Jagged Alliance 2 AAR (dial-up beware)

[Grey Fox]

You can show Cover and LOS by holding DEL and END.

And that Civ 4 AAR, was it by Sullla?

[Carpet_pissr]

Edited because Dreadnought answered my followup - thanks!

And yes, that was Sulla's walkthrough I was referring to. It was the perfect solution for those who were veterans of the Civ series, but wanted to see how the new stuff in IV was implemented and affected gameplay.

And thanks Shinjin, for the feedback.

[Quitch]

I'm starting up the game right now as well. With regards to the 1.13 mod, check this out. It looks like there are 4 mini-updates to help things along. Don't know if you need them or not.

Hmmm, didn't notice them, but not seeing any release notes for 'em either. Will have to find out what they change.

1. What the hell is that color map in one of your screen shots? Shows red, green, etc. Is that an alternate AP range map or something? If so, how does one turn it on?

As stated, the cover map accessed by DEL. You can change the size using - and = from the top number row.

LOS is not the exact opposite, I do believe it's your chance of seeing someone, not hitting them. No one ever appears in the red zones AFAIK.

2. How are you getting the text at bottom left of your screen like "50% to hit" - I do not see that.

Press F, you get information about the tile.

3. In playing just the first scenario, (playing on Experienced), it seems a lot easier than I remember it. I am consistently hitting people with a .38 from way far outside the range, according to the game (it shows "outside of effective gun range". Any thoughts on that? Would 1.13 have broken or changed something in regard to that as far as you know? Could be just because I am on the first scenario and everything is uber easy.

I think you start to suffer both accuracy AND damage penalties, but it doesn't seem overly extreme.

[Quitch]

Well here we are, and so long as I can avoid taking many hits I should be well setup to take the mine. Never had much of a problem in this sector before, so I'm confident.

We're going to do what I always do, which is come down the West side towards the two houses there, hopefully creeping around them and using them as bases of fire. From there we'll do the hard bit, which is crossing the road to the East, and mop up anything we find, then press on to remove the last baddie from the airfield.



Well balls, if the first bad guy isn't on the wrong side of the buildings. Not much of a chance of sneaking up on her, so we may as well dump subtle and go for guns blazing. We own the tree line so it shouldn't be too bad.

Notice Buzz's morale (the green bar). Higher morale = better performance.



Buzz lands a hit on the soldier to take her to Poor, while Quitch flanks from the left being advised by the cover meter that his square is green. Meanwhile, Ira, dashing to take the right flank, spots another incoming.



And Buns spots another. Quite the party.



So much for the fucking cover meter. Quitch takes a serious hit from the soldier to his front, and one to the right pulls off a long-range sniper pistol shot for even more damage. That's really putting a dent in my plans, I guess we're gonna be stopping here for a while. It turns out that once she's turned to face him, that square becomes yellow. I thought it looked risky, should have trusted my gut feeling. I can only guess that the cover meter takes the visibility of the square into account and that I would have had a good chance of sneaking in that way... still, fucking cover meter, eh?



The sweet revenge of a glazer bullet.



Buns and Steroid come under fire from their opposite numbers...



...but we've got them surrounded and Buns already has one down to Poor.



Buzz (who else?) finishes the job.



Another one! So much for reaching the buildings. They're certainly being more aggressive than on Novice.



Quitch's wound is really starting to hurt. Better get him patched up ASAP before he becomes a patient burden.



Steroid... hits?? Wow. He's got that soldier down to dying status.



And they just keep on coming. I've also advanced Buzz to bring her back in range of the enemies while Quitch and Ira converge at the back.



And Buzz scores yet another kill; I think I'm in love. At this point I thought the guy on the right was retreating past us, but in fact he's trying to flank us, but it doesn't matter, we own the cover.



Having dealt with one foe Buzz turns to her next victim. A mere three AP and just look at that accuracy!



And down he goes.



That's cleaned up this section. Quitch gets patched up at the back while the rest of the team start a building sweep.



WTF? Wow, that's an impressive piece of flanking and it was pure luck that Quitch was facing that way. That guy is well out of range, so I dedicate 8AP (out of a possible 9) to a shot to simply try and limit how many AP he'll get, while I reserve two for crouching.



Oh hell yeah! I didn't check the percentage chance, but I think it was single digits. Thank God for glazer ammo making that shot count.



Meanwhile Buzz has found another enemy.



And makes short work of them.



They prove to be the final foe.



While Steroid is looting I assign Ira to dealing with wounds... note my mistake here, not allocating Buns to doctor duty, I have a spare medkit on Ira after all.





Seems there's a scummy factory owner here making little children slave away. Having read about it earlier in the topic I bring Buzz in to perform the execution. Whatever her funny line though, it must remain a secret, because all she says is "Here!" when she spots the fallen key. Grrrr.





