DevDiary 16 - Patch Roadmap

[THQN Roger]

Patch Roadmap

Hello, everyone! I am Boian Spasov, creative director of Jagged Alliance 3, and today I want to share with you a roadmap of our current plans for future free updates.

Release day came and went and it was awesome, but our work on Jagged Alliance continues and our team remains committed to supporting the game post-release. We’ve received so much feedback that it took us quite a while to go through everything and solidify our plans, but now we are finally ready to share them with you. This roadmap includes improvements suggested by the community and some of our own previously unrealized ideas as well.

We aim to release one patch per month, but with the usual disclaimers that plans may change down the road and we are also keeping a few surprises in our sleeves. So let’s get into specifics…

Update 1.2 - Codename: Buns (Combat Quality of Life)

The first upcoming patch will encompass various changes related to the combat aspect of the game – offering additional information in the UI, improving and deepening the bullet simulation and even providing the option to play through massive combats at a faster pace. Since this patch is close on the horizon, I can provide some of the highlights as well:

• Inaccurate attacks may hit other body parts of the targets incidentally
• Number of remaining Overwatch attacks is clearly indicated in-view
• Ability to salvage knives and other items that were previously unsalvageable
• Toggle button for faster enemy and ally turns
• Ricochet bullets able to hit and cause collateral damage
• Various improvements to melee animations

Update 1.3 - Codename: Vicki (Bobby Ray’s Guns and Things)

 

As Jagged Alliance veterans know very well, “Bobby Ray’s Guns and Things” is the finest, and quite possibly, the only online store for merc gear.

No other feature from Jagged Alliance 2 was requested as much from our community as this one! We miss Bobby Ray as well and we are glad to oblige and expand his services with delivery to Grand Chien! will allow you to purchase new and used armor, weapons and ammo and ultimately to gear up your mercs just the way you want to, as long as you can afford it!

Update 1.4 - Codename: Wolf (Sat View Quality of Life)

 

The next update focuses on improvements in the Sat View. It will enhance the Sector stash and the Conflict Screen interfaces. Both of these screens are currently somewhat confusing and we are looking into ways of organizing the information there in a more convenient way.

As part of this update we will enhance and rebalance some of the Sat View operations, such as Scouting. Finally, we are going to offer a way for solitary mercs to improve their stats by practicing without a trainer.

Update 1.5 - Codename: Larry (Modding Maps and Campaigns)

As we’ve talked before, our second modding update will offer powerful tools such as map and quest editors. The map editor will allow modifying existing maps by adding new objects and quests or creating entirely new maps from scratch. These maps can be added seamlessly into the existing game campaign or used to create an entirely new custom campaign, complete with new quests, NPCs, dialogues and interactions.

This will open the door for modding projects of massive scope such as recreating the old Jagged Alliance games in Jagged Alliance 3!

 

And there is more to come!

Stay tuned for more updates to be announced at a later date.

Thank you!

In conclusion, I want to take the community for their passion for the game – this roadmap is based in large part on community suggestions and we will keep incorporating such suggestions in our plans for the future, as well as marking them clearly in our patch notes. If you have your own suggestion for improving the game, don’t hesitate to share it with us either here, or in Discord ( https://discord.com/invite/jaggedalliance ) – it may even see the light of day in one of the upcoming updates described above!

Next DevStream on Monday Tuesday

We'll be discussing these patches also on next Monday Tuesday, Sep 19th at 17:00 CEST / 11:00 AM EDT in our next DevStream! The stream will take place on the Haemimont Games Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/haemimontgames 

Edited: DevStream Date changed to Tuesday, Sep 19th.

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[Claypl]

Well that has been a while .. glad to see solid roadmap of the things to come. One small thing missing, not to  be complainer but .. DLCs, when where and how?! 🙂 Would love to see additions to gameplay, new mercs, weapons, items etc..

This aside loving the commitment to improving game, weekly streams are great too although the latter is bit challenging for my schedule.. but always trying to pop in to annoy you guys 😉

[agris]

This looks great, glad to see the game was successful enough commercially to warrant this kind of roadmap.

