JA2 newbie needs strategies & hints
U211
JA2 is the first squad-level game I've ever played. I royally suck at
this game right now. Anybody care to give me general tips & basic
strategies? It's already day 8, and I only have Drassen & a SAM site
to show for it. I'm spending too much time healing.
elwood...@yahoo.com
Stance/cover is everything. If you can see him, and he can't see you,
you can shoot the other guy with very little danger to you.
Real time is your friend. You can cover LOTS of space in very little
time, even in stealth mode.
Use LOTS of APs to aim. Self explanatory. Aim more, hit more. Usually.
Night ops are really good, early on. But I'm finding that they negate
my advantage in range.
Camo is good. Keeps you hidden, longer.
Hope that helps.
E.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Wim
save and load a lot during battle so you get used with the hiding/shooting
techniques (and I mean A LOT... you can't afford the time to get shot wounds
and need to heal in the beginning of the game). As soon as you get a mine or
two going, things will start to get easier :-)
Wim
K. Laisathit
U211 <unit...@spam.yahoo.com> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>JA2 is the first squad-level game I've ever played. I royally suck at
>this game right now. Anybody care to give me general tips & basic
>strategies? It's already day 8, and I only have Drassen & a SAM site
>to show for it. I'm spending too much time healing.
Ummm... that's not a bad score for first timer. This game is hard.
At the start, you're seriously outclassed by the fact that your
opponents come to play with assault rifles or sniper rifles. You're
lucky to have SMGs. You should have some decent weapon after the
first SAM site though. IIRC, I got a mini-14 hitting the SAM site
and another SKS after the Queen tried to retake the site.
As for general tips, see the ongoing discussion on the thread
about a guy complaining (titled "I've had it with JA" or
something of that sort). It's not exactly a discussion but
one responder did post a lengthy list of good tactics to use.
Setting up cross fire position in good cover and wait. Hit
and run in night ops with night ops specialists. etc.
IMHO, it's far more difficult to defend a fixed installation
than to make an assault because not only you don't know
where the opponents are, but also you don't get the free
recon -- the enemy is in for a fight from the get go. Which
means it's getting a little tougher from here on out. But
if you train up militia to take care of defense, you can
ignore that problem.
Later...
Seppo Kaisalmi
>
> Hi,
>
> JA2 is the first squad-level game I've ever played. I royally suck at
> this game right now. Anybody care to give me general tips & basic
> strategies? It's already day 8, and I only have Drassen & a SAM site
> to show for it. I'm spending too much time healing.
http://www.kolumbus.fi/janne.pirkola/jagged/
Everything that you ever want to know about Jagged Alliance 2 ;-)
Download from there a strategy guide, it's good.
--
Seppo Kaisalmi
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought,
but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
-Albert Einstein
Josh Boardman
enemies at you until you're ready for them. Every time you capture a
town, you get one of those "interlude" scenes with Elliot and Queenie,
which serves as a warning that 'elite forces' are heading your way.
It's not really a strategy I guess, but just scroll through the messages
from the last few days and there will be a *wealth* of useful hints. But
watch out for Spoilers....
Have fun,
------------
Old Wolf
------------
Royz
heal your guys. You could sit on Drassen for as long as you like, but the
patrols will get harder. Save early, save often. That's why they gave you 10
slots + quicksave. If you use at least some tactics (ie cover, sneaking,
etc..) you will do pretty good. Use additional APs for shots, these are
lifesavers.
You can experiment with the game as much as you want. Heck, I even took Alma
on Day One right after Drassen (hehe). No trainers. Used Magic (8 hrs
remaining on his contract) , Barry, My custom, and Thor.
Good luck..
U211 wrote in message <37b852d5...@newshost.cc.utexas.edu>...
>Hi,
ml...@my-deja.com
> JA2 is the first squad-level game I've ever played. I royally suck at
> this game right now. Anybody care to give me general tips & basic
> strategies? It's already day 8, and I only have Drassen & a SAM site
> to show for it. I'm spending too much time healing.
First of all, that's not bad.
The beginning of JA2 is very hard because you have only pistols. It
actually gets a little easier later because then you have SMGs, assault
rifles, and armor.
