JA3 Jagged Alliance 3 - Some tips to get you started

[Kordanor]

Accessing the sector stash from other sectors isnt possible afaik and I don't think you can sell anything. Rather you are expected ti disassemble stuff for parts.

It's quite interesting though how many people seem to struggle with the economy part. Not quite sure what the reason is for that, but lack of information and a clear perspective seems to attribute to something...
Like...how are you expected to defend your first conquered zoned which are almost in the center of the map. (Don't try to go to the south city first, the first sector there is almost suicidal)

 

[Redglyph]

It's quite interesting though how many people seem to struggle with the economy part. Not quite sure what the reason is for that, but lack of information and a clear perspective seems to attribute to something...

Did you find it obvious on your first run, or did you struggle with money too at some point?

I have the impression the idea is to make us possibly fail a few times so we can learn how it works, and perhaps there's an advantage if you know the previous games. It's one way to learn and progress, but not everyone will like it.

There's a general lack of information, that's for sure.

 

[Kordanor]

I haven't played too far yet, so I can't fully judge.
I have also seen people being too careless with their money and uptime. Like in the previous beta streams. The game kinda invites you to just stay where you are and do nothing, have people rest. But of course this has fatal consequences on your money. Like crafting and training for 2 days ultimately sety ou back thousands of Dollars. And resting just because one dude got tired is also a waste of money. In addition Leadership is ignored (well, the game doesnt clearly tell about that, so its not surprising), people just go with their "favorite Mercs", hiring Fidel and Ivan right away, which is super expensive - these are not entry level mercs anymore, they are thinking of paying the 20000 for Gold membership when they are getting it offered (wasted money) and they are agreeing on counter offers from mercs...which don't seem to be expensive, but ultiamtely they are.

While I can't finally tell, I'd think of myself that I already crunched too many numbers to fall for these traps. But for most things I think that the game could have done a better job. On the other hand, in the long term, additional restrictions would have frustrated some players (like if you werent able to spend the 20000 on gold membership right away to do a playthrough with reaper from the start or stuff like that)

 

[Redglyph]

It's also easy to skip the 'personal merc' that you only have to pay once, since it's hidden behind a login feature, for some obscure reason. Most 'links' of the interface lead to a variation of server errors (404 and more creative ones), so that doesn't really push the player to try everything. It's funny, but poor game design.

Time pressure is probably a good strategic element, but I don't like it in a time-consuming game because it makes for poor fun/time ratio and it ruins my experience. I wanted to do more training, or to rest, but now I don't dare anymore because of the cost. I want to explore some parts of the land but I feel I can't afford that either.

I'll continue to play since I don't have big financial problems yet, but I don't think that I'll do a 2nd run if I fail because of that.

 

[Kordanor]

Well, you can always lower the difficulty, and you can also chose the forgiving mode to get more money.

And regarding the IMP you will get an email as hint you can do that when conquering the town of ernie.

Also the money management has always been part of the series. Just maybe it was more obvious. Possibly also the wider selection of Mercs made you think less about hiring expensive ones at start.
And I think the transparency of Stamina also helped.

 

[Redglyph]

@henriquejr What difficulty settings have you chosen?

For my first run, I chose the base one (First Blood) but not forgiving mode.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sXiPyMuMxA


This was hilarious. I also laughed when I would miss a stab.

 

[henriquejr]

@henriquejr What difficulty settings have you chosen?

For my first run, I chose the base one (First Blood) but not forgiving mode.

I am also playing "First Blood" with Forgiving Mode = Off.

 

[henriquejr]

The game kinda invites you to just stay where you are and do nothing, have people rest. But of course this has fatal consequences on your money. Like crafting and training for 2 days ultimately sety ou back thousands of Dollars. And resting just because one dude got tired is also a waste of money.

But if we don't rest and don't treat wounds, the next combat will surely be harder than it should be, since conditions like tired/exhausted/wounded understandably put a disadvantage on the affected merc(s).
So, if we don't stop to rest/treat wounds/repair items and save a lot of money, what should we do? What has been your personal approach to this situation?

people just go with their "favorite Mercs", hiring Fidel and Ivan right away, which is super expensive - these are not entry level mercs anymore, they are thinking of paying the 20000 for Gold membership when they are getting it offered (wasted money) and they are agreeing on counter offers from mercs...which don't seem to be expensive, but ultiamtely they are.

As I said in a previous comment, I picked the less expensive mercs allowed by the game (in my case, MD, Livewire and Igor Dolvich, though in a 2nd run I think I'll get Barry because of his high Explosives skill).
I knew the most expensives mercs from the other tabs would cost me a kidney, so I avoided hiring them.

