Do you have a favorite merc? (JA1, JA2, Wildfire, etc..)

[sofos]

Dr Q - I enjoy his lines the most.

Fidel is definetely among my favorites.

 

[Vlad]

On 3/4/2022 at 6:11 PM, GODSPEED said:

Gives me a few ideas of things to try.

I love new ideas. What do you have in mind?

[Luis Pio]

My favorite mercs are: 

Fidel, Ivan, Fox, Igor, Maddog, Haywire and Razor

I found that their style and humor is far more important than marksmanship :)

[Sarin]

On 3/5/2022 at 10:00 PM, Hendrix said:

I came to realise (about god damned time!) that I never explained why I like Ivan so much.

I have no empirical study at all to support this, but for some reason Ivan just seams to perform better than other Mercs for me.

So he's become somewhat of a lucky charm for me.

Ivan has incredibly well-rounded stats. While he has no special abilities, like leadership or medical (though with a lot of training, he can be a good explosives guy), he has no weakness in combat. Health, strength, dexterity, agility, marksmanship, wisdom and in JA2 auto+heavy weapons traits...basically the guy is uber grunt.

 

I also like Ice and Wolf for being weaker, cheaper version of the same, as well as their attitude. And Trevor and Thor, they're great specialists with good combat skills and lines.

[Iberian Wolf]

 

What about the guys from M.E.R.C. ? 

I love to start with a bunch of losers... might be hard in the beginning but it pays off late in the game.

Gasket: Great mechanic and is definitely one of the funniest characters in the game.

Razor: apart from great physical stats, he barely needs to sleep (4h per day iirc).

Flo: She's good for bargaining with Tony at least, which is unique

 

I also love Conrad(awesome skills,funny, doesn't sleep much, although a bit expensive) and Hamous (very cheap and quite funny; if hired early on,can have marksmanship despite the very low wisdom.

[LoboNocturno]

Well well, its may a bit disappointing to hear from a Jagged Alliance hardcore fan like me but never played Jagged Alliance 1 (looking now days to some videos on YouTube and it looks really from stone age, but i still need to play it at least once before i start playing Jagged Alliance 3.) So cant say much about all JA1 mercs but probably i would go with Ivan, Fidel, Hector (yes finally a South American merc), Vicki & Boss to my first squad.

Started playing Jagged Alliance 2 even before the release around very early 1999, as i used to buy Gaming magazines that times and it was coming always with a CD so there i met the first time with Jagged Alliance 2 as the demo was included in it and i fall immediately in love with it.

On JA2 i would take mainly to my first dead squad ; My own merc, Ivan, Miguel (before probably Bull or Grizzly), Fidel, Duncan (after some battles and training i can make a very decent merc out of him.), Vicki. I also like Slay, he is a the best roof top sniper in the normal game imo but can hire him only for short period. On JA2 Urban Chaos are few more mercs i like but dont know their name out of my head now.

 

On Jagged Alliance Rage my favourite 4 are Ivan, Vicki, Fidel & Shadow. (There are total of 7 mercs anyway lol.)

 

But i have a very good feeling on Jagged Alliance 3 we will have the best & biggest roster ever, just hoping that they will include them nice characteristics with epic quotes (with good voice acting).

 

  

[LoboNocturno]

On 3/5/2022 at 10:00 PM, Hendrix said:

I came to realise (about god damned time!) that I never explained why I like Ivan so much.

I have no empirical study at all to support this, but for some reason Ivan just seams to perform better than other Mercs for me.

So he's become somewhat of a lucky charm for me.

Am maybe even a bigger fan of Ivan i guess, see my profile pic (yes i made a LEGO Ivan minifig, also some others) as well lol. I got even a poster of him in my room. Like him been hardcore Soviet elite soldier and his constant Russian quotes are so legendary, even on Jagged Alliance Rage (disappointingly he speaks there very few Russian words but his quotes are still far the best, together with Fidel.) Then that he is addicted to alcohol (very possibly vodka) makes him displaying the perfect Russian mercenary.