We meet the first of the famous brothers and he talks about Manny. I haven't met Manny and don't know if I will. Hold those spoilers

I decide to check out some of the new links on my laptop.



Insurance, eh? Get paid for the contact time the didn't perform? Might be worth considering for the counter-attack since losing a merc doesn't seem that unlikely, and if I'm forced to withdraw I will need money to replace people who fall... but I hold off for the moment.



Bobby Ray's isn't any use, no rifles yet.

Let's check in on the team's progress...



A bit of a bullet magnet (three wounds in this battle I think), Quitch is proving to be quite a good shot, probably because I save him until he's close. But not a bad number of kills, many due to glazer ammo.



What can you say, she's blatantly my star merc.



I'm wondering if Steroid was worth it... then again, he's dirt cheap and he's proven useful at breaking into places. He did get us the silencer after all.



Buns hasn't really managed to get involved much yet, but with the wounds among my team her medical skills are going to prove invaluable.



She's a medic and a lookout, don't expect too much, but she's coming along nicely.



After Steroid has raided the place and we've opened the factory cupboards, this is the loot. Some AP SMG ammo, which is good, along with a couple of TT-33s which are 23 daamage 11 range, but unlike most pistols take only 4APs to fire rather than 5.



We throw the medical kit to Buns and switch her to doctor mode, also giving her the low AP pistol to allow for more aggressive movement.



Likewise with Steroid, we throw him a TT-33 so that he can advance more aggressively. He injects himself with a regen boost too.



Quitch gets the SMG AP ammo, along with an energy boost to allow for the running he'll be doing to get in for close, silent kills. There's also another $20 for the bank.



Due to wounds we need to pause here for a while. I want to be training militia in Drassen mine, not healing wounds.



The enemy go retake part of Omerta (not that anyone cares) and destroy 11 of the 12 items there... probably left me a rock or something.

Note that the jobs have changed. At this point we'd healed but I was forcing sleep on people to get the energy levels back up. Quitch and Buzz manage to train a small batch of green milita.



Finally, as evening begins, I wake Buzz (energy 85) and decide to make a push on the mine before it gets dark. I might bring the militia with me so they can get some battle experience. I'm also expecting the pistol wielders to get more involved since this is an urban map, lots of LOS blocking cover.

In the final analysis I thought the attack on Drassen's centre went about as well as it could. If only I'd ignored the cover chart I'd have been sitting pretty. I've been surprised that the enemy have been dropping so fast. I can't always check for armour because 1.13 seems to be a bit finicky, sometimes ALT works, sometimes it doesn't, rather like subtitles, and sometimes deployment changes are instant, other times I have to click in the undeployable zone to get an update, etc.

Only one downside, by resting I have allowed Buzz's morale to sink back to Stable which means she'll be slightly less of a killing machine when we attack the mine.

My only worry is that perhaps I should have trained a full compliment of regular militia for both the sectors that I own before taking the mine. Oh well.

[Eightball]

Great read so far. Really enjoying it.

I'm surprised no one likes Ice. He's kind of the poor man's Magic...I generally always take him. He trains up very, very well.

[Skeptic]

Mercs I (usually)avoid...

Flo - 'Nuff said.

I usually pick up Flo as a cheap militia trainer and just keep her out of combat.

Yeah, Flo is one of the only early MERC types that I pick up. She just trains away and carries stuff from the airport to the front lines. Usually with Ira or Hamous or some of the other freebies.

Yeah a lot of veterans I have heard do the same thing with Flo. The reason I do not bother with her is that money is not too big a problem in JA2 so I would rather have Hitman(who is a better trainer than Flo) or someone like that(even Conrad) for more money than to have Flo(for$100 a day). Hitman can not only train but he can fight as well.

Plus there are a LOT of cool mercs who HATE Flo and will not work with her and I hate having to shuffle around squad members to account for such prejudices. I realize I could put Flo in her own squad without anyone else but I just do not like having more than three squads in the game. I like to have one primary conquering squad, one secondary squad doing less challenging stuff like escort duty, etc. and one tertiary squad training militia and what not(and occasionally taking on wandering patrols).


@Quitch: Buzz's line after someone in the squad kills Doreen is something along the lines of "Hmmm...bitter, depressed and unsatisfied. She must have slept with Lynx!"(That is not an exact quote but something along those lines). I did not use Buzz to do the deed but she said the line right after my IMP killed Doreen.

[Lord Percy]

A few quick questions. I started playing this today, and I've just taken all of Drassen. I seem to remember that this should open up Bobby Ray's, but I don't have the link to his store in my laptop yet. When am I supposed to get this?

