/vr/ - Retro Games

Go raid the hospital warehouse at night.
Sneaky, sneaky.

>>5286038
Those buildings are paper thin. Plus you can't get out of there. Trees offer mobility, some concealment and way better mobility.
RIP.

>>5286406
Night Ops + Ambidextrous + high camo rating + two high-caliber suppressed pistols tended to work pretty well last time I played JA2. Admittedly, that was about 10 years ago.

I'm not a fan of 1.13. Every battle turns into a 18th century firing line, the enemy just runs up to you and lines up firing.

>>5286412
There's an improved AI mod out there. Breddy gud.

>>5286412
That's more of an engine and AI limitation.

Stock 1.13 has shit balance with NCTH. Unfun trash.

>>5286410
No need for a fight. Just get in there, snag some gear and get the hell out.
Clean up the north, get some income flowing, get more mercs and then go back.

>>5286412
>>5286416
>>5286419
Different anon, but could you please advise what to get for JG2? Last time I've played it was '06, and I played it vanilla. Ever since I've read about 1.13 patch/mod, but people give very conflicting informations about it - either praising it to high heavens of trashing it relentlessly for its own issues. So...
What is the best way to apply 1.13 and have fun with it?

>>5286460
Also, could someone remind me how to get the throwing knife fast training going? I remember it involved standing next to window and aiming at other merc standing on the other side, but I can't make it work no matter what to get those fast gains in Marksmanship.

>>5286460
Bear's Pit forums are complete ass these days. Worst I've seen. Good thing I saved the only link you'll ever need. Updates every other month or so. Tasty stuff in there.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PD_Wav_Gx8B8bTE2eKp-AKSWZ1u5lp7H

>>5286473
Use the launcher.
>AI exe
>Arulco Revisited is a good mod to start with

>>5286416

Please link it, I like 1.13 in everything but the zerg-rush AI

>>5286538
>>5286473

>>5286571

But that's a million mods, I just wanted the AI-mod

>>5286589
Are you stupid, retarded or fucking illiterate? There is a readme file attatched with all the files, links and descriptions attatched in that link. You would know, if you spend FUCKING FIVE SECONDS TO CHECK YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT. YOU FUCKING DESERVE THIS HORRIBLE AI FOR YOUR OWN LAZYNESS!

>>5286463
Bierzemy nóż do rzucania i stajemy naszym I.M.P'em obok okna a postacią która będzie naszym celem po drugiej stronie i tu mam pewny patent choć pewnie wielu go sami odkryło: stajemy tak by praktycznie bez ruszania myszką na boki móc od razu podnieść zaatakować i podnieść z powrotem nóż, czyli jak z miną tyle że dodatkowo celować w drugą osobę. Logiczne jest by cel był bez broni oraz nie może być do rebeliant (Dimitri,Ira) ponieważ oni by się zbuntowali i była by afera. W niespełna godzinę nabiłem z powyższych statystyk początkowych 100 celności oraz 99 zręczności. Męczące ale jakże cieszące

Which translates to:
We take a throwing knife and we place our IMP next to a window and the target character on the other side. You preferably should place IMP character in such way to not sway too much with your mouse to pick the knife, throw it and pick again. It is logical for the target to be unarmed and not be a rebell (Dimitri, Ira), since they will retaliate. In less than a hour it allowed to raise 100 Marksmanship and 99 Dexterity [started from 20 and 65, respectively - ed.]. Tiresome, but fulfilling.

Obviously it works with any character, doesn't have to be your IMP merc. Either way, this is super-expoitable and I'm not sure if it's even possible to do in 1.13. Considering in 1.13 you can have entire team designed via IMP, it would go into not just game-breaking, but fun-breaking.

>>5287123
The only remaining question is to from where get the throwing knife. I already started the game few times with different builds on my own merc and never managed to get the throwing knife. Is any of the mercs for hire carrying one?

>>5286038
This is why knives are so much better. A knife never runs out of ammo!