To help this, buy your permanent (cheap) mercs for 1 day, no
equipment. Then also buy some high level mercs with killer equipment
(like Magic, Gus, or Len) for 1 day. Take out the mercs in the
starting sector, should be cake. You can then move onto drassen with
your killer mercs and take that over very easily with guys like Magic
and Gus. Then towards the end of the day, transfer all that good armor
and weapons to your permanent mercs, and Dismiss the high level mercs.
You'll get a LOT of cash back from the medical retainer, and then you
can sign your permanent mercs to week-long contracts. So at the end of
the day you have
- week-long contracts on your mercs
- Drassen with little effort
- good SMG weapons like the MAC-10 and Commando
- good kevlar armor
The beginning of the game is much easier then.
Another thing, you might want to buy a few mercs to train milita in
city sectors and SAM sectors. Usually, my MO is to head into a city,
after taking it over, have my mercs train the milita once in each
sector, then move on. I then move my trainer mercs (Ira, Biff, Flo)
into the city and finish up training the city to maximum.
And remember, always aim all 4 APs into a shot.
Steve Hilberg
Augh! You can train militia in SAM sectors? No WONDER I keep getting my
ass kicked and don't know why. Duh! I guess I should have read the manual
before I jumped right into the game, but uh....I'm lazy. :)
This seems like a great idea though, I'll have to restart and try it (since
I am getting my ass kicked trying to take Cambria at the moment -- yes, I
suck). I do keep wondering where people are getting all these silencers and
night goggles though....I never found any in Drassen and I don't see them
for sale at Bobby Ray's, so I've either been getting surprised in night
missions or taking heavy casualties in day missions. :/
--
Steve Hilberg <Necromancer> CCSO Workstation Support Group
<hil...@uiuc.edu> Unpublished Fiction Author
KB9TEV CCSO _still_ doesn't pay me enough to
speak for them, so I still don't.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"And if He ever suffered, it was me who did His crying...."
-- Concrete Blonde, "Tomorrow Wendy"
Brian C Robinson
: IMHO, it's far more difficult to defend a fixed installation
: than to make an assault because not only you don't know
: where the opponents are, but also you don't get the free
: recon
Actually, with the right tactics, defending an installation can be
pretty easy. After taking Balime, the Queen sent her elites after me, and
what I did was have my guys hide in rooms without windows. The enemy is
on the offensive, not the defensive here, so they have to find you. I
just waited until they would run in the room where my guys were hiding,
then blew their heads off. Very easy.
--
"Because most general surfers are ignorant, they will think I'm supporting
pornography." - Teddy Pastras
http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/technology/story/20101.html
mike...@my-deja.com
tactics. One note: I only save between battles, not during them. If
you play like that you have to get used to your mercs being hurt by
lucky opposition shots and bumping into nasty situations. If I were
saving every turn I'd be much more careless about some of these rules.
Use cover. The best cover is when you can get completely out of vision
of the enemy (like around the corner of a building). Then you step out,
shoot, and step back. At the very least get beind a tree or rock or
something that might stop a bullet. If you *know* you out range the
enemy then you can use that extra range as "cover" but the computer hits
on enough lucky shots I don't trust this.
Always stay low. But if you lie down be careful you aren't exposing
your long side to an enemy. I tend to stay crouched. I know the
computer will stand to move on it's own turn then crouch at the end, but
I kill it's guys on reaction shots while they're running in the open. I
only stand if I'm confident no enemy can see me.
Get out of trouble spots. If a merc is in a crossfire or facing too
many enemies, pull back instead of trying to tough it out. By a
"crossfire" I mean when enemies are firing at a merc from different
angles and you can't take cover from all of them at once.
Save points for reaction shots. Interrupts very often catch the enemy
in the open for easy shots. This is especially important in crowded
places (like inside a building) where somebody could pop out around
corner at any time.
One of the best ways to lose a merc is to spot an enemy right when you
run out of action points. So have another merc who can shoot anybody
who pops up. Alternatively, make sure you have the movement points to
get back out of sight.
