Jagged Alliance 2 gameplay help

[CPA]

So, picked up JA2 two days ago when Steam had it on sale. Started playing it yesterday and immediately ran into confusion.

Took me some time to figure out how to get mercenaries for my team, but I'm still stuck on a few things:

1) What are my objectives beside trying to find the bad guys on each map? Can you pull up a list of objectives or is it pretty much sandbox style?

2) Any way to more easily locate the bad guys on a map? Doing a lot of walking around feeling like I'm not accomplishing much. How do I find the bad guys?

3) Do the bad guys have a safehouse that is easily distinguishable from the other houses or do you just have to walk around until you find it?

4) One time, I killed a bad guy and it alerted me verbally AND visually that there was an interesting object (he dropped his gun). I was able to find it and pick it up. Later, I was just walking around and the game alerted me verbally only about an interesting object. Needless to say, I had no idea where it was.

5) There is no tutorial with this game, where do I find the mechanical workings of this game listed out - like a manual?

6) How do I utilized other weapons or items of my mercs? I know one has some explosives but I don't have a clue on how to use them.


That's all for now. I want to like this game, but I'm afraid I'm going to get quickly aggravated if I don't start figuring out what and how to do things.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Is there a manual PDF in the game folder? I have this on CD so I can't check.

For tips, walkthroughs, etc. try here:
http://www.ja-galaxy-forum.com/

If you can't find any good walkthroughs there, I dug up an older one and uploaded it here:
http://www.thionite.com/ja2/ja2guide.zip

 

[ichy]

From what I recall it's pretty much a sandbox once you complete the first couple of missions (the last one involves arranging food supplies.) There are some role-playing elements you can do though.

 

[Skott]

Just some quick notes:
All enemy patrols spawn from the Queen's residence down in the far bottom left corner. You can play the game in a variety of ways. You can go out and capture each zone or you can skip zones and just capture ones that you want. Enemy soldier groups will attempt to recapture towns and non town zones. Most people capture all the towns, mines, and SAM sites on the first run through and save the Queen and her residence for last. Captured mines gives you more money to hire more/better mercs and equipment from Bobby Ray's so they are worth capturing. SAM sites are worth capturing as well because there is a chopper pilot (Sky Rider) that will join your side and fly you around as needed for a price. Some people will make a team or a single merc and go straight for the Queen but I recommend not doing that til you understand how the game works. There is also a Sci-Fi option to the game that can be turned on or off. I won't spoil it by telling you what it is.

Once you have played the game a time or two head over to Bear's Pit and check out the v1.13 mod and other player made mods available to add more fun to the game.

 

[Ross Ridge]

Yah, basically its sandbox game, but dealing with the Queen is your ultimate goal, and capturing towns and mines to get more money to outfit more mercs is the intended means to acheive it.

Later in the game I think you get some sort of motion detector that will help you find enemies, but mainly the idea is that you need to go look for them. This is actually where I think a lot of the fun of the game is. Going from building to building, tree to tree, never knowing where exactly the enemy is, never sure if someone might be hiding behind that door or rock.

The thing you got notified about but missed could've something like ammo lying on the ground, which is small and easily missed even when highlighted. Explosives are bit complicated, you need both the explosives and a detonator attached to it. You can use them to blast through walls and stuff, and also set traps. They're not something you can use much at the begining of the game. There are lots of other potentially useful items in the game, like wire cutters. I forget exactly how the interface for actually using things works in the game however. You should be able to find a manual online if Steam hasn't provided you with one.

 

[splat_ed]

1) The objectives in any map battle is to kill all the enemies, for them to retreat or for you to retreat. Nothing else.

There are other missions (find the pilot, free a prisoner etc.) but again you need to kill all enemies and then just talk to the NPC.

2) Apart from building the motion detector, you have to go for house clearance. Sometimes it is easier (especially on night missions) to have a merc with a noisy weapon fire and often the bad guys'll come a-running

3) There are no safe-houses in the maps, although you should check each house out. There's often ammo/weapons/misc stuff hidden in them. Also on some map squares, one house is a ammo/weapon storehouse. The squares are always the same, but not all will be there in a run-through.

4) When you get the notification, it'll be somewhere in eye-sight but the easiest way is to drop back out to the island/map view and right-click on the square (I think that's right... it's been a long time)

You'll get an inventory screen showing everything in the sector. You can then just drag'n'drop to your mercs.
If the item is showing but greyed out then it's in an inaccessible area at the moment - go back to the sector and move your mercs around. Usually it's behind a closed door, in an area behind a person (so you have to shift them) or in a person's house (go in and loot the place )

5) I couldn't see a manual on steam, but if you do a search, there's a ton of stuff on the internet.