 

I can watch over and over again this video of Ivan on YouTube and cant get tired jajaja.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_lNtSuOr4&t=5s

[ZeeraCamay]

In JA1 there was a much greater divide between mercs that were at all usable, and ones that were just awful (I'm looking at you, Wink E. Dickerson). As a result, my early-game merc preferences from JA1 carried over to JA2, perhaps illogically. Although nearly all battles are won because of a. marksmanship, and b. agility. Thus:

Fidel - because 'Doggy doo'.
Ice - bad ass, honky-tonk, jive-talkin' mutha-lover
Ivan - who I find quite a boring character, but he can shoot

After this, it's just a case of down scale for mules, side scale for mechanics and teachers, and upscale for better shots. These three were always my classic starting trio, though.

 

[GODSPEED]

I think I would have a hard job answering my own question really. I have a few mercs I usually like taking simply because I like their "style".. whatever that even means. I tend to like sticking to my early mercs for a long time, because I feel I've gotten to know them and have spent so much time with them.

I think Mercs like Stephen, Blood, Igor & Grunty are among my usual early-mid (and even late) game mercs I rely on for basic duty.

Stephen is all around good at shooting and extremely useful for the early game Training. In roleplay terms, he's also a real mercenary. He has a very "by-the-book" attitude, it's all business, and when sh!t hits the fan, I feel he's the one I could rely on to get things done.

Blood feels like he's at home being a mercenary as well, he's been in some bloody conflicts. Maybe a little cold-blooded, and is pretty darn useful within the first battles you want to snipe enemies with throwing knives.

Igor is an easy take on my first day out because he can be in any gun battle I'd point him to. He also scales extremely well until mid-to-late game and stays relatively cheap. I can count on him and he doesn't seem to be there to toy around.

Grunty. He's German. He's serious, not there to play or have fun. He simply gets the job done, and he does it like a pro at an extremely low cost. His Heavy weapons ability usually makes him my main squads Grenadier. G36 (maybe K variant) with the AG36 Grenade launcher and a vest focused primarily on 40mm grenades. He'll provide the smokes, booms and the mustard at break time (for sandwiches, naturally).


I usually have some medic/doctor around, but that often changes throughout the game... sometimes I'm feeling "sexy-time" and I want to drag around Fox with me to hear her sensual voice.. other times I prefer having Spider, because she's highly skilled and learns so well. She scales very very well to late game. Recently though, I've been focusing a little more on Highballs as combat medic.

Noteworthy mention to Buns, who, I adore her snobbish attitude and very perfectionist style.

May praises for Barry who has always served me extremely well as a dependable early game Sapper/Frontline soldier at a ridiculously low price.

Dr. Q or Grizzly are often swapped around on my day 1 recruitment simply for Kingpins boxing matches. Both get the job done effectively and somewhat dependable. If Grizzly, he'll stay around for a while to be my pack mule and maybe someone to carry a dedicated grenade launcher, but that doesn't usually last that long as I prefer a merc like Grunty. Dr. Q, will always double as my filed medic, although he seriously becomes too expensive I feel, so I often have him swapped out for other mercs.


On a more "personal" level, in terms of if I met the guy, who would I get along with?

Ice. Plain and simple, down to earth easy-to-get-along with dude. I like his "style" in a more "fun" focused team with mercs like Fox, Malice... or mercs I just want with a more laid-back attitude.

Ice usually will be my merc with a very light LMG, or a drum mag assault rifle for suppressive fire.


But, my one honorable mention, for highly cultural reasons; Jean-Pierre "La Malice" Viau.

You want to hear what it sounds like for the Québec French speaking culture when they speak English in my City/Province ? Jean-Pierre "La Malice" Viau. His name is typical for my region, his remarks, humour, what he says, it's a good and very accurate twist that I live around almost daily.

He's far from the most useful merc, but honestly, I often take him around for my own laughing.



So many mercs, I have many I've never really lived with for any extended periods. I have to make an effort to start a new game simply to experience other mercs.

[Carl]

Steroid is always on my team. I like also Grunty somehow, never any trouble with him

[ghostmech007]

Oh man... so many to choose from but my absolute favorite Merc is Reaper. He's expensive but well worth the money and if you use him in 1.13 then you get a heavy hitter with a high power designated marksmen role. You can't really use him until late mid to endgame but it's such a pleasure to pair him up with Shadow or Scope for a hard core spotting team.