>>5287182
iirc Ace and Blood have them, though it might have been in Arulco Revisited only

There might be a Bloody [throwing] knife in the middle of the starting sector in Omerta, near the rubble pile on the road. But again that might be only in AR

Also you should play Arulco Revisited, it adds a lot more locations to the map sectors: more towns, hidden bases and weapon caches

>>5287182
Look around Omerta on the ground. You know, your starting location. There should be at least one knife there and there is a high chance one of the soldiers will carry another.

>>5287363
No, that knife is in vanilla game, too. It's the main reason why so many people do the window exploit with it, dumping their MRK and DEX.
How's AR? Never tried it myself, only sticked to vanilla and stracciatella.

Oh, so JG2 thread...
What's the best starting squad? Non-expoit based one. I never got myself into playing this game on my own as a kid, my older brother only allowed me to play around with his squad and it was aged ago. Now I've got a plaster cast on my leg for the next month (love you, drunk morons driving quads over skiing summit), so it's as good time to get myself finally into JG2 as ever. Most of guides I've found on my own only list the exploits and bugs to abuse, rather than giving actual tips and help.

Bump

>>5287182
there's a bloody throwing knife on the ground on the first screen in omerta

>>5287491
i'd tell you to play the game and figure it out for yourself (this is supposed to be fun) but you've already read guides before getting in to it so you're hopeless

>>5288156
I was trying to understand what the hell I'm even supposed to do in the game, since when I played on my own, I run out of money in zero time, while achieving nothing, too. And the only guides out there were about min-maxing or exploiting things, which I ditched before finishing or some even reading at all, since that kinda spoils the fun entirely.
But the problem comes from the fact there is nothing in-between. I can either get super-exploitative guides (no fun since too easy) or go blind (no fun since no idea what to do and how to get financially stable).
But thanks for being smug and useless nontheless!

>>5287182
First map(s?) has at least one. Look around.

>>5287491
...Jagged Galliance?

>>5288182
Read the manual.

>>5286038
New CtH is shit and the Drassen counterattack is by far the easiest of all of them due to terrain so you should probably take that instead of screwing yourself with Chitzena and hole up in the bar. You could also go hire Bull and make him fight in San Mona.

>>5288781
NCTH is great as long as you tweak it. You're fucked if you don't.

>>5288280
>2019
>Manual

>>5288182
>which I ditched...since that kinda spoils the fun entirely
>>5287491
>What's the best starting squad?

>>5288182
But the problem comes from the fact there is nothing in-between
did you try looking at the map in the game? why don't you try that, and think just a little bit about what you see, then plan accordingly.
>But thanks for being smug and useless nontheless!
dumb faggot.

>>5288182
In most cases, hire for longer periods of time, rather than single day (that's only useful if you want to get better equipment from expensive mercs). Get yourself Fidel, Meltdown and Wolf, that's pretty much all you'll ever need and for bargain prices. Money comes from controlling mines, so go figure. You absolutely have to control sectors with mines on them, otherwise there is no stable form of income. Single mine should be able to keep you afloat.
You don't need mechanic from the start, Dimitri is good enough and for free, while joining very early. Also forget trainers early on, no point bothering, especially since Ira comes for free and is what? 2nd? 3rd best trainer? So not hiring anyone for those positions not only cuts your initial expenses roughtly by half, you can have those specialist free of any charge for the rest of the game
If you don't want exploits, make your IMP merc with at least 75 MRK and 65 DEX. If you don't mind the throwing knife grind, then dump both to 35. NEVER dump your Health and Intelligence! They're hard to rise in the game even with exploits! Either way, your IMP guy shouldn't really have more than 35 in Leadership, Medic, Mechanic and Explosives. Those are things other mercs are for and/or very easily trainable, so don't bother wasting more points. I suggest either Night Ops or Auto Weapons as your IMP's skill

>>5288958
It's like you are purposefully unhelpful and missing his point, aka "how to not get bankrupt", instead bullshitting around about proper tactics and thinking.

>>5288939
Well how about you just fuck off then? Great.

>>5288997
Unless you get your JA2 from GOG, you can't get the manual in current year.

>>5286649

Or, or... just provide what people want instead of handing them a chore and expect to be thanked for it.