Also, taking Drassen seems to have spawned an army from hell. I managed to train a single squad of militias before they attacked, but it's looking pretty grim. There are red and gray shirts coming in from all sides. I put myself on top of a roof so I could easily pop in and out of cover, but this is just insane. I wiped out one squad of enemies right when it entered the map, and now there's a whole NEW squad there that has taken its place, including a gray shirt with an assault rifle. My guys are equipped with two SMGs, two shotguns and a pistol. It's been a long time since I last played this game, but I don't remember this happening. Does it has something to do with the 1.13 patch? Right now I'm just hoping the militia on the other side of the map can hold out long enough for me to wipe out everything on my side, before everything from their side reaches me as well. I could really use a grenade right about now...

[Grey Fox]

You get Bobby Rays link from the Link page on the A.I.M. website.

And a merc isn't even in a squad when they are training Militia so I don't know what you are talking about Sceptic. And you can always fire her if you have no more room for mercs.

Yeah I sometimes take Ice cause he is Magic's friend.

In most of my old games I've had Magic, Raven, Lynx, whatsername the great sniper lady? Thor and my IMP in my main squad.

And the Drassen assault you can turn off in the .ini file, but you have to turn it off before you take Drassen or the attack will already be initiated.

The attack is like 140 enemies. Not at once, but they keep reinforcing as soon as someone dies from the side.

Oh and yeah, I patched with those 4 patches, but I got bugs from those, so checked out the Bears Pit JA forums, and found the SVN, and used it to patch up to the latest version instead.

[Quitch]

The great sniper is, I believe, Scope.

A few quick questions. I started playing this today, and I've just taken all of Drassen. I seem to remember that this should open up Bobby Ray's, but I don't have the link to his store in my laptop yet. When am I supposed to get this?

Also, taking Drassen seems to have spawned an army from hell. I managed to train a single squad of militias before they attacked, but it's looking pretty grim. There are red and gray shirts coming in from all sides. I put myself on top of a roof so I could easily pop in and out of cover, but this is just insane. I wiped out one squad of enemies right when it entered the map, and now there's a whole NEW squad there that has taken its place, including a gray shirt with an assault rifle. My guys are equipped with two SMGs, two shotguns and a pistol. It's been a long time since I last played this game, but I don't remember this happening. Does it has something to do with the 1.13 patch? Right now I'm just hoping the militia on the other side of the map can hold out long enough for me to wipe out everything on my side, before everything from their side reaches me as well. I could really use a grenade right about now...

Do you need to speak to Pablo for the link to appear, as well as taking the airport? You obviously need to access the link via AIM.

1.13 enables an even (by default) that was included in the original game, but disabled by the developers. You can switch if off in the ini. Likewise for reinforcements from adjacent sectors.

I'm surprised no one likes Ice. He's kind of the poor man's Magic...I generally always take him. He trains up very, very well.

Ice tends to be my first new recruit.

[Lord Percy]

Duh, I didn't remember to click on the links section. That did the trick and got me access to the gun shop.

I'm also starting over, because that counter attack was just UNPOSSIBLE. No way I could beat 150 soldiers of that type. Kind of weird that the mod enables it by default.

Thanks for the info, all.

[Quitch]

The next release is disabling it by default. You can game it though by just capturing two sectors, or try training regular militia in both Drassen sectors before taking the mine, then move them to guard the mine and be in position to reinforce it.

[marcusjm]

Great AAR Quitch. Like I said before, this is the best game ever in my book so I enjoy reading and playing still. Currently doing UB again.

Marcus

[Quitch]

Despite some nagging doubts about only training one batch of militia before finishing Drassen I launch the assault, deciding that I'm better moving fast then hanging around training.





We bring the militia with us, maybe they'll gain battle experience from this. EP isn't as high as I'd like but it's good enough.

I've attacked at a really bad time though. A substantial enemy force is located just South of the mine, and I've no doubt they'll be coming in as reinforcements. Hopefully I'll chew through the initial defenders and have them step into their places, meaning I barely need to change my firing solutions.



I'll be using my usual tactic on this map, deploying behind the NE building and sweeping down towards the SW. I'd actually like to spread out the deployment a little and take advantage of the other North buildings, but 1.13 is having a tantrum and not allowing me to fiddle with the deployment, so I have to settle for this.



Unusually I don't encounter anyone on the first street so I keep low and fan out, Steroid take the left and Buns the right while Ira and Quitch will be holding the central street, Ira inbetween. I expect most enemies to be down the middle so Steroid and Buns can sneak up behind, while Ira stays central to heal the wounds I expect to be taken there.

The milita sort of mill around behind waiting for the enemy to show themselves.



And that doesn't take long, with Buzz spotting one to the South.



She dispatches them with her usual efficiency.



Sneaking around the right Buns is shot as she leaves the shadow of a building.



I send Ira off to the right in response to backup and patchup Buns. The militia begin to advance.



Realising the enemy will be further into the map than normal (the latest in a series of unexpected deployments) I push Quitch forward and spot an enemy looking to sneak up the left side.



Quitch dashes behind the building, he'll be able to step out and nail them if they come this way, or else they will run smack into Steroid.