Don't bunch. If all your mercs are bunched together your opponent only
needs to take cover from one direction and can easily catch the whole
lot in a crossfire (and you make a dandy target for any heavy weapons).
If you spread out a little more you can set up a crossfire of your own
- and stay out of his. You want to stay close enough you can shoot at
each other's targets but far enough you'll be firing at different
angles.
Outflank opponents. If you can't get a good shot at an enemy have
somebody manuever behind cover or beyond sight range to get to an angle
where the enemy won't have cover. Don't just stay in one place hoping
to get lucky.
Aim your shots. The only time I don't aim to the max is when I'll need
the action points to get back to cover.
When you're moving onto a new map stop and think about how quickly you
can get cover and how you'll use cover while moving across it.
I'm still learning to use rooftops. I think their value comes from
giving you an angle that lets you see (and shoot) over obstacles - you
get much longer lines of sight than you would at ground level.
Most of this advice can be summed up as "take your time and watch the
angles."
Michael Roca
Scott Rutter
>Use cover. The best cover is when you can get completely out of vision
>of the enemy (like around the corner of a building). Then you step out,
>shoot, and step back.
Be wary of doing this several times in a row, the enemy will score
an interrupt on you sooner or later, and if you just stepped around a
corner you are wide open to being shot.
If it's at night, put some of your shooters beyond visual range of
the enemy, use the step out and back tactic but don't have that person
fire. Have the far off shooters shoot at the spotted enemy. Not
firing will keep the enemy interrupts on your spotter to a minimum.
> At the very least get beind a tree or rock or
>something that might stop a bullet. If you *know* you out range the
>enemy then you can use that extra range as "cover" but the computer hits
>on enough lucky shots I don't trust this.
I've found the best cover at night is a full turn of APs spent
running directly away from the enemy. If they can't see you they
can't shoot you. If you are creeping around and get spotted and you
are in a bad position to do anything about it, run like hell, duck
under cover and wait for the enemy to come to you. Just hit done a
few times and go back into real time, start you sneak over again.
>Always stay low. But if you lie down be careful you aren't exposing
>your long side to an enemy. I tend to stay crouched. I know the
>computer will stand to move on it's own turn then crouch at the end, but
>I kill it's guys on reaction shots while they're running in the open. I
>only stand if I'm confident no enemy can see me.
I've found the best way to move from cover to cover is running,
crouching when you get behind another cover. Crouching and ending
your turn in the open usually will get you hurt bad.
>Get out of trouble spots. If a merc is in a crossfire or facing too
>many enemies, pull back instead of trying to tough it out. By a
>"crossfire" I mean when enemies are firing at a merc from different
>angles and you can't take cover from all of them at once.
He who fights and runs away, lives. Never try to take on numerous
enemies unless you are in a very well defended position or have
absolutely no other choice. Pull back and find cover. Engage them in
small groups, one at a time is best. If you get mobbed, pull back
again Make them pay in bodies for every tree and shrub they take from
you.
An exception would be if you have cover and the enemy is crossing
open ground to get to you. You may as well do an Alamo at that point,
if you retreat, you will engaging them when they get behind the cover
you just left.
>Save points for reaction shots. Interrupts very often catch the enemy
>in the open for easy shots. This is especially important in crowded
>places (like inside a building) where somebody could pop out around
>corner at any time.
I try to never wander around in close terrain while in turn based
mode. If I have a target I go all out to kill it, then I wait for
real time before I go searching again. Wandering around in turn based
mode is bound to get you hurt, especially if you end your turn in
sight of an enemy you didn't see because he was behind cover.
>One of the best ways to lose a merc is to spot an enemy right when you
>run out of action points. So have another merc who can shoot anybody
>who pops up. Alternatively, make sure you have the movement points to
>get back out of sight.
Yep, this really bites. Don't go looking for enemies in turn based
mode, take cover and let them come to you. Have your worst and
farthest shooters take the first shots, they might get lucky and then
you can save your best shooters for reaction fire. Much better than
using your super merc to take out the enemy and hoping that Dimitri
can make a 20 square shot with that SKS to save you when another
badguy shows up.
