GODSPEED

Perfect timing as Raider bows his head in disbelief! 🤣

The maps are perfectly sized for the size of encounters. So far, on all the maps I've played (15-20), I've had way enough room to navigate around the entire map to choose where I want to start my engagement. I can't see the issue with the size of the maps. They are concise, straight to the point and all have some little detail that can make a combat in them challenging but also interesting. The UI is my biggest pet-peeve so far. It's borderline horrible in design and the constant immediate pop-ups when simply mousing over stuff is not just a "little" annoying. The UI needs huge work, we need options for smaller windows and windows that are less intrusive. And to time how long we keep our mouse over an item for a pop-up (or even the ability to disable pop-ups and get info with a right-click). Even the weapon modding page, often the entire gun can't even be viewed. Part of the barrel is outside the window, even fully zoomed-out, and mousing over the mods actually hide the nice visuals of the mods. The game is beautiful, but an eyesore in the UI department. While it isn't a HUGE issue, even the placement of the AIMBOT text covers merc profile images. Like they never tested it or something.

No idea!! I was just exploring the town after combat, saw the building at in interact-able pile inside.. when I broke in the door.. THAT came out!! 👀 Right away had to snip to share here!! 😅

I'm a pretty heavy 1.13 nutjob fanboy. JA2 was a game about freedom. You were in a sandbox. It could be pretty easy to mess up a run, end up with a few dead mercs and then unable to hire decent mercs. Or run into money problems and ammunition issues very early on. Naturally, after you play that game a few times, we know the ways to get around it. But how many JA2 players ran a flawless game the first time... I highly doubt it. I remember uninstalling that game the frist time I played it. Felt my mercs couldn't hit a building at point blank. Get through that initial frustration. Learn to conserve ammo, hire recruit mercs that offer incredible value for money (Buns, my love... I had to kick Grunty out of my team.. 🤣), and I already hit $98,000 after 4 weeks of in-game time. (2 full 14-day contracts with 5 mercs and my imp). On my end, I'm actually thinking I should have gone with Commando (Medium) difficulty, because so far I've been floating in money. The only thing I have learnt I must do, is work on my ammo conservation. I equipped 3 AK-47's on my team very early on, and would always use burst. So now, I'm paying the price. Ran through my supply of 7.62 WP. But, that's my mistake, not game balancing. Same for the M-14 my IMP was using. I kept using it in burst. And on top of it, it had a mod to fire extra rounds on burst. I'm paying the price now, as I ran my supply of 7.62 NATO almost dry. Honestly, I love this challenge. I love being able to resort to "survival" tactics. This actualyl works incredibly well for a game of this nature. This ISN'T xcom. I don't have a base of operations. I'm kind of a freeroaming band of mercs and I've yet to even acquire a town with a repair shop. (That's actualyl my own self-imposed main quest at the moment) I need to 'craft' some ammo now. Yes, many game mechanics are different from JA2, but after a dozen hours of resetting my brain from 15+ years of 1.13... I'm quite enjoying this game and the surprises I'm getting. The balance in the firefights, the tactics and the overall balance so far is quite forgiving. I've had my own imp be downed twice, but managed to save him from death twice. In JA2, he'd be dead. Game is a touch easier than I initially thought it would be. Just push through it... you'll be fine!

Love this kind of unexpected encounter!!

Thanks for the heads-up!

See my "notes" on your list ^ And ignore the people who call your 'wishlist' stupid. This forum has always been about members who are a little more mature than that who don't need to resort to insult. You bring up some good points, but many of them are choices that were made long ago... and it is too late to make such changes. Again, I hate to sound like this... but if you cannot agree with those things, it is your choice to play the game or not at this point. I am a pretty hardcore fanatic of 1.13, played it 15+ years, at least 1x /year. It has taken me some hours of playing JA3 to adapt, and while this game cannot replace JA2 (I find some parts worse, but some parts better than base JA2)... it is still a very good Tactical game with some natural flaws like any game. But it just came out 2 days ago. Naturally, once they acquired enough feedback on things they CAN tweak, I'm sure Haemimont will.

Max Zoom... I just want to zoom in more... get a different angle here... I see detail on the MP5, but I feel too far away to really see it. It's just far enough that Aliasing gets in the way of the detail.. being able to zoom in a little more would help clear it up. The M14, with the folded bipod and scope... it looks awesome. This is what my wet dreams for JA2 were!

Thanks @Raeven!! 💯 I actually went back in with THAT in mind, and now get it. When in Tactical view, you can't access sector inventory, only squad stash. When in satellite view, you can access sector inventory. I'm guessing it's an oversight. As when not in combat, I don't see why I should leave the tactical view to then get sector inventory. Thanks for the help... at least now I can hire new mercs!!!