Moving towards the rocks to support Buns, Buzz finds three enemies waiting (and a civilian, third is by the door) and cracks off a shot.



Buns steps out to support and finds a fourth enemy.



And once again they get the drop on Buns who is obviously still dazed from the last hit.



But not too dazed. One down.



Steroid finds the soldier trying to flank but doesn't have enough AP to do anything but turn to face her. I got myself a little confused as to this soldier's position, which is why Steroid is in such a shitty position.



Having been safely tucked away behind the building, Buns steps out again and does a little damage.



Meanwhile, Steroid - who somehow avoided getting hit (the soldier's shooting was appalling. She actually broke a window!) - fires a shot straight between the eyes and takes the soldier down.



Talk about bad luck!



The enemies seem to be finding their range now.



Buzz, finding an enemy trying to sneak closer in the shadow of the building, takes them down. Buns meanwhile has been patched up by Ira and moves onto the roof to try and get closer to the soldier pack.



Quitch, moving in support of Steroid, pulls off another brilliant glazer shot getting an instant kill. The left flank looks pretty clear and it's time to move them to support the action on the right.



Buzz is hit by a soldier who then drops from Critical to Dying. Bloody typical. I'm starting to build up some nasty niggling wounds, I was hoping this would be a cleaner fight.



One of the soldier's from the pack retreated behind the building second from bottom. I send Ira and Buns to surround it and flush her out. I have Ira cock her weapon and aim for the soldiers last known spot.



Buzz is ordered to push forward to provide fire support.



Got you! Or not. Ira opens fire but misses. The soldier scampers into the bottom grey building.



Ohhhhhhh shit. Quitch had spotted a redshirt, obviously the first of the reinforcements. But during the enemies turn she ran out of sight, but was replaced by another three soldiers! I'm starting to get sweaty palms, this is an awkward place to fight.



Buzz moves up and sees two nicely exposed targets.



But her burst only fells one. I didn't drag the cursor for spread, I was going to let natural spread handle it, but didn't account for Buzz's pure skill. That was bullet costly.



Steroid comes round the side and hits a soldier who is hiding at the rear. This is looking pretty neat and tidy so far, with Quitch sitting in the building by the window to pick up the soldier on the far right of the picture.



The soldier who survived Buzz's assault drops to the ground and hits her with his return fire. Damnit, too many wounds!



Meanwhile Buns locates the cowardly yellowshirt.



Quitch moves to put an end to this attempted flank.



And a couple of point-blank shots to the head (??!!?) does it. Note the soldier on the right there is dying, so I'm ignoring her.



Oh Christ, now Steroid has three in view. There certainly are a lot of them.



I reckoned I had a good chance for a headshot, so switched Steroid to his six-shooter with hollowpoint ammo. I was rewarded with a kill.



One of the nearby soldiers has been bold enough to rush my position, should make for an easy kill next round.



Somehow he had enough AP for two shots in addition to his movement! That really hurt.



A hollow point bullet to the face sorts him out but I now pull back Steroid as he needs a trip to Ira.



One of my militia men has finally discovered the battle! He's down, but not out... good thing, I need him to clear Steroid's retreat before anyone else finds him.











Oh holy mother of Christ... WTF did they all come from, and how the fuck did they have the AP to pull it off? Steroid is down and out of EP. He is really, REALLY fucked. Buzz has been getting healing from Ira and was low on AP. Quitch has been ineffectually trying to get shots from the windows... I needed him outside, but that soldier tackling the militiaman was by the corrugated iron shack and would have shot him in the side so he's been stuck inside doing nothing.



The militiaman takes down the soldier with a headshot, at least clearing the way for Quitch to come outside and allowing Buzz to engage at range once more. If only Steroid had the energy booster, but sadly that's on Quitch.



Buzz begins to engage targets again, having been driven back earlier by wounds and a low AP score.





This is looking bad. Steroid, lock picker, equipment repairer and general strongman, is dead. The left flank is being turned, and neither Quitch nor Buzz have any good lines of retreat. My militia support is still milling about uselessly at the back.

Yeah, this is looking bad.



Buns throws open the door to yellowshirts hideout and wounds her, then ducks out the way again.



Stepping up to the window, Ira finishes the job. This smooth op has been a couple of turns in the making, which is why you haven't heard from 'em, Buns has trying to get LOS from a window but failing.



Spotting Steroid's killer, Buzz opens fire and hits. She was actually here to shoot the black guy in the bottom left, but I felt the white guy was a more tempting target and she'd be safe from the black guy's fire.



Quitch fires, but there's nothing much he can do from here. I'm planning to withdraw, and Quitch has moved up to the door as he can end the next turn in cover.



After some ineffectual enemy fire, Buzz can see enough enemies, and the situation is desperate enough, that I go for a burst, but do it properly this time with a dragged spread. The result is two kills, but at a heavy cost. Buzz went psycho and used most of her ammo.



