M1k3K

Thank you... I did not even think about it. By reflex I always used her to hack/ scout. Not hacking with her is a nice solution to have a good mechanic with great WIS.

Thanks for asking... maybe I was not clear enough. Core message: I normally expect in games like JA/ XCOM etc to be ambushed. Playing JA3 with Livewire took that part out, even though I did not realize that part was missing. It is a LOT more fun without seeing the hidden enemies. Played UFO 1+2, JA1+2, XCOM and so on. I was playing JA3 on "Mission Impossible" (without "Attrition Assistance") and was struggling a bit. After visiting A8 + Camp (both directly after I got the messages) my mines were overrun and I decided that was a bit too much for me.

Hi folks, I just started my 2nd game (not because I am done... but playing on MI I got totally crushed after a certain plot twist) (Liking that by the way - MI is supposed to be hard.) Anyhow, the "I am taking my 15 minute break here" got somewhat anoying for me, so I left Livewire out in my new game. And what can I say - IT FEELS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Even though the battles on MI were hard, it always "felt" easy. And for me, I just realized it had a lot to do with seeing the enemies. I am playing on an easier mode right now, but now enemies ambush me from out of sight. I am loving it! Just wanted to share, because I did not realize what difference it makes, and for me this gives me a lot more adrenaline and is a lot more fun. Also loving Kalyna (character, voiceacting) by the way - just wished she had like 20 more Wis 😢 Any of you noticed something similar or feel the same/ different?

There might be multiple factors at play here. Morale? Special boni like "inspired (but only for a couple of people)", "rested" or "fatigued" or some form of synergy (because of Raider and Raven)? Because in a later scene we see MD with 18 AP, although he is severely wounded. Where in the other scene he only had 10 AP. (4 could be explained through an inspired proc - which MD has as an ability, at least if the values remained the same as in the streams.)

Thanks for the tip, Partisans 1941 looks really great, just grabbed myself a copy. For everyone else, who might be interested, I found Partisans 1941 in the extended edition at GOG for just 10€ compared to the 44€ at Steam. https://www.gog.com/de/game/partisans_1941_extended_edition

My thoughts go very much into a similar direction. But I am wondering if that team is going to break the bank, especially going the "slow but steady" approach. I am very curious to see how the starting money translates to the final game (at least from the balancing of the difficulties). If I recall correctly from the streamers you should be able to start with IMP, Livewire, Barry & MD on 2 week contracts. Probably with your "Intellectuals" on 1 week contracts, but I'd assume they would still break the bank on 1 mine. Potentially it could be an option to go with a sub-set of the "Intellectuals" and then reinforce the rest, once you get the additional 30k (or probably the same sum as the starting money on the difficulty). Maybe you can even go with 2 week contracts for all of them, at least that would make it a little bit more reasonable... even though couriers/ diamond sales will potentially still be needed. (I somehow remember 2500$/day per mine but that might vary depending on diff & loyality or could have been a placeholder in the demo. But that would be 35k/2 weeks, which should without the medical fee be enough for Livewire, Barry, MD & Buns... not sure about Meltdown. But even without that, with captured diamonds/ artifacts & couriers it should work. But I would still rush for the first mine & fleamarket.)

From what I have seen in the videos, the stats that rise like crazy are: Dex (for everyone during shooting with aiming) Marksmanship (for everyone shooting) Wisdom (for the person scouting on combat maps and discovering herbs & items) Explosives (for the person disarming landmines - somewhat high expl. skill probably needed) I ASSUME (might have seen, but not high amount): Leadership (during training, although i have NOT noticed that during the videos) Tech (during repair) Medicine (during healing) Explosives (during ammo crafting) Health (for being wounded or during healing after being wounded) I have not noticed raises (very hard/ low amount): Strength (JA2 high load will not work here, so probably only meele/ breaking stuff open) Agility (JA2 might apply aka. steath sneaking without being detected, not seen a streamer try that... but not seen any raises) So due to the above factors my IMP will for look somewhat like the following (if i counted right you have 550 points for the IMP): The priniciple behind that will to go for long term potential, making the start a bit harder/ slower. Max out: Agility 85 (action points & difficult to raise) Strength 85 (to have a high strength char in the party for checks & difficult to raise) Leadership 85 (for quests & morale boni) Wisdom 85 (unsure if this relates to skill learning here as well, but difficult to raise for everyone) Health 85 (too risky/ hard to rise with a low HT & have someone with > 85 HT, even if I have not seen checks requiring that) Mixed to raise over time: Dexterity 62 Marksmanship 60 Mechanics 1 Explosive 1 Medicine 1 That IMP is supposed to fit into a long contract/ low cost party with the goal to have 1 of >85 in all skills/ attributes. Mercs will be (as long as costs/ stats stay the same as seen in the gameplays): Livewire -> Mechanics 85, Soundrel Perk, Mr. Fixit Perk, Optimist MD -> Medicine 81 (not finding a low cost doc with 85+ skill), Educated/ Trainer (however it is called) although leadership 4, Optimist Barry -> Dexterity 87, Explosive 92, Mr. Fixit, Spiritual (and yes, I will probably restart to ensure these are available at start... it will be challenging enough with a low Mrk team as it is.) Due to that starting setup, I am still struggling/ pondering which perks to go for. If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them. Psycho vs. Negotiator: Leaning towards psycho here to have that choice in dialoges, potentially to get Flay or go with similar dialoges. Negotiator could be easily filled by getting Buns early, since she has high wisdom and all psychos have rather low wis. I was leaning to the "Full Auto" perk... but seing how useless/ gimped/ nerfed burst & full auto seems to be, i actually see no point into this ammo drain. Similar for heavy weapons. Leaning towards "Night ops" at the moment, if only for the reason that it seems you cannot combine head armor with NVGs. I actually do not care if meele/ close combat is imba at the moment... if I play JA I want guns. 😅

I'd love that too, then I would not need to hassle with an emulator or a VM. And also not talking about the old Intel plattform. M1+ all the way. And if it turns out somewhat similar to JA2, I'd for sure spring the cash for an iOS version... although I'd probably struggle with modding there.