@Haemimont_Boian@Haemimont_Boyan As another member put it.. I would also like to zoom in to Buns buns please. 😅 You guys modeled the mercs and the guns so well!! They are absolutely beautiful, especially that we can see the mods on the guns; this feels like such a huge upgrade to any of the previous Jagged Alliance games. Finally some detail! But the camera feels extremely RESTRICTIVE. Often the furthest zoom level feels claustrophobic and very restrictive. I feel I can never see enough to get a good view of battlefield. On the other end of the spectrum, you put in so much beautiful detail, but I can't zoom in enough to appreciate that work. The angle on the cam doesn't provide a very good take on the "height" of the terrain either (not talking when mercs climb and extra height, talking about subtle elevation changes on terrain). On a few occasions, while having mercs in tall grass and bushes near a tree, it was near impossible to tell where the merc was and where he could actually go or not.

For myself, as I've said in another post somewhere on this forum.. I've been praying at the 1.13 altar for about 15 years. I don't care if some think 1.3 isn't JA2, it has everything JA2 is about, the mercs, the money, the guns. It simply added so many Quality of Life fixes and many options that we're originally removed (but are in the game) as toggles so you can raise the game's difficulty a notch or 10 when you've already beaten JA2 many times (it's too easy really). Some seem to think 1.13 is a complete "change" or an overhaul... when it really isn't. If you play with Tons of Guns... well.. you get A SHITLOAD tons of guns. Just play with less to have JA2's original Gun selection. 1.13 is JA2, but with added QoL & difficulty options. Nothing more, nothing less. So... for me, it took me a good 10 hours to get into a completely different beat. I'm not used to having to rely on reading about buffs/debuffs, or having to make use of skills and abilities with buttons. That said, I like JA3 as a tactical game. It clearly has many awesome ideas and twists on the Xcom gameplay. I would never even look at Xcom with JA3. Because, it feels like an Xcom game that has been tweaked and worked and modified to approach a game like JA2 in terms of what the game is and how it's played. I don't feel the same level of freedom in some aspects, but do in others. I don't like the real-time thing. 1.13 added the option to play with real-time sneaking on.. but also the option to pause when in real-time. I would like them to add such an option in JA3. After all, many who play JA3, play it because of their affinity for turn-based, not for the real-time strategy.

Buuunnnn's!! 😍 😅 On a more serious note. A simple toggle option like Atom RPG has: Isometric Mode. If you check that box, the game has the camera stuck in a typical isometric view with 4 cardinal angles. Otherwise it has more a freecam style view, with limitations naturally. JA3 seems to be detailed enough, that we should have a freecam. I always zoom in to see the mercs "unique" looks (not just the buns, but mostly for the buns), and the weapon models with visual mods on them are insanely good looking. And then, the camera doesn't let us zoom out enough. It feels claustrophobic and restrictive.

@LXant Honestly, ignore the rose-tinted glasses some members seem to have. If you were to say ANYTHING that THEY feel is "negative" towards the game they like, they will simply bring you down a loophole of arguments that have no footing, just for the sake of arguing. They'll tell you how the game isn't to simulate real-life, or how it isn't a milsim... then another person will go to explain that in real-life, some have survived headshots. Go figure. Both defending the same game, with arguments that contradict one another. Needless to say, I'm having fun with the game; but as any new game, a few things need tweaking as well. I've also encountered the headshot problem. Actually, I got a head blown off early in the game (quite the surprise). But, just in my last hours of play yesterday, I've had a guy come right up to me and end his turn adjacent to Igor (Igor has an AK-47). I took a burst at his head, point blank. Max aim. All 3 bullets hits. The next turn, the bad guy simply shrugged it off and shot at me. No, I didn't go into fetal position, I didn't cry and I didn't get mad or close the game, as some here seem to imply that you're going way overboard just for mentionning balancing issues... but just like you, it kind of took me out of the game in terms of immersion. Kind of like a "wtf" moment that makes no sense. The guy did NOT have armor on his head. There was no fog, or no buffs to damage reduction (only the damage reduction from burst fire and damage bonus from headshot). It's a head-scratcher all right. Those who try to make you feel like an idiot because you're "scratching" your head about it... best just ignore them.

I remember HG explaining their design choices for unique-looking mercs vs mercs with full gear. Whether that was to make the game simpler to make, or really an art choice, I have my suspicions. I had understood they made that choice because they said our mercs would just blend in too much and we'd confuse them with the enemy. So, my brain thought: "ok, that means, enemies will show their gear and equipment, but our mercs will look unique!" Now... I actually kind of like the unique-looking mercs to be honest! Honestly, I thought I was going to hate it, 'cause I'm a bit of a "equipment/gun nerd" and like seeing it. But, with that said, their explanation that the mercs blended-in too much with everything if they had equipment... 😤 Put your mercs next to enemies.. and the enemies look nearly as funky, so they blend in anyways!! +1 to wanting visible equipment on enemies at least, it would look better than having to rely on the UI to tell you. That was one of the "major" limitations of Jagged Alliance 2 (1.13), having to rely on ALT to see the enemy equipped gear.

