moqueur

Yep. The third option appears if you gaine enough influence during your campaign and doesn't lead to shooting — I believe it only happens if you try to arrest the Major.

It depends on who's on your team. Some of your mercs may ignore your decision to arrest the Major and kill him instead. I can say for sure it works this way with Ivan and Len. They shoot him all the time 😉

I believe magazines are restocked every week or so. Loot boxes seem to be limited. You just buy the whole stock and that's it. With the junk seller I actually failed to determine cooldowns. They seemed somewhat random.

Not sure there are any other awards. Usually Greasy Basil gives you the rifle after you captured the whole island and decided Pierre's fate. Maybe it is tied to your reputation with Ernie village as well. As for the chip — disassembling Dragunov is definitely a way to get it. Just remember that it is not a guarantee — you may have to save and load several times. Other weapons that may drop you a chip after being scrapped are modified MP5K and Glock 18. Both can be bought at the Fleatown Flea Market. Other ways of getting the chip is to buy a random modification part near the Adjani Museum in Port Cocoa. You will need to pay with a bag of Grand Chien francs instead of real money. Lots of bags can be looted in the same sector though. And again it is kinda random — you may get the pipe, the lens or the chip. So - again - save your game before trying 😉

Same with me. Lynx was the first 'elite' merc who agreed to work for me in JA1. So it became my very own tradition — no JA run without Lynx. Be it JA1 or JA2. Had to break this tradition for now but still hoping for the best 😉 As for the reason of not conquering the mines — I was doing a solo run with Blood who has terrible leadership but low starting salary. So I decided to start with picking lots of easy fights to level him up instead of capturing a mine and spending next week training militia. I mean - it literally takes him a week to train 8 recruits. I did't even try turning them into vets 😁

I don't have access to game files but judging from my experience Biff's mayday event seems to start in about a month after you get hold on your first mine. Might be wrong though but once I decided not to capture any mines in the beginning and to pay my bills by simply intercepting diamond convoys. The event didn't trigger for months.

Finished mine yesterday. And I have to say that those who manage to pull this off with their I.M.P. mercs deserve a separate achievement — on my own first solo run I tried to do it but gave up pretty soon. Choosing an A.I.M. merc makes things much less complicated. You can swap them when you need to mod the weapon or to train militia or whatever — which means your 'combat' merc doesn't have to be a jack of all trades. I went with Blood. Hired him for the first time ever and was going to swap him for Reaper a little further on. Ended up beating the whole campaign with this guy as he turned out to be a brilliant choice. I'm a very mediocre player and frankly speaking I did my fair share of save scumming near magazine vendors and hi-end loot containers but surprisingly I hardly ever had to load my game in combat as it turned out to be not as difficult as it seemed. Still the experience was really rewarding. I thought I had a lot of fun while beating the game for the very first time — but I was wrong. Solo run showed me where the real fun begins. And that even after completing the game twice (a normal run and a speed run) I still have a lot to learn. Like active use of abilities, careful choice of perks to get, high mobility, stealthy approach, knowing my weapons and using right guns in right circumstances. So both Blood and I learned a lot and became much better on our joint adventure. And I'm really glad I actually gave it a try 🙂

I don't really see how FAMAS can possibly qualify for being the best weapon even in its own class. I mean almost every assault rifle of the same calibre outperforms it at least to some extent. Okay, I didn't play much with M16A2 and AR15 but both AUG and G36 have been a vital part of my builds in different runs and on different difficulty settings. Both have the same basic AP cost as FAMAS but boast better range, aiming bonus and damage. And most importantly they accept better modifications. G36 is actually my personal choice. With extended barrel it gets 8 aiming bonus and 36 range. Adding UV dot and vertical grip turns it into a beast. Single shot with 2x aiming bonus for 4 AP means an experienced merc with high agility, dexterity and marksmanship can land 4 headshots in one turn in mid-range combat without save scumming. With stealth bonuses every headshot may be lethal. And even if not — 2 headshots are usually enough to kill an aware enemy so you are getting from 2 to 4 kills with a single merc in one turn. The only downside is that the rifle doesn't accept prism scope to get even more accuracy on your first shot — but it actually doesn't need any more accuracy. AUG is a good backup weapon for a heavy sniper when things go south. Lower damage output and the absence of some crucial modification options are actually balanced by the short barrel option. It means you need only 3 AP for a single shot and 4 AP for a burst resulting in having 5 quick single shots or 4 short bursts a turn. The long barrel build shown above looks interesting as well and I think I'm gonna try it — though I believe the lack of UV dot is likely to prevent the gun from landing headshots as fast and steadily as G36 does. Still everything really depends on your playstyle and skill choice. I personally never use auto fire mode with assault rifles and rarely do bursts but some people may find it boring. And if we are discussing the best long weapon in game — current balance favours LMGs and sniper rifles so I believe the best one is either HK21 or PSG1 depending on your playstyle. Out of assault rifles only I would actually nominate FN FAL. FAL has the same high damage output as AK-74, same AP cost and same aiming bonus. The difference is that its range and aiming bonus can be boosted by installing a long barrel. It also accepts both mod combinations that I find to be the most useful — heavy stock + prism scope and UV dot + vertical grip. Muzzle slot allows you to fine tune the rifle either for loud or for silent use choosing between silencer and recoil booster. The possibility to add an ergonomic expanded mag and a bipod is not that crucial in my books but still those are nice things to have. Last but not least, FAL is available very early and very cheap.

