JA2 FAQ

[FullAuto]

Do orders appear in the game history? IIRC they do.

[Zombie]

Are you certain you actually ordered it? You would see a shipping screen where you choose your location, the type of shipping, etc. And then when you press submit (or Order, I can't remember), a big corny "we'll get right on it" sign comes up (I think).

Aye, I got that sign when I ordered it so I assume it was properly placed.

 

Err, Zombie, you didn't get an email from Bobby Ray's saying your shipment should have arrived? Doesn't the email come out independently of whether Pablo steals your stufF? I mean, it would seem a little weird for Bobby Ray to know that your stuff was stolen, and then decide not to send you an email.

That's just the thing - I never got an email from Bobby's saying the shipment was delivered, hence why I went to Drassen Airport to investigate. Me thinks I picked the fastest delivery option when I placed the order, so I should have got it within a week or so. Maybe I accidentally picked the wrong option, or perhaps I didn't wait long enough? Dunno, all I know is that I didn't get an email confirming safe arrival.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

You did send it to the right country, I assume?

[Zombie]

Yup, sent it to Drassen. I don't recall if there was a option for the Airport sector in Drassen or if it was just the city. Whatever. I picked Drassen.

 

Why are there other countries on the list though? Should be just for Arulco...

 

- Zombie

[DragonHawk]

The multiple airport thing is just for fun, to show they are an international company. When you go to a company's website, they always ask you where you're from, and have a whole host of countries, whether they are served or not.

 

The fastest shipping should get it to you overnight. Check your email again, you don't see anything? As dumb as this sounds, I had this exact same conversation with someone two weeks ago, and they just 'misssed 'the email in their box. You did also open the wooden crate in the hangar? Nothing is missing unless one of your characters says "hrm... something's missing".

[Zombie]

The multiple airport thing is just for fun, to show they are an international company. When you go to a company's website, they always ask you where you're from, and have a whole host of countries, whether they are served or not.

That's fine, but if there are options in the list which will get your shipment lost, it shouldn't be included. If a campaign took you to those countries, then I could see having those options as well. Serves no real purpose than to confuse and waste your time scrolling down a useless list.

 

The fastest shipping should get it to you overnight. Check your email again, you don't see anything? As dumb as this sounds, I had this exact same conversation with someone two weeks ago, and they just 'misssed 'the email in their box. You did also open the wooden crate in the hangar? Nothing is missing unless one of your characters says "hrm... something's missing".

There were no emails sent from Bobby's. I always check for messages while I'm on the net or if I see a message has showed up in the country view. All the boxes in the hangar were open, just as I left them the last time I was in Drassen Airport. Maybe the militia in that sector stole it? They have been known to swipe things before...

 

I guess this doesn't matter much anymore since I can't recover any of my saves as they aren't in the Game Tap folder. But it still bothers me because it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Just reinstalled the game the other night. I'll have to check Pablo out. I don't recall if you have to speak to him after punching him. With normal enemies you often return to real time once they're out sight.

 

Say, does anyone know what's the deal with the psycho assessment for the custom merc? Sometimes you have to answer the multiple choice questions and sometimes you can elect not to answer them. I really like the latter for obvious reasons, but it seems inconsistent.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Check out the breakdown here. There's also a strategy guide found here which deals with it too (more extensively).

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

I was thinking more along the lines of the NEXT button being lit up without having to answer the questions.

 

When that happens, you can skip over most of the questions and just punch in the specific answers that you want. Say making your most prominent selections such as NRA vs. Congress and the rack of semiautomatic hunting rifles to ensure that you get Auto Weapons (Expert).

 

It's probably a bug (it crashes if the last question isn't answered), but certainly a time saver. I want my psycho martial artist thank you very much.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

Well, my copy of Jagged Alliance Gold came in the mail this afternoon and I'm installing it now. Can't wait to start playing again.

 

Q: Where is Arulco? South America? Central America? Africa? See, from the video when you start the game, you supposedly meet Enrico in Prague. Yet when you start the game, you are magically in Arulco. No travel time?