Second favorite is Len for his uses in both combat and training. Giving him a job in Alma to train up your low level mercs or recruited NPCs is a cheap and easy way to power level people like Ira or Dynamo. He also in a pinch can be fire support with grenade launchers or LAWs.  He's great all around.

Third is going to be Igor. He's incredibly cheap to start with, is liked by his legendary uncle and says the funny shit sometimes. He's also great to have in each stage of the game because he is able to be trained quickly and gains experience easily. Once he's in the 90's with marksmanship you can give him a heavy rifle and he'll come through in nearly every encounter while always punching a hole in urban sectors.

[Raven Charlene Higgens]

My favourite(s) are: Shadow, Ivan, Raven, Scope, Scully. I can normally afford one out of the first two... money doesn't come easy 😆🤣

[Biff]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Flo! She's really something special!

I used to play the holy heck out of the demo with my brother while waiting for JA2, so I have a soft spot for the Demoville team.

I also really like Bull, he's a legend when it comes to heroic sacrifice.

[ghostmech007]

On 7/4/2022 at 5:41 AM, Biff said:

I also really like Bull, he's a legend when it comes to heroic sacrifice.

Or as I like to say it, cannon fodder.

[Wigen]

On 7/4/2022 at 11:41 AM, Biff said:

I can't believe no one has mentioned Flo!

I like Flo too! Thanks to it, I sell more expensive weapons and ammunition. And at the same time, it buys cheaper.

Interesting in JA 3 will the M.E.R.C. organization?

Edited July 6, 2022 by Wigen

[zazyel]

I only hire mercs that love each other in teams.

But somehow I never feel better about my team than with Shadow, Danny and Stogie.

[ghostmech007]

9 hours ago, zazyel said:

I only hire mercs that love each other in teams.

Where is the fun in that? Some of my best memories are pairing up with people that hate each other... well other than Buzz. She's just coo coo for cocoa puffs. But pairing up Vicki with Gasket is hilarious. Or Buns and Fox those two hate each other but it's funny.

[alfius]

Lynx and Raven) 

[Shanpuu]

Team 1 : IMP personal merc , Raven , Buzz , Fox , Spider , Ira

[alfius]

I'm surprised how often the community talks about Ira, Dimiri, Mygel etc — they aren't mercs, just rebels. Except MB Mad Dog - he wanted to be a merc in the end of JA2 (probably he became). 

[Crow]

This is like trying to pick your favorite kid.
 

Impossible.  I love 'em all.

[Cordell]

Hard choice since i did'nt play since few years (JA2 1.13)

Cynthia"Fox"Guzman😍 (main squad field medic)

Barry Hunger (meca/lockpick)

maybe Gontarski (for carrying early loot 😁 ) but after midgame i prefer more efficient combat profiles...

 

 

[Taurean]

Newcomer here, very cool that there is an active JA forum. The bear's pit is very inactive.

 

My fav merc of all is Maddog. Completely fearless, expert lockpick, great repairman and free. Best merc overall. He should be a top merc in JA3. Also especially given his ending quote in JA2; "Where do i sign up to become a professional at this"...

[LoboNocturno]

Am playing JA2 Wildfire after i finished JA1 and JA1 Deadly Games, i really like Wildfire but its also hard, am playing in on expert and the enemies coming like SWAT under pressure and unusually many !!!

 

Back to topic ; I really like Janno "Brain" Allik, this Estonian dude is a beast (similar to Grizzly), Lennart "Scream" Vilde, another German Estonian guy, very useful (has night ops and auto weapons percs) & Henning von Branitz is not bad either. But both of the Estonian guys are a top tag team (similar to Ivan & Igor). ✌🏽😎 

Edited March 20, 2023 by LoboNocturno

[Bloodcat]

On 7/1/2022 at 7:44 PM, ghostmech007 said:

Oh man... so many to choose from but my absolute favorite Merc is Reaper. He's expensive but well worth the money and if you use him in 1.13 then you get a heavy hitter with a high power designated marksmen role. You can't really use him until late mid to endgame but it's such a pleasure to pair him up with Shadow or Scope for a hard core spotting team.

In Ja2 started with Reaper, Blood, Fox and Trevor. The tactic was to sign Reaper with daily contracts in the start and running fast to San Mona, after Drassen.