Mercs do become more expensive as they level up and become better overall — seems gaining lots of attribute points also counts. But unlike in JA2 here they do it in silence. By the end of my first run Raven was priced almost $5k a day despite the fact she didn't ask for a single raise in half a year. On my solo run Blood moved from under $1k a day to almost $4k a day at level 10 while asking for a raise only twice because of being bored with his chores. Actually merc asking for a raise is usually a one-time thing — next time they will accept their usual salary (the only exception is Scully — his kids always need something). Triggers may differ. Mercs may be dissatisfied with something (Blood bored with chores, Grizzly not liking too many foreigners on the team) or they may ask for a random raise based on RNG (I believe Raider can ask for a raise for no apparent reason with like 10% probability).

The last one is actually too much of a spoiler to reveal. But you can go through the hidden achievements in Steam — there is one for hiring him. As for Pierre — as far as I know in order to recruit him you need to keep Bastien alive on Ernie, to spare Pierre and to find Bastien again in the Refugee Camp and help him before certain big events take place. I came there a bit too late (about half a year too late to be precise) and Bastien wasn't available any more. Pierre himself can be found in F19. Despite the fact he seems to be a late-game recruit his stats look somewhat mediocre.

At least five of them. You need to complete their questlines to hire them — and all of them work for free by the way. Some may decline to join depending on your decisions. Two RPCs are your adversaries who can be persuaded to join you. I don't know how to use spoiler tags so I'm not giving any names. Three others have quests associated with them and these quests are available pretty early so I believe spoiler tags are not needed: Flay — marksman. Pretty much ok for me. The easiest one to get — though you will need to pass either a Wisdom or a Leadership check (don't remember which one). The easiest way to start the quest to find him is to visit poacher camp in Savanna (sector C5) Larry — explosives specialist and a pretty solid medic. He can be found in sector F7 but you will need to find a certain thing to hire him. Smiley — leader and somewhat decent shooter. The longest questline which can be started in meny ways. He is one of those who can actually decline to join you (his decision seems to depend on your decision in the very last quest in his line).

Not sure whether I should actually write this as I got the info from the footage that clearly broke the embargo. But I believe these two points are pretty harmless as they don't influence the reception of the game while they may help us spend the day planning our first squads: 1. I.M.P. is available from day 1 (there seemed to be some confusion concerning it on Discord) 2. Starting funds on the lowest difficulty setting (First Blood) seem to be raised to 40k instead of 30k

Sorry I'm not on the Reddit so I believe the only option is to write here. First of all thanks for updating the spreadsheet with the new guns — seems now it includes all weapons no matter whether we know the stats or not. If so - maybe you could be interested in adding another two guns to the list: AK-74 seen in Fidel's backpack (it's definitely a 74, not a 47 we've already seen) and AKS-74U found in the "Wider picture" trailer. Gus has a new revolver in his backpack as well but unfortunately I know nothing about revolvers and can't identify it 🙁

From what I've seen M.E.R.C. guys are already in game and at least some of them are recruitable. Without spoiling too much I believe it is possible to say that there is no dedicated M.E.R.C. site (at least in the very beginning) so you have to search for them in Grand Chien. And no, it doesn't seem they became a top-tier brand 😁 Really great suggestion to fill the sea with something worthy like oil rigs. I would also welcome merc packs as well as campaign and map extensions. A new recruitment service (the third one actually) and a new campaign on the same map several years later also sound brilliant 🙂

You're welcome 🙂 As for the profile pic — not sure if it is critical for the forum but definitely not critical for me 😉 Nice to see yet another Lynx fan here (turned out there are plenty of us)

Sure, here it is. I believe Google Translate will do the job but just in case — here is the translation of the very paragraph you are interested in (can be found right under the last picture): "Indeed we do plan free updates and paid DLCs. But sorry, it's not the right time to elaborate. First we need to finish development and to make sure the game is awesome".