 

Anyway, started up the game and finished the first mission without my team firing a single shot. That's right, now that I know how to steal weapons I created an ambush with Bull, Steroid and Hitman and waited. First enemy through the door was met by butterfingers Bull who tore the weapon away but dropped it on the ground in his excitement. Then he put on his brass knuckles and beat the bloody pulp out of the guy. Steroid was able to wrestle a .357 away from another enemy and Bull (still jacked up on adrenaline) ran over and opened a can of whoop-a$$ on him. The game went to RT and I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally Barry took a peek around the corner of the building and noticed an enemy. Of course he got shot, but he ran back into cover again. When the enemy came near the door, Bull charged forward and yanked the gun away. Steroid punched the poor sap a few times while Hitman had some target practice with his throwing knives. The enemy didn't drop and managed to slug Bull in the face. Next round Bull put on his dusters again and finished him off for good. Steroid was so happy the mission was over he said his shtick twice for some reason.

 

Anyway, went to the next sector to meet the rebels but managed to crash the game in the process. Everyone went downstairs as usual and listened to everyone talk. Just for giggles I surrounded two rebels who looked to be carrying some impressive hardware and then punched one of them in the head. All the rebels turned on me. Managed to pull those weapons away but made the mistake of not picking them up (figured I'd have a slugfest with the remaining guys). Big mistake. Two of my team were killed with small arms fire and another one was injured. Cutting my losses, I decided to abort and run upstairs with Hitman and Steroid. Found some goodies in the crates and decided to go out with a bang. Reentered the hideout and tried to shoot Miguel (or Carlos, can't remember) and the game immediately crashed to the desktop. Bug alert. Well, I'm not going to do that anymore, that's for sure.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

There was a 72 hour wait before the team arrived, or you are not in the same part of the world as the team.

 

And yes, the fistfights rock - even Deirdrianna isn't immune to it.

 

By the way, just from my experience with the new game I started recently, if you are really in need of some good firepower, I highly recommend hiring one of the elites like Len for one day, and buy his equipment. Not only is he simply amazing at clearing out the first map during that one day you've got him, that 5.56 rifle (which you get to keep!) will help the next few battles tremendously. At least until you run out of ammo - I'd dart towards the SAM site or one of the other towns. Spending $1500 or so beats upsetting the locals. (Edit: oh wait, sorry I've said this before. )

 

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

There was a 72 hour wait before the team arrived, or you are not in the same part of the world as the team.

That's the thing though. When you look at the list of initial emails, they all say Day 1 on them (including the one from Enrico saying he's available to meet you in Prague). Later on you get a couple more emails and both of those are marked Day 1 too. So either you have an SR-71 Blackbird to fly you all over, or it's an oversight.

 

By the way, just from my experience with the new game I started recently, if you are really in need of some good firepower, I highly recommend hiring one of the elites like Len for one day, and buy his equipment. Not only is he simply amazing at clearing out the first map during that one day you've got him, that 5.56 rifle (which you get to keep!) will help the next few battles tremendously. At least until you run out of ammo - I'd dart towards the SAM site or one of the other towns. Spending $1500 or so beats upsetting the locals.

I tried him. Not too bad on the first mission. But I didn't use any ammo on this particular mission either so it seems like a waste to get Len if the other roughnecks can handle the situation themselves. Maybe if I get to Drassen airport then I'll hire him to get his kit. But like you said, 5.56 ammo is impossible to come by early on so you'll have to make every shot count.

 

(Edit: oh wait, sorry I've said this before. )

Never hurts to say it again though.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

Got the 1.12 patch? You seem to be crashing a lot.

[Zombie]

Well, besides that one crash I haven't had a problem. Then again, the game crashes everytime I exit so there's obviously something wrong there.

 

Downloaded the patch and ran the installer. It complained that it couldn't find an installation of "Jagged Alliance 2 Gold" on my computer. Ok, so I stuffed the installer in my JA2 folder and ran it again. Same complaint. My ja2 executable has a description of "Jagged Alliance 2 Demo" (what's up with that?), and has a file version of 1.0.0.1. Yet when I start the game it detects a Version Release of 1.12 with a final build date of 4.12.01. Maybe I don't need the 1.12 patch since I have the gold edition already? The crash after exiting the game is a little annoying, but I suppose I can live with it unless someone has an idea how to fix it.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

I get that rash on game exit too, nothing to worry about AFAI can tell. If you're version 1.12 already, you don't need the 1.12 patch.

 

Edit: decided to leave that amusing typo in the hope it will make generations unborn smirk and shake their heads.

[Zombie]

Rash, crash, we get the idea.

