my interpretation of the best mercs in JA3

[Raeven]

Been playing around with various scoring systems I've devised and this is what I've settled on as the best mercs in the game.

There is no ranking within the four tiers.

The 'Price' column refers to the price class of the merc, 1 is the highest.

I eliminated mercs with the 'old dog' trait from consideration (these mercs do not increase their skills / attributes, like Len in JA2), as well as any mercs with wisdom or agility below 70. Other mercs were eliminated for having cumulative attribute scores that were below a certain threshold using a weighted scoring method I created.

The 'primary' and 'secondary' roles I devised are somewhat of my own creation... 'gunner' refers to the auto weapons perk, 'heavy' refers to the heavy weapons perk, 'scout' could refer to a number of different 'silent takedown' related perks such as H2H / martial arts, ambidextrous (dual silent weapons), stealth, etc. You have to have the stealth perk for scout to be a 'primary' role though. Stats above 70 in explosive, leadership, medical, and mechanical qualify as 'primary' for their associated role, and stats between 40 and 69 qualify as 'secondary' for their associated role.

The likes / dislikes are taken from JA2. From what we've seen so far they track with JA3, but there may be surprises - most of these haven't been verified. I only added like/dislike info for mercs that are on this list, so it's incomplete by design.

Kinda bummed that none of the new mercs made the cut, but oh well.

Also in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, the data for this comes from @DougS2K's spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14JcHKZscRWZ5onz2O_4hWE-K-_tHFPYtig4ppovH2n0/edit#gid=0

Anyway, I hope someone finds this interesting. Feel free to have your own opinion, this is just mine. 🙂

 

Edited July 6, 2023 by Raeven

[Dr.Kuhn]

You're not accounting for something: Your I.M.P. merc

[Raeven]

29 minutes ago, Dr.Kuhn said:

You're not accounting for something: Your I.M.P. merc

That is obviously intentional.

[DougS2K]

13 hours ago, Raeven said:

Been playing around with various scoring systems I've devised and this is what I've settled on as the best mercs in the game.

There is no ranking within the four tiers.

The 'Price' column refers to the price class of the merc, 1 is the highest.

I eliminated mercs with the 'old dog' trait from consideration (these mercs do not increase their skills / attributes, like Len in JA2), as well as any mercs with wisdom or agility below 70. Other mercs were eliminated for having cumulative attribute scores that were below a certain threshold using a weighted scoring method I created.

The 'primary' and 'secondary' roles I devised are somewhat of my own creation... 'gunner' refers to the auto weapons perk, 'heavy' refers to the heavy weapons perk, 'scout' could refer to a number of different 'silent takedown' related perks such as H2H / martial arts, ambidextrous (dual silent weapons), stealth, etc. You have to have the stealth perk for scout to be a 'primary' role though. Stats above 70 in explosive, leadership, medical, and mechanical qualify as 'primary' for their associated role, and stats between 40 and 69 qualify as 'secondary' for their associated role.

The likes / dislikes are taken from JA2. From what we've seen so far they track with JA3, but there may be surprises - most of these haven't been verified. I only added like/dislike info for mercs that are on this list, so it's incomplete by design.

Kinda bummed that none of the new mercs made the cut, but oh well.

Also in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, the data for this comes from @DougS2K's spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14JcHKZscRWZ5onz2O_4hWE-K-_tHFPYtig4ppovH2n0/edit#gid=0

Anyway, I hope someone finds this interesting. Feel free to have your own opinion, this is just mine. 🙂

 

I was wondering if the character likes and dislikes were the same as JA2. I know there is a spreadsheet for JA2 that has these listed and if they are the same, it could be used for reference. 

[Raeven]

3 minutes ago, DougS2K said:

I was wondering if the character likes and dislikes were the same as JA2. I know there is a spreadsheet for JA2 that has these listed and if they are the same, it could be used for reference. 

The small number of likes / dislikes uncovered so far track with JA2, nothing contradictory yet. But I've only added ones I'm sure of.

[DougS2K]

44 minutes ago, Raeven said:

The small number of likes / dislikes uncovered so far track with JA2, nothing contradictory yet. But I've only added ones I'm sure of.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are all the same, with the exception of new mwrcs of course. Time will tell I guess.

