Jagged Alliance 3 is to easy even in hardest settings - To much overpowers for human player

[Lobo]

I just finished the game on maximum difficulty settings and without any mods installed.

The game is too easy, full of overpowers for the benefit of the human player and was not made with competitive players in mind who want to be challenged and feel that they have achieved something worthy when they complete it. In the Commando and Mission Impossible game levels this must be considered and it is necessary to increase the difficulty drastically.

 

There are three overpowers that make the game too easy

1 – The hiden condition allows even mercs without sneaky characteristics and with normal equipment to get too close to enemies without being detected. Furthermore, the player receives a warning that the mers are being seen and with the auto-pause mode it is easy to remove the mercs that are at risk.

2 – In Late Game, Adonis and Army attacks are too weak. On the game's maximum difficulty – Mission Impossible – they only bring between 4 and 6 soldiers, which makes it very easy for the militia to defend and does not put pressure on the player. Attacks had to be made up of 10-12 soldiers, forcing the human player to leave a team to defend the conquered territory and support the militia.

3 – Livewire's special power that allows you to know the enemy's position during the ENTIRE battle... should be limited to the first turn.

 

In addition to these huge OPs, attention should also be paid to:

- The Biff Rescue Mission cannot be postponed indefinitely. Just defeat a single platoon of the Legion heading there to avoid this mission for as long as you want. I suggest that several Heavy Legion Assault platoons are always leaving as soon as the first one is defeated. This way the player is pressured to advance in the game's story and rescue Biff and better reflects what actually happens in the mission itself.

- Enemies make little use of the overwatch function. They should use more and force the human player to take risks and advance.

 - The enemy uses snipers very little, which is why they cannot see our soldiers due to the problem already mentioned in the Hiden condition. The same goes for grenades and explosives (bazookas), which are the weapons that are most capable of surprising humans and causing casualties.

- Snipers in late game are too powerful and accurate, which makes all other firearms less necessary.

- There is plenty of money in the game due to the mines not running out. I received a warning that Fosse Noir and Wassergrab were running out of deposits but that never happened (bug??)

 

Regarding the game's general settings:

Lethal Weapons shouldn't even exist. If the mercs have zero HP, they die, as happens with their opponents... Even worst is being the default option.

In Ironman, recordings must always take place in battles in the last turn. Allowing you not to record battles makes the game easier because you can repeat the battle from the beginning if it goes wrong. That setting (not allow to record games in battle) should only be used to non ironman games.

Lastly, achievements on Steam... achievements are just that, achievements, it is supposed to be difficult to get. The ideal would be to adopt the Crusader Kings 3 solution in which achievements can only be achieved in the levels pre-defined for that (ironman is one of them), here, in addition to combining all difficulty levels and allowing save scum, it also allow achievements to be achieved with mods. Mods are basically cheats that help the player and make the game easier (it is easy in itself) it doesn't make any sense to achieve achievements with mods turned on when compared to those who don't use mods.

 

Furthermore, congratulations to whoever made this magnificent game, it's a huge revival for those like me who played Jagged Alliance 2 massively 20 years ago, the story is excellent, the side quests too, the experience gain system and percs are very good. . It's a brilliant game and to be among the best ever... now, it has to be challenging and difficult to complete, otherwise we always play in history mode.

[Frank]

I agree that Livewire's perk is overpowered. Perhaps the devs should consider a limitation, such as only being able to use it once every week, or like you suggested only for the first turn.

[Mordante]

Definitely something needs to be done about live wires ability and cost as she's so cheap in comparison to other mercs.

[Carmine]

A very Hardcore Ai-Enhance mod by mariOlof Team is coming.

Hope you can be satisfied.

[Mordante]

Sounds interesting!

12 hours ago, Carmine said:

A very Hardcore Ai-Enhance mod by mariOlof Team is coming.

Hope you can be satisfied.

 

[LoboNocturno]

On 9/28/2023 at 11:06 AM, Carmine said:

A very Hardcore Ai-Enhance mod by mariOlof Team is coming.

Hope you can be satisfied.

Cant wait to test it, when will it be launched ?