Buns and Ira are to deal with the Southern redshirt, Buns acting as bait while Ira flanks. Unfortunately Buzz spots another enemy...





Oh shit. Buzz is down and out for the count. If she dies then this AAR is pretty much over, without her we can't possibly hold Drassen, and even with her I'm doubtful now. But I can't see how I can save her, Quitch won't hit at that range, and he certainly won't kill. She's a sitting duck!

Stepping out, I decide to block the body of Buzz with Quitch, but I find another enemy just outside the door. Quitch fires two bursts, but not a single shot lands home. Leaving Buzz to her fate, Quitch withdraws back inside.

Stunningly, not one enemy bullet finds its mark. But still, Now Buzz is under attack from two sides, Quitch can't block both.



Ira flanks the redshirt and takes him down in a beautiful flanking manoeuvre.

With Quitch and Buns left I begin a truly desperate effort to save Buzz.



Stepping outside, Quitch finds his mark and hopefully does enough to disrupt his opponents aim.



Stepping out, Buns manages her all important shot and takes down her foe, who it seems was wounded from some earlier encounter.



The enemy don't fire on Buzz that turn, so Quitch rushes out to stand guard, while Buzz moves in to give medical aid.



This is just in the nick of time too, as the soldier steps out and places two bullets squarely into Quitch's chest, though only one wounds.

Ira begins another flanking move.



With Buzz still down, Quitch has no choice but to stay exactly where he is and take it.



Ira steps out, but her first shot is wide and the second only takes the soldier to Wounded status.

It's all up to Quitch now. We MUST save Buzz.





AND HE NAILS THE BASTARD!



I thank the heavens that he's the last one, and curse the militia for being so fucking useless.



The loot is... not good. Buzz is incredibly short on ammo, only a few shots left. We'll be allocating everyone an additional pistol, and ammo to spare. They're gonna need it.





We speak to the head-miner and gain control of the mine. Quitch collapsed on the way there, so that's the energy regen gone.





We also arrange food supplies to Omerta, so if worst comes to worst, we can run back and get Dimitri later.



Buzz is allocated a Skorpion to allow for auto fire, while her other pistol is given hollow point ammo since the enemies seem to be light on armour.



Buns loads hollow point ammo, but also has some AP in her bag just in case.



Ira gets what ammo I can spare.



The silver lining comes in the form of the... uh... white ammo, which allows a gun to fire at a longer range, giving me a range of 20 on the H&K, equivalent to Buzz's rifle for 30 shots, with a damage of 23 compared to the rifle's 27. A small blessing.

I don't see any of the loot, we might need it yet.



And now we desperately heal in time to counter whether Dedrianna is going to throw at us. I can only hope that the deaths of so many redshirts put a dent in her nearby forces.

I am extremely concerned that, with out wounds, along with the loss of Steroid and one bold militiaman, we no longer have the men or firepower to counter the assault. It's going to be tight, we'll be licking out wounds longer than I would like, and then I'll be desperately putting people on militia duty. I'd like to have trainers in multiple sectors, but I can't risk not having someone in the coming battle.

Analysing my performance it's pretty easy to see the mistakes. We dealt with the yellowshirts nicely, but having Ira over with Buzz meant my medics were all in one spot. While this wouldn't have helped Steroid, it could prove costly if I allow it to keep happened.

I made a mistake in bringing in Steroid from the North when he should have flanked from the West and come from behind the enemy forces, rather than off to their side and front. This would have helped keep the enemy on the ground and allowed me to make use of Buzz's range.

My great mistake though was advancing on the redshirts. It was a bad position to fight from, and allowed them to bring their pistols into range. Buns and Ira, two fifths of my force, were off playing with a single yellowshirt, and this left me heavily outnumbered. I should have withdrawn, perhaps as far as the militia, and engaged on my terms.

Ah well, it could have been worse, if we'd lost Buzz I'd probably have thrown in the towel, with her up and about we still have a chance. A slim one, but a chance nonetheless.

That was a much more brutal battle than I was expecting. Damn Southern reinforcements, if it weren't for them this would have been a walkover.

[Massena]

Tough setback. But that's one of the things I really love about the early part of the game; if you let down your guard, even the redshirts will pound you.

I've noticed you haven't put Buzz on a roof. With her range and marksmanship, isn't she an ideal rooftop sniper? Find a building with good visibility, use your other mercs to protect the flanks of it, and have her snipe away.

I know, I know, easier said than done. Especially against what's coming. Any particular strategies you're going to try out?

[Lord Percy]

Don't forget to force open the back door of the church if you have someone strong enough, because it contains a shotgun with slugs. It only comes with seven shots, but if you picked up some ammo from one of the previous maps, it should prove to be more powerful and accurate than a pistol. Also, I think the slugs are armor piercing, which is what you'll need for the coming battle (gray shirts). Still, I think you're screwed.