 

By the way, started my game all over again and this time created a custom merc (night ops, martial arts, sharpshooter) because I heard that you get free weapons for him/her and don't have to pay a salary either. Did that and my merc got a H&K MP5K sub machine gun with 2 clips of 9mm ammo. Nice! (Now I have someone with longer range shooting too). Fooled around with initial merc stats: 80 strength didn't give you much, but with 85 strength my merc got 2 glow sticks as well. Even better! So it looks like my ammo shortages are taking a backseat (for now).

 

With my custom merc, Bull and Steroid, we are yanking weapons (all pistols so far) away from enemies on a consistent basis. The only issue I noticed with this strategy is that you need to use a 3 man team: 1 to pull the weapon away, another for backup in case the first guy fails and a 3rd to mop up. Reason being, it takes almost all your APs to rip a weapon away which doesn't leave any to run away, shoot or even punch in most instances. Works great inside buildings but not so good outside. I found that I needed to bum rush an enemy carrying a pistol with all my mercs (basically a suicide run) in order to give him as many targets as possible. One of your mercs is bound to make it through unscathed and be able to tear the weapon away. Any tips about HTH and tearing weapons away would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm finding out that the Barracuda is less desirable than the Desert Eagle simply because it can't hold as much ammo. Those extra few bullets mean you aren't going to be reloading as much. The .38 special sucks because it has the same low ammo capacities as the other revolvers and it also does less damage than the Barracuda. The Glock 17 is pretty good even though it does less damage and has a shorter range then the other handguns. It's fast and has a huge 15 round magazine. (A dual-wielding Fox can really put a lot of lead in the air too). As an added benefit, my custom merc with the H&K MP5K can use a Glock 17 and not have to worry about ammo much because it uses the same 9mm rounds.

 

- Zombie

[FullAuto]

Knuckledusters are good, exacerbate damage and require no extra AP to use.

 

If you're not using the right magazine for the weapon, e.g. reloading the MP5k with 9mm pistol mags, it takes double the AP (10 instead of 5).

[Zombie]

Knuckledusters are good, exacerbate damage and require no extra AP to use.

Bull comes standard with those and I use them all the time. But I haven't found extra sets to use for my other HTH guys. Does Bobby Ray's carry them? Last time I checked he didn't have any.

 

If you're not using the right magazine for the weapon, e.g. reloading the MP5k with 9mm pistol mags, it takes double the AP (10 instead of 5).

That's a good tip. Though I try to do all my reloading in RT anyway so it doesn't eat into my precious APs in TB mode.

 

Speaking of such, am I right to assume there isn't a way to unload a weapon like in Silent Storm/X-COM? Seems like an oversight to me. Edit: Nevermind. Right click on weapon, then click on the ammo quantity to unload. Why it's hidden/buried is beyond me. I like the unloading prominence in Silent Storm better.

 

Late Edit: Split my mercs into two groups of 3 and selected one person in each squad to carry a wire cutters. Then I sent the two squads on two different routes to get to Drassen. One group ran across some resistance while getting there, but I sidestepped the problem. Placed one group by the East building outside the airport "proper", the other group cut a hole through the fence by the West part of the map in back of where Pablo is and scooted around the back of the 3 buildings to the South. When the East group was in position, I sent Bull (with the wire cutters) to cut a hole in the chain link fence at the South East corner. He was subsequently spotted and had to dash back to the buildings to take cover. Hannibal (my custom merc), Fox and Bull managed to lure one enemy around the corner of the building where Hannibal grabbed the gun, Bull beat the guy to unconsciousness and Fox dispatched him with a shot from her trusty Glock 17. One down. Then they moved back into position to get outside the airport where most enemies seem to spawn. One by one the three mercs made their way behind the South guardhouse next to the barricades. Crossfire situation is always a good strategy.

 

