MisterSlanky

Check the poly voice settings. If you actively listen, the lines are the same, but tonally there are different voices for the different presets. They're all available in the IMP mod settings.

There are more than 2 IMP voices. While there are only 2 sets of lines, there are multiple tone options for each gender that makes the voice actively sound different. But to answer the question: Option 6 is the "least worst" IMHO.

It will go away eventually but since it is either quite clearly a bug or a bad idea it's worth noting that there's a mod that will change it to be map based.

But that's just it. She's not. Her marksmanship is reasonable, I'll give you that - but without wisdom to help improve it, that's where it always will be. She can train, but again - without wisdom you'll be stuck there forever. Hell, MD is a better trainer once you factor in the training perks. She has literally the second worst mechanical for any of the early game mercs (and Wolf, who is a better choice in every way, is the only one - at two points lower at that). The armor bypass perk is either not needed in the early game (I've never struggled with or without it), and late game it's overshadowed by weapon penetration and AP ammo. You're essentially paying for an unneeded rifle, because you'll be waist deep in a minimum of 4 not even half-way through the first island (again, at a time where rifles aren't even required). And to top it all off, she's NOT affordable. Due to her lack of an insurance policy, her on-screen cost is deceptive; she doesn't come with a 14-day discount (or even 7-day discount), and she raises her prices faster than most. She winds up being OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive in very short order. Early game I'd rather have nearly every other merc. Except Omryn, screw that guy.

Part of the frustration for me is that as a single player (or dual player) experience, generally I'm either a) happy with things being overpowered or b) am willing to take personal limitations to control how overpowered things are and limit how powerful they are. With sniper rifles it's easy to limit myself to one, or not put supressors on all of them - so while they could adjust the game for balance, it's not as important as what were the laser blast accuracy of MGs. That said, I also found MGs horribly overpowered, but couldn't exactly limit myself (I already only had one operator) and there's not really something I can do to limit their power. So I agree that something had to be done on the software, since I couldn't manage a fix on my end. But what was done changed them from too useful to outright near unusable. Part of that issue is the outer extent of their cone. With regular overwatch I can control how far out I want my mercenaries to target things, which limits long-range low-chance-to-hit shots. With the MG that's not the case, as the change fixed the laser-focused accuracy (a good thing) but in turn makes it so when somebody enters overwatch, you're firing at long range (and not hitting) wasting their limited interrupts. I also do wish there was more "balance", making every weapon in the game an option from some angle (ammunition, durability, range, accuracy, mods, etc.) in order to avoid the JA2 trap of escalating equipment. As for the Gewehr, it's certainly powerful when it makes its appearance, but for the time it truly shines, ammunition is rare enough to limit its breadth of use in the squad. By the time you have sufficient ammunition, you've usually broken through to the main island and have started broadening your weapon base (which to me is fine).

I did this on my "everybody sucks but interacts" playthrough. Ivan (who admittedly doesn't suck) was my highest explosive at 55, Kalyna was my mechanic at 67, Buns was my medic at 49, and Hitman was my leader at 58 (the team was rounded out by Grunty and Igor). Honestly, it was fine. It means being more accepting to what's happening, but I honestly had a ton of fun playing the group. I could mod weapons (with some loss here and there), I could disarm explosives (with some extra wounds here and there), and I could work as a medic (taking forever to do it). The hardest part of the group was getting the two mines necessary to pay everyone within a 2 week time period. But it was fun nonetheless.

I used Fidel exactly once. Loved his personality (and I often take mercenaries because their personalities are so great), but couldn't keep up with his bloodthirstyness. I'm disappointed I'll probably never get to see all his voice lines.

My favorite mercenary depends on what we're assessing. Wolf is my favorite all-rounder who brings something to nearly every team he's part of (including great interactions). Meltdown is my favorite for lines and world interactions. Barry is my favorite for being so grossly overpowered it's not funny. Thor is my favorite doctor. So we're working on a continuum here. As for Kalyna, she is my favorite for being my least favorite. I find her entirely awful in every way. She's the worst "mechanic" available (unless we count Wolf, who has 2 fewer points but points everywhere else). She's the worst "leader" available. She's the quantitatively dumbest mercenary in the game. Her voice acting is terrible, and I'd argue that it's pretty immoral to bring somebody who has the emotional age of a 10 year old into combat. Sure she can shoot, but so can everyone else since marksmanship is the quickest increasing skill in the game. Even her rifle is near worthless since you don't need it for the first three battles and as long as you send in somebody immoral to dig up a few graves where you'll wind up with a trove of 3-4 rifles by the fourth sector.