[Skeptic]

You get Bobby Rays link from the Link page on the A.I.M. website.

And a merc isn't even in a squad when they are training Militia so I don't know what you are talking about Sceptic. And you can always fire her if you have no more room for mercs.

I meant simply that you only get 18 mercs max and I do not like having Flo as one of them. I also do not enjoy 'juggling' mercs, hioring and firing different ones for different jobs. I would rather hire Hitman or Wolf to train militia and keep them around to do other things than to juggle Flo for training(which she is not great at), then fire her to re-hire the guy I really wanted, etc. I could see going through that crap if money was tight in JA2 but money is plentiful so no need.

Plus Flo is hated by many cool mercs and I do not like dealing with merc animosities

[Skeptic]

Your best bet is to put everyone into the back of one of the buildings with only one entrance(and no LOS through windows) where you can bottleneck the enemies ...taking them down one at a time as they come through the door. Meanwhile your militia will be killed off in short order but you can survive this so long as you don't run out of ammo.

Hate to admit this but I would have hit reload...unless that is against some cardinal rule of AARs(which sounds about right I guess). Also like someone else said, my usual strategy is to put my best sniper(be it Buzz, Raven or whomever) on the roof of the northeastern most building and systematically make my way across the map using the roofs and cover.

I am about to take the Drassen mine now(but I have the counter-attack disabled because that shit bores me. I like to be done with a sector when I am done with it and move on). My IMP is slightly different this time around. I went with auto weapons and ambidexterity as my skills(I usually go with two of the following(or one at expert): night ops, rooftop sniping, throwing, auto weapons.). I grabbed Blood, Buzz, Steroid(meant to only get him for a day just so I would have a toolbox and grab Barry and Igor for the long haul but I fucked up and hired him for a week) and of course Ira.

[Quitch]

Tough setback. But that's one of the things I really love about the early part of the game; if you let down your guard, even the redshirts will pound you.

I've noticed you haven't put Buzz on a roof. With her range and marksmanship, isn't she an ideal rooftop sniper? Find a building with good visibility, use your other mercs to protect the flanks of it, and have her snipe away.

I know, I know, easier said than done. Especially against what's coming. Any particular strategies you're going to try out?

I guess putting Buzz on the roof of the large central building would have been a good idea, since being on a roof turns you into a God, where as he real-life it makes you a big fat target. It just never occurred to me, but then neither did choosing a better position to fight from. I'm just not that bright

I'll probably kick off the next part by moving them to the positions I want them to fight from, putting Buzz and Quitch in the middle of some militia to snipe from a roof, before descending to ground level. I'll try and deploy reasonably high up so that if the tide turns too badly I can withdraw to the previous sector and prepare a counter-attack. If needs be I can always go get Dimitri.

Every Merc is expendable, all I need to do is hold the mine and keep my money flow. I just need to take & hold before my contracts run out.

Don't forget to force open the back door of the church if you have someone strong enough, because it contains a shotgun with slugs. It only comes with seven shots, but if you picked up some ammo from one of the previous maps, it should prove to be more powerful and accurate than a pistol. Also, I think the slugs are armor piercing, which is what you'll need for the coming battle (gray shirts). Still, I think you're screwed.

Yes, I have forgotten to loot the buildings, will need to do that, though I now lack a strongman/locksmith. No one in the team has mechanical skills to speak of, so while I was worried about losing a medic I've gone and lost the only mechanic instead. Bugger. When M.E.R.C. turns up there's a quality mechanic on there for only $200 a day, so if I survive that long I'll get him.

Your best bet is to put everyone into the back of one of the buildings with only one entrance(and no LOS through windows) where you can bottleneck the enemies ...taking them down one at a time as they come through the door. Meanwhile your militia will be killed off in short order but you can survive this so long as you don't run out of ammo.

Hate to admit this but I would have hit reload...unless that is against some cardinal rule of AARs(which sounds about right I guess). Also like someone else said, my usual strategy is to put my best sniper(be it Buzz, Raven or whomever) on the roof of the northeastern most building and systematically make my way across the map using the roofs and cover.

I don't want to deploy in a building like that because it feels a little... cheesy. I'd also like the ability to retreat, maybe I'll be able to withdraw and train up another force of militia and retake the sector.

I'll probably turn off the counter-attack in the future, it's just too insane, it's the most difficult thing that is going to happen in the game, and it happens right at the start. I just wanted to give it a try on experienced.

If Buzz had rifle bullets I'd still feel I could do okay, but without rifle we could be in trouble. I'll probably try and put her somewhere that requires the enemies close in, then use Quitch to cover her back. We'll see how it goes.

Next segment will be a little while in coming as I'm away this weekend. Will be a nice break, I think that attack went about as wrong as it could. Of all the luck, redshirts in the next sector! I would have waited but it was already 18:00 and I didn't want another day's delay.