While I can't finally tell, I'd think of myself that I already crunched too many numbers to fall for these traps. But for most things I think that the game could have done a better job. On the other hand, in the long term, additional restrictions would have frustrated some players (like if you werent able to spend the 20000 on gold membership right away to do a playthrough with reaper from the start or stuff like that)

How does exactly this Gold Membership work? Is that advantageous somehow? Can we have free access to the top mercs without spending extra cash?

 

[bjon045]

I think JA3 could be one of my favourite games of all time and a worthy successor to JA2. I hope they do patch a few things though like adding the option for a proper LOS for enemies/player characters and fixing some of strategic map lag than can occur in mid/late game.

I've found mercs tend to fall into six categories so far:

Normal - these mercs just increase their salary as their level/xp/skills increase.
Greedy - these mercs increase their salary additionally based on how much money you have sitting in the bank and can get expensive very quickly. An example of this would be Hitman (elite tier). I think there is a reason some of the Elite mercs are so cheap.
Dislike - these mercs hate one person and they will keep increasing their price every/most of the times you have to extend their contract. An example of this would be Mouse if you have Fox in your party. They can get expensive over a long period of time and eventually it will make sense to switch them out unless their skills are vital for you.
Mutual Dislike - this is when two Mercs hate each other. They will both increase their costs and/or make one leave. This is a combination you want to avoid at all costs. I am not sure if you can lessen the impact by splitting them into different squads.
Good/Evil/Strong morals - some mercs will respond depending on choices you make in the game. It can build up over time i.e. if you keep making decisions they disagree with. These Mercs will not increase their salary because of this (just normal increases) but will leave your team. Sometimes they may override your decision and just do what they want i.e. If you decide to let an evil person live they may just execute them anyway. An example of this would be Ivan.
Free Mercs - These are typically earned by doing a quest. In some cases they can be "upgraded" through completing a task.
There are also Merc's who have a strong affection for each other i.e. Fox+Grizzly and both of the Higgins. I am not sure if they reduce the size of the increase or offer other benefits i.e. Morale though?


Gold Tier can either be bought but if you don't need it I highly recommend to not buy it for reasons that will become clearer as you progress in the game.

You should not be buying any Elite/Gold Tier mercs initially apart from the cheapest ones i.e. Hitman/Red/Dr Q. Also the top Veterans are just too expensive unless you get a decent amount of money and income.

 

[Redglyph]

Free Mercs - These are typically earned by doing a quest. In some cases they can be "upgraded" through completing a task.

I've seen one but it was not possible to keep him alive for a reason I won't reveal. He's coming with a quest that is broken at the moment, so I'm not sure that he'd join, even if we could keep him alive (hopefully they patch this soon). I think the exploration has to be done in a specific way, or the player encounters big spikes of difficulty and possibly broken things. Anyway, if there are free mercs along the way, that's a precious help.

I regularly find valuables in loot, including diamond shipments worth $ 12000 sometimes, so it's a great help too. When the mine will dry out, however, it will become more serious (I don't know how long they last). But I know there are other mines with a better income to discover.

 

[bjon045]

I've seen one but it was not possible to keep him alive for a reason I won't reveal. He's coming with a quest that is broken at the moment, so I'm not sure that he'd join, even if we could keep him alive (hopefully they patch this soon). I think the exploration has to be done in a specific way, or the player encounters big spikes of difficulty and possibly broken things. Anyway, if there are free mercs along the way, that's a precious help.

I regularly find valuables in loot, including diamond shipments worth $ 12000 sometimes, so it's a great help too. When the mine will dry out, however, it will become more serious (I don't know how long they last). But I know there are other mines with a better income to discover.

I'm not sure the quest is broken. I had 5 free mercs in one squad + IMP merc for one completely free squad. Feel free to ask a specific question in spoilers i.e. how to get a specific one.

Yes Diamond shipments are a great money earner. It is possible to sell weapon parts and medical supplies as well.

Spoiler: Names of the free mercs

Flay
Pierre
Smiley
Larry
Spike

 

[Redglyph]

I'm not sure the quest is broken.

Spoiler

If Smiley dies and you visit him first - perhaps even if you visit him first and he doesn't die - his ex-girlfriend give you tips about where he should be and the mercs don't react to this. It leaves an open quest that's probably not possible to close.

And it's very hard to keep him alive because he's exposing himself too badly at the church embush. I gave up after two attempts; this fight alone was already hard enough.

 

[henriquejr]

(...) It is possible to sell weapon parts and medical supplies as well.

