Panicking!

[Biff]

What exactly causes panic? And is there a way to protect against it?

My mercs seem to panicking way more since the most recent patch. 😱

[mrflagio]

Low morale causes a chance to Panic or Berserk.

[Claypl]

True I do see panicking more often.

FYI merc level help with this but I guess you cant do much then just get them more experienced.

[CersaisAdvocate]

I think the highest leadership stat in the squad influences the moral events. What is the best leadership you have?

[Solaris_Wave]

So far, panic only seems to affect my own mercs. During two battles that frustrated me due to the design of the default game, my mercs were outmatched by the enemy militia, who despite their own casualties, remained comfortable and relaxed. I would like to see panic affect enemy soldiers, especially if multiple casualties are sustained or they are flanked.

In fact, I would change it so being flanked didn't create a damage bonus. Instead, it would cause a high morale loss (leading to panic or fleeing), breaks Overwatch, causes a slight accuracy penalty to the target, and an armour penetration bonus (side armour being weaker).

Edited August 24, 2023 by Solaris_Wave

[Biff]

22 hours ago, CersaisAdvocate said:

I think the highest leadership stat in the squad influences the moral events. What is the best leadership you have?

My IMP always has 80+ leadership.

When the new patch came out, I made a new game to test it out. My IMP was shot in the second sector and for some reason it caused MD to panic. I pushed on and made my way to the outpost east of Ernie village. During that fight Igor almost died and MD panicked again! I can't remember anyone ever panicking on Ernie island before the patch.

I don't remember MD being such a scaredy cat.

[Biff]

11 hours ago, Solaris_Wave said:

I would like to see panic affect enemy soldiers, especially if multiple casualties are sustained or they are flanked.

I'd like to see that too. It's very frustrating when you wipe out loads of enemies with ease, but the last guy still acts like he has a chance... He should be fleeing or surrendering like they would in JA2 / 1.13.

The flanking change is a good idea.

[Solaris_Wave]

8 hours ago, Biff said:

I'd like to see that too. It's very frustrating when you wipe out loads of enemies with ease, but the last guy still acts like he has a chance... He should be fleeing or surrendering like they would in JA2 / 1.13.

The flanking change is a good idea.

During my short play-through of the game so far, I have noticed that my mercs are inferior to the Legion militia. The Legion don't panic, can see relatively fine in the dark, rarely miss when then they fire full auto, shrug off wounds and stand defiant next to exploding grenades. They don't seem like militia, they seem more like genetically-bred clones.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Solaris_Wave

[Biff]

Yep, that's a perfect description of them. And I'm pretty sure they never have to worry about weapon malfunctions or running out of ammo.

I'm hoping to see some rebalancing updates or mods that make them act more like the enemies in the JA2.

[Solaris_Wave]

3 minutes ago, Biff said:

Yep, that's a perfect description of them. And I'm pretty sure they never have to worry about weapon malfunctions or running out of ammo.

I'm hoping to see some rebalancing updates or mods that make them act more like the enemies in the JA2.

That is one of my major criticisms with the enemy AI so far. They can just fire Burst or Full-Auto every turn if they want, rarely missing, keeping my mercs constantly wounded. No weapon jamming, no reloading, no running out of ammo and having to flee or using another weapon. Your mercs play by rules that the enemy AI doesn't have to.