Back to Adonis Corp — here is how JA3 is described by IGN. Maybe it is simply some kind of mistake but if not — it's pretty huge. Five "states" (factions?) and possibly even the opportunity to choose who to fight for. Corresponds well with Boyan's answer on Discord — he confirmed there are several factions and one of those is using composers surnames (Handel) as squad callsigns.

Well it will be released on July 14 😁 And according to the devs at least for now they do plan to add post-launch content. Some updates are gonna be free, some not. The statement was made in their recent interview to a Russian magazine. It was published on June 14 and both Haemimont and THQN representatives took part in it. It was also revealed that they do not care about Metacritic as they understand JA3 is a niche game. Financial goals don't look too ambitious either: simply compensating the expenses seems to be fine.

Brilliant writing! Perfectly fits the JA Tone of Voice imho. I would argue though that killing both Lynx and Buzz (or any other merc actually) seems to be a suboptimal decision in several ways (obviously I'm biased as Lynx has been my favourite merc since JA1). Eliminating seasoned vets from the roster forever locks the devs out of many options including pretty pragmatic ones like adding them back through a DLC. I bet the "Lynx + Buzz" bunch would sell like hot cakes both to the older audiences ("Old friends are back!") and to the newer ones ("Two good and relatively affordable snipers in one pack!"). From the player's perspective it doesn't look cool either — many of us waited for this game for 24 years. Almost a quarter of a century. While I totally understand it's impossible to include all the mercs in it — it would require too much writing, modelling and voicing — it is definitely not the right moment to deprive people of the hope to see their favourite characters — be it Lynx or Buzz or Malice or Cliff or whoever — again at least at some point in the future. And while I really like the overall style and humour I believe such an end to the story would be a bit too logical and predictable. Not insane enough for a JA game. For me it feels more fun to make them take a break from their work and retreat to a Caribbean island together in a pathetic attempt to repair their relationship. Unexpected, absurd, jagged 😉

Actually I would really love to see such a merc — though I would imagine him as a stereotypical college professor. Beard, glasses, tweed jacket, black turtleneck. Maxed out wisdom. Quoting Beckett, Faulkner and other sophisticated writers. JA always loved to make fun of stereotypes so why not adding a typical high-brow intellectual to the list? Would really love to see him communicating with Steroid 😆

Good point. I was thinking of daily payouts instead of 1-week prolongations. Especially with my second team — I believe it will be impossible to prolong them for another week even with two mines under control. While less cost efficient, one day prolongations really helped managing funds early on in JA2 so I'm gonna try it again 😉

Maybe your first impression was right though. Corazon Santiago doesn't seem to be nice. This game tends to show personality through appearance — and she does look kinda intimidating. Plus JA2:UB taught us not to trust mining companies. Especially in Africa in the early 2000s. You know, blood diamonds and all that staff. It's a pretty wild guess but maybe at some point our employer becomes our opponent. These guys might be some PMC operatives hired by Santiago. Their squad callsigns ("Quadruple Canopy", "Handel") are really different from those of the Legion ("Legion Heavy Attack Squad") and I would expect the army units to be named in the same way ("Army Heavy Attack Squad"). Plus Santiago does mention having her own security teams in a dialogue. Another interesting thing is a screenshot from devdiary 7. It shows Buns questioning Tex on the whereabouts of Corazon Santiago. I didn't pay much attention to it initially — obviously it was from the early build where Tex could have been an NPC or an RPC. Still why is Buns looking for Santiago? To award her with the "Employer of the Month" badge from A.I.M.?

Same. I really like the fact that you can't just start hiring elite mercs one by one from the very beginning like I used to. Current system seems to be somewhat closer to JA1 where you had to prove yourself and make some progress before being able to hire better mercs. And it works. The game isn't even out — and I've already spent more time planning my starting squad than I ever did 😁 This. Most of the time my best medic was Lynx (34). Occasionally — Buns (48). And it was more than enough. Sometimes I did hire Spider but I don't really know why. I bet she was nice and cheap and gave me the feeling that I have a real medic aboard. Would definitely choose her over MD if she was available. As for JA3 I believe we can say for sure that medical checks are present in some quests and dialogues. I believe your merc also needs at least 30 medical skill to work as a doctor — I might be wrong though.