 

About the difficulty of the game, i just finished the game on the hardest difficulty (played on commando first but in mid game increased it to the highest), i must say the difficulty is ok, i had to repeat several sectors but the hardest battles that comes to my mind are The Prison (Good Place), The Colonel Fortress were are like 30 enemies and Eagle`s Nest where are also like 30 enemies together with the Major. The thing i dont like is the enemies fighting each & every time without strategy, storming to you like bullet sponge (like the Storm troopers from Star Wars) but they accuracy are actually not that bad imo. Only the AI is missing for me, dont need to be significantly more difficulty. So at least the enemies can fight differently each time, also hide and wait for you or split into groups to flank you or even call for back ups etc.

[Carmine]

1 hour ago, LoboNocturno said:
1小时前，LoboNocturno说：

Cant wait to test it, when will it be launched ?
迫不及待地想测试一下，什么时候推出？

 

About the difficulty of the game, i just finished the game on the hardest difficulty (played on commando first but in mid game increased it to the highest), i must say the difficulty is ok, i had to repeat several sectors but the hardest battles that comes to my mind are The Prison (Good Place), The Colonel Fortress were are like 30 enemies and Eagle`s Nest where are also like 30 enemies together with the Major. The thing i dont like is the enemies fighting each & every time without strategy, storming to you like bullet sponge (like the Storm troopers from Star Wars) but they accuracy are actually not that bad imo. Only the AI is missing for me, dont need to be significantly more difficulty. So at least the enemies can fight differently each time, also hide and wait for you or split into groups to flank you or even call for back ups etc.
关于游戏的难度，我刚刚完成了最难难度的游戏（首先在突击队玩，但在游戏中将其增加到最高），我必须说难度还可以，我不得不重复几个领域，但我想到的最艰难的战斗是监狱（好地方），上校要塞就像 30 个敌人和鹰巢，那里也像 30 个敌人少校。我不喜欢的是敌人每次都没有策略地战斗，像子弹海绵一样冲向你（就像星球大战中的冲锋队），但他们的准确性实际上并没有那么糟糕。我只缺少AI了，不需要明显增加难度。所以至少敌人每次都可以以不同的方式战斗，也可以躲起来等待你，或者分成几组来侧击你，甚至要求后援等。

This mod has been released on the steam workshop, "The Grand Chien Nightmare"

Suggest using Mod list https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3042855818

[LoboNocturno]

2 hours ago, Carmine said:

This mod has been released on the steam workshop, "The Grand Chien Nightmare"

Suggest using Mod list https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3042855818

Thanks, will try it most definitely.👍🏽

[PunkSkeleton]

I just finished the game yesterday on the lowest difficulty setting, I'm not an expert, I've played JA1 and JA2 in the past but never hardcore. I play just casually and I definitely don't agree that the game is too easy in all aspects, it's just very imbalanced. Here's why:
1. The gun system works so that sniper rifles are much better than any other weapons in every situation. Once you get them and mod them properly the game becomes very easy and boring with an exception of only a few battles. Just headshot after headshot... It's due to their damage, the low difficulty of getting headshots with them and the fact that ARs and SMGs do so much less damage, especially in burst/autofire modes. It's neither realistic (7.62 bullet hitting you will do basically the same to you regardless of the weapon that shot it or if it was a part of long burst or not) nor makes the game fun. At the end of my play I didn't even switch in close combat which is just ridiculous. Getting a headshot (unless it does not pierce the armor) should be a guaranteed kill with any weapon but it should be much much harder to hit them. Also hitting with 10x scope at close range should be much much  harder than with iron/holo sights.
The beginning the game is much harder while I guess it should be just the opposite. Also AP ammo is the way to go, all other ammo types are useless, maybe with the exception of standard ammo that is just cheaper to get.
2. Random mines just happen too frequently, I should theoretically always scan with explosives expert before sending the whole team in exploration mode but is it fun? Save/load seems like cheating to me but I did just that.
3. Enemies just charge at you like morons, I don't see any intelligence in their behavior. They don't even synchronize their attacks. The only difficulty once you get sniper rifles is being overwhelmed by the numbers (happens vs Corazon and that's one of the two moments in the game when grenades are actually useful) or having to start combat in unfavorable position (Refugee Camp). 
4. Enemy attack squads during late game are very very weak. They should be much stronger but there should be possible to train more militia so training militia still makes sense but the attacks are at least a bit challenging for your merc squad.
5. Saving the president seems too random and counter-intuitive. The tactics that finally worked for me is too sneak up as close as possible and then maybe, maybe I can run one of my mercs close enough to the tent to fire a flashbang (one of a very few moments in the game where grenades are useful) and pray that the president survives the first turn. Then it's a walk in the part.

