Solaris_Wave

Surely, there is a walk mode? What about enemy landmines and booby traps? If your mercs are running all the time, what are their chances of spotting such devices?

I haven't seen the Extraction movies yet but The Wild Geese is an excellent movie with a great cast.

Thank you for uploading this Dev Diary. They are always an enjoyable read. It is nice to see more screenshots too. Naturally, some questions: 1) I have a question regarding the enemy reposition phase. This raised some concern in the past when it was first mentioned, months ago. It was a feature in the XCOM reboot and not particularly liked. Your explanation here makes a little more sense but I am still uncertain how powerful it could be. It sounds like it has been restrained in how much movement the enemy gets but my concern is, how well each enemy would get to simultaneously move. Will they all have equal reaction to this alert or will it vary? I would like to see some randomiser added where, despite the alert, it isn't guaranteed that every single enemy soldier will get to reposition. Unless they were all wearing headsets to hear an alert, a base alarm went off or they were all in close proximity with one another, one or two enemies might be a bit slow to react. The randomiser would not activate if the enemy is highly experienced, has headsets or the base alarm is activated by an enemy soldier. Also, the weather would have an impact on this as well. Thunderstorms, heavy rain and dust storms would make it harder to hear an alert. It says in your description of weather that hearing is impaired, so in that case, an alert (and the chance to reposition) should be affected as well. 2) My second question is about night time attacks. You mentioned that darkness conceals your position to a certain extent and that lit up areas will negate that. Is there any feature (and I have asked this before) where anybody in a brightly lit location will have difficulty looking out into the darkness? If two opposing units were both in the dark, they would have trouble spotting one another. However, they would have natural human night vision. In contrast, someone in a well lit area will be used to that level of light and will find it harder to see out into the darkness. There could be a factor added to the game where anybody in a well lit area for more than one turn, will have an added penalty to spot someone in the dark. Their eyes are simply not adjusted to see out into the dark. To remove that penalty, they need to either turn off the light (if possible) or leave the lit area. It would take 1-2 turns for night eyesight to happen. If someone is going from a dark area to a lit area (going indoors or under a street light, for instance), if they end their turn in the light, their night vision is lost (and then they need 1-2 turns in the dark to get it back). If they are just moving through the light and back into the dark in that same turn, there is no loss of night vision as they have not been long enough in the lit up area. 3) If indoors, what light sources are there and can they be switched off? Oil lamps, candles or electrical lights can hopefully be disabled without having to shoot them. Doing so will temporarily (1-2 turns) cause anyone inside to have lower visibility as their eyes are suddenly needing to adjust but overall, it could be a good strategy as it would be preferable to have the light sources removed so they can see out into the dark environment better. Not only that but you are then less visible and much harder to spot for anybody looking into the building. Dark environments (outside or in) lower the spotting distance but with the addition of being indoors you get additional concealment bonuses. 4) Does weapon muzzle flash have any effect at night? Firing a gun, especially higher calibres and in burst or automatic should affect the shooter's visibility a little (it could be worse but let's not make it a nuisance). To reduce this effect, flash hider modifications and suppressors can be fitted to guns. In addition, firing such a weapon will give your position away, much like being able to spot your flashlight's point of origin from a distance. If you or any enemy have fired that turn, they should be revealed due to the muzzle flash giving them away. That reveal then stays until next turn, when it switches to Detected. Each time someone fires, that reveal will be renewed. Therefore, it would make sense to move to another location so any enemy will continue to fire on the position they last thought you were in. Again, your (or the enemy's) use of flash hiders and suppressors will reduce the effect of a muzzle flash revealing a position. 5) You mentioned choosing to wear night-vision goggles or a helmet. What about helmets that have mounting brackets for NVGs that can be pulled down over the eyes?

Hopefully, you can suppress enemies with single bullets and shells, if those are a large enough calibre. If I knew someone was out there with an anti-materiel rifle, I think I would like to keep behind as much cover as possible, and then stay there. You might be able to charge up towards the sniper and use flanking manoeuvres, but if you are the one to get shot, you are not going to be walking away from that one.

They did say in an earlier stream that they went with slightly muted colours for the environment before going more with an African vibrancy and colour.

I agree. I have said countless times from the beginning of joining the forum that there needs to be more motivation for automatic fire, and to remove the precise accuracy and benefits of single shot fire. I don't mean bullets should just be wasted but single shot fire was the optimal way to play JA2. You could aim for the head, you saved ammo and there was no real penalty to shooting a moving target. Full auto fire was only really useful to wound multiple enemies at once (especially when their armour got too strong) or, if close enough, to kill an enemy in one go due to every bullet hitting. There should be a limit to when you can choose to aim at a body part (close ranges only. Outside of that you just aim at a general target and each bullet randomly hits a body part), accuracy penalties to hit a moving target (especially with magnified scopes) and no damage reduction on full auto. Also, the greater the amount of bullets, the higher the suppression and effect on morale.

