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. 🙂

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.

Yes they do increase over time, but not until you renew the contract when it expires. Sometimes they increase even if they have not leveled up, and some mercs have a chance to haggle for a raise too.

No, that's not at all accurate. They stated on the stream that the mods were simply added as a demonstration/example to help people learn how to use the newly released modding tools. That is the entirety of their purpose (they aren't even on Steam Workshop for that reason). I always miss the live streams as well, due to timezone issues. However, I do try to watch them later in the day when I have time. The 3 mods are: An example of how to add a new merc. An example of how to add a new weapon (and ammunition). An example of how to add a new Sector Operation. 🙂

Yep! His character portrait and 3d model change. He also has significantly different vocal tone and type of responses. He's still quite funny/likeable, but also does a pretty good job of portraying someone that is always on the verge of potentially relapsing.

For some reason it timed out when I tried to edit my last post to add this info about Larry. I don't think that spreadsheet has Larry's stats after rehab. He gets noticeably better overall, although his Optimist Trait becomes Pessimist and Steroid no longer Likes him... but he also gets Mr Fixit trait. Health: -6 Agility: +5 Dexterity: +6 Strength: +0 Wisdom: +12 Leadership: +0 Marksmanship: +8 Mechanical: +0 Explosives: +0 Medical: +0

Smiley says multiple times that he's from Alrulco and goes back there if you tell him to sod off rather than siding with him and making many awful choices.

Spoiler! I got the Major in my first playthrough without having ever met the Colonel (or even knowing he existed). I then proceeded to mop up the rest of the end game baddies with the Major on my team. I don't think what you are asking about is a factor at all for this. 🙂

I think the options available are all pretty good, I just hope for more options down the road. If not in an update, then modded IMPS will work, especially once modding in voice packs is more accessible. 🙂

Yeah, if you want to experience playing with Spike it's best to do the stuff in that sector before doing much else after the Refuge Camp incident (that incident will trigger just by getting close to A20; even if you didn't go there to meet Corazone.

I strongly disagree. Searching for loot is one of my favorite parts of the game, and having your character's stats matter is also an integral part of the game. As for mines and traps, it's a war zone, you should expect dangerous things and prepare for them.

I like to have the game accessible to a broad audience of players and play styles. With that in mind, I would like it as an optional difficulty setting, so people that want it (like me) can use it, and those who don't want it (presumably the majority) can leave it off. I am familiar with the JA2 mod that you speak of. 🙂

I would like a game setting where Wounds (when you lose enough Health to have a "number" of wounds after the battle) would not heal on their own, but required medical treatment by a competent Medic (sat view Operation). If you don't treat the wound you have a small % lower stats, perhaps 10% per Wound until treated?

I like all of them, but from a pure entertainment perspective, Kalyna is gold.

Well, it is a new game and was never intended to be a remake of JA2 (or JA2 with the 1.13 mod either). Some of the things you mentioned you might find out are misconceptions on your part due to limited playtime so far, but if you are expecting all of JA2 1.13 to be copied you will be disappointed. If you can approach it as a fully new game set in the JA universe then it may be more enjoyable for you. I'd suggest checking out some of the mods (there are 200+ already, even without full modding tools for a couple more weeks). For example there is an Active Pause mod that you might like (for setting up multiple mercs prior to entering turn based combat). I think it's worth playing, even as someone that did love JA1 and JA2. I encourage you to not give up yet, you've only touched 1% of a full playthrough so far. 🙂 I hope you do wind up enjoying it, but if not I wish you the best either way.

She's one of the more frequent to comment in response to NPC dialogue/conversations. The only other merc I remember direct dialogue with is Kalyna (out of the 12 I have from AIM and the RPCs).

I would like more former AIM (or MERC) mercenaries as a DLC. I feel that is going to be the hardest thing for modders to do well and at scale. Overall though, it's likely to be whatever Haemimont believes people are the most likely to buy. Personally, for the amount of play time I already have from the game, let alone at least a few hundred more hours in the future... I'll buy any DLC simply as a thank you.

They do sometimes ask for a raise. I don't think I have a single member of of my initial squad that has not asked for at least 1 raise (after 65 hours in the playthrough). Depending on the merc they might want a raise for a variety of factors (ranking up, being idle too much, not fighting/killing enough, or because they dislike another merc on your team). *I should add that I have also had mercs ask for a raise when they have not leveled up, and are happy in general.

I thought I would follow up my previous post about not finding gunpowder past Ernie Island. I am now close to 60 hours in my first playthrough, and while the first ~40+ hours had me finding zero gunpowder, since then I have been finding it somewhat consistently. I don't know if I was just very unlucky prior to that, but it seemed that once I had 50+ sectors under control it started to drop again. I also found a vendor that sells gunpowder in one of the farther east settlements.

Livewire gets additional bonus intel from hacking (I don't think it applies to cash from hacking, but not sure). With her I rarely have to use the Scouting Operation for Intel, which saves time and time is money. However, I think Livewire's greatest strength (aside from learning super fast with her 94? Wisdom), is her passive "Wallhack" ability. With her on my team I can see where every single enemy is as soon as I enter the sector, which makes stealth and combat both a breeze.

If steamdeck can use workshop mods, there is a mod (called Active Pause!)on there that might be what you're looking for. It can be tricky to time stuff with mouse and keyboard, so I imagine it's really hard on the steamdeck. I am absolutely delighted that JA3 has been so well received by both professional reviewers and individuals. I'm even more delighted that it appears to have been a good financial success so far too. 🙂 I very much look forward to the future of JA3, both with official DLC and player mods as well.

Maddog by a mile, but Ira and Hamous were pretty cool too.

I would like for all of them to be added to the game (my favorite DLC option), but I picked Dr. Clifford Highball. Not because he's necessarily my favorite, but because I think the JA3 AIM roster could use a high end Dr. with 84 MRK and 84 MED. He's also from the same continent, so he seems like a good fit to me overall.

I didn't know that the villagers of Grand Chien could access this forum 22 years in the future.

Same here, 18 hours in and I found 7 gunpowder on Ernie Island, but nothing since. I heard you can get gunpowder from pipe bombs, but I've yet to try that.