>Don't bunch. If all your mercs are bunched together your opponent only
>needs to take cover from one direction and can easily catch the whole
>lot in a crossfire (and you make a dandy target for any heavy weapons).
Especially don't have your mercs adjacent to each other. One
grenade and you are looking at a ton of pain. Not that a grenade is
all that dangerous, but having 3-4 of your best shooters all at -13
health at the same time is bad for your accuracy. Not to mention that
they will probably keep throwing the damn things at the same group.
> If you spread out a little more you can set up a crossfire of your own
>- and stay out of his. You want to stay close enough you can shoot at
>each other's targets but far enough you'll be firing at different
>angles.
>
>Outflank opponents. If you can't get a good shot at an enemy have
>somebody manuever behind cover or beyond sight range to get to an angle
>where the enemy won't have cover. Don't just stay in one place hoping
>to get lucky.
If you have the cover have your team split into two parts, the two
best shooters in one an the other four together. Have the two
shooters move off to one side and a bit ahead of the big group. Then
have the big group start making noise and drawing bad guys in. When
the firefight starts move your two best shooters in on the flank and
have them start making shots at enemies that have no cover blocking
them. The damage will mount very quickly.
>Aim your shots. The only time I don't aim to the max is when I'll need
>the action points to get back to cover.
And when you get good shooters and decent weapons you can really
show off your aim. Drassan SAM site, took it late in my current game.
96 Accuracy and a Styer Aug, 23 consecutive head shots at enemy guards
running under the light by the southern guard booth at a range of 21
squares. Killed 8 guards in a row, don't you think number 8 would get
suspicious about running right up to a pile of dead guards standing
directly under a light? Well I guess the Queen doesn't hire for
intelligence.
As you get on you will develop a feel for when not to max aim, say
if you only aim +2 you can get in an extra aimed shot. Two +2 shots
are better than one +4 shot and a +0 shot in most cases. When you
first start just max aim every shot. At that point missing two +2
shots isn't hard to do. You are better off with the +4 hit and a +0
miss, at least the damage will keep the enemy accuracy down a bit.
>When you're moving onto a new map stop and think about how quickly you
>can get cover and how you'll use cover while moving across it.
If you can, try to start your mercs behind cover, a clump of trees,
behind a building, whatever you can get. Starting in the open will
only get you hurt.
>I'm still learning to use rooftops. I think their value comes from
>giving you an angle that lets you see (and shoot) over obstacles - you
>get much longer lines of sight than you would at ground level.
Crouch on a rooftop and move toward the front, when you see an enemy
and shoot him, make sure you save 2 AP. After you are done firing,
drop prone. Unless you are right near the edge the enemy won't see
you to shoot back. You can do the pop up, fire, pop down thing
multiple times. But if you do it from the same spot often enough you
are bound to get an interrupt against you. Just crawl back and go
to real time, crouch and repeat as needed. One tactic to use
grenades from a roof is to throw it in the air space above the square,
it will drop down where you need it. It works when you can't get a
direct throw because the square is too close to the edge of the roof
sometimes. Another tactic is just enjoy the cover, go prone with a
good weapon with a bipod and crawl forward till you can see them,
enjoy your bipod shots and accurate auto fire. And the roof itself
will provide some cover, about as good as a tree anyway.
>Most of this advice can be summed up as "take your time and watch the
>angles."
>
>Michael Roca
Always take your time, if things are going bad, retreat, heal up and
try again. No harm in it, sometimes things just go FUBAR and there is
nothing you can do about it. My current merc has been shot over 80
times. :)
Scott Rutter
SubGud
Brian C Robinson <bcr1...@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu> wrote in message
news:7penbg$80p$3...@news.cc.ucf.edu...
> K. Laisathit (kir...@u.washington.edu) spewed forth:
> : IMHO, it's far more difficult to defend a fixed installation
> : than to make an assault because not only you don't know
> : where the opponents are, but also you don't get the free
> : recon
> :
> Actually, with the right tactics, defending an installation can be
> pretty easy. After taking Balime, the Queen sent her elites after me, and
> what I did was have my guys hide in rooms without windows. The enemy is
> on the offensive, not the defensive here, so they have to find you. I
> just waited until they would run in the room where my guys were hiding,
> then blew their heads off. Very easy.
agree.. but the problems start when when you have militia, and they start
running into bullets - you have to run after them and save their green
behinds..