Meanwhile my mercs to the North of them had to contend with a lone enemy who tried to be sneaky by circling around the building. I set the squad of Steroid, Barry and Ira into position but the enemy didn't take the bait. Time for plan B. Barry jumped up on the roof and crawled to within a couple tiles of the door. The other squad found the enemy and Fox shot a round in his direction as a distraction. Barry climbed down from the roof, opened the door and took cover inside. Ira jumped on the roof and made her way to the door as well. She was spotted nearing the door so Barry had to provide cover fire for her while she climbed down to join him inside. Steroid was kept outside the building along the East side as backup and act as an early warning system should an enemy try to surround the team. Hannibal spotted an enemy trying to get by him along the fence so he grabbed the gun away while Bull shot him twice and Fox once. Two down. Barry and Ira noticed an enemy laying in the grass outside the building so Barry took an aimed shot at his head and hit. Hit? Holy smokes! He hit someone! Pop the cork on the champagne and celebrate. This was cut short by another enemy trying to sneak up to my other squad near the guardhouse. Fox peeked around the two burly guys blocking her line of sight and took one shot at the exposed enemy. Hit. Another hit! Next round she did the same thing. Hit again. Third time was a charm, as she killed the poor thing. Three down. Barry then dispatched the other guy. Four down. A few rounds later Steroid noticed an enemy lurking inside the fence to the airport. He tried to shoot him with his Barracuda but it jammed. Luckily he had a Desert Eagle as a backup weapon. Let's try this again. He aimed at the enemies head and pulled the trigger from way outside its effective range. Hit! Where's that champagne? The enemy was all shook up from this allowing Hannibal and Bull to advance almost to the North guardhouse. They were spotted and Bull was shot for a few points of damage but next round I had two guys within point-blank range of an already hurt enemy. Hannibal missed his first shot, but connected with his second killing the guy. Five down.

 

Now the game went into Real Time. Everyone was healed, they reloaded their weapons and discussed strategy to find the last enemy holdout. Barry cut a hole in the chain link fence to the East of the hangar while Steroid and Ira took positions along the side of the hangar itself. Fox took a walk along the inside perimeter of the fence and circled around Pablos warehouse. She went prone when an enemy was spotted near the plane. She crawled closer and closer, eventually making her way along the fences surrounding the two radar dishes. That's when the enemy spotted her and shot. Missed. Fox kept her cool while Barry, Steroid and Ira made a mad dash to encircle the plane. The enemy ignored the stealthy runners and focused on shooting at Fox. More misses, but my group of runners was nearly on top of the enemy by now. Barry took 2 shots, hit both times and Ira took another and killed the enemy. Six down, mission complete, and Drassen airport secured.

 

I used Steroid to check the lockers in all the buildings and hangars. With his lockpicking skills he was able to open everything quite easily. In one house he nabbed a Silencer! Nice find! On a previous save of Drassen airport I found a can of gas inside the hangar. I'm guessing that there is supposed to be a random "rare" item to spawn on the map in Drassen? Since I can't use the gas till I find the Ice Cream truck, I'm glad I got the silencer instead. It says you can attach it to pistols and SMGs but doesn't say anything about rifles. First of all, can the silencer be fitted on a rifle? Secondly, should I just use it on the H&K MP5K that my stealthy merc Hannibal is carrying? I don't want to waste the thing on a weapon which will not benefit from it, but it shouldn't be a problem since it can be removed from the weapon if I want, correct?

 

- Zombie

[Veki]

First of all, can the silencer be fitted on a rifle?

IIRC, no. But it was a long time since I played vanilla version. I know in 1.13 patch/mod you have silencers for rifles.

 

Secondly, should I just use it on the H&K MP5K that my stealthy merc Hannibal is carrying? I don't want to waste the thing on a weapon which will not benefit from it, but it shouldn't be a problem since it can be removed from the weapon if I want, correct?

Yes, you should use it on H&K MP5K. And yes, you can remove it when you wish. Most of the attachments you can remove (scopes, bipods), but some are permanent (rod&spring). Silencers are great for night missions as they will silence your shots and will remove muzzle flash. I think (from experience) silencers decrease damage of the weapon sligtly.

 

I usually use silencers but I'll remove it and shoot an enemy once or twice to lure other enemies to my position.

[Zombie]

I usually use silencers but I'll remove it and shoot an enemy once or twice to lure other enemies to my position.

Good idea, and nice tip (jots it down for future reference).

 

Just got an email from AIM saying that Sydney Nettleson was KIA. Ok, so I checked on their website and saw he was "on assignment". Really? I thought he was dead! Not to be turned off by this setback, I immediately left a message for him. He actually replied! I hired him for one day and he showed up just fine. Hmmm, bug?

 

- Zombie

[Veki]

Good idea, and nice tip (jots it down for future reference).

Works very well during the night.

 

Just got an email from AIM saying that Sydney Nettleson was KIA. Ok, so I checked on their website and saw he was "on assignment". Really? I thought he was dead! Not to be turned off by this setback, I immediately left a message for him. He actually replied! I hired him for one day and he showed up just fine. Hmmm, bug?

Really? Do you have a savegame with that? When I played I never received that kind of message and I would like to see it (I'm curious ).