Yep, definitely looks so. I was on the opposite side — I usually preferred to start with a smaller but more competent team. In JA3 though it doesn't seem viable since many quests and dialogues have skill checks — so bigger team with many narrow specialists makes more sense. I'm actually thinking of starting two different playthroughs at once to explore different ways of completing same quests. One with the bigger and cheaper team and the other with a really small but experienced one. Team one ("Intellectuals"): IMP — competent marksman and leader with high wisdom and agility. No supporting skills — there are other mercs in the squad for that. Just shooting and teaching. Wisdom 85. Buns — another purely combat merc. She is affordable, has decent physical stats and good marksmanship. Has a "Negotiator" trait useful in conversations. And for some reason I always liked this narcissistic girl for being so amusingly serious and egocentric. Wisdom 93. Meltdown — the last combat merc on the team. Has a "Psycho" trait useful in conversations. And yet another strong and enjoyable personality. Fascinated to see her in the same team with Buns. Wisdom 80. Livewire — the best mechanic you can get relatively cheap. Has a "Scoundrel" trait — the last of three traits to have impact on dialogues. She is also a new merc — and I believe I should hire at least one of them 😁 Wisdom 94. MD — the best medic in the game. Never really liked him but I'm actually out of options. Wisdom 94. Barry — the explosives specialist. Totally agree that he is heavily underpriced. Can't miss such a bargain. Wisdom 91. Gameplay style — taking more nasty decisions and not hiring legendaries at all. The plan is to move slowly but steadily. All of the mercs are relatively low-level but have really high wisdom. I expect them to learn really quickly and to become a force to be reckoned with. If not — I can move Livewire, MD and Barry to my supporting unit and replace them with Ivan, Fidel and Vicky at some point. Those three recreate not only the earlier JA3 trailer but also my favourite mid-game JA1 squad (though it will never be the same without Lynx and Kelly). Team two ("Sharpshooters"): Raven — solid sniper with no supporting skills. My usual starting choice in JA2 and one of my favourite additions to the series. Ice might have been a better choice but I really love Raven — Jagged Alliance is actually the game where sentimental reasons can sometimes win over pragmatic ones. At least for me they often do 🙄 Wolf — such a small team definitely needs a jack of all trades. Obviously he is a master of none — but his mechanical skills and marksmanship are comparable to Kalyna's. And unlike her he has really good physical stats and decent wisdom plus at least some medical skills. IMP — almost same stats as for team two but less leadership and some medical skills. Definitely a "Scoundrel" trait as I will lack it in this team. First two additions to the team should arrive once I get extra cash — meaning day 1 or 2. Those are: Nails — good shot and much better explosives specialist than Wolf. Early gameplay shows a lot of minefields and Wolf won't have that much time to learn. Has a "Psycho" trait. His agility though leaves much to be desired — he will definitely have to train it. Fidel might have been a better choice but I want to use totally different teams in my playthroughs. Raider — good shot, brilliant leader, Raven's husband. Has a "Negotiator" trait filling the last dialogue trait gap in the team. Should be a solid addition. Gameplay style — taking nicer decision and not hiring cheap (<$10k a week) mercs. These four mercs cost two times more than the whole Team 1 so they'll have to move really, really fast. A day to capture the first settlement, another day to capture the first mine, a week to capture the whole starting island and yet another mine. Sounds challenging — I'm actually intrigued to see whether it works. I wonder whether I will learn to keep things short at some point 🫣

Actually from what I've seen hacking comes in handy but doesn't bring you that much money. The point is that your new contractor seems to be much more involved in your operations than Enrico. Instead of one-time payment you get some extra cash for certain achievements as you move through the main questline. So liberating the very first settlement brings you like $30k. But these payments are scarce — you get $30k in advance, extra $30k on day 1 or 2 and that's pretty much it. In fact out of three streamers I've watched closely only one was doing good on the financial side. Ironically it was the one I mentioned — I mixed him up with another guy, sorry for that. Still while he was doing just fine the second one was struggling and the third one ran out of money in less than a month despite such a generous gift from the contractor. So looks like the best way to prosper in JA3 is hiring a cheap squad, giving your mercs long-term contracts, not wasting bonus money and moving slowly until you secure at least two mines.