6) Attachments, you click and then right-click on the weapon - you'll see the attachment slots to the right of the picture (4 boxes). If they're greyed out then the attachment cannot be used. Drugs/canteens you click and use on the picture of the body (it will glow to show it can be selected). Same theory for other items - try clicking and then right-clicking on another item to see if they can be merged. Explosives need a detonator to get ready, then put in your main hand and use as if a weapon - it will ask for things like "how long 'till da boom?" before setting. To disarm... move your mouse cursor over it and the cursor will change to show it's possible.

Sorry for the long reply...
Michael

 

[9mak9]

1-Best part of the game is the structure. It is pretty much open ended and the goal as most said is to beat the queen. You need to have a large group of high powered mercenary with the best weapons to get through to the end of the game.

2-Most of the time you'll find the enemies coming to you. If you feel like you have killed most of the enemies just start splitting up your guys are try to find houses/offices/roofs they could be hiding. If you are attacking a specific town you should always have a plan to approach. Should you approach from the north sector and take cover on the roofs of the houses and try to funnel your enemy? Or maybe sneak in from the south through the forest in the night and try to pick off your enemy with stealth, knifes, silencers, etc.

3-The game is a dictator and her army taking over a country so it is basically no main barracks/base kind of thing (unless you go to the army base)

4-Your merc might have seen a mine which is very common, but usually they will tell you to mark it with a flag so you don't walk over it. Other times it could be some regular household items that they see or random weapons. When you go to the map, click the inventory and numbers will usually appear in most areas you visit, that shows all the items that are on the ground. It's easier to manage inventory this way after you defeat a sector.

5-You can find a manuel online, otherwise just play the first few areas and learn

6-It depends on what the object is. Medkits you put into the man hand of the merc (instead of gun) and they can heal mercs. Canteens just drag them to your merc's body. Explosives like TNT and grenades can be used by all mercs but you want to make sure they have nigh enough stats to use them. Over 50 usually is a good place to start, with over 80 being a specialty. Also specific skills like auto weapons mean that solider is better using that, throwing means they are good at throwing knives, grenades, etc. Getting specific mercs to fit your strategy/specialty is the best way to go.

Usually the best places to start is going to drassen to take over, then usually save you game and send your troops to some locations around drassen trying to find the chopper pilot because you have to have him to move forward in the game. He could be in like 6 different cells so try to find him first then reload and send your group to get him bc you are likley to run into a patrol. While this happens you should have some militias (teaching is really important for 2nd characters [mercs who don't have high marksmanship] like Fox/MD who are able to quickly build militias) in the town because after you take over a city you start gaining money from mines which helps fund your excursion. Eventually when you venture your troops out there will be soldiers coming to take back the town so you need militia to hold the fort or else you'll never win. After you get the pilot to drassen go and take over the first SAM site (and then build militia). This allows you to fly your troops around much quicker then walking. Usually after you have a good militia presence you can start venturing out to continue.

After drassen, I usually go to San Mona, Chitzena, Cambria, Alma, Grumm, Balime and Meduna. It is usually the best progression of the strength of enemies. There are a lot of add't little quests that help you either get more money, items, towns approval, etc. so make sure you do as much as possible. And don't be afraid to take your time and rest and heal up, you don't have to rush over to areas one after the other.

Sorry for the long response but this is my favorite game and I've beaten it over 10 times on all different variations. I think this is enough motivation for me to re-install this game.

 

[astrosfan315]

reading all of this got me to dig out my original box, install..then put urban chaos back on. Glad I kept that one backed up on CDs.

In the beginning you'll want to play more 'guerilla' style. That is, ambush tactics. Get a guy on the roof, setup on the corners, draw the enemy to you and then kill them. As you get more understanding of the game mechanics, AP usage, perks like stealth/night vision, camo, then you can send out 'scouting' parties to survey the area.

Enjoy it, and don't get frustrated.

 

[Skott]

Controlling the high ground (roofs) is the key to winning any of the town maps or any zone that has a house/building with a flat roof. If you get your merc/s onto the roofs then the battle is pretty much one sided in your favor.

I still have my original manual and the original Prima Game Guide from when JA2 came out. There should be plenty of web sites and youtube videos showing the various zones and how to attack them out there if you need help.

 

[9mak9]

I'm playing Wildfire right now. Any mods you guys would recommend using. I've mostly stayed away from them because I like the core game too much

 

[DaveSimmons]

Urban Chaos is a great total conversion for after you've played the vanilla game. New story, new maps, new weapons (Warsaw Pact instead of NATO). See my Bear's Pit link above.

 

[Skott]

The v1.13 mod is compatible with many of the other mods so be sure to try it as well. It greatly enhances the game for a whole new experience.