[Jaywalker]

They have previously stated that the relationships are more robust and more dynamic, especially the number of mercs that "Learn" to like/dislike someone.

The only limitation for relationships with new mercs in mods/expansions from JA2 was the availability of voice assets (which AI might soon make obsolete anyway) so there is no reason why they would stay strictly as they were in JA2, especially that they have evolved from JA1 to JA2 already.

[Raeven]

1 hour ago, Jaywalker said:

They have previously stated that the relationships are more robust and more dynamic, especially the number of mercs that "Learn" to like/dislike someone.

The only limitation for relationships with new mercs in mods/expansions from JA2 was the availability of voice assets (which AI might soon make obsolete anyway) so there is no reason why they would stay strictly as they were in JA2, especially that they have evolved from JA1 to JA2 already.

Yeah, it's all unknown. That said, that relationships that we've confirmed thus far, also exist in JA2. Which is not many, but still. They're being tracked on @DougS2K's spreadsheet.

[Puer]

Add 14 days merc price column also.

Most mercs will have a discount if you calculate per day $ and some mercs don't have it (e.g. Kalyna)

More info: 

 

[GODSPEED]

So far, my favorite merc (not all that surprised) is Buns. Her starting cost is extremely cheap! Yet, she has all the right attributes in the right places to be a mainstay in my squad for the entire game. Just like in JA2.

In a pinch, her 50 Medical also doubles as a pretty quick (agile) combat medic. And while her Leadership is nothing to write home about, she does have the "Training" trait; she can actually be kind of useful at Training Militia if other mercs are occupied with something else.

For the moment, she's been my designated marksman; getting the vast majority of headshots and stealth kills. As a "sniper", her agility is kind of wasted. The Perk that can get her out of Overwatch cones, is not really being used. So, planning on changing up her role to make better use of her mobility.

Grunty really likes her! Buns doesn't return the sentiment though. As her JA2 profile says, she really is "prim and proper" and her attitude and comments (similar to JA2) are here as well. Unlike Grunty, who's been completely changed from JA2, she is one of the "serious" mercs which perfectly ressembles herself 2 years prior, which I like!

Edited July 17, 2023 by GODSPEED

[Jaywalker]

57 minutes ago, GODSPEED said:

For the moment, she's been my designated marksman; getting the vast majority of headshots and stealth kills. As a "sniper", her agility is kind of wasted. The Perk that can get her out of Overwatch cones, is not really being used. So, planning on changing up her role to make better use of her mobility.

Her signature skill points towards her optimal use being cleanup after everyone else: give her an AR with a low firing cost and watch every torso hit from an ally become an easy headshot kill for her.

[sandman25dcsss]

1 hour ago, Jaywalker said:

Her signature skill points towards her optimal use being cleanup after everyone else: give her an AR with a low firing cost and watch every torso hit from an ally become an easy headshot kill for her.

Headshot has 40% accuracy penalty while her personal bonus is only 10%. If other characters have 100% torso CtH, she has 70% headshot CtH instead of 60%, still needs some luck or extra accuracy. Difference becomes smaller with extra aiming but still not zero.

Edited July 17, 2023 by sandman25dcsss

[Claudius33]

Buns surely is a real (and somewhat underpriced, like Barry) asset. Besides, I like her sarcastic tone. Hopefully she has kept it. She was deconected when I started my run  so I hadn't been tempted to hire her.

I am pleasantly surprised by Livewire. A real asset, good mechanic, top intel gatherer (very high wisdom), top hacker, decent medic. She may look rather useless in combat, well, give her a Gewehr 98, not that bad😇. Her supposed Pakistani accent is nice too.

[Tzg]

To add to this - both Buns and Doc dislike Nails. Buns I don’t remember now what was the reason but had to pay extra fee and same with Doc - he said Nails bullies him 😅

[Jaywalker]

Livewire is indeed one of the top value mercenaries, especially on a first playthrough, where her unique skill and PDA both do great work at revealing stuff that would be interesting to the player.

The only way she could be more perfect would be if she was a free, early, pickup the way Ira was in JA2.

[Sh4D]

Ivan is too powerfull. Just train his explosives skill, pick free movement skills (all of them), tune up an AR to single fire for 3 AP and clear maps with tons of enemies in a single turn, the more of them the better. Start with a grenade or two, gain free movement and over 30 ap and have fun.