SubGud
SubGud
all down :)
as for rooftops, as long as you have an experienced merc, you almost needn't
think about cover anymore - just lie down ;) Sometimes rooftops is a
brilliant way to scout aswell - I remember taking Cambria hospital with
Shadow running around on the roof spotting the enemies, and the ground-units
popping out of the windows and doors, taking them out..
SubGud
Slappy Slaptrout
Or you could just use your best guy and the editor/trainer...give your
guy an auto rocketrifle and unlimited APs...then just walk around
blasting your enemies heads off... I killed like 20 guys and about 8
bloodcats IN ONE TURN! woohoo!
Slappy
Brian C Robinson
: >Use cover. The best cover is when you can get completely out of vision
: >of the enemy (like around the corner of a building). Then you step out,
: >shoot, and step back.
: Be wary of doing this several times in a row, the enemy will score
: an interrupt on you sooner or later, and if you just stepped around a
: corner you are wide open to being shot.
:
Well, this works great if you have someone sneak up behind the guy
and shoot him in the back while you dodge in and out. heh.
--
Jagged Alliance 2 FAQ: http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~bcr19374/ja2faq.htm
Brian C Robinson
: agree.. but the problems start when when you have militia, and they start
: running into bullets - you have to run after them and save their green
: behinds..
In the paraphrased words of the old Doritos commercials, "Kill all
you want; we'll make more!"
Johnny Bravo
wrote:
Wow, the challenge to you must have been intense. But if you don't
have the ability to play any other way we understand you just can't
cut it.
Scott Rutter
Clay Cahill
"yawn"
I heard that sla...@slappy.com (Slappy Slaptrout) said:
>
>Or you could just use your best guy and the editor/trainer...give your
>guy an auto rocketrifle and unlimited APs...then just walk around
>blasting your enemies heads off... I killed like 20 guys and about 8
>bloodcats IN ONE TURN! woohoo!
>
>Slappy
---
Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a
substitute for the lost faith in ourselves. - Eric Hoffer
clay.a.cahill@ intel.com
cha...@midtown.net
Clay Cahill
>
>Brian C Robinson <bcr1...@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu> wrote in message
>news:7penbg$80p$3...@news.cc.ucf.edu...
>> :
>> Actually, with the right tactics, defending an installation can be
>> pretty easy. After taking Balime, the Queen sent her elites after me, and
>> what I did was have my guys hide in rooms without windows. The enemy is
>> on the offensive, not the defensive here, so they have to find you. I
>> just waited until they would run in the room where my guys were hiding,
>> then blew their heads off. Very easy.
>
>
>agree.. but the problems start when when you have militia, and they start
>running into bullets - you have to run after them and save their green
>behinds..
I find it pays in spades to have some one like Ira or Biff (anyone
notice that Biff seems to train faster than his leadership numbers
would indicate? Or is it just me?) training at all times until all
militia is topped out and blue.... that way they don't all stand
around waiting to be shot at by the queen's finest. I like to send
Biff and Ira into any newly won area and double team on training and
keep someone like FLo back to train raw recruits as replacements in
areas that have been "re-pacified."
And that brings up something else. Anyone see any problems with
"accidental" killings of the local populace? Is that a "hearts and
minds" modifier that I dont know about that increases attacks or
soemthing? I've only killed Pablo and the Kathy Lee Gifford Sweatshop
bitch so far. Seems like combat stops after killing a local and
relatioons aren't changed much. Other than killing a mine superviser,
anyone seen any problems taking out the locals when they get in the
way or mouth off?
Clay-
Brian C Robinson
: anyone seen any problems taking out the locals when they get in the
: way or mouth off?
:
I knw killing "good" npcs and the generic NPCs will piss off the
militia and make them hate you. It will also reduce your loyalty. I was
pissed when I capped the museum security guard and my Balime loyalty
dropped from 19% (1 point away from getting militia) to 0!