago, sandman25dcsss said:

I played first campaign without any weapon mods, then snipers are not that great. The game needs many mods and self-imposed limits to be fun for me 😞

Did you finished the game as well ? But even snipers without any mods, they will keep missing too much or not ? Which is also frustrating when you keep missing. May can do that in the start but once you come to the mainland its recommended to have a scope and silencer. I like to play on stealth still i get detected like in Syphon Filter.

 

 

@Hendrix

We all saw that 2 to 3 months ago when they played the beta, that the AI seems poor, though they would fix it and also some other stuff but they did nearly nothing to the beta which is surely a let down.

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2023 by LoboNocturno

[Warmonger]

I love the challenge so far. KI is much more skilled than in JA2. It is acting together. I had major battles like in L8 defending it against 2 waves. First one coming in from the north which I mainly let the allies do it, preparing myself for the main wave coming from the west which at first I could only stop throwing a grande into a group of guys trying to overran us with knives. Was big fun td and hard work. Also the defending of K9 by night later needed lot of tactical skills. The northwest I left to the allies while myself I defended the center. Hard work again. Then I had a look into K6 and have now idea yet how to take/free the jail yet. Sniping and sneaking will not do it there at all. Also try to cross the bridge in D11 and good luck. All over I see a much betters fights than with JA2. In JA2 I used to sit behind some rocks waited and if they wont fired into the air to lure them in. Something which partly also works with JA3 btw but not always and less. And if really want hard just do not safe before acting. There is a hardcore mode You will hardly leave the small island with the village of Ernie.

 

JA3 has other shortcomings, like a bad almost useless shop system, and a bad quest management. Or that what a mercenary can carry is not calculated by weight but by backpack space, which is absolutely crap. The ability overview of the mercenaries is also crap. We had a red, green and blue vertical bar in JA2 and one knew immediately what was going on with a merc.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Warmonger

[sandman25dcsss]

@LoboNocturno

No, I started a new campaign after capturing 2 mines.

Snipers without silencer wake up half map even with successful stealth kill and enemies run to your position despite you are still in stealth.

[LoboNocturno]

7 minutes ago, Warmonger said:

I love the challenge so far. KI is much more skilled than in JA2. It is acting together. I had major battles like in L8 defending it against 2 waves. First one coming in from the north which I mainly let the allies do it, preparing myself for the main wave coming from the west which at first I could only stop throwing a grande in a group of guys which tried overran us with knives. Was big fun td and hard work. Also the defending of K9 by night later needed lot of tactical skills. The northwest I left to the allies while myself I defended the center. Hard work again. Then I had a look into K6 and have now idea yet how to take/free the jail yet. Sniping and sneaking will not do it there at all. Also try to cross the bridge in D11 and good luck. All over I see a much betters fights than with JA2. In JA2 I used to sit behind some rocks waited and if they wont fired into the air to lure them in. Something which partly also works with JA3 btw but not always and less. And if really want hard just do not safe before acting. There is a hardcore mode You will hardly leave the small island with the village of Ernie.

 

JA3 has other shortcomings, like a bad almost useless shop system, and a bad quest management. Or that what a mercenary can carry is not calculated by weight but by backpack space, which is absolutely crap. The ability overview of the mercenaries is also crap. We had a red, green and blue vertical bar in JA2 and one knew immediately what was going on with a merc.

Interesting notes, i heard it now from several players that the jail sector is really pain in the @§§ as i didnt reached there yet. So what is the best tactic in the jail sector ? I heard there is a boss called Jackhammer that he is a hard nut to crack with his men together.

[Warmonger]

23 minutes ago, LoboNocturno said:

Interesting notes, i heard it now from several players that the jail sector is really pain in the @§§ as i didnt reached there yet. So what is the best tactic in the jail sector ? I heard there is a boss called Jackhammer that he is a hard nut to crack with his men together.

All you heard about L6/jail is correct.You can "normally" kill some outer guards. I tried then to mount the 2 guard-towers at the main gate hopping they will come out step by step but they did not. Moving into the main house is possibel at first but then it becomes a very hard fight room by room. And yes, this Jackhammer is kinda end-boss. Have not manged to kill him yet at all. Tactics for the jail? Blow it up. Only idea I have so far and working on it. ... and there is another way to the underground right low on the map inside jail behind the wall. Have not explored it yet.

[Jaywalker]

33 minutes ago, LoboNocturno said:

So what is the best tactic in the jail sector?

You can't snipe with a 7AP minimum rifle indoors, but you can still sneak.

Sneak attacks are pretty much always lethal with certain perks and upgrades, and those fit on some 3AP guns.

[Warmonger]

13 minutes ago, Jaywalker said:

You can't snipe with a 7AP minimum rifle indoors, but you can still sneak.

Sneak attacks are pretty much always lethal with certain perks and upgrades, and those fit on some 3AP guns.

Try it with JackHammer and report plz. Also the main house is full of enemies and I will blow it up. I like dynamite and machine-guns anyway better than these sneaking games 😉 

[Raeven]

1 hour ago, sandman25dcsss said:

I played first campaign without any weapon mods, then snipers are not that great. The game needs many mods and self-imposed limits to be fun for me 😞

Try playing without CtH shown, I hear it's more of a challenge 🙃

[Warmonger]

12 minutes ago, Raeven said:

Try playing without CtH shown, I hear it's more of a challenge 🙃

What is "CtH" ? Sry plz ? 

[Grim]

My approach for the jail was to sneak up to the underground entrance, then wipe the guards down there, and get some support from the prisonners, and take the exit leading in the main building, right next to Jackhammer. I kicked in his nuts, cleared the building room by room and then the tedious cleaning of the exterior (guards are far away one from another).

[Bearson]

5 minutes ago, Warmonger said:

What is "CtH" ? Sry plz ? 

Chance to Hit

1 hour ago, LoboNocturno said:

Interesting notes, i heard it now from several players that the jail sector is really pain in the @§§ as i didnt reached there yet. So what is the best tactic in the jail sector ? I heard there is a boss called Jackhammer that he is a hard nut to crack with his men together.

Yes it is a tough one, but only because of his return fire perk.

I went around the watchtower, silently taking enemies outside, tried storming the building then and well.. Jackhammer has a perk that lets him retaliate with his automatic shotgun when you hit him with guns or with melee. He has a ton of health and armor, so imagine how it goes when you try to fight him inside in close quarters 🙂

I reloaded and went down to the jail cells, rescued prisoners, who then helped me finish upstairs. Mopped the rest of the enemies and the boss was hiding inside.. Used quite a few grenades and explosives and a few carefully placed shots.

I dislike the perks and the combat system.. You have to build your mercs specifically using those perks, otherwise you wont be effective. I much preferred JA2 system where the equipment and stats made the difference.

[username55]

return fire perk is so annyoning to me, makes me want to stop playing.

I am two weeks in now on second difficulty level, and there's a lot of shotgun brutes. They run up to your squad across half the map, get a shot off and then park right in front of you.

When you return fire they retaliate AFTER spending all their AP and do a shitload of damage and bleeding, exposed etc whatnot. If your were bunched up chances are high half your squad is useless...