It's kind of basic, yes. I think they were aiming to have more control over the progression this way. Pseudo-Survival choice maybe? No, guns you find are for scraps, for parts to craft mods. 💩 "Crafting" in the video game industry has gone WAY overboard. It seems as though it's among the most "checked boxes" in game devs list of "must-haves" if they want to market and sell a game. My thoughts as well... I would have figured they could have had shops with very worn-out firearms, extravagant prices.. but, this was maybe a part they felt they could cut out of the game and save on some dev time. That, or it's thematic; small villages like these wouldn't have gun markets.. these are fishermen, villagers.. etc.. I get it, but it feels a little cheap, especially for the JA2 crowd who's grown quite fond of the idea of ordering a gun online. 😁 I would have liked to see something like an used guns e-store, like some kind of "play" on ebay for guns. 'Cause in 2001, I used to buy stuff from ebay regularly.

You'd expect the shared inventory to be the most simple and seamless thing.. simplicity at its core! Huhhhh.. JA2's inventory system is way simpler to use.

So I'm at the stage where I've captured a mine, done a quest or two... I've had my initial "Recruit" 5 Mercs (+ IMP) for 2-3 full 14-day contracts and I want to switch them around for new mercs. Should be pretty darn easy if you ask me. 🤬 The inventory management is so contrived and un-intuitive. This isn't even funny! When I'm on my inventory page, the only thing I see, is my mercs personal inventory on the right, their equipped items on the left and the squad "stash" in the middle.... ...but the squad stash is only for ammunition! You can't put weapons, armor, etc.. I've been trying to figure out how the heck to put equipment somewhere while I transition mercs; I don't have room in the mercs individual slots because they are all full. I managed to see the sector inventory at one point, but for some reason, I don't seem to be able to see it again. I feel like the biggest dimwit who can't figure out something as simple as inventory management. Where and how do we get a sector inventory? The inventory is kind of an eyesore. I'm playing at 2560x1440, but feel like I'm playing a game from 1993 on DOS at 320x240. Why are the inventory squares so big? I can't even see the basic inventory for 6 mercs without having to scroll!! Sorry if those comments sound a little harsh.. but I'm scratching my head as to how such a modern and beautiful game still has what feels like a placeholder inventory system that is in ALPHA stage. As much as I have some criticism on some aspects of the game; I'm slowly getting my mind to reset after 15+ years of religiously praying at the 1.13 altar here. Actually enjoying many things you implemented and changed, but also feeling like it's a huge step back in some aspects (like this one).

Jagged Alliance, a series on fictitious situations and locations, we don't need modern politics interjected here. You're in the wrong place.

That ^ With ALL those ui windows, all those games rules and stats constantly pushed in our face... A mod (1.13) for JA2, a game made to run at 640x480, managed to give information more precisely, and concisely, in such a well-hidden way. Pressing ALT while your cursor over an enemy to display what your merc sees; armor pieces, weapon, etc... A 20+ year-old game with 2D sprites for characters, with little visual cues, still manages to provide more info than a new game, with a ui that has the space of modern resolutions to display so much info. *facepalm*

Yes, that is me. 🤝 Even after some more hours in, I've put it down a bit. I really don't hate it.. but too many things piss me off. The things that piss me off, well apart from the teenage mercs trying real hard to sound funny, ate the very arbitrary "rules". Example being something rain, fog or a dust storm map. Reality: weather will affect your vision, movement, energy and whatever tools you use. JA2: weather affects visibility range, stamina/breath. 1.13 added such things as weapon reliability, jamming. JA3: weather barely affects vision, you see the enemies, but the weather gives a debuff to your shooting distance. Weather creates a debuff so that all hits can only be grazing hits. Grazing hits are forced low damage hits. Jagged Alliance 3 is like the bastard child of JA's stat system combined with Dungeons & Dragons 5e. The stats are all there, but the translation of the information to the gamer is not logical or grounded in something I can "naturally" comprehend. I have to learn the games arbitrary rules; meaning I am constantly bogged down by overwhelming ui windows with buff/debuff info. That's fine for some. Not what I've come to expect from a Jagged Alliance title though.

I saw someone else have this issue, but was using an Apple CPU. Are you running the game in Windows on an Apple computer?

Ahhh!!! The joys of Jagged Alliance 2. Some of those mercs just put a smile on my face.

Nah, that doesn't lock the cursor from heading on my other monitors unfortunately. But thanks anyways!

Over the weekend, I might try to take some nice photos of the boxes I have and post them in a new topic. I think boxes from different regions will have different catch phrases as well. Ohh.. and love you 'username'!! 😂

I'm running in FULLSCREEN, but it acts like a "WINDOWED FULLSCREEN" as my cursor simply goes on to my other monitors when going to the edges. Can a "Lock cursor to window" option be implemented in future patches? (Unless the option is there and I don't see it?)