Wish me luck everyone

[Carpet_pissr]

Good luck on your pending doom! Kidding! Kidding!

Seriously, I also favor at least one rooftop sniper, and its usually my IMP with rooftop sniping skills. Prone, of course, not standing up waving at ppl to be target practice.

RIP Steroid. (sniff)

[Unagi]

First, let me just say - awesome job on the AAR!

It has inspired me to load up my JA2 (Gold) and download the 1.13 mod.

I've got a problem, and I wonder if any of our AAR readers can give me any direction to troubleshoot it.

I installed the mod over my JA2 (Gold) installation, started up the game and just a black-screen sits there... after a minute or two, I am forced to kill the process as it is marked 'Not Responding'.

I'm really hoping someone has some tips for me, as the AAR has got me excited to play the mod.


Again, great AAR!

[Quitch]

1.13 inserts itself into your Add/Remove programs, so try uninstalling, downloading again and reinstalling. It might just be a reinstall as this sounds like a bad install to me.

[Massena]

Unagi- Just to cover all the bases, make sure you downloaded the 1.13 Release, rather than the Update. They're right next to each other. But yeah, it sounds like a bad install. I'd try everything over from the beginning.

[Unagi]

Some more info.
It was the '1.13 Release' that I installed.
I unistalled it, and then re-installed it and got the same problem.
(I haven't tried to actually download the 1.13 release again yet, I will do that next.) However, see below...

My version of JA2 is actually a downlaod purchase from Strategy First.
(I missplaced, sold back, or lent my original box a long time ago.)

I searched the The wikipedia entry on Jagged Alliance 2 ,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagged_All ... ld_edition
, which says :
that the Jagged Alliance 2 Gold edition being distributed as of now (January 2006) by Trymedia will not work with any fan made mods. According to Trymedia, the Data files are encrypted and can only be read by the JA2.exe that is being distributed. The best option for those seeking to use mods is to find a copy of the Wildfire English version (includes JA2 GOLD), or an old boxed copy of Jagged Alliance 2 GOLD, and buy that instead.

Sadly, all I really really want is that 1024x768 resolution.

[Lord Percy]

...that the Jagged Alliance 2 Gold edition being distributed as of now (January 2006) by Trymedia will not work with any fan made mods.

*cough*BitTorrent*cough*

Also, I found out that you can talk to your militia and give them basic orders. I told them to regroup on me just before I got attacked. My militias absolutely reamed the redshirts that came running towards them, suffering only a few casualties. Since it was raining I couldn't get my squad close enough to the enemy before they were all dead. The impaired vision meant that it was a very close quarters battle, so my militia went nuts on burst mode . I could only get about three shots in before the battle was over. I cleared the rest of the town myself, because I wanted the XP.

[daedalus]

I've minned dex because, AFAIK it's used to throw stuff and work with both tools and medical kits. Besides the odd grenade Quitch won't be doing any of that.

I don't know officially but I've always felt like dexterity helps with shooting.

Leadership is used in the training of militia. I'll later on grab another merc with a high leadership and really pump out those militia. Once you've filled a town the new ones go on patrol, so I can own the countryside and have support in taking towns. The longer I delay the more powerful the enemy get, so fast militia is a must for me.

Without Miguel or Raven's husband, you will find it hard to beat Buns teamed with Ira at militia. They probably will beat you sooner than later.

[Quitch]

I thought the teaching ability was purely for Trainer - Student relationships?

In my last game I used Raven's husband for militia. Expensive though.

[daedalus]

I'm surprised no one likes Ice. He's kind of the poor man's Magic...I generally always take him. He trains up very, very well.

I dig Ice. But he's usually on my 2nd wave hire. He, Buns and my IMP forms the core of my team 1, the range weapon team.

[daedalus]

I thought the teaching ability was purely for Trainer - Student relationships?

Teaching ability helps that as well. It also helps with militia. That's why the team of Buns-Ira rocks so much.

In my last game I used Raven's husband for militia. Expensive though.

Agreed! Much too costly for a pure militia trainer (okay, he's a decent merc, too, but there are better for better value).

[daedalus]

Barry Unger - His stats are insane for how much he costs. Only drawback is that he does not start with a toolbox or a good gun.

Agreed! Almost always an immediate hire for me. Between him, Wolf and Maddog, my team's equipments are always in good repair. Repair to sell is also a good bit of business.

Wolf - Sometimes I grab him just to have someone who is not hated who starts with a toolbox and decent gear.

Another first hire for me. He starts with a shotgun (which depends on the random) which is amazing at the beginning of the game. His beginning mechanical ability keeps equipment in shape, even though he gets surpassed by Barry fairly quick. He is also a solid alternate militia trainer who can help you raise others' stats in free time since his physical ratings are so high.

Igor - Another good buy(cheap with good stats) for the long term but not if taking Steroid(until after I fire that sod!).

