Jaywalker

That's what turn based mode is for. The moment you make a shot that an enemy can contest in some way (i.e.: by seeing the victim die, or it being a miss), the game enters turn based mode and you can avoid detection if you manage to eliminate all witnesses before your turn ends. This is literally and exactly how it works in JA2 1.13, and to some extent vanilla JA2 (with the single difference of vanilla JA2 forces you into turn based immediately on enemy contact, not just after you are detected).

Overwatch is your "look here" button, it serves the same exact function: interrupting the enemy turn.

Livewire is indeed one of the top value mercenaries, especially on a first playthrough, where her unique skill and PDA both do great work at revealing stuff that would be interesting to the player. The only way she could be more perfect would be if she was a free, early, pickup the way Ira was in JA2.

If it picks up with modders, we have infinite DLC built into the game. Though I would welcome something like support for non-human companions (like the robot) or more OG mercs coming back.

Her signature skill points towards her optimal use being cleanup after everyone else: give her an AR with a low firing cost and watch every torso hit from an ally become an easy headshot kill for her.

I'm surprised with how good it is. Even the unique/custom weapons come with some sort of drawback that requires you to lean into a particular strategy for which another weapon might be better suited. Those FAMAS and M-14 rifles you find early on will serve you well later in the game and even the starter Hi-Power pistol can be a viable mainstay if you chose to lean into its singular strength of being the most efficient way to use specialty 9mm ammo.

There is no way to get both from that quest, you are chosing if you care more about the long term economy or immediately arming your best marksman with a weapon that has both power and mobility. From your description of the preferred playstyle, the mine is the better pick.

Being bad at the game... isn't the game's fault. There are other ways to make money, and the income grows by a lot if you also make sure the associated town has high loyalty. 2 mines keep my team of IMP+4 comfortably supplied, and I turn a profit on intercepting smugglers and exploration, I am quite literally running your dream team of 2 marksmen with skill monkeys for support (cause it's an RPG, and you need to pass the skill checks), and this is without the guaranteed income of the "forgiving mode".

All Melee attacks have their own "full auto" mode, just use that as someone with decent (70+) physical stats (STR, AGI, DEX). If they have CQC Training or Martial Arts, you'll land all your hits and the debuffs alone will cripple the enemy. Or just punch them in the nuts.

Basic ammo isn't scarce at all, although I find it odd that both the crafting materials for specialty ones and the "lockpick items" have at some point completely evaporated from the drop tables.

Taught by experience, Marksmanship is a very weak choice. You only need about 70 not to miss when in range to hit at all in the first place, and you can fix most of your shooting problems with a Bipod, you need 60 of everything else to be able to contribute to Operations and you will miss out on the juicy perks if you aren't at least 80 in the relevant stat by the time they roll in (the 90's ones are fun, but not that big of a deal to miss out on) By far the biggest thing to do is to hit at least enough strength (75?) for the bigger backpack.

Shadow already has the predator-cloak equivalent of being able to sneak in any position (massive boon if you want a stealth melee kill, or just move cover to cover) and there are outfits with camouflage that effectively replace the need for a dedicated kit.

The name of the game here is "meaningful choice" and in those terms, it is absolutely better than just making it about the logistics of giving everyone both. Silencers would be an example of this problem in JA3, but by the time training-wheels come off (and the parts to make them are plentiful enough to get one for everybody) they do actually compete directly with other attachments: Advanced Compensators and Recoil Boosters.

It's Wasteland 3 without the parts that made Wasteland 3 suck (critter spam and gamebreaking bugs), I am content, especially at the pricepoint. Also, modding in the future will give the game some real long legs if it picks up, and even if it doesn't it'll be enough for me to have my own fun later on.

Any relatively modern suppressor is a straight upgrade to the weapon it's attached to, the only considerations are: Can you afford it (you can after a while) Do you have better competing attachments(most SMG's and AR's will) You have to also keep in mind that by the nature of the beast, the player is very much expected to open each combat with a silent takedown, so having the option to boost the number of them or make them use guns instead of a throwing knife isn'ta big deal breaker. Some 16 hours in, and my team only uses 2 silencers (one on a rifle that won't take anything else, and one on the scout/assassin as a fallback for when the knives can't reach)

Add to that list an actual Trading/Barter UI. It's ridiculous that with how prominent of a character Tony was in JA2, the extent of barter in JA3 is "use a stall to get item". It looks stupid, it gives you no preview of what you buy, and it doesn't let you exchange the gear you have on you for money (at least some of those stalls trade money for "parts"), or anything else you'd need.

My friend, unaware of who made the game, compared it positively to... Tropico. 🤣

Right... Now let's advance the time forward by a few Bobby Ray's shipments, and what you get is: JA2: Give everyone everything, cause there's no reason not to vs. JA3: Give NVG to the sniper so they can shoot and a helmet to the scout so they don't get killed Give NVG to the scout so they have more reliable takedowns and helmet to sniper for safekeeping Skip the NVG altogether because it doesn't stack with Night Ops Give the NVG to the person with a red-dot so they hit with the opening volley and the others can benefit from the Marked status

Honestly, the only interesting thing in IMP creation is the trait combination, which for me is: Scoundrel: free weapon swap sounds juicy, and Buns already has Negotiator Night-Ops: I never go with anything else for the IMP (unless there's more than one) CQC Training: Synergy with the generally close range combat during night time

Much like Bethesda Fallouts: It's a good game, but a bad Fallout Jagged Alliance.

Not just any mod, but a UI change, which generally is a PITA to make.

When it comes to modding, something that bothers me greatly is the choice to go with incredibly specific style and high-resolution portraits. Simpler "face only" portraits would have been easier to match in quality and scale by modders. Using a close-up of the 3D render, while not perfect would eliminate the need for 2D portraits at all. Instead, we got a solution that has all the possible flaws it could have: it lacks the expressiveness of the small animated portraits of the previous games it is difficult to replace by a different style of portrait due to the technical requirements and prevalence in it's display it is difficult to replicate by modders, in a way that invites the use of AI generated art

Honestly, I'm fine with the NVG or helmet. Not all helmets support headsets or NVG's being worn with/mounted onto them, so there is a precedent in realism for it, and more importantly it shifts the use of NVG's from always playing catch-up with the enemy (elite enemies in JA2 upgrade all their gear, all at once, and eventually they will always have the best NVG's, and they will have them before you do) to an actual strategic decision that alters the tactics you use.

Everyone they reasonably could, they flanderized into a single exagerated trait in this. Steroid never was a "gym-bro", until JA3 made him one, Ivan didn't have a drinking problem until this game decided that "drunk Russian funny". There is no "avoiding" the goofy mercs, cause they made all of them into caricatures. Your best hope is that the caricatures were "affectionate" and not a mockery.

This thread is not about mosquitoes, I am extremely disappointed.