 

Is there any chance that the 1.2 update will unlock the ability for recoil to impact subsequent bullet trajectories for select fire modes (burst, full auto)? Even if it's just a flag for modders to enable/disable, those of us looking for a more simulationist approach to JA would appreciate it.

[StoProGratis]

It's so ducking awesome that I can't take it! I'm still shooting and I'm still screaming boom headshot, boom headshot!

 

Ps. Do you need love spell or abortion pills?

[Solaris_Wave]

This post is really welcome to see. The forums have been quiet as of late and I was wondering about the future state of the game. While the game is certainly fun (and I bought it full price instead of waiting for any discount), there is room for enhancements.

Have you or other members of staff had a look at my two recent threads: Proposal For Weapons DLC and My Verdict So Far… ? There are plenty of suggestions and criticisms in there. I would also like to add that there is a severe shortage of 5.56mm ammo throughout my game so far. I have not crafted any ammo but I keep getting several guns that fire 5.56mm but I only have about 29 rounds of that ammo type.

Also, the Mod Manager might need a bit more user friendliness. I have yet to create any mods but I am not entirely sure how to do it, even after reading the instructions that load up on a browser page when you go into the Mod Manager. I would like to edit weapon characteristics (especially to create new calibres so several weapons use the correct types) but the instructions don't really explain what to do with the guns. Nothing loads into the editor and it finds nothing either. It would be handy to have a guide on how to start modding and what those values actually do. Much of it seems like guess work so far.

[John Hannibal Smith]

Great news! I have a few suggestions/wishes, so maybe you consider to implement them (or maybe I'm lucky and these are already on your to do list):

1. Please implement a dynamic day-night cycle in the Sat View. This would greatly improve the feeling of time passing by and make it easier to plan night attacks

2. The conclusion of automated battles between the militia and enemies needs an improvement, some kind of animation. Just to click and see the result immediately is kind of a downer. JA2 wasn't perfect in this regard, but at least you got some sense of battle that your guys are fighting.

3. This was pointed out by others, but I second: Really happy to now have the option to let your mercs walk in exploration mode, but having to press two buttons to activate it isn't ideal - to say the least. Why not change it to the obvious: One click lets your merc(s) walk, double click lets them run?    

[Solaris_Wave]

If Haemimont are intending to do it themselves, I would love to see weapons using the correct calibres, such as the AK-74. In terms of numbers and game implementation, there is plenty of difference between 7.62x39mm (that the AK-47 uses) and 5.45x39mm that the AK-74 (and others) should be using. 5.45mm would have more range, accuracy and less recoil than 7.62x39mm. Also for 5.45mm, Critical Hit likelihood or bleed chance could be higher at the expense of lower overall damage. Less body armour penetration and shooting through cover is also apparent.

The AK-74 would fire slightly faster and be more accurate in automatic fire than the AK-47, which in turn should have an accuracy decrease (especially when the enemy AI is using it, who seem extremely accurate with every bullet) in a future patch.

While not having the opportunity so far, due to lack of any ammo appearing, I have also read that 5.56mm is underpowered for most of the guns, meaning that, instead of being a viable alternative to the larger calibre weapons, they are almost superfluous.

I would also like to see new calibres for guns that don't currently exist in the game. My Weapons DLC thread covers that.

Introducing new calibres and making sure that some of the guns now use the correct ones might mean adjustment of all the guns in terms of damage, accuracy per shot, accuracy and spread when firing burst/automatic, but it all is highly possible to do. The guns can be realistically balanced and still remain individual, so no weapon renders others pointless. I would love to contribute as I have a good idea of it all.

Damage reduction when firing burst and full-auto has been an issue that has been debated multiple times (not just by me). If accuracy when firing full auto, especially for more powerful calibres and especially by the AI was reduced, the reduction could be removed. Not only that, but to change the AI so they don't feel the need to run up close and then shoot everything they have. Maybe they can cover each other so you can't try that tactic against them, by letting them have more Interrupts.

Critical hit damage to limbs should be longer lasting, instead of just one turn.

Enemies need to run out of ammo, or at the very least, spend more time reloading. Having enemies fire full-auto every turn without penalty, or fire infinite and deadly RPGs every turn really detracts from the enjoyment of the game.