I used to take him a lot but have shied away recently. He takes a bit of time to improve and I've liked others' progress a bit more.

Thor - Probably the best buy in the game(yes, even better than Cougar). Can even be had in the beginning because he requires no medical deposit and only costs 10k for a full week. His stats are freaking insane!! Str, Dex, Agl, Hlth, are all 83+ and Wisdom is like 94!! Good medic. Skills are not jaw dropping but they work(Stealth and...HtH? can't remember).

Agreed, great buy. Although, of late, Blood has taken his place on my squads.

Razor - I always get this guy. Not entirely sure why except he is entertaining and(like all the M.E.R.C. guys) cheap! His stats are not bad(some of them are actually very good) and he can run up and knife someone like no one else.

He's awesome. He's always shot much better than his ratings says he should. The only caveat is to give him a non-burst gun. In early game, his ability to sneak (due to high agility) and knife toss (due to dexterity) for silent kills can be amazing. Especially with roof-top snipers.

Fox or Dr. Q depending on whether my IMP is a martial artist or who else I plan on hiring. I my IMP is a MA or I plan on getting someone(or have hired someone already) like Blood then I will grab Fox(her sexual innuendos are priceless!). Dr. Q. has better stats & skills though.

Hmmmm. Haven't used Q since the demo. I shall have to try that. Like you, I go with Foxy just for her comments. Especially since Wolf is a permanent member of my squads (squad 2, close quarter unit).

MadDog - He just kicks ass and is free to boot!

Not to mention pretty darn funny!

Buns - Does not work well with others.

Especially with Fox. But she starts off a decent shooter and becomes a DEADLY sniper/long range shooter very, very quickly. And very cheaply. She always get my first sniper rifle.

[Quitch]

I thought the teaching ability was purely for Trainer - Student relationships?

Teaching ability helps that as well. It also helps with militia. That's why the team of Buns-Ira rocks so much.

In my last game I used Raven's husband for militia. Expensive though.

Agreed! Much too costly for a pure militia trainer (okay, he's a decent merc, too, but there are better for better value).

But doesn't their low leadership hold them back? In my current situation am I better using Quitch for militia, along with Buns, or using Buns and Ira? I assume the former as your point is that Ira will pick it up quickly (but that's no good in my current emergency) and combined with teaching will be excellent, yes?

[Eightball]

I found Wolf to be an decent militia trainer, but the best guy for training that I remember (and one hell of a merc overall) is the South African merc, Stephan (I think that was his name?). That guy could train militia in no time flat. Yeah, Raven was better but cost a little more, and my god Stephan advanced quickly. He has a crazy wisdom iirc.

[marcusjm]

One thing I wonder. I have not played 1.13 in a while so I might have missed this. Does the increased number of enemies increase the level up speed dramatically as well? With so many shots fired I expect Marksmanship to increase extremely fast.

Marcus

[Brain]

I'm suddenly finding it difficult to resist the urge to install...
What a fantastic game JA2 is. Just have to finish off some other games. I'll be back!

[Papageno]

Is there a wiki somewhere about how to install this game right? I've got the gold pack published by Strategy 1st. So do I just install JA2 off the first CD? What version is that? Can I just apply the 1.13 mod to that version directly?

Unfortunately the readme file on that JA2 is in Word 6.0 format and my WordPad under WinXP is refusing to read it for some reason. Does anyone have it saved as text somewhere?

[Carpet_pissr]

I also have the Strategy First Gold pack.

I just dl the latest official patch for the game from the Strategy First website, which takes it from 1.10 to 1.12 iirc. You should have links to their website in your START, PROGRAMS, STRATEGY FIRST folder.

Then I dl 1.13 and installed that. Finally whatever the latest
"update" or whatever they are calling it is, for 1.13 (small file).

Just one, the latest (don't recall the number)

I do remember it being a little confusing...

[Jarrodhk]

Can't remember what version of JA2 I have, I think it is the original release... probably the orginal 1.13 release installed now as well... but I am really feeling the urge to play it again!

I keep reading about a 'rooftop sniper' skill? I'm guessing that was added with the 1.13 mod?

[Incendiary Lemon]

Great read Quitch.

[Papageno]

Hmmm, interesting. I just installed the 1.13 patch right over the Gold Pack install and played from around 4 to after MIDNIGHT pretty much straight. The only thing that stopped me was a power outage, alas, which wiped out my progress after the Drassen airport.

BTW, I'm not clear on the .ini file stuff re: enemies drop everything. Should I just set that to true or whatever? And what are the benefits of "sci-fi" outside of the questionable one of having those bugs come out in the mines?

[Quitch]

Depends whether you want enemies to drop everything or not.

Sci-fi introduces sci-fi like elements, both in enemies and weapons.

[Papageno]

Well I guess I'll start over then. So I don't have to install the 1.12 patch after all? Everything seemed to work OK without doing so.