Shadow's new hairstyle is too long for him, I agree.

The M14 has proved to be quite a moddable platform in its own right. The US military services have taken a stop-gap battle rifle that was very much of its time and not all that great, and given it a new lease of life with its modernisation. For JA3, I can see how the M14 fits in well with the modding system in the game. You can take a cheap, powerful rifle and over the course of time, upgrade it over and over, into something more accurate, more adaptable and with a sturdier body. Meanwhile, the PSG1 is premium money and premium performance out of the box. It doesn't need any modification because it was already fine tuned as far as it could go, before it left the building. It already comes with a dedicated scope (with built-in red dot) and a tripod. Adding or changing anything to it seems silly and done just for the sake of it. I don't know how rugged it is but I don't think it was ever designed to be a rifle that you drag through the elements. Its application was more for counter-terrorist scenarios rather than going out into the battlefield. They certainly aren't rifles you buy in bulk. JA3 could make the PSG1 be a highly accurate rifle that will never miss due to any spread. As long as the shooter is good enough in terms of accuracy, the shot will hit the intended target. It could need to be maintained regularly but not allow for any mods. It would squeeze the most out of 7.62x51mm and unless you go for a more powerful calibre, the PSG1 would give you the best stats for any single fire rifle in that particular calibre. That is really one of the biggest flaws that JA3 has. Very few, if any of us, seem happy with the shared inventory system and everything associated with it. For the sake of simplification, it seems to cause more problems than it solves. Not only that, were there problems that needed solving anyway? I'm not sure how to answer that one. Being 'triggered' and having OCD doesn't really fit in with this non-sensical game balance. Also, we aren't just talking about two guns having different accuracy. We are talking about one gun causing half the amount of damage per bullet. It is as if the M14 was firing an entirely different calibre. If I had a rifle that caused that much of a drop in lethality performance, I'd throw the bloody thing off a cliff and get myself something better.

Let's hope that it can be something done officially or unofficially in the future. Sooner rather than later as well. If it gets done, I am sure it will encourage new Japanese players that might have otherwise avoided JA3.

I agree. The difference is too extreme. Both guns have the same calibre and long barrels (although the PSG1 has a longer barrel). I can see a damage reduction of up to 5 points for the M14 but no more than that. If we were talking the difference between a full length assault rifle and a compact carbine, I would expect (and insist) on a damage difference. A notable calibre here would be the 5.56x45mm round. Out of an M16 barrel, you will get optimal damage. Fire it from a lighter and handier carbine and the velocity reduces enough to lessen the bullet's ability to fragment, which is where most of its damage capability comes from. There is modern ammunition that helps get around shorter barrels and other things like stronger gas pressures (which will require sooner maintenance) but that is still a general rule. For two guns firing 7.62x51mm and at a similar length, such a large damage decrease doesn't make any sense.

The M14 was never very good as a automatic battle rifle, due to its recoil. It has served far better as a semi-automatic rifle (especially in its modernised form or its derivatives such as the M1A and M21). It is certainly cheaper than the PSG1 but if in the case of both being semi-auto only (which the PSG1 certainly is), I can't see why the M14 would fire faster. The PSG1 can probably fire just as fast unless the trigger has a heavy pull.

I have another suggestion regarding the weapon screenshots showing the bonuses and penalties on the right side of the screen. I assume these effects often depend on the modifications made to the gun. It looks as if when that happens, any bonuses or negative effects just add to the bottom of the list, rather than being separated into two categories. Because of this, and because all effects are just in one long list, I would like to suggest colour coding the text instead of just having text in white. Positive effects can have green text and negative effects can have red text. If that looks untidy, have a plus or minus in front of the text that is colour coded for quicker identification.

This really should not happen in such a vast manner, looking at the two guns shown in @Carmine's thread in General Discussion!

If I was going to alter the stats on those guns, the M14 would be cheaper and need modifications to gain the best performance and characteristics (like the real M14). Meanwhile, the PSG1 would have slightly better range, better accuracy and slightly higher damage.

I am not sure what you mean about "Dragon and Dungeon". Do you mean Dungeons & Dragons? That aside, looking at those damage ratings does reveal arbitrary 'game balancing' instead of realistic balancing (or an attempt towards as such). The damage values shouldn't be that far apart for two weapons firing the same cartridge!