>>5289009
That link comes with both the mods and their descriptions and installations. All you need to do is open the link. Which you didn't do.

>>5287332
What a nonsensical game.

>>5289001
why would you get it anywhere but gog unless you already own the big box

I hadn't played JA2 1.13 for a few years so I decided to give it a try over Christmas, as I'd read somewhere that the AI was considerably improved. I had finished it previously, once even limiting myself to only MERCs.
Made a night ops IMP. Rest of team Igor, Barry, Grunty, Wolf, and Danny. Mostly do night runs.
>absolutely steamroll drassen and alma
>ai is still retarded, redshirts literally running into gunfire
>stroll through balime and pick up the hummer
>take out the prison, easily
>cambria goes down in a single night
>ai is still retarded, my mercs barely get shot at
>san mona and do san mona things
>take over chitzena sam and town
>ai is still retarded and the enemy simply lines up to get executed
Whew lad, this is pretty dull...
>while training militia, sam gets taken over by a huge army
>suddenly red dots all over the place around chitzena
>attack one of the sectors during the night
>...
>ultra elite soldiers that need 7-8 shots to go down
>probably 100% camouflaged with gen.3 night vision because they see me well before I see them
>at least 30 of them
>breaklights rain down on my position
>snipers wrecking everyone
>machine gunfire suppressing everyone
>MOTHERFUCKING MORTARS FUCKING MY SHIT UP
>my crew of now level 6-7 badasses is wiped out in a couple of rounds
>rage quit
I'm all for upping the difficulty, but this might be too much. And I tried the other sectors. It was the same. I had absolutely no chance. In any sector. And they seemed to come in from every direction. Fucking hell.

>>5289001
How the hell do you not know how to work a search engine in 2019? You are delusional.
>jagged alliance 2 manual pdf
WOW! There it is. Fucking magic.

>tfw fucking nobody knows how to work 1.13

>>5289196
That's why the full counterattack option should be switched off. It's a ridiculously huge difficulty spike.

>>5289215
People don't know these things. 1.13 is a shitshow for newcomers. Anons don't know what ini files to edit. Probably don't even know that anything can be tweaked. They don't know ANYTHING.
Stock settings are garbage. Top contributors left the community ages ago. Wiki's trash. Forums are even worse. Current dev is a feature creepers. It never stops.
You NEED to change things for 1.13 to be fun but it just doesn't happen. People do not know and they do/can not find out anything about anything.

>>5289220
Could you list some things to switch in the .ini? Aside obviously disabling the counter-attack, since that's something that can be done even from game menu.

>>5289215
Agreed, it's incredibly stupid/arrogant that it's turned on by default and is a surefire way of turning off new players. Fortunately I remembered it from the last playthrough around 2011 and turned it off.

But what the problem for me was the difficulty factor, going from easy mode to impossible mode. The whole 1.13 thing now just reeks of autists who have played JA2 50 times and know every single exploit. Maybe it's fun for them. For newcomers and even veterans like myself, it's just shit. It's literally game over for me. There is absolutely no way in hell I can get out of this.

>>5289276
> The whole 1.13 thing now just reeks of autists who have played JA2 50 times and know every single exploit.
That's generally what happens to any mod community when only the hardcore turboautistfags remain active.

>>5289276
>>5289293
That's why I'm sticking to AR. The amount of autism and exploit-knowledge is maybe 1/20 of what 1.13 requires. It's still there, but not to that absurd degree

>>5289293
The TRLE community is probably the only place where this approach is what allowed them to produce the best things. But that's the exception from the rule, true.

>>5289257
Just look through all of the files. Everything is well documented in there.

>>5289276
Made by modders for modders.
>Oh, you haven't been sitting on the forums for the last 10 years?
>Too fucking bad.

I'll write up a nice guide on how to tailor the game to your liking one of these days.
Not like anyone else is going to do it.

>>5289346
No, I mean which things take the difficulty on roller-coaster ride. I know to disable the the counter-attack, but I don't know which ratio of drops and enemy skills is the "right" one to have, so I kinda have no idea how to set those.