[Raeven]

This is really awesome, super happy to see development is continuing!

 

I really, *really* hope you add auto-sort to the sector stash. If not some kind of tabbed view for different item types. But at the very least, auto-stacking and auto-sorting of items in sector stash. It is sorely, sorely needed.

[Elder III]

It was a pleasant surprise to see the roadmap posted today. It's looking good and I'm happy to see the commitment to development being made. I look forward to some paid DLC type development too, maybe in 2024? 🙂

As far as these forums being quiet... well the official Discord is extremely active, and there is Steam, Reddit, etc.. too so I'm not too worried that. The overall community seems to be pretty lively to me.

[Solaris_Wave]

12 minutes ago, Elder III said:

As far as these forums being quiet... well the official Discord is extremely active, and there is Steam, Reddit, etc.. too so I'm not too worried that. The overall community seems to be pretty lively to me.

It is just a shame that the official community website was quiet for a long time. It certainly isn't as lively as it was, considering that, apart from Discord, is the site you are encouraged to visit if you want to participate with the developers, make suggestions, give opinions, etc. pre- or post-release.

[Solaris_Wave]

I have three further suggestions, one which I believe has been modded but would still be handy to be officially implemented:

 

1) You mentioned that there would be improvements to melee animations. Will there be new animations to allow equipping a pistol (or other single-slot firearm) and a knife at the same time? I think that I read that the reason that both weapons could not be currently equipped was due to there being no animations for it.

 

2) Some craft-able items such as lenses, barrels and gunpowder can't be put into the squad inventory that contains all the scrap and ammo. They take up all-important slot space and slots for many mercs are already quite limited. You are then stuck having to carry them everywhere until you have enough scrap to use them up.

 

3) Because slots are limited and there is no such thing in the game as grenade pouches, belts or bandoliers, how about making it so that any grenade or flare that is in the merc's inventory (but not in their primary or secondary 'hand' slots) can be available in combat? If they are in the merc's backpack, they can still be used but they require more Action Points to throw. If they are in the hand slots, then they act as they currently do. This would help in situations where inventory slots are easily used up. I have one merc that has an M14 for long range and an MP5K for short range (which strangely takes up two slots, despite the full size Uzi model taking only one). She has grenades but can't use them because they are in her backpack. You could think that they would likely be in a chest pouch or belt, ready to grab at a moment's notice.

You could argue that the merc should always have a grenade in a primary or secondary hand slot but I don't use them as much as I do the guns, plus being stuck in the backpack means I just leave them there because I can't sometimes equip them without dropping a weapon on the floor (especially when considering most guns take up two slots).

In reality, you would sling the gun over your shoulder or let it hang on the sling while a grenade was grabbed. Having a grenade or flare available at all times, if on the merc, would be very useful. There would still be a benefit to actually having them in one of the hand slots as they would not increase the Action Point cost to use them.

Obviously, having a different inventory system would avoid this but seeing as this is how the game is designed, I feel this is the next best thing.

[StoProGratis]

I'm super glad that there's gonna be Bobby Rays! Still not finished the game yet but crafting ammo is always stoping me from advance. I have second squad just for ammo crafting. 

The game gets so better thanks to devs and updates! It looks like my second attempt to play the game gonna be a totally different experience.

[CersaisAdvocate]

Awesome update I am looking forward to this. One question I would like to ask is if there is any hope to get steamdeck support for the modding tools. This is bugging me a lot because of my desire to mod more and the unfortunate lack of communication by the devs for their reasoning in that matter.

[chr_isso]

Hell yeah, I love it!
Awesome update!!

[Kordanor]

I really hope that bobby ray will either be configurable at the start of the game or be very conservative in what its offering.

In JA2 Bobby Ray mostly served as "ermergency vendor", where you could buy outdated weapons way behind your progress, first aid kits, kits for your mechanics and bipods and similar. Maybe some ammo here and there.

My feeling is that people kinda expect that they can just buy everything there.

It will be a tough call to walk the line in this case. Satisfy some player while also not breaking the balance even more.