That would help, if scrap could be reclaimed either from a failed Mechanic check or the removal of attachments to replace it with something else. The metal and other components are still there, they shouldn't get disintegrated. I agree for the most part. It just seems superfluous on certain guns, especially if you are replacing a component with something inferior (such as removing the standard stock on a PSG1). Any criticisms I have aside (such as the above point), I will say that the weapon modelling is absolutely superb! Haemimont should be proud of them. I know I would love to see a diary on that too. Sound effects are one of the most important parts of a game. You can have fabulous graphics but if the sound effects are lacking, it can seriously have an impact on atmosphere.

'Influencer' is now considered a legitimate profession now: "Hey everyone, it's Lips, coming at you with all the latest news and tips. Today I am sponsored by Paperclips Paradise, for all your paperclip needs. I shop there all the time and don't know how I lived before they existed. You can enter the code 'CLIPS&LIPS' to get a discount when you next shop there. Go ahead and hit that Subscribe button and don't forget to Like my videos. Today, we will be taking a look at Jagged Alliance 3 but first I am going to tell you my latest fashion tips, what makeup I use and the next tattoo I am thinking of having."

Sorry @Hendrix, I forgot you previously mentioned Missing In Action III! I was thinking as I wrote that post, "I'm sure I read Hendrix has mentioned that film!"

Why wasn't JA2 popular in the US? Does anybody know? What were the general US gaming market interested in instead? As I have said before, Germany loves strategy games. I have seen strategy games incredibly popular over there that don't get the same recognition anywhere else (that I know of).

Great to see this diary! Of course, with me being a 'gun nut', just like the Combat Diary, I will be asking lots of questions. 1) I was reading about pistols and sub-machine guns being useful for fighting while on the move. In essence, they have their own perks system. Are there any other advantages to using such weapons? Calling back to my Weapon Characteristics thread that I made when I first joined the forum, handguns need to remain viable throughout the entire game, even if only as a backup weapon for when your primary weapon is out of ammo at a critical moment, or it has a malfunction. Drawing a handgun should take very little action points, or at least a lot less than to reload the primary weapon, or clear a jam. This will encourage the use of handguns and will reflect letting go of the primary (letting it hang from its sling, or taking your shooting hand off the grip) and drawing your sidearm from its holster. I thought in the past about how to add holsters for the game but holsters are varied in size, can be on different parts of the body and you might have more than one handgun. Therefore, I figured the best compromise would be to simply have all handguns pretend they are holstered and cost less action points to equip. The only exception would be any handguns in a backpack as they are not readily available. In addition, due to their lighter weight and shorter length, almost all handguns and SMGs should cost less action points to aim and to shoot. This will give them an advantage inside buildings where reaction time to suddenly appearing enemies will be more important than range and damage capability. Follow-up shots will be easier too as recoil is less. Again, there is another exception to this. Large calibre handguns should not have a lighter AP cost in follow-up shots due to their recoil. The more more powerful the calibre, the slower (or more AP cost) the follow-up shot will be. It doesn't have to be a large action points increasement but it can all add up in those critical moments. 2) Handgun calibres are generally weaker but the more powerful handgun calibres (usually revolver calibres starting from .357 Magnum) will compensate for this. Also, while body armour penetration is less than a rifle round, some are designed to penetrate body armour better. Two of the more obvious calibres that do this are 5.7x28mm (used in the FN P90 and FN Five-Seven) and 4.6x30mm (used in the H&K MP7). 3) Buckshot from shotguns don't have as much spread as they are often shown in games and movies. This can vary from shotgun to shotgun, depending on things like internal choke and barrel length (so a sawn-off shotgun will obviously have a wider spread). Buckshot should have an accuracy advantage to hit, at close to medium ranges. However, it obviously gains its greatest lethality the more pellets that hit the same target. An individual pellet can be lethal but it is the combination that gives it its power per shot. Hopefully, JA3 calculates each individual pellet and a single pellet doesn't simply cause 100% damage. Another point about standard buckshot is its low penetration. It is very poor against body armour and while it can damage thin building walls, it loses energy quickly. That can be a good thing if you don't want those pellets hitting someone you would prefer not to. 4) Shotguns were underused in JA2 because of enemy body armour. Are there different cartridges available for shotguns in JA3? One of their key advantages is their variety of ammunition. You have standard buckshot rounds, rifled slugs, door breaching rounds (very good for opening doors and not hitting anyone on the other side), less than lethal rounds, mini-CS gas rounds, hard armour penetrators and quadrangle buckshot for knocking out vehicle engines. While a lot of those might be seen as useless for a Jagged Alliance game, it proves that they can still remain useful throughout the course of a game. Military shotguns such as semi-auto tube-fed or magazine-fed increase that versatility even more. 5) I saw in one screenshot the AA-12 automatic shotgun. While it existed in prototype stage before JA3's timeline, it didn't really become available until after. You could always replace this with the Daewoo USAS-12. That, in terms of game purposes, is pretty much the same thing and should only require a visual change. 6) I saw a little spelling error in your post, which is actually a quite common error (not to you specifically). 'Ordinance' is a completely different thing, compared to 'Ordnance' (which is the correct word in this context). Hopefully, any use of the word hasn't been typed incorrectly in the game itself. 7) Dual-wielding handguns and small SMGs is a fun addition. I liked its inclusion in JA2 and it was a nice surprise when you tried it and saw the merc actually using two guns at the same time. What SMGs can be dual-wielded? Is it only 'machine pistol' types such as the Micro-Uzi or MAC-10 and MAC-11, or are there larger SMGs too? Will there be accuracy penalties? While small, the two MAC models and the Micro-Uzi have a lot of recoil due to their incredibly fast fire rate. That aside, they will have intense firepower when combined and will be guaranteed to kill anything at close range. 8 ) While JA3 has a large focus on modifying guns, I am curious as to why an expensive sniper rifle such as the H&K PSG1 would need its stock modifying? The standard stock is strong and is adjustable. It looks superior to the wooden stock, seen in the screenshot, that has been used instead. What was the motivation behind this? While that might seem like a silly question to ask, I was thinking that some guns deserve more modifications than other guns. Some guns don't really need modifying as they are already at their peak performance. 9) Will the use of flashlights give away the position of the shooter using the light? I mentioned this in my Weapon Characteristics thread as well. At night time, if someone is far enough away from the person with the light, and are facing them straight on, they will see a bright pinpoint of light and can use that to aim at. Can lights be switched on and off? Also, how far does a light illuminate? Anyone within the beam of light will obviously be easier to see for the shooter with the light. In addition, anyone trying to look at the light (and even the shooter with the light) from closer ranges should get a sight or accuracy penalty. It is simply too bright. However, anyone at longer range and outside of the illumination will get an accuracy bonus as they can aim at the light source. This only applies to seeing the light head on. From that direction, at long range, it is a focal point. Also, do enemy soldiers use lights? 10) Do revolvers still eject casings after every shot? I saw that in one of the preview videos and hopefully that has been rectified now. Finally, with regards to sound effects, falling casings shouldn't be as loud as the gunshot and also they sound different depending on the terrain they land on. Magazine size and loading style will dictate how loud they sound when ejected and inserted. A 7 to 9-round pistol magazine from an M1911 is going to sound quieter than reloading a .50 BMG mag. It can be a simple case of tweaking the volume. When I was doing sound effects for weapons in the past, if I didn't have access to an appropriate sound effect for a certain gun or different calibre, I sometimes altered an existing sound effect so it could be used for other variants. A classic example of this is the Desert Eagle pistol. That comes in a variety of calibres. Therefore, I started with a .357 Magnum gunshot and to get an appropriate gunshot for the more powerful .44 Magnum and .50 Action Express cartridges, I added more bass and volume for each calibre. It was a quick and easy way to have the same gun firing the more powerful calibres.