>>5289356
I would gladly read it, since I'm in the position described by >>5289349

>>5287363
Just to clarify:
To get AR working, I need 1.13 first, then install over it AR 1.4 and that's it? Or any additional fixes? What about the improved AI mod then?

>>5289856
Always 1.13 first. Mods come in different folders.

>>5290189
Does it mean I need to configure BOTH 1.13 and then the following mods or it's done wholesale, in single take?
Also, what about Stracciatella?

>>5287332
>That's a quick way to lose 10 pounds!

>>5290198
Stracciatella is more of a vanilla experience from what I understand. Chocolate vanilla? Haven't tried it.
Mod folder is highest priority. Uses what's in the 1.13 directory if the mod doesn't override it with its own file. Think pasting one folder over another. Easy.

>>5290232
From what I read it adds support for higher resolution and does extensive bug fixing, which is what makes me interested - rather than rework the game and throw tons of new stuff to it, it focuses on functionality.
And JA2 aside, you seriously never had stracciatella... fuck... and now I realised probably why, as English language lacks even the exact term for that kind of cream cheese.

>1.13
>Essential hotkeys are poorly documented and unobvious

>features like building fortifications are poorly documented and unintuitively implemented (you can build sandbags ONLY in an area that has these tiles)

>development branches are a mess: you either get the main release, which is probably 5 years old, download the SVN release which is a roiling mass of creeping features, get the AI sevenfm's build (which is probably the best build going because it addresses the biggest failing of the game) which nonetheless lacks the new features

>game options are poorly explained or implemented for non-newbies (Drassen counter-attack, NCTH not working intuitively)

>Bigmaps will never be finished

>map inventories aren't externalized so you can never use different mapsets with different mods that are better

>>5290262
If all you need is a bit of modernisation, then stracciatella is the best option around. The issues with handling 1.13 and Arulco Revisited, especially the configuration and compatibility stuff, are not worth the hassle most of the time (unless you are lucky with your source for both mods)

>>5288995
>It's like you are purposefully unhelpful and missing his point, aka "how to not get bankrupt", instead bullshitting around about proper tactics and thinking.
it's like you idiots prefer not to think and accomplish things for yourselves, which of course is why you're here.

>>5290339
To think your type of obnoxious assholes took over 1.13

>>5288182
>Start with mercs that give a lot of bang for the buck, not the best ones. Wolf is a good one.
>You don't necessarily need a dedicated medic to start with. Ira isn't very good, but gets the job done and is free.
>Capturing Drassen is your first priority. The mine gives you income, so that's the most important square.
>You can enter the mines and pick up silver/gold nuggets for a quick cash boost. Doing this doesn't reduce the income from that mine. How? Mouseover the mine entrance in the local map when you're close and the cursor will change.
>The third mine you capture will run out of ore soon after you get it and drop to zero income.

That's what I can think of that's related to money. Note that it's been a long time since I last played, the patches and mods may have changed something.

>>5290367
Different anon, but was it really the third and not just randomly picked one after specific amount of time?

>>5290384
You're actually correct, it's random. I misremembered thanks to it being the 3rd mine in both of my two playthroughs.

Which one is better on the long run for your own merc: Heavy Weapons or Night Ops?

>>5290585
Unironically Throwing (Expert) for that sweet, sweet range increase making throwing knives viable weapon

>>5290585
Covert Ops/Spy

>>5290614
Vanilla, not interested in the clusterfuck that 1.13 is, especially not on the first run

>>5290585
Night Ops kinda demands from you to have entire team made out of NO guys if you want to use it properly. HW show up late and the bonus is pretty ignorable. Auto Weapons (on expert level) are handy, so is Sneaking (assuming you plan to do so)

>>5290340
1.13 is shit, try again sperg.

>>5290728

>>5290776
you're an idiot and a pussy.

TL;DR
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PD_Wav_Gx8B8bTE2eKp-AKSWZ1u5lp7H

>>5290703
In that case
>long run
Athletics, literally and figuratively

also Stealthy

>>5289356
We're all waiting. Please, anon. You're our only hope.