Jagged Alliance 2 is so hard

T

The_Onesin

First time out of the vault
I bought JA2 in GOG sale this winter and I gotta say this game is kicking my ass. Hard.Core.

Installed 1.13 because when I played this game when I was younger, I played vanilla version. Wanted something bit different...

And here I am, struggling to free DRASSEN. Seriously, when I try to free a sector it woud tell me that there are only 6 enemies, but then there are like 17 of them. I'm also getting very very afraid of that 'counter attack' thing everyone's talking about.

But then again, this game is seriously fun to play. It's so punishing but the turn based combat is just godlike.
 
If its too hard, you can always start your operation by visiting San Mona and couple of one day guys ;)
 
I played through the JA2 a couple times. With normal and sci-fi mode too. I tried a mod -I forgot which one-, that was pretty hard. Only 2 of my 6 mercenaries had 1-1 tiny pistols, the rest of them got only box cutters and 1 knife, but like 15 enemies kept attacking the team with AK-47s. However, after the insane start the game got easier.
 
Enemies get reinforcements from closer sectors. That means, at start there *are* only 6 enemies, but if you are doing a big party, the enemy calls for help and you have to deal with more. On a positive side, though, the reinforcements that you kill are later missing in the other sectors.

Beside this, 1.13 is a lot harder in the beginning than JA2 vanilla. As soon as you get good weapons, it changes drastically and the enemy becomes weak fast. In later 1.13 version they changed the aiming system, so it evens out the balancing a bit. Still the game gets a lot easier as soon as your mercs get better gear.

If you have a hard time dealing with the few enemies, the Drassen counter attack will crush you. There will be around 80 elite soldiers taking back Drassen. For me it is one of the most fun battles in the game, though. If you aren't smart (or lame it out with jumping sectors), the enemy will simply overrun you.
Then again, nobody is forcing you to take Drassen first. You could try your hands on other cities first.
 
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did you know that you could grab the weapons of enemies in combat? If you are close enough, you can take their guns. Well they would attack you with knives though. Pretty difficult. But already in the earlier part of the game I got that way assault rifles, machine guns and sniper weapons and all that stuff.
 
The_Onesin said:
Installed 1.13 because when I played this game when I was younger, I played vanilla version. Wanted something bit different...

And here I am, struggling to free DRASSEN...
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You need to go through all the parameters you can change with 1.13 and modify them to your taste. You can make the game as hard or as easy as you like. There are so many ways to change things I'm not even going to attempt to explain them all here. Garrison size, mine income, bullet and explosion lethality, militia training costs, repair speed...it's all been sent to external xml files. Fire up the editor and knock yourself out.

Personally I like large battles, so I jack up the maximum number of enemies per sector and jack up the garrisons, but I also jack up the militia in various ways.

I would go so far as to say leaving the settings "as is" is the wrong way to play 1.13. You're missing the whole point.
 
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Lexx said:
If you have a hard time dealing with the few enemies, the Drassen counter attack will crush you. There will be around 80 elite soldiers taking back Drassen. For me it is one of the most fun battles in the game, though. If you aren't smart (or lame it out with jumping sectors), the enemy will simply overrun you.
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Why its lame? I always like to preemptively take out couple of their squads, to even out the odds before they join with their main task force and sometimes during the main fight when things go south(usually depends on my loadout and luck) I'd rather tactically retreat and finish them off in the next attack, then "smart it out" which is for most people equal to 'camp it out' with 'save scumming', which is lame.

Lexx said:
Then again, nobody is forcing you to take Drassen first. You could try your hands on other cities first.
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Yep. Drassen is important because of Bobby Ray, the mine and quest, but it worth nothing if you can't take it. To improve the odds it is necessary to get better equipment and or additional manpower, Going to San Mona(boxing and other things) first or even west to Chitzena(Mine) should be enough.
 