This is just a question and not an argument, but do you have proof that turn-based strategy is not popular in the US market anymore? What about games like Civilization, the current XCOM games, BattleTech, Panzer Corps II, to name a few? Are RTS games more appealing to the US market? This isn't just games like Company Of Heroes and similar Command & Conquer styled games, but even grand strategy games that act turn-based in their nature but are actually real-time. Games like Stellaris, Crusader Kings III and Hearts Of Iron IV. Civilization continues to always sell well, I think. Even if it pretty much the same thing every time. However, I don't really keep up with any computer game market these days. I don't know what is popular on consoles anymore and I don't follow the trends. I tend to just buy and play what I want, sticking to single player experiences. Multiplayer games don't really appeal to me anymore due to the stress (even if I was good at them). Not to mention the toxicity of a lot of their communities. Therefore, I am unaware of whether the US is radically different from anywhere else, with the exception of Germany, which as I mentioned earlier, often seems to really enjoy strategy games and obscure simulators.

I am wondering whether they could patch that or allow it to be modded as such? It might not be great, as you say, but at least it would be more sensible.

Germany in particular loves strategy games. They also like lots of unique simulators too. I was always surprised about the weaker market in North America. The US is a big place and so I thought that would allow for various tastes. Even if not the US, then Canada, seeing as that is where Sir-Tech was largely from. For JA3 itself, you could see it from two sides. On one side, you have got the popularity of JA2 and it being able to take the time to develop its fanbase in North America (hopefully giving rise to the appeal of JA3, in turn). On the other side, you have got multiple sequels that turned out to be a disappointment, while other games have had time to take over in people's minds.