The issue here is that any issues with Money will further bleed into other sections of the game via bobby ray. Assuming you have a big offer, you could just buy whatever weapon and ammo which is currently the best.

Like buying a dragunov for everyone shortly after leaving earie. The cool thing especially in JA1 was that you had to work with what you have, especially in terms of ammo. In JA3 thats partially still the case. Meaning you will still use worse weapons because you still got tons of ammo for them. Bobby Ray could turn this into "just use the best". This could further jeapardize any weapon progression.

In addition the current prices (as well as quest rewards) are currently way off. Like you can get a rifle for 2500$ or so.
These prices can potentially mean that in the future you will no longer repair your weapons and instead just scrap them and buy new ones, because its not worth the time to repair them. Same for crafting ammo (which I am already not doing). If you can just buy them, there is even less reason to craft them.

So while I am looking forward to 1.2 and 1.4 I am very sceptical about the Bobby Ray implementation.

 

 

[Solaris_Wave]

You raise some very good points, @Kordanor. I think that Bobby Ray's will definitely need to be balanced with the rest of the game's progress. I rarely bought guns from Bobby Ray's in JA2, just all the other equipment and ammo. In JA3, I have plenty of guns but am short of ammo for several of my weapon types. I have plenty of 5.56mm calibre rifles but have never seen any ammo for them. Bobby Ray's would be handy for that situation and would probably more likely be the source of 5.56mm ammunition than anything in the country, due to it being an international vendor.

You are right that not everything should be available there to buy. Maybe the stock can constantly vary in quantity and availability for higher quality equipment. Prices should be high enough and there should be a waiting time for delivery. Not only that but, unless a new airfield sector is going to be created in the game, any items from Bobby Ray's should be restricted to arriving at ports. This means that you have to weigh the decision on whether you want to travel back to a port to get more equipment or to craft it yourself in the sector you are in or near to. Maybe there could be more sectors to craft ammo instead of the few there are now (I am still unable to craft ammo at my point in progress)? Additionally, ammo crafting time could be shortened.

As for the price of guns versus repairing them, that will need to be balanced. While in real life you can buy an AK-47/AKM for extremely cheap in certain parts of Africa, that doesn't translate well to the game if it is faster to throw away a gun that needs maintenance and to just buy a new one. Haemimont have said they are going to adjust the time duration of many operation tasks on the Satellite screen, maybe weapon maintenance is one of those? Time duration should really depend on how low the weapon's condition is. Cleaning and oiling shouldn't take up anywhere near as much time as replacing broken or worn parts. Even clearing a jam doesn't have to result in damaging the gun (and most weapon malfunctions from a failure to fire don't). Not every weapon failure ends in the gun being rendered useless or in need of lengthy repair.

[Frank]

This is great news, looking forward to those updates!

But one thing I'd like to know: is the team staying together for more Jagged Alliance content in the future? Like JA3 DLCs, a sequel, or even a JA2 remaster/remake?

[Kordanor]

4 hours ago, Frank said:

This is great news, looking forward to those updates!

But one thing I'd like to know: is the team staying together for more Jagged Alliance content in the future? Like JA3 DLCs, a sequel, or even a JA2 remaster/remake?

They mentioned in one of the previous streams that basically the whole team is still together and working on JA content.

In the last stream they also mentioned that they received the "Go" from THQ to go full out on post release support.

So unless the sales are terrible I would expect more content in one form or the other (sounded like DLCs are likely).

[Elder III]

It seems like THQ and Haemimont are both pretty pleased with the launch and sales etc... so if they have the go ahead to do 6+ months worth of free updates, I think that is an encouraging sign overall. I'm mildly confident that we will get some sort of paid DLC in 2024. That's speculation on my part, but I think it's reasonably logical. 🙂

[Frank]

On 9/14/2023 at 3:32 PM, THQN Roger said:

 

If you have your own suggestion for improving the game, don’t hesitate to share it with us either here

Here's an entirely biased suggestion: I'd love to see a merc with the Dutch nationality. I don't think the JA franchise has yet seen one. I wouldn't even care if he or she is a complete stereotype (wooden shoes, thick accent, smoking weed, eating cheese, foul mouth, et cetera).