Oh, good to know that we can buy/sell weapons and other supplies

I restarted the game and made a new team: I.M.P merc, Fox, Livewire and Barry. Let's see how I fare this time

 

[Redglyph]

Little heads-up: it's not possible to talk to the priest in Fleatown after the first discussion, except another time at the end of a quest related to him (you'll know which). So if you need something with him, you can only do it twice.

 

[bjon045]

Little heads-up: it's not possible to talk to the priest in Fleatown after the first discussion, except another time at the end of a quest related to him (you'll know which). So if you need something with him, you can only do it twice.

I don't have that problem in my game so I suspect it is related to that other person dying?

Avoiding spoilers but I suggest if you are having trouble to either just leave it till later in the game or make use of smoke grenades - in a lot of quests where you have to protect someone (or people) throwing a smoke grenade on them is enough to keep them alive as it converts nearly all hits to grazing hits which do minimal damage. Making use of explosives makes a lot of fights where enemies bunch together a lot easier.

Oh, good to know that we can buy/sell weapons and other supplies

I restarted the game and made a new team: I.M.P merc, Fox, Livewire and Barry. Let's see how I fare this time

Apparently that combination is the most highly recommended starting team. I would also suggest adding mouse or buns to give you a bit more firepower if you find yourself missing some punch. For IMP I drop all skills to 0 except for leadership and marksmanship and then I max all attributes except health which I leave around 50-60 and take the teaching perk. Then you should do 2 training sessions on marksmanship while you are still on the first island which should take all of their marksmanship skills into the 80's - which will turn them into very cheap killers.

The other thing I recommend is making good use of stealth and the "Take Cover" command which lets you store AP for the next turn. Never put your merc out in the open as stealth and Take Cover should bring the enemies to you/give you enough firepower to drop them.

 

[bjon045]

It looks like JA# 1.02 has dropped. Sounds like Mine income will last a lot longer now which will please some people.


Highlights:

• Economy: Mines will drop income much slower when they begin to deplete
• On combat end, interactables are now automatically highlighted, and toggle state (on/off) is now persisted across maps.
• Zooming is now possible in overview mode.
• Hand-to-hand specialization can now be used while merc is unarmed
• Fixed issue where no mercenaries are available for hire & AIM database would be empty.
• Fixed issue where free move APs could be used for an attack.
• Fixed issue where music and some other sounds would play in mono instead of stereo.
• Fixed giving ammo from one squad to another.

 

[Redglyph]

I don't have that problem in my game so I suspect it is related to that other person dying?

Can you talk with him any time? If that's the case, it seems my run is partially broken. There were other reports related to the other dead person.

EDIT: I reported the bug.

 

[Redglyph]

There are several bugs related to Smiley, in fact. The game is saved before reaching a sector and starting a fight, so you should be able to revert if something really bad happens (one outcome is the game freezing).

Some details in the spoiler. I've put sub-spoilers so it's fine to read it if you heard about him in the game.

Spoiler

There are two ways of discovering him: through a quest or by finding him "by chance".

If the quest is given by someone else, you followed the lead by talking to a few other NPCs, then you'll finally find where he hides. But you may discover it directly if you visit that sector Fleatown La Boue, the western part of this city - since it's near a mine, it's quite natural to go there first after leaving the first island.

When you discover him, it triggers a fight (which isn't too easy if your mercs are still level 1/2). It's very difficult to keep him alive, let alone conscious:

• if he's knocked out during the fight, the game freezes and you have to kill it, then reload where you can (I haven't experienced that)
• if he's killed and if you discovered him there without the lead quest above, you won't be able to talk to Father Tooker in the church anymore, which is very annoying (it won't break a quest associated with him, however). Moreover, the quest given by Smiley will be seemingly be broken and when you talk to the related NPCs, they'll do as if he were alive an give you leads to explore.
• if he lives, there's apparently a potential fight with an NPC associated with him later, in which there's another bug: it's possible to settle things peacefully but that resets the conversation and forces you to choose the violent option.

So there you are, it's probably best to consider that quest mostly broken at the moment. Unfortunately, it wasn't fixed in their first patch.

 

[bjon045]

Hopefully they fix that then. I did the quest the old fashion way even though I spotted him in the backroom the first time I entered the map.

Another tip I can offer for people struggling with it is:

Spoiler: Dealing with Smiley

If you train militia in the zone then they will aid you in the fight and if they are veterans they will be quite helpful indeed.

If you do the Luigi quest first and you side with the boss there is a very high chance the boss will be killed in the battle. If that happens then no second battle is required to get Smiley and Molly will just run away and Smiley will join. Molly can be kept alive in that battle by just parking one merc with bandages within distance of Molly and the rest should be hiding to stay out of the battle until the boss is killed.