I captured 3 Drassen sectors and of course counterattack came right after. To my surprise however, I didn't find it too overwhelming to deal with it. When they attacked one sector I retreated my mercs to other Drassen sector and made all of them train militias hardcore. Minimal sleep and unpaid overtime work (feeling sorry for my Mercs :S)

But I should say, after I learned to use Bob's shop and few tricks, it is getting extremely fun. I like those large scaled assaults alot. Thanks for all the replies tho they inspired me alot xD :cool:
 
Well I got crushed like an insect by that counterattack. All my mercs are dead and I have 1000 dollar. Time to restart T.T.

Btw I just got really pissed off with my last battle. I managed to kill like 21 guys with 5 mercs but then there were some really stupid mistakes my mercs made. I aimed at the enemies in point blank with a rifle of 64 accuracy, and he missed 2 of em. Next round? One pistol shot and my merc gets 70 damage, instadeath.

I absolutely hate this crazy probability. It's not the first time it happened. My guy with high agi, dex, and str cannot hit a private in close combat with a combat knife once, and gets kicked in the ass by bare fists. What the fuck is this?
 
Hide one or two mercs inside the bar in the Southern Drassen sector. Fire a couple shots and hide. The enemy will be coming in waves and you just aim for the head. This is of course if you aren't playing on higher difficulty - elite soldiers can easily interrupt.
 
I've found the night missions to be much easier than fighting during the day. In the JA2:Wildfire I've trained a team specialized for fighting in the dark, equipped with UV goggles, lightsticks and so on. They kick ass!
 
The_Onesin said:
Btw I just got really pissd off with my last battle. I managed to kill like 21 guys with 5 mercs but then there were some really stupid mistakes my mercs made. I aimed at the enemies in point blank with a rifle of 64 accuracy, and he missed 2 of em. Next round? One pistol shot and my merc gets 70 damage, instadeath.

I absolutely hate this crazy probability. It's not the first time it happened. My guy with high agi, dex, and str cannot hit a private in close combat with a combat knife once, and gets kicked in the ass by bare fists. What the fuck is this?
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He probably got hit with green (glass?) ammo. If you don't wear any protection gear, it deals a huge amount of damage, because of splinters. The same applies to the enemy, by the way. Especially in the beginning, when they do not yet wear good armor, this ammo type is extremely useful.
 
Cambria had some reputation of being filled with shitheads (11% loyalty after 3 sectors srsly?), and I also had to use airport to refill some supplies so here I am! Back to counterattack section. I have 9 mercs and I've tried the fight once. Went better than last time but still got my ass handed. I might have to give up on mine for while or something T.T.
 
Well, in worst case, go into the sector with the church. In the top right corner is a small bar with 1 door and no windows. Put all your men in there and then wait for the counter attack. With enemies in your sector, take one merc and let him fire his weapon once to make noise. Now the enemies will gather around your house and - if you are good - can be taken out easily when they walk through the door one by one.

In any case, after the battle is done, your group should be strong enough to have a much easier time in the rest of Arulco (unless you activated counter attacks for all cities).
 
Lexx said:
If you have a hard time dealing with the few enemies, the Drassen counter attack will crush you. There will be around 80 elite soldiers taking back Drassen. For me it is one of the most fun battles in the game, though. If you aren't smart (or lame it out with jumping sectors), the enemy will simply overrun you.
Then again, nobody is forcing you to take Drassen first. You could try your hands on other cities first.
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I usually hide in the bar and make them come to me. Good thing the AI doesn't know how to use explosives or I'd have a real problem. :P
 
Lexx said:
Well, in worst case, go into the sector with the church. In the top right corner is a small bar with 1 door and no windows. Put all your men in there and then wait for the counter attack. With enemies in your sector, take one merc and let him fire his weapon once to make noise. Now the enemies will gather around your house and - if you are good - can be taken out easily when they walk through the door one by one.

In any case, after the battle is done, your group should be strong enough to have a much easier time in the rest of Arulco (unless you activated counter attacks for all cities).
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That's not a real tactic, I would call that cheating, or exploting the AI. :P
 
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