[Kaije]

Just got an email from AIM saying that Sydney Nettleson was KIA. Ok, so I checked on their website and saw he was "on assignment". Really? I thought he was dead! Not to be turned off by this setback, I immediately left a message for him. He actually replied! I hired him for one day and he showed up just fine. Hmmm, bug?

 

- Zombie

 

I've already seen this bug once in the 1.13 mod too. Another bug I've seen in 1.13 is trying to open an old Bobby Ray delivery email will crash the game.

 

I don't know how much these tips will help you with a vanilla game, but here ya go:

 

I've found that it is much easier to steal from enemies if you weaken them up a bit first by wounding them until they are in critical or poor condition (then even weaklings like Ira can steal with ease). If you can manage to knock an enemy down via stun grenades or leg shots (not dying condition though) and still have someone availible to steal, you can strip them of everything they have including their armor

 

After arriving in Arulco, swing by the hicks farm on the way to Drassen and you should be able to get a couple Ruger Mini 14's from the Darrels and a Laser Sight attachment or two. Decent early ranged weapons and the bonus of turning Ira into a competent close ranged attacker, well if you choose to

[Zombie]

Really? Do you have a savegame with that? When I played I never received that kind of message and I would like to see it (I'm curious ).

Sorry, I didn't save the game - I was just testing strategies. Supposedly un-hired mercs do die from time to time (or so the strategy guides say).

 

I've found that it is much easier to steal from enemies if you weaken them up a bit first by wounding them until they are in critical or poor condition (then even weaklings like Ira can steal with ease). If you can manage to knock an enemy down via stun grenades or leg shots (not dying condition though) and still have someone availible to steal, you can strip them of everything they have including their armor

I was wondering if pre-wounding would help with tearing a weapon out of an enemies hands. I'll try to do this more often in the future, but this means running a 4-man team for weapon recovery: 1 for pre-wounding, 1 for the initial try, 1 for a secondary attempt if necessary and finally a fourth to act as a medic and killer. That's a lot of people which have to be in the right place and at the right time just to grab a gun which probably will be junk anyway.

 

After arriving in Arulco, swing by the hicks farm on the way to Drassen and you should be able to get a couple Ruger Mini 14's from the Darrels and a Laser Sight attachment or two. Decent early ranged weapons and the bonus of turning Ira into a competent close ranged attacker, well if you choose to

I tried going through that sector and engaging the hicks there, but they are too heavily armed to deal with early on with cheap mercs. I can't see going after them until I can afford decent mercs or multiple squads. Or maybe I just need more experience in order to pull it off.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Knocking the wind out of most enemies tends to leave them quite vulnerable. However I probably wouldn't bother with trying to steal their weapons if all they are carrying are revolvers. Of course, the better the weapon, the more dangerous it is to get.

 

As for attacking the hicks: Just build up your own experience with the combat system. There are many ways to skin a cat in this game.

 

By the way, if you need some extra muscle, go to Estoni. There's a chappy there name Maddog. He's mad - but also free and a good mechanic. Not good at ranged combat, but he does come with a CAWS shotgun. With luck, you might even be able to get parts from the junkyard to make a rod and spring.

 

While looking up the location for Maddog, I noted that you can also get a random encounter with a merc named Hamous - former AIM staff member. Hamous himself is below average and costs $250 a day. However, the encounter provides you a once-in-lifetime chance at getting his ice cream truck, which you get to keep for good regardless of what happens to Hamous. There's also a hummer in Balime, but costs $10k.

 

- NKF

[Veki]

Sorry, I didn't save the game - I was just testing strategies. Supposedly un-hired mercs do die from time to time (or so the strategy guides say).

I know that can happen, but it never happened in my games.

 

I was wondering if pre-wounding would help with tearing a weapon out of an enemies hands. I'll try to do this more often in the future, but this means running a 4-man team for weapon recovery: 1 for pre-wounding, 1 for the initial try, 1 for a secondary attempt if necessary and finally a fourth to act as a medic and killer. That's a lot of people which have to be in the right place and at the right time just to grab a gun which probably will be junk anyway.

Don't forget you can target different parts of the body. If you want to wound an enemy, but not kill him/her, shoot at his/her legs.

 

I tried going through that sector and engaging the hicks there, but they are too heavily armed to deal with early on with cheap mercs. I can't see going after them until I can afford decent mercs or multiple squads. Or maybe I just need more experience in order to pull it off.

Hicks don't wear any armor so HP ammo works great. You could try barricading in the room with Daryl. It's a good position, just be careful of the window.