So basically I agree with Lobo on everything (I didn't hire Livewire so no comment on her special ability) except the fact that the whole game is too easy for casual player. It's just imbalanced. Also some additional points:
1. Ammo scarcity is a non-issue once you get to the first place you can craft it.
2. Money is not an issue, I finished the game with over 2 million in the bank. Mercs are just very cheap later on, maybe you should start with more money but the mercs should be much more expensive? Maybe their salary should increase with their level?
3. Suppression and blind are too weak. You shouldn't be able to hit anyone shooting blind. Suppression is the  primary tactics in the current real-life war and here it just reduces AP a bit? Suppressed enemies still shoot at me and I can still headshot them while being suppressed myself. 
4. Tear/mustard gas shouldn't create fog.
5. And those zombies just don't fit into JA but that's unrelated to game balance.

[Melliores]

@PunkSkeleton

Regarding your additional points:

1. Ammo scarcity can be an issue if you do not actively look both for parts and gunpowder with which you can craft said ammo. Players prefer to use the gunpowder to craft explosives instead of ammo as well. In general if you use burst or auto fire a lot, even crafting ammo won't help you.
2. Money income on higher difficulties is a lot lower, especially on Mission Impossible. On MI you have too keep a close eye on who do you hire and when. It is still very much doable but the early game can be rough if you are not careful.
3. Depending on how you set up your merc, you can suppress numerous enemies with one action. Bullets will suppress independently, not the action itself thus if you want to use it as a tactic, you have to try shooting at groups of enemies. This can mean a lot less shots coming your on their turn. It is not powerful but useful approach to limit the danger.
4. Any grenade thrown into a dirty/dusty environment will create a small could of dust when it explodes. The visual effect can be different but in essence there should be some visible cloud after it goes bang.
5. Zombies is question of preference - it was the same situation with the aliens in JA2. 🙂 They could integrate a toggle for those but I do not think that would happen as they seem to be quite well integrated into the overall plotline.

The balance can be improved upon and they might need a few balance patches to find the sweet spot.

[PunkSkeleton]

1. The problem is that burst/autofire just don't work well. It's too easy to kill with sniper rifles, the damage output of assault rifles and burst/autofire is generally lower. Burst 90% of time just don't do more damage than sniper shot, autofire is useful at very close range so that I can kill a tough opponent but... it doesn't always do it. Even heavy machine guns don't beat sniper rifles that much and they're much harder to use. 
Also I didn't craft any explosives, I used them exactly 3 times including using mortar once, in most situations AP is better spent sniping than throwing grenades.
2. The problem with money is that it's a thing mostly at the beginning of the game. If you're playing like me using the same team all game long, leveling and training those mercs then they become very good while their cost is still the same (unless you hire mercs that dislike each other like Buns and Fox). Meanwhile your income gets higher.
3. Yes, you can suppress multiple enemies but in reality suppressing two enemies is not better than killing one. And almost always you can't suppress more than 2 with one action so it is not effective.
4. Fog means that it is actually harder to kill so it is a drawback of such grenades/mortar shells. And they're already weak. Partly because they're just weak, partly because you can't just throw them around the corner and mostly because enemies just charge at you like morons instead of staying in entrenched positions. If I'm attacking they should stay in good positions, use stationary machine guns etc. Then using grenades and suppression would make sense because that would help to force them out. Now they're just running until they can shoot, there are only a few places where snipers stay in relatively good positions but this is only due to clever map designs.

[StoProGratis]

I just feel like there could be more enemies attacking the sector. I'm playing on the hardest settings and fighting 10 legion troops is easy. Sometimes I attack sector where there is diamond shipment + regular legion troops so it's like 16 troops. It's getting better but something like 22 should be cool. IIRC in JA2 there were up to 24 enemies in the sector.

[Theborb]

Agreed, been a long time since I have played JA2 but it seemed to offer a much greater challenge. I started JA3 to do my Iron Man run with an Imp merc maxed in leadership sec and marksmanship then took Barry and live wire. Having high intelligence they learn incredibly quick. I had a team of six and finished the game with only M24’s nothing but head shots and hollow points. After sinking almost 200 hours into the game I still have some trophies to hunt, but it almost doesn’t seem worth continuing without harder difficulty better AI. I was barely taking damage from hits endgame in light armor.